THE PTOLEMAIC-ROMAN CEMETERY AT THE QUESNA ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA

In the cemetery at Quesna, the 2009 spring season concentrated on the completion of Trench 1 in the southwest of the site and the opening of Trench 4 at the eastern limit of the concentration of sub-surface deposits highlighted through geophysical survey. In addition, Trench 3 was opened in order to explore the north-western extent of the sacred falcon necropolis. The spring 2010 season focused on test trenches at Quesna and the continued reconstruction of ceramic coffins excavated in previous seasons. The trenches on the northern edge of the gezira yielded further information relating to the Ptolemaic to Roman cemetery, with a pit burial and further ceramic coffin burials, and for the first time at the site Old Kingdom contexts were located. The trench in the falcon necropolis focused on the north-western corner of the structure at the western end of the falcon necropolis and revealed a sequence of robbing episodes that had occurred in the past.