Mersa/Wadi Gawasis 2009 Report, by Rodolfo Fattovich, Andrea Manzo - University of Naples "l'Orientale," Naples, Italy, and Chiara Zazzaro - University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

WG 58-59

Excavation units WG 58 and WG 59, immediately to the east of WG 58, were opened to investigate Feature 9 and Feature 10. [2]
Both Features had already been explored by Prof. Abdel Moneim Sayed in the mid-1970s.
The 2009 excavations demonstrated:
1) Feature 9 was a shallow hole filled by windblown sand in recent times, and was located between Feature 10 and Feature 8, which was investigated in 2002-2003 (Bard & Fattvich 2007: 39-41). The function of this feature is uncertain, as the few limestone flakes in the hole may be intrusive from the concentrations of limestone flakes in Feature 10 (SU17, SU18).
2) Feature 10 consisted of a gravel mound with a chamber delimited by a large horse-shoe shaped enclosure, ca. 5.5 m x 6.0 m in area, with an opening to the east. Associated ceramics suggest a 12th Dynasty date.
The mound was built with gravel (SU2) from the top of the terrace (SU3) and was supported by irregular walls of coral rocks. The space inside the mound was delimited by an alignment of vertical conglomerate stone slabs (SU19). Two large conglomerate stone slabs with an east-west axis had originally been erected at both sides of the eastern entry.
Engraved on the smooth surface of the upper part of the southern slab was a grafitto, which consisted of a groove, ca. 20-2.5 cm wide and 2.0 cm deep delimiting a rectangular sector of the slab, ca. 0.5 m x 0.4 m, which possibly included some badly eroded hieroglyphic signs. Other possible hieroglyphic signs, including a long horizontal zig-zag (n ?), were engraved on both sides of the rectangular. [3]
The occurrence of three concentrations of limestone flakes (SU6, SU17, SU18) under the mound suggests that at least three large anchors, now destroyed, had been placed around the mound's internal room. In the northeastern sector of the feature was a hearth (SU14), which was covered by the mound. The hearth could represent an earlier phase of use of the area than the construction of Feature 10, or some kind of foundation ritual.
The shallow pit at the center of the feature (SU4) may have destroyed earlier pits in the same location when the feature was built, or possibly is even earlier in date than the feature. This is suggested by the occurrence of loose gravel (SU5) filling the lower part of the pit beneath some of the in situ conglomerate stone slabs (SU19), which delimit the room of Feature 10.
At the bottom of the pit (SU4) in the center of the structure was a human burial, with bones partially covered by small rocks. The poorly preserved bones were not in an anatomically correct position, which suggests that the burial had either been disturbed or was a secondary burial. The dating of this burial is uncertain, as no stratigraphic evidence survived to provide a clear relationship with the structure. It could be earlier, contemporary with, or later than the structure. No grave goods were associated with the burial.
Feature 10 has provided evidence of a new type of ceremonial structure, but without any clear parallel at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis or elsewhere in Egypt.