This paper aims to evaluate notions of two crucial studies on the Roman economy by Bang and Temin based on the study of distribution patterns of ceramic tablewares in the Roman East in the period 150BCE-200CE. It presents an agentbased network model simulating the social networks which represent the flow of information and goods between traders. Results of the simulation are subsequently compared to the tableware data collected in the ICRATES database. Preliminary results suggest, contrary to Bang's hypothesis, that limited availability of reliable commercial information from different markets is unlikely to give rise to the large differences in the wideness of product's distributions observed in the archaeological record.