Résumé
After seven seasons of archaeological research in the temple of Ptah and in its southern and eastern vicinity, the main objectives set at the origin of the project have now been achieved.First, the extension of the temple has been delimited by the clearing of the upper part of the enclosure towards the east. This significant result for the study of the monument makes it possible to evaluate with precision the maximum extent of the religious domain during the Ptolemaic period. On the occasion of this clearing, a room appeared to the south of the small door C’ which it would be tempting to identify as a chapel or a storeroom of the religious complex.Then the date of the earliest stage of the temple and the diachronic evolution of the area were revealed by the opening of a large stratigraphic sounding in the south of the building. It appeared that a series of domestic settlements - still under study - preceded religious structures. A mudbrick building anterior to the sandstone building of Thutmosis III and dating to the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th Dynasty was also uncovered, confirming the epigraphic testimonies of the existence of an older sanctuary. In addition, the deep sounding provided an opportunity to clarify the different phases of the inner enclosures to the south of the sanctuary, allowing a basis for reflection to sequence the structures surrounding the sandstone building as well as for the understanding of the functionality of adjacent spaces.Finally, the last occupation of the area, which is being examined to the east of the Ptah temple, revealed an imposing residential area dating to the end of the 4th-early 5th century A.D. The discovered artifacts testify to the Christian occupation of the site, but also to a gradual transition with the pagan rites of the preceding period.