Kom al-Ahmer Kom Wasit II: Coin Finds 20122016 / Late Roman and Early Islamic Pottery from Kom al-Ahmer

Kom al-Ahmer and Kom Wasit were ideally placed to take advantage of the Mediterranean trade given their close proximity to the Egyptian ports of Thonis-Heracleion, Alexandria, and Rosetta during the Hellenistic, Roman, Late Roman, and early Islamic period. The social and economic vitality of the sites has been revealed during investigations undertaken by the Italian archaeological mission between 2012 and 2016 and published in Kom al-Ahmer Kom Wasit I: Excavations in the Metelite Nome, Egypt ca. 700 BC AD 100. This volume presents over 1070 coins (ca. 310 BCAD 641) and 1320 examples of Late Roman and Early Islamic pottery, testimony to the considerable commercial activity in the region during the Late Antique period. Kom al-Ahmer and Kom Wasit emerge as centers of an exchange network involving large-scale trade of raw materials to and from the central and eastern Mediterranean.