DOI article:
Godlewski, Włodzimierz: Archaeological research in Naqlun in 1991
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26426#0053
The upper floor of the building had clearly been decorated
with murals; fragments of painted plaster were retrieved from the
fill of the rooms on the ground floor. In both rooms excavated this
season the fill consisted of debris from the walls and a wooden
roof in D.10. The latter room also yielded a piece of architectural
decoration in the form of a juxtaposed column consisting of
separate elements: a shaft, a base and a mechanically shortened
capital. The column should be dated to the early 6 th century; in the
building in question, it must have been reused in the upper floor
rooms above D.10.
The potsherds found in the structure of the floor and vault of
room D.9 belong to amphorae and plates from southem workshops
(Assuan) and from Central Egypt Imitations of Late Roman
pottery and fragments of amphorae can be dated to the tum of the
6 th and 7 th century A.D. The pottery from the fill is decidedly later
- from the 11 th and 12 th centuries. Glazed wares are rare.
The most valuable find retrieved from the debris in room D.9,
from a spot just beside the entrance to D.10, is a large wooden
chest decorated with inlaid bone and ivory. This rectangular casket
is 41 cm long, 28 cm wide and 35 cm high, with a pyramid cover.
At first glance it is clear that it was made rather carelessly from
parts of two different pieces of fumiture or screens. The decoration
is suggestive of a date in the Fatimid period - most probably a
Sicilian workshop 4 from the tum of 12 th century - but the fittings
are undoubtedly later.
The casket contained five books written in Arabic on paper.
Two of them were of a high quality waxed paper, two others were
bound in leather. Together with the books there were some ietters
* P. B. Cott, Siculo-Arabic ivories in the Museo Cristiano, The Art Bulletin
12, 1990, pp. 131-46; F. G. Umberto Scerrato, Gli Arabi in Italia, Cultura,
contatti e tradizioni, Milano 1979, pp. 447-75.
51
with murals; fragments of painted plaster were retrieved from the
fill of the rooms on the ground floor. In both rooms excavated this
season the fill consisted of debris from the walls and a wooden
roof in D.10. The latter room also yielded a piece of architectural
decoration in the form of a juxtaposed column consisting of
separate elements: a shaft, a base and a mechanically shortened
capital. The column should be dated to the early 6 th century; in the
building in question, it must have been reused in the upper floor
rooms above D.10.
The potsherds found in the structure of the floor and vault of
room D.9 belong to amphorae and plates from southem workshops
(Assuan) and from Central Egypt Imitations of Late Roman
pottery and fragments of amphorae can be dated to the tum of the
6 th and 7 th century A.D. The pottery from the fill is decidedly later
- from the 11 th and 12 th centuries. Glazed wares are rare.
The most valuable find retrieved from the debris in room D.9,
from a spot just beside the entrance to D.10, is a large wooden
chest decorated with inlaid bone and ivory. This rectangular casket
is 41 cm long, 28 cm wide and 35 cm high, with a pyramid cover.
At first glance it is clear that it was made rather carelessly from
parts of two different pieces of fumiture or screens. The decoration
is suggestive of a date in the Fatimid period - most probably a
Sicilian workshop 4 from the tum of 12 th century - but the fittings
are undoubtedly later.
The casket contained five books written in Arabic on paper.
Two of them were of a high quality waxed paper, two others were
bound in leather. Together with the books there were some ietters
* P. B. Cott, Siculo-Arabic ivories in the Museo Cristiano, The Art Bulletin
12, 1990, pp. 131-46; F. G. Umberto Scerrato, Gli Arabi in Italia, Cultura,
contatti e tradizioni, Milano 1979, pp. 447-75.
51