Seafaring Expeditions to Punt in the Middle Kingdom

Seafaring Expeditions to Punt in the Middle Kingdom

Author: Kathryn A. Bard

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-08-13

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 9004379606

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In the 12th Dynasty (ca. 1985-1773 BC) the Egyptian state sent a number of seafaring expeditions to the land of Punt, located somewhere in the southern Red Sea region, in order to bypass control of the upper Nile by the Kerma kingdom. Excavations at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis on the Red Sea coast of Egypt from 2001 to 2011 have uncovered evidence of the ancient harbor (Saww) used for these expeditions, including parts of ancient ships, expedition equipment and food – all transported ca. 150 km across the desert from Qift in Upper Egypt to the harbor. This book summarizes the results of these excavations for the organization of these logistically complex expeditions, and evidence at the harbor for the location of Punt. “[There] is no shortage of analysis relating to the Punt expeditions, much of which is likely to become the new ‘standard’ account of these voyages and of the huge logistical and ideological undertaking they represented. The volume will therefore be of immense value to scholars and students of ancient Egypt, and of ancient seafaring more generally.” - Julian Whitewright, University of Southampton, in: The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 48.2 (2019)


The Ancient Red Sea Port of Adulis, Eritrea

The Ancient Red Sea Port of Adulis, Eritrea

Author: D. P. S. Peacock

Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13:

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The port of Adulis was one of greatest significance in Antiquity. It is best known for its role in Aksumite trade during the fourth - seventh centuries AD. However it is also a major port of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , a sailors' hand-book of the first century AD. Not only did it offer a good harbour on the route to India, but it was a source for luxuries such as ivory, tortoise-shell and rhinoceros horn. The site was first identified by Henry Salt, in 1810, but there have always been a number of problems, both chronological and topographical with the identification. Firstly, the surface pottery is late in date and accords with Aksumitic importance rather than the Roman. Secondly, Adulis is referred to as a port, but it is today 7 km from the sea. The Periplus refers to an island approached by a causeway, which suggested to some that the site was originally at Massawa, 60 km to the north, a town which today comprises islands connected by causeways. The work of Cosmas Indicopleustes 'Christian Topography' written in the 6th Century AD mentions two other places, Gabaza and Samidi, which have never been identified. The fieldwork on which this book is based resolves these issues. It is suggested that Roman Adulis underlies the Aksumite city. Also the pottery and structures on the Galala hills to the south, show that this was almost certainly 'the site of Aksumite Gabaza. However, off the seaward end of the hills is a rock which would have been a small island in Roman times and on it was a scatter of 1st century AD Roman wine amphorae (Dressel 2-4). The Periplus tells us that ships used to moor of Diodorus Island which was connected to the mainland by a causeway, but was later moved to an island called Oreinê (hilly) for greater security. The latter can be none other than Dese which is the only hilly island in the area and on it field survey has located a fine harbour and an early Roman settlement. The remaining site, Samidi, has also been found, for 7 km north of Adulis are large stone mounds. Architectural fragments and fragments of human bone suggest that this may have been an impressive mausoleum, perhaps the burial place of the kings of Adulis.


The Life of the Red Sea Dhow

The Life of the Red Sea Dhow

Author: Dionisius A. Agius

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-04-04

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1786724871

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Few images are as evocative as the silhouette of the Arab dhow as, under full sail, it tacks to windward on glittering waters of Red Sea before moving across the face of the rising or setting sun. In this authoritative new book, Dionisius A. Agius, one of the foremost scholars of Islamic material culture, offers a lucid and wide-ranging history of the iconic dhow from medieval to modern times. Traversing the Arabian and African coasts, he shows that the dhow was central not just to commerce but to the vital transmission and exchange of ideas. Discussing trade and salt routes, shoals and wind patterns, spice harvest seasons and the deep and resonant connection between language, memory and oral tradition, this is the first book to place the dhow in its full and remarkable cultural contexts.


Human Interaction with the Environment in the Red Sea

Human Interaction with the Environment in the Red Sea

Author: Dionysius A. Agius

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-04-24

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 9004330828

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This volume contains a selection of fourteen papers presented at the Red Sea VI conference held at Tabuk University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2013. It sheds light on many aspects related to the environmental and biological perspectives, history, archaeology and human culture of the Red Sea, opening the door to more interdisciplinary research in the region. It stimulates a new discourse on different human adaptations to, and interactions with, the environment. With contributions by Andre Antunes, K. Christopher Beard, Ahmed Hussein, Emad Khalil, Solène Marion de Procé, Abdirachid Mohamed, Ania Kotarba-Morley, Sandra Olsen, Andrew Peacock, Eleanor Scerri, Pierre Schneider, Marijke Van Der Veen and Chiara Zazzaro.


