Proceedings of the Fifth Central European Conference of Egyptologists. Egypt 2009: Perspectives of Research.

The Pułtusk Academy of Humanities ACTA ARCHAEOLOGICA PULTUSKIENSIA Vol. II Proceedings of the Fifth Central European Conference of Egyptologists. Egypt 2009: Perspectives of Research. Pułtusk 22-24 June 2009 Edited by Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska, & Jadwiga Iwaszczuk Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology PUŁTUSK 2009

Scientific Editors: Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska, Jadwiga Iwaszczuk Proof-reading in English by Jo B. Harper & Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska DTP by Jadwiga Iwaszczuk Graphics by Jadwiga Iwaszczuk Cover design by Jakub Affelski Published with financial support of the Polish Ministry of Education All rights reserved Copyright 2009 by the Pułtusk Academy of Humanities, 2009 Publisher: The Pułtusk Academy of Humanities ul. Daszyńskiego 17, 06-100 Pułtusk tel./fax (+48 23) 692 50 82 e-mail: rektorat@ah.edu.pl Internet: www.ah.edu.pl ISBN 978-83-7549-115-9 Realised on behalf of the publisher: Przedsiębiorstwo Poligraficzno-Wydawnicze Graf Janusz Janiszewski 04-663 Warszawa ul. Błękitna 87A tel. 501 376 898 e-mail:janusz.graf@wp.pl

Contents Preface... 7 Karol Myśliwiec, Pułtusk between Budapest, Cambridge and Warsaw... 9 Kamila Braulińska, Some Remarks on Interpreting Canidae in Egyptian Art. Predynastic until Late Period... 11 Julia Budka, Ankh-Hor Revisited: Study, Documentation and Publication of Forgotten Finds from the Asasif... 23 Artur Buszek, Early Dynastic Representations of Dwarfs Research Perspectives... 33 Marcin Czarnowicz, Early Egyptian Levantine Relations. Perspectives of Research, View from Tell el-farkha... 39 Piotr Czerkwiński, A Genealogy of a Theban Family between 3 rd and 1 st Century BC... 45 Andrzej Ćwiek, The Bzn-Substance... 51 Jadwiga Iwaszczuk, Surprising Name Stones from the Metropolitan House Storeroom, Luxor... 55 Krzysztof Jakubiak, Tell Farama, Pelusium. City Urban Planning Reconstruction in the Light of the Last Researches... 65 Bożena Józefów, Joanna Popielska-Grzybowska, Preliminary Remarks on the Rites of Passage in the Pyramid Texts... 75 Mariusz A. Jucha, The North-Eastern Part of the Nile Delta Research Perspectives. Polish Archaeological Survey in the Ash-Sharqiyyah Governorate... 83 Nicole Kloth, Propylaeum: Virtual Library Classical Studies Egyptology... 89 Piotr Kołodziejczyk, The Nile Delta during the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Periods Recent Discoveries and Perspectives... 101 Agnieszka Kowalska, Kamil Kuraszkiewicz, Zbigniew Godziejewski, Old Kingdom Burials with Funerary Plaster Masks from Saqqara... 107 Adam Łukaszewicz, A Man Speaks to His Soul: Count Jan Potocki (1761-1815) and the Beginnings of Egyptology... 113 Agnieszka Mączyńska, How and Why is Pottery Useful for Understanding Archaeology of Predynastic Egypt? A Few Practical Examples from the Site at Tell el-farkha... 123 Szymon Maślak, How to Build in Marshy Lands? Some Remarks on Brick Constructions in Roman and Byzantine Pelusium... 127 Michał Neska, Egyptian Infantry in the New Kingdom an Iconographical Survey... 143 Andrzej Niwiński, The Double Structure of the Entity. The Ancient Egyptian Conception of the Human Being Reconsidered... 153 Grzegorz Pryc, Stone Vessels from the Graves of the Tell el-farkha Site. Seasons 2001-2008. Preliminary Classifications... 161 Marta Sankiewicz, Cosmological Frames on the Lunettes in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-bahari... 171 Nigel Strudwick, Information Technology in Egyptology: the Past and the Future... 179 Elena Valtorta, The Ritualised Body: Body Treatment and Ritual Practices in Egyptian Predynastic Burials... 195 Dawid F. Wieczorek, Some Remarks on Dates in the Building-Dipinti Discovered in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-bahari... 207 Leszek Zinkow, Egyptian Revival in Central Europe. Research Project Proposal... 213 5

