EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The eastern wall with inscriptions. Photograph by Mansour Boraik.
that the builders enlarged the temple, extending it in all directions when building these pillars, which seem to have carried the roof of what might have been their new church or basilica in later times. The other phases are defined by partial abandonment and late red-brick buildings that we have not yet fully excavated. Their exact dimensions, especially their lengths, heights and stratigraphic relationships to one another, require further investigation. The last evidence of occupation are two rounded red-brick ovens built against the temple walls. Further investigations are planned this coming season.
ď ą Mansour Boraik is Undersecretary of State for Middle Egypt, Ministry of State for Antiquities. He would like to thank Nadia Ashour, Director General of Beni Suef, and the team directed by Dr Ahmed Galal, and archeologists Aml Farag el Shaikh, Shimaa Ibrahim, Amr Mamdouh, Melad Nagiub, as well as Rabee Akl, Rabee Eissa, Ahmed Sayed, Ahmed Gabr, Mohamed Ibrahim who joined the team for a field-school. Thanks also to Mohamed Abd-Elbast for surveying the excavations 46