Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

NAQLUN

TWO POTTERY DEPOSITS FROM
BUILDING AA IN NAQLUN

Magdalena Zurek

Two separate pottery deposits were dis- Building A, now presumed to have been
covered in structure AA situated west of the monastery keep.11
DEPOSIT FROM ROOM AA.30.2

Being the biggest of the units excavated so
far in the structure, room AA.30.2 is
virtually a square in plan and has a massive
pillar standing in the center. The pottery
from the fill falls into two distinct
occupational phases: the later one from the
10th/11th century,1 2) 3 which was contem-
porary with the last efforts to adapt the
dilapidated complex for further use, and an
earlier one, of the 8th/9th century, perhaps
even the first half of the 9 th century A
Two big storage jars, both made of Nile
silt, were discovered dug into the ground
in the southwestern corner of the room. Jar
Nd.01.218 (Fig. 1:A) is 59-4 cm high and
has a rim diameter of 24.0-24.5 cm. The
thickly ribbed neck narrows toward the
top. Four small round handles are set on
the narrow and virtually flat shoulders.
The body, which is strongly carinated at

one-third of the height, narrows toward
a ring foot measuring 7.0 cm in diameter.
The vessel is covered with a simple
ornament painted in red on a white slip.
A red line emphasizes the bottom of the
shoulders and between the handles there
runs an arcade — a wavy line between two
arches. Schematically drawn branches fill
the five metope fields on the body, which
are separated by double or quadruple
straight or wavy lines. The ornament is
blurred in many places. The vessel can be
dated with considerable certainty to the
9th century,4) perhaps even its beginning.
The decoration of the other storage jar
(Nd.01.219, Figs. 1:B, 2) is much more
complex. The jar itself is 60.4 cm high and
has a rim diameter equal to 24.4 cm. The
everted flaring rim is weakly profiled. The
shoulders are broad and sloping, gently

1) W. Godlewski, T. Herbich, E. Wipszycka, “Deir el Naqlun (Nekloni), 1986-1987: First preliminary report”, Nubica
1-2 (1990), 171-201; also successive excavation reports by W. Godlewski in: PAM XII, Reports 2000 (2001), 149-161;
PAM XIII, Reports 2001 (2002), 159-170.
2) The Aswan beakers, qullae, glazed bowls and amphorae from this assemblage are typically found in lOth-llth century
layers.
3) Pottery from this layer finds parallels in the fairly well dated ceramics from Elephantine (7th-8th century), the
monastery of Epiphanios (7th-8th century), Tebtynis (mid 7th-mid 9th century) and Ashmunein (8th century).
4) Two similar vessels were discovered in 2001 in House X at Tebtynis, in layers from the early 9th and second half of the
9th-first half of the 10th centuries, cf. M.-O. Rousset, S. Marchand, “Secteur nord de Tebtynis (Fayyoum). Mission de
2000”, Anlsl 35 (2001), 442 and 458. They have more sloping shoulders than the Naqlun jar.

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