AIA Fall 2022 Lecture Series: Dr. Jennifer Gates-Foster, Dept of Classical Archaeology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

In 2020, just before the onset of the covid pandemic, the French Archaeological Mission to the Eastern Desert (MAFDO) began excavations at the remote desert site of al-Ghozza, located near the Imperial Roman hardstone quarries of Mons Porphyrites and Mons Claudianus in Egypt’s mountains adjacent to the Red Sea. While many remains were related to a third-century BCE occupation linked to gold extraction in the nearby mountains, adjacent to this older settlement the team discovered and fully excavated a small but very well-preserved Roman military fortress, called Berkou in the ancient texts found at the site. Only occupied for a few decades, the fortress offers a snapshot of military life during the height of early Imperial expansion into this remote region, and provides a valuable glimpse of military supply and organization during the Flavian era.

Talk is from 7:30pm - 9pm in the Wilson Hall Theatre.

Free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the North Alabama Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA).