Reconstructing the Late Antique and Early Mediaeval Settlement Dynamics. Some Cases from the Eastern Delta

The archaeological research in Egypt has always focused on the phases of greater monumentality of the sites, mainly pharaonic, Ptolemaic and Roman, neglecting different evidence belonging to last phases of the settlement lifespan, which remained for a long time undocumented or understudied. Within the 'PAThs' project, great importance is given to the (re)contextualization of the manuscripts in their archaeological and topographical settings and one of its main goals is the creation of an Archaeological Atlas of the Coptic Literature, where places becomes a crucial resource. The purpose of my contribution is to present some case of studies to understand the importance of this tool in the study of population dynamics. The examples discussed here will focus on the archaeological evidence of the Eastern Delta, which, although lacking manuscripts, can still represent an important tassel for the reconstruction of the Egyptian landscape in late antique and early mediaeval era