Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

* * *

The current state of research, both in
the ancient town and in its necropolis,
indicates that the city, the name of which
remains to be satisfactorily identified,4)
was in existence from the 2nd cent. BC
until the 6th cent. AD.5) In their initial
phase, the houses now under conservation
appear to go back to the late 1st and 2nd
cent. AD and later underwent repeated
rebuilding. The standing structures, which
are the object of the mission's activities,
have been dated provisionally to the late
2nd cent. AD; they remained in use in
practically unchanged form until at least
the 4th cent. AD. Their destruction should
be linked with a cataclysm of some kind,
possibly an earthquake to judge by the fall-

en walls. Clearing work during the season
has shown that the original occupational
levels of houses HlOa and H$>b lay some
0.80 m below the levels of the houses from
the 4th century.
Ever since its discovery, the ancient
town has been undergoing gradual devas-
tation caused by natural erosion processes.
The deterioration has progressed dramati-
cally over the past winter with exception-
ally heavy rains causing landslides and fill-
ing the excavated ruins with a thick layer
of mud and sand. This necessitated exten-
sive clearing work before the actual conser-
vation could be undertaken. An effort was
made to prevent a similar situation taking
place in the future.

CONSERVATION WORK

HOUSE H9 (Fig. 2)
As in previous years, particular stages of
the conservation process: recording and
designing documentation, preparatory
steps and actual conservation work, pro-
gressed simultaneously.
The first step was to assess the damages
caused by the heavy winter rains. Water
and sand had taken a toll on the floors and
wall structures in the southern end of the
house. As part of prevention steps made to
protect the site from similar damage in the
future, the mounds of excavated sand and

debris from the trenches were removed to
a greater distance and all possible openings
in the outer perimeter of the complex were
blocked; the surrounding area was land-
scaped to provide for adequate rainfall
drainage.
Sections of walls intended for preserva-
tion treatment this season were cleaned
very thoroughly. The tops of walls were
dismantled until a sound core was reached;
the joints were cleaned mechanically, as
was the face of the stone blocks. The sur-
viving walls did not exceed 2.00 m in

31 The site has been under exploration since 1987. For current work by a Polish archaeological expedition in the Western
Necropolis see report by W.A. Daszewski in this volume.
4> For a discussion of the possible identification of the ancient town as Leucaspis or Antiphrae see, i.a., W. A. Daszewski,
Temoignage de l'urbanisation de la Cote Mediterraneenne de I'epoque hellenistique et romaine a la lumiere des fouilles de
Marina el Alamein, Bulletin de la Societe Fran^aise d'tigyptologie 132 (1995), pp. 14-16; A. Twardecki, Marina - nowe polskie
stanowisko archeologiczne w Egipcie. Proba lokalizacji na mapie Egiptu grecko-rzymskiego, Studia i materialy archeologiczne,
vol. 9(1992), pp. 107-118.
5> See W.A. Daszewski, Marina el Alamein. The site of an unknown Graeco-Roman settlement on the Mediterranean
Coast of Egypt, [in:] Marina el-Alamein. Archaeological background and conservation problems, vol. I (Warsaw 1991),
p. 12.

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