Mariusz A. Jucha Cracow The North-Eastern Part of the Nile Delta Research Perspectives. Polish Archaeological Survey in the Ash-Sharqiyyah Governorate The history of the Nile Delta in the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Periods is still little known, which makes it difficult to describe the role that this area played especially in the process of state formation in Egypt at the turn of the 4 th and the 3 rd century BC, and its significance to the development of trading relations with the Near East. Until recently the only information concerning that period in the Nile Delta was obtained mostly from the excavation at Minshat Abu Omar (the North-Eastern part of the Nile Delta (fig. 33) 1 and Buto (the Western part of the Nile Delta). 2 These data were supplemented also by excavations at Tell Ibrahim Awad 3 and el-tell el-iswid (South) 4 as well as Tell el-daba a (el-qanan), 5 Tell el-samara, 6 Beni Amir, 7 Ezbet el-tell / Kufur Nigm, 8 Minshat Ezzat, 9 Tell el-masha la, 10 Tell Gabbara. 11 Undoubtedly, 1 K. Kroeper, D. Wildung, Minshat Abu Omar I. Ein vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Friedhof im Nildelta: Gräber 1-114, Mainz am Rhein 1994; K. Kroeper, D. Wildung, Minshat Abu Omar II. Ein vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Friedhof im Nildelta: Gräber 115-204, Mainz 2000. 2 Ch. Köhler, Tell el-fara în Buto III. Die Keramik von der späten Naqada-Kultur bis zum frühen Alten Reich (Schichten III bis VI), AV 94, Mainz am Rhein 1998; T. von der Way, Tell el-fara în. Buto I. Ergebnisse zum frühen Kontext während der Jahre 1983-1989, AV 83, Mainz 1997. 3 E.C.M. van den Brink, Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Tell Ibrahim Awad, Seasons 1988-1990, [in:] E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.), The Nile Delta in Transition: 4 th -3 rd Millennium BC, Tel Aviv 1992, pp. 43-69; W.M. van Haarlem, The Excavations at Tell Ibrahim Awad (Eastern Nile Delta): Recent Results, [in:] C.J. Eyre (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Cambridge, 3-9 September 1995, Leuven 1998, pp. 509-513; W.M. van Haarlem, An Introduction to the Site of Tell Ibrahim Awad, Ägypten und Levante X (2000), pp. 13-16. 4 E.C.M. van den Brink, A Transitional Late Predynastic Early Dynastic Settlement Site in the North-Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt, MDAIK 45 (1989), pp. 55-108. 5 S.G. El-Baghdadi, The Protodynastic and Early Dynastic Necropolis of Tell el-daba a (el-qanan) and Tell el-samara (el-dakahlia Province, Northeast Delta), [in:] B. Midant-Reynes, Y. Tristant (eds), Egypt at its Origins 2. Proceedings of the International Conference Origins of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt Toulouse (France), 5 th -8 th September 2005, OLA 172, Leuven Paris 2008, pp. 1151-1155. 6 Ibidem. 7 M. Adel M. Abd El-Moneim, Der Spätvordynastische Frühdynastische Tell von Beni Amir (Ost-Delta), Journal of Historical and Archaeological Researches I (1993), pp. 1-29; M. Adel M. Abd El-Moneim, Late Predynastic Early Dynastic Cemetery of Beni Amir (Eastern Delta), Journal of Historical and Archaeological Researches I (1993), pp. 78-96; M. Adel M. Abd El-Moneim, Late Predynastic Early Dynastic mound of Beni Amir (Eastern Delta), [in:] L. Krzyżaniak, K. Kroeper, A. Kobusiewicz (eds), Interregional Contacts in the Later Prehistory of North-Eastern Africa, Poznań 1996, pp. 253-275; M. Adel M. Abd El-Moneim, Late Predynastic Early Dynastic cemetery of Beni Amir (Eastern Delta), [in:] L. Krzyżaniak, K. Kroeper, A. Kobusiewicz (eds), Interregional Contacts in the Later Prehistory of North-Eastern Africa, Poznań 1996, pp. 241-251. 8 M.I. Bakr, The New Excavations at Ezbet el-tell, Kufur Nigm; the First Season, 1984, [in:], E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.), The Archaeology of the Nile Delta. Problems and Priorities, Amsterdam 1988, pp. 49-62; M.I. Bakr, Excavations at Ezbet al-tel, Kufur-Nigm: The Third and Fourth Seasons (1988-1990), [in:] Z. Hawass (ed.), Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century. Proceedings of the Eight International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo 2000 1, Cairo New York 2003, pp. 30-43. 9 S.G. El-Baghdadi, Proto- and Early Dynastic Necropolis of Minshat Ezzat, Dakahlia Province, Northeast Delta, Archéo-Nil 13 (2003), pp. 143-152. 10 S.R. Rampersad, Report of the First Field Season at tell el-masha la, Egypt 2002, JARCE XL (2003), pp. 171-186; S.R. Rampersad, Tell el-masha la: A Predynastic/Early Dynastic Site in the Eastern Nile Delta, [in:] K. Kroeper. M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Archaeology of Early North-Eastern Africa. In Memory of Lech Krzyżaniak, Poznań 2006, pp. 789-816. 11 S.R. Rampersad, Introducing Tell Gabbara: New Evidence for Early Dynastic Settlement in the Eastern Delta, JEA 94 (2008), pp. 95-106. 83

