No. 39 Autumn 2011
Price £5.95
EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
T he B ulletin of T he E gypt E xploration S ociety
The Egypt Exploration Society If you enjoy reading this issue of Egyptian Archaeology and are not already a member of the Egypt Exploration Society, you can make sure you receive every issue by joining us and helping us to continue exploring Egypt’s past, so that we can inspire future generations interested in one of the world’s greatest civilisations.
Membership of the Society allows you access to a wide range of services: The Ricardo Caminos Library at the Society’s London base is the only major Egyptological Library in the UK open to anyone with an interest in ancient Egypt. It contains over 20,000 books (most of which can be borrowed, including by post within the UK), journals and periodicals. We can also photocopy journal articles and mail them to you.
No. 37 Autumn 2010
Price £5.95
EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
T he B ulleTin of T he e gypT e xploraTion S ocieTy
Egyptian Archaeology is published twice a year and is included in your full membership. Each issue has reports on EES and other fieldwork in Egypt and on the results of the latest Egyptological research. The Newsletter will keep you up-to-date with all the Society’s events, conferences, publications and news. It also includes short articles. The Newsletter is mailed three times a year, and e-newsletters are also sent regularly to members. Reduced prices on tickets to all EES events, held throughout the year in the UK. We also have a lecture programme in Cairo with members’ visits to archaeological sites in Egypt, and members’ tours to Egypt from the UK. A 15% members’ discount on the purchase of all EES publications which can be purchased from the Office or at our online shop: www.ees-shop.com. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology is the foremost English-language Egyptology journal and an annual subscription can be added to your membership, as can a low-cost annual subscription giving access to digital copies of the JEA on JSTOR. The Graeco-Roman Memoirs publish mainly Greek papyri excavated by the Society at Oxyrhynchus. Subscription to the Memoirs can also be added to your membership.
The Big Give Christmas Challenge The EES has been accepted for the second year running to participate in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. A donation made online to the Society’s Excavation Fund Appeal in the week beginning 5 December 2011 will be doubled for free. This is a great opportunity for us to raise funds for our important fieldwork in Egypt. To find out more go to: http://new.thebiggive.org.uk/project/EES Most importantly, as an EES member you will know that your subscription will help the EES to continue its fieldwork in Egypt and to carry out research into all aspects of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. Find out more about the EES, including full details of membership benefits and subscription rates, at our website: www.ees.ac.uk The Egypt Exploration Society is a Limited Company Registered in England No.25816 and a Registered Charity No.212384.
EGYPTIAN
EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY Bulletin of the Egypt Exploration Society www.ees.ac.uk
The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the aims or concerns of the Egypt Exploration Society Editor Patricia Spencer Editorial Advisers Peter Clayton George Hart David Jeffreys John J Johnston Mike Murphy Chris Naunton Alice Stevenson John Taylor Advertising Sales Rob Tamplin Egypt Exploration Society 3 Doughty Mews London WC1N 2PG Phone: +44 (0)20 7242 1880 Fax: +44 (0)20 7404 6118 E-mail: rob.tamplin@ees.ac.uk Distribution Phone: +44 (0)20 7242 2268 Fax: +44 (0)20 7404 6118 E-mail: orders@ees.ac.uk Website: www.ees.ac.uk
Published twice a year by The Egypt Exploration Society 3 Doughty Mews, London WC1N 2PG Registered Charity No.212384 A limited Company registered in England, No.25816 Original design by Jeremy Pemberton Set in Adobe InDesign CS2 by Patricia Spencer Printed by Commercial Colour Press Ltd Angard House, 185 Forest Road, Hainault, Essex IG6 3HU www.ccpress.co.uk
© Egypt Exploration Society and the contributors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publishers. ISSN 0962 2837
ARCHAEOLOGY
The shroud of Ipu. The British Museum and Norwich Castle conservation team unrolling the shroud, using Melinex sheets to support it and keep the fragile fibres intact, see pp.15-17. Photograph © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery/Trustees of the British Museum.
Number 39
Autumn 2011
Changes in the air Patricia Spencer
2
The EES Delta Survey in spring 2011 Joanne Rowland and Jeffrey Spencer
3
EES Centenary Awards 2010. Recent events
6
The EES Amelia Edwards Projects Fund: Tell Basta Eva Lange
7
An Egyptological friendship Alice Williams
10
Luxor temple: conservation and site-management Hiroko Kariya and Ray Johnson
12
The shroud of Ipu at Norwich Castle Museum Faye Kalloniatis
15
Berenike: Egypt’s Red Sea gateway to the east Steven E Sidebotham and Iwona Zych
18
Confirming the Pleistocene age of the Qurta rock art Dirk Huyge and Dimitri A G Vandenberghe
21
Digging Diary Patricia Spencer
25
Investigating the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III Hourig Sourouzian
29
Bookshelf
33
ACCES-ing Egyptian and Sudanese collections in the UK Campbell Price and Gina Criscenzo-Laycock
36
Re-excavating rishi coffins in museums and archives Gianluca Miniaci
37
Wall paintings from the tomb of Kynebu at Luxor Tamás Bács and Richard Parkinson
41
Five minutes with Salima Ikram
44
Cover illustration. The mortuary temple of Amenhotep III on the west bank at Luxor: cleaning and conservation of the sandstone slabs of the pavement of the peristyle court. See pp.29-32. Photograph: The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project.
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Changes in the air The last issue of EA went to Society’s Survey of Memphis, press during the momentous is teaching this autumn, on events in Egypt this spring behalf of the EES, at the and at that time we were renowned field school run unclear as to what effect the by Ancient Egypt Research popular revolution might have Associates (www.aeraweb.org/), on archaeological missions directed by Mark Lehner. working in the country. Courses are usually taught at However, our colleagues in the Giza but this year will also be at Egyptian Supreme Council of Mitrahina (ancient Memphis) Antiquities did their utmost, to give students experience in at a time when the future working on settlement sites. of their own organisation Penny Wilson had to was uncertain, to ensure that The visit of the British Ambassador to Cairo to the EES London Office postpone Delta Survey work archaeological activity did not on 1 June 2011. Left to right: Chris Naunton, Karen Exell, James Watt, in the region of Lake Burullos Patricia Spencer and Roo Mitcheson grind to a halt. As shown by until 2012 but was able to the reports in ‘Digging Diary’ (pp.25-28) most missions carry out a study season at Sais in the spring (see p.25) that were due to work in the spring of 2011 were able to and has returned to the site this autumn. Eva Lange do so, though some did curtail their activities and a few and her team at Tell Basta (see pp.7-9) are continuing postponed their seasons. More detailed reports of recent their excavation and epigraphic work - now as a joint EES funded fieldwork, research and other activities can expedition of the EES, the University of Göttingen and be found on pp.3-11. the SCA. We are very pleased to be associated officially As most readers of EA will be aware the Egyptian once again with this major Delta site, which was one of Ministry of State for Antiquities which was created in the first investigated by the Society in the late nineteenth the last days of the previous government has since been century. In January 2012 Angus Graham and the Theban abolished, along with the accompanying ministerial Land and Waterscapes team will be returning to Luxor to office held by Zahi Hawass, and the Secretary General take up their survey work where they had to break off of the Supreme Council for Antiquities is once again earlier this year (see EA 38, p.3 and this issue p.25) and responsible to the Ministry of Culture. All who have the the Delta Survey teams will also be back in the field in interests of archaeology in Egypt at heart will wish our the spring. Reports on EES fieldwork as it happens will SCA colleagues well in their efforts to increase security continue to be posted on our website: www.ees.ac.uk. at sites, museums and magazines. This was an issue which Closer to home, the Society has seen a number of featured strongly during discussions at the joint SCA/EES significant changes, with the departure in August of our Delta Workshop, held in Cairo at the end of March (see Development Director, Victoria Perry, to take up a post the opposite page). with a charity which is based nearer to her home. Vicky Several EES expeditions are now back in the field had a major impact on our work in the time she was with in Egypt for their regular summer/autumn seasons. us and we all wish her every success in her new post. Joanne Rowland and her team who work in Minufiyeh Vivian Davies, who had served on the editorial board governorate in the Nile Delta have been in Egypt since of EA since its first issue in 1991 decided to stand down the middle of August, surveying a number of sites, since he is retiring at the end of 2011 as Keeper of Ancient carrying out remote-sensing at Quesna and running a field Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. All his fellowschool for Egyptian archeologists. Jo’s updates from the editors would like to thank Vivian for his much-valued season can be read at http://minufiyeh.tumblr.com/. input and advice over the years. The Society’s Vice-Chair, While she was in Cairo at the start of her season, Jo John J Johnston, has joined the editorial board, bringing visited the new British Ambassador, James Watt, who is a different perspective to discussions with his wide range very supportive of the Society’s work in Egypt. Before he of interests within the subject. left the UK to take up his post in June, Mr Watt visited Finally, I am myself retiring as Director of the EES the Society’s London Office to discuss our plans for the at the end of the year but will retain my ‘publications’ future and was particularly interested in the training responsibilities to continue to work for the Society on a initiatives for young Egyptian archaeologists with which part-time basis and I am delighted that this new post will the Society is now involved. In addition to the field include continuing as Editor of Egyptian Archaeology. school at Quesna, David Jeffreys, the Director of the PATRICIA SPENCER
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The EES Delta Survey in spring 2011 The Society had planned for spring 2011 a two-day Delta Survey Workshop and several field projects which looked unlikely to proceed when unrest broke out in Egypt in January. Fortunately both aspects of our work were able to go ahead, as Joanne Rowland and Jeffrey Spencer report. The first SCA/EES Delta Survey Workshop was held in Cairo in March 2009 and a summary by Manfred Bietak appeared in EA 35 (p.11). Our plans for 2011 were more amibitious, extending the workshop to last for two days Mohammed Abdel Maksoud and inviting an international of the SCA during one of the discussion sessions array of expert speakers with, between them, many years of experience working in the Nile Delta. In early February, when we thought we would have to cancel or postpone the Workshop, we were all very disappointed but fortunately we were able to go ahead and all those who attended on 31 March and 1 April agreed it was a great success. The Workshop was again held in the Garden Room of the British Council in Agouza, Cairo - home of the EES Cairo Office - and was organised by Patricia Spencer (in London) and Faten Saleh (in Cairo). A total of 25 speakers gave a wide range of papers to around 70 delegates and we were especially pleased to be able to host talks from so many of our colleagues in the SCA, led by Mohammed Abdel Maksoud. Sessions were chaired by the writers and Penny Wilson. Inevitably much of the discussion centred on recent events in Egypt and the impact on antiquities sites, museums and storerooms - something brought home to us when Manfred Bietak, Irene Forstner Müller and Edgar Pusch had to leave early on the first day as their storerooms at Tell el-Daba/Qantir had been broken into. Fortunately the damage was limited and Dr Pusch was able to return for the second day. We’re very grateful to Dr Pusch and to Tomasz Herbich who, at short notice, stood in for their colleagues absent at Tell el-Daba, and
Fekri Hassan giving his presentation of fieldwork at Kafr Hassan Daoud
Pascale Ballet describing the investigation of kilns at Buto
also to Randa Baligh of Mansura University who kindly translated some of the SCA talks into English. Patricia uploaded almost real-time updates and photographs from the Workshop and her account of the two days can still be read at: http://deltasurvey.tumblr.com/page/6. Joanne had already started fieldwork in Minufiyeh governorate before the Workshop and Patricia and Jeffrey began their season in Kafr es-Sheikh after it had ended. Both expeditions amassed more new information on little-known Delta sites which has now been added to the Society’s online database: www.deltasurvey. ees.ac.uk/ds-home.html.
Participants during the lunch break on the first day in the garden café at the British Council
The Delta Survey is an Approved Research Project of the British Academy who funded our spring seasons in Egypt. On the following pages we describe EES fieldwork in the Delta in spring 2011.
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Minufiyeh Following the unrest in Egypt in early 2011, we decided to postpone plans to take a large team to Egypt and I worked with only our ceramicist, Ashraf el-Senussi, and two Quftis. Despite having limited personnel, we were able to go ahead and investigate several sites in Minufiyeh governorate and record them for the Delta Survey. It was a good opportunity to focus on the ground survey and fieldwork, including drill coring, in the region of el-Rimaly, Sobek el-Dahak and Kom Usim. We also visited Quesna, focus of our main excavations since 2007, to collect equipment and to check the site which, fortunately, we found to be undisturbed, and made a preliminary visit to Khatatbah.
Kom Usim, looking north
granite stone, most probably a column drum re-used as a grinding stone in recent historical times, was located beside the canal running around the village. Two cores on the edge of the kom showed only a few ceramic flecks which could not be dated.
Tell Umm Harb (Delta Survey 63)
Kom Usim (Delta Survey 45)
The villages of El-Rimaly and Mustai lie around the fields which contain the extant mounds of Tell Umm Harb with the tomb of Sheikha Umm Harb on top, and the much smaller mound of Gabana Yahud. Tell Umm Harb is higher and larger (standing c.3m above the fields and with a diameter of 27m) but it is being diminished year by year, though a recently-built low wall around the tell is helping to protect it. Brief surface survey and ceramic collection gave dates ranging from the early Late Period until the Ptolemaic Period. Two cores were drilled, which revealed ceramics in QUS11-40 to a depth of 4.35m and also fragments of red-brick and mortar, while in QUS11-41 there were ceramic sherds to a depth of 1.50m. Material from these is of similar dates to that observed during the field survey, but there is also later material, up to Late Roman. The area will be re-visited in September 2011 when the fields are free of crops and accessible for walking.
This kom was first visited during the ground survey in 2007 and is c.360m north-south and c.385m east-west. The surface sherds that it was possible to observe date from the Late Roman Period and a further survey is being conducted in summer 2011. Three cores drilled along the south-western corner on the edge of the kom revealed ceramic sherds and red-brick fragments, with especially high quantities of red brick in the southernmost core. The deepest core reached 7.15m and material was still coming up, with the earliest dating to the Ptolemaic Period. Further ceramics observed during the summer season are being analysed by Ashraf el-Senussi. El-Khatatbah During a brief visit in April we noted that there had been a great deal of new quarrying of the sand since our previous visit in 2009, particularly in the area east of the water tower. In our current summer season we have been able to survey on both the highest and lowest ground close to the town of el-Khatatbah and it is clear that modern activity has been responsible for much movement of artefacts across the landscape. Stone tools have been recorded from the highest levels along the desert down to the lowest areas close to the local Nasiry canal and there is Palaeolithic material at both the highest and lowest elevations visited. Material ranging in date from the Middle Palaeolithic to the Neolithic has been observed, and a limited area was chosen for the marking and recording of all surface lithics and ceramics in order to help us understand the post-depositional movement of material across the rapidly-changing modern landscape.
Sobek el-Dahak This town was first visited by our project in 2005. The highest area in the village is SCA land and there are reported to be stone blocks beneath the ground. A red
q Joanne Rowland is Director of the EES Minufiyeh Archaeological Survey and Junior Professor in Egyptian Archaeology in the Egyptology Department of the Free University, Berlin. Photographs Š EES.
In the foreground is the northern edge of Gabana Yahud and, in the background left, Tell Umm Harb with the Sheikha’s tomb on top
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Kafr es-Sheikh
Surveying at Tell el-Daba. Over 600 points were recorded using the EES Topcon total station
The low red-coloured mounds on the site have the appearance of material moved during old sebbakhin operations, rejected and thrown back on to the ground and thus lacking any archaeological context. Areas in the eastern and western sides of the tell, however, have not been dug out to the same extent, and preserve intact archaeological layers of various periods. The highest points remaining are the ruins of large mud-brick walls in the northern area, left as isolated elements after the ground was cut away around them. Minor cleaning was carried out at the mud-brick ruins, in an attempt to gain information about the alignments and dates of these substantial walls. Their thickness would suggest that they belonged to buildings which possessed considerable height and therefore required resilient construction and they may be the remains of Ptolemaic town houses. More investigation will be required to establish the date and purpose of the walls. While working at Tell el-Daba, a visit was made to Sakha, ancient Xois (Delta Survey 10), overbuilt by the south part of Kafr es-Sheikh city. The small remnant of the ancient mound is utilized by the military and is not accessible, but Roman red-brick buildings are visible from the road. The other sites inspected during the season were three well-preserved mounds to the east of Kafr es-Sheikh: Kom el-Ganayin (Delta Survey 98), Kom Umm Gafar (Delta Survey 100) and Kom el-Ahmar (Delta Survey 99). Apart from some tests made by the SCA prior to the construction of water-treatment stations on the latter two sites, they have not previously been investigated archaeologically. All three share a common appearance of undulating tells with sparse vegetation cover and scatters of Roman potsherds on the surface. Modern cemeteries cover some parts of Kom el-Ahmar. Brief descriptions and some photographs of these sites can be found at: http://deltasurvey.tumblr.com/page/2.
A short survey season took place in April 2011 based in the city of Kafr es-Sheikh, the capital of the governorate of the same name. Most of the season was spent surveying Tell el-Daba, north-west of the town of El-Riyad, but visits were also made to several other sites, with a brief trip to the site of Naukratis in Beheira governorate, see: EES Newsletter 2 (Summer 2011) pp. 4-5. Tell el-Daba (Delta Survey 269) The first objective of the project was to complete a topographic survey of Tell el-Daba as the basis for the preparation of a new map. The mound measures 500m by 545m and the level between the lowest and highest areas varies by some seven metres, placing the highest parts of the mound about eight metres above the surrounding cultivation. Most of the tell has been dug away long ago to create deep hollows, surrounded by mounds of debris with much Late Roman pottery and fired bricks. There are no standing stone monuments on the site but at least ten red-granite millstones are lying on the surface in the southern part. Where this granite was obtained is an interesting question – either from some monumental building of pharaonic date at Tell el-Daba itself, or perhaps brought from the temple site at Tell el-Farain (Buto). The millstones are generally circular with a central round or square socket.
q Jeffrey Spencer is Director of the EES Delta Survey and Deputy Keeper of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, London. Photographs Š EES.
Measuring one of the millstones at Tell el-Daba
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
EES Centenary Awards 2010 Hélène Virenque was awarded a grant from the EES Centenary Awards Fund in 2010 for her project, “A Swiss Egyptologist on Her Majesty’s Service”: Édouard Naville and the Egypt Exploration Fund through his correspondence. In March 2011 Hélène came to London to continue her research in the Society’s Lucy Gura Archive which contains Hélène transcribing Naville’s letters in Naville’s correspondence the EES Lucy Gura Archive (about 200 letters) with the joint Honorary Secretaries of the Egypt Exploration Fund, Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole. For a full report on Hélène’s visit and research see: www.ees.
