In Search of the Royal Ptolemaic Cemetery in Central Alexandria

Archaeological ProspectionArchaeol. Prospect. 10, 193211 (2003)Published online 6 August 2003 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/arp.214

InSearchoftheRoyalPtolemaicCemeteryinCentralAlexandria,EgypttheFirstContact

St. P. PAPAMARINOPOULOS,1,2,* A. LIOSIS,1L. POLYMENAKOS,1

P.STEPHANOPOULOS1ANDK.LIMNAEOU-PAPAKOSTA2

1 Department of Geology, LaboratoryofGeophysics, University of Patra, Rio,Patra, Greece2 Hellenic Institute ofResearchofAlexandrianCulture, Athens,Greece

ABSTRACT At Chatby in central Alexandria, Egypt, a team from the University of Patras conducted a detailedgeophysicalstudyaspart ofan investigation for locating the Royal Ptolemaic Cemetery.The explora-tionsiteislocatedintheLatinandGreekcemeteriesinthesoutheast cornerofthemoderncemeteriesof Alexandria.Anareaof10 000m2wasinvestigateddowntoadepthof10m.Gravity, electromagneticprospecting, electrical, ground-penetrating radar and seismic methods were applied. The use ofvariousmethods allowed asmuch information from the subsurface as possible to be obtained andcomparison of the data in order to enhance interpretation. Despite the increased geophysical noisepresent in such a highly urbanized environment, intelligent selection of field parameters, use ofadvancedprocessing techniquesand specialized softwaremade it possible to reveal important info-rmation fromthesubsurfacedata.Interpretedgeophysical featuresmayberelated toburiedarchaeo-logicalstructuresat somelocationsoftheareaexplored.Copyright2003 JohnWiley&Sons,Ltd.

Key words: gravity; electromagnetic prospecting; electrical; ground-penetrating radar; seismicrefraction; seismic tomography; slices; Royal Ptolemaic Cemetery; Sema; Alexandria

Introduction

At the beginning of the century a tomb wasdiscovered by accident in the Santa Maria RomanCatholic Cemetery. It was ignored up to the timethe Italian archaeologist Adriani (19351939) stu-died it. In two public lectures delivered in Marchof 1962 at Alexandria and Cairo, he proposed thatthe tomb of Alexander the Great is located belowthe level of the present-day cemeteries. His as-sumption was that the intersection of the twolargest streets of ancient Alexandria, mentionedin ancient Greek and Latin texts, lies below thepresent-day cemeteries. These original lectures

are discussed in Adriani (1963). Fakharani (1964)has also proposed a similar theory. Fakharani(1999) published again his theory for the samesubject and suggested a geophysical explorationof the site. His arguments are based on ancientauthors but one of them, Achilleus Tatius, is anon-historian. The point against Tatius is similarto that in connection with the work of a non-historian such as Pseudo-Kallisthenis.Thereforethe tomb of Alexander A"o oo& can-not be associated with the location of the present-day cemeteries at Chatby on the weight ofTatiuss testimony along but only in connectionwith those who are historians and geographers.Artistic Alexandria such as Tatiuss mayrepresent a thrilling experience to a reader withphilological inclination, as Golvins painting doesto a spectator. Artistic Alexandria is open to many

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 12 October 1999Accepted 20 February 2003

* Correspondence to: St. P. Papamarinopoulos, Departmentof Geology, Laboratory of Geophysics, University of Patra,Rio, Patra, Greece.

interpretations as usually a piece of art does.However, it cannot be used as evidence for his-torical and/or archaeological research.

A map composed by Machmoud Bey (1872),who is called El-Falaki, meaning the astronomerin Arabic, was the basis of the understanding ofthe ancient citys topography. Empereur (1998)presented and analysed the hypothesis proposedby Adriani in connection with the position of theRoyal Ptolemaic cemetery and concluded thatAdrianis initial idea had validity. His conclusionwas based on the progress of archaeologicalexcavations conducted by various teams overthe past decades in Alexandria and on the inter-pretation of ancient texts. In his book The Redis-covery of Alexandria he states that the remains ofAlexander the Greats tomb are located under thetomb of the famous Alexandrian poet Kavafis inthe present-day cemetery of the Greeks on thewest side of the modern cemeteries at Chatby.