Mariusz A. Jucha the roads to Canaan ran through the region where those sites were situated (the North Eastern part of the Delta) (fig. 33). Therefore, the inhabitants of these sites most probably participated in commercial relations between Egypt and Canaan at the beginning of the Egyptian state. Still, in most cases only preliminary results of the research done here have been published so far. Consecutive data were also added by the surveys conducted in the discussed area almost twenty years ago, among them: the Amsterdam University Survey Expedition to the North- Eastern Nile Delta, 12 the Munich East-Delta Expedition, 13 the Italian Archeological Mission of the Centro Studi e Richerche Ligabue Venice to the Eastern Nile Delta. 14 Since then only a few sites of the period under consideration have been explored archaeologically. Moreover, on several sites, only a few seasons of excavations have been conducted, archaeological works have been discontinued and the results of the work remain unpublished. Furthermore, the number of Predynastic/Early Dynastic sites presently excavated in the North-Eastern Nile Delta is limited to only a few (e.g.: Tell el-farkha, el- Tell el-iswid (South)). For all of those reasons the scope of research on the Nile Delta during the period of state formation in Egypt is still insufficient, although on the other hand it can be clearly observed that a number of sites of that period do occur in the region under consideration. In particular, the North-Eastern Delta, with its sites situated on the trade roads to Canaan, must have played an important role 15 here but our knowledge of its early history is still limited. More new information has recently (over several years) been gained from the increasing number of excavations done in the Eastern part of the Nile Delta (fig. 33) on the sites dated to the above mentioned periods. These include: the Polish excavations at Tell el-farkha, 16 French excavations at Kom el-khilgan, 17 and Tell el-iswid, 18 and Egyptian excavations at several sites in that area. 12 E.C.M. van den Brink, A Geo-Archeological Survey in the North-Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt; the First Two Seasons, a Preliminary Report, MDAIK 43 (1987), pp. 7-31; E.C.M. van den Brink, The Amsterdam University Survey Expedition to the North-Eastern Nile Delta (1984-1986), [in:] E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.), The Archaeology of the Nile Delta. Problems and Priorities, Amsterdam 1988, pp. 65-110; E.C.M. van den Brink, A Transitional Late Predynastic Early Dynastic Settlement Site in the North-Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt, MDAIK 45 (1989), pp. 55-108; E.C.M. van den Brink, Settlement patterns in the North-Eastern Nile Delta during the fourth-second millennia B.C., [in:] L. Krzyżaniak, A. Kobusiewicz, J. Alexander (eds), Environmental Change and Human Culture in the Nile Basin and Northern Africa until the Second Millennium B.C., Poznań 1993 (hereinafter referred to as: van den Brink, Settlement patterns), pp. 279-304. 13 L. Krzyżaniak, Recent archaeological evidence on the earliest settlement in the Eastern Nile Delta, [in:] L. Krzyżaniak, M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, Poznań 1989, pp. 267-285. 14 M. Chłodnicki, R. Fattovich, S. Salvatori, The Italian Archaeological Mission of the C.S.R.L-Venice to the Eastern Nile Delta: A preliminary report of the 1987-1988 field seasons, CRIPEL 14 (1992), pp. 45-62. 15 van den Brink, Settlement patterns, pp. 279-304. 16 M. Chłodnicki, K.M. Ciałowicz, Polish Excavations at Tell el-farkha (Ghazala) in the Nile Delta. Preliminary Report 1998-2001, Archeologia LIII (2003), pp. 63-119; M. Chłodnicki, K.M. Ciałowicz, Polish Excavations at Tell el-farkha (Gazala) in the Nile Delta. Preliminary Report 2002-2003, Archeologia LV (2005), pp. 47-74; M. Chłodnicki, K.M. Ciałowicz, Polish Excavations at Tell el-farkha (Ghazala) in the Nile Delta. Preliminary Report 2004-2005, Archeologia LVII (2007), pp. 71-128; M.A. Jucha, Tell el-farkha II. The Pottery of the Predynastic Settlement (Phases 2 to 5), Kraków Poznań 2005. 17 B. Midant-Reynes et al., Kom el-khilgan: un nouveau site prédynastique dans le Delta, Archéo-Nil 13 (2003), pp. 55-64; Y. Tristant, M. De Dapper, B. Midant-Reynes, Human Occupation of the Nile Delta during Preand Early Dynastic times. A view from Kom el-khilgan, [in:] B. Midant-Reynes, Y. Tristant (eds), Egypt at its Origins 2. Proceedings of the International Conference Origins of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt Toulouse (France), 5 th -8 th September 2005, OLA 172, Leuven Paris 2008, pp. 463-482. 18 Y. Tristant; M. De Dapper, S. Aussel, B. Midant-Reynes, Cultural and natural environment in the Eastern Nile Delta: a geoarchaeological project at Tell el-iswid (Nile Delta), [in:] R. Friedman, L. McNamara (eds), Abstracts of papers presented at The Third International Colloquium on Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt, London 2008, pp. 171-173. 84

