ʿAynūna [ancient Leuke Kome (?)]

A site in the northern part of the Red Sea Saudi coast, close to the Gulf of Aqaba. It seems to have been a trading station in the Nabataean period, intermediary between the sea lanes and the caravan track to Aila and Petra. Several 1st-century-BCE storage facilities have been identified. They were also used in the Roman provincial period, and were rebuilt in the 4th cent. CE.

Site presentation

ʿAynūna is a site in the Tabūk Governorate, Saudi Arabia, about 3 km inland from Khurayba on ʿAynūna Bay, a spacious anchorage protected by coral reefs located close to the entrance of the Gulf of ʿAqaba, in view of Tīrān Island. The site was cursorily recorded by Ingraham et al. (1981) and excavated in 2014-2018 by a Saudi-Polish team (Gawlikowski, Juchniewicz, Zahrani 2021). ʿAynūna encompasses two ancient sites: Lower ʿAynūna on the terrace of the right bank of Wādī ʿAynūna close to a 100-m-wide breach through a fossil reef called Jabal al-Ṣafrāʾ, and Upper ʿAynūna at the top of this former reef, 40 m higher up.

Identification

The name has no Arabic etymology except for the initial ʿayn. A source called ʿAyn al-Qaṣab, now dry, flowed through the breach until recently (Ghabban 2011: 182-3). The second element of the name could correspond to Ὄννη of Ptolemy (Geog. 6.7.2). The site may have been the ancient λευκή κώμη (Kirwan 1984, Gawlikowski et al. 2012, Juchniewicz 2023 – contra Nappo 2010; on this topic, see Leuke Kome), described as an emporion (sea port) and a fort (Peripl. M. Rubr. 19) and mentioned by Strabo (Geog. 16.4.22–24) in connection with the expedition of Aelius Gallus to South Arabia in 26 BCE, but also in the 3rd cent. CE in an Aksumite inscription as the northern limit of Arabia (Bowersock 2013: 44–62). This was a destination for sea traffic from South Arabia and beyond, and the head of a caravan trail to Petra. ʿAynūna belonged to the Nabataean kingdom, then to the Roman Province of Arabia. The first mention under the current name dates from the 9th century CE.

Archaeological discoveries

Upper ʿAynūna has not yet been excavated, but the outline of a dense habitat is apparent from the air.

In contrast, the architectural remains of Lower ʿAynūna contain buildings composed of rows of identical rooms around courtyards, best explained as storerooms for goods brought by sea and forwarded to the north on camelback. The nature of these goods can only be inferred from general literature on Red Sea trade (e.g., Sidebotham 1986). One set of storerooms was completely excavated (Khan 1). The monetary finds indicate an early Nabataean use in the second–first centuries BCE and reconstruction in the 4th century CE. There was also an Early Islamic occupation in the 7th century CE.

The gap of Wādī ʿAynūna was dammed in the Nabataean period to water palm groves and to supply an aqueduct leading to a pool close to the sea, forming a (seasonal?) lake. This dam was reconstructed for centuries until recently. It is poorly preserved, but the local memory refers to a tradition of catastrophic flooding, resulting in the last breach of the dam.

Michel Gawlikowski

References and suggested reading

• Bowersock, G.W. 2013. The Throne of Adulis. Red Seas Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gawlikowski, M. 2022. Les Nabatéens à Aynouna sur la mer Rouge, in C. Durand, J. Marchand, B. Redon & P. Schneider (eds) Networked spaces: The spatiality of networks in the Red Sea and Western Indian Ocean(Archéologie(s)): 97–106. Lyon: MOM Éditions. http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/16356
• Gawlikowski, M., K. Juchniewicz & A. Zahrani- 2021. Aynuna. A Nabataean Port on the Red Sea. Seven Seasons of Polish-Saudi Excavations (2014–2018). Warsaw, Riyadh: Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Saudi Commission for Tourism and Heritage.
• Ghabban, A.I. 2011. Les deux routes syrienne et égyptienne de pèlerinage au nord-ouest de l’Arabie Saoudite. Cairo: IFAO.
• Ingraham, M. et al. 1981. Preliminary Report on a Reconnaissance Survey of the Northwestern Province. Atlal 5: 59–84.
• Juchniewicz, K. 2021. The port of Aynuna in the pre-Islamic period: nautical and topographical considerations on the location of Leuke Kome. PAM 26(2): 31–42.
• Juchniewicz, K. 2023. Aynuna: A Case Study of the Changing Functions of a Hijazi Coastal Settlement from the Nabatean to the Early Islamic Period. Études et Travaux XXXV: 39–57. DOI: 10.12775/EtudTrav.35.002.
• Kirwan, L.P. 1984. Where to Look for the Ancient Port of Leuke Kome, in A.T. al-Ansary (ed.) Studies in the History of Arabia. II. Pre-Islamic Arabia: 55–61. Riyadh.
• Sidebotham, S.E. 1986. Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa, 30 BC – AD 217. Cambridge, Leiden: Cambridge University Press, Brill.

_{Alternate spellings: ʿAynûna, ʿAynuna, ‘Aynūna, ‘Aynûna, Aynûnah, 'Aynûnah, Aynunah, 'Aynunah}