RAC/TRAC Session 18: Pottery in Roman Southern Egypt
Details of the RAC/TRAC Conference session 'From the Desert to the Sea - Pottery, Connectivity, and the Economy of Roman Southern Egypt.'
Conference Sessions and Abstracts - Friday 12 April 2024
18. From the Desert to the Sea - Pottery, Connectivity, and the Economy of Roman Southern Egypt
Jerzy M. Oleksiak – Uniwersytet Warszawski
Roderick C.A. Geerts – Universiteit Leiden
This session aims to bring together researchers who focus on pottery, connectivity, and the economy of sites located in southern Egypt dating between the 1st century BCE and 7th century CE. This area was one of the crucial hubs of the Roman Empire's long-distance trade with the Indian Ocean basin as well as a well-integrated zone for regional exchange and ceramic production. While maritime trade has been one of the primary interests for researchers, understanding the interactions between coastal and inland sites is pivotal for contextualizing the broader economic landscape and southern Egypt’s relationship with the heart of the Empire.
Ceramics are crucial for this wider perspective on the region. They are widely available and valuable tools for both dating and reconstructing trade networks. The goals of this session are to initiate a discussion on the changing character of the regional movement of people and commodities between coastal sites and the hinterland from the Early Roman to Late Antique period, to enhance the scholarly discussion of ceramic and economic studies in the region, and, in a broader sense, to interrogate the consumption and trade patterns at one edge of the Empire, where many worlds and influences met.
Session schedule
Abstracts
Symbol of life and fertility, fortune, resurrection, and magic - the Egyptian “Frog” lamps across ages: unresolved issues concerning type evolution, chronology and usage
Iwona Zych – Uniwersytet Warszawski
Laurent Chrzanovski – Universitatea “Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu
Lighting devices are a mainstay of the Roman Imperial period (and not only) throughout the Roman Empire, an element of material culture that is as ubiquitous as pottery vessels and iron nails. Egypt is no different. Like many other regions, it has its specificities, the most interesting of these—iconographically and iconologically—being the so-called “Frog” oil lamps made of clay. At its most picturesquely quaint, the “Frog” lamp has a molded depiction of a frog: head, body, rump and legs, often touched up individually on its top—as a festive devotional, it is found in all of the 5th-century temples in Berenike on the Red Sea coast. At its most, it becomes a series of crude lines recalling the animal’s legs, yet instantly recognizable as a “frog” lamp. A specific variant, with twin embryos replacing the amphibian’s body, encapsulates the religious theme of resurrection (connected with the goddess Hekate) that stands behind the unbridled success of this lamp type for the better part of 800 years. Even so, or perhaps because of this, “Frog” lamps remain fairly elusive in terms of evolutionary paths of the different variants, their dating and coincidence, the background of their cultic use. In-depth investigation of contextually well-dated finds from stratified sites in the Nile Valley, Eastern and Western Deserts and Red Sea coast may address some of the unsolved issues concerning this type of lamps.
Sail South to Reach the East - Results of comparative study over transport ware material from Berenike (Eastern Desert, Egypt) and Paphos (Western Cyprus)
Jerzy M. Oleksiak – Uniwersytet Warszawski
The aim of this paper is to present the results of a comparative study of two prominent emporia during the 4th to 6th centuries AD, using ceramic analysis as our primary tool. It allows us to explore a unique collection of transport ware pottery, derived from recent excavations at two major Late Antique harbors: Berenike, a port of long-distance trade located on the Red Sea coast, and Nea Paphos, the capital city and a pivotal trading hub in Byzantine Cyprus. This investigation offers a profound understanding of the interconnectedness between these two distinct markets. By getting the deeper insight into the trade relationships between the Eastern Desert and the Eastern Mediterranean coasts, we can draw decisive conclusions regarding the political dependencies of regions under the rule of the Blemmyes during the 4th to 6th centuries AD, as well as the integration of Berenike into the Byzantine sphere of economic influence. Lastly, our study aims to highlight the similarities and differences between these two sites and translate these characteristics into a broader discussion on the economic history of both regions during that time.
Abu Al-Draj “Lost Roman station” Recent discoveries on the western coast of the Red Sea
Rabab Hamdi Ali Al-Sayed – Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt
Abu Al-Daraj area is located on the far north-eastern side of the Eastern Desert, directly overlooking the Red Sea coast. The site known as Abu Al-Darj is named after Saint John Al-Darji. The site was known as one of the stations located on the old commercial road linking the Eastern Desert and the Nile Valley. It was recently used as a military barracks due to the presence of the remains of stacked bricks for two rooms, in addition to the presence of bricks built on top of a high peak as a watchtower. The IFAO mission in 2003 was the only mission that worked on the site, and its primary goal was to record and document the castles located at the top of the mountain. Due to the location of the site in the investment and tourism construction area, it was subjected to backfilling and demolition works until the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities annexed the site to public antiquities, and some cleaning work was carried out and the rubble was lifted in preparation for establishing the first organized excavations on the site. By studying the archaeological evidence and pottery fragments found, one of the stations located on the ancient trade route linking the Eastern Desert and the Nile was discovered, which dates back to the Roman era at the very least.
Sherds in the sand. Results of the survey at Gali (Eastern Desert, Egypt)
Roderick C. A. Geerts – Universiteit Leiden
The intensive survey of two sites at Gali and a third at Kab Marfu’a East have yielded interesting results regarding sites in the Eastern Desert and the road and trade networks. Especially at the sites at Gali there was a lot of pottery scattered on the surface. These sherds provide valuable insight into the sites in the Eastern Desert. First of all it provides a tentative date for the sites. Secondly the production areas of the pottery and their contents give insight into the trade ad supply routes in the Desert. Thirdly it points, for one of the sites, towards a special purpose site with a limited spectrum of pottery on the site. All these together make us understand the processes and usage of the arid landscape of the Eastern Desert and how these sites relate to the trading activities at Berenike and in the Indian Ocean networks. A few fragments point to an origin in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean basins and could be evidence of commodities or traders coming further inland.
Cluedo in the Eastern Desert: Who, or What, Killed Berenice and Myos Hormos?
Haggai Olshanestky – Uniwersytet Warszawski
Lev Cosijns – University of Oxford
Throughout history, trade brought prosperity and wealth, founding cities in its wake. The cities of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, Berenice and Myos Hormos, were not unique in this and the Indo-Roman trade was essential in their ability to flourish. However, this trade through Egypt declined during the 2nd century and almost ceased to exist in the 3rd century CE and with it, the cities, towns, and ports of the Eastern Desert suffered and died. Yet, a reversal of fortune in the 4th century CE brought a resurgence of trade and a revival of the urban communities of the area. Accordingly, this lecture will examine and compare the rise and fall of the Indo-Roman trade network travelling through Egypt and understand its role in the prosperity and in the lifecycle of the Eastern Desert, and Egypt as a whole. It will be highlighted, unlike current research, that due to an amended timing of the decline of the Eastern desert ports and in the trade travelling through them, climate and plague did not play a significant role in their demise. Rather, anthropogenic causes and competing trade routes were the main factors determining the volume of trade travelling through Berenice and Myos Hormos.