Considering the tomb itself, the ancient writerPausanias says that Ptolemy buried Alexanderthe Great in accordance with the law of theMacedonians at Memphis ! o! !M"o! "" " M""l (Adriani, 1963).If we accept this piece of evidence as applicableto Alexandria as well as in Memphis for Alex-ander and the rest of the Ptolemaic dynasty ofMacedonian Greeks, then their tombs could be ofan appreciable size, detectable by geophysicseven if they collapsed through the passing ofthe centuries. Certainly one can think of analternative course, assuming that only Alexan-ders tomb containing his body (the Soma) wasmagnificent and the rest of the Ptolemies wereplaced as tephra in vases around his mummifiedbody. This means a much smaller geophysicaltarget than the cluster of Macedonian tombsenvisaged earlier in the text above.

If the Soma exists as a cluster of tombs roundAlexanders tomb even in a poor condition afterthe influences of the passing centuries, then ageophysical survey may well be able to detectanomalies from these structures with differentphysical properties, placed on the sandstonePtolemaic horizon. One would expect that thePharoach of Egypt Alexander would be placed ina marble, alabaster or granite tomb, which in factis very different from sandstone. From drillingsat various localities in Alexandria the cores ex-

amined show that the shallow subsurface is afilling made of grey sand, silt and broken pot-teries. Immediately below that, white sandstoneappears at a depth of 8 or 9 m. The material of theRoyal tombs could respond to the geophysicalmeasurements with high seismic velocities andhigh resistivities depending on the material fromwhich the structure is made.

The case of the cemeteries at Chatby

Figure 1 shows the position of Alexandria, Egypt.Figure 2a shows the original map of the cityproduced by Mahmoud Bey (1872), Figure 2bshows a version of the map of the ancient cityproduced by Hoepfner (in Bonacasa and Mina,2000) and Figure 2c an artistic impression of theideas of Achilleus Tatius. Figure 3a shows theposition of the Latin and the Greek cemeterieswhich are confined by Alexander the Great streetto the north, Abdel Rahman Rouchdi to the west,Fouad street to the south and Aflaton street to theeast. Returning to El-Falakis map, the reader willrecognize that the region of the cemeteries onceexhibited a certain elevation with respect to thepresent-day mean sea-level. Figure 3b shows thearea of the cemeteries in an aerial photograph.

The Latin cemetery to the east of Anubis streethas experienced many recent changes. Compar-ison of the old map produced at the beginning ofthe twentieth century with the present situationreveals a power station situated in the southwestcorner and other modern buildings located at adistance of 150 m to the east. The streets aroundthis cemetery are Minos in the north, Platon inthe east and Fouad in the south. The Latincemetery is separated from its eastern surround-ings by a make-shift fence. The part to the west ofthe fence belongs to the Municipality of Alexan-dria and is used as a garden. The part to the eastbelongs to the University of Alexandria and isused as a garden and a nursery. The Greekcemetery is located immediately to the North.

The need and objectives of ageophysical study

Prior to the geophysical study conducted by ourteam, Gaber et al. (1999) conducted electrical

194 St. P. Papamarinopoulos et al.

Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Archaeol. Prospect. 10, 193211 (2003)

prospecting in the area and found relatively highresistivity values in Minos street. Along theirEW profile I they found some interesting results(maxima) in positions A and B, as shown inFigure 1 of their paper corresponding to dis-tances of 824 m and 7280 m from the beginningof the profile respectively. The beginning of theprofile to the west was placed at 8 m distance.Gaber et al. carried out two more profiles, II andIII, within the west part of the cemetery along aNS direction. Along these profiles they markthree other high resistance anomalies C, D and E,also shown in Figure 1 of their paper. The re-corded resistivities are even higher than those atMinos street. Figure 4 shows the position of twolinear orthogonals assigned the numbers 1 and2 and placed along Minos Street. These twopositions together with position numbered 3in front of the alabaster tomb show the trenchesof conducted excavations, following the sugges-

tions of Gaber et al. (1999) prior to the arrival ofour team.

Considering the above satisfactory results andthe evidence that geophysical anomalies relatedto buried structures can be produced and de-tected in the particular conditions of the ceme-teries, the idea emerged for an extendedgeophysical survey, covering a wider areaaround the alabaster monument, at greaterdepths and in as much detail as possible. Hence,a geophysical survey was designed with thefollowing objectives.

