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The Indian trade between the Gulf and the Red Sea

100%

Gawlikowski M.

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean

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2017

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vol. 26(2)

15-30

EN

This essay evaluates the relative importance of the maritime trade between the Roman Empire and India along two routes that were in use: one started and ended on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea, the other at the head of the Gulf. Both continued on land along caravan tracks to the Nile valley or through the Syrian desert to Palmyra. The latter land route, longer and presumably more cost-consuming, was used only during the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. The land link with the Far East, the so-called Silk Road, does not seem to have been regularly used. A document from Palmyra allows to estimate the value of the trade along the Syrian route as much smaller than that of the Red Sea traffic. It could have been mainly of local, Syrian importance, and lasted only as long as political circumstances allowed.

2

Between the Nile and the Ocean. The bead assemblage from Shenshef in the Eastern Desert (4th–6th centuries AD)

63%

Then-Obłuska J.

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean

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2017

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vol. 26(1)

719-747

EN

More than 200 beads and pendants were found in seven trash middens excavated at the 4th/5th to the 6th century AD settlement site in Shenshef in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The site lies close to the Sudanese border and the Red Sea coast, and about 20 km to the southwest of the ancient port of Berenike. Although the purpose of the settlement has not been established, excavations provided a wide range of imports from the Mediterranean region and the Indian Ocean. An overview of the materials and manufacturing techniques applied in the production of the beads and pendants confirms the short- and long-distance contacts of Shenshef inhabitants. In addition to the many bead parallels that link the site with the Red Sea ports and the Nile Valley region up to the First Cataract, the presence of South Indian/Sri Lankan beads at Shenshef is especially meaningful. They may be proof of the intermediary role played by the Shenshef inhabitants in trading overseas imports into the Nubian Nile Valley region.

3

Beads and pendants from the late Harbor Temple and harbor temenos in the Red Sea port of Berenike (seasons 2010–2013): materials, techniques, functions and cultural attribution

51%

Then-Obłuska J.

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean

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2017

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vol. 26(2)

193-210

EN

More than 250 beads and pendants have been registered from the Harbor Temple and its surroundings, the so-called “harbor temenos”, in the Red Sea port of Berenike. The Harbor Temple assemblage is dominated by South Asian glass beads dating from the 4th through early 6th centuries AD, but the bead finds from the presumed temenos show much greater variety in both type and date, the latter spanning the centuries from the 1st to the 5th century AD. Rather than being accidentally lost, the quantity and find context of the beads support the idea of a votive offering function. Stylistic similarities of some objects found in the Harbor Temple have led to their association with South Arabia or Axum (Rądkowska, Sidebotham, and Zych 2013); yet a much closer affiliation might also be considered. Similar ritual objects, as well as beads and pendants, have been recorded at contemporary temples and shrines in Nubia

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3 Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean

2 Then-Obłuska J.

1 Gawlikowski M.

3 2018

The Indian trade between the Gulf and the Red Sea

Between the Nile and the Ocean. The bead assemblage from Shenshef in the Eastern Desert (4th–6th centuries AD)

Beads and pendants from the late Harbor Temple and harbor temenos in the Red Sea port of Berenike (seasons 2010–2013): materials, techniques, functions and cultural attribution