Archaeological Investigation at Wadi Gawasis (Red Sea - Egypt) of the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (Rome) and "L'Orientale" (Naples): December 2002 - January 2003 Field Season

Final Remarks

The 2003 field season at Mersa Gawasis provided new evidence for a better analysis of the spatial organization of the Middle Kingdom port and the site formation processes.

This evidence suggests that in the eastern sector of the site ritual structures were built on the top of the terrace in front of the sea. The excavation also demonstrated that a domestic occupation area and perhaps some workshops were located at the base of the southeastern edge of the terrace along the wadi.

The excavation of WG 10 demonstrated that the settlement also occupied the bank of the river and the present surface is the same the ancient Egyptians walked on. In this area, the remains of ancient structures were protected from wind erosion by the formation of a very hard crust of salt. The evidence at WG 10 suggests that a structure (Feature 2) was located in this area.. This structure had a semicircular plan, with a central very shallow depression covered with a compacted clay floor. The structure consisted of a circular arrangement of coral blocks with traces of hearths and possibly a shelter against the wind. Most likely the big pottery fragments, mainly jars, found all around the structure belonged to vessels, which were originally placed upon and among the coral blocks. At present, we cannot state if the structure was circular in plan, or it was always a semicircle. Apparently, big jars with a flat base were concentrated close to the hearths SU 7 and SU 8, while smaller jars and bowls were associated with an oval hearth (SU 9).

The deposit to the west of Feature 2 (SU 11) abuts this feature and partially covers it. This suggests that this deposit was originally an occupation area similar to Feature 2, perhaps contemporary and associated with it, and in a later time it was pushed down and piled up to clear up the area for a another occupation.

In turn, the preliminary analysis of the alternated eolic sand and fluvial gravel strata in the stratigraphic test at WG suggests that period between the early occupation of the area and the Middle Kingdom one was quite long and marked by a long sequence of arid and humid phases of activity of the wadi.

Finally, the analysis of the ceramics from the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 excavation units suggests that the port at Mersa Gawasis was used in the whole Middle Kingdom for a longer time than that recorded in the inscriptions. Actually the collected pottery can be dated to the early, middle and late Middle Kingdom.

A fragment of shoulder from an Upper Egyptian marl ware vessel with wavy and lozenge incised decorations from WG 3 is comparable to early Middle Kingdom specimens from El Kab.[21] Rim-sherds of Upper Egyptian elongated jars with everted grooved necks from WG 8, and WG 7 are similar to middle and late Middle Kingdom vessels from Lahun, Hawara, and Harageh. A body-sherd of an Upper Egyptian jar with vertical handles from WG 7 is similar to Middle Kingdom vessels usually ascribed to a Near Eastern influence, which were produced through the whole Middle Kingdom, but more frequently in the 13th dynasty.[22]

The ceramics from Mersa Gawasis include vessels from Upper and Lower Egypt. In general, these ceramics are comparable to those from Lahun. The main difference from other Middle Kingdom sites is the great quantity of flat-bottomed jars at Mersa Gawasis, as these jars are rare in the other sites. A great number of them was recently discovered only at a Middle Kingdom village of miners to the west of Toshka, in Lower Nubia, and at the early Middle Kingdom site of the Pyramid of Sesostris I at Lisht,[23] where they were interpreted as containers from the Memphis-Fayum area intended for grain storage.