The Tell el-Iswid site
The archaeological missions of Ifao
2006-2009 : Sectors 1 and 2
Excavations began in 2007, under the direction of B. Midant-Reynes.
The initial objective was to obtain a chrono-stratigraphic view of the site. A large transect 27 m long and 4 m high was set up in a part suitable for carrying out a stratigraphic section (sector 1). The analysis of this large section revealed two main phases of occupation: Predynastic and Late Period. Residual furniture, however, testifies to an intermediate presence (4th Dynasty, 11th Dynasty, end of 2nd Intermediate Period and beginning of the New Kingdom). For the predynastic period, three phases were determined corresponding, at the base, to the Cultures of Lower Egypt (Bouto II-IIIa), then Naqada IIIA-B and Naqada IIIC-D, this last phase being characterized by a succession of buildings of raw bricks preserved over nearly 1.50m. The end of the predynastic occupation was marked by the reconversion of the domestic space into a funeral area. A dozen pit graves have been unearthed, as well as a tomb made of mud bricks. Sector 1 was the subject of a publication (B. Midant-Reynes and N. Buchez, dir., 2014).
Built burial place, sector 1b
Photo: Béatrix Midant-Reynes
Nagadian constructions, sector 1a
Photo: Béatrix Midant-Reynes
Another sector was opened during the 2007 and 2008 campaigns (sector 2), at the southwest end of the site, over an area of 255 m². It revealed, over a thickness of 50 to 70 cm, four phases of occupation, the most recent dating from the Hyksos period (completely leveled buildings) and the oldest from the Naqada III phase, again characterized by a set of constructions. in mud bricks.
Synthetic cut of occupancy levels
by Tell el-Iswid
(Julien Cavero and Frédérique Vinolas)
2010-2014 : Sector 4
A magnetic prospecting, carried out in 2009 by Tomasz Herbich, made it possible to draw up an archaeological map of the shallower remains and to identify the rich sectors. A large building was revealed in the southwestern part of the site, clearly predynastic. Its clearing (sector 4) was started in 2009 and continued until 2014. It is a set of mud brick buildings dated Naqada IIIA2-B, of which two major stages of construction have been identified. constructions, and a reorganization of the space, each comprising numerous rearrangements. The first stage of construction sets up 3 buildings around a central courtyard, which worked together for at least a time before a phase of abandonment, the duration of which remains indefinite. Then the domestic space is remodeled and two main buildings face each other on either side of a clearly reduced courtyard, undoubtedly private and associated with only one of these two housing units. The discovery, in one of the rooms of the building, of a shard bearing the name of King Iry-Hor (B. Midant-Reynes, forthcoming) and of a cylindrical vase found intact against one of the walls, has made it possible to date well this phase of Naqada IIIB / dynasty 0.
Geophysical surveys by
Thomas herbich
Clearing an adobe wall
Photo: Rachid El Hajaoui
Excavation of sector 4 , northern part of the Nagadian building
Photo: Rachid El Hajaoui
Since 2016 : the CBE phases of sector 4
After a study mission in 2015 and the retirement of B. Midant-Reynes the same year, the management of the mission was entrusted to Nathalie Buchez.
During the excavation of the built complex of sector 4, it appeared that the walls were raised on older levels, belonging to the Cultures of Lower Egypt (CBE). A survey made it possible to verify that the beginning of the 4th millennium was reached and that these levels were - something quite exceptional in the Delta - above the water table.
The habitat of this period offers a completely different face. These are buildings made of plant materials (reed type) coated with earth, light and perishable structures located in small ditches delimiting spaces of about 6 m in length for a width varying from 1 to 4 m and grouped into complex, multicellular plans. . Combustion structures are distributed in these spaces, the readability of which is blurred by the numerous repairs. It is at the end of the period that appears, in the form of a perimeter wall, from which an angle has been cleared, the first brick architecture attested on the site and very probably in the whole of the delta.
Excavation of sector 4 , levels of Cultures of Lower Egypt
(4th millennium BC)
The adobe walls and associated levels
Photo: Rachid El Hajaoui
Excavation of sector 4 , levels of Cultures of Lower Egypt
(4th millennium BC)
Construction in trenches and associated levels
Photo: Rachid El Hajaoui
The subsistence economy
The humid and marshy nature of the delta constituted an environment both inhospitable and exceptional to which the populations adapted and from which they took advantage. The studies carried out on the fauna and the vegetal micro-remains of Tell el-Iswid have revealed the rational exploitation of an environment full of fish, shells, marsh birds, animals of the thickets of rushes, lotus and of papyrus. Throughout the occupation, the inhabitants also exploited domestic species, especially pork, and also beef. Cereals (wheat and barley) played an important role from the start of the period, but an evolution of plant resources is visible during the different phases of occupation.