The first objective was to locate possible re-maining parts of the existing alabaster tomb inits immediate vicinity and at shallow depth. Thesecond objective was to prospect for possible rem-ains of buried structures at deeper horizons cor-responding to the Ptolemaic level at 510 m depth.

We used frequency domain conductivity,electrical imaging, ground-penetrating radar,

Figure1. Location of Alexandria,Egypt.

The Royal Ptolemaic Cemetery 195


Figure 2. (a) Map of Alexandria produced by Machmoud Bey (El Falaki) in 1872. Chatby and other parts of Alexandria appearelevatedwith respect to the present-day situation. (b) Map of ancient Alexandria by Hoepfner (from Bonacasa and Mina, 2000).(c) Artistic impressionof AchilleusTatiusviewsof Alexandria.



Figure 3. (a) Detailedmap of Alexandria.The black arrows and circle show the Latin and the Greek cemeteries surveyed by theGreek team. (b) An aerial photograph of present cemeteries in Alexandria at Chatby (after Empereur,1998).The area surveyed isalso shownwithina dashed line.



Figure 4. Planof the Greekand Latin cemeteries, surveyedby the Greek team.Also shown is the coordinate systemestablishedatthesouthwest cornerof the cemeteryand thelocationof thegeophysicalsurvey traverses.Theshadedarea (nursery) isthesitesur-veyed in detail.The Alabasterancient tomb is located to thewest of this area.Numbers1^3 denote the location of excavations con-ductedaccording to suggestionsof Gaber et al. (1999).



seismic refraction, gravity and seismic tomogra-phy. The above geophysical techniques producedthe results described below and illustrated howthe team attempted to meet its objectives bydefining the location of buried structures.

Geophysical survey methodology

In the application of geophysical methods, themain idea was to attain the maximum coveragepossible, considering the available instrumenta-tion, site conditions, survey objects, time and cost.

It is known that the Chatby cemeteries werebuilt in 1830. Despite the difficulty of exploringthe ground below the level of the present-daytombs, it was possible to gain access along thepathways between modern tombs in the ceme-tery. Thus, the widest coverage was made by theportable and versatile conductivity unit, whereaslesser coverage was made by electrical imagingand seismic tomography. Ground-penetratingradar, seismic refraction and gravity were usedonly at selected locations.

The southwest corner of the Latin cemetery wasdefined as the origin (0, 0) for the geophysical gridand is to be used as such for future geophysicalstudies in the area of the cemeteries. The areasurveyed and the location of individual surveytraverses is shown in Figure 4. Traverses arelocated according to a rectangular coordinate sys-tem established with respect to the above origin.

It should be noted that we could not work in oradjacent to the tomb, because of the ongoingexcavation and rugged topography of the site.Consequently, this part has been left unexplored.

Figure 5 shows photographs of the field use ofthe methods applied. In the following, the mainaspects of the methods are presented and dis-cussed.

Conductivity

The Geonics EM-34 unit was used for the con-ductivity survey with the vertical dipole modeand 10 m intercoil separation, operating at afrequency of 6.4 kHz. The depth achieved bythis layout is about 7.5 m. Figure 5a shows thesystem in operation. Conductivity traverses were

made along all free corridors of the area. Resultsare presented in Figure 6. In Figure 6a, the datawithout any special processing are shown. Thismap comprises all sources of anomaly down to adepth of 7.5 m. The data are dominated by ex-tensive low variation in values and localizedhigh to very high values. It is clear that boththis high- and low-frequency noise masks anyother possibly important information that is ex-pressed by small variations in the data acquired.For that reason, a combined filtering process wasused, with a spatial high-pass filter followed bysubtraction of the residuals from raw data. Thisprocess helped in enhancing small anomalieswhile preserving larger anomalies, as shown inFigure 6b.

High value anomalies, expressing conductiv-ities possibly associated with metal objects, areobserved in the western part of the Greek cem-etery and along some north-south corridors ofthe Latin cemetery. Other high but less intenseanomalies possibly also associated with metalobjects are observed in the eastern part of theGreek cemetery, some of them showing a dipole-like structure. Finally, subtle, low-value anoma-lies, which could be associated with buried stonestructures are observed in the central and easternpart of the Latin cemetery as well as in thenursery. The more interesting of these anomaliesare located between coordinates X 70100 andY 100150 and show a regular geometry asindicated by the arrows.

