CAIRO, EGYPT—Live Science reports that a pottery workshop dated to the beginning of the Roman period has been found in the ancient port city of Alexandria by archaeologists from Egypt's Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities. The researchers have uncovered vessels, coins, figurines, and the remains of several buildings made of limestone. Two of the kilns at the site had been carved out of the rock. One building held cooking utensils and tableware, another held stoves and amphoras containing fish bones, while additional structures may have served as temporary housing for workers. The presence of terracotta statues of Harpocrates, the juvenile form of the falcon-headed god Horus, in a room with a raised platform suggests it may have been used for rituals. Mustafa Waziri of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said the site was reused during the Byzantine era for lime production, and later as a cemetery. To read about Egypt's main port city before the rise of Alexandria, go to "Egypt's Temple Town."