The North-Eastern Part of the Nile Delta Research Perspectives... The results of these researches, which can be found in various reports, articles and publications, prove some very important changes that took place in that part of the Delta. Some of them are still unexplained because of the paucity of comparative material. They concern mainly the character of the infiltration of the habitants of Upper Egypt (belonging to the Naqada Culture) who superseded the habitants of the Nile Delta (belonging to the Lower Egyptian Culture). Another important aspect is the role played by the Nile Delta settlements in the process of state formation in Egypt. Although the basic role was played by the sites of Upper Egypt, the recent research proves that the Nile Delta sites were also important and had a great significance in that process. It seems that as early as the Predynastic Period the Nile Delta was densely populated, and many of sites, which later became important, have existed since that period. 19 Unfortunately, we often do not have enough data to discuss their chronology. The research on Nile Delta geomorphology also confirms that already in the Predynastic Period conditions here were favourable for settlement. 20 That makes the perspectives for research on the early settlements in the Delta very promising. Consequently, due to the considerable lack of research conducted in the area of the Eastern part of the Nile Delta, there are still a lot of questions concerning its history and the significance in the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Periods and insufficient knowledge on the character of cultural and political changes at the time of state formation in Egypt. This induced us to carry out the archaeological survey in the North-Eastern part of the Nile Delta. The main aims of the project were: 1) to locate the new archaeological sites from the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Periods, 2) to choose the site most suitable for further research and dated to the mentioned periods, 3) to check the present state of preservation of several sites (the most promising archaeologically) visited in the 1980s and to gather more pottery material allowing for their more precise dating (e.g. Gezira Sangaha), 4) to gather more new data concerning the sites which existed in that part of the Delta that would allow comparison with the results of the recent research in other sites of that area. At the present state of research in the Nile Delta it is tempting to make such comparison especially with Tell el-farkha, the site situated to the west of the surveyed area, which seems to be one of the most important settlements of the Eastern Nile Delta during the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Periods. The question is now worth answering whether some small villages depending on Tell el-farkha existed in the area under consideration or there were independent settlements of the same significance and size which might be the part of the trading route between Egypt, Sinai and the southern Canaan. It will also be vital to start 19 van den Brink, Settlement patterns, pp. 279-304; Y. Tristant, L occupation humaine dans le delta du Nil aux 5 e et 4 e millénaires. Approache géoarchéologique à partir de la region de Samara (Delta oriental) I-III, (unpublished PhD dissertation, Toulouse 2005). 20 K.W. Butzer, Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt, Chicago 1976, pp. 12-25; K.W. Butzer, Geoarchaeological Implications of Recent Research in the Nile Delta, [in:] E.C.M. van den Brink, T.H. Levy (eds), Egypt and the Levant. Interrelations from the 4 th through the Early 3 rd Millennium BCE, London New York 2002, pp. 83-97; B. van Wesemael, The Relation between natural Landscape and Distribution of Archaeological Remains in the North-Eastern Nile Delta, [in:] E.C.M. van den Brink (ed.), The Archaeology of the Nile Delta. Problems and Priorities, Amsterdam 1988, pp. 125-134; H.E. De Wit, The Evolution of the Eastern Nile Delta as a factor in the development of Human culture, [in:] L. Krzyżaniak, A. Kobusiewicz, J. Alexander (eds), Environmental Change and Human Culture in the Nile Basin and Northern Africa until the Second Millennium B.C., Poznań 1993, pp. 305-320. 85

