to 1 m above the stone pavement. On the original plastering above
the buttresses some mural fragments were found. The master
composition depicting an archangel with the sword of fire adorned
the wall facing the western entrance.
In the latest phase of occupation, the passage connecting the
Vestibule with a corridor-like Room 2 was reduced in height to
only 80 cm. There are reasons to believe that Room 2 was
deliberatedly filled with sand and rubble (in order to avoid inward
swelling of the walls). The same layer, rich in Early Christian
pottery, was discovered in 1989 in trench S/TWH/1/89 dug along
the western wall of tombs 1 and 2.
Two tombs unearthed in 1996 (T.14 and T.15) are of the
Terminal Christian type (very narrow shaft surmounted by an
elongated mastaba without lamp-box and western platform). The
grave coded T.14 was attached to the southern wall of Room 2c
after the western coffered abutment had been raised. Another
grave of the same late type was found outside the southern wall of
the compound, 7.40 m from the SW corner.
During the 1996 excavations, the original floor level was
reached only in the test trench dug in the western part of the
Vestibule. In Rooms 2 and 1 the lowest level reached is
approximately 1 m above the floor. Deeper excavation is risky
because of the condition of the masonry. Curiously enough, the
weakest sections are the ones made of sandstone, because of the
easily disintegrating stone structure.
The magnificent murals adorning the walls of R.l and R.2
were painted on the latest walls inside the building (Fig. 5). In R.2,
the murals were painted on the first layer of plaster.
Simultaneously, the intrados of the arched passage from R. 1 into
R.2 was plastered and a set of murals that was uniform in style and
execution with those in R.2 was executed.
So far, no traces of a domestic function have been found in
this area, but two hemicircles (H. 1 and H.2) were constructed to
solve the problem of waste disposal. H 1 was a typical latrine

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