Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

found in domestic and in burial contexts.
The inhabitants of this town apparently
buried their dead with the same glass
vessels they used in the household.
The glass dates generally from the 1st
to 3rd centuries with a concentration in
the 1st and 2nd century AD.
Drinking vessels predominate in our as-
semblage. The relatively large numbers of
indented beakers with four indents (Isings
form 32V prove that they satisfied a wide-
spread need. All are either colorless or have
a slight yellowish-green tinge. They are cy-
lindrical in shape with unworked, cracked-
off rims and a constriction just below
{Fig. 1:2}. Only a few fragments were
finished with a vertical fire-rounded rim
{Fig. 1:3}. The chief characteristic of these
vessels is the contrast between the thin
walls and easily recognizable bases. These
bases are flat or kick-up, and noticeably
thick, almost square, without pontil mark
{Fig. 1:1}. This very popular form of what
was essentially a utilitarian object, although
usually considered of Eastern origin, enjoyed
wide distribution. Find places extend from
Britain to Egypt. In Egypt, specimens oc-
curred at Karanis9 and they are not un-
common in the Red Sea region.3 4 5 6 7 Among
the beaker sherds observed in the assem-
blage, there are a few with faintly engraved
horizontal wheel-cut lines encircling the
upper wall. They might have belonged to

a different type of the beaker, probably
a tall, thin-walled form with conical body
and flaring foot {Fig. 1:4,6}, which was also
identified among the sherds.6
The few out of the ordinary pieces in this
assemblage are all the more conspicuous
because of the prevalent simplicity of forms
displayed by the glass vessels from the ex-
cavations. One such luxury item is the pil-
lar-moulded bowl, a hallmark of 1st century
AD glass practically all over the Roman
Empire. Only three fragments of such ves-
sels were recovered [e.g. Fig. 1:7}. They
were made of decolorized glass, and have
an extremely faint greenish or bluish tinge.
The limited number of examples from
Marina may suggest non-Egyptian origin
and may support Harden's opinion that
although these bowls are considered an
Eastern Mediterranean form, they were rare
in Egypt. Apart from Alexandria, the form
has been reported from Karanis and Tell
el-Balamun.8 9 10 Numerous pieces were exca-
vated in the Red Sea region.9 Considerable
quantities of this well-known type are com-
mon in a wide geographical distribution
across the Mediterranean and even far up
into the Black Sea area.
Vessels with applied fillets, as they are
known, are generally connected with the
shallow bowl or deep dish type. Two pieces
with this plastic ornamentation (Isings form
43) were recovered {e.g. Fig. 1:8}.10 The

3 C. Isings, Roman Glass from Dated Finds (Jakarta 1957), 46-47.
4 D. Harden, Roman Glass from Karanis (Ann Arbor), 1936, PI. XV : 376, 391, 393.
5 J.-P. Brun,"Les objects en verre", in H. Cuvigny (ed.), La route de Myos Hormos (IFAO: Cairo 2003), 516, Fig. 239:11 ■
The beakers from Quseir al-Qadim display a certain variety of body shapes, cf. C. Meyer, Glass from Quseir al-Qadim
and the Indian Ocean Trade (Chicago 1992), 27-28, PI. 8: 149-166.
6 Such a beaker has been published from Cyprus, cf. A. Oliver Jr., "The Glass", in La Necropole D'Amathonte. Tombes
113-367, Etudes Chypriotes XIV (Nicosie 1992), 106, 121 :T. 199/28; Brun, op. ck., 516-517, Fig. 239:7.
7 Cf. Harden, op. cit., 118-119, one fragment.
8 A. J. Spencer, Excavations at Tell el-Balamun (1991-1994) (London 1996), 18, PL 87:20.
9 Quseir: Meyer, op. cit., 17-18, PL 1:1-25; Berenice: S.E. Sidebotham and W.Z. Wendrich, Preliminary Report of the 1994
Excavations at Berenike (Leiden 1995), 37-38, Fig. 16; Maximianon: Jean-Pierre Brun, op.cit., 517, Fig. 240: 24.
10 Isings, op. cit., 59-

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