Egyptian Archaeology 48

The Egypt Exploration Society

Publications of the Egypt Exploration Society

Since its founding in 1882 the Egypt Exploration Society’s mission has been to explore ancient Egyptian sites and monuments, to create a lasting record of the remains, to generate enthusiasm for, and increase knowledge and understanding of, Egypt’s past and to raise awareness of the importance of protecting its heritage. Today the Society supports archaeological research projects throughout Egypt. We rely almost entirely on the support of our members and the wider public to fund our work and run an extensive programme of educational events in Egypt, the UK and beyond to convey the results to our audience.

So what does it mean to be an EES Member?

1. Protecting Egypt’s heritage Precious archaeological sites continue to be lost or damaged as the land becomes more and more valuable, environmental pressures increase, and looting continues. Unfortunately the rate of destruction is constantly increasing and our teams are working harder than ever to recover ancient material and information before it is lost entirely. By joining you will be helping to protect Egypt’s heritage for future generations to explore.

2. Keeping up-to-date with Egyptological research Through this magazine and The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology the Society publishes the latest information in Egyptology throughout the world. Full EES members receive two copies of Egyptian Archaeology a year. You can also add on JEA for a small additional fee, and take advantage of discounts on all our publications.

The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology One of the leading periodicals within the discipline of Egyptology, published by the Egypt Exploration Society. Volumes can be bought individually at a full price of £90 or by subsription as £25 (£31 overseas) add-on to an EES membership.

For further details, check out: http://ees.ac.uk/ publications/journal-egyptian-archaeology.html

3. Maintaining a permanent record of the past The Lucy Gura Archive contains documentation from over a century of exploration and excavation in Egypt making it one of the most important Egyptological archives worldwide and is regularly consulted by researchers. Donations from members are crucial to the preservation and survival of these irreplaceable records and to increasing access to them.

Geoffrey T. Martin: Tutankhamun’s Regent: Scenes and Texts from the Memphite Tomb of Horemheb

4. Access to a leading Egyptological library

(EES Excavation Memoir 111)

With over 20,000 publications the Ricardo Caminos Memorial Library is one of the leading Egyptological libraries in the UK. The library is open Monday-Friday 10:30-16:30, and members are welcome to use our research facilities and borrow up to three books at a time.

A revised edition of the 1989 landmark volume, The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb, Commander-inChief of Tutankhamun (EES Excavation Memoir 55), with changes made to take account of new finds and scholarly articles.

5. Meeting the experts Our events put you into direct contact with the world’s leading specialists as they present their current research. Members benefit from reduced ticket prices for these events and are regularly invited for free lectures given at our London Office.

Thank you Your support will make a very real difference to what we can achieve

Hardcover, ca. 430 pages, incl. 30 foldouts, numerous black/white images.

EES members’ price: £59.50 Full price: £70.-

For more information about the benefits of joining the Society and what your support will help us achieve please visit our website: www.ees.ac.uk, or speak to our team at the London office.

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EES publications can be purchased from: The Egypt Exploration Society 3 Doughty Mews, London WC1N 2PG, United Kingdom T: +44 (0)207 242 1880 E: maria.idowu@ees.ac.uk W: www.ees-shop.com

Special offer for members of the EES and Friends of Saqqara: Get Tutankhamun’s Regent for £35 when you buy before end of March 2016. www.ees-shop.com

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EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY Bulletin of the Egypt Exploration Society www.ees.ac.uk

Arriving at Kom ed-Dahab. See Digging Diary, p. 34 (Photo: Oriental Institute-EES Delta Survey).

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the aims or concerns of the Egypt Exploration Society Editor Jan Geisbusch Editorial Advisers Aidan Dodson John J Johnston Caitlin McCall Chris Naunton Luigi Prada Alice Stevenson John Taylor Advertising Sales Egypt Exploration Society 3 Doughty Mews London WC1N 2PG Phone: +44 (0)20 7242 1880 Fax: +44 (0)20 7404 6118 E-mail: jan.geisbusch@ees.ac.uk Distribution Phone: +44 (0)20 7242 2268 E-mail: orders@ees.ac.uk Website: www.ees-shop.co.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 InDesign CS6 by Jan Geisbusch Printed by Page Bros Ltd, Mile Cross Lane, Norwich, Norfolk NR6 6SA © The Egypt Exploration Society and the contributors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publishers.

