The contribution is focused on the history of the former Royal Catholic College collection of the Ancient Egyptian antiquities, in particular form the late 19th century to the present. The mummified head of a man is the only known preserved part of the collection.
The paper is focused on historical connotations of the Tell el-Retaba site to its geographic position with regards to hydrologic and pedologic situation. It suggests the position of Wadi Tumilat on the Peutinger map and persistence of desert (military) routes in the area around the Wadi. The river aggradation mound ascertained in Tell el-Retaba allows us to suggest an existence of natural riverbeds or a canal in Wadi Tumilat even before the Second Intermediate Period. The paper also brings some pedological explanations to origins of settlement. It presumes that besides the canal on the western and southern side of the Tell a marshland/swamp could also originate on its northern side, after the settlement occurred on the Tell. The occupation probably developed directly on the Bw horizon of original soil, as agricultural or grazing settlement. The humiferous A horizon was removed prior to construction.
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