Conference

It is commonly known that the dwelling houses were centres of the family and social live. House as
an architectonic form was used for different kind of activities and performances which were
organized not only during the day but also after the sunset. For the illumination of the living space
within the houses needed to be used sources of light, which made the space in the household
possible and illuminating the interiors what made them opened for the activity while the dark was
spread upon the house, town and a city. In my contribution I am going to present my preliminary
observations concerning the houses illumination and sources of light based on the results of the
excavations conducted at Marina el Alamein.

First, the site which is extensively excavated since mid of the eighties of the twenty century is located
about one hundredth kilometres west of Alexandria, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. During
the exploration process numerous of the architectural structures were brought into the light. On
special attention deserves the remains of necropolis which originally spread along the southern limits
of the town area, several public buildings, as town square, and bath buildings. From the present
contribution perspective, the most important remains which were recently excavated were the ruins
of the dwelling structures, which originally were the most important part of the urban space
arrangement in a form which is known for us in the present times.

My speech focus, what needs to be clarified at the beginning, not on the entire lichenological
material discovered during the course of the whole excavations project, but is limited to the analysis
of the oil lamp context from several architectural structures revealed in the seasons 2012-2021.

During the excavations were cleaned up several architectural structures. Among of them on special
attention deserve the houses H 40, H 41, and H42 which gave among the other findings and material
also quite interesting discoveries of oil lamps. All of the already mentioned dwelling structures were
originally located in the northern part of the town area in the vicinity of a natural harbour which had
been extensively used as a port area as we understand it today. It cannot be excluded that this
district was occupied by relatively wealthy houses, where rich members of local community had their
family residences. Looking, and compare those pieces of architecture, however, it should be added
that similar dwelling structures, confirming a good social status of the people originally dwelt in
Marina el Alamein were brought into the light in the other corners of the town area.

Please pay your attention on a building structure attached to street S 1, marked as H 40, is in the
southeastern corner of the studied sector and west of structure H 39. H 40 is placed situated close
to the next street which runs along the northern building façade. The building, like structure H 39,
consists of two rooms: H 40.1 and H 40.2. Based on the analysis of the clay floor sequence, it is
possible to postulate that at least two occupation phases can be reconstructed. The entrance to
room H 40.2 was carved into the south wall. The function of the complex is still difficult to decode.
On the threshold of room H 40.1 in layer VI, a clay oil lamp was recorded during excavation. It was
a Greek olive lamp (no. 26). This discovery presented the possibility that the room may have been
used between the 2nd and the 3rd century AD. (Jakubiak 2016: 129)
Fabric: Marly clay without slip marks. Not examined the object is stored in Marsa Matruh.

Description: Concave discus decorated with convex relief. The discus presents Aphrodite standing in the
middle flanked by two puttae. In the left raised hand she holds a part of her covers. Each of the puttae
probably holds small mirrors directed toward the goddess. She admires herself, looking at the reflection on
the mirrors. Plain shoulders with panels flanked by small circles. Ring handle decorated with small circles on
both sides. Nozzle decorated with small circles on both sides. Filling-holle in the middle on the right side of
the discus. Flat base-ring with signature: MAPKOY- Unidentified .
Architectural structure H 41 was a large wealthy house similar to other dwellings recorded in that
part of the town. The building is located east of the S 1 street and south of a street labeled as S 2.
The pottery assemblage collected from the surface before the excavation suggested that the
building was extensively settled in the 2 nd – 3rd century AD. Eight (nos. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
oil lamps were found in the house area. It is worth mentioning that seven of them (nos. 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 24, 25,) were discovered in the southern part of the excavated house in rooms labeled as H
41.7, H 41.7b, H 41.11, H 41.6 and H 41.15. Based on our present knowledge, it is still difficult to
judge and interpret the function and the character of these excavated structures. Bearing in mind
the distribution of the rooms within the whole architectural structure, it is possible to determine
that rooms 6, 7 and 11 were part of the designated residential area of the household. Of particular
importance is an almost complete twin–nozzled oil lamp (no. 25) found in a latrine chamber in the
southeastern corner of the house (marked as H 41.15). This room was undoubtedly used as a
lavatory. The oil lamp was dated to the 2 nd century AD. On the opposite side of the house, there
was an additional small fragment from the shoulder of an oil lamp recorded inside room 9 (no. 23).

