Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

CONSERVATION WORK

Following various preparatory activities
ranging from a routine inspection of the
condition of areas where preservation has
been concluded through clearing of
excavated soil leftover from previous
excavations by the Egyptian Antiquities
authorities (the dumps occasionally rising
to 1.50 m and more above the ruins)2) and
archaeological investigations of undis-
turbed layers in areas programmed for con-
servation, the team of restorers and archi-
tects carried out the following program:
— Corrections, additions and removing
damage caused by vandals in buildings
where the preservation and restoration
program has already been completed
(houses H 9 and H 9a in particular);
— Current architectural studies prepara-
tory to conservation work (houses H 19
and H 21c, as well as H 10”E”);
— Building conservation (houses H 19, H
21c, streets, tomb T 6);
— Wall painting conservation.
MAINTENANCE CONSERVATION
Maintenance conservation has turned out
to be a returning issue every year. Over the
past few seasons the team has been
developing and experimenting with
conservation technologies designed to be
effective in the specific climatic conditions
of the site. Houses H 9 and H 9a, as well
as much of H 10, where conservation
activities have already been completed,
now serve as a test ground for these
methods. Much has been learned about
processes of degradation occurring in the
local limestone once it is exposed contin-
uously to weathering. Certain assumptions

regarding conservation principles have had
to be made. For one, original ancient
building methods cannotcbe applied in this
case as the clay-lime mortars and clay,
grounds used under lime wall plastering
are highly undurable. In effect, the
addition of small quantities of white
cement to lime mortars (owing to the poor
quality of lime available in Marina) has
proved essential.
Of equal importance in maintaining
the site monuments in good condition is
the regular removal of sand blown in over
the winter seasons; its saltiness makes it
a highly corrosive element.
ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES
Considering that the architectural
complexes in question were never fully
explored and there exists no archaeological
or detailed architectural documentation of
the work, all planned restoration activities
on the site have to be preceded by
architectural studies. These often require
considerable earthworks, chiefly to remove
dumps of excavated soil left from the
excavations, as well as archaeological
rescue exploration wherever undisturbed
layers are encountered.
Once this preliminary work has been
accomplished, it is possible to trace walls,
rooms and entire houses, as well as to
observe building sequences and, as a side
issue, to date the various phases in the de-
velopment of individual buildings and the
residential quarters as a whole.
This season attention was focused on
houses H 19 and H 21c, where restoration
is on-going, and H 10”E” preparatory to

2) These unplanned earthworks have yielded a number of elements of architectural decoration, such as a marble column
shaft, fragment of a Doric entablature with trygliph and many smaller pieces, none of them belonging to any of the
complexes currently under restoration.

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