Alexandria: Kom el-Dikka (Egypt)
Dates of work: 1 September 2009–31 October 2010
Team:
Director: Dr. Grzegorz Majcherek, archaeologist (PCMA)
Deputy director: Renata Kucharczyk, glass specialist (PCMA)
SCA representative: Amira Gaber Shawat, Marwa Adel Hussein, Naglaa Fuad Abd el-Azim, Nahed Mohammed Abd el-Salam, Mona Gaber Hassan, Magda Mohammed Ibrahim
Archaeologists: Emanuela Kulicka (freelance), Katarzyna Lach (PhD candidate, Jagiellonian University, Kraków), Agata Dobosz (PhD candidate, Jagiellonian University, Kraków), Anna Maria Kotarba-Morley (PhD candidate, Oxford University), Szymon Maślak (PCMA ), Łukasz Wojnarowicz (independent)
Ceramologist: Dobiesława Bagińska (Poznań Archaeological Museum)
Islamologist: Dr. Małgorzata Redlak (National Museum in Warsaw)
Epigraphist: Prof. Adam Łukaszewicz (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Numismatist: Assist. Prof. Barbara Lichocka (Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences), Adam Jegliński (PCMA)
Anthropologist: Robert Mahler (PCMA)
Conservators: Ewa Parandowska (National Museum in Warsaw), Joanna Lis (National Museum in Warsaw), Zygmunt Nawrot (PCMA), Szymon Gąsienica-Sieczka (freelance)
Architects: Aureliusz Pisarzewski (freelance), Grażyna Karpińska (freelance)
Documentalist: Kalina Juszczyk (freelance)
Student-trainees: Katarzyna Kapiec, Agata Smilgin, Karolina Górka, Jakub Brochocki, Anna Zawadzińska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Fieldwork in the 2009/2010 season encompassed the central part of the site, continuing the exploration of a large dump of urban refuse and ashes from the 4th–7th centuries AD . In the adjacent Late Roman bath, an entrance to the cellars underlying the whole complex was discovered and the bath palestra were investigated. The chronology of the recently excavated academic complex was appraised as a result of further testing in the area.
Preservation work concerned various areas of the site, focusing mainly on architectural conservation in the bath, domestic quarter and the auditoria. The most challenging operation was an overhaul of the mosaic shelter (Villa of the Birds), which included treatment of mosaic floors, as well as new drainage and ventilation systems, antidamp insulation and roof renovation.
[Text: PAM]