DOI Artikel:
Daszewski, Wiktor Andrzej: Marina el-Alamein 1991
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26426#0035
for their architectural quality, but also for their size. All of the
tombs described above come from the first half of the 1 st century
A.D. The underground part of tomb TIGH is somewhat earlier,
being dated to the end of the 1 st century B.C., while the modest
burials lying on a higher level between tombs TIC and TID are
later and take on the form of roughly rectangular box-like
structures constructed of narrow undressed limestone slabs. Some
isolated slabs set horizontally, bearing traces of buming on their
surface were found in the vicinity of these tombs. The buming as
well as a rather regular arrangement of these slabs in respect to
particular tombs, would indicate their role as artificial altars of a
kind, intended for offerings to the dead. The largest of the slabs,
which measured 0.70 x 0.77 x 0.11 m, was found next to the
loculus tomb TID, although in all probability it was connected not
with this tomb, but with burials located further west and not yet
uncovered.
The second sector of excavations comprised a monumental
tomb complex S6 (see Fig. 1), which consists of an aboveground
mausoleum and an underground complex, the two linked by a 15
m long staircase, once roofed, cut in the rock. The staircase led to
an open courtyard 7 m deep, from which one entered a funerary
chamber fumished with rockcut benches, an altar and a side
loculus. Excavations in the courtyard uncovered yet another altar
(1.30 m high, 1.05 m long and 1 m wide) located in its centre. On
top of it there were remains of a bumt sacrifice. The clearing of
the staircase brought unexpected results in the form of two
additional burial chambers located about halfway down; the
entrances to these chambers were found sealed. The eastem one
(2.20 m long, 1.65 m wide, 0.85 m high) contained 11 burials,
preserved rather badly owing to a humid environment. The
skeletons were found lying from east to west, with heads
altemately to the east and west. Two of the burials were mummies
swathed in bandages and provided with portraits of the dead which
33
tombs described above come from the first half of the 1 st century
A.D. The underground part of tomb TIGH is somewhat earlier,
being dated to the end of the 1 st century B.C., while the modest
burials lying on a higher level between tombs TIC and TID are
later and take on the form of roughly rectangular box-like
structures constructed of narrow undressed limestone slabs. Some
isolated slabs set horizontally, bearing traces of buming on their
surface were found in the vicinity of these tombs. The buming as
well as a rather regular arrangement of these slabs in respect to
particular tombs, would indicate their role as artificial altars of a
kind, intended for offerings to the dead. The largest of the slabs,
which measured 0.70 x 0.77 x 0.11 m, was found next to the
loculus tomb TID, although in all probability it was connected not
with this tomb, but with burials located further west and not yet
uncovered.
The second sector of excavations comprised a monumental
tomb complex S6 (see Fig. 1), which consists of an aboveground
mausoleum and an underground complex, the two linked by a 15
m long staircase, once roofed, cut in the rock. The staircase led to
an open courtyard 7 m deep, from which one entered a funerary
chamber fumished with rockcut benches, an altar and a side
loculus. Excavations in the courtyard uncovered yet another altar
(1.30 m high, 1.05 m long and 1 m wide) located in its centre. On
top of it there were remains of a bumt sacrifice. The clearing of
the staircase brought unexpected results in the form of two
additional burial chambers located about halfway down; the
entrances to these chambers were found sealed. The eastem one
(2.20 m long, 1.65 m wide, 0.85 m high) contained 11 burials,
preserved rather badly owing to a humid environment. The
skeletons were found lying from east to west, with heads
altemately to the east and west. Two of the burials were mummies
swathed in bandages and provided with portraits of the dead which
33