Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

SHEIKH ABD EL-GURNA

EGYPT


Fig. 4. Storage pithos by the south wall of the
hermitage enclosure (Photo X Gorecki)


Fig. 5. Leather pouch from an amphora in the
pithos (Photo J. Sliwa)

to the top throughout this period and was
not excavated until modern times. The
rubble filling the bottom end of the shaft
and the corridor branching off horizontally
from it, the entrance to which could be
discerned above the top of the rubble in
the east wall {Fig. 3], made it impossible
to determine whether the chamber it had
led to was ever completed as a burial place.
In the southern part of the hermitage
courtyard, excavations revealed part of the
rock face, cut vertically in the Pharaonic
period and adopted later as a natural border
of the hermitage on this side. A round
pithos of dried clay, 0.72 m high and 0.87
m in diameter, was found about 0.60 m
from this edge [Fig. 4]. Lying on top of
a layer of debris inside this storage container
were eight Egyptian amphorae of the LRA 7
type. They were all empty, except for one
which contained an empty leather pouch
among organic remains [Fig. 3]. Outside
the pithos there was a reused censer most
probably from the Late Period and six LR 7
amphorae lying around it.


Fig. 6. Faience amulet bearing an inscription
from the Book of the Dead on the top
and bottom (Photo J. Sliwa)

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