Toponymy on the Periphery

Toponymy on the Periphery

Author: Julien Cooper

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-08-03

Total Pages: 736

ISBN-13: 9004422218

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"In Toponymy on the Periphery, Julien Charles Cooper conducts a study of the rich geographies preserved in Egyptian texts relating to the desert regions east of Egypt. These regions, filled with mines, quarries, nomadic camps, and harbours are often considered as an unimportant hinterland of the Egyptian state, but this work reveals the wide explorations and awareness Egyptians had of the Red Sea and its adjacent deserts, from the Sinai in the north to Punt in the south. The book attempts to locate many of the placenames present in Egyptian texts and analyse their etymology in light of Egyptian linguistics and the various foreign languages spoken in the adjacent deserts and distant shores of the Red Sea"--


Stories of Globalisation: The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf from Late Prehistory to Early Modernity

Stories of Globalisation: The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf from Late Prehistory to Early Modernity

Author: Andrea Manzo

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-11-26

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 9004362320

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This book contains a selection of papers presented at the Red Sea VII conference titled “The Red Sea and the Gulf: Two Maritime Alternative Routes in the Development of Global Economy, from Late Prehistory to Modern Times”. The Red Sea and the Gulf are similar geographically and environmentally, and complementary to each other, as well as being competitors in their economic and cultural interactions with the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The chapters of the volume are grouped in three sections, corresponding to the various historical periods. Each chapter of the book offers the reader the opportunity to travel across the regions of the Red Sea and the Gulf, and from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean from prehistory to the contemporary era. With contributions by Ahmed Hussein Abdelrahman, Serena Autiero, Mahmoud S. Bashir, Kathryn A. Bard, Alemsege, Beldados, Ioana A. Dumitru, Serena Esposito, Rodolfo Fattovich, Luigi Gallo, Michal Gawlikowski, Caterina Giostra, Sunil Gupta, Michael Harrower, Martin Hense, Linda Huli, Sarah Japp, Serena Massa, Ralph K. Pedersen, Jacke S. Phillips, Patrice Pomey, Joanna K. Rądkowska, Mike Schnelle, Lucy Semaan, Steven E. Sidebotham, Shadia Taha, Husna Taha Elatta, Joanna Then-Obłuska and Iwona Zych


Aksum and Nubia

Aksum and Nubia

Author: George Hatke

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2013-01-07

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 081476066X

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Aksum and Nubia assembles and analyzes the textual and archaeological evidence of interaction between Nubia and the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum, focusing primarily on the fourth century CE. Although ancient Nubia and Ethiopia have been the subject of a growing number of studies in recent years, little attention has been given to contact between these two regions. Hatke argues that ancient Northeast Africa cannot be treated as a unified area politically, economically, or culturally. Rather, Nubia and Ethiopia developed within very different regional spheres of interaction, as a result of which the Nubian kingdom of Kush came to focus its energies on the Nile Valley, relying on this as its main route of contact with the outside world, while Aksum was oriented towards the Red Sea and Arabia. In this way Aksum and Kush coexisted in peace for most of their history, and such contact as they maintained with each other was limited to small-scale commerce. Only in the fourth century CE did Aksum take up arms against Kush, and even then the conflict seems to have been related mainly to security issues on Aksum’s western frontier. Although Aksum never managed to hold onto Kush for long, much less dealt the final death-blow to the Nubian kingdom, as is often believed, claims to Kush continued to play a role in Aksumite royal ideology as late as the sixth century. Aksum and Nubia critically examines the extent to which relations between two ancient African states were influenced by warfare, commerce, and political fictions.


Geological Setting, Palaeoenvironment and Archaeology of the Red Sea

Geological Setting, Palaeoenvironment and Archaeology of the Red Sea

Author: Najeeb M.A. Rasul

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-05

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 3319994085

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This book gathers invited contributions from active researchers to provide an up-to-date overview of the geological setting of the Red Sea. It discusses aspects ranging from historical information to modern research in the Red Sea, and presents findings from rapidly advancing, emerging fields. This semi-enclosed young ocean basin provides a unique opportunity to study the development of passive continental margins in order to examine the current status of that region. In addition to studies on the Sea itself, it includes those from related fields on the littoral zone. The book is of interest to geoscientists and non-specialists alike.


The Ancient Shore

The Ancient Shore

Author: Paul J. Kosmin

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2024

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 0674296249

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Paul Kosmin argues that the coast--not individual shores, but the coast as such--was fundamental to ancient history. The social and natural dynamics of the coast profoundly shaped not just politics and trade but also ancient peoples' sense of wonder and of self, earning constant philosophical, religious, scientific, and literary attention.