Corroded pieces of metal, stamped lumps of copper, broken bits of glass with partial inscriptions, fragments of textiles, tiny beads - these were the raw material found at al-Fustat, the site of the first Muslim settlement in Egypt in the seventh century. These findings were built up into a collection by Dr Henri Amin Awad. The ten studies in this volume - covering beads, bone, coins, glass weights and vessel stamps, medical instruments, medical prescriptions, metal objects, and textiles - demonstrate the wide range of archaeological material found in al-Fustat, a site no longer accessible since most of it has been buried under development or lost to a rising water table.