Jenny Cromwell was also awarded a Centenary Fund grant in 2010, to study a series of unpublished mainly nonliterary Coptic documents in the University of Copenhagen’s collection. In February Jenny at work in the papyrus collection at 2011 Jenny made Copenhagen University a research visit to Copenhagen to examine the material, make preliminary transcriptions and descriptions of the texts, and obtain high quality scans, so that she can work on them while away from Copenhagen. Jenny’s description of her successful research visit can be read at: www.ees.ac.uk/
ac.uk/news/index/page3.html
news/index/95.html
Recent events It is not possible in the limited space available in EA to give full accounts of all EES events and other news from the Society, but news items are posted on our website, www.ees.ac.uk, which we would urge readers to consult regularly for up-to-the-minute news about all EES activities, including our current fieldwork and research. On 9 May 2011 a celebration of the life of Harry James (see EA 36, p.2) was held in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum to mark what would have been Harry’s 85th birthday (on 8 May). From left to right: Mary Crawford (EES Secretary 1963-79), Patricia Spencer, Chris Naunton and Robert Anderson (EES Honorary Secretary from 1971-83). Chris has recently interviewed Robert for the Society’s Oral History Project. For earlier Oral History interviews see: www.youtube.com/user/EgyptExplorSociety. Photograph: Susanne Woodhouse Karen Exell, EES Chair, with EES VicePresident, Nader Matter, Cultural Counsellor at the Egyptian Embassy in London, at the Society’s press event (www.ees.ac.uk/news/index/121.html) on 28 June 2011. Photograph: James Perry
EES Trustee, and member of the EA editorial board, George Hart with Will Carruthers, who is researching the life of Bryan Emery (see EA 36, pp.8-9), working in the Society’s Ricardo Caminos Library
On 14 May 2011 a group of EES members joined our Development Director, Victoria Perry, for a special event in Oxford to show how the Society can benefit from gifts left in wills. The event included a behind-the-scenes tour of the important Oxyrhynchus Papyri Collection, which is owned by the EES but stored and curated at the Sackler Library
The Speakers - Karen Exell, Aidan Dodson, Chris Naunton and Stephen Cross - at the Society’s Study Day on Heresy and Reformation at Amarna and Thebes: new research on Akhenaten and Nefertiti, at The King’s Manor, University of York on 10 September 2011. See: www.ees.ac.uk/news/index/134.html
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The EES Amelia Edwards Project Fund: Tell Basta The spring 2011 season at Tell Basta was funded directly by donations made by EES members to the Amelia Edwards Projects Fund. Eva Lange reports on the achievements of her team. In 2008 a new chapter was opened in the history of research at Tell Basta (Bubastis), the site of the ancient city of the cat goddess in the eastern Delta, when the Tell Basta Project began a long-term programme, focusing on investigation of the ancient settlement area (see EA 37, pp.17-18). The Bastet temple provides a good example of a culttemple within an organic town with an independent economic base, unlike, for example, Thebes and Amarna where the settlements were dependent on the major temples. The aim of the project is to investigate the temple of Bastet as an element of an ancient Egyptian city and to understand the complex relationship between temple and city in terms of spatial organisation, regional economy and urban development. The Greek historian Herodotus (450 BC) said that the main city of Bubastis was situated on the east of the site and, although the modern city of Zagazig is encroaching
Map of the area under investigation: the 2011 season grid squares are marked in dark grey and grid squares investigated from 2008 to spring 2010 are marked in light grey
on it the eastern tell of c.45 hectares is still preserved and extends to the scattered blocks of the entrance hall of the temple. The tell must contain the ancient dromos and the presumed subsidiary buildings of the temple. In this area, immediately to the east of the entrance hall, only minor excavations have previously been undertaken, in 1944, by Labib Habachi, who discovered remains of Roman architecture, a pedestal of limestone blocks and a column of pink granite. In 2008 this area (our ‘Area A’) was chosen as a starting point for excavation and six seasons (two each year) of fieldwork have revealed not only the remains of a Roman building with a floor paved with polished limestone slabs but also adjacent house structures, consisting of casemate foundations of so-called ‘tower houses’ that are typical of ancient Egyptian house architecture from the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty into the Roman Period. In some parts the basements of these houses are preserved, containing a variety of objects which suggest the The site of Tell Basta with the main features and the ancient city (Area A) indicated. The white rectangle former function of the rooms, such indicates the area now under investigation. Underlying image © GoogleEarth
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Paved floor in Room TB 3b Y/4.BEF 2
as, for example, tools, pottery and pigments which may have been used in some kind of workshop for the manufacture of figurines. Detailed examination of the pottery here has revealed that the basements date to the Ptolemaic Period. The most common vessels were the characteristic cooking pots of the third-second centuries BC, bowls with incurved rims and sharply flattened ring-bases as well as krater and oinochoe shapes (third century BC). Several finds of red-coloured plaster show that the walls of those houses were decorated. Curiously, no Roman occupation level is preserved here, apart from a waste pit of the second century AD, cut into the Ptolemaic walls. Even assuming that the Roman levels fell victim to the rapid progress of destruction of
A bowl used for mixing paints from Room TB 3b Y/4.BEF 7
Pieces of blue pigment from Room TB 3b Y/4.BEF 2
mud-brick architecture in the past 150 years, the pit shows that at least part of the Ptolemaic tower house complex must have been left as wasteland and was not reused. Whatever happened, the idea of the co-existence of a Roman public building and ruined houses in front of the temple in Roman times is puzzling. Only future investigation will help to clarify the architecural history of the area. In general, the excavated area was very rich in small finds, showing the conjunction of different spheres of activity - secular daily life and religious observance - that once took place here: shells, bones, glass, coins, statuettes (of faience and terracotta), faience vessels and beads. Noteworthy is the high number of terracotta statuettes. They depict several motifs and deities but the most prominent is the god Bes, who seems to have played an important role in that time and area. In autumn 2010 the Tell Basta Project was chosen by the EES to become one of the Amelia Edwards Projects and therefore we were able to continue our investigations in spring 2011.Thanks to the support of EES members and our colleagues of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, the season brought very satisfying results in spite of the political unrest in Egypt. We focused on researching the chronology of the building structures in Area A, as recent seasons have shown that some of the pottery used in the bricks is of the Late Dynastic Period, indicating that there were already activities in the sacred area of the temple at that time. Of course, this should not come as a surprise: considering
The remains of large tower houses at Tell Basta as seen by Edouard Naville’s EEF expedition in 1889
The basements of tower houses of the Ptolemaic Period in Area A. View to the east
A Roman building in Area A. View to the south
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Vase sherd with applied relief of the face of the god Bes. From trench Y/4
regions, dating back to the sixth to fourth centuries BC. One delightful find was the fragments of at least two vases of the well known Bes-type with applied reliefs of the face of the god, dating to the fifth-fourth centuries BC. The sharp separation of the different periods by the limestone layer is intriguing, as no Ptolemaic pottery was found in the deeper walls. Obviously, the subsidiary buildings of the temple of Bastet of the Late Dynastic Period were levelled, and the new houses were built on top of the old ones without using the old foundation walls, as is often the case elsewhere. Here the levelled area seem to have been first covered by the thick layer of limestone chips to provide solid building ground. In all, one gets the impression that the Ptolemaic building activities in front of the temple were part of an official programme and not the result of more or less spontaneous private house-building. A well-planned building programme within the sacred area conforms to the statements of the written record in Bubastis. In 2004 a copy of the so-called Canopus Decree, established in the reign of Ptolemy III (246222 BC), was discovered within the entrance hall of the temple. It proves that the temple of Bastet continued to be one of the most important temples of Egypt well into the Ptolemaic Period and therefore would have benefited from the attention of the Ptolemaic rulers. The prominence of the cult of Bastet during the Ptolemaic Period is also demonstrated by the discovery of a temple to the cat goddess in Alexandria in 2010 by an Egyptian team led by Mohammed Abdel Maksoud of the SCA. In addition to excavation, the team also undertook preparatory work for the epigraphic survey of the numerous unpublished reliefs of the entrance hall of the temple (built/renewed by Osorkon I). An essential first task was the identification of the blocks still in situ with the plate numbers of the publication of Edouard Naville in 1891 to distinguish the published from the unpublished blocks. The epigraphic survey will start in autumn 2011.
The south profile of trench Y/4 with the construction level of smashed limestone clearly visible
the well-known history of the temple of Bastet, one has to assume that subsidiary buildings in its surroundings must have existed in earlier periods than the Ptolemaic and Roman. To test our theories, we opened a trench in the northern part of grid-square Y/4 along the wall of a casemate foundation. It revealed that the uppermost layer of bricks, which can be dated (by the analysis of the pottery in the bricks) to the Ptolemaic Period, rests on a layer of smashed limestone chips. The even depth and straight edges of this layer show that the chips had been spread on the ground and levelled afterwards, forming a construction level for the Ptolemaic buildings. The same feature of limestone chips had already been detected in 2009 in a trench in grid square X/2, and therefore seems to spread over a considerable area. Below the limestone chips, earlier walls came to light. Analysis of the accompanying pottery showed typical forms of the Late Dynastic Period, as well as a large amount of sherds of imported amphorae from Levantine and Greek
Eva Lange and Daniela Rosenow collating and copying blocks of Osorkon I
q Eva Lange is an Egyptologist at the University of Göttingen and Director of the Tell Basta Project of the University of Göttingen, the SCA and the EES. Illustrations © The Tell Basta Project.
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
An Egyptological friendship After his retirement Ricardo Caminos lived next door to the EES London Offices and his home now houses the Society’s Library. Alice Williams is currently cataloguing the EES Lucy Gura Archive and shows how the Caminos papers shed new light on relationships between renowned Egyptologists. In August 1954 Alan Gardiner, then a Vice-President of the Egypt Exploration Society, played host to some of the most prominent Egyptologists of the twentieth century. Taking place over two days, the event began with a garden party at his home in Iffley, Oxford, and was followed by a lunch and reception at The Queen’s College of Oxford University. Organised by Sir Alan and Lady Gardiner as an opportunity ‘to meet some of their Egyptologist friends from abroad’, the guest list and seating plan read as a veritable ‘who’s who’ of 1950s Egyptology, providing a rare social insight and fascinating snapshot of what remains a politically interesting, yet little discussed, period in the history of the discipline. Items relating to this event, including menus, guest lists, invitations and programmes, make up just a small fraction of the archival material left to the Society by the late Ricardo Caminos, a collection currently being catalogued as part of the Lucy Gura Archive. The collection spans the career of this dedicated Egyptologist from his time as a student in Buenos Aires and Chicago in the late 1930s to his last epigraphic mission for the Egypt Exploration Society in 1982. Untouched for nearly two decades and still fastidious in their organisation, the shelves of meticulously-kept notes, filed references and a number of research projects left unfinished at the time of his death are as valuable for revelations about Caminos’ character as they are for the information they contain. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the collection is the correspondence with Alan Gardiner and Battiscombe Gunn, within which the records of the Oxford event were kept. These personal letters, at times both touching
and humorous, reveal not only close friendship and mutual scholarly admiration, but Caminos’ strong attachment to Oxford University, where he first studied under Gunn from 1944 and to which he returned to work alongside Gardiner in 1950. Described by Caminos’ family as being ‘within his heart’ Oxford was later chosen for the burial of his ashes in 1992. In contrast to the academic nature of the rest of the material, these letters are the only real items of sentimental value kept by Caminos and therefore clearly had a very profound personal significance for him. The correspondence documents the influence of these two key Oxford figures upon Caminos’ life and career. Evidently assured of his talents, Gardiner in particular
The front of a Christmas card sent to Ricardo Caminos, showing Court Place, Gardiner’s Oxford home
Ricardo Caminos’ invitation to the garden party hosted by Alan Gardiner and his wife in Oxford
The seating plan for the lunch held at The Queen’s College, Oxford
10
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Some of the many letters in the EES Lucy Gura Archive, written by Alan Gardiner to his friend, Ricardo Caminos
Ricardo Caminos copying inscriptions at Buhen for the EES
The photograph of Alan Gardiner above the desk in Caminos’ house
of Egyptian archaeology, it is becoming increasingly apparent that we cannot rely solely upon the publications and official records of excavation. Historians of the discipline must look to the personal accounts and life experiences of those who were at the centre of its development to place events and experiences in a more reflective socio-political context. Archival sources such as the Ricardo Caminos collection are invaluable as a means of accessing individuals of the past. These documents not only give further insight into Caminos as a person but provide a far greater understanding of his interpretations, his research agendas and the academic influences behind them, allowing us to view his life and work from a new and interesting perspective.
encouraged Caminos to pursue his professorship at Brown University, as well as his own literary studies and epigraphic projects, such as that at Gebel el-Silsila under the Egypt Exploration Society. Following the publication of Caminos’ Late Egyptian Miscellanies in 1954, Gardiner wrote: ‘I will not dwell upon the nice things you have said about me in your Preface, but will only say that if I devoted a good deal of time to working with you (in itself always a pleasure) it was eminently worth while, and you have rewarded me beyond my due’. It therefore seems a fitting tribute that the only photographs to decorate the walls of Caminos’ home, next door to the Society’s office in Doughty Mews, were portraits of Alan Gardiner and Battiscombe Gunn placed side by side above his desk, where they remain in what is now the Ricardo Caminos Memorial Library. In order to build a more accurate and unbiased history
q Alice Williams is Archive Assistant at the Egypt Exploration Society. Photographs © EES Lucy Gura Archive.
Who Was Who in Egyptology Fourth Edition. Edited by Morris Bierbrier First published in 1951, edited by Warren R Dawson, Who Was Who in Egyptology is a standard reference work for anyone interested in the history of Egyptology. From the earliest travellers to scholars and excavators of more recent times, the book contains biographical details of the lives and careers of those who have shaped the discipline, with photographs of many of its subjects. The second edition, edited by Eric Uphill, was published in 1969 and the third, edited by Morris Bierbrier, in 1995. The Egypt Exploration Society will shortly be publishing the fourth edition, again edited by Dr Bierbrier and containing many new and revised entries and a wider range of photographs than in previous editions. Publication of this volume has been made possible by the generous donations of EES members. If you would like to help the Society in this way, please go to: www.ees.ac.uk/support/index.html The fourth edition of Who Was Who in Egyptology will be published early in 2012. If you would like to be notified when it is published please contact rob.tamplin@ees.ac.uk
11
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Luxor temple: conservation and site-management In 2003 EA 22 (pp.21-24) featured a report on the work of the Luxor Temple Wall Fragment Project. Hiroko Kariya and Ray Johnson describe how the project has since continued and developed. During the 2009-10 season the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago (Chicago House) accomplished two major conservation projects at Luxor temple; creating public access to a representative fragment display (referred to as the ‘blockyard open-air museum’ below) and reconstruction of 111 fragments on the east wall of the Sun Court of Amenhotep III. The current conservation project in Luxor temple began in 1995 and involved approximately 2,000 inscribed fragments which had been identified, documented and photographed by Chicago House during the 1970s and 1980s and came originally from the walls of the Colonnade Hall and Amenhotep III Sun Court. The project’s original focus on documentation, treatment and condition monitoring evolved to include emergency protection and sorting of an additional 50,000 inscribed fragments which had been removed during the medieval period from walls at the Luxor and Karnak temples, for reuse as building materials. They had been excavated in modern times around the temple’s precinct and stored directly on ground that was eventually contaminated with salt-laden ground water. As we witnessed some
fragments completely disintegrating into piles of sand, our immediate concern was to isolate the fragments from ongoing salt contamination by moving them on to platforms with protective damp proofing. During this process, the inscribed stone fragments were sorted into categories by Chicago House (mainly according to historical periods) and rejoined if possible. Only a small proportion of these fragments can be returned to their original locations since the majority do not join directly on to the surviving temple walls. With an increased number of visitors to the temple, a new phase of the project began in 2007 and during the past four years our work has focused on providing public access to the blockyard in the form of an open-air museum with displays of selected temple fragments for educational and site-management purposes. The central aim of the blockyard museum is to create a chronological, art-historical and stylistic chain of examples of inscribed fragments from the Middle Kingdom to Islamic times with brief explanatory signs in Arabic and English. The display thus allows viewers to see changes in artistic styles over thousands of years. Additionally, since visitors to
The Luxor temple blockyard museum (on the right). View looking north from the New Winter Palace Hotel, which has since been demolished 12
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Luxor temple generally walk along the narrow northsouth axis and return the same way, opening up this part of the precinct significantly eases the flow of visitor traffic between the Roman part of the temple and the south part of the Sun Court, by directing visitors outside to the east and back into the court on the north. In the open-air museum, 200m of paved paths have been created alongside 12 platforms on which over 300 fragments (either single or joined groups) are displayed. Every evening the blocks are illuminated by spotlights keyed to the temple lighting system, thus providing a dramatic setting for a display of pharaonic history. The thematic display begins with the period of Amenhotep III; large blocks that originate from a series of shrines originally built along the interior eastern wall of the temple sanctuary and dismantled in the late Roman Period. A chronological display follows, featuring fragments from the Middle and New Kingdoms, the late dynasties and the Ptolemaic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic Periods. This allows visitors to view and compare fragments; for example, those from the reign of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten with those of Tutankhamun. There are also platforms for miscellaneous sculptural fragments (such as statues, stelae, door jambs and column capitals), ancient Egyptian stone technology/conservation, and fragments uncovered during the Luxor/Karnak dewatering project of 2005-07. We have created one area for temporary displays that currently features ancient Egyptian animals and birds in sculpture and relief. Finally, the display ends with an in-situ presentation of the eastern Roman gate and tetrastyle that was cleared and partly
Left: Block fragments (Amenhotep IV) showing the god Re-Horakhty. Right: Restored group of fragments of Seti I
reconstructed in 2007 by the SCA, with the assistance of Chicago House. In addition to the open-air museum, we have restored two sections of the Luxor temple walls since our previous report in 2003, adding 48 fragments to the eastern wall of the Colonnade Hall and 111 fragments to the eastern wall of the Sun Court. Originally identified by our structural engineer as necessary to support the temple wall, the Colonnade Hall work was completed in 2006. The project exemplifies the integration of structural engineering, conservation and masonry work with Egyptological research. A solid-brick buttress was first created that now supports the outer wall; brick was chosen for its strength and light weight. Forty-eight fragments originally from the interior of the wall were treated and inserted into the brick matrix, which will also allow insertion of any fragments discovered in the future. The
Hiroko Kariya consolidating a block of Nectanebo II
Detail of a frieze of Ptolemy XII
The central area of the open-air museum at Luxor temple 13
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
fragments preserve part of the great Opet Festival river procession inscribed during the reign of Tutankhamun, specifically the great riverine barge of Khonsu. Missing sections between the fragments were restored with minimal line drawings and the upper part of the brick buttress was faced with stone slabs imitating the original sandstone-block fill of the wall. The Colonnade Hall work served as a prototype for the reconstruction of the Sun Court wall. Here, the wall was structurally stable, but had twice as many fragments to be inserted. In this case the reliefs preserve a depiction of the great barque of Amun-Re and a pile of offerings set up in the court, flanked by figures of Amenhotep III. The barque scene was carved for Amenhotep III, hacked by Akhenaten’s agents, restored by Tutankhamun, appropriated by Horemheb (who erased Tutankhamun’s name and added his own), and finally enlarged by Seti I, who added a restoration inscription. Our restoration work that began in 1986 resumed and was completed in 2010. We are hearing many positive comments from visitors and future work will help to enhance their time in the temple. Due to space constraints, our signage can include only a minimal amount of information, but each displayed piece requires that more complete art-historical information be provided. Therefore, the next phase for the blockyard open-air museum is to create an online catalogue of the displays. As many fragments continue to be unearthed during the excavation of the Sphinx Road and the reconstruction of the Corniche Road, our work at the Luxor temple is far from over; many more fragments need our continued attention to ensure their documentation and survival.
q Hiroko Kariya is Field Conservator of the Luxor Temple Wall Fragment Project. Ray Johnson is Director of the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute of Chicago University. The project, which began in 1995, was initially funded by the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) which is a grant from USAID (administered by the American Research Center in Egypt). The current work is carried out in partnership with the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and funded by a Robert Willson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage Grant and the World Monument Fund (WMF). All photographs by Ray Johnson unless otherwise noted.
