DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Daszewski, Wiktor Andrzej; Zych, Iwona; Bąkowska-Czerner, Grażyna; Błaszczyk, Artur: Marina el-Alamein: excavation report 2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0092
MARINA EL-ALAMEIN
EGYPT
The street running east was lined on
the north side with a solid wall 0.28 m
wide, extending for the entire uncovered
distance of 4.37 m and ending with a door-
way that led to a room, which is yet to be
excavated. On the opposite side, the street
wall was 0.61 m wide. A section c. 4.00 m
long has been uncovered to the east and in
it, 1.70 m away from the corner, a doorway
1.00 m wide with a passage through it
measuring 0.80 m; at the western end, this
wall turned a corner and proceeded
southward for a distance of 4.50 m, thus
framing a corner room (No. 1). The room
was entered from the eastern street via a set
of three steps (1.10 m wide including side
walls) leading down to the main occupa-
tional level. The pottery content is largely
similar to that recorded within the portico
proper. Some earlier examples notwith-
standing, the bulk of the material, con-
sisting mostly of "pinched amphorae" and
Cyrenaican and African amphorae, points
to the 3rd century AD.
Eleven bronze coins were discovered in
the original occupational layer, which was
deposited directly on a pavement of lime-
stone blocks [Fig. 29].9 The assemblage
also included bronze and iron nails, a frag-
ment of a bronze finger ring with the
gemstone in place, fragments of glass. The
pottery points to an earlier date. Apart from
Mareotic amphorae (AE3) and some early
Gazan vessels, a dozen or so fragments of
Cypriot Sigillata were recorded, with the
ever present footed basins/craters (P40) and
small plates (P-8), all of them dated to the
late 1 st-early 2nd century AD.
The room's eastern boundary wall was
found in the baulk and can be seen as
standing to a height of 1.20 m. The wall,
on the south was c. 0.60 m wide. The room
was renovated and reconstructed repeat-
edly except for the southeastern corner
where shelves constructed of stone slabs
had existed from the beginning [Fig. 20].
Their function remains unknown. The
lower 'shelf was c. 0.80 m wide and 0.78 m
Fig. 18. Greek inscription on a marble plaque from the South Portico
(Photo W.A. Daszewski)
9 Thanks are due Assoc. Prof. Barbara Lichocka (Polish Academy of Sciences), who kindly identified the coin.
90
EGYPT
The street running east was lined on
the north side with a solid wall 0.28 m
wide, extending for the entire uncovered
distance of 4.37 m and ending with a door-
way that led to a room, which is yet to be
excavated. On the opposite side, the street
wall was 0.61 m wide. A section c. 4.00 m
long has been uncovered to the east and in
it, 1.70 m away from the corner, a doorway
1.00 m wide with a passage through it
measuring 0.80 m; at the western end, this
wall turned a corner and proceeded
southward for a distance of 4.50 m, thus
framing a corner room (No. 1). The room
was entered from the eastern street via a set
of three steps (1.10 m wide including side
walls) leading down to the main occupa-
tional level. The pottery content is largely
similar to that recorded within the portico
proper. Some earlier examples notwith-
standing, the bulk of the material, con-
sisting mostly of "pinched amphorae" and
Cyrenaican and African amphorae, points
to the 3rd century AD.
Eleven bronze coins were discovered in
the original occupational layer, which was
deposited directly on a pavement of lime-
stone blocks [Fig. 29].9 The assemblage
also included bronze and iron nails, a frag-
ment of a bronze finger ring with the
gemstone in place, fragments of glass. The
pottery points to an earlier date. Apart from
Mareotic amphorae (AE3) and some early
Gazan vessels, a dozen or so fragments of
Cypriot Sigillata were recorded, with the
ever present footed basins/craters (P40) and
small plates (P-8), all of them dated to the
late 1 st-early 2nd century AD.
The room's eastern boundary wall was
found in the baulk and can be seen as
standing to a height of 1.20 m. The wall,
on the south was c. 0.60 m wide. The room
was renovated and reconstructed repeat-
edly except for the southeastern corner
where shelves constructed of stone slabs
had existed from the beginning [Fig. 20].
Their function remains unknown. The
lower 'shelf was c. 0.80 m wide and 0.78 m
Fig. 18. Greek inscription on a marble plaque from the South Portico
(Photo W.A. Daszewski)
9 Thanks are due Assoc. Prof. Barbara Lichocka (Polish Academy of Sciences), who kindly identified the coin.
90