Baština (Jan 2014)
Trades and handicraft's activity in Kosovo and Metohia in Roman period
Abstract
The territory of Kosovo and Metohia includes the area which possesses all favourable conditions for different branches of economy development. Besides mining and agriculture which made the basis of economy, other similar activities also appeared and contributed to the economic development. Trades and handicraft got their importance immediately after the conquest of this area and establishment of Roman administration over it. By conquering of this area the building of road infrastructure commences immediately, which, besides military and invading character had very important economic role. Besides these important communications, the first urban settlement had been established, which were founded in places rich with natural resources, where urban centres played an important role in supplying of population with basic foods and others. In the first centuries of the Roman presence, basic needs were met by the import from more developed production centres such as Gaelic, Rhine, and Mediterranean. The important findings from that period were usually of luxurious character, which reached this area by migration of armies and traders. The economic development conditioned by the development of mining led to economic one, which resulted in the population number increase whose needs could not be met only by import but handicraft local production appeared (pottery, glass, granite, metal, bone) in which skilful artisans work probably settled from Italy or Western provinces. In this period in Kosovo and Metohia, besides domestic production there were imports from adjacent developed provincial centres. Economic crisis in the period of soldier's tsars at the end of the 3rd century had impact on the decreased economic power of population, and invasions of barbarian tribes and bandits, created uncertainty regarding communications, which had negative impact on trade, and great Western industrial centres. Now the volume of domestic local production is increasing in which local artisans and craftsmen are working. Bone industry develops rapidly, which was mostly present in the area of Kosovo and Metohia in Ulpiana where a great presence of glass and ceramics pots, stone plastics were noticed, which could be put in connection with their local production. Data related Roman trade and handicraft were given by archaeologic researches in the second half of the previous century so that future researches will enlighten more clearly trade connections and give positive answers on the existence of different workshops whose presence are to be predicted based on many archaeologic findings of domestic production, semiproducts and the ones of handicraft's tools near greater urban centres which were uncontestably the main trade and handicraft's centres in the territory of Kosovo and Metohia.