Electrical imaging

Taking into account the observations by Gaberet al. (1999) our team decided to carry out elec-trical imaging in all available corridors of thewest Latin cemetery and in the nursery, as shownin Figure 4. The electrical imaging data wereobtained utilizing the Campus Geopulse 25multi-electrode system with a hybrid WennerSchlumberger array. Electrode separation was1.5 m. Figure 5b shows the electrode layout andFigure 5c real-time data collection on a notebookcomputer. Data were processed following thetwo-dimensional procedure proposed by Lokeand Barker (1995).

Figure 7 shows two depth slices at 3 and 5 m(Figure 7a and b, respectively), from a synthesis



Figure 5. Photographs of the application of the geophysical methods used: (a) conductivity measurements; (b) electrical ima-gingelectrode layout; (c) real-time data collection for electrical imaging; (d) the georadar system; (e) the microgravimeter;(e) shootinga refraction line; (f) seismic tomographyrecordingstationon thewallsof thewell, in thevicinityof thealabaster tomb.



of all electrical imaging profiles in the Latincemetery and the nursery. Resistivity rangesfrom 5 to 2000m. Localized very high resistiv-ity anomalies (>700m) are observed in theLatin cemetery, the highest at X 35, Y 95and X 50, Y 125. An interesting group ofmedium resistivities (200500m) with an over-all regular geometry is observed in the nursery(X 7590 and Y 135150).

Ten equal-length profiles were recorded in thenursery, as shown in Figure 4. The profiles werelocated at distances of 2 m and were orientatedin a northsouth direction. The results aftermodelling and inversion are shown all together

in Figure 8a. Some of the values we findare equally high as those mentioned by Gaberet al. (1999). However, the processing is differ-ent because they used the one-dimensionallinear filter methodology proposed by Ghosh(1971a,b).

Figure 8b shows a horizontal slice at a depth of2.78 m produced from the nursery area. As thereader can see, the position of the prominentelectrical anomalies that originate from shallowcausative bodies are in close proximity to thegravity and refraction anomalies from profiles atX 74 m at the west side of the area. However,they may originate from common causes.

Figure 6. Results of the conductivitymeasurements: (a) rawdata, (b) filtered/enhanced data.



Ground-penetrating radar

A Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. SIR-10ground-penetrating radar system with a 80 MHzantenna was utilized in all free corridors in theLatin cemetery. Figure 5d shows the system inoperation. Shallow anomalies were mainly de-tected. An interesting feature was found in thesouthern part of the cemetery from X 20 to50 m. The feature resembles a sloping lithologicalcontact to the north-northwest. It is shown inFigure 9 from the profile at X 83. The whitearrows follow the contact within the ground. The

same sloping contact was 6 also found in otherparallel radar sections going eastwards and wasconfirmed also by seismic refraction profiles, asshown later in Figure 11b.

Gravity

Microgravity measurements were obtained withthe latest generation, very high sensitivity,Scintrex gravity meter. Figure 5e shows the meterin operation. Measurements were made at thenursery area, defined between lines 74 and 94 inthe x axis and between 156 and 120 in the y axis.

Figure 7. Results of electrical imaging.Depth slicesat 3m (a) and 5m (b).



The area was free of any visible tombs. Theoperator took care of studying the noise prior tothe survey by taking several tens of repetitivemeasurements at each 2-m station along the pro-file. It was found safe to start the field measure-ments after the analysis of the initial data. Bystudying the standard deviation at each stationthe conclusion reached was that the noise of the

city some 100150 m away from the point of themeasurements was not affecting the gravity meter.

Characteristic anomalies are shown in the toppart of Figure 10(a and b), from two Bouguertype gravity profiles, taken along lines at X 80and X 83 (Figure 10a and b, respectively). Thelower part of Figure 10 shows the correspondingvertical electrical imaging sections.

Figure 8. Electrical imaging: (a) the tenparallelvertical electric sections recorded in thenurseryarea; (b) a depth sliceat 2.78m.Very highmodelled electric resistivity anomalies are shown.Refraction and gravity profiles atX 74 are presented for compari-son.



