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Map of Egypt with the location of Dakhla and Kharga Oasis, in the Western Desert (courtesy of Martin Hense).
Source publication
In 2012, the international team of the archaeological expedition at Amheida, under the primary sponsorship of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW, New York University), found a large amount of pristine mosaic tesserae in the Roman polis of Trimithis, the modern Amheida (Dakhla Oasis, Upper Egypt). The tesserae were recovered in a...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... Oasis 1 , part of the modern New Valley Governorate, is located in Upper Egypt, in the Western Desert or Libyan Desert, about 800 km South of Cairo and 500 km West of Luxor (Fig. 1). In ancient written sources it is mentioned as the Inner Oasis. Together with the Oasis of Kharga, named the Outer Oasis and situated circa 180 km further East, it was referred to as the Great Oasis, the Oasis Megale (Laudenbach 2015: 229 note 9, commenting Strab. 17, 1, 42). The Arabic place name is, in fact, a translation of the ...
Context 2
... campaigns and belonging to an earlier phase of occupation (Davoli 2012;Davoli 2017: 202-204) -once extended further North, and if associated remains were also underlying B6. It became clear during this and the following seasons that B6 indeed once formed a part of the former thermae after a phase of abandonment (Davoli 2017: 197-199, 208-210 fig. ...
Context 3
... the north-eastern part of the building (Room 33, Fig. 4) a channel system belonging to a latrina was discovered, similar to the one already found underneath B1 (Davoli 2017: 202-203, 218 fig. ...
Context 4
... the former floor (FSU 123) another floor layer or walking surface (FSU 76) consists of large patches of white gypsum plaster, particularly hard in some places. A depression in the south-eastern part of the room was filled with white hydraulic mortar and shows several strokes of fingers running in different directions, with unclear function (Fig. 10). In the West and in the South of the room the patches of mortar are partly abutting the wall and are also slightly running up the earlier light brown wall plaster (FSU 85) for a few centimeters. Splashes of white mortar plaster were found on all perimetral walls, sprayed on top of the earlier light brown plaster covering them. ...
Context 5
... 85) for a few centimeters. Splashes of white mortar plaster were found on all perimetral walls, sprayed on top of the earlier light brown plaster covering them. Accordingly, the room was used for the preparation of mortar and/or the latter was used to fill in an unevenness in the rubble/floor preparation layer underneath (DSU 56, equals DSU 60, Fig. 11 close up of the depression of FSU 76 in the south-eastern part of Room 30 filled with white hydraulic mortar showing several strokes of fingers running in different directions. mortar plaster production 17 . To state the sequence again: the perimetral walls of the room were built and covered with a light brown mud plaster (FSU 85); the ...
Context 6
... 2012, a large number of mosaic tesserae of four different colours was found in Room 30, embedded within DSU 49 and roughly grouped by colour. There was a cluster of mainly black tesserae alongside the western wall ( Fig. 12) and concentrations of white ones in the south-eastern corner of the room and close to the northern wall (Fig. 13). Alongside the eastern wall F1 a group of chipped fine red-slipped ware, followed further South by a concentration of yellowish tesserae, was found (see below in more detail). The tesserae were not counted piece by piece, ...
Context 7
... 2012, a large number of mosaic tesserae of four different colours was found in Room 30, embedded within DSU 49 and roughly grouped by colour. There was a cluster of mainly black tesserae alongside the western wall ( Fig. 12) and concentrations of white ones in the south-eastern corner of the room and close to the northern wall (Fig. 13). Alongside the eastern wall F1 a group of chipped fine red-slipped ware, followed further South by a concentration of yellowish tesserae, was found (see below in more detail). The tesserae were not counted piece by piece, but their number was estimated on the basis of their weight. Sample-groups of one-hundred tesserae of each colour ...
