DOI article:
Daszewski, Wiktor Andrzej: Marina el-Alamein 1991
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26426#0033
first case, the northem loculus (length 1.85 m, width 0.38 m,
height 1.10 m) was found to contain a single male burial. The
excellently preserved skeleton appeared to be lying almost directly
upon bedrock and had once been covered by a wooden vault
supported against the walls of limestone blocks; the vaulting itself
was not preserved, but imprints of particular wooden planks have
survived in the plaster covering the walls. There were no
fumishings accompanying this burial. Another burial trench
excavated in bedrock was found under tomb 1B, a part of which
had to be dismantled in order to prepare it for future
reconstruction. The trench which was oriented from east to west
and lay under the middle part of the boxlike construction, was also
found to contain a single burial without any tomb fumishings. This
was presumably the earliest burial on this spot, later marked by the
construction of a monumental tomb taking on the form of a box-
like base and rectangular pillar on top, the latter adomed with
pilasters in the comers and a moulded comice.
A careful examination of tumbled blocks from tomb 1C,
which adjoined tomb 1B on the south, demonstrated that on top of
the box-like construction there had been a single-step stylobate and
a gable-roof sarcophagus built of stone, This form brings to mind
the so-called "sarcophagus tombs" known from Cyrene, where,
however, they are of much larger dimensions and are usually dated
to the Hellenistic period. The southem loculus of TIC contained
three burials, two adults and a child; there were no fumishings. In
a narrow crack between blocks of the upper layer of both tombs,
TIB and TIC, an excellently preserved terracotta oil lamp of the
1 st century A.D. was found (Fig. 2). The scene on the discus
depicting a winged Eros riding on a panther, presumably with
Dionysiac overtones, is rare in lamp decoration, but is known in
the iconography of Late Hellenistic mosaics both on Delos and in
Pompeii.
32
height 1.10 m) was found to contain a single male burial. The
excellently preserved skeleton appeared to be lying almost directly
upon bedrock and had once been covered by a wooden vault
supported against the walls of limestone blocks; the vaulting itself
was not preserved, but imprints of particular wooden planks have
survived in the plaster covering the walls. There were no
fumishings accompanying this burial. Another burial trench
excavated in bedrock was found under tomb 1B, a part of which
had to be dismantled in order to prepare it for future
reconstruction. The trench which was oriented from east to west
and lay under the middle part of the boxlike construction, was also
found to contain a single burial without any tomb fumishings. This
was presumably the earliest burial on this spot, later marked by the
construction of a monumental tomb taking on the form of a box-
like base and rectangular pillar on top, the latter adomed with
pilasters in the comers and a moulded comice.
A careful examination of tumbled blocks from tomb 1C,
which adjoined tomb 1B on the south, demonstrated that on top of
the box-like construction there had been a single-step stylobate and
a gable-roof sarcophagus built of stone, This form brings to mind
the so-called "sarcophagus tombs" known from Cyrene, where,
however, they are of much larger dimensions and are usually dated
to the Hellenistic period. The southem loculus of TIC contained
three burials, two adults and a child; there were no fumishings. In
a narrow crack between blocks of the upper layer of both tombs,
TIB and TIC, an excellently preserved terracotta oil lamp of the
1 st century A.D. was found (Fig. 2). The scene on the discus
depicting a winged Eros riding on a panther, presumably with
Dionysiac overtones, is rare in lamp decoration, but is known in
the iconography of Late Hellenistic mosaics both on Delos and in
Pompeii.
32