DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Majcherek, Grzegorz: Kom el-Dikka: Excavation and preservation work, 2003/2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0025
ALEXANDRIA
EGYPT
AREA Q
The zone adjoining the southern portico of
the bath had not been investigated so far. In
1998, poorly preserved remains of a huge
foundation wall running N-S and a marble
column were uncovered at its eastern ex-
treme, raising hopes of finding more
material evidence of the palestra supposedly
located there7 and resolving issues relevant
to its potential layout, as well as architec-
tural decoration and chronology.
First cleared was a large group of graves
of the Upper Moslem Necropolis (Q 45-
Q 74), located on almost flat ground, ap-
proximately 12.30-12.70 m above sea level.
The excavated structures paralleled in form
graves previously recorded elsewhere on
the site. Earlier graves featured an open
rectangular casing made of thin upright
slabs (Q 62-63, Q 70-73). Later structures
were made commonly as stone chambers
covered with slabs that were laid flat or
else pitched (Q 45, Q 61, Q 65). Some
graves were additionally equipped with
shafts placed at the eastern end of the cham-
ber in order to facilitate secondary burials.
Simple interments were also found tightly
packed in the available space between the
graves. The layers associated with the
cemetery produced the usual range of
finds: glazed oil-lamps, glass weights,
some rather undecipherable coins and
fragmentarily preserved inscribed stelae.
Of special interest was a large assem-
blage of medieval glazed ceramics ranging
from Egyptian wares through Siculo-
Maghrebi proto-Majolicas, Cypriot and
Al-Mina wares. The artifactual evidence
supports the chronology previously es-
tablished for this phase of the necropolis.
All the graves were clustered rather to
the north, leaving a gap along the southern
edge (baulk) of the trench. It was soon
discovered, however, that this was due to
a huge robbers' pit, which had destroyed
some of the graves. Approximately 1.50 m
down into the pit with Mamluk Glazed
pottery much in evidence, the remnants of
a huge stone wall closing the area from the
south were found. Three separate segments
of the wall, measuring from 1.50 to 3-30 m
in length, were cleared.
The wall (c. 0.90 m thick) was structur-
ed of large limestone ashlars, some of them
exceeding 1 m in length. Evenly spaced
pits clearly seen in the southern baulk of
the trench left little doubt that the wall
must have been originally buttressed in
a manner similar to the wall running in the
same line further east. This in turn led to
the conclusion that the newly discovered
wall was indeed the outer southern wall of
the bath complex.
The layout of the palestra was thus
marked out on the ground; the facility was
found to measure approximately 9 x 27 m
and to be surrounded with porticoes on the
north, east and presumably also west
(assuming a symmetry of design) [Fig. 3}.
These rather modest dimensions, standing
in telling opposition to the overall size of
the bath complex, conform well to Late
Roman practice and find numerous paral-
lels in bathhouses excavated in the Eastern
Mediterranean.
The work was halted temporarily at
a level approximately 11.00 m above sea
level, where a large stretch of flagstone
paving was cleared [Fig. 6]. The paving is
7 PAM X, Reports 1999 (2000), 29-39; for the presumed palestra, see W. Kol^taj, Imperial Baths at Kom el-Dikka,
Alexandrie VI (Warsaw 1992), 169-170.
23
EGYPT
AREA Q
The zone adjoining the southern portico of
the bath had not been investigated so far. In
1998, poorly preserved remains of a huge
foundation wall running N-S and a marble
column were uncovered at its eastern ex-
treme, raising hopes of finding more
material evidence of the palestra supposedly
located there7 and resolving issues relevant
to its potential layout, as well as architec-
tural decoration and chronology.
First cleared was a large group of graves
of the Upper Moslem Necropolis (Q 45-
Q 74), located on almost flat ground, ap-
proximately 12.30-12.70 m above sea level.
The excavated structures paralleled in form
graves previously recorded elsewhere on
the site. Earlier graves featured an open
rectangular casing made of thin upright
slabs (Q 62-63, Q 70-73). Later structures
were made commonly as stone chambers
covered with slabs that were laid flat or
else pitched (Q 45, Q 61, Q 65). Some
graves were additionally equipped with
shafts placed at the eastern end of the cham-
ber in order to facilitate secondary burials.
Simple interments were also found tightly
packed in the available space between the
graves. The layers associated with the
cemetery produced the usual range of
finds: glazed oil-lamps, glass weights,
some rather undecipherable coins and
fragmentarily preserved inscribed stelae.
Of special interest was a large assem-
blage of medieval glazed ceramics ranging
from Egyptian wares through Siculo-
Maghrebi proto-Majolicas, Cypriot and
Al-Mina wares. The artifactual evidence
supports the chronology previously es-
tablished for this phase of the necropolis.
All the graves were clustered rather to
the north, leaving a gap along the southern
edge (baulk) of the trench. It was soon
discovered, however, that this was due to
a huge robbers' pit, which had destroyed
some of the graves. Approximately 1.50 m
down into the pit with Mamluk Glazed
pottery much in evidence, the remnants of
a huge stone wall closing the area from the
south were found. Three separate segments
of the wall, measuring from 1.50 to 3-30 m
in length, were cleared.
The wall (c. 0.90 m thick) was structur-
ed of large limestone ashlars, some of them
exceeding 1 m in length. Evenly spaced
pits clearly seen in the southern baulk of
the trench left little doubt that the wall
must have been originally buttressed in
a manner similar to the wall running in the
same line further east. This in turn led to
the conclusion that the newly discovered
wall was indeed the outer southern wall of
the bath complex.
The layout of the palestra was thus
marked out on the ground; the facility was
found to measure approximately 9 x 27 m
and to be surrounded with porticoes on the
north, east and presumably also west
(assuming a symmetry of design) [Fig. 3}.
These rather modest dimensions, standing
in telling opposition to the overall size of
the bath complex, conform well to Late
Roman practice and find numerous paral-
lels in bathhouses excavated in the Eastern
Mediterranean.
The work was halted temporarily at
a level approximately 11.00 m above sea
level, where a large stretch of flagstone
paving was cleared [Fig. 6]. The paving is
7 PAM X, Reports 1999 (2000), 29-39; for the presumed palestra, see W. Kol^taj, Imperial Baths at Kom el-Dikka,
Alexandrie VI (Warsaw 1992), 169-170.
23