Mariusz A. Jucha excavation at the site of the same period, which would complement the missing data and help to expand that we already have. It is even more important considering the danger of some of the sites being destroyed by local industry. The project coincides well with the present trends observed in archaeology of the Nile Delta. The increasing interest in that part of Egypt and archaeological research conducted there was recently visible during the The Supreme Council of Antiquities / The Egypt Exploration Society Delta Survey Workshop, held at the British Council in Cairo on the 26 th of March 2009. The project fits well into other researches carried out in the area, providing further data useful for comparison, reconstruction of the settlement pattern and history of the Eastern part of the Delta in the discussed periods. Apart of that it coincides with the archaeological research conducted presently in the Western 21 and Central 22 part of the Delta as well as with the EES project of collecting information on the Nile Delta sites. The above-mentioned survey of the Polish Archaeological Expedition to the North- Eastern Nile Delta 23 was carried out in Ash-Sharqiyyah Governorate. The area under survey was defined as: the road between the cities Abu el-shuquq, Kafr Saqr, Abu Kebir, El-Beirum near Faqus (in the south), Bahr Hadus Canal (the border between Ash-Sharqiyya and Ad- Daqahliyya) (in the west), the canal and the road connecting Aulad Saqr and El-Sufiya (in the north) and the canal and the road connecting El-Sufiya, El-Nawaf a and El-Beirum near Faqus (in the east). It is a part of the Delta through which the former Tanitic branch supposedly flowed, situated to the west of the course of the former Pelusiac Nile branch. 24 Owing to circumstances, the preliminary reconnaissance of the area lasted only several days during which six sites were visited. These included: Tell el-murrah, Tell Gez. el-faras, Tell Akhdar, Gezira Sangaha, Tell Ginidba, and Tell Abu Umran. Two of them (Tell Ginidba, Tell Abu Umran) are presently being excavated by the Egyptian Archaeological Expedition, therefore they were excluded from our project. On two others (Tell Akhdar, Gezira Sangaha), no material of the Predynastic and the Early Dynastic Periods was found. Moreover, the first of them was badly disturbed by a modern military installation (figs 33-34). In the case of Gezira Sangaha (figs 33, 35), its great size and the time spent here during the first visit disabled us from checking the area sufficiently. On the part of the site which was surveyed by our expedition almost no anthropological remains were attested. Only several small mud structures in the profile were visible, of uncertain purpose and dating due to lack of pottery material. That site requires a more extensive survey which should be continued during the following seasons. Two other sites (Tell Gez. el-faras and Tell el-murrah) revealed pottery material of the Early Dynastic and the Old Kingdom periods. The first of them, Tell Gez. el-faras (figs 33, 36), was almost completely overbuilt by the modern village and cemetery. The pottery (fig. 39) collected during the visit on the sites include: shallow bread moulds with a rounded rim (fig. 39:6), deeper bread moulds with a rounded or concave rim top (fig. 39:4-5, 7), vats with a distinct lip-rim (fig. 39:14), red- 21 P. Wilson, Prehistoric Settlement in the Western Delta: a regional and local view from Sais (Sa el-hagar), JEA 2 (2006), pp. 75-126; P. Wilson, G. Gilbert, The Prehistoric Period at Saïs, Archéo-Nil 13 (2003), pp. 65-72. 22 J. Rowland, N. Billing, The EES Delta Survey (Minufiyeh) 2005, Egyptian Archaeology 28 (2006), pp. 3-6; P. Wilson, J. Rowland, The Delta Survey, 2004-2005, JEA 92 (2006), pp. 1-13. 23 The team headed by Dr Mariusz A. Jucha included: Prof. Krzysztof Ciałowicz, Dr Marek Chłodnicki, Artur Buszek, Marcin Czarnowicz archaeologists, and students from Institute of Archaeology in Cracow (Jagiellonian University). The work was carry on under the supervision of: Abd el-salam Mansour Abd el- Salam from Faqus SCA Inspectorate. 24 M. Bietak, Tell El-Dab a II, Vienna 1975; van den Brink, Settlement patterns, pp. 279-304. 86

