BIA

AVRIL 2015
Today the Ministry of Trade and Industry is
to hand over the 19 th century edifice of the
Assay and Weights Administration in historic
Cairo to the Ministry of Antiquities for
restoration and to convert it into an authentic
hotel.
In addition to the rooms and restaurants,
the Minister of Antiquities Mamdûh al-Damâtî
said that the hotel will include a visitor centre
that relates to the history of the Assay and
Weights building from Mediaeval Egypt until the
current era. The development of the hotel will
be also shown through photos and documents.
Muhammad ‘Abd al-‘Azîz, the assistant
minister of antiquities for Islamic monuments,
told Ahram Online that the building was
completed in 1888 in the Bayt al-Qâdî area of
historic Cairo in order to be the first premises
for golden and silver coins. (Nevine El-Aref,
“The Assay and Weights edifices in historic
Cairo to become a hotel”, Ahram Online, April
9, 2015).
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trenches worked on by the current mission,
that ceramics of the Neolithic era were present.
“This means that the settlement extents at
least 200m south-west of what was formerly
considered to be the boundary of the
settlement,” ROWLAND told Ahram Online. She
continued to say that the forthcoming
investigations and post-excavation analysis
would be able to confirm whether this newly
discovered area was occupied during the latest
periods of occupation of the settlement as
anticipated, or whether it is from earlier times.
ROWLAND and her team will reconsider the site
within its wider geographic and environmental
context.
Minister of Antiquities Mamdûh al-Damâtî
said that the team also unearthed a collection
of ceramics and lithics of Neolithic dates and
that more investigations will present much
information about the various roads and means
of living during this era.
Merimde Banî Salâma is a major Neolithic
settlement site on the western margin of the
Delta, about 60km north-west of Cairo. The site
is the largest and earliest known evidence of
settlement in the Nile Valley or Delta region
and has been given the name ‘Merimde’, which
is the phase of Lower Egyptian Predynastic
culture.
Neolithic settlement
During the recent archaeological season
which ends in April, the mission of the Egypt
Exploration Society uncovered new scientific
evidence revealing that the borders of the
major Neolithic settlement site of Merimde Banî
Salâma on the western margin of the Delta,
extends a further 200 metres to the south-west.
Joanne ROWLAND, head of the mission,
explained that they started the work to know
about such extensions in the summer of 2014,
after test trenches had been dug by the
ministry of antiquities prior to the laying of a
gas pipeline. It was then possible to examine
the area just to the west of the modern
asphalt road and it was also confirmed by the
ministry investigations, as well as in test
It was found in 1928 by German
archaeologist Herman JUNKER who excavated
the site throughout 1939. Through carbon
dating, the site was occupied between 4880BC
and 4250BC. Unfortunately, most of JUNKER’s
notes were destroyed in World War II. EIWANGER
has conducted more recent studies.
The earliest level is characterised by a wide
range of polished and unpolished untemper
pottery decorated with a herringbone design.
The Middle Merimde level shows complex
structures of wood and basketwork, strawtempered
pottery and many burials. Flint tools
inserted into wooden, bone and ivory handles
were also found.
The later level of the Classic Merimde,
considered the period of occupation, is when
the settlement consisted of a large village of
mud huts and workspaces in organised groups
of buildings laid out in streets. The high level
of organisation in the villages, indicated by
BIA LI — Janvier/Juin 2015 87