Tell el-Retaba (Egypt), 2017

Tell el-Retaba

Dates of work: 5 September–29 October 2017

Team:
Co-directors: Assist. Prof. Sławomir Rzepka, archaeologist (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Dr. Jozef Hudec, egyptologist (Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences)
SCA representatives: Khaled Fareed Abd el-Naeem, Misbah Zaki Mahmoud, Randa Adel Hassan
Archaeologists: Veronika Dubcová (Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences), Lenka Horáková (Faculty of Arts, Comenius University, Bratislava), Lucia Hulková (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Barbara Jakubowska (independent), Łukasz Jarmużek (independent), Radka Knápek (Institute of Archaeology, Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic), Agnieszka Ryś (Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences), Dr. Květa Smoláriková (Charles University, Prague), Silvia Štubňová (Brown University), Paulína Šútorová (Swansea University)
Pottery specialist: Dr. Anna Wodzińska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Archaeobotanist: Dr. Claire Malleson (independent)
Anthropologist: Dr. Alena Šefčáková (Slovak National Museum)
Pedologist: Dr. Emil Fulajtár (Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, National Agricultural and Food Centre, Bratislava)
Civil engineer: Dr. Miroslav Černy (Aigyptos Foundation)
Architect: Július Bruna (Aigyptos Foundation)
Conservator: František Engel (Aigyptos Foundation)
Photographers: Otto Bagi (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Renáta Rábeková (Aigyptos Foundation)
Surveyor: Dr. Eva Stopková (Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava)
Student trainees: Lukáš Kováčik (University of Trnava), Ján Marko (Masaryk University, Brno), Dominik Sulecki (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw), Katarzyna Szymańska (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)

The 2017 season of archaeological excavation at the site of Tell el-Retaba in the Nile Delta in Egypt led to several interesting discoveries. Two of these concerned burials: a Hyksos tomb from the Second Intermediate Period, robbed but with some remains of the original furnishings, and pit burials from the early Eighteenth Dynasty, one of which was richly endowed with silver jewelry. Meriting note is the discovery of moats belonging to the defenses of the Nineteenth Dynasty fortress. Exploration of a crowded Third Intermediate Period settlement was continued.

Acknowledgments
The mission works under the auspices of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, in cooperation with the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw; the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Aigyptos Foundation, Bratislava. The project has also been supported from grants awarded by the Polish National Science Centre (2015/17/B/HS3/00597) and the Slovak Research and Development Agency (grant APVV-5970-12; Slovak Research of Ancient Egyptian civilization). Dr. Lucia Hulková’s research was financed from the grant: “Beyond Politics”, Austrian Science Fund Start-Project Y754-G19.
Text: PAM 27/1
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 26/1

Contact

Sławomir Rzepka: s.rzepka(at)uw.edu.pl