Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

TELL EL-BALAMUN

EGYPT

through an older oven, situated in the
original pre-temple ground in front of the
pylon foundation and evident as an oval
anomaly of high magnetic values on the
magnetic map (in the northeastern part of
K3). The width of the avenue between the
screen-walls built on these foundation-
trenches was 5.30 m, no doubt intended to
be 10 cubits.
From the rear of the west side of the
pylon, the side wall of the temple, also
built of mud brick, extended towards the
south. This wall had been founded on
a layer of limestone chips, perhaps the
remains of an older monument cleared
away to make room for the temple. Only
a short length of this wall could be traced
because it disappeared into a pitted area.
A small part of the eastern wall of the
building was also identified but part of
this had been cut away by the later
foundation for the temple of Psamtik I.
Unfortunately, attempts to acquire dating
evidence about the temple did not meet
with great success. The building must pre-
date that of Psamtik, because it is cut by
the foundation of his adjacent temple, but
no foundation deposits were discovered to
identify the builder. Some of the ground
beside and below the foundation contained
Ramesside pottery, but the quantity of
sherds was limited and does not permit
a very precise dating. The open-pit design
of the foundation suggests a date
somewhere within the Third Intermediate
Period, when there was activity at the site
with the construction of a pylon in the
main temple of Amun by Sheshonk III
(Spencer 1996: llff.). Although the
remains of the temple were found to be not
very well preserved in the excavation, the
magnetic map still shows an almost
complete outline of its original ground
plan, with a length of around 40 m. This
shows that disturbance of the ground

caused by the construction and later
demolition of the temple has left
a measurable magnetic trace.
STONE BUILDING IN FRONT OF
THE NECTANEBO I TEMPLE
Trial-excavations conducted in 2006,
immediately after discovering the
structure, revealed the east corner and part
of the northeast wall of a monument
composed of limestone blocks. At the east
corner, the remaining masonry consisted of
two large and fairly rough blocks of an
upper course from the northeast face of the
wall, with a lower course of four blocks
below [Fig. 7]. Much of the stone had been
removed from the building in antiquity,
particularly from the inner side of the wall,
and the presence of several nearby kilns
suggests that lime-burning was a major
cause of the destruction. No decoration
was present on the masonry and the
surfaces of the blocks were only dressed to
moderate smoothness. The magnetic scan
suggests that the entrance to the building
consisted of an access ramp at in the
middle of the northwestern side, so all the
masonry so far discovered probably
belonged to a podium. The wall had been
built in a foundation-trench, cut from
a level 0.90 m below the top of the upper
blocks, and filled with mud bricks bedded
in sand. The level of this trench is deep
below that of the floor of the nearby
temple of Nectanebo I and it is clear that
the two monuments are of different
periods.
A second excavation-trench on this
building was situated 6 m further to the
northwest and, like the excavation at the
corner, it revealed the stone-robbers'
trench with some remaining masonry
below it [Fig. 8}. Three blocks from the
upper course were found, but they had all
been displaced from their original

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