Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

TELL EL-BALAMUN

EGYPT

cut into the pre-temple ground was also
evident. The southern test trench detected
the beginning of the eastern foundation
trench and the boundary between the sand
filling of the naos area and that used in the
front part of the temple [Fig. 4}. These two
areas, each characterized by different values
of the magnetic field, proved to contain
different types of filling: yellow sand in the
naos (of low values) and more compact dark,
greenish sand at the front (of high values). In
the design of the foundation, the yellow sand
in the naos had been kept in place during
construction by leaving a section of the
original earth between the two colonnade-
trenches, as a barrier between the front and
rear parts of the foundation. At the sides,

between the colonnade trenches and the
sides of the temple, the same effect had been
achieved by constructing retaining walls of
mud brick. The boundaries of the different
features in the ground agreed well with the
information provided by magnetic scanning.
The approach to the temple of Psamtik
proved to be more elaborate than previously
supposed. Two parallel anomalies of lower
value of the magnetic field's intensity
showed up in front of the pylon (eastern part
of C4, western part of C5, northeastern
corner of D4, cf. Figs 2,3). They appear to
have been structures lining the sides of
a processional way leading to the temple.
A test trench made in 1993 had actually
intercepted the western feature, but all that


Pig. 4■ Tell el-Balamun. 2003 excavation. Southern test trench, seen from the northwest
(Photo P. Spencer)

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