In Part 1 the article brings the main results of the field excavations at Tell el-Retaba undertaken by Hans Goedicke´s team in 1977 and 1978, their comparison to the results of the joint Polish – Slovak mission and some revisions wherever possible. In 1977 the survey denoted the site as a garrison town extensively used in the New Kingdom. In 1978 Petrie´s work was re-examined; the Central Test Pit was excavated and eleven major stratigraphic levels were identified and tested. Some conclusions concern chronology of temenos, rebuilds of temple(s), and its dismantling. The dating of levels in the Central Test Pit is reconsidered in compliance with recent researches. The finds and the season 1981 will be released in Part 2.
In Part 2 the article brings the finds from the season 1978. The fragment of a stela found in level IV of the Central Test Pit resembles Ramesside ‘Horbeit stelae’; it was already re-used, similar to some other Ramesside stone objects at Tell el-Retaba, in early Third Intermediate Period. An excursus focuses on other inscribed and decorated stone fragments from the tell. In 1981, parts of Petrie’s Wall 2 and Wall 3 were unearthed, measured and described, among other structures in the 125 meters long eastern profile of the pipeline trench. The trench was dug out by the Egyptian authorities in the centre of the tell, cutting it into two parts in N-S direction. Petrie’s Walls as well as some other loci documented in the profile are re-evaluated; the same concerns the burials discovered in the trench northwards of the tell. Date of yet another burials uncovered in the central southern part of the tell is re-considered with the conclusion that, as other child (jar) burials discovered at Tell el-Retaba, they are part of cemeteries at defence walls (in or outside the fortress), used during the New Kingdom from the late 18th/early 19th Dynasty onwards.
The primary function of fortresses and in a wider context various kinds of fortifications, too, are to control and protect important sites/areas, but they are also very potent symbols of political and economic power. As a special type of military architecture, fortresses were usually erected in sensitive border regions to stop waves of invaders. From the period of the Middle Kingdom at least, many and varied sources testify to the fact that the area of the Nile Delta and particularly the eastern Delta/Sinai was protected by a chain of fortresses to prevent enemy attacks The importance of the ‘Walls of the Ruler’ within the Middle Kingdom defence system is undisputed; its approximate location at the entrance of Wadi Tumilat is known. The military picture of Egypt’s eastern frontier would not be complete without mentioning another huge military installation which was built during the New Kingdom in order to protect Egypt’s eastern border: the so-called ‘Ways of Horus’. To these military activities of Seti I can also be added the fortress at Tell el-Retaba, built at the beginning of the Ramesside era in the military sensitive region of Wadi Tumilat. The evident expenditure on the construction and its subsequent reconstruction indicates that its location was considered highly strategic and economically important. The promising results of the current archaeological excavations of the Polish-Slovak missions at this site may help us to uncover and consequently better not only understand the building history of one of the fortress-towns on the border of Egypt but also shed more light on the nature and various facets of the mutual relations between Egypt and his north-eastern neighbours.
The article deals with construction technique and materials, especially mudbricks and their composition, vis-a-vis specific situation in Tell el-Retaba. Bridging over a thousand years, the construction recommendations of Vitruvius are compared with the current situation in Tell. This article briefly describes three defence walls so far unearthed in Tell el-Retaba and focuses on the research of local ancient mudbricks. It presents results from the examinations of several samples of mudbrick and soil done during recent archaeological seasons. The samples were examined mainly by sieve analysis, testing density, dimensions, walling technique, etc., what also indirectly helps to determine approximate strength of mud bricks and their usage in single structures. The main result, grain-size curves, describing mudbrick composition and their relationship and potential reusing in constructions, are presented. Basic dimensions of the fortress’s gate – Migdol, and defence walls, based on preliminary static calculations of the bearing capacity of the subsoil are also estimated from the point of view of construction engineering.
The fragment of a cream white limestone stela was found by accident at Tell el-Retaba during the season 2014. Its preserved shape is 22.5 cm x 25 cm. The frontal side of the stela is bordered by a rounded line framing the area decorated in sunken relief. The decoration features an almost completely preserved sun disc with the protruding head of a uraeus oriented rightwards, apparently the crown of a deity. An inscription identifies the figure as the god Re-Harakhty. Opposite the crown, there are remains of a cartouche whose right half is lost; the signs wsr, stp and n makes it obvious that the name of a Ramesside ruler was written in the cartouche. The stela JE 72307, kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, provides important parallels for interpretation of the Tell el-Retabaʼs fragment. The decoration and the workmanship show crucial similarities. It may be assumed that the stela from Tell el-Retaba also bore the representation of Ramesses II offering flowers to Re-Harakhty. Both stelae clearly belong to the corpus of so-called ‘Horbeit stelae’, which were probably exhibited in houses. Probably they were most made at Qantir/Piramesse. It can only be assumed that the transfer to Tell el-Retaba took place in the Third Intermediate Period. A fragment of another ‘Horbeit stela’ was found at Tell el-Retaba in 1978 by Hans Goedickeʼs mission.
The article briefly outlines historical situation and structure of Nomes in the north-eastern periphery of the Nile Delta in the Old and Middle Kingdom. In relation to literary sources, such as the Instruction for king Merikare, the Prophecies of Neferti and the Tale of Sinuhe, the article evaluates the defensive potential of Wadi Tumilat and the Isthmus of Suez. It concludes that one of the Walls of the Ruler could have been in Wadi Tumilat, starting at Tell el-Retaba. The article also presents new military related finds of the 2017 season of the Polish-Slovak mission to Tell el-Retaba into a context of recent research of fortification structures at Tell el-Retaba: new discovered moats, Wall 1, Wall 2 and their gates.
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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