Coins from the site of Marina el-Alamein: an overview of recent and some earlier finds

Abstract

A recently uncovered assemblage of 13 coins, some of significant dating value, but all loose finds from fieldwork conducted by the Polish–Egyptian Conservation Mission, is discussed in the context of earlier coin finds recorded by the two Polish projects involved in the archaeological excavation and conservation of the Marina el-Alamein site on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The focus is foremost on predominantly Roman provincial coins originating from the Alexandrian mint. One of these bears a mark indicative of its use as a pendant. Hadrian bronzes, most numerous in this group, along with coins of Trajan and Antoninus Pius corroborate a peak in the development of the town in the 2nd century AD, while late Roman imperial specimens are direct evidence for its continued functioning in the late antique period.