Construction in December 2009 of the eastern wall of Amenhotep III in the Sun Court of the temple
The Colonnade Hall with the Khonsu barque scene during the construction of the brick buttress
Detail of the reconstructed eastern wall of Amenhotep III’s Sun Court. Photograph: Yarko Kobylecky
14
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The shroud of Ipu at Norwich Castle Museum
A shroud from the Museum’s collection has recently been conserved and study of it has begun. Faye Kalloniatis explores how it came to Norwich and what has been learned so far about this rare and exceptional early linen shroud and its texts. In 1921 a large collection of Egyptian artefacts was donated to Norwich Castle Museum. This included a folded and very crumpled textile covered with texts. For nearly a century it remained untouched until a recent project to conserve and study its history was begun by Norwich Castle and the British Museum. As the linen was unrolled so its significance gradually unfolded and it soon became clear that this was a rare example of an early Eighteenth Dynasty shroud, of which only about 30 are known. Its history has only begun to be explored and much remains to be discovered. The shroud was purchased in Egypt in 1897 by Jeremiah Colman, who is best known as the manufacturer of Colmans’ Mustards. He did not travel to Egypt out of a desire to see and marvel at the sites but for family reasons, accompanied by his daughters. Alan, Jeremiah’s son, suffered from a chest complaint and had set off weeks earlier, accompanied by his personal physician. After spending time at Giza, the entire party set sail on one of Thomas Cook’s luxury dahabiyehs, the ‘Hathor’, and headed up-river. Unfortunately, soon after they reached Luxor, Alan died and within days the Colmans headed back down the Nile and out of Egypt. Although their stay in Luxor had been brief, within that time Jeremiah had bought over 250 antiquities, including the shroud. This large collection later passed to two of his daughters, Ethel and Helen. They were good custodians and made it available for study by researchers and groups, such as the local Egyptian Society of East Anglia. In 1921,
Jeremiah Colman, who bought the shroud in 1897 while at Luxor visiting his son. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The shroud in the state in which it arrived at Norwich Castle in 1921. Here it is seen ready for transport to the British Museum’s conservation studio. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The leather-bound catalogue made for Jeremiah’s Egyptian collection. The initials EHC on the left hand side stand for ‘Ethel and Helen Colman’ who donated the collection to Norwich Castle. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
they donated the collection to the City of Norwich and so it was that the shroud came to Norwich Castle. Accompanying it was a catalogue, probably commissioned by Ethel and Helen, since it is their initials which appear on the embossed leather cover. It was compiled by the Egyptologist James Edward Quibell - especially noted for his discovery of the Narmer Palette. His catalogue entry for the shroud reads: ‘Linen sheet. Covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions from the “Book of the Dead”. The mummy in the coffin was often covered with a linen sheet of this kind.’ This description can now be greatly enhanced thanks to
Alan Colman left for Egypt in late 1896 and died at Luxor in February 1897. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery
The Colmans, seen here visiting the Ramesseum in 1897 with guides and other locals. Jeremiah is the bearded man on the donkey, left of centre. The women on donkeys are his daughters. © The Ludham Archive 15
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
the shroud’s recent conservation at the British Museum, and a remarkable history has begun to emerge. Dated to the early Eighteenth Dynasty, it is approximately 3,500 years old and belonged to a lady called Ipu, daughter of Mutresti. Both names were common at that time. Ipu’s title is not recorded on the Norwich shroud, but, by a stroke of sheer good fortune, it has been established that further fragments of her shroud exist in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. These give Ipu’s title as ‘khekeret nesu’, sometimes translated as the ‘king’s ornament’. The precise meaning of the title is not certain but it is known that it was often held by women of high status. So Ipu was a well-to-do lady of some importance. The cursive hieroglyphic text, in vertical columns of black (and some red) ink, covers most of the surface. The inscriptions are written in the same hand throughout and contain a selection of spells from the Book of the Dead. These were designed to help the deceased in their journey to the afterlife. One of the best preserved is spell 64, a cryptic text which includes passages about the nature of the creator god and the supernatural powers
Menkaure’s cartouche which forms part of the rubric of spell 64 and which claims that the spell was found during that king’s reign by Prince Hordjedef. The cartouche is given emphasis by being written over a white pigment (gypsum) © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery/Trustees of the British Museum
which would enable the deceased to leave the confines of the tomb. The spell’s rubric (the endnote distinguished from the body of the spell by being written in red) is prominent and includes the cartouche of the Fourth Dynasty king, Menkaure, whose pyramid still stands at Giza. This rubric claims that the spell itself was found during Menkaure’s reign by Prince Hordjedef, as he was making an inspection of the temples. Such a claim no doubt served to lend greater authority to the spell by emphasising its antiquity. Spell 64 is incomplete on the Norwich fragment but fortunately more of it is present on one of the Cairo fragments. When photographs of the vertical columns of spell 64 from both fragments are placed alongside each other at their torn edges, the hieroglyphs can be read as more or less continuous text. Not only this, but since both fragments end with a selvedge, it means that, together, the full height of the shroud, c.1.6m, can be determined. The Norwich shroud contains parts of eight more spells, including spell 149, which enabled the deceased to recognise the mounds of the netherworld. When written out in full, this was a long spell consisting of 14 parts but only the first part is given here. This in itself is not unusual. Sometimes spells were left incomplete but were still believed to be as potent as if they had been written out in full (on the pars pro toto principle). However, as the first part of spell 149 is located on the torn right-hand edge of the linen it raises the possibility that the shroud might have extended significantly beyond that edge. The Norwich portion of Ipu’s shroud contains parts of nine spells but when the spells from the Cairo fragments are added the number exceeds twenty. Included on the Cairo fragments is a group of spells collectively known as transformation spells, so called because they gave the deceased the ability to be transformed into other forms, such as a falcon (spell 77), a swallow (spell 86) and the creator god Ptah (spell 82). Not only have the Norwich and Cairo fragments collectively made a fuller understanding of Ipu’s shroud possible, but they have also raised an intriguing question. How did they come to be in two different places? The following is a possible explanation. Preliminary investigations suggest that the linen might have come
Monique Pullan (left), from the British Museum who led the conservation team, seen with other conservators from Norwich Castle Museum. Together they begin the delicate process of unfolding the shroud within a speciallyconstructed plastic tent. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery/ Trustees of the British Museum
John Taylor (British Museum) and the writer (Norwich Castle) viewing the fully unrolled shroud. During this viewing John discovered the name of the shroud’s owner, ‘Ipu’, and that she was ‘daughter of Mutresti’. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery/Trustees of the British Museum
16
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
PEETERS P U B L I S H E R S Egypt at its Origins 3 R.F FRIEdman & P.n. FISkE (eds.) This volume, publishing the proceedings of the Third International Conference on Predynastic and Early dynastic Egypt (London, 2008), presents the results of the latest research and discoveries in the field which are leading to a better understanding of the origins of the ancient Egyptian civilization. It contains 54 contributions by 67 authors hailing from around the globe. Each contribution provides new insights into the variety of factors contributing to the rise of the distinct form of the early Egyptian state. Recent discoveries from major sites such as Hierakonpolis, abydos, and Tell el Farkha, amongst others, are also discussed in detail. 2011 – Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 205 – XXIV-1292 p. ISBn 978-90-429-2490-1 – hardcover – 125 euro
The vertical columns in red are clearly visible and are the rubric for spell 64. At the top right hand side is part of the text of spell 149, an enigmatic mound spell. © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery/Trustees of the British Museum
from the Royal Cache at Deir el-Bahri. This was cleared by the authorities in 1881, but it had been discovered a decade earlier by a local family, the Abd el-Rassouls. From 1871, the Abd el-Rassoul brothers revisited and plundered the tomb several times. Careful not to raise too many suspicions, they sold their finds gradually over the years. It is possible that during one such visit to the tomb they took away part of Ipu’s shroud which had, either accidentally or deliberately, been ripped into fragments. This they then sold to a Luxor dealer. There is mention in Colman’s catalogue of two prominent Luxor dealers, Mohammed Mohassib and Abd el-Medjid. The Abd el-Rassouls knew these men well and certainly had dealings with them over the years. One of the dealers might have purchased the Norwich shroud from the Abd el-Rassoul family and then sold it to Jeremiah. Meanwhile, the fragments remaining in the Cache were taken by the authorities and deposited in the Egyptian Museum. Since this investigation began, much has been discovered about the Norwich shroud and it can confidently take its place within the small corpus of known Book of the Dead shrouds. As its study continues so it will add further to our understanding of these rare early shrouds. q Faye Kalloniatis is a Research Associate at Norwich Castle Museum working on the cataloguing of the Egyptian collection. She wishes to acknowledge gratefully the British Museum’s Partnership UK programme for making the project possible. She would also like to thank all members of the Norwich Shroud project team (from the British Museum and Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service), with special thanks to John Taylor for his research on the owner of the shroud and the identification of the spells included.
Under the Potter’s Tree Studies on Ancient Egypt presented to Janine Bourriau on the occasion of her 70th Birthday d. aSTOn, B. BadER, C. GaLLORInI, P. nICHOLSOn & S. BUCkInGHam (eds.) This book presents fifty wide-ranging articles written by various international scholars in honour of Janine Bourriau. as is to be expected, most deal with the topic for which Janine is most famous – ceramic studies. However as a token of Janine’s wide-ranging enthusiasm for her chosen career, there are also articles which consider, among others, hair combs, soul houses, stelae, coffins, nubia, the dormitian of princess meketaten, the length of the reign of Seti I, Late Period names, ancient Egyptian science, Petrie’s unpublished archives and Luxor geology. 2011 – Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 204 – XXXIV-1036 p. ISBn 978-90-429-2472-7 – hardcover – 105 euro
Ancient Egyptian Demonology P. kOUSOULIS (ed.) This multi-authored volume of 10 essays comprises an up-to-date authorized account of many aspects of ancient Egyptian demonology, including the multiple persona of the demonic or name vs. identity in the Egyptian formation of the demonic, nightmares and underworld demons, dream rituals and magic, categories of demonic entities and the vague distinction between the divine and the demonic in Egyptian cosmology and ritual, the theological and demonic aspects of Egyptian magic, and demons as reflections of human society. Contributors include Paul John Frandsen, Hedvig Györy, Joachim Friedrich Quack, Yvan koenig, Panagiotis kousoulis, alan Lloyd, Robert Ritner, alessandro Roccati, kasia Szpakowska and Penelope Wilson. 2011 – Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 175 – XXIV-198 p. ISBn 978-90-429-2040-8 – hardcover – forthcoming
BONDGENOTENLAAN 153, B-3000 LEUVEN, BELGiUm FAX 32 (16) 22 85 00 peeters@peeters-leuven.be – www.peeters-leuven.be
94322_Adv_EgyptArcheo.indd 1 17
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Berenike: Egypt’s Red Sea gateway to the east The Red Sea emporium of Berenike has been under investigation since 1994 (see EA 8, pp.15-17). Steven E Sidebotham and Iwona Zych summarise the results of recent fieldwork. Berenike, a major Ptolemaic and Roman port on Egypt’s Red Sea coast, was active from its founding by Ptolemy II Philadelphus in c.275 BC until its abandonment before the middle of the sixth century AD. For approximately eight centuries it was a major intermediary in commercial and cultural exchanges between the Mediterranean world and areas of the Red Sea-Indian Ocean basin. Fieldwork at the site has been conducted for eleven seasons by the University of Delaware, Leiden University, the University of California Los Angeles and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. There were three peak periods in Berenike’s history: the early-middle part of the Ptolemaic Period (mid-third to second century BC), the early Roman Empire (first to second century AD) and the late Roman Period (midfourth to fifth century AD). Demotic ostraca have been documented from Ptolemaic and early Roman rubbish deposits in the city. In Ptolemaic times trade through the port was mainly for the government and Berenike’s primary role was the acquisition of elephants to serve in the army, though ivory was also imported, both at that time and later. Excavations at the western edge of the settlement have revealed elephant teeth and a possible elephant holding
The possible elephant holding pen in the Ptolemaic industrial area. Scale: 50cm
pen – archaeological evidence which supports literary and papyrological sources for the passage of elephants through Berenike from emporia on the coasts of what are today Sudan and Eritrea. The same area of the site includes a Ptolemaic-era brick kiln and evidence for the production of copper-alloy and iron nails and tacks, as well as lead sheathing for the hulls of merchant ships. After abandonment, this industrial zone was used to dump refuse and bury human bodies. By contrast, commerce through Berenike in Roman times was primarily for civilian consumer use and trade through the port increased in volume. Both items for daily use and more exotic commodities and goods passed through from elsewhere in Egypt, the Mediterranean world, the Near East, the kingdom of Axum, states in southern Arabia, South Asia and points east. Some of the imported commodities were also consumed in Berenike itself. Ancient authors attest some of this merchandise, but many items that have been uncovered in excavations are unrecorded in extant literary sources. Among Map showing the location of Berenike and its major trading partners. Drawing by M Hense 18
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Imported items found at Berenike, from left to right: A bead (surface find, diameter: c.2cm) from Jatim, Eastern Java (Indonesia); An intaglio depicting a seated female winged sphinx (late first century BC); A fragment of a glass vessel decorated with a Dionysiac scene (early Roman); A gold and pearl earring (probably second century AD); Assorted Roman-era glass fragments
the goods arriving from the Indian Ocean basin that are not mentioned by Pliny, Strabo, the anonymous Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and other ancient literary sources, are bamboo, teak (recycled into the walls of late Roman buildings from dismantled ships), rice, coconut, mung beans, Job’s tears (grains of a grass, often used as beads), matting, sail cloth, pottery and beads. One significant import was black pepper from southwestern India: thousands of peppercorns have been excavated and a large Indian-made storage jar embedded in an early Roman-era floor adjacent to the so-called Serapis temple preserved 7.55kg of them. Frankincense from southern Arabia or the Horn of Africa, Indian-made textiles, cameo blanks made from Indian agate and sapphires from South Asia also appear in Berenike. In addition to goods arriving from the east, ancient authors also mention exports from the Mediterranean world to other Red Sea and Indian Ocean destinations. These included fancy-cut and mosaic glass and large quantities of wine. Excavations have found many glass vessels
and wine amphora sherds, attesting this long-distance commerce as well as their use in Berenike itself. Recovery of a gold and pearl earring, of finger-ring Indian-made cotton-resist dyed textile (fifth intaglios, of marble century AD). Close parallels have been from quarries at found at two sites along the ‘Silk Road’ in western China Proconnesus (an island in the Sea of Marmara, off the north-western coast of Turkey) used to decorate walls or floors, and escargot shells from Gaul or northern Italy reflect consumption patterns of some wealthy individuals. Evidence for human burials appears at the edge of the city along the road leading inland to the Nile. There were two types of late Roman graves here - cist and deposition in wooden sarcophagi inside tombs – which might suggest differences in age, socio-economic status or ethnicity. Ptolemaic and early Roman animal burials provide evidence for the popularity of pet dogs and cats and one dog, which had died of osteosarcoma, had been wrapped in a mat and covered by large amphora fragments. The evidence shows that an ethnically diverse population resided at, or passed through, Berenike. Inscriptions, ostraca and papyri, graffiti, pottery, floral and faunal remains and other items of daily use suggest that Egyptians, peoples from the Mediterranean basin, Middle Easterners, South Arabians, South Asians and others lived here, while excavations have documented
Jars embedded in the floor adjacent to the so-called Serapis temple. That in the foreground (without the lid) contained 7.55kg of black peppercorns. Scale: 20cm
Burial of a dog and cat beneath an early Roman rubbish dump. Scale: 20cm 19
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Graffito recording ‘Saqr’, the name of the royal palace at Shabwa, capital of the South Arabian kingdom of Hadramaut. Scale: 2cm
a dozen different written languages from Europe, Africa and Asia. One graffito records ‘Saqr’, the name of the royal palace at Shabwa, capital of the South Arabian kingdom of Hadramaut, and excavations at Myos Hormos, about 300km north of Berenike, revealed a similar graffito. This text, which probably labelled a jar, undoubtedly arrived at Berenike via the Hadramauti port of Qana (in modern Yemen) on the Indian Ocean coast of Arabia. Evidence of contact with Qana also comes from basalt used as ships’ ballast and discarded in the south-western harbour at Berenike sometime during the early Roman Period. The texts that have been found are primarily in Greek and Latin, on ostraca and papyri from the early Roman rubbish dump. The ostraca comprise mainly public records such as customs house archives, accounts of fresh water supply to the city and the Roman army’s management of that resource. The papyri are predominantly private documents: land registers, bills of sale and personal letters. The south-western bay near the Ptolemaic industrial area preserved remains of early Roman ship timbers made of Lebanese cedar, assembled using the mortise-and-tenon construction technique prevalent in the Mediterranean at that time. Long pieces of thick rope are evidence of maritime activity in early Roman times, while late Hellenistic pottery and a Ptolemaic coin hint at an earlier use of Berenike’s south-western harbor. Partial burning of some ship timbers and a thick deposit of fine ash suggest possible charcoal making activities. Excavations in the south-western bay also unearthed a temple, which may have been situated on an island. In use primarily in the fifth century AD, it may have been dedicated to Isis, Tyche and, perhaps, Serapis and included cowrie shells for prognostication, painted ostrich
The church (fifth century) at the eastern edge of the site, looking south-east. Scale: 1m
eggshells, terracotta oil lamps, stone altars, stone temple pools and a bronze phiale/patera vessel with remains of iron tripod legs. A hoard of decorative silver pieces, seemingly prised from a wooden base and perhaps once decoration on the prow of a ship, had been deposited in a small jar in one corner of the shrine. Isis would have been an appropriate deity at Berenike given her status as protectress of sailors and maritime activities. A substantial sunken structure near by made of large ashlar blocks might also have been a shrine. There was also a sanctuary dedicated to the Roman imperial cult during the reign of Caracalla and his mother Julia Domna, and to the Palmyrene god Yarhibol and other deities. Another facility celebrated an unknown deity, while a fifth-century church lay at the eastern edge of the city. Clearance has started of the large temple at the topmost part of the site to make an accurate photographic and architectural record; excavations here have documented undisturbed deposits including a stone statuette of a hybrid Sobek/Horus. Finds from a mid-fourth century AD commercialresidential quarter and rubbish dumps reflect some trade patterns in Berenike’s last major flourishing, and demonstrate robust interaction with the Eastern Mediterranean, the Red Sea and South Asia. Finds include Indian dyed cotton textiles, amphorae of eastern Mediterranean provenance and pottery from Axum and South Asia. Future excavations should add to our knowledge of Berenike’s role in the ancient global economic and commercial network. q Steven E Sidebotham is Professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Delaware and co-Director of the Berenike Project with Iwona Zych, who is a member of Polish archaeological expeditions at Naqlun, Alexandria and, formerly, Marina el-Alamein. She is also responsible for publications at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw and managing editor of PCMA’s journal, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, where the preliminary results of the Berenike seasons are published. For the report on the 2011 season, see: http://tinyurl.com/ 5vxx66y. Photographs by Steven E Sidebotham.
