THE TRADE OF PRECIOUS CORALS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Throughout the Mediterranean, the cherished ancient traditions of coral fishing and processing have endured and developed through the ages. As early as the tenth to eleventh centuries, coral was already regularly fished along the coasts of North Africa, Spain, Provence and the Italian peninsula, as well as off the coasts of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. Mostly Italian and, to a lesser extent, French and Catalan fishermen were involved in these activities. In Italy, the Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) was fished and used to fashion rudimentary ornaments as early as the Neolithic age, as evidenced by artefacts found in Liguria and along the Adriatic coast. Even far from the sea, in the Alpine valleys, archaeologists have unearthed worked coral items from ancient burial sites . As far as coral trade in ancient times is concerned, according to some classical sources, the precious “red gold” was carried along the route that ran from Egypt via Cana (in southern Yemen) to Indian and Pakistani ports, where it was traded for fabrics and other precious goods sold by Chinese merchants