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 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 (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 in Jordan where many examples have been found, including their kilns; at Elephantine Island, Egypt (Gempeler 1992: 191); on The Shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea (Pedersen 2008; Pedersen 2000); and in the Mediterranean such as on the late 6th-century shipwreck at Iskandil Burnu, Turkey, as well as in Spain and Carthage in strata datable from the mid-fourth to the sixth centuries (Keay 1986: 356, 358, 471).
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 [1], 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.