Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (11.1999(2000))

TELL EL-LARKHA

EGYPT

bluish-gray gravel and has yielded abun-
dant archaeological material, including
pottery, grinder fragments, flint waste.
The layer covers natural layer 4 (2.60-
2.50 cm) which is constituted by a loamy
bluish sand. Infrequent finds (including
a vessel) come from the top of this layer. At
the bottom of layer 3 two small pits were
noted, each c. 20 cm in diameter and
10 cm deep, made of a bluish clay. One of
these contained pottery of the Lower
Egyptian civilization. The trench bottom
was reached at 2.45 m where a virgin layer
of yellow gezirah sand appeared. Apparently

layers 3 and 4 reflect occupation of a gezirah
shore zone that was flooded occasionally.
The lowest occupational layer (4) may
be linked with Lower Egyptian civiliza-
tion, while layer 3 yields Lower Egyptian
material mixed with Nagada pottery and
Old Kingdom vessels. It seems to date to
the Nagada-Old Kingdom transitional
period and was a dump area within reach of
flooding and outside the settlements of the
times. As no Old Kingdom material has
been found on the western kom, the assem-
blage discovered here must have originated
from the neighboring central kom.

CENTRAL KOM

TRENCH C/16
The 6 x 8 m trench was situated on the
south slope of the central kom and consti-
tuted an extension of trench C/01 explored
in 1998. The upper layers here had been
damaged by sebakh diggers and farmers
removing the sand. An Early Dynastic
assemblage was present only in the surface
layer of the extended trench. It was found
that these layers had largely been disrupt-
ed in this part of the site; some remains of
a Nagada II accumulation were observed,
but there were no walls of any kind and
only some hearths. The best preserved
layer, linked to the presence of the Lower
Egyptian civilization, yielded a few pits
and post holes. Also noted were grooves
c. 20 cm wide forming rectangular out-
lines. The ceramic material was abundant,
but very fragmentary, consisting mostly of
small vases decorated with a zigzag and
small irregular bowls. A fragment of a clay
seal in similarity to the one from trench
C/126 was found here as well.
TRENCH C/49
A trial pit (5 x 5 m) was dug on the south-
eastern slope of the central kom to verify

the results of geophysical prospection that
had revealed a series of lines and a round
object featuring strong magnetic proper-
ties. Mudbrick walls c. 50 cm thick were
found to run immediately under the sur-
face (top at 5.50 m) and the round object
turned out to be a hearth with a thick layer
of ashes.
Eleven natural layers were distin-
guished in the trench {Fig. 6). The upper
three layers, linked with the topmost level
of walls, are to be dated to the Nagada III
period. The lowest with mudbrick struc-
tures (at 4.90 m) are connected with the
Nagada lid civilization. Cultural layers
identified with the Nagada civilization
reach a depth of 4.40 m (level 9). No traces
of mudbrick walls were observed in the
bottom layers connected with this settle-
ment phase. What is noteworthy is a layer
of debris up to 20 cm thick composed of
baked "bricks" of semicircular section,
lying in part of the trench (as in the case of
the object in trench W/97).
The lowest two layers with the remains
of a round shelter are to be connected with
the Lower Egyptian civilization. The shel-
ter is c. 3.5 cm in diameter and inserted

69