Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Mission 2007-2008 - Kathryn A. Bard and Rodolfo Fattovich et alii

Other Finds - C. Zazzaro

Copper
Thirty-one copper pieces were found during this field season: they are usually flat and fragmentary. Condition of the copper is very corroded and the original dimensions of the pieces have been altered due to the oxidization of the copper.
Twenty-one fragmentary pieces coming from different contexts (WG 32, WG 49, WG 51, WG 53, WG 54, WG 55 and WG 56) were identified as copper strips or bands. The lengths of these strips vary from 1.3 cm to 4.6 cm; they had probably been broken and were too small to be reused. The strips are ca. 1.5–2.0 cm in width and less then 2 mm in thickness, the standardized dimensions for strip fragments already found at the site during previous field seasons, as recorded by S. Terry Childs (Bard and Fattovich 2007: 196). This width is in fact comparable to the remains of copper strips in the fastening of plank T75 that had been dismantled and reworked (see Calcagno and Zazzaro, Ship Components, this report). Ten strips were found bent, possibly from when they were discarded.
The function of the copper strips is probably related to ship fastenings (Bard and Fattovich 2007: 196). They had probably been removed and discarded after expeditions when the ships were disassembled. All recorded strips were found loose in the sand; 35% of the strips were found in WG 55 and were associated with a large concentration of wood debris.
Among copper finds, a knife or saw blade, 8.7 cm x 2.05 cm and 0.25 cm in thickness, with a rounded tip and broken end, was found in WG 32, A5, SU25. It is similar to samples in the Petrie Museum (UC63104 and UC63497) (Figure 30).
A copper rod, 2.2 cm in length and 0.2 cm in diameter was also found in WG 32. A thin pointed rod or pin, ca. 9 cm long and 25 mm in diameter, was found in WG 55, E3, SU4.
Noteworthy is a possible piece of copper slag found in the eastern sector of the wadi area, in excavation unit WG 54. According to S. Terry Childs, who examined photographs of this material, it looks "highly molten and glassy like slag" (Figure 31).
A modern iron strip was found on the surface of unit WG 51; it probably came from the construction of the railway in the 1980s.


Textiles
Twenty-seven textile fragments were excavated during the 2007-08 field season, mainly in excavation units on top of the slope along the western edge of the fossil coral terrace. 92% of the finds come from units WG 55 and WG 56, mainly from WG 55, SU4. Only two fragments come from WG 32 and WG 52.
A tentative identification of the plant fiber species has been done by observation of the general appearance of the material. All textiles seem to be made of flax/linen. The woven textiles have a loose weave with an equal number of single threads (S-spun) in both warp and weft directions. They were made by passing alternatively one weft over and under alternating warp threads, as is common in pharaonic period textiles and in others textile fragments previously found at the site (Bard and Fattovich 2007: 189-190). Very few textile fragments were made alternating two wefts over and under one warp, or alternating two wefts over and under two warps.
Only one fragment from WG 55 shows a seam along the middle part of the textile, which is possibly a repair (Figure 32).
A strip of painted linen (ca. 20 cm x 4 cm) with a red mark and hieratic script was found in WG 55/WG 56, close to the "ceremonial" structure. It has been studied by Elsayed Mahfouz (see Epigraphy, this report).


Small Finds
During the 2007-08 field season 29 objects were inventoried as small finds, including wooden and ceramic artifacts, fragments of mat, and leather.
Among the wooden artifacts were 5 discs with a groove around the circumference. Similar objects are also part of the Petrie Museum collection and have been interpreted as netting reels (UC7440), reels for thread (UC7472), and lids (UC71380). Three of them, with string filling the groove, were found in WG 32, in a disturbed context close to the entrance of Cave 5, with diameters varying from 10 cm to 12 cm and 1.1 cm thick (Figure 29). One smaller disc is ca. 4.5 cm in diameter and 1.1 cm thick. One disc was found in WG 33, SU4 and is ca. 3.0 cm in diameter with rope still preserved in the groove. One similar artifact, but in fired clay, was found on the surface west of WG 48. It is also ca. 3.0 cm in diameter.
Two ceramic discs without a groove were found in WG 54, A2-A3 B2-B3, SU1 and on the surface near the production area. They are ca. 7.0 cm in diameter. Sally Wallace-Jones interpreted all of these artifacts as jar stoppers, stating that their diameters fit very well into the rims of some jars and bottles (see Wallace-Jones, this report).
Four complete or fragmentary conical wood artifacts were found in different contexts in excavation unit WG 55. They were ca. 3.5 cm in length and 2.2-3.2 cm in diameter and were interpreted as knobs, perhaps from boxes. One of them is complete, (3.5 cm long, 3.2 cm in diameter), with a dowelled end for insertion (Figure 33). It is similar to a knob found at Kahun, now in the Petrie Museum (UC7371), probably dating to the 12th Dynasty. Similar artifacts were also interpreted as pegs or pins (e.g., UC7448 and UC7095 in the Petrie Museum), also found at Kahun and dating to the same period.
Wood debris found in the sand deposit on the slope, in WG 32, WG 55 and WG 56, also included some fragments covered with white plaster; they were interpreted as possible box fragments. Among them was a complete side of a box (SF21, ca. 26 cm x 9.5 cm) with holes for pegs, found in WG 32. Two fragmentary ends of boxes were also found: one, 16 cm x 2.5 cm x 2 cm, from WG 56, A2, SU8 with a peg still in place, and the other was 34.5 cm x 3.7 cm x 2.5 cm, from WG 55, C1, SU11.
A wooden angle of a joint was found in WG 55, C3, SU11. It is 11.5 cm x 16.5 cm and has three pegs and one hole for a peg. It is similar to two artifacts found a Kahun which date to the 12th Dynasty (Petrie Museum UC7113 and UC7114). A cylindrical wooden artifact, 3.5 long and 1.7 in diameter, was also found in WG 55, D1/2, SU3.
Also in WG 55 were a complete wooden peg ca. 15 cm long and 1 cm in diameter, a faïence bead 0.2 cm in diameter, a leather fragment (3 cm x 1.2 cm x 0.25 cm), and a fragment of a woven mat with 5 knots still preserved, (ca. 9 cm x 5 cm).