Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
penetrating prehistoric intellect domains and thought systems, the motives being a
vocabulary and their ordering setting up the grammar.
The Annual Egyptological Bibliography: moving towards a new format
Willem Hovestreydt
In 2007 the Annual Egyptological Bibliography opened a new website where
subscribers will be able to consult the entire bibliography online. An overview will be
given of current and forthcoming developments. Their relationship with the AEB's
institutional situation will be discussed as well.
(a) New research in Tell er-Retaba
Josef Hudec
The first season of works of the Polish–Slovak Tell er-Retaba Archaeological Mission
took place in April 2007. The mission was managed by dr. Slawomir Rzepka
(archaeologist, director of the mission, The Warsaw Univerity) and dr. Jozef Hudec
(archaeologist, deputy director of the mission, The Aigyptos Foundation), under the
auspices of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology. The aim of the mission
is to explore one of the major sites from dynastic era in Wadi Toumilat. Tell er-
Retaba, placed on a strategically important point, on the main route from Egypt to
Syro-Palestine, must have played an important role in the region at least during the
New Kingdom period. This is evident from the previous archaeological work on the
site: excavations of E. NAVILLE, W.M.F. PETRIE and H. GOEDICKE, as well as from
surveys conducted by German and Canadian teams. However, not very much is
known about the earlier history of the site although apparently a settlement existed
there quite early. Thus the mission is focused to reconstruct the history of the
settlement in the Tell er-Retaba from the earliest times till the settlement termination.
A precise geodetic plan of the site was prepared during the first season of works.
On the basis of a total station measurements a precise contour map was created, on
which are marked all traces of archaeological remains (defense walls, walls of the
houses, stone blocks), as well as modern constructions built on the site. A field
walking on the whole area has led to discovery of more than 600 diagnostic sherds
and ca. 60 other small objects. Positions of all of them were precisely documented
with use of the total station. On the basis of the preliminary pottery assessment the
most vessels can be dated to the late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate
Period. A few sherds can be associated with the Late Period one probably comes from
the Ptolemaic Period. Some stone fragments, predominantly from limestone, red
granite, quartzite, with traces of processing broken away from slabs, were found
during the survey. Part of the site (about 25% of the whole area) was searched by
geophysical methods. These works have added a significant amount of information to
the knowledge about the position of structures not excavated by Petrie. E.g. the exact
position of the northern defence wall was traced and probable places of gates in this
wall were localised.
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