Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

volutes reconstructed of limestone closely
resembling the original (cut by R Zam-
brzycki). The upper surfaces of the three
capitals mark the level of the top of the
monument, giving a good idea of its
spatial form and size. The last stage,
planned for the next season, will be to
remount the original cornices.
The original top of the base of the
monument had been made of red marble
slabs between 4.3 and 5.0 cm thick. In the
reconstruction, chamfered blocks, 0.30 cm
thick, have been laid flat as a base under
the columns, profiled and recessed by
0.5 cm from the face, thus achieving an
edge projecting 0.07 m beyond the wall
face and of a similar thickness as the
original marble slab, which bore the
dedicatory inscription to Commodus on
the side edge. This band runs around the
podium of the monument on three sides,
on the south, east and north.
EXEDRA
IN THE MAIN TOWN SQUARE
Conservation work in the exedra of the main
town square (which the archaeological
mission began clearing in 2001, cf.
Daszewski 2002: 84-85) had been com-
menced in 2002 with the reinforcement of
the wall plastering. Last year, one of the
benches in the portico, to the west of the
exedra, was reconstructed. This season,
work proceeded in the entire exedra,
focusing on the reconstruction and
restoration of the seats lining the three sides
of the niche. The state of some of the
elements required their replacement with
new blocks. First a drawing documentation
was made of the remains, followed by a re-
construction of the missing elements, which
included one new leg and three of the seats.
The other seats were put together with
3 Contribution by R. Czerner and W. Grzegorek.

stainless steel rod reinforcement, using
Araldite PY 1092 resin of Egyptian
manufacture. Some patching also had to be
done, the patches made partly of original
material and partly of new stone. An effort
was made to match the coloring and texture
as far as possible. Once this work was done,
the old and new elements of the benches
were remounted. The new parts are suf-
ficiently different to make the ancient
elements easily identifiable. Mounting was
done using a lime mortar with lime filler
and a trace addition of white cement.
TOMB T123
The preservation and conservation of the
pillar tomb T12 (discovered in 1994, cf.
Daszewski 1995: 31,33) was now
completed, adding the remaining courses
of blocks based on Jaroslaw Dobrowolski's
original anastylosis design of 1994 (for
previous work on the tomb, see earlier
reports Medeksza et alii 2005:116;
Medeksza et alii 2007: 108-109) [Fig· 8]·
The sole exception is course 10, where the
original blocks were not preserved and
there was no new stone of the appropriate
size available.
Three of the four elements from the base
of the capital had to be reconstructed. All
eight of the elements making up the capital
of the pillar were preserved, but four, in-
cluding a corner element, were so eroded
that they had to be replaced. The capital was
reconstructed (by P. Zambrzycki) along with
the undercourse prior to being mounted.
One of the original corner elements had to
have stone patches introduced. Swallow-tail
wooden clamps had been used in antiquity
to mount the capital pieces together and
prevent them from leaning out too much.
They were now replaced with stainless steel
clamps (o 10 mm, length 23 cm), held in

76