The North-Eastern Part of the Nile Delta Research Perspectives... polished bowls with a simple rim (fig. 39:13), flat plates, jars with a simple rim and wavy formed surface (beer jars) (fig. 39:1), jars with a lip-rim. Most of them show affinity to pottery shapes of the Early Dynastic the Old Kingdom periods known among others from Tell el-farkha (the site situated to the west of the surveyed area). Although the Tell visited by our team is in grater part destroyed, it is possible in several places to collect more data (e.g. pottery) in the future, which could provide new information concerning its chronology. The second one, Tell el-murrah (figs 33, 37-38), is almost undisturbed (only fragments of that site were levelled) and it still rises several metres (ca. 3 m) above the field level. The state of preservation and pottery of the Old Kingdom found on the surface during the first visit here influenced our choice of that site for further research. During the following days the works concentrated mostly on Tell el-murrah. Geophysical research and geological core drillings were done and pottery was collected from the surface at different parts of the Tell. The geophysical research focused on two parts of the site (at the top of the Tell and on the field level) revealed some architectonical structures but these are hardly visible most probably due to the local condition of the soil and rubbish. However, in several places distinct remains of the walls were attested. 25 It was possible to explore only a small part of the site, hence for better understanding of the fragments of structures revealed so far, such research should be continued in the future on a more extended area. The geological core drillings carried out in different parts of the Tell (at the top and at the field level) provide preliminary information on the thickness and extent of cultural layers. These indicate that the bottom layers with pottery material were situated to the depth of more than 4m from the top or slope of the Tell and to the depth of ca. 3 m from the field level. Moreover, it was observed that the water level occurred at a depth of ca. 2-3 m below the field level. That means that the deeper layers with pottery material are accessible archeologically. As the pottery material on the surface dates back mostly to the Old Kingdom (though some pottery fragments belong to earlier periods), it is quite possible that below the upper strata there are some older occupation layers presumably of the Early Dynastic and even the Predynastic Periods. The pottery material (figs 40-41) found on the surface includes different types of rough ware jars with a simple rim or a lip-rim (fig. 40:2-3). Among them there are fragments of beer jars (fig. 40:5) typical of the Old Kingdom. Moreover, there were also attested fragments of fine ware jars with a lip-rim (fig. 40:4). Other forms comprise fine ware cylindrical jars (fig. 40:1) characteristic of the end of the Protodynastic beginning of the Early Dynastic Periods. Among the bowls, we found red polished examples with convex sides and a simple rim (fig. 41:8) or lip-rim, as well as forms with a thickened internal part of the rim (fig. 41:1-2). Meidum bowls (fig. 41:4-5) so characteristic of the Old Kingdom did also occur. Other forms include: fragments of rough ware trays (fig. 41:14) and sherds with a lip-rim belonging to vats (fig. 41:13, 15). Different types of rough ware bread moulds were also very frequent. These include: shallow forms which are generally wider than high, fragments belonging to slightly deeper forms, as well as fragments belonging to medium deep to deep forms with an angular transition dividing the body into two zones. Among them are examples with a rounded, flat or slightly concave rim top and examples with a slightly thickened internal part of the rim (fig. 40:10-11). These forms altogether show strong affinity to pottery assemblages of the Early Dynastic and the Old Kingdom periods. The results of the survey were very promising. Of the six sites visited during the short period of time, two yielded the pottery material from the beginning of the Egyptian state. Of these two, the site of Tell el-murrah due to the good state of preservation, the 25 A. Buszek, Magnetic Survey at Tell el-murrah, in the press. 87

