Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

plaster coatings (see interim reports
published in PCMA's annual reports,
Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, since
1995).
HOUSE HI
Archaeological clearing and testing
continued in the structure which has been
prepared for building preservation
activities since 2003. In consequence of
the present work, especially on the south-
western corner of the building, earlier
architectural documentation (Luzyniecka
1998) has been revised and new ideas have
been formed concerning its layout and
function. Further assessment of quake-
related damages has also been made (cf.
Medeksza et alii 2007: 101-104).
The southwestern course of the
perimeter wall was investigated this year
and found to be preserved as a foundation at
best (at depths of 1.00-1.50 m), sufficiently

however for its rebuilding. The same was
not fully possible for the rooms in the
northeastern and eastern parts of the
building, next to Rooms 15, 14, 22, 13, 24.
Tracing of the west wall closing Room 6
completed the outline of the house, which
can now be described as rectangular in shape
with the longer sides oriented N-S. Room
26, the extent of which was also established
in the course of the present work, appears to
be of earlier date, belonging perhaps to the
3rd-century construction phase. It was used
as a cellar for storing liquids and dry goods
in amphorae, dated to the lst-3rd cen-
turies AD. In the 4th century, Room 6
appears to have been used as a kitchen,
a subdivision of it (no. 27) being a small,
well-built cellar with stone floor and walls
of regular blocks, entered through
a trapdoor or well shaft. Traces of the earlier
phase, which ended presumably at the turn
of the 3rd century to judge by the pottery


Pig. 2. House HI. Reconstructed perimeter wall in the southeastern part of the structure, state in
2006 (Photo S. Medeksza)

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