Early Roman ship timbers and ropes. Scale: 50cm 20
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Confirming the Pleistocene age of the Qurta rock art An article in EA 33 made the case for the existence of Pleistocene rock art at Qurta, c.15km north of Kom Ombo. Further fieldwork and laboratory analyses during 2008-09 have proved its preHolocene age as Dirk Huyge and Dimitri A G Vandenberghe discuss. The circumstances of the finding of the Qurta rock art in 2005 were described in our 2008 report in EA 33 (pp.2528). At Qurta, on the east bank of the Nile between Edfu and Aswan, three rock art sites have been identified: Qurta I, II and III (henceforth QI, QII and QIII). They are located in higher parts of the Nubian sandstone scarp bordering the Nile floodplain. At each site several rock art locations, panels and individual figures have been identified, with a total of at least 185 distinct images. Naturalistically drawn aurochs (Bos primigenius) are predominant (over View of Qurta II showing the location of rock art panel QII.4.2, which is partly covered by Nubian 75% of the total number of drawings), sandstone rock debris and sediment accumulations followed by birds, hippopotami, gazelle, During the 2008 field campaign, it became clear that fish and hartebeest. In addition, some indeterminate rock art panel QII.4.2 was partly covered by sediment creatures and several highly-stylized representations of accumulations that were trapped between the engraved human figures appear at the sites. On the basis of the rock face and coarse Nubian sandstone rock debris intrinsic characteristics of the rock art, its patination and that had become separated from the scarp. Using degree of weathering, as well as the archaeological and petrographical thin sections, the covering sediment could geomorphological context, we proposed an attribution be identified as being derived from the Late Pleistocene of these petroglyphs to the Late Palaeolithic Period ‘Wild Nile’ floodplain deposits of the region, through (c.19,000-18,000 years ago). This interpretation has met aeolian reworking. The wind-blown nature of the with little criticism from the archaeological community, covering sediment makes it ideally suited for Optically but proof in the form of indirect or direct science-based Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. dating evidence has hitherto been lacking.
On the way back from the site of Qurta II. View looking north 21
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Rock art panel QII.4.2. The red line indicates the top of the sediment accumulation. The OSL sample in situ yielded an age of 16 Âą 2 ka
A superb Late Palaeolithic life-sized representation of a Nubian ibex at CAS-13 in Wadi Abu Subeira (length: c.1.50m). The horns are only partly visible on the photograph
Detail of QI.1.1 showing how the Qurta rock art makes use of the relief of the rock surface to lend volume and movement to the animal images
Among the newly discovered buried rock drawings at Qurta II is this representation of a bird (QII.5.1.9). It is undoubtedly a member of the family Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans) and is probably a goose
Excavations at Qurta II in 2011 revealed several more buried petroglyphs at different levels offering additional dating possibilities, both OSL and other
Archaeologist Wouter Claes (RMAH) recording previously buried rock drawings at Qurta II in 2011 22
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Wooden scaffolding constructed in 2008 at Qurta I, locality 6, panel 1 (QI.6.1). The Nubian sandstone scarp to the left of this location has been completely quarried away, using explosives, for c.200m
Newly discovered buried rock drawings QII.4.3.1 and QII.5.1.7-10 at Qurta II. The red line indicates the top of the sediment accumulation 23
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
OSL dating can determine the time that has elapsed since buried sediment grains were last exposed to sunlight. Using the constituent mineral grains of the sediment itself, it offers a direct means for establishing the time of sediment deposition and accumulation. OSL dating requires that the sedimentary grains were exposed to sufficient daylight to reset fully the luminescence clock prior to deposition and burial. The most robust OSL dating procedure currently available involves the use of OSL signals from quartz in combination with the so-called ‘single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR)’ procedure and we have applied this to four samples of the sediment that covers panel QII.4.2. The samples yield depositional ages that are fully consistent with their stratigraphic position. The dates, offering minimum ages for the petroglyphs, range from 10,000 ± 1,000 years (10 ± 1 ka) at the top to 16,000 ± 2,000 years (16 ± 2 ka) at the base of the sequence. They provide solid evidence for the Pleistocene age of the rock art at Qurta. The Qurta rock art is not an entirely isolated occurrence. Five other sites are known in the region, all with a limited but homogeneous assemblage of drawings, which display a very similar art, both thematically and stylistically. One site, Abu Tanqura Bahari 11 (ATB11) at el-Hosh, is about 10km north of Qurta and on the opposite bank of the Nile; the other four, Wadi (Chor) Abu Subeira 6 (CAS-6), 13 (CAS-13), 14 (CAS-14) and 20 (CAS20), lie about 45km to the south and on the same bank as Qurta. ATB11, which was discovered by us in 2004, prior to the finding of the Qurta rock art, has not yet been studied in detail. The assemblage of c.35 drawings consists mainly of naturalistically drawn aurochs, but it also seems to include some anthropomorphs similar to the stylized human figures at Qurta. The Wadi (Chor) Abu Subeira rock art sites, discovered by Adel Kelany and his team from the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities (Aswan) between 2006 and 2011, are composed of several
dozen animal figures only. The repertoire again consists mainly of bovids, but fish, hippopotamus, Nubian ibex and possibly North African bubal hartebeest (an extinct antelope), African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and Nubian wild ass are also represented. None of these other sites, however, offers the same dating opportunities as Qurta. The Qurta OSL dates present the first solid evidence for the existence of sophisticated figurative Pleistocene rock art in North Africa. While this makes the Qurta rock art definitely the oldest discovered in North Africa thus far, its true age remains unknown since it is clear that the buried drawings at QII were already considerably weathered before they became covered by sediment c.15,000 years ago. It seems likely, therefore, that the rock art is significantly older than the minimum ages obtained by means of OSL. Further fieldwork at QII in 2011 has led to the discovery of several more buried petroglyphs offering additional dating possibilities; OSL and other. Whether or not it will be possible to push the minimum age of the rock art further back in time remains to be seen. Analyses in this respect are continuing. This discovery of ‘Ice Age’ rock art in North Africa is certainly new, but not entirely unexpected. In fact, elsewhere on the African landmass finds of even older art have been known for some time. In 1969 stone plaquettes with painted animal motifs, dated to c.26,000 years ago, were uncovered in a cave in Namibia. In 1999 and 2000 in a South African coastal site, complex geometric engravings on ochre pieces were brought to light that date back no less than 75,000 to 100,000 years. One as yet unresolved question is that of how to explain the stylistic similarity of the Qurta rock art, executed in Egypt more than 15,000 years ago, and the rock art of Ice Age Europe at about the same time. Can one speak of direct influence or cultural exchange over such a long distance? This may not be as improbable as it seems, as finds of Pleistocene rock art in southern Italy and Sicily bear analogies to the Egyptian rock art, and in northern Libya, near the coast, a cave site is known with similar naturalistic images of aurochs. Considering the fact that the level of the Mediterranean Sea at the time of the last Ice Age was at least 100m lower than it is today, we cannot rule out a Palaeolithic intercontinental exchange of iconographic and symbolic concepts. These are new challenges to archaeological thought. q Dirk Huyge, Director of the Belgian Archaeological Mission to Qurta, is Curator, Prehistoric and Early Dynastic Egypt at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (RMAH). Dimitri A G Vandenberghe is a geochronologist at the Laboratory of Mineralogy and Petrology (Luminescence Research Group), Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University. Funding for this research was provided by the William K and Marilyn M Simpson Endowment for Egyptology of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University, USA (fieldwork), and the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders (laboratory analyses). In addition, the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo and Vodafone Egypt offered administrative and logistical support. Photographs by Dirk Huyge.
Detail of panel QII.4.2. The red line indicates the top of the sediment accumulation. The OSL ages are presented for sediments completely covering drawing QII.4.2.9 of an indeterminate two-legged creature
24
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Digging Diary 2010-11 Summaries of some of the archaeological work undertaken in Egypt in Winter 2010-11 and Spring 2011 appear below, with three from Autumn 2010 (see EA 38, pp.26-28). The sites are arranged geographically from north to south, ending with the oases. Archaeological work in Egypt was affected by the unrest in early 2011 with some expeditions leaving early and others cancelling their seasons, but most teams were able to work normally, apart from those in middle Egypt which continued to experience problems. Field Directors who would like reports on their work to appear in EA are asked to e-mail a short summary, with a website address if available, as soon as possible after the end of each season to: patricia.spencer@ees.ac.uk PATRICIA SPENCER Abbreviations: EDP Early Dynastic Period; OK Old Kingdom; FIP First Intermediate Period; MK Middle Kingdom; SIP Second Intermediate Period; NK New Kingdom; TIP Third Intermediate Period; LP Late Period; GR Graeco-Roman; DS EES Delta Survey; ERT Electrical Resistivity Tomography. Institutes and Research Centres: AERA Ancient Egypt Research Associates Inc; AUC American University in Cairo; BM British Museum, London; CFEETK Franco-Egyptian Centre, Karnak; CNRS French National Research Centre; CSIC Spanish National Research Council, Madrid; DAI German Institute, Cairo; MSA Ministry of State for Antiquities, Egypt; PCMA Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology; SCA Supreme Council for Antiquities, Cairo: Swiss Inst Swiss Institute for Architectural Research and Archaeology, Cairo; USR research group of the CNRS.
AUTUMN 2010 (October to December) Lower Egypt Saqqara: The Louvre Museum expedition, directed by Guillemette Andreu and Michel Baud, excavated the W end of the large Coptic complex N of the Unas causeway, an annexe to the Monastery of St Jeremiah. Its three building phases were scrutinized in a 21m x 11m trial, showing a change from a high quality building with white mortar plastered walls (and even floor), to a later occupation oriented towards domestic activities before it was ultimately converted into a stable. Three neonates were found buried within the phase 3 building; two in a room and one in a corridor. Blocks from the mastaba of a ‘Priest of Neferirkara’ Nikaura were found reused in this level. The LP strata under the Coptic levels were investigated in some places, and more extensively along the Unas causeway, revealing more of a large funerary enclosure and neighbouring fosse burials, and also a vaulted tomb associated with a small mastaba possibly for respectively a mother and child. A deposit of pottery with large jars and small vessels of many different types was also brought to light; some rested on, and were covered by, mats. Upper Egypt Dahshur: The DAI/Free Univ Berlin team, led by Stephan J Seidlmayer and Nicole Alexanian, focused on a small excavation at the workmen’s settlement SW of the Red Pyramid. Several rooms with walls of rough limestone were cleaned and much 4th Dyn pottery, animal bones and charcoal were discovered. The work on the pottery excavated at the lower causeway of the Bent Pyramid in spring 2010 showed that the causeway
Dra Abu el-Naga: The small forecourt in front of the entrance of TT 14 (the tomb of Huy). Photograph: Gianluca Miniaci © Missione dell’Università di Pisa at Dra Abu el-Naga
was built in two chronologically distinctly building phases. The two outer walls were built in the 4th Dyn when the causeway was open to the sky. It was not until the 6th Dyn that it was closed in by a mud-brick vault. www.dainst.org Dra Abu el-Naga: The Univ of Pisa team, directed by Marilina Betrò, discovered, in front of the modern door to the tomb of Huy (TT 14), the tomb’s original small forecourt. On its N side it is partly delimited by a wall, built out of large mud bricks, and, on its W side, is partly excavated into the rock; both sides were originally covered by a whitish plaster layer. The continued clearance of the forecourt of MIDAN.05 revealed many different mud-brick structures which occupied the forecourt through the centuries. During the clearance of the N side of the courtyard the entrance to two new tombs, previously unknown and unrecorded, was brought to light. They were cut into the N rock wall delimiting the court of MIDAN.05. Traces of human disturbance can be
Egypt Exploration Society Expeditions WINTER/SPRING Tell el-Daba: Patricia and Jeffrey Spencer surveyed the mound of Tell el-Daba (DS 269) for the preparation of the first contour map of the site. The mound measures 500m x 545m and the level between the lowest and highest areas varies by c.7m. Standing ruins of some massive mud-brick walls were cleaned to trace the original faces and to try to obtain dating evidence. Preliminary results suggest that they date from the Ptolemaic Period; in view of the substantial thicknesses of the walls they might be remains of tower-houses of that age. It is possible that similar structures may once have covered a larger area of the site but have been cut away for earth. For the Society’s Delta Survey the nearby sites of Kom Umm Gafar (DS 100), Kom Ganayin (DS 98) and Kom el-Ahmar (DS 99) were visited. See further, p.6. The season was funded by the EES Delta Survey grant from the British Academy. http://deltasurvey.tumblr.com/ Sais (Sa el-Hagar): Penelope Wilson (Univ of Durham) visited the site to check pottery drawings for the final report on the prehistoric levels. The EES/Durham Univ magazine was found to be intact and the S area near the village had not been damaged. However, there were some recently dug pits at Kom Rebwa, the N part of the site, in a low lying area. They were reported to the local SCA Inspectorate and the Cairo Offices of the Ministry of Antiquities. www.dur.ac.uk/penelope.wilson/sais.html
Minufiyeh Governorate: Joanne Rowland (Free Univ, Berlin) undertook a survey focused on three sites that had been visited briefly in 2005-07. See further p.5. Due to the
(www.ees.ac.uk)
extent of crops in the fields, only limited surface observations/collection of ceramics were possible, in addition to the taking of levels. At Umm Harb/ el-Rimaly, ceramic sherds on the surface ranged in date from the LP to Ptolemaic Period. Two cores were drilled, one on the lower slopes of Tell Umm Harb (DS 63), a small standing kom surmounted by the tomb of the Sheikhah Umm Harb, and one in close proximity on the small mound of Tell Yahud, which is believed to contain ancient burials. Both cores revealed ceramic fabrics providing earlier dates than suggested by the surface finds, being Roman and Late Roman. Kom Usim (DS 45) is almost completely levelled, with farm buildings on the remains of the mound. Surface sherds were restricted to Late Roman in date, but although most of the sherd fabrics from three cores suggest a tentative date to the Late Roman Period, a very few fabrics could suggest the presence of LP and Ptolemaic vessels. Sobek el-Dahak is an SCA registered site, where no surface finds were noted and the sparse drill-core ceramics could not be dated from the fabric type. The season was funded by the EES Delta Survey grant from the British Academy. http://minufiyeh.tumblr.com/ Tell Basta: The Univ of Potsdam/EES expedition, led by Eva Lange, continued excavation in the entrance area of the temple of Bastet, where Ptolemaic Period casemate buildings had been found in previous seasons (see further pp.7-9). A trench cut to investigate the theory that the buildings date back to the LP revealed that the Ptolemaic walls are founded on a construction level of smashed limestone blocks. Below this are LP walls confirming the theory. As the buildings are
25
situated within the enclosure wall, it is clear that they do not represent ordinary living quarters but subsidiary buildings of the temple. Small finds would suggest that the excavated rooms were workshops for production of painted terracotta figurines. Study of glass fragments, pottery and small finds from previous seasons continued. The exhibition of Tell Basta objects in the new Site Museum was prepared in co-operation with Hisham Mohammed Abd el-Moaman elHefnawi (SCA Deputy Director, Sharqiya) and will be completed in Autumn 2011. The season was funded by donations to the EES Amelia Edwards Projects Fund. Luxor: In its first, shortened season (see EA 38, p.3) the EES Theban Harbours and Waterscapes Survey, directed by Angus Graham, began investigating past Theban landscapes and waterways. Although the geophysical, geoarchaeological and topographic survey was curtailed by the evolving political and social situation at the time, the team carried out reconnaissance of areas on the E and W banks. The use of ERT will produce subsurface profiles with the aim of identifying ancient canals and harbours associated with the NK memorial temples as well as the huge ‘ceremonial’ lakes on both banks. The work also aims to further our understanding of the past movements of the river. Augering will allow the team to verify interpretations of the geophysics and hopefully add chronological constraints to various landscape and waterscape features that existed in the region, but which are now masked by the vertical accretion of the floodplain.
