Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

GENERAL REMARKS

Architectural studies and archaeological
investigations in the past years2) have led
us to believe that the houses under
reconstruction originate from the late 1st
and 2nd cent. AD. Later, they were
renovated and rebuilt a number of times.
The structural form, which is currently
undergoing reconstruction, is dated to the
last quarter of the 2nd and the early 3rd
cent. AD.3) The houses survived in
practically unchanged state at least into
the 4th cent. Evidence is mounting for
a cataclysmic destruction of the town —
layers of ash, collapsed walls and toppled
columns, lying in undisturbed architectural
order, where they had fallen.
The initial habitation level has been
identified in a few places in H 10a and
H 9b, and, recently, in the street in front
of the entrance to H 10. It was apparently

from 0.76 to 1.00 m below the level of the
stone flagging in the houses of the 2nd
through 4th centuries.
The principles and methods of
conservation applied in previous seasons
have remained unchanged. Damaged wall
plastering was not restored for technical
and aesthetic reasons. In the future, every
effort will be made to preserve in place
fragments of the original plastering
together with the ground (e.g. in room 3a
of H 10).4) The tops of walls raised in
a broken-stone bond were protected with
a layer of more tightly laid stones and an
inclined capping of lime mortar mixed
with some white cement, designed to run
off excess rainwater. The remaining walls,
however, will have the last layer made of
regular slabs or blocks, in similarity to the
rest of the wall.

2) For previous work, cf. reports by S. Medeksza in previous volumes of this series: PAM VII, Reports 1995 (1996), 42-52;
PAM VIII, Reports 1996 (1997), 82-88; PAM IX, Reports 1997 (1998), 72-76; PAM X, Reports 1998 (1999), 51-62; PAM
XI, Reports 1999 (2000), 47-57. Also: E. tuzyniecka, “Architektura wczesnochrzescijanskiej bazyliki w Marina el-Alamein”,
Architectus, 1-2 (1997), 47-58; id., “Dom perystylowy w Marina el-Alamein”, Architectus, 1-2 (3-4) (1998), 28-37;
R. Czerner, S. Medeksza, “Konserwacja grecko-rzymskiej osady w Marina el-Alamein”, Architectus, 2 (6) (1999), 13-20;
S. Medeksza, “Marina el-Alamein, grecko-rzymskie miasto w Egipcie. Badania architektoniczno-urbanistyczne i restauracja
reliktow architektury mieszkalnej”, in: Conservatio est aeterna creatio. In Hommage to Prof. Jan Tajchman (Torun 1999), 117-
154; id., “Konserwacja reliktow architektury i malarstwa sciennego w Marina el-Alamein”, Architectus, 1 (6) (2000), 5-18;
id., “Prace badawcze i konserwatorskie w grecko-rzymskim miescie w Marina el-Alamein w Egipcie”, KRAKOW 2000
International Symposium on Architectural Intervention in Historical Complexes, November 21-23, 1999 (Cracow 2000),
145-147; R. Czerner, S. Medeksza, “Marina el-Alamein. A Graeco-Roman Town in Egypt and its Restoration”, 1st
International Conference on Restoration and Conservation of Antiquities, University of Cairo, Faculty of Archaeology,
Cairo, April 12-14, 1999 (in print); R. Czerner, “Aedicula z domu H 10 w Marina el-Alamein w Egipcie. Analiza
architektoniczna, rekonstrukcja”, Architectus, 2 (7) (2000) (in print).
3) Dr. Adam Lajtar, Warsaw University, has kindly commented upon the inscription from H 21c, dedicated to
Commodus, which he dates to AD 180-183 (see below). The wall paintings from H 10 have been dated by Z. Kiss to the
2nd-3rd cent. AD, cf. Medeksza, “Marina el-Alamein...”, In Hommage to Prof. Jan Tajchman, op. cit., 117-154; id.,
Konserwacja..., op. cit., 5-18.
4) It was found, however, that progressing powdering of ancient rock surfaces in already protected sections of the wall,
and the subsequent falling out of the original lime mortar, required building work and new pointing. Hence, the difference
between the old and new parts of the walls has been obliterated to some extent. Still, the walls are original in 80%, only
newly pointed.

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