Towards a Chronology of the Eritrean Red Sea Port of Adulis (1st – Early 7th Century AD)

The Eritrean coastal site of Adulis has been known to archaeologists since the second half of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Italian archaeologist Roberto Paribeni conducted extensive excavations in different areas of the site which uncovered the remains of monumental buildings, churches and houses, as well as rich deposits of related material culture. Since then, archaeological investigations have been limited to the activities of Francis Anfray in 1961–62 and to a survey conducted by the University of Southampton in 2003–04. Our team’s first excavations in stratified deposits began in 2011, and soon revealed a complex chronological sequence of great importance for the understanding of the cultural history of the southern Red Sea region and the Horn of Africa. The project’s main efforts were directed towards the identification of the main phases of occupation at Adulis, the establishment of a typological sequence of pottery, and the analysis of architectural change.