Excavation in Egypt at Tell el-Balamun

The Magnetic Survey

The geophysical survey in Tell el-Balamun is a joint project of the British Museum and the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology and will be completed by 2007. The whole area of the temple enclosure will be investigated. The geophysical survey was directed by Tomasz Herbich with the participation of Dawid Swiech. The adjacent illustration shows the extent mapped by the end of the 2006 season.

During the first season of geophysical research in Tell el-Balamun, in April 2005, the southern part of the great temple enclosure was surveyed using magnetometry. The prospection was accomplished with Geoscan Research FM-36 gradiometers. The measuring grid was 0.50 by0.25 m, that is, measurements were taken every 0.25 m along lines traced0.50 m apart, applying the parallel mode (instrument moving in one direction only). The measured units were 20 by 10 m. Dynamics 13.3 nT (white)/ +15.4nT (black). Grid lines every 40 m. The results were presented as greyscale magnetic maps, i.e., maps of changes of intensity of the Earth's magnetic field. The survey in 2005 covered 6.3 ha.

The survey included areas in which monuments had been detected by excavation in previous seasons, as well as regions which had never been investigated. Consequently, in addition to providing confirmation of the positions of structures previously excavated and planned by the British Museum expedition, the survey also revealed the presence of many additional buildings whose existence had been totally unknown. The most substantial features in the former group were the two temple enclosure walls of the 26th and 30th dynasties, which run parallel to one another, separated by only a small distance. Owing to the great extent of these walls, the excavation of their full perimeter was impossible, but the magnetic map revealed some new details in those areas not previously examined. The map shows that the inner wall, of the26th dynasty has been better preserved (although the most distinctive feature on the magnetic map is a space between the walls, due to the presence of material of higher values of intensity of magnetic field, like ashes, burned soil, etc). In the south-west section of the inner wall the survey has confirmed that the wall was built in separate panels of brickwork. In the south-eastern side of the wall a gate appears approximately 180 metres from the south corner (details of the excavation of this gate can be obtained from the Reports in detail page). The outer wall (of the 30th dynasty) has been eroded away and only the inner face of the wall was well recorded by the survey. The magnetic map showed clearly the older structures which had preceded the wall, arranged along the exterior of the 26th dynasty enclosure. Many of these buildings possess substantial cellular foundations and must have been official structures.

In the small temple of Psamtik I, the survey revealed new information about the design of the foundations, described in the paper on Miscellaneous works (access from the Reports in detail page).

It appeared that the approach to the temple of Psamtik was more elaborate than previously supposed, to judge from two parallel anomalies of lower value of the magnetic field’s intensity, which showed up in front of the pylon. These seem to be structures along the sides of a processional way leading to the temple. A test-trench made in 1993 had actually intercepted the western feature, but all that was found in the small area excavated was some broken limestone and, without the advantage of the magnetic plan, there was no way to interpret the significance of this. The magnetic result suggests that the stone debris may have been part of a stone-built avenue or similar construction. If so, this approach appears to end in the area to the west of the gate detected by the magnetic survey in the inner enclosure wall. The end of the avenue is marked by an anomaly of slightly higher magnetic values with an orientation rotated about 12 degrees east relative to the pylon of the temple of Psamtik, but the nature of this needs further investigation.
To the west of the small temple of Psamtik I the magnetic map revealed the outline of the anonymous earlier temple of the Third Intermediate Period, described in the paper An Anonymous Brick Temple (access from the Reports in detail page).

Other areas of the survey produced evidence for many mud-brick structures and for industrial areas with pottery kilns or similar manufacturing facilities. To the east of the small temple of Nectanebo I lay a series of industrial features, such as kilns (marked by anomalies of oval shape, of high values of intensity of the magnetic field. An industrial zone seems also to have developed between the two enclosure walls on the south-west side, where a series of buildings is visible accompanied by kilns or similar structures. The alignment of these buildings between the walls suggests that this part of the Saite wall was still standing to some height even after the construction of the 30th dynasty enclosure. This would agree with the modern contours of the ground, where both walls on this side are embedded in a high ridge of debris.

At some points the magnetic map shows evidence of structures on multiple levels, as, for example in the building described as the Fort Annexe, excavated by the expedition in 1993. At the time of excavation, the detection of the southern part of this building proved very difficult. The magnetic scan now reveals that this part of the building is completely overbuilt by a later structure of rectangular shape, with its longer dimension aligned from the north-west to the south-east. The presence of this second level of building has proved far simpler to detect on the magnetic scan than through actual excavation, and again shows the value of magnetic scanning as a preliminary to other fieldwork.

In the 2006 season, a major anomaly was identified immediately in front of the subsidiary temple of Nekhtnebef. This feature appeared as a square structure on the magnetic map and was located beneath a conspicuous hollow in the ground surface, created by earlier digging in the area, although it is not clear whether this was caused by Roman Period quarrying or undocumented nineteenth century excavation, or perhaps a combination of the two. Preliminary excavation at two points on the anomaly revealed the lowers courses of a substantial limestone building, founded a greater depth than the nearby temple of Nekhtnebef, and certainly of an earlier period. Excavation of this monument will be continued in 2007, but initial analysis suggests that it was a barque-station dependent on the temple of Amun in its Ramesside phase of construction.