Kom Firin
The south-east temple
A temple is known to have existed at Kom Firin since Flinders
Petrie published a brief description in 1888, referring to a double
temple enclosure, limestone-paved avenues and sphinxes.
Unfortunately, Petrie did not draw any plans or make photographic
records of the site.
The visible remnants of the temple itself amount to a series of
uninscribed limestone column bases and column drums, strewn across
a low-lying area of the site (below). The present topography of
this area is partly the result of Shafiq Farid's excavations
between 1949 and 1951. This yielded a series of fine reliefs,
door-jambs and lintels, featuring the titulary of Ramses II, but
also depicting officials and priests from his reign. This material
is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
A finely carved doorjamb bearing the titulary of Ramses II
(right)was discovered some years later, and the upper half of this
was re-excavated in the 2
005 season, revealing the
royal titulary. The lower part continues with a series of epithets
invoking the king's valour and military prowess.
A programme of magnetometry survey was undertaken between 2003
and 2005, in collabora
tion with the Archaeological
Geophysics Laboratory at the University of Akron, Ohio (USA).
Magnetometry survey records subtle variations in the earth's
magnetic field, which can then be presented as a map using computer
modelling software. Features such as mud-brick walls, fired
material and metal have different magnetic properties, thus it is
often possible to recognise sub-surface structures. Magnetometry
offers a time- and cost-effiecient method of investigating aspects
of an ancient site.
The 2003 survey of the temple area revealed the orientation of
the temple, and the position of further column base emplacements.
Several internal walls are also discernible in the processed
data.
Selective excavations
between 2003 and 2005 provided ground-truthing for the magnetometry
survey data, and clarified the basic layout of the temple.
A 3.8m thick brick wall defined the edge of the temple proper,
though this has only been identified on the eastern side. Within, a
temple of modest size was formed of a hall with two rows of three
columns, probably fronted by a courtyard. After the columned hall
lay a transverse space, which gave access to the sanctuary complex.
On the basis of contemporary temples at Aksha and Amara West, in
Nubia, it is possible that a staircase to the roof flanked a
tripartite chapel at the rear of the temple.
Unfortunately, only the lowest foundation courses are
preserved along the temple
axis, so we can only suggest where doorways may have been located.
However, the discovery of two large fragments of door lintels
and/or thresholds in 2005 indicated some of the gateways were 2.04m
wide.
Excavation of one of the
column emplacements revealed a later pit had been cut into the sand
upon which the temple is founded, and fragments of inscribed column
bases had been dumped into it, bearing the names of Ramses II.
The discovery of the column bases, and the decorated blocks
found between 1949 and 1951, indicate that the temple was partly
built of limestone. Fragments of worked quartzite and pink granite
encountered in excavations hi
nt at the variety of
material originally employed in the temple.
However, the patterns of articulated brick wall collapse
encountered in several parts of the temple reveal that some of the
brick walls stood to at least 2.09m in height. Thus we should
envisage a temple built largely of mud-brick, but with
architectural elements such as columns and doorways in limestone.
It is possible, of course, that some of the brick walls had
originally been lined with limestone blocks.
Images (from top):
- Reconstruction of the temple plan. No
doorways were preserved
- Limestone column base
fragment, bearing the royal name 'Horus, Strong Bull'. Height:
11cm
- Detail of a temple
foundation wall, illustrating the different composition of clays in
the mud-bricks used for construction
- Limestone block from threshold or lintel
of temple gateway, with scratch marks from doorway, and door pivot
emplacement, visible