Ports in the ancient Mediterranean. Fréjus and its seaports.

In recent years, several research projects and scheduled excavations, associated with the development of preventive archaeology, have regularly renewed our knowledge of port archaeology, both in France and throughout the Mediterranean region. The proceedings of the International Conference of Fréjus (November 2018) address numerous themes relating to the development and specific functions of these places of exchange as well as the transformations of the natural environment. The first part is devoted to the examination of the structural elements of ancient ports: construction methods, certain developments (notably lighthouses), the routes of people and goods are considered through the study of techniques - including experimental archaeology -, epigraphy and iconography. In a second part, based on new data on the port of Fréjus, which is the central point of this dossier, case studies concern various ports in the western Mediterranean in Narbonne (Marseille, Fos, Narbonne) and in Italy (Ostia/Portus, Naples). They highlight the diversity of technical and functional solutions adopted to best respond to the physical constraints intended to accommodate ships, but also the poles around which the economic, social, and administrative system of the city is organized.