Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

shrouds, a mat being used instead to cover
the body. Of this group the most
interesting undoubtedly is burial T. 165.
The deceased was found to have had
a leather-belted woolen tunic (Nd.00083)
and shawl; (Nd.00082), both ornamented
with vertical bands of geometric
decoration, crosses and vertically aligned
“Coptic” letters imitating an inscription
(Fig. 14).
In the light of excavations in 1986 and
1997-2000, the cemetery on Site A,
concentrated around Church A, constitutes
a fairly extensive and intensively used
burial ground for Christians from the


Fig. 14. Woolen tunic. Central part with
a cross ornament (Nd. 00083)
(Photo W. Godlewski)

Fayum area over a number of centuries.
The cemetery, which has not been fully
explored as yet, appears to have served the
common folk; not one of the graves could
be associated with the monastic
community at Naqlun. Indeed, the
monastery in the 12th century must have
undergone a considerable reduction as
regards size and population. Right from
the start, the cemetery was associated with
Church A, which presumably served the
local Christian community. Members of
this group must have been quiet affluent
and influential to judge by the archives of
Georgi Bifam and his family discovered in
1997 in the ruins of Building E. Evidence
is lacking for a precise dating of the
beginnings of this cemetery, but it
obviously started functioning at the turn of
the 10th century. Initially, the tombs were
situated in the close vicinity of Church A,
to the northwest of it and presumably also
to the east, although only three burials have
been recorded on this side (T. 041, T. 093,
T. 101); while these three graves are
evidently medieval, none of the furnishings
provide for a better date and they need not
have been among the earliest burials in this
section of the cemetery. The second group
of burials, uncovered on the spot of
Building E, dates to a time when the
structure was abandoned already, that is, to
the 13th-l4th century presumably. The
latest in the cemetery are graves put inside
Church A, obviously only after it had been
destroyed. This latest period of use started
tentatively ,in the 14th century and
continued for a long time, perhaps even
into the 19th century. The modern custom
of burying Christians in monastic crypts
associated with the still functioning
Church of the Archangel Gabriel must be
a leftover of the medieval tradition
connected with Church A and constitutes
a continuation of the investigated cemetery.

160