Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

the eastern wall. A similar blocking of the
entrance had been recorded in the southern
of the two towers (DB.II). The only fur-
nishing of this wall was a structure by the
south wall, distinguished by a large storage
vessel (pithos) built into it horizontally.
The purpose of this design is hardly clear;
it may have been used to hold valuable
objects of some kind. The fill in this room,
other than the rubble, contained quantities
of crumbling overfired brick and ashes,
presumably from a small oven uncovered
in the southeastern corner of the courtyard
(D.24). Ceramic grillwork, possibly com-
ing from this oven, was also found. There
is no clear evidence what the oven had been
used for, no produced goods or waste
objects nearby, next to the oven or else-
where in room D.29. Could the oven have
also been part of the binding workshop?
Perhaps it was used to make the metal fit-
tings and to heat tools used in decorating
leather codex covers. This suggestion is

based on the idea that the neighboring
rooms (D.19, D.22 and D.28) had indeed
served binding purposes.
To the south of the southern tower
(DB.II) excavation work was carried out in
rooms D.40-D.43, bringing to light two
occupational levels. Originally, the area
was a courtyard for domestic activities,
yielding big storage vessels and quantities
of fiber rubbish, including papyrus docu-
ments in Greek and Coptic, surviving in
fragments, as well as the mass of pressed
papyrus scraps, with writing mainly in
Greek. Quite a large collection of Aswan
tableware was also discovered here.
In a later period, presumably in the
10th or 11th cent., a staircase was erected
by the south wall, with well-preserved
wooden steps perhaps leading to the upper
floor of the tower (D.42). The western part
of the area, which was surrounded by
a wall, remained a domestic courtyard
operating in connection with Room D.19.

SITE E

In the central part of the monastic com-
plex, where the Girga ben Bifam archive
had been uncovered in 1997, to the north-
west of the monastery tower (Site A), a big
trench was dug, clearing some 100 sq. m.
The area had been used heavily for differ-
ent purposes throughout the long history
of the Nekloni monastery, from the 6th to
the end of the 19th cent. In this part of the
monastery, tower A (excavated in 1986 and
1987) was definitely the oldest structured
The monastic establishment must have
been located to its west and surrounded by
a wall, the corner of which was discovered
on Site E. This wall was made of brick; it

was 7 5 cm thick and has survived to
a height of c. 1.20 m in places. The wall
joined the NW corner of the tower and
about 3-0 m to the north it changed direc-
tion for a westerly one. A 9 m section of
this wall was cleared. On the inside of the
wall (to the south), the area remained free
of any architecture until the 8th/9th cent,
as indicated by the pottery found in its
southern end. The habitations inside the
walls were located presumably at some dis-
tance from them. This is suggested by an
important monastic structure, possibly
a church, existing to the west of tower A.
On the external, northern side of wall E,

4) W. Godlewski, T. Herbich, E. Wipszycka, Deir el Naqlun (Nekloni), 1986-1987: First Preliminary Report, Nubica
I/II, 1990, pp. 181-188.

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