الفهرس 
The State of Research and Excavations History of Kiman FarisOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This study is an application of the archaeological methods of pottery study to write an account of the history of an ancient town. Crocodilopolis was the metropolis of the Nome of Arsinoe, and one of the chief cities of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. The city was a cosmopolitan place where Greeks from the Mediterranean Basin, Jews, Libyans, Arabs, and Romans lived with the indigenous and colonised Egyptians. Many papyri enrich our knowledge about its inhabitants and their everyday life; on the contrary, the archaeological evidence is very little and scattered.
Kiman Faris had a long history of exploration. The first excavation was 200 years ago. The site suffered from extensive activities of looting and quarrying. The Egyptian authorities have conducted salvage excavations at the site since 1963
This study aims to determine the findspot of every vessel and sherd of the pottery of Kiman Faris, to group the finds of every place to give a historical range of the discovered ruins, and to provide an overview and general evaluation of the pottery of Kiman Faris. Moreover, a catalogue following the chronological and functional order and range by productions (form/fabrics) is made.
The study is divided into three parts that comprise an introduction, six chapters, a conclusion, a section of figures and a catalogue of illustrations.
Part I: The State of Research and History of Kiman Faris Excavations
Introduction: The State of Research
It defines the subject of the study and its historical and geographical context. The literature review and the objectives of the study are also discussed. A reference is given to the general methodology.
Chapter I: History of Kiman Faris Excavations
This chapter provides a brief account of Kiman Faris’s site and its history since the thirteenth century AD through the writings of Abu Othman Safadi and European travellers who visited the region during the Ottoman era. It also examined the role of scholars of the French Campaign and the subsequent European interest in Egyptian antiquities, and the increased search for antiquities during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha and his family. Several excavations were carried out that began from 1823 AD until the Petrie excavations of 1888 AD.
Antiquities continued to be found accidentally at the site during sebbakh quarrying. By the sixties of the twentieth century, the Egyptian government decided to develop Medinet el-Fayoum; a group of salvage excavations were made, after which most of the area of Kiman Faris became land for urban development. During these rescue excavations, architectural ruins were uncovered, represented in Greek and Roman baths, various floors, water supply and drainage networks, wells and cemeteries. The excavations also uncovered movable antiquities that included different cultural materials, such as sculptures, jewellery, coins, pottery and others. Every account of a particular excavation season has been followed by a list of pottery vessels that have been uncovered in those excavations. Likewise, the excavations of Fayoum University and the archaeological survey carried out by the researcher were dealt with.
Part II: The Corpus of Pottery of Kiman Faris
Chapter II: Fabrics and Wares of Kiman Faris Ptolemaic and Roman Pottery
This chapter deals with several topics related to the manufacture of the pottery discovered in the archaeological area of Kiman Faris. In the beginning, it dealt with the regulation of the pottery industry in Egypt through the available papyrological evidence from Fayoum and other regions, especially Middle Egypt. The chapter also dealt with the raw materials used and described the material of the clay pottery vessels made of indigo and desert clay. Topics followed later on, as they included techniques of forming vessels, methods of surface treatment and decoration, in addition to firing methods, and finally manufacturing defects.
Chapter III: Table Wares. Open Shape Vessels for Food and Drinking Service
This chapter presented the Ptolemaic – Late Roman table wares of Kiman Faris, which includes a variety of plates and bowls. They are mainly of Egyptian production in alluvial fabrics. The importations are very few.
There are various types of plates presented, as the rolled rim plates in alluvial fabrics and the two frequent firing moods A and B. there is also a drooping rim plate in mood B. Several other types of Plates were in discussion; shallow plates with carinated rims, up-turned rim plates, besides, variety of Late Roman plates.
The bowls show a variety of types; they included out-turned rim bowls and echinus bowls in alluvial fabrics and both mood A and B of firing. There are also grooved rim bowls, plain rim bowl, and flat-based incurved bowls. Other types were in use, also like; tulip-shaped bowls, bowls with collaret, and everted rim bowls; besides, a variety of bowls that imitate Cypriot Sigillata and African Late Roman forms.
There are few imported table wares of Eastern Sigillata, Italian sigillata of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. The importations of the Late Roman Periods are of Cypriot and African red slip wares.
Chapter IV: Cooking Wares. Open and Closed Shape Vessels of Cooking and Heating Food
This chapter discusses the cooking wares of Kiman Faris. They are divided into two main groups open and close forms, in addition to the lids.
The open forms include several types of cooking vessels, such as the cooking plates, cooking casseroles and dokas (baking plates). The closed forms comprise a variety of forms, e.g., chytrai, marmites and baking pots.
This chapter deals with the cooking vessels discovered in the area of Kiman Faris. It clarifies the extent of the influence that contact with the Greeks - during the Late Period and through their settlement in Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras - on Egyptian pottery vessels and increasing the quantities of cooking utensils distinguished from the rest of the other functional groups of pottery. Then the discussion moves to the different shapes of the cooking wares that were revealed, as they are mainly divided into open and closed forms. The open pots included cooking dishes, casseroles, dokas or baking dishes. The closed shapes included various vessels, including cooking jars, marmites and baking pots. The chapter also dealt with lids as they were closely related to cooking utensils and represent a functional complement to them.
Chapter V: Utility Wares. Pottery in Daily Life of Ptolemaic and Roman Crocodilopolis
The fifth chapter deals with several functional groups of pottery, whose uses varied inside and outside the household, as some of them were used for food preparation or storage purposes, and others were intended for various liquids, whether for drinking or as a container or for oil and wines such as jugs, flagons, jars and table amphorae. There are other vessels of small size dedicated to aromatic oils and cosmetics, as well as qadus of saqiya, large basins and even stoves made of alluvial fabrics are discussed here.
Chapter VI: Amphorae. Ancient Economy and Commercial Relations of Crocodilopolis
The sixth chapter deals with the amphorae discovered in Kiman Faris. Through these vessels, a lot can be learned about the ancient economy of the city and the surrounding region. Many types of amphorae were found in circulation in the region, most of them Egyptian and some imported. Egyptian amphorae included most of the known Egyptian amphorae, which were produced from the beginning of the Ptolemaic period until the end of the late Roman era. As for imported amphorae, they were also varied, but less in number, and in general, they belonged to the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, with some examples from Italy and North Africa during the Roman and late Roman eras.
Conclusion
In this section of the study, the main feature of each functional group is briefly discussed in a regional context to link the pottery from Kiman Faris with the published material from the province of Fayoum. In addition, the main results of the study are summarized with suggestions for future research and field activities concerning the site of Kiman Faris.
Part III: Figures and Plates
Figures [1-32]
This part includes figures of maps, google earth views, plans, photos.
Catalogue of the Illustrations of Ptolemaic and Late Roman Pottery Corpus of Kiman Faris [1-61]
The study is supplemented with a bibliography, many figures, and an illustrations’ catalogue of the pottery pots/sherds discussed in the various sections of the study.