Stone blocks surpluses? Reconstruction of the building process and architectural form of Marina el-Alamein hypogea

Abstract

The monumental rock-cut tombs of the Graeco-Roman necropolis at the site of Marina el-Alamein on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, today a sightseeing icon following restoration work by the Polish team, have produced significant information about the town, its inhabitants, and burial traditions. Different aspects of the tombs and their content have already been discussed, but without going into the details of the architectural building process. This paper focuses on ancient quarrying and masonry techniques in an effort to reconstruct the process as applied to the large hypogea. An estimate of the volume of stone material sourced during the execution of the underground parts of these tombs was compared with the reconstructed demand for stone ashlars used in the aboveground superstructures. The issue to be examined in this context is whether the tomb hypogea could have produced a surplus of stone building material, thus serving as a quarry for the city itself.