Kom Firin – Introduction
The British Museum has now completed eight seasons of fieldwork at Kom Firin in the Western Delta, directed by Neal Spencer.
Several factors led to the choice of this site for a new
fieldwork project. It presents an extensive amount of
archaeological deposits above the water table, an important
consideration in the Delta, where excavations would o
therwise require a
water-pump.
Kom Firin also provides the opportunity to investigate a settlement and its temple(s) in the Western Delta, an area having received little systematic archaeological exploration, despite its undoubted strategic importance throughout much of the late second and early first millennium BC.
Furthermore, like many sites in the region, it is under serious threat from the encroachment of agriculture.
Finally, Kom Firin has a historical link to the British Museum. Flinders Petrie visited the site in 1886, as part of his fieldwork on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund. He acquired two objects now in the British Museum, which suggest the presence of a Saite temple at the site.
Images (from top):
- Map of the Nile Delta, indicating the location of Kom Firin
- The present-day access track to the site echoes the route of the Delta Light Railway
- Bronze barque-fitting,
inlaid with gold and bearing the cartouche of Amasis. Purchased by
Flinders Petrie at Kom Firin.
Height: 14cm. British Museum EA 16041