Adulis

An ancient port city on the southwestern Red Sea coast in Eritrea's Gulf of Zula, serving as the principal seaport of the Aksumite Kingdom. Trade connections reached from the Pharaonic era through the 7th century AD, facilitating exchange of ivory, incense, gold, and obsidian with the Mediterranean, Arabia, Persia, and India. Excavations since 2011 have uncovered early Christian basilicas with marble decorations, a cathedral, and imported Roman amphorae, Indian ceramics, and Sassanian glassware. The city was abandoned around the 7th-8th century during the early Islamic period.