Sudan & nubia 1 Sesebi 2011 Kate Spence, Pamela J. Rose, Rebecca Bradshaw, Pi- eter Collet, Amal Hassan, John MacGinnis, Aurélia Masson and Paul van Pelt Sesebi is a new Kingdom Egyptian colonial temple-town constructed on the west bank of the nile opposite the modern town of delgo. The town was excavated for the Egypt Exploration Society between 1936 and 1938, but only preliminary reports were published (blackman 1937; Fairman 1938). Our work at the site since 2007 has sug- gested that the town played a role in gold exploitation in nubia and that, although the town and temple were con- structed during the reign of akhenaten, there is evidence for Egyptian presence at the site from very early in the new Kingdom (Spence and Rose 2009; forth.; Spence et al. 2009). Our aims for the 2011 season were to continue investigation of the remains of early new Kingdom material at the site, to test the results of 2010’s magnetometry survey, to continue recording the main temple, and to take samples for micromorphological analysis. The areas investigated are shown on Figure 1. From 2011 the project is a joint venture of the university of Cambridge and the austrian archaeological institute in Cairo. 1 Excavations outside the north-east corner of the town (Area 1) Excavation of an area of visible archaeological remains outside the main town enclosure wall north east of the site began in 2009 and 2010. This year the trench was expanded northwards under the supervision of John MacGinnis. The excavation revealed the foundations of a rectan- gular structure built of large sandstone blocks, at least some of which are reused (Figure 2). The stone feature measures 4.7 x 4.8m and lies between two parallel substantial mud-brick walls (the southern parts of which were exposed in 2009–10). The stratigraphy suggests that the two mud-brick walls are of different dates; that to the west seems to have gone out of use before the construction of the stone feature. The function of this stone structure remains enigmatic: it is possible that it was a gateway into an enclosure predating the akhenaten- 1 The team comprised dr Kate Spence and dr Pamela Rose (directors), Pieter Collet (surveyor), dr John MacGinnis, dr aurélia Masson, Paul van Pelt (archaeologists) and Rebecca bradshaw (epigrapher). amal Hassan Gismallah represented the national Corporation for antiquities and Museums as inspector. period town, but its location vis-à-vis the mud-brick walls remains problematic. The stratigraphy in this area is very complex and includes at least four phases of construction and demolition activity; in addition, many graves have been cut through the archaeo- logical remains. all the 18 th dynasty remains appear to be of foundations and no occupation levels have been identi- ied. Although there are few sealed deposits associated with these phases, it is clear from the ceramics that all predate the akhenaten enclosure, and almost certainly date to the early part of the 18 th dynasty. although no direct stratigraphic links can be made with the akhenaten town site, ceramics and other traces such as the deposits beneath the later northern enclosure wall (areas 13 and 14) suggest substantial early 18 th dynasty activity in this area. The presence of bread moulds suggests a temple bakery and thus presumably a temple, an interpretation which would it well with the monumental mud-brick walls and large sandstone blocks excavated in area 1. Samples were taken from this area for micromorphology, which may provide additional information on earlier activity at the site. Area 1 Area 12 Area 15 Area 10 Area 11 Area 9 Area 7 Area 8 Area 16 Area 14 Area 13 Crypt Main Temple 0 50m Figure 1. Excavation areas Sesebi 2011. Drawing by Pieter Collet based on the original excavation plan (Fairman 1938, pl. VIII).