Tell el-Retaba

Tell el-Retaba

• Project name:

  Polish-Slovak Archaeological Mission in Tell el-Retaba
  

• Type of site:

  Settlement

  Location:

  Egypt
  Wadi Tumilat

  Dating:

  – Second Intermediate Period (17th–16th century BC)
  – New Kingdom (16th–11th century BC)
  – Third Intermediate Period (11th–7th century BC)
  – Late Period (7th–4th century BC)

Most interesting finds:

– Hyksos settlement and cemetery (17th–16th century BC)
– Early 18th dynasty settlement (16th–15th century BC)
– Fortress of Ramesses II (13th–12th century BC) – defense walls, garrison barracks, workshops, granaries
– Fortress of Ramesses III (12th–11th century BC) – defense walls, garrison barracks
– Houses of the Third Intermediate Period settlement (11th–7th century BC)
– Stable from the Third Intermediate Period (11th–7th century BC)
– “Tower house” from the Late Period (7th–4th century BC)

History of research:

Dates of PCMA mission’s work:

2007–

Type of research:

Field prospection (2007), geophysical research (2007, 2008, 2010), excavations (since 2008)

Directors:

Sławomir Rzepka, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw
Jozef Hudec, Aigyptos Foundation

Co-operating institutions:

– Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw
– Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw
– Slovak Academy of Sciences
– Aigyptos Foundation

Additional information:

The site had been excavated several times before the Polish-Slovak Mission started work. In 1880, E. Naville mistakenly identified it as a Roman military camp. In 1905, W.M.F. Petrie conducted one season of excavations and uncovered several phases of defense walls dating to the New Kingdom. He also explored a Third Intermediate Period necropolis (presently inaccessible). In 1930, S. Schott carried out a survey, during which he found large numbers of flint tools dating to the Archaic Period and the Old Kingdom. In 1978–1981, research on the site was conducted by an American mission under the direction of Hans Goedicke, but its results were never published (not even preliminary reports exist). Egyptian missions have worked in Tell el-Retaba as well; the results of their research also have yet to be published.

The following grants were realized in the framework of the project:
– Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland grant no. N N109 244839: “Research on the settlement and defense architecture in Tell el-Retaba”, realized in the years 2010–2013;
– National Science Centre of Poland grant no. 2012/05/B/HS3/03748: “Influence of environmental factors on the settlement history of Tell el-Retaba”, realized in the years 2013–2016;
– National Science Centre of Poland grant no. 2015/17/B/HS3/00597: “Egyptian settlement of the Third Intermediate Period in Tell el-Retaba”, realized in the years 2016–2018;
– Slovak Research and Development Agency grant no. APVV-5970-12: “Slovak research of ancient Egyptian civilization”, realized in the years 2012–2017.

Description of the site and research:

Tell el-Retaba lies at a strategic point in the central part of Wadi Toumilat, which was crossed by an important route connecting Egypt with Syro-Palestine. Some researchers identify this place with biblical Pithom, mentioned in Exodus. The Polish-Slovak Mission aims to reconstruct the history of the ancient settlement in Tell el-Retaba and determine how it was influenced by cultural and environmental factors.

The oldest settlement in Tell el-Retaba is related to the presence of the Hyksos, hailing from Syro-Palestine, who ruled Egypt in the 17th–16th century BC as the 15th dynasty. Excavations uncovered fragments of houses from this period as well as several Hyksos graves with burial chambers covered with mud-brick barrel vaults /Figs 1, 2/. As is typical of the Levantine culture (the bearers of which were the Hyksos), these graves were located inside the settlement and not on a separate cemetery outside.

At the beginning of the 18th dynasty (mid-16th century BC), an Egyptian settlement developed on the ruins of the Hyksos one. In the middle of this dynasty’s reign, the site was abandoned for unknown reasons and remained uninhabited until the beginning of the 19th dynasty.

The first fortress in Tell el-Retaba was built by Ramesses II (19th dynasty, 13th century BC; earlier settlements had not been fortified). Its mud-brick walls were approximately 6 m thick. Excavations conducted in recent years uncovered defense walls, garrison barracks and granaries /Figs 3, 4/. Inside the fortress, a few child burials were found /Fig. 5/. According to Egyptian custom, adults were buried in cemeteries outside the settlement, but the location of these necropoles is unknown. Ramesses II also built the temple of Atum; a fragment of a stele depicting the god Re-Horachte as well as fragments of relief-decorated wall blocks, reused in later structures, came from this building /Figs 6, 7/.

Approximately 100 years later Ramesses III (20th dynasty) replaced the old fortress with a new one, larger and better fortified (its defense walls were about 9 m thick). From the west, the stronghold was entered through a massive gate of the “migdol” type (Egyptians borrowed this type of defense structure from Syro-Palestine). Military barracks of the garrison were uncovered recently along the south wall of the fortress /Figs 8, 9, 10/. The building, at least 70 m long, consisted of identical flats comprising six rooms: three wide and three narrow ones. Units on the ground floor were used as kitchens and storerooms; bedrooms must have been located on the upper story.

In the Third Intermediate Period (11th–7th century BC), the weakened Egyptian state was unable to maintain the fortress; however, a large, dense settlement developed on its ruins. Several houses from this period have been uncovered to date /Fig. 11/, as well as a large stable /Fig. 12/.

Tell el-Retaba was inhabited also in the Late Period (7th–4th century BC). Recently, a “tower house” typical of this period has been discovered /Fig. 13/. Although only its lowest parts have been preserved, its very thick walls (up to 1.8 m thick) suggest that it must have been several stories high.

Gallery: