DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Majcherek, Grzegorz: Kom el-Dikka: excavations 1995-1996
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41241#0021
imported Cypriot Glaze wares, which date this activity to the 12th-
14th centuries AD.
Work was continued also in the adjacent corridor of the
cistern. In the previous campaign, an entrance with a well
preserved monolithic threshold had been uncovered. During this
season's work progress was made in clearing the eastern face of the
corridor for a distance of some 13 m. Here again, the wall facing
was almost entirely removed in the Medieval period except for
a few separate and limited areas further north. Moreover, a stretch
of some 8 m of the corridor's floor was also cleared. It was built as
a huge, slightly sloping causeway (inclined ca. 15-17°), with wide
steps made of dolomite blocks, apparently to facilitate access for
animals driving the water-drawing devices. The corridor was filled
with a thick, almost homogeneous layer consisting mostly of earth
mixed with pottery sherds. Finds from the fill include numerous
sherds of amphorae, the Late Roman class 1 amphorae being the
most frequent. Some of the better preserved examples bear the red
Greek dipinti comprising religious formulae like XMT, usually
dated to the late 6th century AD. A sealed neck of a spatheion-type
amphora bearing a similar inscription (inv. No. 4392) of roughly
parallel date, as well as a fragmentarily preserved zoomorphic
vessel (inv. No.4395) were also found. No fragments of qawadis
whatsoever were recovered from the fill - clear evidence that the
corridor was filled already after the cistern went out of use.
SECTOR F
It was the third consecutive season of work in this area.
Previous campaigns saw the clearing of a large part of a well-
preserved urban house of the 1st century AD embellished with
a fine geometric mosaic.3 Following evacuation of earth previously
3 Cf. G. Majcherek, Alexandria 1994, Archaeological excavations,
PAM VI (1995), pp. 14-20; G. Majcherek, Alexandria, Excavations 1995, PAM
VII (1996), pp. 13-20.
19
14th centuries AD.
Work was continued also in the adjacent corridor of the
cistern. In the previous campaign, an entrance with a well
preserved monolithic threshold had been uncovered. During this
season's work progress was made in clearing the eastern face of the
corridor for a distance of some 13 m. Here again, the wall facing
was almost entirely removed in the Medieval period except for
a few separate and limited areas further north. Moreover, a stretch
of some 8 m of the corridor's floor was also cleared. It was built as
a huge, slightly sloping causeway (inclined ca. 15-17°), with wide
steps made of dolomite blocks, apparently to facilitate access for
animals driving the water-drawing devices. The corridor was filled
with a thick, almost homogeneous layer consisting mostly of earth
mixed with pottery sherds. Finds from the fill include numerous
sherds of amphorae, the Late Roman class 1 amphorae being the
most frequent. Some of the better preserved examples bear the red
Greek dipinti comprising religious formulae like XMT, usually
dated to the late 6th century AD. A sealed neck of a spatheion-type
amphora bearing a similar inscription (inv. No. 4392) of roughly
parallel date, as well as a fragmentarily preserved zoomorphic
vessel (inv. No.4395) were also found. No fragments of qawadis
whatsoever were recovered from the fill - clear evidence that the
corridor was filled already after the cistern went out of use.
SECTOR F
It was the third consecutive season of work in this area.
Previous campaigns saw the clearing of a large part of a well-
preserved urban house of the 1st century AD embellished with
a fine geometric mosaic.3 Following evacuation of earth previously
3 Cf. G. Majcherek, Alexandria 1994, Archaeological excavations,
PAM VI (1995), pp. 14-20; G. Majcherek, Alexandria, Excavations 1995, PAM
VII (1996), pp. 13-20.
19