Changing Life in Egyptian Alexandria

The volume is a study of a massive set of funerary data from an
important site in a city in Egypt, Alexandria, that remains
comparatively little known archaeologically for the Islamic period. More
than 60 years of research at the cemetery on Kom el-Dikka, carried out
by a couple of generations of Polish researchers, have resulted in the
exploration of up to 1000 graves, yielding more than 2500 skeletons for
anthropological examination. <br />The bioarchaeological data have been
analyzed comprehensively in search of evidence for the quality of life
in Alexandria between the 9th and 12th centuries. The changing living
conditions of the local population, observed over some 400 years, are
discussed in the context of historical and archaeological evidence,
supplying a useful frame for putting into perspective the results, minor
and major, of the osteological study. The author also addresses the
controversial issue of the phasing of the cemetery, delivering a
conclusive argument for distinguishing just two phases of burial at Kom
el-Dikka in the Islamic period.