Amphorae represent one of the most important archaeological sources on economic history and nutrition habits of the Roman Empire. In the Roman period they were used for (long distance) transport and trade of oil, wine, fish sauce and other goods. Despite the fact that resarch on Roman amphorae has made considerable progress in the areas north of the Alps in recent decades, understanding of amphora assemblages in the province of Raetia is fragmented at best, barring isolated exceptions.
This volume presents an amphora series of more than 2000 vessels recovered during the long lasting excavations at the Roman site of Cambodunum (Kempten, Bavaria) which is believed to have been the seat of the governor of the province of Raetia in the 1st c. A.D. To date no other amphora series of similar scale from any other Roman settlement in Raetia has been published.
The amphorae are classified by typology and chronology as well as projected contents and their origin. In some particular cases MGR- as well as WD-XRF-analyses were conducted to determine the provenance. This enables a statistical comparison between the amphora types represented at Kempten and data from two important Roman settlements on the Rhine, Augst/Kaiseraugst and Mainz, where large amphora series have been examined and published in detail.
Another matter of interest regards the question why the quantity of amphorae shipped to Cambodunum declines considerably from the early 2nd century onwards. A similar development has been observed at a number of other Roman sites.
Furthermore it was attempted to reconstruct the chronological development of supply patterns for the province of Raetia with goods from the eastern and western Mediterranean during the Principate on the basis of the amphora material from Kempten and other sites in Raetia. In this context the geographic position of Raetia which is situated between the Rhineland, Danube Provinces and northern Italy plays a crucial role as the distribution areas of various long distance trade-goods overlap here.
The MGR- and WD-XRF-analyses were conducted by M. Daszkiewicz (Warsaw) und G. Schneider (Berlin).

Florian Schimmer read Archaeology of the Roman Provinces, Prehistory and Ancient History in Munich and London from 1995 to 2001. After receiving his master’s degree in 2001 he finished his PhD at the University of Munich in 2007. Currently he is employed at the same university working in a field project of the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces in Libya. His main research interests comprise pottery as well as military and civil sites north of the Alps during the early and late Roman period.