Hárshegyi Piroska: Kereskedők Sallában 2. (Zalalövő öröksége 4. Zalalövő, 2006)
Traders still brought a few amphoras or Samian wares in Salla in the 4 lh century AD, but the number of these items is negligible. Summary T he interpretation of the results of the analyses of amphora finds in a significant source of the study of long-distance commerce between the provinces of the Roman Empire. It informs about the trading contacts and the economic power of the province, the demands of the inhabitants and provides data on certain movements of military troops. The economic power and historical significance of Salla changed in different periods and this process can perfectly be followed with the analysis of the above group of finds: the continuous occupation of the province in the 1 st century AD, the first signs of urbanisation, its accomplishment, shifts in economic aspects between the beginning of the 1 st century 7 and the middle of the 2 nd century AD, and the traces of decline from the end of the 2 nd century AD. The amphora types that can be linked with the early horizon of Pannónia appeared in a relative abundance in the settlement: they arrived from the Istrian Peninsula, Northern Italy, the Aegean, the Iberian Peninsula. The picture we can get from the time after the Marcomann wars cannot even compared with it. The types of the second horizon inform about a stabile and flourishing commerce with first of all the East and Hispánia in the towns along the Danubian border, while here in Salla life seems to have frozen. A part of the town revived as an administrative centre in the reconstruction phase of the 4 th century AD, yet luxury goods transported in the amphoras do not appear any more in the households. The same conclusion can be read from the analysis of the Samian wares and all these conclusions drawn from the archaeological materials underline the historical-political trends: the crisis of the interior and the foreign policy of the Roman Empire on the one hand and settling on permanent self-supply in the provinces and meeting the demands from internal resources on the other hand.
