Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

WOODEN AND LEADEN COFFINS
FROM THE GRAECO-ROMAN BURIAL GROUND
OF MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

Iwona Zych

The discovery in situ of a surprisingly
well-preserved wooden coffin in Tomb 29,
investigated archaeologically this year,1-*
gave impetus to a study that the author
has been continuing on and off, as part of
a broader interest in burial customs of the
Graeco-Roman period in this part of
Egypt, for as long as she has had the
opportunity to participate in excavations
of the burial ground of Marina el-Alamein
on the northwest coast of Egypt.

Consequently, it has been deemed
beneficial to provide this provisional
account of the assemblage of wooden and
leaden coffins,1 2) as well as evidence of wo-
oden biers, discovered over the years in
particular tombs by an archaeological
team directed by Prof. W. A. Daszewski
from the Polish Center of Archaeology of
Warsaw University and by inspectors
from the Supreme Council of Antiquities
of Egypt.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE FINDS

The coffins come from a cemetery lying on
the fringes of the ancient harbor town
located at the site of Marina el-Alamein.
The small town, which appears to have
been a prosperous coastal settlement, was
founded already sometime in the 2nd
century BC, but its heyday came from the
first century BC onwards. Several of the

underground chamber tombs investigated
in the central part of the cemetery that
extends southwards and southwestwards of
the town, date from the second half of the
1st century BC. Many of these served burial
and memorial purposes for longer periods
of time, extending even down into the 3rd
century AD.3) The coast in this region is

1) For an overall report on the results of the 2002 season at the site, cf. the contribution by W.A. Das2ewski in this
volume.
2) The season also brought the first of a kind discovery in Marina el-Alamein of a terracotta coffin, which is illustrated on
p. 56 in this volume. Mention should be made as well of the use of large ceramic storage containers as coffins, e.g. child
burial Gl4 on the outside of the south wall of the aboveground mausoleum of Tomb 6, (cf. W.A. Daszewski, PAM XII,
Reports 2000 (2001), 55) and an entire section of the cemetery concentrated in the neighborhood of the Christian basilica on
the site.
3) For reports on excavations bythe Polish Archaeological Mission in the ancient necropolis, see previous volumes of
PAM 1-IV, VI-XIII (1990-2002). A comprehensive discussion and dating was presented by the discoverer, W.A. Daszewski, in
a paper read at the conference in Lyon, cf. id., "La necropole de Marina el-Alamein", in: Necropoles et Pouvoir. Ideologies,
pratiques et interpretations. Actes du colloque "Theories de la necropole antique", Lyon 21-25 Janvier 1995, ed. S. Marchegay,
N.-Th. Le Dinahet, J.-F. Salles (Lyon 1998), 229-241, and in another contribution presented at a conference in Rhodes
(forthcoming).

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