Context 8
... tesserae are the most numerous (inv. no. 15800, Fig. 14) and weigh 47.58 kg, roughly 11,895 pieces. They are usually cubic in shape -with a few variants of parallelepiped shape -and are made of limestone of slightly different tints, varying from bright white to light yellowish and pinkish. Two different sizes, small and large, were ...
Context 9
... yellow tesserae (inv. no. 15798, Fig. 15) follow the white ones in quantity, as there are 17.4 kg or approximately 4,203 pieces. They are all cubic in shape, made of sandstone and show three different sizes, small, medium and ...
Context 10
... grey/black tesserae (inv. no. 15797, Fig. 16), 11.5 kg or roughly 3,286, are also made of sandstone and, like the dark yellow ones, are all cubic in shape and occur in three ...
Context 11
... red tesserae (inv. no. 15799, Fig. 17), 3.8 kg or approximately 1,047 pieces, are also made of sandstone and are mostly cubic, with few examples showing parallelepiped shape. Three sizes, small, medium and large, were ...
Context 12
... pottery body sherds (inv. no. 15850, Oasis Red Slip Ware, Fig. 18), intentionally chipped into square shape, were identified within DSU 49 and interpreted as an addition to the red tesserae. Two sizes are discernible: large with a side length of 1.5 cm and a thickness from 0.6 to 0.9 cm, and very large with a side length of 2.1 cm and a thickness from 0.7 to 1 ...
Context 13
... pottery body sherds, black in colour (inv. no. 15849, fabric A1b 19 , Fig. 19), chipped into square shape, were also found within DSU 49 and were probably used as an addition for black tesserae. They occur in three different sizes: small (1.8 cm with a thickness of 0.55 cm), medium (2.1 cm with a thickness of 0.7 cm) and large (2.8 cm with a thickness of 0.7 cm). These fragments were concentrated along the ...
Context 14
... for the tesserae has not yet been determined, but it is hoped that this will be an object of future investigation. Together with the tesserae, some flakes from chipping and raw material, both from limestone and sandstone, were found in Room 30. The raw limestone pieces were slightly bigger in size and more abundant than the ones from sandstone (Fig. 21). It might be argued that the raw sandstone found here had already been reduced to smaller pieces to facilitate transport or that the sandstone tesserae were first produced somewhere else and only a final retouch was done in Room ...
Context 15
... Oasis 1 , part of the modern New Valley Governorate, is located in Upper Egypt, in the Western Desert or Libyan Desert, about 800 km South of Cairo and 500 km West of Luxor (Fig. 1). In ancient written sources it is mentioned as the Inner Oasis. Together with the Oasis of Kharga, named the Outer Oasis and situated circa 180 km further East, it was referred to as the Great Oasis, the Oasis Megale (Laudenbach 2015: 229 note 9, commenting Strab. 17, 1, 42). The Arabic place name is, in fact, a translation of the ...
Context 16
... campaigns and belonging to an earlier phase of occupation (Davoli 2012;Davoli 2017: 202-204) -once extended further North, and if associated remains were also underlying B6. It became clear during this and the following seasons that B6 indeed once formed a part of the former thermae after a phase of abandonment (Davoli 2017: 197-199, 208-210 fig. ...
Context 17
... the north-eastern part of the building (Room 33, Fig. 4) a channel system belonging to a latrina was discovered, similar to the one already found underneath B1 (Davoli 2017: 202-203, 218 fig. ...
Context 18
... the former floor (FSU 123) another floor layer or walking surface (FSU 76) consists of large patches of white gypsum plaster, particularly hard in some places. A depression in the south-eastern part of the room was filled with white hydraulic mortar and shows several strokes of fingers running in different directions, with unclear function (Fig. 10). In the West and in the South of the room the patches of mortar are partly abutting the wall and are also slightly running up the earlier light brown wall plaster (FSU 85) for a few centimeters. Splashes of white mortar plaster were found on all perimetral walls, sprayed on top of the earlier light brown plaster covering them. ...
