Tell el-Farkha and Tell el-Murrah (Egypt)
For current work at Tell el-Farkha and Tell el-Murrah see the blog (in Polish): http://farcha.blox.pl/html.
Tell el-Farkha (Ghazala) (Egypt)
Digging dates: 3 March–14 April 2011
Team:
Co-Directors: Dr. Marek Chłodnicki (Archeological Museum in Poznań), Prof. Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków)
SCA representative: Yusri El Sayed Ahmed
Archaeologists: Katarzyna Błaszczyk, Artur Buszek, Marcin Czarnowicz, Dr. Joanna Dębowska-Ludwin, Katarzyna Juszczyk, Piotr Kołodziejczyk, Michał Kurzyk, Grzegorz Pryc (all from the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków), Magdalena Nowak (independent), Małgorzata Żukowska (Archaeological Museum in Poznań)
Ceramologist: Dr. Mariusz Jucha, Magdalena Sobas (both from the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków), Agnieszka Mączyńska (Archeological Museum in Poznań)
Anthropologists: Anna Kozłowska (Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków)
Archaeozoologists: Dr. Renata Abłamowicz (Silesian Museum in Katowice)
Geologists: Dr. Michał Wasilewski (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków)
Photographer: Robert Słaboński (freelance)
Documentalist: Halina Żarska-Chłodnicka (ARCHmedia s.c. Poznan)
Student-trainees from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Excavations were carried out on all three of the koms making up the site. The main trench on the Central Kom (finished in previous season) was extended 120 sq m to the West. On the eastern slope of that tell a test trench (10 m by 2 m) was excavated. At the eastern border of cemetery (Eastern Kom) a test trench (10 m by 3 m) was opened and backfilled. The most important discoveries were new architectural structures at the Western and Central Koms and eight graves on the Eastern one.
Tell el-Murra (Egypt)
Digging dates: 3 March–3 April 2011
Team:
Director: Dr. Mariusz A. Jucha (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków)
SCA representative: Abd el-Salam Mansour Abd el-Salam (Faqus SCA Inspectorate)
Archaeologists: Grzegorz Bąk-Pryc (PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków), Kamila Peschel (independent), Marcin Czarnowicz, Katarzyna Błaszczyk (both PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków)
Archaeologist/geophysicists: Artur Buszek (PhD candidate, Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków)
Archaeologist/geologist: Dr. Michał Wasilewski (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków)
Archeologist/ceramologist: Elżbieta Wątroba (independent)
Anthropologist: Anna Kozłowska (PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków)
Photographer: Robert Słaboński (freelance)
Excavations on the site of Tell el-Murra in March–April 2011 were continued in trench S3 situated in the southwestern part of the site and excavated already during the previous season. Investigations were also undertaken in a new trench S4 at the eastern end of the site.
Trench S3 was enlarged to the north and west. These extensions were aimed at uncovering the rest of the brick structures discovered last year. The main goal was to determine the character of feature no. 2, a fragment of which had been uncovered in 2010 in the northwestern corner of the trench. Material dated mostly to the Naqada III period was collected from the upper layers. Walls of mud-brick structures were uncovered. Moreover two graves, which partly intersect the mentioned walls, were also explored. Feature no. 2 proved to be a grave and another grave (no. 1) was located to the north of it. Both graves were dated to the Early Dynastic period.
The trench S4, traced as 5 m by 5 m, turned out to contain poorly legible brick walls. Among them the best preserved was a wall oriented SW-NE, which was situated in the western part of the trench. To the east of it there was a circular feature. The ceramic assemblage from most of the layers in the trench was of Old Kingdom and Naqada III date. Sherds bearing a zig-zag decoration characteristic of the Predynastic Lower Egyptian Culture were found in the lowermost layer reached this year in the trench.
By the same the overall chronology of the site has been confirmed. The Lower Egyptian ceramics are proof of occupation of the site in the Predynastic period. Settlement layers corresponding to the Naqada III period were also discovered. A cemetery seems to have existed with the settlement, at least in Early Dynastic times. Based on this year’s results it can be said that the settlement in Early Dynastic times had lost in size. No remains from the subsequent period were found in a trench (S3) located in the southwestern part of the site. Continuing occupation in the Old Kingdom period (through the Sixth Dynasty) has been confirmed so far for the northeastern and eastern parts of the site (trenches S1 and S4) and also most probably for the northern part (surface collection). The site was apparently abandoned in the late Old Kingdom.
[Text: PAM]