Nicholas Bartos

Nick is a PhD candidate in classical archaeology, focusing generally on the development of maritime economies and social communities across the Mediterranean and the western Indian Ocean during the Roman period. His dissertation investigates commercial relationships in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and western Bay of Bengal from 100 BCE to 700 CE using archaeological signatures of exchange such as ceramics and coins at representative port sites. Through comparison of the changes in these material networks with GIS-based sailing models, he explores the extent to which ports were integrated within distinct economic regions across this space and how these connections were affected by marine topographies, technological parameters of ancient seafaring, and changing socio-political circumstances of the states involved. As part of his research, he works with the Berenike Project along the Egyptian Red Sea and has traveled to study port assemblages in western India and southwestern Sri Lanka. In the Mediterranean, he has worked in southeastern Sicily since 2014, first on the excavations of the Marzamemi “church wreck” and currently leading the underwater survey fieldwork at Vendicari.