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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean — 18.2006(2008)

DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:
Zych, Iwona; Obłuski, Artur; Wicenciak, Urszula: Marina el-Alamein: site presentation project (arce/eap) preliminary archaeological report
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42092#0093

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MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

further by surface testing. No rooms of
official function, reception areas or court-
yards with porticoes etc. were discovered.
Evidence has been noted of development by
agglutination, a process characteristic of
private architecture in Marina, as well as
repeated rebuilding, making use of older

walls as foundations for new ones. At least
one rebuilding stage followed a major
catastrophe combined with a conflagration
which may have consumed most of the town
(very possibly in the earthquake of AD 164,
which was heavily felt in the Eastern
Mediterranean, in Cyprus as well as Libya).

EASTERN SET OF TRENCHES (TR01, 02, 03+011, 04)

The clusters of rooms identified in this area
of the survey formed presumably five or six
separate complexes, all oriented N-S and
E-W, the mutual connection of which
could not be clarified well enough based on
the collected evidence. The walls were
erected for the most part of broken stone,
the thickness being from 0.60 to 0.80 m
(measured at the top where this kind of
wall exhibits a tendency to slide apart).
A rare few walls were built of stone slabs
and extremely seldom of stone blocks, both
of standard sizes. The change in bondwork
apparently did not reflect on room
function, walls of stone slabs no more than
c. 20 cm wide being used for exterior walls
(Tr03) as well as for inner partitions
(TrOl). Standing walls from the last phase
of use reached a height of up to 2 m; their
foundations were found to go down to a
depth of near to 2 m. Indeed, the extreme
depth of most of the tested foundations
was something of a surprise. On the other
hand, there were walls that were founded
a mere 0.50 or 0.60 m below the ground
surface. Paved areas evidently served
household or workshop purposes,
combined as they were with cisterns,
channels, fireplaces and bins (as in TrOl,
see below). Other domestic facilities, like

cooking areas and a latrine, were also
recorded. Units ranged from small
compartments to rooms of fairly large size
(c. 40 m2).
The southernmost cluster of rooms
(Tr04), separated by a presumed alley from
a structure already outside the survey area,
consisted of four units and a small paved
area in the center [Fig. 6], Thresholds to at
least two of the units were observed.
Evidence of destruction in a violent
conflagration was present everywhere,
including a deposit of objects evidently in
use at the time of the catastrophe, composed
of a small iron adze mounted on a wooden
handle, iron fittings (of a box?) wrapped in
plain cloth,3 bronze pyxis lid with hoop
handle, terracotta fragment, a varied set of
complete bowls, plates and jugs of plain and
table wares, a faience bowl [cf. Fig. 11}, and
last but hardly the least, a fine example of
a Cretan ivy-leaf lamp [cf. Fig. 10}. The
combined evidence of this material places
the catastrophic event in the second half of
the 2nd century AD.
The next cluster of rooms, which appears
to be self-contained, was located just east of
the first one and consisted of three units all
with entrances leading down into them. In
the latest represented stage, a long

3 I am indebted to textile expert and conservator Barbara Czaja-Szewczak for her comments on the cloth impressions
found on these iron fittings. Marek Wozniak helped with his comments based on the photo documentation provided
to exclude the presumed identification of the pieces as an iron sword blade.

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