Exhibits from the early period of the formation of the Egyptian state, as well as photographs documenting the work and life of Polish archaeologists working in the area for two decades, are on display at an exhibition at Kraków’s Museum of Archaeology from Friday.
The exhibition “Tell-el-Farcha. 20 Years of Polish Excavations” documents the work that archaeologists have been carrying out for two decades at the site, located 120 km from Cairo in the northeastern Nile Delta.
“The site itself is extremely important, in fact crucial, for the Early Dynastic and Predynastic periods. This is because Tell-el-Farcha, as evidenced by the discoveries so far, was a very important economic and political centre during the formative period of the Egyptian state,” Anna Starzycka, curator of the Archaeological Museum in Kraków, pointed out in an interview with PAP (Polish Press Agency).
The exhibition features artefacts that were brought from Egypt before the export of artefacts from there was banned. Therefore, a large part of the exhibition is made up of photographs that document archaeological work from a different angle – showing snapshots of the everyday life of those who have been carrying it out for two decades.
“We present vessels of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods, a cosmetic palette, and interesting beads made of carnelian. The artefacts are diverse, but the exhibition is also filled with charts depicting the daily life of the archaeologists who work there, the extent of their work and the environment they are in,” Starzycka stressed.
The site was discovered in 1987 by Italian archaeologists, and since 1998 it has been the subject of research by a Polish expedition headed by Prof. Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz and Dr Marek Chłodnicki. According to the Krakow museum, almost 200 archaeologists, specialists in other scientific disciplines and students have taken part in the research so far; some came there for just one season, and others conducted their research for years.