Seismic refraction

Seismic refraction was made at some selectedlocations in the nursery, the Latin and Greekcemeteries. A 2-m geophone separation wasused, with 12-m shotpoint separation, and theoffset was 13 m. Recordings were made using 248-Hz geophones with a 24 channel seismograph.Figure 5f shows the shooting of a refraction line.

Interesting results were obtained in the nur-sery area, along the lines of gravity profiles withcoordinates 75 and 85 on the X axis. Figure 11ashows the seismic velocity variation along theline with coordinate X 85 m. Similar resultshave been found in the X 75 m line. Theyindicate an increase in the velocity of the re-fracted sound wave, starting at 28 m from thenorthern side of the nursery area and continuingto the south, denoting a further change at 56 mdistance from the origin of the profile. The slop-ing contact, detected with the ground-penetrat-ing radar in the Latin cemetery, was also foundby refraction. Figure 11b shows the calculatedstratigraphy from refraction data.

Seismic tomography

The team found it interesting to follow someideas in seismic tomography discussed by Nolet(1987), Saito (1989), Schneider et al. (1992), Friedelet al. (1992), Jackson and Tweeton (1994, 1997),Tsokas et al. (1995), Tweeton et al. (1992) andWitten et al. (1995) and apply them to the site in

order to add more information to the content ofthe site under exploration.

Seismic tomography is a means of reconstruct-ing the distribution of physical properties in anearth medium by using measurements of traveltime or amplitude of wave energy propagatedthrough it. The fundamental concept in tomo-graphy is that of the projection. The measure-ments constitute a projection of the internalstructure of the earth medium. An image of theinternal structure is therefore produced by com-bining information from a set of projectionsobtained at different viewing angles. Seismictomography is carried out by exciting seismicenergy at several locations on one side of an earthmedium and using simply the first arriving waveenergy, including amplitude and travel time,recorded at other sides of the medium. Ampli-tude is determined by the distance travelled andby attenuation along the transit path. Travel timedepends on the path length and on the velocityalong the path. Inversion of either type of dataresults in an image of velocity or attenuation inthe earth medium. This inversion can be per-formed in either two or three dimensions. Traveltimes were used in the present study, becausethey are easier to obtain from field records andare more reliably related to the medium charac-ter than amplitude.

The first step of the team was to fix a seismicrecording station in situ. A well, existing closeto the Alabaster tomb, served the purposes ofthe team satisfactorily because it allowed for

Figure 9. Ground-penetrating radar: the vertical section recordedwith the 80MHzantenna atX 33, showinga sloping contactmarkedwithwhitearrows.



three-dimensional recording of the travel timedata. Figure 5(g) shows the recording stationprepared by the team for receiving seismic sig-nals. Twenty-four 8-Hz geophones were placedin two lines diametrically opposed in a NNWSSE direction in a vertical mode inside the well.The spacing between geophones was 0.5 m. Datawere recorded by a 24-channel seismograph.After fixing the station, the team started an en-gulfing procedure round the Alabaster tomb byshooting 105 shot points with a sledge hammerall around it. The shot points were at 3570 mdistance from the well. The presence of moderntombs was not an obstacle to the team since it

could choose the position of the shooting any-where in the free surfaces of the field of activities.The shooting positions are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 12a shows a sample 24-channel record-ing gather and the corresponding amplitudespectrum versus frequency, from which a mainfrequency of 150170 Hz is inferred. Figure 12bshows the recorded times of the seismic wavesplotted against the sourcereceiver distances.The arrival times were 2560 ms, resulting in amean calculated velocity of 1.2 km s1, as seen inthe histogram of Figure 12c. Most values arebetween 1.0 and 1.8 km s1 whereas some of thevelocities reach values of more than 1.8 Km s1.

Figure10. Microgravityresultsfromthenurseryarea, atX 80 (a) and83m (b).Thecorrespondingverticalelectricalsectionsareshownbelow.



The spatial distribution of the calculated veloci-ties before the application of inversion is shownin Figure 12d. The top part of the diagramcorresponds to the area of the Latin cemeteryand the lower part to the Greek cemetery. Thehighest calculated velocities are observed in theLatin cemetery and the lowest in the Greekcemetery.

