Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

TELL LARAMA

EGYPT

PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE
STRATIGRAPHY AND POTTERY

Krzysztof Jakubiak

Several stratigraphical phases were distin-
guished following the first season of exca-
vations at Tell Farama (ancient Pelusium).1)
The first phase is associated with the actual
use of the theater. In the next phase, the
building was used as a garbage dump. This
is clearly visible in the southern section of
the excavated area: just in front of the
pulpitum there is a 35 cm layer of organic
remains and mixed potsherds.
A pit located in the southeastern corner
of the area is probably related to a second
phase in the abandonment of the building,
when the theater was dismantled for
bricks, which were used probably to build
the Late Roman fortress located west of the
theater.
In order to facilitate transport of the
removed bricks, the dump was laid with
a thin layer of broken bricks. Simulta-
neously, new layers of lime debris ac-
cumulated, and litter continued to be
deposited in the ruins, alternating with
layers of pure desert sand.
Overlying these is a leveling layer
consisting of brown earth with patches of
lime and small fragments of pottery, twice
remade with bricks mixed with lime
mortar. The fill up to the modern surface
contains more lime and fragments of
bricks, pottery, etc. accumulated inside the
theater, showing that the dismantling was
a prolonged activity.
1) See contribution by M. Gawlikowski in this volume.

Moreover, in the two parodoi, east and
west, traces of plundering of the pulpitum
and of the outer wall of the monument are
acute. The corresponding stratum was
composed of brown compact earth, ashes,
lime and potsherds. In the western passage,
some 40 cm below the narrow ledge of the
stage building, a brick threshold covered
by cement was found. Just below the level
of the threshold, the foundations cut
through two parallel walls of the Hel-
lenistic period.


Fig. 1. Terracotta head of a goddess (?)
(Photo M. Gawlikowski)

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