Tell el-Farkha (Ghazala) (Egypt), 2015

Tell el-Farkha

 

Dates of work: 16 February–26 March 2015

Team:
Co-directors: Dr. Marek Chłodnicki, archaeologist (Archaeological Museum in Poznań), Prof. Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz, archaeologist (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University)
MSA representatives: Yousry Esayed Ahmed Kotb, Mohamed Mostafa Alshafei Mostafa
Archaeologists: Bartosz Adamski, Marcin Czarnowicz, Dr. Joanna Dębowska-Ludwin, Jacek Karmowski, Dr. Piotr Kołodziejczyk, Karolina Rosińska-Balik, Jakub Skłucki (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University), Dr. Maciej Jórdeczka (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Poznań)
Ceramologists: Magdalena Kaźmierczak, Sakura Sanada, Magdalena Sobas (Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University), Dr. Agnieszka Mączynska (Archaeological Museum in Poznań)
Anthropologist: Katarzyna Mądrzyk, Barbara Woźniak (both Institute of Zoology, Jagiellonian University)
Archeozoologists: Dr. Renata Abłamowicz (Silesian Museum, Katowice)
Geologists: Prof. Maciej Pawlikowski (AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow)
Photographer: Robert Słaboński (freelance)
Documentalist: Daria Białobrzecka, Urszula Doros (both Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University)
Student-trainees: Ada Lewkowicz, Krzysztof Kotynia, Magdalena Płoszaj, Alicja Jurkiewicz, Mariusz Gamrat, Magdalena Więckowska, Merita Dreshai (all Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Malwina Brachmańska, Marta Kaczanowicz (both Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań), Marta Krzyżańska (University College London). Training for young inspectors from Mansura was also conducted.

(Joint description of seasons 2014 and 2015)

The archaeological site of Tell el-Farkha is composed of three mounds excavated continuously by the Polish team since 1998. In the 2014 and 2015 seasons, covered in this report, investigations were carried out in already opened trenches in three sectors. On the Western Kom, another brewery was explored to add to the already existing set of investigated installations of this kind. It demonstrated three phases of use, the topmost separated from the middle one by a thick layer of burnt soil and ashes. The deposit attests to a conflagration that consumed the entire settlement.

The study of a huge Naqadian building was continued on the Central Kom. Two occupation phases were distinguished: an older one at the beginning of the Naqada IIIA1 period and a younger one attributed to Naqada IIIA1–IIIA2. Remains of Lower Egyptian structures were unearthed below the foundations of this building. A big clay stamp-seal with hieroglyphs from the mid First Dynasty period was found associated with this feature. On the Eastern Kom, a big mud-brick edifice of unknown function was investigated. A further 17 graves, mostly from the second half of the First and the beginning of the Second Dynasty, were discovered as well.

The two field campaigns were financed from National Science Centre grants 1057/B/H03/2011/40 and 2014/13/B/HS3/04976 sponsored further by the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Archaeological Museum in Poznań, the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw and Patrimonium Foundation, Poznań.

Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 25

Contact
M. Chłodnicki: mchlod(at)man.poznan.pl
K. Ciałowicz: kmcialowicz(at)interia.pl