Three-dimensional inversion was applied on agrid with dimensions (x, y, z) 5 m 5 m 1 m.The team took care to use constrained inversion,

in order to reduce the non-uniqueness problem,which results from limited coverage of the in-vestigated earth medium, owing to inadequatepositioning of sources and receivers. In thatdirection, initial velocities were constrained tominimum and maximum values of 0.62 and2.8 km s1, respectively, as inferred from thedata acquired and information concerning thesite lithology. Both straight and curved ray itera-tions were performed. The results shown in thispaper were produced after five iterations.

Figure11. Seismic refraction: (a) velocity variation fromarefractionprofileat thenurseryarea, atX 85m; (b) a refractionprofilecorresponding to theground-penetratingreaderprofileatX 33, shownin Figure 9.It showsaslopinglithologicalcontact dippingto thenorth^northwest.



Figure 13 (ac) illustrates horizontal slices at 1,3 and 5 m depths.

These slices describe the physical properties ofthe ground below the level of Anubis Street,which was defined as 0 level of reference for allreductions and calculations. In general the velo-cities produced after the inversion appear higherin the Latin cemetery than those found in theGreek. Major high-velocity anomalies are ob-served in the Latin cemetery and the nursery(H2H4), whereas lesser anomalies appear in theGreek cemetery (H1 and H5), to a depth of 34 m;at greater depths only anomaly H3 is present. Aprominent low-velocity anomaly runs diagon-ally through the area at depths of at least 6 m.

Discussion and conclusions

As a consequence of these studies some conclu-sions were reached. As Gaber et al. (1999) hasshown, the electrical resistivity survey exhibitedsome high values at Minos Street. In our effort,electrical prospecting shows that in some areas

and especially in the nursery, the modelledresistivities appear even higher. The electricalconductivity measurements pick up sources ofvery high conductivities in some parts of theGreek and the Latin cemeteries. Microgravityprofiles from the nursery show some anomaliesas local deformation of the strength of the gravityfield caused by buried structures. Refractionprofiles and seismic tomography also show in-teresting velocity variations within the field ofinvestigation. Ground-penetrating radar and re-fraction profiles, which were conducted in thewestern part of the Latin cemetery, identify asloping contact.

The main anomalies are presented schemati-cally in Figure 14. It is evident that most anoma-lies are located in the Latin cemetery and thenursery. Localized anomalies appear in theGreek cemetery. The most significant anomaliesare located in the nursery where anomalysources were detected by all methods. Otherimportant anomalies are the prominent linearlow and high seismic velocities and the highresistivities in the Latin cemetery.

Figure12. Seismic tomography: (a) a 24-channel seismic gather (left) and its corresponding amplitude spectrum (right); (b) traveltimeinmillisecondsisplottedversusthesource^receiverdistances; (c) thenumberof raysusedisplottedversusthe calculatedve-locities before the application of inversion; (d) the spatial distribution of calculated velocities before the application of inversion.Dark colours correspond tohigher velocitieswhereaslight colours correspond to lower velocities.



Empereur (1998) mentioned that the Archae-ological Service conducted a 7 m deep excavation100 m east of the Alabaster tomb and foundnothing. Fakharani (1999) conducted excavationsin two positions pointed by Gaber et al. (1999) atMinos Street in 1998 and 1999 and found large

blocks of limestone at about 3 m depth, whichexplain the high resistivities recorded by Gaberand our group. He also found archaeologicalremains of the Arabic period very close to theAlabaster tomb and at about 34 m depth fromthe base of the tomb.

Figure13. Seismic tomography: horizontal tomographic slicesatdepthsof1.0 (a),3.0 (b) and5.0m (c) below thelevel AnubisStreet.Highand low velocityanomaliesare denotedby Hand L, respectively.



Figure14. Aplanof the surveyarea showing themost important anomalies of thevariousgeophysicalmethods.



A similar case with ancient tombs exists at theother Latin cemetery to the west of Santa Maria.Two granite tombs from Asswan also exist at itsentrance. Most probably all such ancient tombs,which have been found at random positions atvery shallow depths, were transported duringthis century from the Israelite cemetery in whichthey were found. It is known that there was amovement in Alexandria in the nineteenth cen-tury to imitate the ancient past and revive itspompous architectural burial customs. If a visitorgoes to the Franciscan cemetery and turns to theright and then enters a hollow space, he will seemodern tombs with dimensions identical tothose found at shallow depths during the archae-ological excavations conducted in other parts ofAlexandria.

