IL PROGETTO ITALO-EGIZIANO DI STUDIO E CONSERVAZIONE DEL “MONASTERO DI ABBA NEFER” A MANQABAD (ASYUT)

ABSTRACT The first campaign of the Italian-Egyptian Project at Manqabad was carried out at the end of April 2012: it was a very short one due to the general situation of the country, but it was important as it allowed the general condition of the structures to be verified and the first urgent actions to be planned. During the survey, the mission was able to identify most of the structures already brought to light and recorded by previous investigations, notably: 1. the large surrounding wall (not completely preserved); 2. small mud-brick housing units on two floors, with plastered walls and staircases, and elegant wall paintings, mostly in the northern sector of the site; 3. a Roman bathhouse of remarkable size in the central part; 4. several churches, scattered in different sectors; 5. a large subterranean vaulted structure of fired bricks in the central area, south-west of the bathhouse and close to it; 6. a building with large rooms graced with several wall paintings. As a unique map was made on the site without technical instruments, all the structures and the archaeological area need an update topographical survey and drawings. The short unpublished reports of earlier excavations (summarized to us by the colleagues of the local inspectorate) and several photos also informed us about the large amount of findings made on the site, among which it is worth mentioning Coptic funerary stelae, different types of whole jars, some amphorae, and some decorated vases. These artifacts are mostly kept at the storehouse in el-Ashmunein. A large deal of coins from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods was also discovered, most of which are now in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, while a small part is in the Museum of Mallawi.