Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

TELL EL-BALAMUN

EGYPT

served as a foundation for the stone
masonry of the gate, all of which had been
removed in antiquity. Following the
robbing of the stone, the empty axis of the
gate became filled with accumulated fill
and mud, which hid the remains of the
sand-bed. This fill was leveled off at a later
period and covered by a thin layer of mud
brick, one or two courses thick. It is likely
that this brickwork dates from the
Thirtieth Dynasty, when a new enclosure
wall was constructed outside the older one.
To the south of the gate, the wall had been
cut by a very large pit, probably of
Ptolemaic date. The preserved parts of the
gate described above lay within about half
the thickness of the enclosure wall, all of
the inner part having been destroyed by


Fig. 6. French T2/2006. Rear edge of the
brick pylon in the newly-discovered
temple (Photo P. Spencer)

another large pit, probably associated with
Ptolemaic industrial activity in the area.
The outlines of both of these pits were
visible on the magnetic map.
TEMPLE OF THE THIRD
INTERMEDIATE PERIOD (TEMPLE D)
Part of the small temple revealed by the
magnetic mapping of 2005 was
investigated briefly in that year, but the
monument was studied more fully in
2006. Unlike the other temples of the site,
it is oriented facing to the north.
Excavation was carried out at the front of
the building, where remains of one side of
a brick pylon were found to the west of the
temple axis [Fig. 6]. The preserved
distance from the west end of the pylon to
the axis was 15.70 m, indicating a full
width across the entire pylon of 31.40 m,
equivalent to 60 ancient Egyptian cubits.
Unfortunately, tests on the eastern side of
the pylon failed to find any preserved
remains, the area having been cut by deep
pits of later date. In the axis of the pylon
there had been a sand-filled foundation
within a brick retaining-wall, to act as
a foundation for a stone gate. Most of the
sand and all of the stone had been removed
by ancient quarrying, to leave only small
chips of limestone.
In front of the temple pylon was an
approach avenue flanked by a pair of
screen-walls, which showed on the
magnetic map, due the fact that the
foundation trenches, the only element
from these walls to survive, were filled
with sand. The depth of sand in these
trenches was not great, extending to just
0.70 m below the ground surface. Only the
ends of the trenches close to the pylon were
excavated, but the magnetic map shows
that they had continued for nearly 20 m to
the north (to the southeastern part of J3,
cf. Fig. 2, 3). The western trench had cut

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