DOI Artikel:
Myśliwiec, Karol: Polish-Egyptian excavations at Tell Atrib in 1990
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26389#0030
As far as the identification of local ceramic production is concerned, one of our
finds may be considered a genuine revelation for it demonstrated that terracotta
figurines were fabricated in these workshops as well. This unique object is a head
belonging to an unfired figurine representing an elderly woman wearing a floral wreath
on her head. Its realistic features and dramatic expression betray the activity of a local
workshop with high artistic aspirations. This head was found beside a fragmentarlly
preserved kiln in the Early Ptolemaic stratum.
Another original figurine of slightly later date (possibly late 3rV«arly 21* century
B.C.) came to light in the vicinity of another kiln. It represented a seated dwarf with an
animal fail and a disproportionately large phallus. Two lotus buds decorate his bald
head. Several heads belonging to this type have already been found in our Early
Ptolemaic strata but this is the first complete specimen of what was doubtless a fertility
divinity of some kind, perhaps a magical symbol. This terracotta type must also have
been produced in the local workshops at Athribis.
A series of red brick constructions covered with a layer of plain white or
polychrome plaster come to light below the Byzantine strata in rooms 160-162 (numbers
corresponding to the Byzantine level). The evidence provided by the numismatic
material points to the reign of Ptolemy VI as the date for these constructions. They
comprise a long corridor leading to a square basin which has a wide inner step and a
miniature basin near its northwestern corner. Smaller basins of various shape occur in
two groups east of the corridor. One of these groups is constituted by a pair of oval
lavatories which recall in shape those found previously a few meters from this place,
close to the northwestern corner of the excavated area. It seems that all these
constructions belonged to a complex of baths built in the mid 2*^ century B.C.. Some
erotic figurines and relief fragments were found inside and beside these constructions.
Their iconography would suggest rather a frivolous function for the construction,
maybe a "house of Joy". This "recreation center" probably embraced the adjacent
room 159 which was uncovered during previous campaigns and which is much larger
28
finds may be considered a genuine revelation for it demonstrated that terracotta
figurines were fabricated in these workshops as well. This unique object is a head
belonging to an unfired figurine representing an elderly woman wearing a floral wreath
on her head. Its realistic features and dramatic expression betray the activity of a local
workshop with high artistic aspirations. This head was found beside a fragmentarlly
preserved kiln in the Early Ptolemaic stratum.
Another original figurine of slightly later date (possibly late 3rV«arly 21* century
B.C.) came to light in the vicinity of another kiln. It represented a seated dwarf with an
animal fail and a disproportionately large phallus. Two lotus buds decorate his bald
head. Several heads belonging to this type have already been found in our Early
Ptolemaic strata but this is the first complete specimen of what was doubtless a fertility
divinity of some kind, perhaps a magical symbol. This terracotta type must also have
been produced in the local workshops at Athribis.
A series of red brick constructions covered with a layer of plain white or
polychrome plaster come to light below the Byzantine strata in rooms 160-162 (numbers
corresponding to the Byzantine level). The evidence provided by the numismatic
material points to the reign of Ptolemy VI as the date for these constructions. They
comprise a long corridor leading to a square basin which has a wide inner step and a
miniature basin near its northwestern corner. Smaller basins of various shape occur in
two groups east of the corridor. One of these groups is constituted by a pair of oval
lavatories which recall in shape those found previously a few meters from this place,
close to the northwestern corner of the excavated area. It seems that all these
constructions belonged to a complex of baths built in the mid 2*^ century B.C.. Some
erotic figurines and relief fragments were found inside and beside these constructions.
Their iconography would suggest rather a frivolous function for the construction,
maybe a "house of Joy". This "recreation center" probably embraced the adjacent
room 159 which was uncovered during previous campaigns and which is much larger
28