In Roman times there was a massive import of olive-oil from Baetica (actualAndalusia) to feed the army at the Limes in Rhineland and Scotland. ThisMediterranean product was transported in large amphorae of the Dressel 20type that bear different types of epigraphy: graffiti, stamps en tituli picti (paintedinscriptions). The Low Countries forming the Hinterland took part inthis commerce, hence the discovery of large amounts of amphora fragments,still bearing regularly epigraphy. This written heritage is not only ill-knownand neglected in the Benelux, but also threatened because of the bad conditionsin which they are collected and stored. The information provided bythese epigraphical sources is of uppermost importance to the knowledge ofthe ancient economy in the Empire, as well in the south as in the north andrepresents an important witness of romanisation. They shed light on the productionof the amphorae and the olive-oil in Baetica, and on its commercialisationto the northern fringes of the Empire, giving at the same time thenames of all the people involved in these activities.
