These narrow conical amphoras are a type lately called “Ayla-Axum” after the widest range of finds in the Red Sea. The Ayla-Axum amphora has parallels from at least three terrestrial sites in Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

 and Ethiopia: Aksum, where amphora sherds with gray fabric were found by the Deutsche Aksum Expedition (Zahn 1913: 208); Matara, dating to the 4th through 7th centuries (Anfray 1990: 118); and Adulis

Adulis

Adulis or Aduli is an archeological site in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, about 30 miles south of Massawa. It was the port of the Kingdom of Aksum, located on the coast of the Red Sea. Adulis Bay is named after the port...

 (Paribeni 1907: 551) examples of which are on display in the National Museum in Asmara. Other examples have been found at Berenike in Egypt, where the amphoras date firmly to an early 5th century context in what may be the best stratified examples (Hayes 1996: 159-61); from Aqaba

Aqaba

Aqaba is a coastal city in the far south of Jordan, the capital of Aqaba Governorate at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. Aqaba is strategically important to Jordan as it is the country's only seaport. Aqaba is best known today as a diving and beach resort, but industrial activity remains important...

 in Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 where many examples have been found, including their kilns; at Elephantine Island, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 (Gempeler 1992: 191); on The Shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea

The Shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea

- Overview :Discovered in 1995 by tourists, the shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea was surveyed in 1995 and excavated in 1997 by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology under the auspices of the Ministry of Marine Resources of Eritrea. Directed by Ralph K. Pedersen , the expedition...

 (Pedersen 2008; Pedersen 2000); and in the Mediterranean such as on the late 6th-century shipwreck at Iskandil Burnu, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, as well as in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 and Carthage

Carthage

Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...

in strata datable from the mid-fourth to the sixth centuries (Keay 1986: 356, 358, 471).

For Further Reading

Anfray, F. 1990. Les Anciens Ethiopiens: Siecles d'Historie. Paris: Armand Colin Editeur.

Gempeler, R. D. 1992. Elephantine X: Die Keramik Romischer Bis Fruharabischer Zeit. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.

Hayes, J. W. 1996. ‘The Pottery’, in S. E. Sidebotham and W. Wendrich (eds.) Berenike '95. Preliminary Report of the Excavations at Berenike (Egyptian Red Sea Coast) and Survey of the Eastern Desert, pp. 147–178. Leiden: School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies.

Keay, S. J. 1986. Late Roman Amphorae in the Western Mediterranean. BAR International Studies, volume 196.

Paribeni, R. 1907. ‘Richerche Nel Luogo Dell'Antica Adulis’, in Monumenti Antichi,. volume XVIII. Milan: Reale Accademia dei Lincei.

Pedersen, R.K. 2008. The Byzantine-Aksumite period shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea. Azania http://www.biea.ac.uk/publications_pages/journals.htm, XLIII: 77-94

Pedersen, R. K. 2000. ‘Under the Erythraean Sea: An Ancient Shipwreck in Eritrea’, The INA Quarterly 27.2/3: 3-12. Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

Zahn, R. 1913. ‘Die Kleinfunde’, in D. Krencker (ed.) Deutsche Aksum Expedition, volume 2, pp. 199–231. Berlin: Georg Reimer.