SHEIKH ABD EL-GURNA
Dates of work: 23 October 2010–24 January 2011
Team:
Director: Tomasz Górecki, archaeologist (Eastern Christian Art Collection, National Museum in Warsaw)
SCA representatives: Mahmoud Gabreel Abed el Aal, Samia Salah Riad (fieldwork supervision), Ahmad Hassan Abed (supervision of work in the Gurna storehouse)
Archaeologists: Patryk Chudzik (Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław), Katarzyna Danys-Lasek (independent), Szymon Maślak (Polish Ministry of National Education scholarship holder), Zbigniew Polak (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Maciej Trzeciecki (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)
Ethnoarchaeologist: Dr. Christiane Hochstrasser-Petit (independent)
Papyrologists: Dr. Anne Boud’hors (Institut de recherche et d’histoire des textes, CNRS ), Assist. Prof. Tomasz Derda (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Egyptologist: Dr. Andrzej Ćwiek (Archaeological Museum in Poznań)
Parchment and leather restorer: Anna Thommée (Polish Ateliers for Conservation of Cultural Property, Toruń)
Geophysicists: Dominik Kaletta, Jarosław Majewski (both Geo-Radar. Badania Geofizyczne, Groffik A., Wilczyce)
Photographers: Dariusz Dąbkowski (freelance), Roman Stasiuk, Piotr Zambrzycki (both Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw)
Student-trainee: Julia Górecka, BA(Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
The field seasons of 2009 and the turn of 2010 were focused on multidisciplinary studies and conservation of finds from the Coptic hermitage located in a Pharaonic tomb (MMA 1152) in the locality of Gurna in West Thebes. The objective was a multivaried study of the monks’ everyday life in the 6th through 8th centuries AD, as well as a reconstruction of the history of the tomb from its founding through the Graeco-Roman period. A limited number of artifacts illustrate occasional visits to the ruins in later times by travelers, treasure hunters and finally early 20th century archaeologists. Some limited archaeological excavations were carried out in peripheral areas: in the lowest part of the refuse dump on the rock slope and on the edges of the path running from the site of the hermitage to the neighboring tomb MMA 1151. Conservation of metal vessels and other objects revealed elements of the decoration as well as technological features, aiding in determining their function and clarifying the decoration.
[Text: PAM]