Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

tableware, both locally produced and
imported, as well as fragments of imported
amphorae from Northern Africa and the
Eastern Mediterranean (LR.l and LR.4).
The imported plates and amphorae have
placed the hermitage in the second half of
the 5th century or the very beginning of
the 6th. A large assemblage of glass
products (see contribution by M. Mossa-
kowska-Gaubert below, in this volume),
especially plates, favor the earlier dating to
the second half of the 5th century (which
has been confirmed by the results of the
excavation of nearby Hermitage 87 in the
2007 season) for the construction of the
complex. The hermitages remained in use
throughout the first half of the 6th
century.
Hermitage 85 is among the most
interesting monastic complexes at Naqlun.

It is undoubtedly early, like hermitages 87
and 44 in the northeastern part of the eastern
concentration of hermitages. All three of
these hermitages lie in small valleys and are
cut in soft sedimentary rock, the walls being
faced with brick or rock chips. These
complexes were self-sufficient with kitchens
and bread-baking ovens. Hermitages 85
and 87 have separate oratories intended for
just two residents of the complex. Moreover,
Hermitage 85 has a small church, which is
a complete exception as far as Naqlun is
concerned. Indeed, it is not a feature
encountered in other monastic complexes in
Egypt, except for Kellia where there are
some early churches (Descoeudres 1990: 47-
51), but not in the hermitages themselves.
Hermitage 85 seems to have been the home
of a pair of anchorites, one of whom must
have been a priest. The western hermitages


Fig. 12. Reconstruction of the oratory, E-W section to south
(Drawing Sz. Maslak)

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