Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

TELL EL LARKHA

EGYPT

structure described above), coming from
the layer of ashes and burnt earth inside the
structure, are also in this case suggestive of
a roof that had been made of organic
substances and coated with mud.
Below the burnt earth, a layer of
D-shaped bricks following a different
arrangement was uncovered. The next level
finally yielded conclusive evidence of a
circle, 0.40-0.60 m in diameter, formed of
D-shaped bricks inside each of the circular
elements of the structure (Fig. 8). In the
center there was a flat brick and around it,
a number of bricks set into the ground at
an angle, intended as a support for the big,
relatively narrow-bottomed vats that had
once stood on the round substructures
(some sherds of thick-walled vessels of this
variety were found in the fill). Another

interesting feature is the white burnt clay
deposited inside the installations.
The difference in brick shapes should
also be emphasized. Some are simple (of
different length) with sections ranging
from practically semicircular to trapezoid
and even almost triangular. Others, which
are also of different length, are flatter and
evidently concave at one of the ends, the
depression having been made carelessly
with finger impressions clearly visible on
the side walls. The two kinds of bricks
can be put together so that the convexity
of one fits the concavity of the other. The
flat bricks presumably either lay on the
ground or were dug into it, and the
convex ones lying in the depressions
projected upwards, supporting the vat or
vessel.


Fig. 8. Western Kom. Bottom layer with visible circular supports for vats and bricks sticking out
at an angle (Photo R. Slabonski)

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