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Acknowledgements

This book originates from one chapter of my PhD thesis, completed in 2014 at the University of Salento and University of Poitiers. It provides a comprehensive study of the ceramic materials recovered in a Late Roman House (B1) and two streets (S2 and S3) adjacent to it, between the 2004 and 2010 seasons, during the archaeological excavations carried out by the international team of New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at Amheida, in the western desert of Egypt.

It was a great privilege for me to be invited to prepare this final report on the ceramics from House B1, during which I was assisted by a number of people whom I would like to thank. In particular, I am profoundly grateful to Roger S. Bagnall, Director of the Amheida Project, for his constant support, careful scientific editing, and for giving me the opportunity to study this material in the first place. Special thanks go to the project’s Archaeological Director and – above all – my mentor Paola Davoli, whose expert guidance helped me move through each stage of my research and academic career. Her precious advice during all these years on the field, the comments, and archaeological discussions have resulted in the present manuscript. I also would like to thank Pascale Ballet, not only for her supervision of this study during her stay in the field, but also for her priceless ceramological teachings and comments on the manuscript of this study. Her expertise in Greco-Romano-Egyptian ceramic traditions in the Great Oasis significantly impacted interpretations in this volume.

Every member of the Amheida Project team, including both past and present members, contributed enormously to this volume and took part directly or indirectly in the painstaking processing of this ceramic materials. I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the archaeologists, topographers, and specialists who worked on the day-to-day excavation, recording, photographing, and data management for House B1. In particular, I would like to extend special thanks to my ceramologist colleagues Andrea Myers Achi, Delphine Dixneuf, Julie Marchand, Gillian Pyke, and Irene Soto Marín. In addition to myself, the drawings of the vessels were done during in the field by Ashraf Senussi, Julie Marchand, Stefania Alfarano, Paola Vertuani. The photographic images are mainly the work of Bruno Bazzani and the plans published in this volume were drafted by Ar/S Archeosistemi and Leonardo Davighi. The careful and accurate restoration of the vessels was the work of our conservator Mohammed Ahmed Sayed. The ever-present and ever-friendly Bruno Bazzani, the Mission’s official IT Engineer and photographer, has a special claim on my gratitude. His extraordinary patience and expertise in implementing the database and the information tools for working on ceramics have greatly facilitated my analysis and statistical quantification.

Our Egyptian colleagues were an invaluable part of this study and the larger project in the field. Ashraf Barakat, Assistant to the Director, kept the project running smoothly at all times. The staff at the excavation house, under the management of Gaber Murad, made the stay in the house always pleasant and comfortable.

Additional thanks go to the anonymous reviewers, who provided valuable comments and suggestions for additions and clarifications on the manuscript.

A portion of this volume was written during my post-doctorate research position in the Collaborative Research Centre 933 “Material Text Cultures. Materiality and Presence of Writing in Non-Typographic Societies” at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Germany), as part of the subproject A09 “Writing on Ostraca in the Inner and Outer Mediterranean.” I would like to thank all the members and scholars I met between 2016 and 2019 in Heidelberg, who provided assistance, motivation, and good humor to me during the period in which I completed this volume. The CRC 933 is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), which I thank for supporting my research during these years.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, my greatest shelter, and particularly to Stefania Alfarano and Roberta Casagrande-Kim for their constant encouragement and help. This work could have not been completed without the love, care, and understanding of my husband Gianni, who gave me the strength to continue day after day in the most difficult moments. It is to him that this book is dedicated.