| Noted
by Petrie in 1885 as being entirely Late Period on the surface and covered
with fired bricks on the top. Size of mound in 1885 "a quarter of a mile
across and 50 feet high." Present size little changed apart from loss of
height. Petrie noted many hand-querns of quartzite on surface, together
with half a granite millstone, another block of granite, trachyte fragments,
late pottery and glass.
The Munich survey of 1966 reported no surface sherds seen prior to MK. Visited in November 2001 by Jeffrey & Patricia Spencer. A dirt-track for vehicles leads right on to the north side of the mound, accessed from the asphalt road which runs from Husseiniya to Qantara. Very sandy mound, with three deep holes cut into it (Two in the middle and another in the SE corner). The latter goes down to water; the other two nearly so. NE edge of mound is only 1m above cultivation level and has been cut by new fields. The tell has elevated ridges along the north and south, with a lower area in the centre. At the SW it drops to a very low level. Surface is used by traffic and contaminated with modern rubbish. A few houses lie on the east edge. On top, two eroded red granite columns of Romano-Coptic age are visible and five circular granite millstones lie near the north side. Few sherds visible, those noted included a coarse rim of the 4th-5th century BC, a slipped rim of the Third Intermediate Period and a New-Kingdom bowl rim. |
Photographs
taken Nov. 2001 © Patricia and Jeffrey Spencer
|