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
recognised in both. Excavation in MIDAN.05 focused also on the N part of the transverse hall, where the remains of painted scenes were brought to light on the E wall. WINTER 2010-11 (November to March) Lower Egypt Giza: The AERA team led by Mark Lehner, Mohsen Kamel and Ana Tavares worked at the Heit el-Ghurab (HeG, near the Wall of the Crow) site, focusing on the initial identification and excavation of a structure which was probably used as a cattle corral and slaughterhouse. This structure was built of large walls with rounded corners and had a narrow, chute-like passage, and a broad open area approximately 37m x 30m. It was capable of holding an estimated 555 cattle at a time. Excavation also continued in select areas of House Unit 1, W of the modern soccer field. Excavations in the Khentkawes Town have shown that the queen’s foundation extends far beyond the monument and settlement as excavated by Selim Hassan. Work in 2010 added 50m to the E with approach-ramps, stairs, and terrace, as well as a large basin and E continuation of a large enclosure wall. This season’s newly discovered silo building and court adds a further 15-20m of settlement to this continuing eastward expansion. Excavations at the Menkaure Valley Temple sought to clarify the relationship between the ante-town (Annexe) and the Temple itself, most notably dealing with issues of alignment and phasing. www.aeraweb.org/ Upper Egypt El-Sheikh Ibada (Antinoopolis): Due to political circumstances the archaeological field operations of the Istituto Papyrologico «G Vitelli» Univ of Florence expedition, directed by Rosario Pintaudi, lasted only two weeks. The main work concentrated on the further clearance of church D3 which is a Christian incubation centre. The atrium to the W commenced with a colonnaded W entrance hall. The distribution of rooms on the N side is different from those in the S and more complicated. Peter Grossmann and Elisabeth O’Connell (BM) surveyed several more houses N of the episcopal church D2. Berenike: The Univ of Delaware/PCMA project, led by Steven E Sidebotham and Iwona Zych, continued excavations at this PtolemaicRoman port; in the harbour area, in the Ptolemaic industrial zone, and in Ptolemaic and early Roman era rubbish deposits (see pp.18-20). The project also continued survey work in Wadi Sikait; a region which the Romans knew as Mons Smaragdus, and where they mined emeralds. http:// tinyurl.com/5vxx66y
Mersa/Wadi Gawasis: The Boston Univ/ Univ of Naples ‘l’Orientale’ team, directed by Kathryn Bard and Rodolfo Fattovich, focused on the ancient harbour area, where five possible mud-brick ramps/slipways were excavated. The evidence of thousands of fragments of cedar chippings (gribble) and copper strips used in the mortise fastenings suggests that partly-dismantled ships were hauled out of the water here and the ship timbers salvaged by removing damaged areas. Investigation of further areas along the W coral terrace slope revealed no new caves, although the evidence suggests concentrations of domestic activities. Cheryl Ward and Chiara Zazzaro finished studying and recording the excavated ship timbers, and Howard Wellman conserved these timbers and placed them in a storage facility. Samples of rope/ship rigging in the ‘Rope Cave’ (Cave 5) were studied microscopically, and the material was conclusively identified as papyrus. A snake robot was used to explore the openings of two man-made caves by Howard Choset, the engineer who invented it. www.archaeogate.org Karnak: The CFEETK (SCA/CNRS USR
Karnak/Luxor: The head of one of the sphinxes of Nectanebo I from the avenue between Karnak and Luxor temples. Photograph: © CNRS/CFEETK/ Jessie Maucor
3172) programmes of archaeological research and restoration continued inside the precinct of Amun-Re directed by Mansour Boreik (SCA) and Christophe Thiers (CNRS). Mansour Boreik supervised continuing excavations at the Roman baths and on the sphinx avenue between Karnak and Luxor. During the transfer of objects from a storeroom to another outside Karnak, many fragments of statues, door-jambs, blocks from temples and tombs, funerary cones and wooden sarcophagi were studied and photographed. The study of the Ptah temple continued under the supervision of Christophe Thiers and Pierre Zignani (see EA 38, pp.20-24): the mud-brick precinct wall of the Ptolemaic propylon was uncovered on the W and S sides of the temple. Inside the temple, the central and S chapels were excavated and, as in the N chapel, parts of earlier mud-brick walls were uncovered. Elizabeth Frood (Univ of Oxford), Didier Devauchelle and Ghislaine Widmer (Univ of Lille 3) studied the graffiti (hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic). The restoration programme has mainly concerned the gates of the temple and loose blocks. The epigraphic survey of the barque-shrine of Philip Arrhidaeus continued and the outer walls were mostly surveyed. Laurent Coulon (CNRS) and Fréderic Payraudeau (Univ Paris 4) studied blocks from the Osiris chapels, at Malkata and in the Sheikh Labib storeroom. François Leclère (BM) and Aude Simony (Univ Paris, Sorbonne) studied ceramics from the excavations of the temple of Osiris from Koptos; blocks were transfered to protective benches close to the temple, and bronze objects have been restored. Susanne Bickel (Univ of Basel) studied blocks of the Granary of Amun and the shena-workshop of Amun. At the Treasury of Shabaka, Nadia Licitra (Univ of Paris 4) found a new and well-preserved E-W gate and two column bases. A team led by Peter Brand (Univ of Memphis) and Jean Revez (Univ du Québec à Montréal) worked on the epigraphic survey of the great Hypostyle Hall. At the entrance to the Open Air Museum, the rebuilding of the Netery-Menu shrine continued. www.cfeetk.cnrs.fr/ Western Thebes: 1. At Dra Abu el-Naga, the CSIC team, led by José M Galan, continued restoration, epigraphy and photographic documentation in the tombchapel of Djehuty (TT 11), of the time of Hatshepsut. The excavation of the debris filling the innermost chamber of the tomb-chapel of Hery (TT 12), of the reign of Amenhotep I, brought to light the mouth of a funerary shaft, which will be excavated next season. A few metres higher up the hill, above TT 12, a small Ramesside chapel was discovered, with a weaving scene including naked children. Through it, access was gained to a six-roomed gallery, 20m long, for the burial of animal mummies (mostly ibis and falcons) related to the cult of Thoth, with demotic graffiti dated to the reign of Ptolemy VIII, c.128-127 BC. www.
the clearing of a funerary structure (A17), the excavation of which began two years ago, was completed. The complex, totally cut into the bedrock, consists of a ramp, a long corridor filled with pottery, and two rooms. In the larger room (E) a huge quantity of fine pottery dating back to the MK or the SIP and the skeletons of eleven people were discovered. Among the finds were a copper mirror with an ivory handle, a large ivory pin, some small, beautiful alabaster vases, necklaces and bracelet beads along with some amulets. The funerary equipment showed that this tomb had been untouched since it was closed in ancient times. Restoration continued of the mud-brick boundary wall of the temple and of the poor remains of the second pylon. At the end of the archaeological mission the area once occupied by the central columned courtyard was back-filled to protect the remains of the surviving temple structures from degradation. www.cefb.it 3. The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project at Kom el-Hettan, directed by Hourig Sourouzian, continued work excavating and restoring monuments at the site (see pp.29-32). A colossal alabaster statue of Amenhotep III was uncovered in the passageway to the temple’s third pylon. Originally one of a pair, it shows the king seated, wearing the nemes head-dress and a pleated shendyt kilt. During clearance and mapping work in the great court a granodiorite head of a male deity was uncovered. Work began on the restoration and re-erection of the quartzite N stela in the great court. Research in the SCA storerooms revealed the beard that belongs to a colossal head of Amenhotep III, discovered in 1957 by Labib Habachi and now on display in the Luxor Museum. The beard has now been successfully reunited with the head. Elkab: The BM expedition, directed by Vivian Davies, replaced the old metal cage which had protected the façade and entrance of the tomb of Ahmose-Pennekhbet with a new, more effective cage, which encloses the façade and prevents unauthorized entry from above. During this process, the opportunity was taken to make a photographic record of the decoration on the façade (hitherto unpublished), which consists of offering scenes and inscriptions. Measures were also taken to protect other vulnerable tombs. Collation and conservation continued in the tombs of Sobeknakht, Renseneb, Bebi and Senwosret, as did the programme of mapping.
excavacionegipto.com
2. The team of the Centro di Egittologia Francesco Ballerini, Como, led by Angelo Sesana, concluded its work at the ‘Temple of Millions of Years’ of Amenhotep II. Four TIP burial shafts were completely investigated; they contained shabtis, pottery sherds, coffin fragments and human skeletal remains. On the S side of the temple,
26
Western Thebes: Tomb A17 in the area of the ‘Temple of Millions of Years’ of Amenhotep II. The large chamber ‘E’ during the excavation. Photograph: Tommaso Quirino. Centro di Egittologia Francesco Ballerini, Como
EGYPTIAN
Hagr Edfu: Despite an interruption to the season, the BM team, directed by Vivian Davies with Elisabeth O’Connell as co-Director, made substantial progress. Rock inscriptions located on the site’s hill-top ‘rock-shelter’ and dating from as early as the OK to Late Antiquity, were collated and planned. Coptic dipinti in a rock-cut tomb reused for habitation in Late Antiquity were copied and/or collated. More Coptic ostraca from the site (now in the SCA magazine at Elkab) were located. The topographic map, a surface pottery survey and epigraphic work on the site’s most important pharaonic tombs are nearing completion. Hierakonpolis: The BM expedition, directed by Renée Friedman, was able, with the support of the Edfu/Aswan SCA Inspectorate, to continue work throughout the revolution. Excavations of the Predynastic brewery installation at HK24B were resumed by Izumi Takamiya (Kinki Univ, Japan). The full plan of the structure with its 16 vat emplacements was uncovered and a circular mudbrick granary near by was investigated. Continued excavations at the wadi site HK11C by Masahiro Baba (Waseda Univ, Japan) revealed walls built of hand-formed mud bricks in association with pottery-making tools. This may be the earliest in situ mud-brick architecture in Upper Egypt. Excavations continued at HK6, the elite Predynastic cemetery, to determine the extent of the tomb complex around the large Tomb 16, presumed to belong to a Naqada Ic-IIa ruler of Hierakonpolis. Five new tombs (45-50) were discovered and include the burials of a crocodile, a pregnant hartebeest, a large male leopard, 10 dogs, many cattle and three humans, one of whom was a male dwarf. The wooden funerary chapel for Tomb 16 was uncovered along with two new flint figurines, one in the shape of a human and the other a donkey; both are unique. www.hierakonpolisonline.org
Kom Ombo-Aswan region: The Yale Univ/ Univ of Bologna team, led by Maria Gatto and Alberto Curci, continued the rescue excavation of the Predynastic cemetery at Nag el-Qarmila (Kubbaniya). The team also continued the geomorphological survey in Gharb Aswan and Nag el-Qarmila and digital documentation of the rock art in Wadi Abu Subeira. Epigraphic and digital documentation of the Dynasty 0 rock art site in Nag el-Hamdulab was completed. Nag el-Tawil: An Austrian Inst/Swiss Inst project, directed by Martin Steksal, was started aiming to investigate archaeologically this site c.20km N of Aswan. A complete architectural survey of the well-preserved Roman quay walls on the banks of the Nile, already described by Horst Jaritz in 1972, was carried out. www.oeai.at Aswan (Syene): The joint team of the Swiss Inst and the MSA/SCA Aswan, headed by Cornelius von Pilgrim and Mohammed el-Bialy, and directed in the field by Wolfgang Müller, prepared the construction site for a magazine and office building for the mission. Fieldwork focused on final investigations in Birket Damas (Area 2). Beneath high accumulations (Ptolemaic–Late Roman) outside the LP town wall a well-preserved mastaba tomb of the late 6th Dyn with four burial chambers was discovered. Beyond the town wall remains of Roman houses were cleaned and recorded. After the demolition of a house in Old Aswan, over 100 fragments of decorated temple blocks were collected; some can be attributed to the so-called Temple X from Elephantine. www. swissinst.ch
Dakhla Oasis: 1. The Monash Univ team, led by Gillian Bowen, worked at Deir Abu Metta in five areas: the nave of the church, the area outside the church wall in the NE, the tower, the central W building and the passageway between the latter and the church. Two earlier building phases were detected beneath the
ARCHAEOLOGY
church extending beyond its N wall; their function has not been determined but there is no evidence to indicate that they are of an ecclesiastical nature. A test cut in the passageway between the church and the W building confirms that the two structures were contemporary. Evidence was found for late domestic activity in the tower’s corridor; several Coptic ostraca (late fourth-fifth centuries) retrieved from this context refer to Christian fathers. Intrusive graves were found in the SE rooms of the W building and further graves were found N of the church, indicating that after the abandonment of the buildings the area became a Christian cemetery. www.arts.monash. edu.au/archaeology/
Mut el-Kharab: the remains of the temple with the clean sand deposit below, on top of the early Old Kingdom strata. Photograph © Monash University
2. At Mut el-Kharab, the Monash Univ team, directed by Colin A Hope, excavated five units within the Temple of Seth and also investigated associated structures. The lowest deposits contain in situ material datable on the basis of ceramics to the early OK and with some sherds of the EDP; the material reflects local and Nile Valley traditions and indicates a symbiotic relationship between the indigenous Sheikh Muftah cultural unit residents of Dakhla and the colonizing Egyptians. Overlying these are the remains of the temple structures; further sections of the external walls of the temple were revealed. In an area of mud-brick buildings, probably magazines, large quantities of hieratic and demotic ostraca were discovered, some of considerable size and complete. With them were a variety of objects including fragments from a 22nd Dyn faience lotiform chalice and TIP and LP ceramics. Reused within a late feature in the temple was an inscribed, decorated block preserving part of the prenomen of Seti I and the epithet ‘beloved of Sutekh, Lord of Mitt’, the latter undoubtedly the ancient name of modern Mut. www.arts.monash.edu. au/archaeology/
Kharga Oasis: The AUC North Kharga Oasis Survey team, led by Salima Ikram (see also p.44) returned to the ‘Far Horizons’ site, first located in 2010, and documented it properly. This led to the discovery of another site, Wadi Bershama, and an extensive water (irrigation?) system that connected the sites. As shown by the wealth of graffiti (photographed and drawn) found at Wadi Bershama, it can clearly be identified as a provisioning point for single travellers or small caravans going between Kharga and Dakhla and points W, while ‘Far Horizons’ might have served a similar purpose for more heavily laden caravans. In addition to water and foodstuffs, the latter site might also have produced pottery and have been part of the more ‘official’ route between the two areas. The team also continued to survey along the Darb Ain Amur and located several new sites, at least two of which are NK in date. www. northkhargaoasissurvey.com
Spring 2011 (March to June) Lower Egypt Buto: 1. The DAI team, led by Ulrich Hartung, continued excavations of early Saite and EDP building remains N of the modern village of Sekhemawy, revealing another part of the magazine of the palace-like structure which existed from the mid-1st until the mid-2nd Dyn when it was partly destroyed by a fire. The edges particularly of the mud-brick walls of the magazine were partly burned to a reddish colour and in the corridors a huge amount of burned wood was found. In other parts of the excavation building structures of the early 1st Dyn and Dyn 0 were investigated. www. dainst.org/buto
27
2. Supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Univ of Poitiers team, led by Pascale Ballet, continued investigation of the Ptolemaic/ Roman bath complex at the so-called ‘English Kom’ in the NE of the settlement. During phase 2 of the complex, the Greek tholos baths seem to have co-existed with the Roman hypocaust system – the only example known in Egypt so far. Study was undertaken of the material from the Ptolemaic living quarter, the Roman pottery kilns, and other sondages in the S part of the city excavated previously. www.dainst.org/buto Tell el-Farkha (Ghazala): The team from the Inst of Archaeology, Jagiellonian Univ, Cracow/ Poznan Archaeological Museum and the PCMA, directed by Marek Chłodnicki & Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz, continued excavations on the site’s three koms. Fieldwork on the W Kom concentrated on the structure discovered in previous seasons directly beneath the chapel with votive deposits. Two storage jars as well as some smaller pots were discovered. Interpretation of the complex of rooms of a clearly utilitarian function, next to the structure on the N, was modified: ceramic evidence indicates that the layers excavated during the campaign are connected with the Naqada IID2/IIIA phase. On the Central Kom the previous trench on the top of the mound was extended to the W for 120sq m. The uppermost – OK and EDP - levels were excavated. The rooms, constructed with mudbrick walls, surround a small courtyard. Among the finds are a copper netting needle and an EDP clay figurine of a pig. On the E Kom one of the main aims was to define the E border of the cemetery. A test trench was opened near the E border of the kom and four graves were excavated, while one more structure was left safely secured for future seasons. In the N part of the trench remains of the EDP settlement were excavated, including a pottery silo 1m high. www.farkha.org Tell el-Murra: The Polish Archeological Expedition to the North-Eastern Nile Delta of the Inst of Archaeology, Jagiellonian Univ, Cracow, led by Mariusz Jucha, first visited this site during a survey in 2008 and after preliminary reconnaissance, it was chosen for further research. The exploration of trench S3, opened in 2010 in the SW part of the tell, was continued. The material collected there dates mostly to the Naqada III period. The walls of mud-brick structures were uncovered. Two EDP graves, which partly intersect the mud-brick structures, were also explored. The second trench (S4) was opened in the E part of the site. The remains of mud-brick structures were exposed, among them a wall orientated SW-NE, to the E of which a round structure is situated. Ceramic material dated to the OK (up to the 6th Dyn) as well as to Naqada III was collected from this trench. Pot sherds with zig-zag decoration, characteristic of the Predynastic Lower Egyptian Culture were also found in the lowermost strata.
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Tell el-Daba (Avaris): The Austrian Inst expedition, directed by Irene Forstner-Müller and Pamela Rose, continued work E of the modern village of Ezbet Rushdi (Area R/III) where an administrative centre of the late SIP has been discovered in recent years. The excavations uncovered a neighbourhood that consisted of at least three separate residential units separated by streets, containing buildings, yards, storage facilities and ovens. Imported ceramics are represented by the common repertoire of Cypriot pottery (Bichrome, White Painted V, etc.), but Nubian pottery is also present. Intensive sieving of the excavated deposits produced many seal impressions of the late MK and the SIP, Dahshur: The excavated part of the lower causeway of the Bent Pyramid. indicating an official administrative Photograph © DAI/Free University, Berlin function for the area. Some have the Archaic Cemetery’ has been occupied by a new name of King Khayan, whose seal impressions are muslim cemetery. also known from another area (F/II) at Tell elDaba (see EA 38, pp.38-41). A separate excavation Upper Egypt was undertaken on the tell (area A) where Manuela Dahshur: The DAI/Free Univ of Berlin Lehmann, as part of her PhD research, excavated expedition, led by Stephan J Seidlmayer and buildings of the LP and Ptolemaic Period. www. Nicole Alexanian, continued work at the lower oeai.at causeway of the Bent Pyramid. A trench 25m x Abu Sir: The season of the mission of the Czech 2m was excavated at a distance of c.100m from the Inst of Egyptology, led by Miroslav Barta, turned enclosure wall of the lower temple. It became clear into a rescue expedition to try to minimize the that it consists of two massive lateral mud-brick worst damage inflicted upon the site during late walls and was covered by a mud-brick vault. The January and February 2011. Over 200 places were causeway is preserved to a height of c.3m and led partially excavated by local robbers, the late 5th up to the site of the lower temple in a steep course Dyn false door of Rahotep was removed from its with a gradient of more than 8°. The causeway protected in situ placement and all the mission’s was covered by a thick layer of sand. It is a major field magazines were vandalised. The team did all insight gained through the geographical work they could to document the damage and to return that the wadi changed its shape fundamentally in the site to order. Most of the so-called ‘Bonnet
historic times. Augerings made clear that the causeway has a total length of 140m and opens into a huge U-shaped structure which is defined by massive mud-brick walls. This might be interpreted as a harbour basin. Several new limestone relief fragments from the lower temple of the Bent Pyramid were uncovered. Four MK shafts were excavated W of the pyramid of Amenemhat II. One shaft opens into a limestone burial chamber with remains of the original burial. Geomorphological mapping identified five quarries close to the Bent Pyramid and the pyramid of Amenemhat III. www.dainst.org Nag el-Hagar: A joint team of the Swiss Inst and the MSA/SCA Aswan, directed by Regina Franke (Ludwig Maximilian Univ, Munich) and Mohammed el-Bialy, conducted excavations in the severelydestroyed late Roman fortress 18km S of Kom Ombo. Excavation concentrated on the central headquarter building (principia), where the foundations of an octogonally-shaped room were uncovered. www.swissinst.ch Aswan South: After urgent salvage works during the last two years the Swiss Inst team, led by Cornelius von Pilgrim, has started a new project to clean and consolidate the remains of the MK fortification wall between Aswan and Shellal and c.200m at the N preserved end of the wall was cleaned this season. A guardhouse was built and a site-management programme for this unique monument, including an exhibition ground for rock inscriptions, is in preparation. www.swissinst.ch Thanks to Colin Hope, Gianluca Miniaci, Nicole Alexanian, Angelo Sesana and Christophe Thiers for providing photographs.
