'Ain el-Gedida: 2006-2008 Excavations of a Late Antique Site in Egypt's Western Desert

Cover of the book, which displays the title and author's name in white text on a blue background. A photograph of ancient stone walls occupies the center of the image.

A fourth-century rural settlement in Egypt's Dakleh Oasis

  • by: Nicola Aravecchia
  • contributors: Roger S. Bagnall, Pamela Crabtree, Delphine Dixneuf, Dorota Dzierzbicka, Douglas V. Campana, David M. Ratzan
  • Amheida IV 2019
  • NYU Press: 652 pages
  • ISBN: 978-1-4798-0301-9
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The fourth volume in the Amheida series, ‘Ain el-Gedida: 2006-2008 Excavations of a Late Antique Site in Egypt's Western Desert presents the systematic record and interpretation of the archaeological evidence from the excavations at ‘Ain el-Gedida, a fourth-century rural settlement in Egypt's Dakleh Oasis uniquely important for the study of early Egyptian Christianity and previously known only from written sources.

Nicola Aravecchia (Washington University), the Deputy Field Director of NYU's Amheida Excavations, offers a history of the site and its excavations, followed by an integrated topographical and archaeological interpretation of the site and its significance for the history of Christianity in Egypt. In the second half of the volume a team of international experts presents catalogs and interpretations of the archaeological finds, including ceramics (Delphine Dixneuf, CRNS), coins (David M. Ratzan, NYU), ostraca and graffiti (Roger S. Bagnall, NYU and Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), small finds (Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), and zooarcheological remains (Pamela J. Crabtree, NYU and Douglas Campana).