Context 19
... 85) for a few centimeters. Splashes of white mortar plaster were found on all perimetral walls, sprayed on top of the earlier light brown plaster covering them. Accordingly, the room was used for the preparation of mortar and/or the latter was used to fill in an unevenness in the rubble/floor preparation layer underneath (DSU 56, equals DSU 60, Fig. 11 close up of the depression of FSU 76 in the south-eastern part of Room 30 filled with white hydraulic mortar showing several strokes of fingers running in different directions. mortar plaster production 17 . To state the sequence again: the perimetral walls of the room were built and covered with a light brown mud plaster (FSU 85); the ...
Context 20
... 2012, a large number of mosaic tesserae of four different colours was found in Room 30, embedded within DSU 49 and roughly grouped by colour. There was a cluster of mainly black tesserae alongside the western wall ( Fig. 12) and concentrations of white ones in the south-eastern corner of the room and close to the northern wall (Fig. 13). Alongside the eastern wall F1 a group of chipped fine red-slipped ware, followed further South by a concentration of yellowish tesserae, was found (see below in more detail). The tesserae were not counted piece by piece, ...
Context 21
... 2012, a large number of mosaic tesserae of four different colours was found in Room 30, embedded within DSU 49 and roughly grouped by colour. There was a cluster of mainly black tesserae alongside the western wall ( Fig. 12) and concentrations of white ones in the south-eastern corner of the room and close to the northern wall (Fig. 13). Alongside the eastern wall F1 a group of chipped fine red-slipped ware, followed further South by a concentration of yellowish tesserae, was found (see below in more detail). The tesserae were not counted piece by piece, but their number was estimated on the basis of their weight. Sample-groups of one-hundred tesserae of each colour ...
Context 22
... tesserae are the most numerous (inv. no. 15800, Fig. 14) and weigh 47.58 kg, roughly 11,895 pieces. They are usually cubic in shape -with a few variants of parallelepiped shape -and are made of limestone of slightly different tints, varying from bright white to light yellowish and pinkish. Two different sizes, small and large, were ...
Context 23
... yellow tesserae (inv. no. 15798, Fig. 15) follow the white ones in quantity, as there are 17.4 kg or approximately 4,203 pieces. They are all cubic in shape, made of sandstone and show three different sizes, small, medium and ...
Context 24
... grey/black tesserae (inv. no. 15797, Fig. 16), 11.5 kg or roughly 3,286, are also made of sandstone and, like the dark yellow ones, are all cubic in shape and occur in three ...
Context 25
... red tesserae (inv. no. 15799, Fig. 17), 3.8 kg or approximately 1,047 pieces, are also made of sandstone and are mostly cubic, with few examples showing parallelepiped shape. Three sizes, small, medium and large, were ...
Context 26
... pottery body sherds (inv. no. 15850, Oasis Red Slip Ware, Fig. 18), intentionally chipped into square shape, were identified within DSU 49 and interpreted as an addition to the red tesserae. Two sizes are discernible: large with a side length of 1.5 cm and a thickness from 0.6 to 0.9 cm, and very large with a side length of 2.1 cm and a thickness from 0.7 to 1 ...
Context 27
... pottery body sherds, black in colour (inv. no. 15849, fabric A1b 19 , Fig. 19), chipped into square shape, were also found within DSU 49 and were probably used as an addition for black tesserae. They occur in three different sizes: small (1.8 cm with a thickness of 0.55 cm), medium (2.1 cm with a thickness of 0.7 cm) and large (2.8 cm with a thickness of 0.7 cm). These fragments were concentrated along the ...
Context 28
... for the tesserae has not yet been determined, but it is hoped that this will be an object of future investigation. Together with the tesserae, some flakes from chipping and raw material, both from limestone and sandstone, were found in Room 30. The raw limestone pieces were slightly bigger in size and more abundant than the ones from sandstone (Fig. 21). It might be argued that the raw sandstone found here had already been reduced to smaller pieces to facilitate transport or that the sandstone tesserae were first produced somewhere else and only a final retouch was done in Room ...
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