ISSN 0962 2837

Number 48

Spring 2016

Editorial

Sometimes you don’t plan for things, and yet they come together as if you had – call it editor ial kismet. For EA 48 this was the case with an abundance of contributions on work done by EES field directors or else financially supported by the Society: Richard Bussmann and his team report on the first season at Zawyet Sultan, site of a small Old Kingdom pyramid (our cover image shows a tomb nearby); Anna Hodgkinson explains what X-ray fluorescence can tell us about glass objects found at Amarna, making exciting links to wider Bronze Age trade networks across the Mediterranean; Khaled Daoud and his colleagues continue their epigraphic work at the tomb of Nakht-Min at Abusir; and Ben Pennington gives us an update on the latest geo-archaeological work at Naukratis – all four projects receive funding through EES fieldwork & research grants.

But fascinating projects are, of course, pursued beyond the EES as well: after three years of refurbishing and reconceptualising, the Museo Egizio at Turin presents itself in new splendour, Paolo Del Vesco writes. Aidan Dodson picks up some of the loose ends of the discussions surrounding the tomb of Tutankhamun and the nearby embalming cache of KV 63 – a topic buzzing with interest at the moment.Wojciech Ejsmond and his team continue the exploration of Gebelein (see EA 47); Hesham Hussein, one of the EES’ Visiting Scholars last year, follows traces of Ptolemy XII in Sinai that have come to light through an illegal dig; and Bérangère Redon and Thomas Fauchet refine their interpretation of the circular stone structures found at Samut (we reported in EA 46).

Jan Geisbusch Our patrons for whose generous support the Egypt Exploration Society is very grateful: Charles Beck, Barbara Begelsbacher, Eric Bohm, Raymond Bowker, Andrew Cousins, Paul Cove, Martin R. Davies, Philip Feakin, Christopher Gorman-Evans, Richard A. Grant, Annie Haward, Michael Jesudason, Paul Lynn, Anne and Fraser Mathews, Wayne Miele, Anandh Indran Owen, Mark Ponman, Keith Raffan, Lyn Stagg, John Wall, and John Wyatt.

If you would like to become an EES Patron, please contact Carl Graves: carl.graves@ees.ac.uk Cover illustration: Zawyet Sultan, the outer chambers of the tomb of Khunes (Photo: Mission to el-Minya).

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Contents The Valley of the Kings in the reign of Tutankhamun

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Aidan Dodson and Stephen Cross

Nakht-Min: Ramesses II’s charioteer and envoy

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Khaled Daoud, Sabry Farag and Christopher Eyre

Museo Egizio: framing archaeological context

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Paolo Del Vesco

Samut North: ‘heavy mineral processing plants’ are mills

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Bérangère Redon and Thomas Faucher

Amarna glass: from Egypt through the ancient world

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Anna K. Hodgkinson

Searching for Ptolemy XII: inscriptons from Sinai

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Hesham Hussein

Digging Diary 2015-16

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Naukratis in its riverine setting

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Ben Pennington

The pyramid, town and cemeteries of Zawyet Sultan

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Richard Bussmann, Gianluca Miniaci, Aly el-Bakry and Elena Tiribilli

An erased queen in the Hathor temple at Gebelein

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Daniel Takács, Wojciech Ejsmond, Julia Chyla and Piotr Witkowski

Bookshelf

46

Obituary Robert Anderson

48

Chris Naunton

Medinet Habu: work in progress on the consolidation and restoration of the southern Ramesses III well, see Digging Diary p. 31-32 (Photo: Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago).

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The Valley of the Kings in the reign of Tutankhamun Aidan Dodson and Stephen Cross look at the emerging picture provided by new data regarding the burial of Tutankhamun and the history of the area around his tomb.

Over the past few months, the tomb of Tutankhamun has once again become centre-stage through the potential for new chambers in the sepulchre (unresolved as we go to press). Also, in the last issue of Egyptian Archaeology, Earl Ertman and the late Otto Schaden presented a small gilded coffin from tomb KV 63 in the Valley of the Kings, found in 2005 during clearances in front of the tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty king Amenmeses.

It was the first tomb to be found in the Valley since KV 62 – the tomb of Tutankhamun. A 5 x 4 m unfinished chamber opened at the bottom of a 5 metre-deep shaft, it had never been entered since being closed by those who had left the material found there.

