KOM ED-DAHAB [iii]  [635]

 
 

Also known locally as Kom el-Tarfaya. Site Inspected and mapped by Penny Wilson in 2004-5. See Wilson, P., The West Delta Regional Survey, Beheira and Kafr el-Sheikh Provinces, 71-7, 308-315.  This small mound is located in the fish farms of ‘Lake’ Edku and is visible from the main new road across Idku running from Rosetta to Alexandria. It is shown on the 1:50,000 SoE map, but not named. The site is roughly circular, with a central mound of about 4m high and a crescent shaped ridge on the northern side. The remainder is either flat or forms the gently sloping sides of the hill. The ditches and embankments around the site contain pottery, so it is likely this is a small remnant of a once more extensive site. This is confirmed by satellite imagery, on which the original extent of the mound can be seen. There is a good amount of pottery, including African Red Slip ware, on the surface and red brick fragments. Kom ed-Dahab consists of one main mound, an outer mound and then flatter land to the south of the mounds with some burnt brick visible on the surface. The whole area is covered in Late Antique Roman pottery, glass and bronze coins (mostly very corroded). The survey followed the traces of a mud brick on the mound and showed that it is a five-sided structure with two pitched sides. This building has an entrance on the south, long side and the pitched sides face towards Terfayah. It is reasonable to suppose that one side directly faces the town (and ancient site) and the river which flowed between the town and this site. The other pitched side may have faced directly towards the sea. The building has a curtain wall in front of it. Some of the low lying structures may be ancillary buildings serving this fortification. It may be part of a Roman defensive system, similar to the nineteenth century sea defences at Rosetta. One drill transect of five cores was made at Kom Dahab running roughly west to east across the area. On the eastern side, the first augur was made through a redeposited pile of earth and sherds, maybe raked up from the kom. Under the initial surface deposits, the core came to alluvium, then silt with shells and at 4m the silt was blue-black containing shell fragments - a very good indication of the banks of a waterway, perhaps the Canopic river. On the western side of the tell, the drill core showed a similar pattern with settlement debris, followed by alluvium, then at 5m shell fragments and a blue-black matrix, perhaps representing an earlier stage of the river channel. The site may have stood on a levee of a river channel. The western side of the tell showed a similar development, with the blue-black silt and shells at 6m, though there was also some pottery, limestone and glass fragments just on top of this material (it is possible these may have fallen back down the drill hole). The fourth core was next to the International Road. Core 5 was made in order to complete the transect and showed that the artificial fish-farm landscape had been constructed upon pre-existing marshland, and not very long ago. This seemed to have been marshland for a long time as the blue-black silt showing a lacustrine environment was present at about 3m below the dyke level. There was also a good deposit of shell fragments at 3.3 to 3.5m, perhaps suggesting higher level shore line than that under the kom. Below this level there were several layers of silt and fine sands down to the end of the core at 6.09m. The drill cores show the underlying marsh and river channels in the area prior to the formation of the alluvial mound upon which the fort was founded. It may have been artificially founded upon a pre-existing sand bar or gezira to serve as a strategically placed control post for the Canopic mouth.	Photographs from a large collection taken by Penny Wilson in 2004-5. Copies of the others are kept at the EES London office.