The excavations of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology
and Anthropology at Marsa Matruh on Bates's Island, which is located on
the seacoast at the north of Egypt's western desert, uncovered a small
site with a metalworking workshop and nearby houses. The pottery found
in the excavations indicates that this small Late Bronze Age settlement
had links to several cultures: Cyprus, the Aegean, Egypt, the coast of
western Asia, and the local Marmarican people. The results of the
excavations are published in two volumes. This volume provides an
overview of the excavations at the site, the Late Bronze Age and
historical period occupations, and an introduction to the environmental
morphology and history of the island.