REVIEW of Hélène Cuvigny, Ostraca de Krokodilô

Hélène Cuvigny, Ostraca de Krokodilô. La correspondence militaire et sa circulation (O. Krok. 1-151). Praesidia du désert de Bérénice II. Fouilles de l'IFAO 51. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 2005. Pp. 283. ISBN 2-7247-0370-7. €35.00.


Reviewed by Thomas Kruse, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Word count: 2653 words

Hélène Cuvigny is a distinguished expert on the area of the Egyptian Eastern desert between the Red Sea and the valley of the Nile in the Roman period. Since 1994 in the context of a research project which is funded by the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale in Cairo she has been entrusted with the exploration of the network of the small Roman forts (praesidia) along the 180 km road leading from Qift (ancient Koptos) to Qusayr on the Read Sea. Almost at the beginning of this project it turned out that Qusayr or (to be more precise) the ancient site of Qusayr al-Qadîm, 5 km north of the modern town, is the ancient sea port of Myos Hormos, which had until then been located in historical maps of the region about 160 km further to the north along the Red Sea coast. more at BMCR

publisher: IFAO

REVIEW of René T.J. Cappers, Roman Foodprints at Berenike: Archaeobotanical Evidence of Subsistence and Trade in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.

INCIPIT "The fascinating topic of the Roman Empire's trade with the east, especially Arabia and India, has experienced a welcome revival of interest in recent times, starting with Casson's publication of the famous Periplus Maris Erythraei in 1989 and culminating, on the ancient historical front at least, in Gary K. Young's recent monograph on Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC-AD 305.1 Now, it seems the next major contribution has come from classical archaeology. René Cappers' book is a report on the study of the archaeobotanical remains found during the excavation of the Roman harbour town of Berenike on the coast of the Red Sea in the Eastern Desert of Egypt."
more at BMCR

R. CAPPERS, Roman foodprints at Berenike: archaeobotanical evidence of subsistence and trade in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

Roman Foodprints at Berenike: Archaeobotanical Evidence of Subsistence and Trade in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

René T.J. Cappers

"DESCRIPTION: During the Graeco-Roman period, Berenike served as a gateway to the outside world together with Myos Hormos. Commodities were imported from Africa south of the Sahara, Arabia, and India into the Greek and Roman Empire, the importance of both harbors evidenced by several contemporary sources. Between 1994 and 2002, eight excavation seasons were conducted at Berenike by the University of Delaware and Leiden
University, the Netherlands. This book presents the results of the archaeobotanical research of the Roman deposits. It is shown that the study of a transit port such as Berenike, located at the southeastern fringe of the Roman Empire, is highly effective in producing new information on the import of all kinds of luxury items. In addition to the huge quantities of black pepper, plant remains of more than 60 cultivated plant species could be evidenced, several of them for the first time in an archaeobotanical context. For each plant species detailed information on its (possible) origin, its use, its preservation qualities, and the Egyptian subfossil record is provided. The interpretation of the cultivated plants, including the possibilities of cultivation in Berenike proper, is supported by ethnoarchaeobotanical research that has been conducted over the years. The reconstruction of the former environment is based on the many wild plant species that were found in Berenike and the study of the present desert vegetation.

SUBJECTS: Egyptian Archaeology

ISBN: I-931745-26-9 (paper), I-931745-27-7 (cloth)

Publication Date: 2006

Series: Monograph 55

Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology

Price: US $35 paperback, US $65 cloth "

The Author's webpage at Groningen University

Source: Worldcat LC no DT 73.B375