The Sudan Archaeological Research Society The Society seeks to provide a focus for interest in those cultures which flourished along the Nile to the south of the First Cataract and in the regions to the east and west, by a programme of public lectures, a one-day colloquium and by the circulation of its annual Bulletin Sudan & Nubia. SARS also publishes the results of excavation and research as separate reports and is directly involved in fieldwork with at least one project in the field each year. New members are most welcome. Members receive Sudan & Nubia, details of all the Society’s events, access to the Society’s library and archive, and discounts on publications produced by the Society. For further details please contact the Honorary Secretary, SARS, c/o The British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK. E-mail:sars@ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk Website: www.sudarchrs.org.uk
jim@pandpbooks.eclipse.co.uk 28
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Investigating the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III During the three years since the last report (EA 33, pp.33-35) the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project has made many new discoveries. Hourig Sourouzian reports on the Project’s continuing work. The mortuary temple of Amenhotep III at Kom el-Hettan on the west bank at Luxor is renowned for the large number of royal colossi and divine statues that have been found there. They are all of high artistic and technical quality, but they should not be viewed merely as works of art since they can be understood only in the context of the temple they adorned. The aim of the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project is both to preserve what remains of this royal mortuary temple and to reassemble, restore and, where possible, re-erect the statues in their original places so that their archaeological context can be better understood and made accessible to visitors. This is being achieved by archaeological research and archaeo-seismological investigations, the reassembly of dispersed parts of monuments, and an extensive conservation programme. The spring 2011 campaign was our thirteenth season and coincided with the period of unrest in Egypt. Fortunately we were able to continue work without interruption and with excellent results. During the season we uncovered a colossal seated statue of Amenhotep III in the area in front of the third pylon of the temple. The head, which is 3m high and 2.8m wide, was broken from the 6m-high torso during the fall of the colossus, but the break is clean, with no
The face of the alabaster colossus with the distinctive features of Amenhotep III
missing pieces, so we will be able to restore the statue and re-erect it. The face of the king is a masterpiece of royal portraiture, and bears the characteristic features of Amenhotep III - almond shaped eyes prolonged with cosmetic bands, a short nose and a large mouth with wide lips, delimited by a sharp ridge. This colossus is the northern one of a pair which originally stood at the gate of the third pylon, 200m behind the Colossi of Memnon, which guarded the gate of the first pylon, and the pair is unusual for having been cut from alabaster from the
The broken alabaster colossus as found in the area in front of the third pylon of the temple
29
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Raising one of the black granite blocks of the statue pedestals
Pedestal blocks outside the storage magazine
Hatnub quarries in Middle Egypt. This material is rarely used for colossal statuary and these colossi are the tallest known of Hatnub alabaster, with an estimated height of c.18m. They collapsed during a severe earthquake in the New Kingdom and were broken into several large pieces, which were only partly visible in an alluvial layer of Nile mud. All these pieces will gradually be uncovered for conservation and reassembly next season, to be restored to their original place in the near future. Along with the alabaster pieces of the colossal statues we also recovered two large blocks and several smaller pieces in black granite which belong to the pedestals of the colossi. These blocks are decorated with personifications of foreign lands and in size and decoration are parallelled by similar blocks found reused in a structure at Karnak South. In 2006 we moved these to the funerary temple of Amenhotep III, on the assumption that they might belong to alabaster colossi there as they have an inscription mentioning ‘alabaster from Hatnub’ - a decision which is now fully justified. The newly-discovered granite blocks will be added to those brought from Karnak to restore the pedestals of the reconstructed alabaster colossi. During the 2011 season we also investigated, through excavations, research, documentation and conservation,
the temple’s second pylon and the area in front of it, where two quartzite colossi of Amenhotep III had fallen at the gate. The torso of the northern colossus (see EA 21, pp.36-37 and EA 33, p.35) was transported on a sledge from the place where it had been temporarily stored for conservation 13m back to its original place, near the modern pedestal built on a reinforced foundation, where it will be re-erected in the coming season. The 250-ton torso of the southern colossus lifted in 2009 is now lying on its back so that the statue of Queen Tiye standing beside the right leg of the colossus is completely out of the reach of water, and revealing the previously-hidden right side of the throne, on to which the colossus had fallen. It is inscribed with the names of the king and decorated with a scene of the sma-tawy by two Nile gods. Restoration of parts of the right hand, foot and leg, joined to the torso in the previous season, was completed and, after desalination and cleaning, the colossal torso was drawn and a condition report made. Its re-erection is planned for forthcoming seasons. The northern stela of Amenhotep III in the great court is carved in red quartzite from the quarry of Gebel el-Ahmar near modern Cairo. The upper part has two offering scenes that show Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye bringing
The quartzite northern colossus with the statue of Queen Tiye, ready to be lifted on to its reinforced foundation 30
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The great court of the temple during the reconstruction of the northern stela, next to the southern stela re-erected in 1950
offerings to Amun-Re and Ptah-Sokar. Below these scenes are 25 lines of a sunken hieroglyphic inscription dedicating a temple to Ptah-Sokar and his Ennead, and describing all the goods in the Temple of Millions of Years which Amenhotep III has dedicated to the great gods of Thebes. Fallen during a severe earthquake, the stela had been broken into numerous pieces, which were scattered all over the site. In recent years (see EA 33, p.34), we had gathered 160 pieces which were cleaned, recorded and grouped together on the ground in a trial reassembly. This season the stone conservators and specialists gradually reconstructed the stela with 27 large pieces and several smaller ones, up to a height of 7.40m. The stela is 3.20m wide and 1.60m deep. The stela, which will be completed next season with the addition of its rounded top, bringing it to its original height of 9m, is the northern one of a pair. Its companion, the southern stela, broken in two pieces, was reassembled and raised in 1950 by Labib Habachi and Mahmoud Darwish. On the opposite side of the court, conservation continued on the architectural remains and the fragmented statues of the west portico, while in the central part cleaning and consolidation were carried out on the pavement of very
large sandstone slabs that were found in bad condition because of the impact of the ground water and salts. Not all the statuary of the temple was colossal, shown by a beautiful head (28.5cm high) of a divine statue in granodiorite that was discovered during clearance and mapping works in the central part of the great peristyle court where more parts of the original pavement were uncovered. It represents a male deity wearing a striated wig with part of the plaited divine beard preserved under the chin.The left part of the face with the ear was
The quartzite southern colossus after having been turned to lie on its back
The reconstructed northern stela
31
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The granodiorite divine head found in the peristyle court
missing upon discovery, but a fragment with the left ear, found in spring 2002 in the north part of the court, turned out to join the head. The colossal head of a standing statue of Amenhotep III in red granite was discovered in the great court of the mortuary temple at Kom el-Hettan in 1957 by Labib Habachi, working on behalf of the Egyptian Antiquities Service. Although photographs show that it was found with a beard, the head (Reg. No. J.133) has been exhibited in the Luxor Museum without it. Research in the storerooms of the SCA, in co-operation with Inspectors Ahmed Ezz and Mahmoud Mousa, revealed the beard and it was brought back, by kind permission of Mostafa Wazery and Yahya Abdel Alim, to Kom el-Hettan where it was cleaned, measured, photographed and scanned. In the Luxor Museum, thanks to the support of the Director General, Sanaa Ahmed Aly, the beard was reattached to the head by the stone conservators of the Memnon/Amenhotep III Project, showing the importance of research in storerooms and museums in the identification of missing elements of statuary.
Reattaching the beard to the Luxor Museum head of Amenhotep III q Hourig Sourouzian is Director of The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project which is financially supported by matching grants from the Association des Amis des Colosses de Memnon, directed by Monique Hennessy, Föderverein Memnon, administered by Ursula Lewenton, and the World Monuments Fund® Robert W Wilson Challenge to Conserve Our Heritage. Mercedes Benz, Egypt, provides the Project with a four wheel drive company car. Photographs © The Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project.
The sandstone pavement in the great court with the reconstructed quartzite statues, one with the cast of the head in the British Museum, see EA 33, p.33
32
EGYPTIAN
Glenn Janes, The Shabti Collections, 1: West Park Museum, Macclesfield. Olicar House Publications, 2010 (ISBN 978 0 95662710 0). Price: £35.00. It is a frequentlybemoaned fact that while myriad collections of Egyptian antiquities exist around the world, only a tiny proportion have proper published catalogues. While the advent of the Internet is now allowing institutions to place their internal catalogues on-line, these often repeat embedded errors from registration work carried out many years ago and, while admirable in their own way, can never substitute for a formal catalogue from first principles by a subject-matter expert. Accordingly, the volume under review is to be welcomed, especially as it is intended to be the first in a series of publications of shabti collections in the north west of England. The West Park Museum was donated to the people of Macclesfield by Marianne Brocklehurst (b.1832), not long before her death in 1898, and included an Egyptian collection obtained by Miss Brocklehurst during visits to Egypt between 1873 and 1891, together with other items obtained by her in the UK – including material from the Egypt Exploration Fund, to which she was an early subscriber. She had met Amelia Edwards in Egypt during her first trip and features in A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, along with her companion Mary Booth, as ‘the MBs’. Miss Brocklehurst’s career is outlined in a Foreword, provided by Alan Hayward, Honorary Curator of the Macclesfield Egyptian collection. Since a number of the shabtis included in the catalogue derive from two of the great ‘finds’ of the late nineteenth century at Deir el-Bahari – Theban Tomb 320 (the ‘royal cache’) and the late Twenty-First Dynasty priestly mass burial in the Bab el-Gasus – introductory essays are provided on both deposits. That on TT320 includes quotations from Emile Brugsch and both Misses Edwards and Brocklehurst – eye witnesses to the events leading up to the revealing of the tomb’s secret – and also from Robert de Rustafjaell, writing some forty years later about Ahmed Abd el-Rassul, and whose photographs of the then-old man are included. The Bab el-Gasus section features Miss Brocklehurst’s watercolours (now in the West Park collection) of the 1891 clearance operation, painted on her last visit to Egypt. The catalogue of shabtis is arranged chronologically, each entry beginning with a tabulation of accession number, names and titles of owners, date, material and provenance (where known). There then follow a description, a hand-copy, transliteration and translation of any inscription, a note of parallels – and a set of very high-quality colour photographs. It is doubtless the costs of printing these that has led to the relatively high price for a book of only 64 pages. Thirty-four shabtis are catalogued (including one missed by Rosalie David in her 1980 summary catalogue of the whole Macclesfield collection), together with one New Kingdom shabti-box. They range in date from the Eighteenth Dynasty through to early Ptolemaic
ARCHAEOLOGY
Bookshelf
times, and include the face of a shabti of Amenhotep III, four figures of Panedjem I and one each of the God’s Wives Maatkare A and Henttawy D, with representative pieces from various phases of the Third Intermediate Period and later times. This volume is to be welcomed as providing an exemplary account of the Macclesfield shabtis – the author’s note of parallels is particularly useful. One looks forward to the next one! AIDAN DODSON Christopher Woods (ed.), Visible Language. Inventions of writing in the ancient Middle East and beyond. Chicago Oriental Institute Museum Publications 32, 2010 (ISBN 978 1 885923 76 9). Price: $29.95. ‘Writing is one of the most important inventions ever made by humans’ Gil J Stein claims in the foreword to this catalogue of the exhibition ‘Visible Language’ shown at the Chicago Oriental Institute Museum from 28 September 2010 to 6 March 2011. ‘Is it?’, one is tempted to reply. No doubt, writing permeates every field of modern society, but so do other technologies. Writing has an additional notion as it demarcates in Western common sense the great divide between pre-history and history, i.e. the beginning of our era. The debate on the origins of writing is, therefore, not only an academic issue but, with its implications for incorporating early civilizations into our own world-view, merits discussion in a wider public arena. This exhibition catalogue, following a long-standing tradition, takes a comparative perspective on early writing systems and the editor, Christopher Woods, frequently refers in his Introduction to The First Writing: Script Invention as history and process (S D Houston [ed. ], 2004). He explores the specific potential of logographic writing and challenges oldfashioned, but still powerful, views that the alphabet reflects in the history of writing the ultimate climax of the evolution of humanity. The author highlights the relevance of semasiographic notation in our globalized 33
world, ie. a system in which pictures do not correspond to a specific sound or language, such as IKEA instructions. He argues that the alphabet slices language into units smaller than the syllable and is thus counter-intuitive for native speakers who think through morphemes and syllables rather than individual sounds. According to Woods a positive feature of logographic writing is its conservative nature. It maintains its readability over a long period of time and transcends regional variation (dialects) in contrast to the fluctuations of spoken language. Woods rightly points to the fact that writing has a specific role in the communication of a society. It cannot, and did not, simply replace spoken language but, according to J S Cooper, fulfilled new tasks and created new contexts of communication. However, the author outlines a series of reasons for which the emergence of writing cannot be reduced to universal rules. Cuneiform, while originating in logographic writing, lost its iconicity and became applicable to the notation of languages other than Sumerian. Egyptian and Maya writing were more closely integrated into art and kept their iconicity. A specific feature of Egyptian writing is the diversity of scripts used for the notation of one (and only one) language. The comparative perspective suggests a strong relationship between growing social complexity and the use of writing across the world. However, the contexts of early writing differ, ranging from administration (Egypt, Mesopotamia) and monumental commemoration (Maya) to divination (China). Woods generally accepts these explanations but criticises their coarse-grained nature. He argues that the complexity of the production of coloured bone inscriptions at Abydos speaks against a purely utilitarian use of writing and that Sumerian writing is the result of the collapse of socio-political institutions in the late Uruk Period rather than a tool developed at the beginning of complex bureaucracy. Woods emphasises that, apart from social factors, the monosyllabic structure of Sumerian and Chinese may have stimulated the emergence of writing in these areas of the world. His article is an inspiring synthesis of current debates on early writing systems with a traditional focus on the visibility of language in writing as opposed to speech. This falls somewhat short of the promising title of the catalogue. Visibility could have been explored in more innovative ways, for example by a discussion of different degrees of visibility of written language in various societies and the impact this had on the use of alternative media in the wider communication. The following articles are very good reviews with an up-to-date bibliography but refer rather loosely to the complex framework outlined in the Introduction. The Egyptian sections present by and large published objects of the Chicago collection, ranging from potmarks in hieroglyphic style to stelae and papyri of various dates and content. The quality of the photographs is excellent and the objects are well described, controversial features
EGYPTIAN
are authoratatively discussed, and references to previous publications are provided. However, it would have been useful in some cases to illustrate more than just the inscribed part of the object to help the reader understand better the overall shape of the object and the position of the inscription on it. While cuneiform and Egyptian scripts make up the greatest part of the book, the other two pristine writing systems - Chinese and Mayan glyphs - and secondary scripts such as Protosinaitic, alphabetic scripts and Luwian hieroglyphs are also considered. Among the non-Egyptian objects in the catalogue the reviewer’s eye was especially caught by: No.93, an Aramaic incantation bowl whose spiral inscription focuses visually on the centre of the bowl just as the content of the magical spell focuses on an individual in the same way as some Egyptian letters to the dead; No.94, a clay tablet with cuneiform Babylonian on the obverse and a Greek transcription on the reverse giving insight into the interaction between the oriental and the occidental world; and No.95, an Anatolian hieroglyphic seal inscription that includes the Egyptian ankh sign and raises a discussion of the Mycenaean use of this symbol as representing the sound ‘za’, later Greek ζοη ‘life’. The contributors to the catalogue are Chicago staff, post-doctoral and graduate students, thus making this a true Chicago project and taking the discussion back to where it began with I J Gelb’s A Study of Writing (1952), as Woods points out. Part of the modern Chicago tradition is the effort to make books available online and we can be grateful for the generous opportunity to download this catalogue from the Oriental Institute: http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oimp32.pdf. RICHARD BUSSMANN Mohamed I Bakr, Helmut Brandl, Faye Kalloniatis (eds), Egyptian Antiquities from Kufur Nigm and Bubastis. Opaion Verlag, 2010 (ISBN 978 3 000335 09 9). Price: €29. Although the famous Egyptian Museum in Cairo and its numerous treasures are familiar to every scholar and enthusiast of the culture of ancient Egypt, the smaller museums of Egypt are much less well-known, although they often contain objects of unique interest. Attempts to introduce these museums both to science and to the interested public are, therefore, to be welcomed. A first step in this direction has been taken by this lavishly-illustrated bilingual (English and Arabic) catalogue presenting objects on display in the Museum of the University of Zagazig. They come from Kufur Nigm and Tell Basta/Bubastis in the eastern Delta, excavated (1978-93) by Mohamed I Bakr for the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation (now the SCA). The sites, although in close proximity, are very different: Bubastis, one of the most important cities of ancient Egypt from the beginning of the dynastic period until the end of Roman times, has long attracted archaeologists, from Edouard Naville, who excavated there for the EEF in 1887, to the current Tell Basta Project, a joint mission under the auspices of the University of Göttingen, the EES and the SCA (see pp.7-9).
