Three Seasons of Excavation at Ismant el-Gharab in Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt

This paper describes the results of work carried out by the Dakhleh Oasis Project at the Romano-Byzantine site of Ismant el-Gharab. A survey has shown it to be a major urban centre with religious, administrative, and domestic quarters. Excavation within one of the latter has revealed well-preserved structures and unearthed an abundance of objects, including 360 fragments of Greek and Coptic papyri and two intact 'books' written in Greek upon wooden boards. One preserves the first three books of Isocrates the Orator and the other a farm account. Excavation within an administrative building has revealed the presence of elaborate frescoes in a colonnaded hall.