Amphoras were used to transport large quantities of perishable goods and keep them in good condition on the journey from their point of origin to the warehouses and public containers (large silos and deposits, dolia, large earthen jars, etc.). The most common were those used to transport wine, large quantities of which were consumed in Roman times (it has been calculated that the demand for wine in 1st century Rome was about a million and a half hectolitres a year). Another thriving trade was in the import and export of cooking oil, an essential ingredient in Roman cooking (near the river port of Rome there was a small "mountain" known as Monte Testaccio which was made up of empty oil amphoras, mainly from Andalusia).

The places where goods such as oil and wine were produced, often on an almost industrial scale, also manufactured the containers. This is the case, for example, of a series of agricultural villas in the Camp of Tarragona, the Penedès region and the Ebro basin. Archaeological excavations have uncovered the remains of the kilns used to produce wine amphoras that imitated those made in Italy. Goods were imported from the producing areas in south of the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean (initially also from Italy). These goods included large quantities of wine, cooking oil, cereals, preserves, salted foods, garum and fruit.

From the 2nd century AD most wine was transported in more practical containers such as wooden barrels. These were lighter and better able to withstand knocks. Amphoras were transformed and adapted for other products and were in use throughout the Low Empire until the Middle Ages.

Displayed here are several different types of amphoras found in various underwater shipwrecks and archaeological excavations in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the area around Cartagena. They originally contained wine, oil, salted goods, garum and other unidentified products (1st century BC - 6th century AD).