Aynuna. A Nabataean port on the Red Sea. Seven seasons of Saudi-Polish excavations (2014-2018)

Narodowe Centrum Nauki, Centrum Archeologii Śródziemnomorskiej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

A report on the Saudi-Polish excavations at Aynuna on the Red Sea, Tabuk Province, conducted from 2014 to 2018 under a grant from the Polish National Science Centre UMO2014/14/M/HS3/00795 by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, in collaboration with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Heritage. The excavation of a site of a Nabataean trade factory near the modern township of Khurayba on the northwestern Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia contributed to confirming the identification of the locality as the Leuke Kome of ancient sources and highlighted the importance of the port and region for the Nabataean kingdom and later for the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic history of the region. Aynina was a terminal on the international maritime trade route between Bilad ash-Shan and South Arabia, India, and East Africa, paralleling the better known Egyptian route linking these countries with the markets of the Roman Empire. In this role it was a counterpart of the ports of Myos Hormos and Berenike on the western shore of the Red Sea. The two sites identified at the locality of Aynuna comprise a densely built settlement atop a fossil coral reef and a lower site on the stony right bank of the wadi, the latter consisting of several independent buildings, each formed by rows of nearly square rooms, apparently set around courtyards. The buildings appear to have been warehouses for goods brought by sea to the part, awaiting transfer by caravan to Petra in Jordan and beyond. Nabataean buildings predating the 4th century AD structures most probably served the same purpose as Leuke Kome is known from ancient written sources as the custom house where a Roman quarter tax on value was placed on traded goods. Lower Aynuna thus existed from the 1st century BC/1st century AD through the 7th century. It is surrounded by small burial grounds; in the latest phase graves were also located within the ruins. The report presents a detailed description of the excavations in the structures in Lower Aynuna, the cemeteries, as well as an examination of the geology of the area and the water supply system. The coins, inscriptions, glass finds and shells (both natural and worked as artifacts) are examined in separate chapters.