Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

MARINA EL-ALAMEIN

EGYPT

HOUSE H2
A concentrated effort was made to clear the
rest of the house, starting with Room 10
(8.40 x 7.20 m) where the west wall was to
be restored (preserved, like the north and
east walls as a single course of blocks; the
south wall is non-existent). A doorway 1.10
m wide was pierced in this wall, 0.40 m
from the northwestern corner.
A courtyard (no. 14 with subunits 14a
and 14b; 3.80-4.30 x 7.20 m) of trapezoidal
shape, wider at the western end, features
two stylobates, each 0.60 m wide, running a
meter away from the east and west walls
(and retained in a later phase when an E-W
partition wall divided the room into two
units, 14a and 14b). Paved slabs lying at an
angle in the floor in the eastern end ol the
courtyard testify to the presence of a
channel running from the east wall in a
generally southwesterly direction, possibly
to a cistern under the courtyard. A well
found in the western part (0.45 x 0.48 m)
still bears traces ol hydraulic mortar on the
walls. Preserved in the northeastern corner
of subunit 14b was a structure of small
stones (0.70 x 0.60 m), measuring 3.55 x
2.25 m, which may have served as a shelf,
and a big vessel (dia. 0.50 m) encased by
small stones sunk 0.20 m below the
pavement in the eastern part. A layer of dark
burned soil filled the entire room.
Rooms 15 (1.80 x 1.70 m), 16 (1.80 x
5.35 m) and 17 (7.30 x 3.20 m) were traced
in the northern part ol the house. A curious
find from Room 15 is an Attic base (Dia.
0.55 m, H. 0.52 m) [cf. Fig. 5], obviously
reused here seeing that it stood in an
accumulation layer of dark burned soil 0.35
m deep, separated from the flagstone
pavement by a 0.03 m thick layer of sand.
The base had been set up against the south

wall with stones erected on either side of it.
It was made of grey-white marble of medium
blastic structure, macroscopically identified
as Proconessian. A hearth or fireplace was
found in the northwestern part of the room;
a big damaged cooking pot had stood there,
surrounded by small stones. The south and
east walls are from the original phase of
construction of the room, while the west
wall stood on 0.10 m of sand and the north
one on 0.20 m of sand.
Room lib (3.60x2.70 m) also contained
in its southern part a fireplace constructed of
plastered mud brick (lx 0.80 m). Pottery
was found in abundance, plus some painted
plaster fragments. The fireplace was erected
when the west wall of the building had
already been dismantled. Mortar on a clay
ground has survived just above the floor on
the north wall of this room. The paving
floor slabs have subsided in the northern
part. Under the floor there is a cistern that
was cleared in 2006.
HOUSE H21B
A small test pit in the southwestern corner
of Room 1 revealed a layer of burning, 0.10
cm thick, containing pottery and shell
fragments. A second floor made of lime
mortar was found 0.90 m further down,
apparently on the same level as the road
surface between Houses 21b and 21c.
About here the road drops abruptly by 0.50
m, similarly as by House H21c. The
difference in levels may have been navigated
originally by a set of steps.
GEOARCHEOLOGICAL
RESEARCH6
Geoarchaeological research this season
included a sedimentological analysis of
deposits observed in the trench sections in

6 Contributed by M. Mrozek-Wysocka.

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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007