Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

TELL LARAMA

EGYPT

CONCLUSIONS

A large concentration of different types of
architectural vestiges in Sector 1 proved
that this area had been a place of con-
siderable activity, at least in some periods.
Unfortunately, most of these structures
were too poorly preserved to give a full
idea concerning the distribution of rooms
or their attachment to a particular
building (or buildings). Even so, some
conclusions could be drawn (see above,
Jakubiak's report on the work of the
season in Tell Farama), notably regarding
the measures taken by builders to
counteract the destructive impact of an
excessively humid environment. Hence
the extensive use of waterproof materials,
such as lime mortar, powdered baked
brick and also baked brick proper.
As said above, the place appears to
have served as a rubbish dump for some
time, but it seems to have been very
specific rubbish - mostly various types of
storage vessels and animal bones. Taking

into consideration the huge quantities of
bones (cf. Fig. 1) and evident traces of
butchering observed on them, we must
be dealing with meat processing on
a large scale, carried out somewhere
probably in the nearest vicinity. While
bones were found only in deep-down
layers,14 coins, which were found in
abundance, were recorded both in the
rubbish deposits and in connection with
architectural remains. Their presence in
such numbers can be explained by the
nearness of the harbor and the Pelusiac
branch of the Nile some meters to the
north. Unfortunately, most of them were
corroded beyond identification. The few
that have been read date the rubbish
dump and the architectural vestiges to the
4th century AD. The exact date for the
abandonment of the building(s) and
consequently the beginning of baked-
brick robbing in this area remains vague
for the moment.

14

The few bones in the topsoil could have easily been moved there unwittingly or left by workers plundering bricks as
building material for reuse.

141