Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

the center part of this area must have been
drilled full of pits by the World War II
structures, several of which were found
alongside it and on the opposite side and
which evidently destroyed much of this
last-phase architecture in and west of
Tr06).
An alley c. 3 m wide turned sharply
around the southwestern corner of the
complex with cistern in Tr06. The other
face of this alley was constituted by the
exterior wall of yet another cluster of rooms.
A wide threshold opened off the alley.
Another threshold inside the complex led to
a small room, while more units obviously
extended into the dump on the south side
(TrlO). Beyond this cluster, the area at
ground level appears to contain no material
evidence of structures, although they must
have existed here. Not enough time was
available to check for underlying structures

at this point. In any case, a solitary N-S wall
was noted in Tr08. It was obviously the
exterior west wall of some complex. The
modesty of the architectural remains were
compensated for by the small finds: a coin of
Maximinus of AD 308 and a bronze pendant
in the shape of a draped female(?) bust.
The last trench, located furthest west,
turned up a rectangular unit with walls of
broken stone, to which a wall of slabs was
inherently connected. There may have
been an entrance in the northwestern
corner, which disappeared into the side of
the 'cut1. Otherwise, the structure was
notable for a deposit of pottery, including
an amphora base with charred remains of
an offering, found upside down next to
a stone by the east wall of the structure. It
was also notable for foundations of walls
going at least 2 m down (the last stone was
not reached).

REMARKS ON STRATIGRAPHY AND DATING

In both the surveyed areas, bulldozing
works in the mid 1980s destroyed and
removed all of the architecture
representing the later occupational level,
possibly from the 3rd or even early 4th
century AD. It is very likely that the ruins
here had been standing just as high as in
other parts of the site, that is, at least two
meters (like the complex of houses in the
eastern part of the site), and were buried in
drifted sand, It is this sand and loose
architectural rubble (dressed limestone
blocks and broken stone used traditionally
in the residential architecture of Marina)

which ended up on the building dumps.
However, this later phase of the buildings
was built atop earlier walls, closely
retaining the original urban layout and
thus suggesting a social and cultural
continuity of the habitation.
A calamity of some kind hit the town
sometime in the 2nd century AD. Most of
the structures discovered in both areas
demonstrate destruction-related tumbles
and burning. This earlier habitation level
of the 2nd century AD (perhaps its second
part) was not the earliest in the area with
evidence of pottery and glass finds

4 Archeozoologist Marta Osypinska from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
(Poznan branch) kindly consulted the photo documentation of animal bones recovered from the various trenches,
including the World War II remains. The absolutely predominant species represented in this material is camel.
Considering the disturbed character of the contexts in which these bones were found, it must be assumed for the
moment that all of them are connected with the British and allied soldiers stationing at the site during the Battle of
el-Alamein.

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