ARCHAEOLOGY
The volume opens with five short chapters about these two very different sites: while Bubastis was a major metropolis, Kufur Nigm, c.30km north of Tell Basta, was a rural settlement with domestic and cemetery areas, ranging in date from the Predynastic Period into the Old Kingdom. The description of Kufur Nigm mainly deals with the Early Dynastic Period tombs excavated by Bakr (1984-90). These contained a rather standardised repertoire of funerary goods of their time, although the authors point out some objects which seem to reflect local (Delta) traditions. What is missing is a discussion of whether the site was a regional centre in its own right or dependent on a city (probably Bubastis). The next four chapters present the site of Tell Basta, focusing on the find-spots of most of the objects in the catalogue (the cemeteries and the temple) and discussing the famous hoards of metal objects and semiprecious jewellery found in 1907 and 1992. While giving a useful overview, the texts are largely descriptive, and do not address some interesting research questions which deserve more detailed discussion. The main part of the book consists of the catalogue with 83 entries, presenting 17 objects from Kufur Nigm and 66 objects from Tell Basta. The objects are presented with excellent photographs and a short description and discussion in English and Arabic, headed by general information. The catalogue entries are the work of several different authors and they are generally well-written. While sometimes a bit over-general in nature, they are appropriate to the book’s aim to inform the interested public. There are some minor confusions and errors, mostly relating to the find-spots, and probably caused by the long time-lag between the excavation work and the production of the catalogue. This is a valuable and welcome publication of objects which were formerly almost unknown from two important Delta sites and it is a valuable resource for both scholars and interested enthusiasts. The high-quality photographs and the attractive layout make the volume a delightful presentation. (A fuller review of this book by Eva Lange will be published in the JEA). EVA LANGE
34
Bill Manley and Aidan Dodson, Life Everlasting. National Museums Scotland Collection of Ancient Egyptian Coffins. NMS Enterprises Ltd, 2010. (ISBN 978 1 905267 17 0). Price: £30. Coffins provide one of the richest sources for understanding ancient Egyptian religious practices, funerary customs, social and cultural links, and sometimes evidence of their modern history. Since the dawn of Egyptology, coffins have caught the eye of the traveller, plunderer, dealer and scholar alike and their ancient history can often be better understood when linked with the more recent history of their discovery. Clearly aware of this, Bill Manley and Aidan Dodson have sought to provide the modern background, compiled from a variety of sources, to many of the coffins of the National Museums Scotland (NMS). As stated in its foreword, this book aims to provide a comprehensive record of the NMS corpus of coffins and related objects; masks, mummy-portraits, cartonnages, mummy-trappings and foot-cases, though regrettably the texts upon them are not discussed in any detail. The book opens with a historical overview of the formation of the NMS Egyptian collection from the acquisition of its first coffin in 1819 to its present day complement as a result of the merger in 1985 of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Museum. The main section of the book comprises a catalogue of 64 objects arranged in seven chronological sections (from the Middle Kingdom to the Roman Period) and one further object of debatable authenticity included in an appendix. Each section opens with a concise introduction which provides a brief overview of coffins from the period, highlighting their distinctive features and stylistic variations. The catalogue is clearly set out, with the deceased’s name and titles, inventory number, dating, dimensions, material, general description, mode of acquisition, provenance, and material found inside each coffin or associated with it, as well as bibliographical references, all of which are arranged under separate headings to assist the reader in finding information quickly if skimming through the book. Wherever possible, each entry is provided with an up-to-date bibliography. For the most significant objects, additional information and commentary are given under the heading ‘remarks’ and a cue for further reflection. While each coffin is provided with a detailed description, which assists the reader in visualising elements not readily ascertained from the photographs, a slightly different format would have benefited the entries for the richly decorated coffins such as those of the Third Intermediate Period. For these the images are mostly too small to do justice to the elaborate religious scenes on the front and sides of the coffins and, as a result, one has to strain to make out details described in the text. Here, the use of several photographs each showing a section of a coffin’s front or side and accompanied by the relevant written description would have been clearer. The NMS Egyptian collection includes masterpieces of international renown alongside
EGYPTIAN
other, no less interesting, pieces published here for the first time. In the former category, the rishi coffin of the so called ‘Qurna Queen’ (see also pp.38-40) is of exceptional interest not least because of the many unresolved questions that still surround it and the burial from which it came: was the owner Egyptian or Nubian, a queen/princess or a member of the elite from the Second Intermediate Period or early New Kingdom; was the grave discovered by Flinders Petrie in the Theban desert an isolated burial, a cache or part of a still undisturbed cemetery? The coffin trough of the Third Prophet of Amun-Re at Karnak, Iufenamun, is a good example of the extensively decorated type popular in the Third Intermediate Period which includes an unparalleled and curious vignette combining scenes from the fifth hour section of the Book of Gates with representations from the Book of the Dead. It is also significant for belonging to the same high priest who, in c.960 BC, was responsible for moving the mummies of Seti I and Ramesses II from the Valley of the Kings to the tomb of Queen Inhapy, which was then being reused as a cache. The unique double coffin of Petamun and Penhorpabik, two young boys who died in the second century AD and whose bodies were placed side by side, sheds light on the great humanity which often lies behind antiquities. Many other coffins in the collection come from the nineteenth-century excavations conducted in the Theban necropolis by Alexander Henry Rhind, whose main discoveries were a disparate group of 80 coffins from a cache or mass grave at el-Khokha and others from a tomb at Qurna, the latter used in the 21st Dynasty by priests to conceal the mummies of a number of 18th Dynasty princesses, and further reused in the early Roman Period. The study concludes with a useful reference section, comprising tables of concordance, including a list of coffins recorded by Margaret Murray in her Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the National Museum of Antiquities (1900), a small glossary, and a comprehensive index. The book is illustrated with many highquality photographs and is attractively and clearly laid out. It is a valuable addition to the subject of Egyptian coffins and the history of Egyptological collections, and is recommended for both coffin specialists and general interest readers. GIANLUCA MINIACI Finally David Jeffreys reviews the DVD of a recent television programme. Egypt’s Lost Cities (BBCDVD3361) 2011. 90 mins (a BBC/Discovery/France Televisions co-production). Price: £12.99. This DVD presents a BBC feature programme screened in the UK in June this year, based on the work of Sarah Parcak, whose Cambridge PhD was published as an excellent book, Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology (London, 2009). This programme is a popular version of part of her research, focusing on the Nile valley and Delta, and the desert regions on either side. The title is something of a misnomer, since true settlement sites hardly appear at all and the spotlight is on desert and desert-edge sites such as the Memphite pyramid field and the west
ARCHAEOLOGY
bank at Abydos - not surprisingly perhaps, as these are the areas most accessible to both excavation and non-intr usive remote-sensing techniques. I may be oldfashioned, but for me one of the more irritating aspects of the programme was the inclusion (apparently compulsory these days in television production of archaeological content) of two young ‘presenters’ who seem to have been selected for their apparent complete ignorance of ancient Egypt. One is an actor and the other a zoology graduate involved in bigcat conservation. We are thus treated to a continual chorus of ‘Wow!’ and ‘Off the scale!’ (‘Oh my God!’ and various growling noises may have crept in as well) as if the information emerging had never been seen or imagined before. The result is a near-total absence of intelligent discussion, questioning of techniques and use of results: in general any reflection of the philosophy of modern applications to archaeological data. There is a clear lack of some sensible editorial control and authority: much of the footage from ‘Saqqara’ was evidently shot at Dahshur; a sequence at a supposedly remote location in the Western Desert had the team clearly crossing a railway line; Lisht (Itjet-tawy) is said to be in Lower Egypt; the ‘conservationist’ presenter is shown in close-up rubbing her fingers over a newly discovered Middle Kingdom block at Hawara with not a latex glove in sight. Two longish sequences inside tombs, with Zahi Hawass (Giza) and John Romer (Thebes), seemed completely redundant – what had they to do with the programme’s theme and content? The CGI (computer generated imagery) is at times laughable – an inanely grinning Sphinx; monuments miraculously emerging amid sandstorms with imagery seemingly inspired by/borrowed from Scorpion King/The Mummy/Aladdin/Hidalgo (you name it); and the Sahara transforming from desert to savanna and back again – something incidentally that we have known about for years. Perhaps the most depressing aspect was the tacit assumption that geophysical survey and remote sensing of whatever kind is a natural evolutionary prelude to excavation. If there is anything more calculated to drive me to incandescent rage and an early grave, it is statements such as ‘every Egyptologist dreams about … an undiscovered royal tomb’ (well actually … not - or only as a nightmare perhaps). It is hard to imagine that someone who has worked and studied with Barry Kemp could come out with such a statement. Although one must, I suppose, make allowances for an element of playing to the gallery/cameras, there is a serious point here: in reinforcing stereotypes of what Egyptian archaeology is about, programmes like this firstly do a huge disservice to the 35
serious efforts of other professionals who have already covered the same ground, and secondly ignore the view that the satellite image should perhaps stand as the record unless and until the site is physically threatened. Viewers are given the entirely false impression that nobody has investigated Egyptian sites using remote sensing techniques, while, in fact, ground-based survey provides much higher resolution and precision than satellite imaging can at present. I find it difficult to forgive the complete absence of any reference to, or acknowledgment of, the work of colleagues such as Jon Dittmer and Ian Mathieson, Tomasz Herbich, Helmut Becker and Kristian Strutt who have, over the past twenty years, painstakingly been recording floodplain and desert-edge sites using ground-based and other remote-sensing techniques: magnetometry, resistivity meter survey, acoustic survey, etc. (as reported frequently in the pages of EA) at sites such as Saqqara, Tell el-Daba, Qantir, Tell Balamun, Sais and Buto, to name but a few … and even Tanis, the one settlement site that features in the programme. There is also a neglect of previous use of satellite imagery itself: for example the one foray into desert regions (coyly not identified, but ‘700km south-west of Cairo’ gets us somewhere to the south-west of the Dakhla Oasis) makes no mention of the pioneering satellite-based archaeology of Paleolithic and Neolithic sites along the Saharan ‘radar rivers’ discovered years ago, or of the work at Jebel Uweinat and Gilf el-Kebir, all relying in part on satellite data. François Leclère has also shown the value of filtering satellite images (see EA 30, pp.14-17), and we have seen how satellite pictures can be used in advanced spatial analysis by the Czech Institute working at Abu Sir (EA 26, pp.3-6 and cover). Since this programme was supposed to be about cities, it was a shame that the crucial point – that this technique is next to useless for complex, deeply stratified settlement sites (i.e. cities) - was virtually buried (so to speak). In fact the applied aspects of the technique turned out to be fairly disappointing - excavations actually tailored to the satellite imagery (for example by Günter Dreyer at Abydos, who was remarkably accommodating) either found nothing or, at another site, looked like a disaster in the making as scenes of the trowel-and-brush scraping of a piece of pristine limestone flooring/walling were painful to watch. One is inevitably left with a strong sense of opportunities missed - for example, the hundreds of new sites identified by this method in the Nile Valley, the Nile Delta and the Fayum (where are they and of what date? We would all love to know); and the potential of the method for providing a national register of sites much more sophisticated than what is currently (though only recently) available. On the other hand there were moments of real revelation - such as Sarah’s interactive screen for displaying the satellite imagery - a sort of huge iPad. I have to get me one of those! A modified version of this programme is apparently being prepared for the US market: It will be interesting to see what changes are made, if any. DAVID JEFFREYS
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
ACCES-ing Egyptian and Sudanese collections in the UK
The work of the Association for Curators of Collections from Egypt and Sudan (ACCES), sharing knowledge and expertise, is described by Campbell Price and Gina Criscenzo-Laycock. receive feedback and suggestions for future activities. ACCES is particularly keen to highlight the existence of archive material, and to encourage its use by members. Recent initiatives have raised awareness among nonspecialist curators of major Egyptological archives at the EES, Petrie Museum, Griffith Institute and Garstang Museum, Liverpool. ACCES also continues to encourage archival research in smaller collections as this can be an especially useful resource for presenting narratives about the acquisition of objects by local figures, which is of interest to regional audiences. A recent priority was to raise the profile of ACCES among its own members and more broadly, and Facebook proved a useful platform to post news, share images and discuss topics of mutual interest. Redevelopment of the ACCES website included uploading more information on individual collections and resources, links to Facebook galleries of collection highlights, and a search function linked to the CultureGrid (formerly Cornucopia) website, enabling searches (by object type, site, or excavator) of all ACCES members. It is hoped that the ACCES website will act as a hub for information about Egyptian and Sudanese collections in the UK, and provide a valuable means of increasing their visibility among Egyptologists and non-specialists alike.
ACCES was founded in May 2006 as a Subject Specialist Network (SSN) for museum curators throughout the United Kingdom responsible for archaeological collections from Egypt and Sudan. The SSN scheme is an initiative to share knowledge and expertise within certain subject areas, funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA - www.mla.gov.uk). The main aim of ACCES is to facilitate the exchange of information and good practice between 15 core museums with large Egyptian and Sudanese collections, some 200 smaller collections elsewhere in the UK, and a broader academic and public audience. The task of quantifying the number and extent of provincial collections in the UK was initiated by the British Museum and subsequently more detailed research based on this data was led by Margaret Serpico of the Petrie Museum. A full survey revealed that over 200 UK institutions (now members of the ACCES network) hold more than 375,000 objects from Egypt and Sudan. In the last year, ACCES has organised a series of practical workshops for non-specialist curators, with topics designed to cover issues encountered by local museums when researching their collections. Members from core institutions gave presentations on ‘Distribution Lists’ (hosted by the EES in London), ‘Object Marks’ (at the Garstang Museum, University of Liverpool), and ‘Identifying Fakes’ (at Norwich Castle Museum). The workshops provided an informal setting for dialogue between curators, and an opportunity for ACCES to
q Campbell Price and Gina Criscenzo-Laycock were ACCES Project Assistants 2010-11. Photograph by Oliver Smith, courtesy of Manchester Museums. For more on ACCES, reports on workshops and information on collections, visit the website: www.acces.org.uk
The Egypt and Sudan galleries at Manchester Museum, an ACCES partner member 36
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Re-excavating rishi coffins in museums and archives Recent study of unpublished rishi coffins provides new insights into the funerary culture of Second Intermediate Period Egypt and permits an exploration of the mechanisms of social transformation and cultural transmission. Gianluca Miniaci describes his excavations in archives and museums. During the late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period rectangular coffins were gradually falling into disuse and giving way to a distinctive type of anthropoid coffin with feathered decoration, now known as rishi from the Arabic word for ‘feathered’. This type of coffin is commonly decorated with a pair of mirroring wings which cover the lid from shoulder to foot, while the head usually features a royal nemesheaddress. In most of the examples, the chest of the coffin is decorated with a broad wesekh-collar, a vulture with outstretched wings and a rearing cobra. A vertical column usually divides the torso of the coffin into two parts and, in some cases, is inscribed with a standard offering formula and the name and titles of the deceased. Their workmanship is generally mediocre, and usually they are made of low-quality timber, often sycamore fig or some other native tree species. The ideology that lies behind the feathered pattern has been much debated among scholars, but as yet no argument seems to be conclusive. The feathers could represent the ba of the deceased or the bas of Re and Osiris while merging together in the form of a bird, as related in the myth of Osiris’ rebirth, but other possible hypotheses have been advanced. The importance of rishi coffins is due to their appearance and spread within a period of intense social and cultural change - the Second Intermediate Period. Therefore, a detailed analysis of the rise and the fall of the rishi coffin type can reveal new social and cultural patterns in burial customs and ritual traditions of that period. For a long time, the rishi coffins referred to in Egyptological literature were relatively few in number. These include the royal coffins of Sekhemre Heruhirmaat Intef (Louvre, E.3020), Sekhemre Wepmaat Intef (Louvre, E.3019), Nubkheperre Intef (British Museum, EA 6652), Seqenenre Djehuty-aa (Cairo Museum, CG 61001), Kamose (Cairo Museum, TR 14.12.27.12), Ahhotep (Cairo Museum, JE 28501) and the so-called ‘Qurna Queen’ (National Museums Scotland, A.1909.527.1, see also p.36), plus a certain number of private examples lacking any specific chronological information. This limited selection led Egyptologists to date the first use of rishi coffins to the Seventeenth Dynasty, based on the examples for kings assigned to that time, and to consider
their feathered design as an innovation founded in the Theban environment and conceived in the bosom of royalty. New research and recent discoveries have cast fresh light on the development of rishi coffins, focusing on the crucial role played by the non-elite in the transmission of the rishi model, which challenges the common ‘top-down’ view of innovation, and stresses their deeply rooted links with late Middle Kingdom funerary culture. Many rishi coffins were found during the excavations of Auguste Mariette and Luigi Vassalli at Dra Abu el-Naga in the mid nineteenth century. Unfortunately, most of them seemed to have been lost forever, because by the time of their discovery they were already almost completely decayed. The only information about them was contained in a short note by Gaston Maspero: ‘Et de fait Vassalli, qui dirigeait les chantiers de Drah abou’l-Neggah, ne cessait de tirer de terre ces curieux cercueils rishi’. However, searching through the pages of the Journal d’Entrée in Cairo, Luigi Vassalli’s records in the Civica Biblioteca d’Arte in Milan, and the archives of Gaston Maspero in the Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France in Paris revealed that many of these seemingly unknown rishi coffins were in fact recor ded in drawings, notes and archaeological information. The pages of the Journal d’Entrée represent a real ‘digging diary’ of the nineteenth c e n t u r y, w h e r e besides the listing of grave goods, the type of coffin associated Drawing (AV f. 39r ) of a rishi coffin found during the excavations of Mariette. © Fondo Luigi Vassalli
37
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Detail of the coffin (TR 19.11.27.5) of the ‘commander of the ruler’s crew’ Teti. Egyptian Museum, Cairo
with them is carefully stated. Drawings and details of these rishi coffins are also preserved amongst the records of Vassalli and Maspero. Moreover, at least one of the rishi coffins stored in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which belongs to the ‘commander of the ruler’s crew’ Teti (TR 19.11.27.5), seems to have come from Mariette’s excavations at Dra Abu el-Naga. In 1910-14 Howard Carter and the fifth Earl of Carnarvon turned their attention to an area of the Asasif (el-Birabi), where they discovered two unusually large saff tombs containing several rishi coffins. The best-preserved examples entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but a letter of Lord Carnarvon to Wallis Budge reveals that many other rishi coffins were dispersed among European museums: ‘The Berlin people want 1 or two of them & have offered to exchange. Do you think you would like one?’. The location of several of these rishi coffins is already well known; two are now in the Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich (ÄS 608 and ÄS 1332) and two in the British Museum (EA 52951 and EA 54350) but many others were thought to be lost or much too decayed to have survived. However, while I was researching in the basement of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, many rishi coffins from the Carter
Anonymous (unnumbered) coffin, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
and Carnarvon expedition came to light. At the present time, approximately 18 unknown rishi coffins and several scattered rishi fragments have been identified there. Their state of preservation is mostly poor and their inscriptions often faded by dust and time, but among them it is possible to identify coffins belonging to the ‘accountant of the treasurer’ Amenhotep (TR 5.12.25.2) and the ‘king’s son’ Renseneb (TR 22.11.16.2). The mass of unpublished material recovered from the basement of the Egyptian Museum is not without voice and its ‘archaeological history’ can be traced back from the written records and photographic material left unpublished by Howard Carter that is now stored in the archives of the MMA of New York and the Griffith Institute at Oxford. Other rishi coffins came from the excavations conducted by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art under the direction of Ambrose Lansing and Herbert Winlock at Thebes during the first half of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, when discovered most of these rishi coffins were already in pieces and badly preserved, with the exception of some fine examples now in the museum (MMA 23.3.461). However, the photographic records from the excavations held in the archives of the
Coffin of the ‘doorkeeper of the king’ Seped. Carter Mss. i.J.019. Photograph © The Griffith Institute, Oxford. 38
EGYPTIAN
Coffin (TR 5.12.25.2) of the ‘accountant of the treasurer’ Amenhotep. Egyptian Museum, Cairo
ARCHAEOLOGY
The ‘Qurna Queen’ anonymous coffin (A.1909.527.1) found by Petrie in the Theban necropolis. Photograph © National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh
Anonymous coffin (MMA 23.3.461). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Coffin of the lady Tawy (EA 54350). Photograph © Trustees of the British Museum
39
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
they were associated with objects bearing the royal names of Khakare and Maaibre Sheshi, while the rishi coffins of the ‘accountant of the main enclosure’ Neferhotep and the ‘overseer of the city’ Iuy can be dated by their burial equipment to the Thirteenth Dynasty. Other rishi coffins can be dated stylistically to the late Thirteenth rather than the Seventeenth Dynasty. Following this recent research, the first stage in the spread of rishi coffins seems to follow a ‘bottom-to-top’ development. The adoption of the rishi model by the kings at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty determined its passage from one of sporadic use to a successful custom, which spread rapidly across society. Indeed, the distribution of the rishi coffin type among private individuals reached its peak only during the first part of the New Kingdom. In conclusion, it appears that the rise of rishi coffins developed from the social and material background of the late Middle Kingdom and that their use during the Second Intermediate Period does not demonstrate a break with previous funerary tradition.
