Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

TELL FARAMA

EGYPT

WORK IN THE THEATER AREA

Following the combined Egyptian and
Polish clearing work in 2004, the entire
area of the orchestra has been cleaned and
studied {Fig. 2). It is now evident that the
stratigraphy of the site is completely
disturbed and some parts of the red brick
substructures have been damaged by heavy
equipment. The damages seem to have
been incurred during the Israeli occupation
of the area. Missing marble and limestone
slabs from the original pavement reflect an
earlier phase of destruction, when the ruins
were used locally as a ready source of
building material.

In view of the swampy ground in this
area, the use of red brick for the substruc-
ture of the theater was evidently meant as
a way of reinforcing the setting of the
building. Repairs made to the brick sub-
structure were noted in several places.
Moreover, reparations in brick were noted
between the limestone slabs of the pave-
ment. Unfortunately, the limits of the
orchestra could not be traced precisely be-
cause of the scope of destruction.
While we decided not to uncover the
cavea structure this season, we could tell
from sections that the mud-brick con-


Fig. 1. Plan of the theater at Tell Farama (Pelusium) after the 2004 season
(Drawing M. Smola, S. Maslak, K. Jakubiak)

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