The Roman Cyclades: wine production and press technology

This chapter discusses wine production in the Cyclades through the Roman and late antique periods. While this island region was traditionally thought to be a backwater of abandonment and exile following its Classical and Hellenistic boom, recent archaeological fieldwork and research presents an alternative narrative of investment, habitation and agricultural production. A range of evidence indicates the importance of viniculture on many of these islands, including numismatic and ceramic material supported by descriptions in ancient literature. In this chapter, however, I focus on new evidence that is emerging for production facilities, including press components, and discuss the difficulties associated with dating this material and the challenges inherent to the interpretation of finds recorded from surface survey. Directions for future research are also explored, especially calls for further integration between archaeological and scientific analysis.