Water, Wood and Labour: The Archaeology of Venice Before Venice

Abstract

Venice suffers from its legends. Legends narrate Venice as a symbol of the end of the Roman Age. Venice represents the place where the noble Romans rescued themselves from the barbarian hordes: Venetians would have been forced to move to an unwelcoming island among the marshes to be free and safe. Venice - the legends say - became Byzantine and was able to resist the Lombard and the Carolingian wars.  Venice’s freedom and prosperity would derive from its independence, its Roman origins, and its ability to be different from the uncivilized Barbarians. 

Nothing more wrong. Venice is a quintessential consequence of the fruitful encounter between the heirs of the classical Mediterranean world and the German North European tradition.  Venice can be explained bringing together Carolingian, Lombard, Islamic, Post-Roman, Byzantine tradition. Furthermore, Venice can be asses through its unique landscape: water, mud, and wood are the reasons by which Venice was built.  

A crucial aspect of the early medieval Venetian market system was enacted through the slave control. Venice supplied the Early Islamic world with European enslaved workforces, trading them in the port of Alexandria. Further, the management of local labor forces - slaves and semi-slaves - was one of the main concerns of the early medieval aristocracy. The conquest of the Mediterranean economy was possible thanks to the control of the skilled labor forces employed in crucial activities, such as ships construction, forest management, and channels/ports improvements.

Sustainability, ecology, migration, labor control:  the history of Venice - but also the history of the Mediterranean in the Early Middle Age - can be rewritten taking into account a very contemporary perspective.