DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Medeksza, Stanisław: Marina el-Alamein: conservation work in the 2003 season
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41371#0097
MARINA EL-ALAMEIN
EGYPT
a height of c. 1.00-1.20 m, occasionally
1.40 m, in an effort to clarify the layout of
particular houses and trace the sur-
rounding streets. The houses are studied
architecturally in the process. For example,
this season the investigations of House H
10”E” were completed; the structure now
appears to have had eighteen main rooms
and five subsidiary ones (Fig. 2). It also
seems clear now that rather than the four
houses previously hypothesized in this
insula, there were only two.
A specific conservation problem was
posed by the partition walls inside House
H 19b. These are walls constructed of
limestone chips set in a clay mortar and as
such are very difficult for maintenance or
restoration. It was decided to point the
walls with a lime and white cement mortar
(sand-to-lime-to-white cement ratio:
6:3:1), commonly used in conservation in
Marina. All the walls were protected with
top courses of closely set broken stone
bonded in lime mortar with some white
cement added, and appropriate sloping for
protection against rainwater.
The commemorative memorial to
Commodus in room 2 of House H 21c was
given a limestone parapet and was covered
with stone slabs (Fig. 3).5) The bases of
small columns were erected on this
parapet; one whole column and a piece of
another will be restored in the future. The
bases are 0.30 m high; the six surviving
parts of column shafts measure 0.29-
0.30 m in diameter and are 0.52 m high.
A single preserved column capital mea-
sures 0.30 m in height.
Fig. 3. House H 21c and hall H 2IN.
Flan showing work completed in 2003
(hatched) Drawing S. Medeksza)
5) A discussion of this memorial with Dr. A. tajtar's interpretation is given in S. Medeksza, PAM XII, Reports 2000
(2001), 73-74. This year, a piece from the marble dedication inscription, apparently picked up as a surface find at some
earlier date, was noted by I. Zych among the objects from Marina stored at the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria. It is
a corner fragment with the beginning of a line of Greek inscription on one side and the squeezed in end of another line on
the other. Dr. Lajtar, who kindly shared his knowledge on the subject, was able to read the date of the dedication from this
piece: year 23 of Commodus, corresponding to 29 August 182 - 28 August 183. For his comments, cf. JJP 33 (2003), 177-
179 and previously JJP 31 (2001), 61-62.
95
EGYPT
a height of c. 1.00-1.20 m, occasionally
1.40 m, in an effort to clarify the layout of
particular houses and trace the sur-
rounding streets. The houses are studied
architecturally in the process. For example,
this season the investigations of House H
10”E” were completed; the structure now
appears to have had eighteen main rooms
and five subsidiary ones (Fig. 2). It also
seems clear now that rather than the four
houses previously hypothesized in this
insula, there were only two.
A specific conservation problem was
posed by the partition walls inside House
H 19b. These are walls constructed of
limestone chips set in a clay mortar and as
such are very difficult for maintenance or
restoration. It was decided to point the
walls with a lime and white cement mortar
(sand-to-lime-to-white cement ratio:
6:3:1), commonly used in conservation in
Marina. All the walls were protected with
top courses of closely set broken stone
bonded in lime mortar with some white
cement added, and appropriate sloping for
protection against rainwater.
The commemorative memorial to
Commodus in room 2 of House H 21c was
given a limestone parapet and was covered
with stone slabs (Fig. 3).5) The bases of
small columns were erected on this
parapet; one whole column and a piece of
another will be restored in the future. The
bases are 0.30 m high; the six surviving
parts of column shafts measure 0.29-
0.30 m in diameter and are 0.52 m high.
A single preserved column capital mea-
sures 0.30 m in height.
Fig. 3. House H 21c and hall H 2IN.
Flan showing work completed in 2003
(hatched) Drawing S. Medeksza)
5) A discussion of this memorial with Dr. A. tajtar's interpretation is given in S. Medeksza, PAM XII, Reports 2000
(2001), 73-74. This year, a piece from the marble dedication inscription, apparently picked up as a surface find at some
earlier date, was noted by I. Zych among the objects from Marina stored at the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria. It is
a corner fragment with the beginning of a line of Greek inscription on one side and the squeezed in end of another line on
the other. Dr. Lajtar, who kindly shared his knowledge on the subject, was able to read the date of the dedication from this
piece: year 23 of Commodus, corresponding to 29 August 182 - 28 August 183. For his comments, cf. JJP 33 (2003), 177-
179 and previously JJP 31 (2001), 61-62.
95