The late Holocene record of Lake Mareotis, Nile Delta, Egypt

Lake Maryut (northwestern Nile Delta, Egypt) was a key feature of Alexandria's hinterland and economy during Greco-Roman times. Its shores accommodated major economic centers, and the lake acted as a gateway between the Nile valley and the Mediterranean. It is suggested that lake-level changes, connections with the Nile and the sea, and possible high-energy events considerably shaped the human occupation history of the Maryut. To reconstruct Lake Maryut hydrology in historical times, we used faunal remains, geochemistry (Sr isotopic signature of ostracods) and geoarcheological indicators of relative lake-level changes. The data show both a rise in Nile inputs to the basin during the first millennia BCE and CE and a lake-level rise of ca. 1.5 m during the Roman period. A high-energy deposit, inferred from reworked radiocarbon dates, may explain an enigmatic sedimentary hiatus previously attested to in Maryut's chronostratigraphy.

Highlights from the Polish Excavations at Marea/Philoxenite 2000–14

This chapter focuses on Marea/Philoxenite, the subject of the excavation campaigns by the Polish Mission in Egypt during the period of 2000–14. It documents the history and the architecture of the site settlement. Marea/Philoxenite is located forty-five kilometers southwest of Alexandria, on the southern shore of Lake Maryut. The city was a major port, active during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and perhaps even earlier, during the Ptolemaic era. During fifteen seasons of excavations, the Polish Archaeological Mission has revealed two independent architectural complexes: a bath complex supported by a saqya and a funerary chapel, and a Christian basilica. Both complexes were active from the beginning of the sixth to the beginning of the eighth centuries.