1997: " L’attivita del Museo Pigorini e lo scavo archeologico subacqueo del villaggio neolitico della “Marmotta”, con Bondioli L., Fugazzola Delpino M.A., Macchiarelli R., Morigi G., Montanari M., Rossi L., in I.W.S. A.C.M.M., Alexandria Case Study, Alessandria d’Egitto e Il Cairo, 5-15 aprile 1997 (original) (raw)

Alexandria: excavations and preservation work 2001/2002

2003

, students of archaeology. Due to a busy schedule, Prof. Barbara Lichocka, was able to join the team for a few days only. Messrs. Ahmed Mussa and Mohammed el-Senussi efficiently represented the Supreme Council of Antiquities. As always, the Mission was assured the invaluable help and friendly assistance of the SCA staff in Alexandria, to whom we are immeasurably indebted. Special thanks are due Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Dr. Mohammed Abdel Maqsud, Director General for Lower Egypt-without their support we could have hardly accomplished as much as we have over the course of this season.

Geoarchaeology of Portus Mareoticus Ancient Alexandrias lake harbour

A B S T R A C T Ancient Alexandria possessed not only an important maritime front but also a long lake waterfront on its southern side. This dual waterfront was praised by the ancient geographer Strabo in the first century BCE, because its geomorphological configuration opened Alexandria to Mediterranean trade, and also the Nile delta and Egypt. While the city's maritime palaeogeography has been widely described and studied, Alexandria's lacustrine waterfront has largely been neglected and little is known about its palaeo-geography and archaeology. Here we report the chronostratigraphy of the southern edge of the modern city. Bio-sedimentological analyses of sediment archives allow us to reconstruct the evolution of the depositional environments and palaeogeographies for parts of ancient Alexandria's lacustrine waterfront. The chronological framework spans the last 2000 years. By marrying our data with ancient maps and historical sources, we propose a location for Portus Mareoticus. The lake's geomorphology suggests the presence of three ancient jetties, perpendicular to the shoreline and several hundreds meters long. The occupation of the investigated area began at the end of the first century BCE, linked to Roman domination and probably ended during late Roman times. The waterfront was then disconnected from the city during the 9th century CE, due to the desiccation of Maryut Lake, concomitant with the drying-up of the Canopic branch. Alexandria canal subsequently became the sole waterway linking the city to the Nile. The most western part of the canal, which extended freshwater supply and fluvial navigation down to the western marine harbour of Alexandria, was completed in the 16th century, probably in relation to the development of the marine harbours at the beginning of the Ottoman period. Our research sheds new light on the topography of ancient Alexandria.

Geoarchaeology of Portus Mareoticus: Ancient Alexandria's lake harbour (Nile Delta, Egypt)

Ancient Alexandria possessed not only an important maritime front but also a long lake waterfront on its southern side. This dual waterfront was praised by the ancient geographer Strabo in the first century BCE, because its geomorphological configuration opened Alexandria to Mediterranean trade, and also the Nile delta and Egypt. While the city's maritime palaeogeography has been widely described and studied, Alexandria's lacustrine waterfront has largely been neglected and little is known about its palaeo-geography and archaeology. Here we report the chronostratigraphy of the southern edge of the modern city. Bio-sedimentological analyses of sediment archives allow us to reconstruct the evolution of the depositional environments and palaeogeographies for parts of ancient Alexandria's lacustrine waterfront. The chronological framework spans the last 2000 years. By marrying our data with ancient maps and historical sources, we propose a location for Portus Mareoticus. The lake's geomorphology suggests the presence of three ancient jetties, perpendicular to the shoreline and several hundreds meters long. The occupation of the investigated area began at the end of the first century BCE, linked to Roman domination and probably ended during late Roman times. The waterfront was then disconnected from the city during the 9th century CE, due to the desiccation of Maryut Lake, concomitant with the drying-up of the Canopic branch. Alexandria canal subsequently became the sole waterway linking the city to the Nile. The most western part of the canal, which extended freshwater supply and fluvial navigation down to the western marine harbour of Alexandria, was completed in the 16th century, probably in relation to the development of the marine harbours at the beginning of the Ottoman period. Our research sheds new light on the topography of ancient Alexandria.