Mariusz A. Jucha results of geophysical research and geological core drillings as well as the chronology of the material (mostly pottery) found on the surface is worthy of our further attention. Therefore, continued work at that site, including initial archaeological soundings and regular excavations later on that would facilitate an analysis of the site stratigraphy and description of its chronology, may confirm our first assumption concerning its history based on the preliminary reconnaissance of the area. 88

Mariusz A. Jucha Fig. 33. North-Eastern Nile Delta (after S. Hendrickx, E.C.M. van den Brink, Inventory of Predynastic and Early Dynastic Cemetery and Settlement Sites in the Egyptian Nile Valley, [in:] E.C.M. van den Brink, T.E. Levy (eds), Egypt and the Levant. Interrelations from the 4th through the Early 3rd Millenium B.C.E., London and New York 2002, p. 366, fig. 23.2) Fig. 34. Tell el-akhdar

Mariusz A. Jucha Fig. 35. Gezira Sangaha Fig. 36. Tell Gez. el-faras

Mariusz A. Jucha Fig. 37. Tell el-murrah Fig. 38. Tell el-murrah

Mariusz A. Jucha Fig. 39. Tell Gez. el-faras Pottery

Mariusz A. Jucha Fig. 40. Tell el-murrah Pottery

Mariusz A. Jucha Fig. 41. Tell el-murrah Pottery