Marea
Basilica project
Dates of work: 2 August–15 October 2014
Team:
Director: Krzysztof Babraj, archaeologist (Archaeological Museum in Krakow)
SCA representative: Eslam Tailon
Archaeologists: Anna Drzymuchowska, ceramologist (Archaeological Museum in Krakow), Joanna Szczepkowska (PCMA UW)
Ceramologist: Julia Górecka (independent)
Architects: Katarzyna Rozmus (Universidad Politècnica de València trainee), Daria Tarara, chief architect (freelance)
Restorer: Tomasz Skrzypiec (Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow)
Civil engineer: Dr. Janusz Kogut (Krakow University of Technology)
(Joint description of seasons 2014 and 2015)
The southern aisle of the basilica and the southern entrance to the church was explored in 2014. A bone-crafting workshop was located by the outside wall, yielding 230 semi-finished products for the making of beads, appliqués, buttons etc. A courtyard paved with marble led onto a street with a sewage system that received water directly from the baptistery located in this part. A room directly next to the baptistery was paved with marble tiles in the opus sectile technique, including ones in the shape of human hands. A semicircular niche in its east wall may have housed the bishop’s throne. A later installation in the southern aisle, associated with thick layers of burning in the fill, consisted of a brick-built vaulted structure which may have been a bread-baking oven.
Late Antique house in Marea project
Dates of work: 31 August–2 October 2014
Team:
Director: Dr. Dagmara Wielgosz-Rondolino (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Ministry of Antiquities representative: Eslam Tailon
Archaeologists: Mariusz Gwiazda (Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre, University of Warsaw)
Papyrologist: Prof. Tomasz Derda (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Pottery expert: Tomasz Górecki (National Museum in Warsaw)
Numismatist: Dr. Piotr Jaworski (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Glass expert: Renata Kucharczyk (PCMA UW)
Architect: Andrzej Bruno Kutiak (freelance)
Documentalist: Hanna Kozińska-Sowa (freelance), Julia Górecka (freelance), Aleksandra Pawlikowska (student, Institute of Archaeology University of Warsaw)
(Joint description of seasons 2014 and 2015)
Seven rooms were unearthed completely and another four in part during the second season of excavations in House H1 in Marea. Thanks to a stratigraphic test pit the approximate date of construction of this part of the ancient town was established tentatively as the 6th century AD; it remained in use until at least the 8th century AD. The building techniques and the plan of House H1 follow the Mediterranean tradition of domestic architecture.
[Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 25]