1st
Tell el-Farkha
Mariusz Jucha who was going to talk about the excavations at Tell Murra was unable to come as he’s just finishing off his season, so our last talk is on the important work of the Polish mission at Tell el-Farkha. Marek Chlodnicki and Krysztof Cialowitz are describing their excavation of this Predynastic-Old Kingdom site.
The mission started work in 2001 and has excavated in three areas of the site. In 2009 on the central kom a substantial residence made of organic materials was located. Associated objects include two pear-shaped mace heads, beads of semi-precious stones and gold foil and ceramics.
Excavation has also continued on the western kom beneath the Early Dynastic chapel in which votive deposits were found in earlier seasons.
The votive objects found in an earlier season - now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
This was the most significant part of Tell Farkha in the Early Dynastic Period. In recent seasons animal-shaped palettes have been discovered, pear-shaped mace-heads and ceramics.
In the cemetery on the eastern kom, burials can be divided into three main groups. The richest are lined with mud-bricks or had mastabas and contained many offerings. They date to Dynasties 0-1. The ‘average’ graves of Dynasties 0 -2 each contained fewer than four clay or stone vessels. The poorest graves probably date to the last years of settlement at Tell Farkha as the site was abandoned in the 3rd Dynasty and never re-occupied in antiquity.
Several storage jars from the tombs have incised inscriptions with serekhs of early kings including Iry-Hor whose existence has previously been questioned.
