La explotación de esmeraldas en el Egipto romano. Primeros resultados del Sikait Project

Abstract

This paper presents initial results of the Sikait Project, an archaeological research effort focused on the study of the Mons Smaragdus area (in the Egyptian Eastern Desert) dedicated to beryl/emerald mining in the Roman period. Archaeological fieldwork at Sikait in winter 2018 furthered knowledge about the exploitation of beryl and the trade network that it created in Roman times

A Falcon Shrine at the Port of Berenike (Red Sea Coast, Egypt)

“…128 In fact, we cannot discount the idea that the remaking of the Northern Complex by the Blemmyes in the fourth-fifth centuries could have been precisely related to the emerald trade, as has already been proposed in Ast and Rądkowska 2020. 129 For the archaeological data concerning these finds in Sikait, see Oller et al 2019Oller et al , 2021aOller et al , 2021b For Shenshef, see Aldsworth and Barnard 1998;Gould 1999;Sidebotham et al 2008, 397-402. [aja 126 established themselves in the area during the fourth century.…”