SOMA 2003: Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology

2005

With the intention of integrating the archaeology of the Mediterranean's different regions, the annual SOMA conference was held in 2003 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. These thirty-two papers, which form the proceedings, are multi-disciplinary and consider evidence and sites from the Pleistocene through to Late Antiquity. Subjects range from the dispersal of hominids around the Mediterranean and ancient Near Eastern skull cults to Libyan funerary architecture and monkeys in Egyptian and Minoan art and culture. Other subjects include: the antiquities market; the south Italic fighting technique; north Syria in the 6th century AD; Roman fulling; religion in the southern Levant Chalcolithic; Hellenistic numismatics; burial customs in Argos; the Mycenaean Argolid; gender identities in Egypt; Punic altars; Samnium and the Roman world; archaeological museum space; monument conservation; ethnic identity in archaic Pompeii. All of the papers are in English. 170p, b/w illus (Archaeopress BAR S1391, 2005) 32 papers from the Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology held at the Institute of Archaeology, London in 2003. Contents: North Syria in the sixth century AD: coast and hinterland (N. Beaudry); Intra-regional variation in long distance trading relationships on the northern Levantine coast – the key to site survival? (C. Bell); The south Italic fighting technique (M. Burns); The Necropolis of Capestrano: New Excavations and Finds (M. Capodicassa); Corn-mummies come to light (M. Centrone); The Tomb S1 of Cyrene: from the Hellenistic phase to Christian re-use (L. Cherstich); Lilith across the ages (V. Danrey); Cycles of island colonisation in the prehistoric Mediterranean (H. Dawson); Adventures in Fields of Flowers: Research on contemporary saffron cultivation and its application to the Bronze Age Aegean (J. Day); Votive niches in funerary architecture in Cyrenaica (Lybia)(E. Di Valerio et al.); Ars Fullonia. Interpreting and contextualising Roman fulling (M. Flohr); GIS Study of the Rural Sanctuaries in Abruzzo: Preliminary Report (D. Fossataro et al.); How monkeys evolved in Egyptian and Minoan art and culture (C. Greenlaw); The central place of religion in Chalcolithic society of the southern Levant (E. Kaptijn); Archaeology's well kept secret: The managed antiquities market (M. Kersel); New images of the Erechtheion by European travellers (A. Lesk); Mani: A unique historic landscape in the periphery of Europe (K. Liwieratos); Numismatics, Hellenism, and the Enemies of Alexander Jannaeus (K. McAleese); The Hominid Dispersal into Mediterranean Europe during the Early to Middle Pleistocene: the Sabre-toothed cat connection (L. Marlow); Gendering figurines, engendering people in early Aegean prehistory (M. Mina); Naue II swords and the collapse of the Aegean Bronze Age (B. Malloy); Urban development and local identities: The case of Gerasa from the late Republican period to the mid-3rd century AD (R. Raja); Burial customs and social change in Argos from the Protogeometric to the Late Roman Period (1100 BC - 500 AD)(F. Ramondetti); Open endings at Osteria dell’Osa (Lazio). Exploring domestic aspects of funerary contexts in the Early Iron Age of Central Italy (E. van Rossenberg; A scale of identity in the Mycenaean Argolid (D. Sahlén); Expressions of ethnic and gender identities in Egypt during the Early 1st Millennium B.C.E. (H. Saleh); Altars and cult installations of Punic tradition in Western Sicily (F. Spagnoli); Sacred landscape and the construction of identity: Samnium and the Roman world (T. Stek); Investigating colonialism and post-colonialism in the archaeological museum space: The case of the Lebanon and France (L. Tahan); Ethnic identity in archaic Pompeii (E. Thiermann); Monument conservation in the Mediterranean: Issues and aspects of anastylosis (K. Vacharopoulou); The skull cult of the Ancient Near East. Problems and new approaches (A. Wossink).