The excavations of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Marsa Matruh on Bates' Island, which is located on the seacoast at the north of Egypt's western desert, uncovered a small site with a metalworking workshop and nearby houses. The pottery found in the excavations indicates that this small Late Bronze Age settlement had links to several cultures: Cyprus, the Aegean, Egypt, the coast of western Asia, and the local Marmarican people. The results of the excavations are published in two volumes. This volume provides an overview of the excavations at the site, the Late Bronze Age and historical period occupations, and an introduction to the environmental morphology and history of the island.

Donald White is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Curator of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology's Mediterranean Section. He is editor-in-chief of the publication series The Extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Cyrene, Libya.