Bonacasa and Mina (2000) suggest that thevisible Alabaster tomb is in fact that of Alexanderthe Great. One would expect that below thetomb, several metres below its present leveland below the Arabic remains, the remains ofthe magnificent tomb will be located. Our teamhas examined the area in spite of the ongoingexcavations conducted by Fakharani to the northof the Alabaster tomb and adjacent to it.Fakharani found nothing of interest down to78 m depth. Below this horizon the present-daywater level exists at 910 m depth.

Nevertheless, we have shown that geophysicalanomalies can be detected in the difficult condi-tions of the cemeteries. It remains for theseanomalies to be properly interpreted and identi-fied by archaeological means.

Our team has demonstrated a methodologythat can be adopted in the city conditions ofAlexandria and offer fruitful results with regardto the ancient topography, by defining the sand-stone layer, and with regard to the archaeologyof Alexandria by defining buried structures. Forexample, seismic refraction could be adopted forthe prospection of shallow archaeological re-mains or for the prospection of deeper lyingstructures at depths greater than 2 m if theseare constructed from marble, granite or alabaster.Moreover, if one reads carefully the ancient textswritten by Strabo, Diodorus and others, adds thegeological information deduced from drillings,applies chronostratigraphic dating and considersthe results from archaeological excavations, then

with the use of a geographical information sys-tem set to the coordinates of the modern city onecan pinpoint a circle of confidence and explore itsystematically with a non-destructive approach,the way the authors of this research propose.

Our effort was confined in the region shown inFigure 4 but the enigma of the location of theRoyal Ptolemaic cemetery remains to be cracked.In that direction, however, main issues in thedefinition of the location of the Ptolemaic ceme-tery is the location and the intersection of the twolargest streets of ancient Alexandria as well asthe identification of the Canopic Road, which isthought as of being one of the two largest streetsof ancient Alexandria.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Nato SfS ProgrammeOffice which kindly supported the project withfunds and Dr Chris De Wispelaere the Pro-gramm Director and the National coordinatorof the General Secretariat of Research and Tech-nology of Greece, Ms Aphrodite Patroni. We alsowould like to thank the former rector of theTechnical University of Athens, N. Markatosfor assisting financially our first visit to Alexan-dria. For financial support we would like tothank the Marinopoulos Company and OlympicAirways, especially the executives Mr St.Daliakas, Mrs L. Dioskouridou, Mr K. Malamosand Mr N. Tzellalis.

We thank very much the anonymous refereefor his/her wonderful effort. Professor A.Papagianopoulou and Dr P. Economou for valu-able discussions over the theories in connectionwith Alexander the Greats tomb and excellent insitu observations and measurements of soundnoise levels at the site of the cemeteries. Wethank Professor Fawzi El. Fakharani for the in-vitation to work at the site and Assistant Profes-sor Hussein Ahmed Aziz Hussein who waspresent during the field work of the project; thenumerous students of the University of Alexan-dria who assisted us in many ways; the studentsof the Greek Universities who participated in theexpedition to Alexandria and worked very hardin October 1998: Stathis Kaparis, CostasManolopoulos and Alexander Papamarinopou-los. The members of the Delta ArchaeologicalService, Mr Moustafa Roushdi, Ms Mervat Yehiaand Ms Hala El Gamal, who were of greatassistance to us in many ways.

The Director of the Graeco-Roman MuseumMr Abdel Fattach honoured the Project with



his visit. Professor Dr Elzat Amin Kadousand Professor Dr Mohse Adam Omar grantedthe permission to carry out the geophysicalsurvey in the eastern part of the Latincemetery. The executive officers of the Ministryof Exterior are acknowledged: from AthensMr C. Christopoulos; from Alexandria theGeneral Consul Mr G. Papadopoulos and Mr G.Christodoulidis of the General Consulate ofGreece at Alexandria. The President of the Greekcommunity Mr St. Tambakis offered many facil-ities towards the realization of the project. Alsowe would like to thank Mrs A. Lampropouloufor her help.

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In Search of the Royal Ptolemaic Cemetery in Central Alexandria

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