DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:Godlewski, Włodzimierz: Naqlun: excavations 1997
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41242#0085
broken pottery. Then unit J and room K were constructed off the
west side of courtyard I. In the second phase, therefore, the
hermitage consisted of units A, B, J and K and was inhabited also
by two hermits. The fragility of the rock, however, did not permit
the monks to live there for long and they probably abandoned it
already in the beginning of the 6th century. The small scrap of
papyrus with a text in Arabic, found in the fill of room J.2, was
evidently brought in by the wind - it was found immediately under
the ceiling of the room. Hermitage 44 appears to have been
occupied by two generations of monks, but after Phibamo's death
its role was never again quite what it had been in the first stage of.
KOM: SITE E
Excavations on the kom were very limited in extent. The
modem monastery development and, particularly, the building of
a precinct wall cutting across the archaeological site made it
imperative to proceed with rescue excavations on the spot of the
massive pillars of the enclosure wall, which had destroyed in
several places the existing architectural remains and deposits
containing important archaeological material: pottery, glass, wood
and fragments of texts. Trench E was an extension of one of the
foundation trenches, located between the earlier trenches dug by the
expedition on site A, with the remains of a 6th century monastic
tower and a late church built most probably in the 10th-11th
centuries, and on site D with its two monastic towers encircled in
the 10th century by an extensive habitation compound. Parchment
cards found on this site constituted parts of several dozen Coptic
codices, suggesting the existence of a monastery library in this part
of the buildings. On site E, three building phases were identified.
The oldest phase, just above the level of bedrock in this area, was
connected with the construction of a sizable red brick building of
unidentified purpose. It was destroyed in a fire. At a later date, part
of the area was taken up by residential structures, possibly
connected with the buildings already uncovered on site D. One of
83
west side of courtyard I. In the second phase, therefore, the
hermitage consisted of units A, B, J and K and was inhabited also
by two hermits. The fragility of the rock, however, did not permit
the monks to live there for long and they probably abandoned it
already in the beginning of the 6th century. The small scrap of
papyrus with a text in Arabic, found in the fill of room J.2, was
evidently brought in by the wind - it was found immediately under
the ceiling of the room. Hermitage 44 appears to have been
occupied by two generations of monks, but after Phibamo's death
its role was never again quite what it had been in the first stage of.
KOM: SITE E
Excavations on the kom were very limited in extent. The
modem monastery development and, particularly, the building of
a precinct wall cutting across the archaeological site made it
imperative to proceed with rescue excavations on the spot of the
massive pillars of the enclosure wall, which had destroyed in
several places the existing architectural remains and deposits
containing important archaeological material: pottery, glass, wood
and fragments of texts. Trench E was an extension of one of the
foundation trenches, located between the earlier trenches dug by the
expedition on site A, with the remains of a 6th century monastic
tower and a late church built most probably in the 10th-11th
centuries, and on site D with its two monastic towers encircled in
the 10th century by an extensive habitation compound. Parchment
cards found on this site constituted parts of several dozen Coptic
codices, suggesting the existence of a monastery library in this part
of the buildings. On site E, three building phases were identified.
The oldest phase, just above the level of bedrock in this area, was
connected with the construction of a sizable red brick building of
unidentified purpose. It was destroyed in a fire. At a later date, part
of the area was taken up by residential structures, possibly
connected with the buildings already uncovered on site D. One of
83