Locating the Harbour: Myos Hormos/Quseir al‐Qadim: a Roman and Islamic Port on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt

Abstract

Recent maritime investigations at Quseir al‐Qadim, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, have revealed the importance of this port in both the Roman and later Islamic periods. This paper outlines the key evidence for the location of the harbours, from survey, sedimentological analysis and selective excavation. The Roman harbour, occupied between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD, was located in a now‐silted lagoon. Over 100 sedimentological cores indicated its siltation process. By the time the site was reoccupied in the 12th century AD, the harbour was reduced to a small bay at the entrance to the former lagoon.

© 2007 The Author

Key words:

• Harbour
• Roman
• Islamic
• Red Sea
• sedimentology
• silted lagoon

Acknowledgments

This work is indebted to the generous support of the Arts and Humanities Research Board, to David Peacock for giving me the initial opportunity to work at Quseir, to Justin Dix for his guidance with respect to the sedimentology, and to my dear friend the late Nick Bradford with whom I co‐ordinated the fieldwork. I am extremely grateful to Ed Reinhardt and colleagues at McMaster University, Canada who conducted the foraminifera analysis. Finally, many thanks to all the Quseir al‐Qadim team, particularly Penny Copeland, Graeme Earl and Jill Phillips for all their help with producing images, data and editing text.