A fragment of a rishi coffin in the basement of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Metropolitan Museum of Art allow the identification of a great number of coffin typologies, within 8 8 8 2*7.58!88 ! !!88! 8 88 2(68! which the private rishi type can now be placed in sequence more clearly. What emerges from analysis is that Thebes was without doubt the centre for the emergence and development of the rishi coffin types, but that rishi coffins were already in use in the private sphere before their adoption by the Theban kings of the Seventeenth Dynasty. Two private rishi coffins seem to belong to the early Hyksos Period, since
q Gianluca Miniaci is Research Fellow in Egyptology at the University of Pisa and Deputy Director of the Archaeological Expedition of the University of Pisa at Dra Abu el-Naga (TT 14 and MIDAN.05) directed by Marilina Betrò. He is the author of the book Rishi Coffins and the Funerary Culture of Second Intermediate Period Egypt, GHP 17, London, 2011. Photographs Š the author unless otherwise stated.
2,+806#8462470860 7*8 8-.// ,7/71 '2(6487-8-625.1682153,/6487085+68 +34571*%8215%8,.457)48"8'614702/3536487-85+6 20$87-85+68 3/683082053 .35*%8248#6//82485+6 '2458 8*621487-821,+267/7(*87-85+68 20,36058)70.)60548"857)&485+616%8'/.48 6 ,3530(8$34,7 613648453//8&630(8)2$6857$2* 482846137.48 (*'57'+3/68*7.84+7./$8&68 4.&4,13&30(8578"860 7*30(8 6 61*84'130(%84.))61%8-2//8"8#30561 8 20*8&2, 8344.6487-85+68 7.102/82168453// 2 23/2&/68"8 )58 7)).03,2537048348 ,.11605/*87--6130(85#787-83548&77 48258 8"8 87--85+68713(302/8'13,64 8 78-30$87.58)7168"8578'130587.58 5+6871$618-71)8-718*7.18 4.&4,13'5370%8(7870/306857
### )5 7.102/ ,7) 40
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Wall-paintings from the tomb of Kynebu at Luxor Three wall paintings from the tomb of Kynebu (TT 113) on the west bank at Luxor have been in the collection of the British Museum since the mid nineteenth century. In 2007 the Hungarian mission studying tomb TT 65 found fragments from the same wall scene, as Tamás Bács and Richard Parkinson report. In 1868 the British Museum bought three small wall paintings from Robert James Hay, which show Queen Ahmose Nefertari, King Amenhotep I and Osiris (EA 37993–5). These had been removed from the painted tomb-chapel (TT 113) of the priest Kynebu of the reign of Ramesses VIII. The seller’s father was the well-known traveller Robert Hay (1799-1863) who had made copies of many scenes in the tomb while in Luxor in the 1830s and these are now in the British Library. His short written description of the tomb-chapel notes that:
The tomb, just north of the tombs of Menna and Nakht, is now inaccessible, having been destroyed in part by the fall of a large boulder, but Hay’s superb drawings remain a major source for its original decoration. In 2007 Tamás Bács was working on the clearance of the so-called ‘sloping passage’ of TT 65 and excavated a number of decorated mud-plaster fragments from the debris that partially filled it. The passage had been cut but never fully completed by the tomb-chapel’s Twentieth Dynasty owner, the priest Imiseba; it contained a scatter of heavily broken up archaeological material of varying dates, including ‘modern’ refuse such as, for example, part of a discarded letter written in 1846. When excavated, the debris proved to consist mostly of backfill, meaning that the bulk of it had been cleared from elsewhere inside the chapel and then dumped here.
‘in this little Tomb, the colours are very fresh …. what remains of it is very perfect and satisfactory - it is one of those examples of early painting from wh[ich] we may … conclude the artist was no inferior draughtsman’. (BL Add MSS 29824, folio 53 v)
The tomb of Kynebu today. Photograph: Tamás Bács
41
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Right: the fragment showing Ahmose Nefertari (EA 37994). Photograph © the Trustees of the British Museum
Coming from such a dubious context, the recovered fragments were then assembled into a scene of a personified djed-pillar, dressed as Osiris, and an adjoining one showing a weeping man. More significantly, however, on closer inspection the djed-pillar scene revealed the figural style, palette, and draftsmanship of Amenhotep, the well-known chief draughtsman of Deir el-Medina, who occupied that post from Year 2 of Ramesses IV until nearly the end of Ramesses IX’s reign. Amenhotep is not only firmly associated by inscriptions with the decoration of Imiseba’s tomb-chapel (TT 65, see EA 21, pp.21-24), but also by his undeniable governing artistic presence there as well. However, two aspects of the fragments argued that they did not belong to the original decoration of TT 65: their mud-plaster base and the grey background colour of the scenes. Noting these features and the fact that Amenhotep had been associated with the decoration of at least one other private tomb-chapel, that of Kynebu, Tamás Bács asked Richard Parkinson to check the unpublished Hay drawings of this tomb-chapel against photographs of the new scene. One drawing, reproduced here, shows the original compositions of part of one wall of the outer room of the tomb-chapel (BL Add MSS 29822, folio 117). The whole
The copy of the whole scene by Robert Hay (BL Add MSS 29822, folio 117). Photograph © the British Library 42
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
scene comprised Kynebu worshipping Amenhotep I, then Ahmose Nefertari in a shrine, and then the rediscovered djed-pillar. The paintings of these two royal figures are now in the British Museum, and the rediscovered fragments, in fact, have traces of the shrine around Ahmose Nefertari which is also still partly visible on the British Museum fragment. There is virtually a direct join between the old and new scenes. Other drawings by Hay make it clear that the figure of Osiris in the British Museum (EA 37995) was taken from a separate scene which showed Kynebu worshipping Osiris and another personified djed-pillar (BL Add MSS 29822 f.118-19). Immediately below the djed-pillar in the new fragments there is a scene of a weeping man, tending to a booth of funerary offerings. Hay wrote that under the scene of Amenhotep and Ahmose Nefertari, ‘in the lower line we find the funeral procession … a line of men are standing before altars of offerings and holding vases in their hands’. He drew two copies of a group of mourners including a weeping man (BL Add MSS 29822 f.129-30), but it is clear from details of the hieroglyphs in these drawings that this is not the same figure as in the new fragments. These fragments perhaps belong to the right of Hay’s weeping man. The fragments found at Luxor in TT 65 are broken and irregular, but at the edges they are not noticeably different from those of the British Museum fragments which have a neat rectangular shape that does not look like the result of accidental damage. The combination of museum artefacts, archaeological finds and archival drawings raises the uncomfortable probability that Hay, after he had copied the tomb-chapel, decided to remove some of the figures for himself but, if so, why did the scene with the djed-pillar remain in TT 65 while the other three figures were removed to Britain? The answer probably lies in the fascinating coincidence that in 1832 TT 65 served as the ‘house’ for A Dupuy, the French artist and lithographer attached to the Hay expedition. His drawings of the chapel, entitled ‘Gourna. From Mr. Dupuy’s House’, are still among the Hay manuscripts (BL Add MSS 29852: 267-303). It is not difficult to envisage a scenario in which the scene fragments were removed from Kynebu’s tomb-chapel and were then stored for a time in TT 65 before eventually being shipped out. Perhaps the recently-discovered scenes were removed at the same time but then suffered damage, and so were discarded and left in the other tomb-chapel. q Tamás Bács is Associate Professor of Egyptology and currently Head of the Department of Egyptology in the Institute of Classical Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and Field Director of the ‘TT 65 Project of the Hungarian Mission in Thebes’. The Project is being financed by the National Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) of Hungary. Richard Parkinson is an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, the British Museum, and curator of the wall-paintings from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun. The writers are grateful to the Trustees of the British Museum and to the British Library for permission to reproduce images.
The rediscovered fragments of wall paintings from the tomb of Kynebu. Above: the djed-pillar shown at the right-hand end of the scene (opposite) as painted by Hay. Below: the base of the djed-pillar preserved just above a mourning man from the funeral scene. Photographs: Tamás Bács
43
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Five Minutes with Salima Ikram When did you first encounter the EES? I knew about the EES because of Petrie and just reading books about ancient Egypt when I was in school. When I went to study in Cambridge I was excited because I knew that I would also have a chance to visit the EES but I think my first ‘official’ association was when I asked to be a member. In those days one had to be sponsored and Barry (Kemp) had to write a letter saying something (I guess) about my being a student in good standing and not a hooligan who would besmirch the name of the EES. What do you think should be the role of the EES in the Twenty-First century?
Salima teaching students on site at Medinet Habu. Photograph: Peter Lacovara
building in Kharga Oasis: a virtually intact mud-brick pigeon tower. It is the best preserved one in the oasis, and stands as a testament to the significant role that the pigeon has played in Egyptian history: a source of food, fertilizer, and mail-bird.
The EES has a tricky role to play in the Twenty-First century as it has to serve both scholars and lay people with an interest in ancient Egypt. Fundraising will be key as to continue with its original role it needs sufficient funds to support excavations - an increasingly expensive endeavour - and to continue to publish excavation reports, the JEA and the EA. Raising funds to support specific projects, and ensuring that archaeologists communicate their results effectively, will be crucial.
You also work in the Egyptian Museum and were in Cairo during the momentous events this year, could you tell us something of your experiences? The revolution is still in progress, so who knows how the events that started on January 25th will unfold. It was and continues to be an extraordinary time, though. I have never seen the Egyptian people so galvanized to political action before. The feeling in Tahrir Square was really incredible with so many hundreds and thousands (and on some days millions) of people queuing to enter in an orderly fashion, and once in, demonstrating for their rights in not just a civil way, but one filled with their typical wit and humour - secondary students were holding up placards saying: ‘President Mubarak, please step down now so we have less history to learn’. Differences in opinion were treated with respect and political discussions, although heated at times, were civil. The night that Mubarak stepped down was one filled with jubilation - rich and poor were embracing one another, people were singing - it was amazing. Whatever happens ultimately, some things have already changed because of the revolution: more Egyptians are involved and interested in their own heritage - they not only tried to save the museum, but now (especially young people) are visiting it and other sites and feel more connected with their history. Civic sense is also improved: more garbage cans are appearing and students are tidying up their neighbourhoods. I hope that this civic pride continues, together with political change, and an interest and connection with the past.
Can you tell us something about your own current fieldwork and future plans? With my specializations in mortuary archaeology and archaeozoology I am fortunate to be involved with many different missions, as well as co-directing my own project, so I keep fairly busy. I am working with different projects in the Valley of the Kings on (variously) human mummies, animal remains, and embalming deposits. The last is especially interesting right now as more and more caches are coming to light or being recognised amongst the detritus of earlier excavations. This also connects to the embalming caches and mummy work I am working on at TT 11/12 (Djehuty Project), which also has the added excitement of a large cache of animal mummies (ibis and falcon). Animal mummy work continues to dominate what I am doing: I am continuing to work for the Cardiff University-EES Mission to the Dog Catacombs at Saqqara, which is an extraordinary site which probably contained well over 7 million dogs in its heyday. This coming year one could say that my life has gone to the dogs, what with the work in Saqqara and also at Abydos where, in addition to ibis and some raptors, there are several canine deposits. Even Kharga has a dog cemetery that, in the future, the North Kharga Oasis Survey (NKOS), which I co-direct with Corinna Rossi, intends to excavate (see also p.27). This year I am hoping that in addition to a little survey work NKOS will be able to carry out conservation on the sexiest
q Salima Ikram has been a member of the EES since 1986. She is a Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo and Co-Director of the North Kharga Oasis Survey. 44
but it also had urham is the final Northern ded by the
on Society l. Excavations ing between the od. The ouse, whose or firing faience dom material,
ble information ayers, the es.
s throughout dscape n Egypt and
The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara. The Mother of Apis Inscriptions Volume I. The Catalogue Volume II. Commentaries and Plates By H S Smith, C A R Andrews and Sue Davies
E E S
T E X T S
F R O M
E X C AVAT I O N
M E M O I R
9 8
::H :B .-
The Mother of Apis Inscriptions
E E S
The Ramesside-Third Intermediate Period at Kom Rebwa
F R O M
E X C AVAT I O N S
1 4
The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara The Mother of Apis Inscriptions Volume II. Commentaries and Plates
H. S. Smith, C. A. R. Andrews and Sue Davies E G Y P T
E X P L O R AT I O N
S O C I E T Y
The Survey of Memphis VII. The Hekekyan papers and other sources for the Survey Sais I. The Ramesside-Third Intermediate Period at Kom Rebwa By Penelope Wilson E G Y P T
E X P L O R AT I O N
S O C I E T Y
EES Excavation Memoir 98. 2011 ISBN: 978-0-85698-202-6 Full price: £65.00. EES Members’ price: £55.00 Sais was Egypt’s capital in the 26th Dynasty, but it also had an earlier history, unknown before the EES/Durham University/SCA work at the site. This volume is the final excavation report for work carried out in the Northern Enclosure area of the site at Kom Rebwa, funded by the British Academy through the Egypt Exploration Society and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Excavations between 2000 and 2004 uncovered levels dating between the 20th Dynasty and the Third Intermediate Period. The best preserved levels consisted of part of a house, whose roof had collapsed and an earlier kiln, used for firing faience beads as well as pottery. Lower, buried layers also included Old Kingdom material,hinting at the earlier history of the area. The report contains invaluable information about everyday rural life in the Delta, with anlayses of the different layers, the pottery and the small finds, as well as plant remains and animal bones.
Penelope Wilson E X P L O R AT I O N
T E X T S
H. S. Smith, C. A. R. Andrews and Sue Davies
Sais I
E G Y P T
1 4
Volume I. The Catalogue
The Mother of Apis inscriptions (534-41 BC), found in 1966-71 in and outside the Mother of Apis Catacomb at North Saqqara by the Egypt Exploration Society, comprise the stelae and graffiti of the masons who constructed the catacomb and of the priests who oversaw the work and conducted the burial and other rituals for the cows. The texts include genealogies of the masons and some accounts of their work and rations. As well as their scientific importance for the understanding of Egyptian sacred animal cults, social life and chronology, they have a strong human interest. This study includes transliterations, translations and explanatory notes on all the texts found, together with commentaries and indexes.
E E S
E X C AVAT I O N S
The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara
EES Texts from Excavations 14. 2011 ISBN: 978-0-85698-200-2 Full price: £90.00 (two volume set). EES Members’ price: £76.50 (two volume set)
Penelope Wilson
for her PhD lliam Museum, gy in the cavations and -Balamun and e EES/Durham
Recent Publications
Sais I The Ramesside-Third Intermediate Period at Kom Rebwa
eriod
The Egypt Exploration Society
S O C I E T Y
17/8/11 10:58:28
E E S
E X C AVAT I O N
M E M O I R
9 6
Qasr Ibrim: The Textiles from the Cathedral Cemetery The dry height of the site of Qasr Ibrim above the Nile river has resulted in superb preservation of organic material. The textile collections from the excavations have already become one of the largest from any site in the middle Nile valley. They are unique as an unmatched sequence, dating from the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty to the Late Ottoman Period and ranging from the domestic remains of town life and tiny exotic imports of the site’s great years to the cast-off garments and furnishings, pitifully mended and remended, from ages of disaster and decline. The important textiles from the Cathedral cemetery at Qasr Ibrim, including those from the burial of Bishop Timotheus, are published here with detailed descriptions and a photographic record of the most significant pieces.
The dry height of the site of Qasr Ibrim above the river has resulted in superb preservation of organic material and the textile collections from the excavations have already become one of the largest from any site in the middle Nile valley. They are unique as an unmatched sequence, dating from the TwentyFifth Dynasty to the Late Ottoman Period and ranging from the domestic remains of town life and tiny exotic imports of the site’s great years to the cast-off garments and furnishings, pitifully mended and re-mended, from ages of disaster and decline. The important textiles from the Cathedral Cemetery at Qasr Ibrim, including those from the burial of Bishop Timotheus, are published here (edited for publication by Nettie Adams) with detailed descriptions and a photographic record.
E X C AVAT I O N
M E M O I R
9 6
Qasr Ibrim: The Textiles from the Cathedral Cemetery
Elisabeth Grace Crowfoot
EES Excavation Memoir 96. 2011 ISBN: 978-0-85698-199-9 Full price: £35.00. EES Members’ price: £30.00
E E S Qasr Ibrim: The Textiles from the Cathedral Cemetery
Qasr Ibrim: the Textiles from the Cathedral Cemetery By Elisabeth Grace Crowfoot
Elisabeth Grace Crowfoot was an expert on ancient textiles and in 1976 she was invited to join the Egypt Exploration Society’s expedition to Qasr Ibrim, after having worked in Cambridge on textiles from the Ibrim seasons in the 1960s. She worked with the expedition until 1984, analysing, sorting, washing and cataloguing textiles as they were excavated, assisted in the field by Nettie Adams. Miss Crowfoot had completed this text before her death in 2005 and it has been edited for publication by Nettie Adams.
Elisabeth Grace Crowfoot ::H
:B .+
EES publications can be purchased from: The Egypt Exploration Society 3 Doughty Mews, London WC1N 2PG, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44 (0)20 7242 2266. Fax: +44 (0)20 7404 6118. E-mail: rob.tamplin@ees.ac.uk On-line shop: www.ees-shop.com EM96 Crowfoot TextilesCover.indd1 1
E G Y P T
E X P L O R AT I O N
S O C I E T Y
9/3/11 11:23:51