18,19 20, 23, 24 są to fragmenty lampek szczątkowo zachowane, są to albo zachowane fragment
ramion lampki bez dekoracji ( no. 18.) albo jedynie ramie z fragmentem dekoracji no 19 floralny w
tym przypadky, albo jedynie fragment imadeł jak w przypadku no. 20 no 23
odnalezione były również prawie kompletne lampki no 21 z wierunkiem serapisa….
Czy przedstawienie kobiety albo boga Apollo trzymającego Harfe….
The lichenological material above presented should be discussed and analyzed according to several
principals. Having in mind that in every single house and household a light was needed for
existence and functioning of the families or communities settled at Marina el Alamein, therefore
the distribution of the oil lamps discoveries can give us extra information. As it was already above
presented during my speech, most of the oil lamps were recorded inside the houses. Main body of
this artifact group was discovered just nearby the thresholds. The localization of the findings is,
certainly, not surprising, looking from the house after the sunset functioning. The lamps which
were put nearby the entrance were very easy to located when the dwellers arrived in the dark. In
consequence, the illumination of the interior was quite easy to obtain. We even can imagine the
dwellers who sitting on the threshold reach the oil lamps and then light it before entering the
house interior. From the formal point of view those lamps were used as modern-days switcher
commonly located next to the doors leading to our houses or flats. The question in the case of
Marina el Alamein case is, why usually several not only one oil lap were deposed next to the
entrances. The number of the laps ready to use, can be inform us, how many family members
usually came home after the sunset. It can also inform us, that the vestibule area constantly was
left in the dark, and only light an oil lamp every single time gave a chance to enter the house in a
relatively comfortable way. Moreover, when we assume that each time the lapse were carried out
toward the house interior, the lamp holder could use the source of light according the individual
needs. In consequence, it was possible to use it permanently during the dark as an individual souse
of light, also it could be good tool for searching the other sources of light in this case most probably
the other laps, or the short time used “light” needed for find the way to the other already
illuminated chamber of the house. Additionally, we need to take into the consideration, if not by
chance the different shapes, types and decorated oil lamps were not belonging to the certain if not
particular member of the family. If we accept this supposition, therefore, the oil laps deposed
nearby the entrances were ready for use by the family members who chosen particular object for
their personal use. n

The lichenological material above presented should be discussed and analyzed according to several
principals. Having in mind that in every single house and household a light was needed for
existence and functioning of the families or communities settled at Marina el Alamein, therefore
the distribution of the oil lamps discoveries can give us extra information. As it was already above
presented during my speech, most of the oil lamps were recorded inside the houses.

The localization of the findings is, certainly, not surprising, looking from the house after the sunset
functioning. The lamps which were put nearby the entrance were very easy to located when the
dwellers arrived in the dark. In consequence, the illumination of the interior was quite easy to
obtain. We even can imagine the dwellers who sitting on the threshold reach the oil lamps and
then light it before entering the house interior. From the formal point of view those lamps were
used as modern-days switcher commonly located next to the doors leading to our houses or flats.
The question in the case of Marina el Alamein case is, why usually several not only one oil lap were
deposed next to the entrances. The number of the laps ready to use, can be inform us, how many
family members usually came home after the sunset. It can also inform us, that the vestibule area
constantly was left in the dark, and only light an oil lamp every single time gave a chance to enter
the house in a relatively comfortable way. Moreover, when we assume that each time the lapse
were carried out toward the house interior, the lamp holder could use the source of light according
the individual needs. In consequence, it was possible to use it permanently during the dark as an
individual souse of light, also it could be good tool for searching the other sources of light in this
case most probably the other laps, or the short time used “light” needed for find the way to the
other already illuminated chamber of the house. Additionally, we need to take into the
consideration, if not by chance the different shapes, types and decorated oil lamps were not
belonging to the certain if not particular member of the family. If we accept this supposition,
therefore, the oil laps deposed nearby the entrances were ready for use by the family members
who chosen particular object for their personal use

Entering deeper toward the house structure, in Marina el Alameni case, it was possible to observe
that in the rooms which survived in relatively good condition, it means were high enough, it was
possible to recognize small niches where olive lamps were originally put. During the most of the
sites usually the walls of the dwellings survived some dozen centimeters above the foundation
levels, what make the detail studies of their interiors problematic. In Marina el Alamein,
sometimes the walls of the examined buildings survived up to one or even more than one and half
meter high. Therefore some technical elements as the small niches, already mentioned, sometimes
were recorded during the field activities. When the niches were recorded as in the House H42, for
example, and in small bathhouse H39 (which analysis certainly is not a part of my speech) were
finished with white plaster. The white surface, in this case seems to be a kind of a screen which
reflected the light and gave more or stronger illumination consequently. To be sure that those
small installations situated inside the houses could have been used for the interiors illumination, it
was necessary to find a good evidence supporting the hypothesis. Luckily, inside the house H 42
latrine was found a lamp which was still laying inside of a small niche situated in the central part of
the eastern wall. Possible similarly the latrine illumination needed to be solved in the house H39
where a double nooseled oil lamp was found.

The last question, which I would like to ask during my lecture is, if the Marina el Alamein houses
were good illuminated. Till now we have no evidence that policandelons or multi noosels olive
lapse were used by the Marina el Alamein dwellers. This kind of light sources were certainly giving
much more quantity of light than a single or double noozeled laps, commonly recorded here.
Therefore answering this question right now is extremely difficult, since our nowadays illumination
standards are completely different than the ancient community’s needs. For the Marina el Alamein
dwellers certainly the recognized the shape of the houses interiors and the distribution of the
furniture of the other installations distribution played the most important role. It is our present
time privilege or “nightmare” that we can work after the sunset. For them it was rather impossible,
and the light was only needed for basic and really necessary activities before the whole family, or
rather all the house dwellers went to sleep.