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Document Details : Title: Patterns of the Transport Amphorae at Ostrakine During the 6th and 7th Centuries A.D. Author(s): OKED, Sarit H. Journal: ARAM Periodical Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Date: 1996 Pages: 165-175 DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.8.1.2002191 Abstract : During the Byzantine period the east coast of the Mediterranean was the center of agricultural production, and it was from this area that commercial enterprise originated. During the seventh century, however, the commercial center shifted from the coast to the hinterland. This can be seen most clearly in an analysis of the ceramics from the site of Ostrakine. Ostrakine (el-Felusiyat) is located in the Bardewill Lagoon in the Sinai peninsula, about 30 km west of el-Arish (Oren 1993:1171). During the Byzantine period, Ostrakine was located on the banks of the lagoon on the Mediterranean sea shore at the point where the shore meets the sand bank of the Bardewill lagoon, which was known as Sirbonis in ancient times. Ostrakine was established in the first century BCE as a harbor and as a site that protected the main coastal route from Egypt to the North East. This coastal route ran across the narrow sand bank of the Bardewill lagoon, giving the port of Ostrakine great strategic importance. |
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