Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

ALEXANDRIA

EGYPT

monly recorded at Fustat,2 Tebtynis3 and
Ashmunein.4 Also included here were the
small tube-shaped phials [Fig. 1:5], which
were probably intended for the storage and
measuring out of drugs, precious liquids or
powders. Examples of such vessels have been
reported from Fustat5 and quite recently
from Tiberias.6
Another common type of bottle, char-
acterized by a horizontal tooled-in tube on
the interior of the vessel, was represented
by a considerable number of fragments
[Fig. 1:6-7]. The significance of these inner
tubes created by constriction, usually in the
central part of a globular or bulbous body, is
not clear.7
Small toilet bottles with horizontal rib-
bing on the cylindrical neck were another
noted type [Fig. 1:8-11]. They have been
reported from Islamic sites throughout
Egypt.8
Likewise common were containers for
perfumes and other liquids shaped like
small square bottles [Fig. 1:12-13]. The
nearest parallels to the fragments from the
auditoria are found among the complete
examples from Fustat.9

Bottles and flasks with a distinctive
single or double bulge on the neck, belong-
ing to the most characteristic and fairly
common shapes of the Mamluk period
[Fig. 1:14-16], are paralleled by similar
fragments from Fustat,10 Naqlun11 and
Quseir al-Qadim.12
The Early Islamic period witnessed con-
siderable production of glass with mould-
blown patterns. This decorative technique,
which was descended from Roman tradition,
allowed vessels to be created and orna-
mented by blowing into single or two-part
molds. Of the recorded fragments of bot-
tles, only a few bear such decoration. Rib-
bing, used since Roman times, was still
practiced in the Islamic period. One piece
with a faint spirally ribbed pattern, which
most probably extended over the entire
body, was optic-blown and tooled outside
the mould, so that the ribs appear twisted
[Fig. 2:1]. A bottle fragment with molded
ribbing, but not twisted, was previously
recorded at Kom el-Dikka13 and recently at
nearby Marea.14 Another bottle executed in
this technique demonstrated a much more
elaborate pattern with the decoration on

2 G T. Scanlon and R, Pinder-Wilson, Fustat Glass of the Early Islamic Period (London 2001), 40, Fig. 15n.
3 D. Foy, "Secteur Nord de Tebtynis (Fayyoum). Le Verre Byzantin et Islamique", Anlsl 35 (2001), 476-480, 487:111,
488:132, 145.
4 D.M. Bailey, Excavations at El-Ashmunein (London 1998), 152, PI. 107:Y51.
5 Scanlon and Pinder-Wilson, op. cit., 40-41, Fig. 6.
6 A. Lester, "The Glass", in: D. Stacey (ed.), Excavations at Tiberias, 1973-1974. The Early Islamic Period (Jerusalem
2004), 188, 191-192, Fig. 7.9:107-120.
7 Such fragments were attested at Tebtynis, cf. Foy, op. cit., 476-479, 487:107, 488-134. This constriction occurs also on
the open forms (lamps?), in which it could have served as a support for a metal rod which held the upper end of the wick.
8 Scanlon and Pinder-Wilson, op. cit., 46-47, Fig. 20:d-g; Y. Shindo, "Glass", in: K. Sukurai and M. Kawatoko (eds),
Egyptian Islamic city, al-Fustat: Excavation report 1978-1985 (Tokyo 1992), 599: 26-30; Foy, op. cit., 478, 488:148;
Y. Shindo, "Islamic Glass Finds From Raya", Annales du 15e Congres de l'AIHV (New York 2001),180-181, Fig. 2:4.
9 Scanlon and Pinder-Wilson, op. cit., 66-68, PI. 34e.
10 Shindo, "Glass", op. cit., 601, 29-30.
11 M. Mossakowska-Gaubert, "Recipients en verre", PAM XII. Reports 2000 (2001), 168-169, Fig. 1, type 4.
12 C. Meyer, Glass from Quseir al-Qadim and the Indian Ocean Trade (Chicago 1992), 76-76, PI. 15:374-383, with
extensive bibliography.
13 M. Rodziewicz, Les habitationes romaines tardives d'Alexandrie, Alexandrie III (Warsaw 1984), 439, PI- 74:386.
14 R. Kucharczyk, "Glass Finds from Marea, 2003", PAM XV, Reports 2003 (2004), 66; not illustrated.

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