Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

TELL EL-LARKHA

EGYPT

Analysis of fragmented artifacts and their
position within the levels (e.g. two matching
pieces of a stone vessel found 0.50 m apart
vertically and a fragmented clay figurine
scattered all over the room) indicated that we
are dealing with fill accumulated during
a single period.
Finds included several whole or almost
whole pots, the most interesting and
significant of these being undoubtedly
a ceramic stand with matching vessel and a
hes-jar [Fig, 5, top left], used in ritual
libations during the Early Dynastic period.
Similar vessels were found, for instance, in
deposits at Tell Ibrahim Awad (Eigner 2000:
17-36). The same fill strata also produced
two stone vessels and fragments of a clay
statuette representing a seated figure [Fig. 3,
top right]. The fragment preserved, a pair of
relatively large legs (18 cm high) with knees


Fig. 2. Western Kom. Shrine with deposit, vieiv
after the season in 2007
(Photo R. Slabonski)

drawn up, suggests that it may have portrayed
a sitting boy holding an index finger to his
mouth like in the ivory carvings found in
the deposit from 2006. Among the finds of
miniature bone figurines there was
a schematic representation of a baboon
[Fig. 3, bottom left], an undetermined
animal with a long snout (anteater?) and yet
another example from Tell el-Farkha of a
female dwarf [Fig. 3, bottom right]. Also
noteworthy is a bone amulet shaped like a
bull’s head (Hendrickx 2002: 275-318).
Amulets of this type are particularly
characteristic of terminal Naqada II and all of
Naqada III periods. One of the finest pieces
of craftsmanship discovered this year was
a greywacke spoon (10.50 cm long) with
a crocodile-shaped handle [Fig. 4\. Other
finds worth mentioning include a flint knife
found with some cattle ribs alongside the
three storage jars referred to earlier,
fragments of a greywacke bracelet, part of
a bone spoon, remnants of copper artifacts
unidentifiable due to their poor state of
preservation, bone models of fish-tail knives
and a pear-shaped head of a mace. Beads made
of both semi-precious stones and faience were
especially numerous (c. 350 pieces).
The walls ol this room are thicker than in
the topmost layers (approx. 0.45 m), but still
not as thick as those of another room in
which another deposit was discovered in
2001 (Chlodnicki, Cialowicz et alii 2002).
Three large storage vessels found in the
middle of the room, near its north wall, had
clearly been concealed beneath the floor.
Nearby, but hidden in the north wall, was a
jar, covered with a small bowl identical in
type to the one covering the jar containing a
deposit found in 2006. The latter
(a foundation deposit?) contained several
dozen faience beads, and, most importantly,
a faience cylindrical seal (2.40 cm high)
adorned with crosses and two gazelle, and
a poorly preserved sign above one of the

Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007

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