The archaeological site at Marina Al-Alamein will be open to visitors in the evenings from mid-September, Nevine El-Aref reports Holidaymakers to Egypt's northern coast will have more to entertain them than sun, sand and sea later this summer. Starting in mid-September they can end a day spent on the beach by taking a virtual trip back to the Graeco-Roman era and exploring the archaeological site of Marina Al-Alamein, which 2,000 years ago was a major town and port known as Leucaspis. Following years of restoration and development, the Marina archaeological site, situated not far from the World War II memorials at Al-Alamein, will open in the evenings from the middle of next month. The site is l96km west of Alexandra and 6km east of Al-Alamein. The site of the town stretches for 1km and is 0.5km wide, making it the largest archaeological site on Egypt's north coast. Although historical records existed of the site of Leucaspis, as well as rudimentary plans of its layout, these were forgotten by the time construction began on the giant Marina holiday resort. Fortunately preliminary construction work revealed marble columns and other debris, and archaeologists stepped in to preserve the ruins. The site is now well developed and is equipped with a high-tech lighting system throughout its entirety, which will permit visitors to enjoy it all night long. In a bid to encourage local tourism, the entrance fee for the site will be LE5 for Egyptians and LE2.5 for Egyptian students. Over the last 10 years, the Polish Archaeological Institute in Cairo and the American Research Center in Egypt have unearthed remains of more than 50 different structures in the town and necropolis. The ancient town of Leucaspis was a good natural harbour. Adjacent to the harbour was a commercial quarter, and further south was the town centre which included baths, markets and a civic basilica. The earliest archaeological remains, which date from the mid- second century BC, were found in the town's necropolis. It is thought the town was occupied until the seventh century AD. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), marks Leucaspis as an important port during the Greek and Romans eras in Egypt. He also points out that it is the first archaeological site on the north coast to be developed as a tourist friendly site. The Greek name Leucaspis means "white shell" or "shield". "It acquired this name because of the softness and white colour of its sand," Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, director of the Central Administration of Lower Egypt Antiquities, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was worshipped there, and the statues found of her on the site show her emerging from a white shell in reference to its name. The Romans later called the town Locabsis. The Polish Centre of Archaeology in Cairo began systematic excavations in the western part of the site in 1986 under the direction of Wiktor A Daszewski, conducting a survey and documentation of all the monuments. The ancient site is located between the slope of an ancient beach and a lagoon, separated from the open sea by a narrow strip of sand and the modern Alexandria-Marsa Matrouh highway. In the part of the town at the northern area of the site, near the sea, several buildings were partly cleared of sand by the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation in the 1980s. The upper part of the site was extensively used as a cemetery. Fieldwork by the Polish Mission was concentrated in the cemetery, where a series of important discoveries was made. Some well- preserved tombs were uncovered, of which there were four main types: some were rock- hewn tombs covered with limestone slabs; some were cut in the bedrock but with step- pyramid shaped superstructures; while in a third type tombs of cubic structures were built on the rock surface with two or four loculi, frequently surmounted by funerary monuments such as a column or sarcophagus. Abdel-Maqsoud explained that investigations determined that some of these tombs consisted of a loculus covered by a structure similar to a huge sarcophagus and were similar in type to tombs found in Turkey and Cyrenaica. Others contained two loculi and were surmounted by a huge pillar decorated with two capitals in the so-called "Nabatean" style. Tombs of the fourth type were hypogea, or underground tombs, consisting of superstructures with monumental entrances leading to vaulted staircases with burial chambers cut in the bedrock. Large vertical shafts provided the burial chambers with air and light. The chambers were designed with rock-cut benches, loculi and stone altars on the floor. These four groups of tombs can be dated from the late second century BC to the late first century AD. The Polish excavations yielded a vast collection of finds, including lamps, glass vessels and pottery from Cyprus, the Aegean, Asia Minor and Italy. Several sculptures were also found and among the most remarkable discoveries were a lead coffin and mummies in one of the side chambers of a tomb. "These are similar to the well-known Fayoum examples. The mummies from Marina have portraits painted on wooden panels," Abdel-Maqsoud told the Weekly. In 1988 the joint Polish-Egyptian Preservation Mission began a restoration programme. Three monuments in the necropolis that had been toppled by an earthquake were restored, and several other excavated tombs were reinforced and repaired. In the area of the town a series of buildings, both private and public, were excavated by the SCA. Several vaulted large houses in a good state of preservation were located in the central part of the site. They comprised rooms grouped around one or two peristyle courtyards. Each house, Abdel-Maqsoud said, was equipped with underground cisterns and a well-developed system of aqueducts. In the central part of the site a circular or tholos -shaped bath was discovered, as well as structures located close to the lagoon that seem to have served as storehouses. Lamps, coins, statues and pots were also unearthed. Based on these finds, Abdel-Maqsoud said, the chronology indicated that most of the excavated structures could be dated to the first and third centuries AD. The ancient town must have been a very prosperous community in those days. A wide range of imported pottery, particularly amphorae, suggests flourishing trade relations with the entire Mediterranean region. The settlement of Leucaspis was probably destroyed by an earthquake in the late third century AD, but was partially inhabited again in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. A small basilica church uncovered in the eastern sector is considered the best evidence of this later occupation.
