Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

Room 7, which was an inner courtyard. It
was fairly large, measuring c. 18.00 m2,
bringing light into the oratory (1) and the
two chambers situated north of the
courtyard (5 and 6). Remains of a bread
oven were found by the oratory wall in the
southern part of the courtyard; originally
this ceramic facility, which measured
0.44 m in diameter, must have stood inside
a niche, which is now completely
destroyed. A door in the north wall of the
courtyard led inside a small church (no. 6).
This church encompassed a single-space
naos, measuring 3.70 by 3-20 m, with an
apse positioned centrally in the east end,
flanked by two small pastophories reached
from the naos [Fig. 14', cf. Fig. 8], The
semicircular apse, 1.50 m in diameter and
1.15 m deep, was constructed of mud brick,
plastered and stuccoed. The front was richly
articulated with vertical profding, creating
in effect a highly classicizing form
composed of fluted engaged columns
carrying presumably a triumphal arch. The
lateral walls were furnished with two large
niches in the middle and two smaller ones at
the sides. One sill from a large niche and
another one from a small one have been
preserved, but their positioning suggests
the presence of others. The floor in the apse
and in front of it, as well as in the small unit
to the south was raised with regard to the
rest of the naos by a layer of flat-laid bricks.
The central part of the apse was found
destroyed, but the remains preserved on the
floor around the pit were identified as part
of a rectangular masonry structure, an altar,
which originally occupied the center of the
apse. The pit appears to have been made
when the hermitage was abandoned, the
residents presumably salvaging an object of
spiritual value from under the destroyed
altar.
The tiny southern pastophorium
(c. 1.00 m2) had a pit 0.70 m deep sunk

below the floor by the east wall. The pit
contained a big storage vessel, of which
only the flat bottom, 0.30 m in diameter,
was preserved. A step 0.45 m deep on the
south side of the pit facilitated access to
what had undoubtedly been a big vessel.
The south entrance to the church on the
inside was also emphasized with an
architectural framing composed of, to judge
by the preserved eastern pilaster, of
a pilaster on a square base and topped by an
arcade or lintel.
Finely plastered walls and a lime floor
completed the aesthetic appearance of this
small sacral space.
The southern central courtyard was
10.00 m wide, but its length was not
ascertained during the present clearing
work. It is likely, however, that it was
closed off with a wall at the southern end.
The surface was tamped and there were
benches along the northern side (only
relics), as well as on the east, where it was
fully preserved.
The remains of two small rooms, 8 and
9, on the west side of the courtyard were
interpreted as purely domestic in nature,
one being a refuse dump and the other con-
taining evidence of penned animals, most
likely donkey(s), for a certain period of time.
The illicit digging thought to have
taken place in the 1970s (based on
cigarette packaging found on the ancient
floors) was quite extensive, making
a reliable dating difficult at best. Almost
the entire archaeological material from the
site — pottery, glass, worked wood, matting
— was found in secondary contexts. The
only fragment found in place is a piece of
Greek document on papyrus discovered
under the brick floor in the church apse
(room 6) [Fig. 13]· Beside numerous
potsherds of cooking pots, local LR.7
amphorae and storage pots, excavations
uncovered a number of fragments of

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