The chamber contained seven wooden coff ins, including one child-sized and one a miniature example, plus 28 large storage jars. It soon became clear that none

of the coffins held mummies: rather they, and the jars, proved to contain feather pillows, some 175 kg of natron, and other material deriving from the embalming process.

Such ‘embalming caches’ were found within the largely intact tombs of Maihirpri (KV 36) and Amenhotep III’s parents-in-law, Yuya and Tjuiu (KV 46), comprising respectively 13 and 52 large jars of the material, in the latter case placed in a pit at the far end of the burial chamber; 14 jars belonging to Merenptah were found outside his tomb (KV 8). Examples of such caches, found elsewhere, go back to at least the Eleventh Dynasty, and continue down to the Late Period.

When KV 63 was f irst found, there was much uninformed speculation over whether – given that it was clear from the outset that the coffins were of late Eighteenth Dynasty date – the tomb might hold the

The central area of the Valley of the Kings, during the 2009 Supreme Council of Antiquities excavations (Photo: Stephen Cross.).

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Map of the central area of the Valley of the Kings. Adapted from K.R.Weeks (ed.), Atlas of the Valley of the Kings (Cairo, 2000), sheet 3/72.

burial of a member of the period’s royal family – Kiya, the junior wife of Akhenaten, and often posited (on wholly nebulous grounds) as the mother of Tutankhamun, being a leading candidate. When its nature as a cache of material left over from an elaborate embalming process became clear, the question moved to whose interment the deposit should be associated with.

Given the date of the coffins, the only candidates seemed to be Tutankhamun, whose tomb was close by, and Horemheb, whose KV 57 lay 60 m to the west.

Given that back in December 1907, the American excavator Theodore Davis had found KV 54, a shaft that contained material from Tutankhamun’s funeral, some Egyptologists wondered whether KV 63 might thus be Horemheb’s, although the difference in scale between KV 54 and KV 63 was striking, suggesting that they might be rather different kinds of deposit.

The solution to the problem came, not so much from the ongoing analysis of the contents of KV 63, although seal impressions of a kind found in KV 62 began to hint at a date close to Tutankhamun’s death, but from the study of the hydrology of the Valley of the Kings.

This work (by Cross) determined that the whole of the

central area of the Valley of the Kings – which included both KV 62 and KV 63 – had been sealed under a thick flash flood layer prior to the construction of huts used by the builders of Horemheb’s tomb, and that it was most likely that the flood occurred during the reign of Ay – perhaps within its first year. This of course ruled out Horemheb as the owner of the deposit in KV 63, and made it certain that, if indeed those of a king, the embalming whose debris were deposited there was that of Tutankhamun. In that case, what then of Davis’s KV 54? On closer examination, it becomes clear that rather than the actual embalming, the KV 54 material was from the ceremonies surrounding the funeral, by which time the ‘real’ embalmers’ cache would presumably have been sealed.

It may be pointed out, however, that nothing in KV 63 named a king, and it could be suggested that it might represent a deposit of embalming material removed from noble tombs in the Valley, as part of freeing them up to accommodate the royal dead removed from Amarna (see below). Indeed, it is possible that KV 46, the tomb of Yuya and Tjuiu, may not have been their original resting place, the apparent order of 4

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placement of items in the tomb (the reverse of what might have been expected) perhaps suggesting a re-burial. If so, where was their original tomb and why were they moved? Perhaps they may have been originally buried in their home town of Akhmim, or perhaps under the tomb-chapel that they may have had on the other side of the Theban mountain, like other dignitaries of the time – theirs may well be one of the countless ruined, nameless or lost tombs there.

How typical would a tomb such as KV 63, if it is indeed Tutankhamun’s embalming cache (probably the more likely option), have been? Clearly, all those buried in the Valley will have been embalmed, with a similar tithe of resulting debris – but no direct parallels have thus far been located near other tombs in the Valley.

The solution is probably to be found in the small size of Tutankhamun’s tomb, clearly a modest enlargement of a private tomb of a kind not uncommon in the Valley, a good example being that occupied by Yuya and Tjuiu’s KV 46. In larger tombs, there will have been ample space for such material, but most certainly not in the restricted layout of KV 62. The desire to nevertheless keep the embalming material close to the king’s body would thus have been fulfilled by placing it in a shaft-tomb nearby.

By virtue of the flood, both KV 62 and KV 63 survived intact (or in the case of KV 62, almost intact, having been entered and lightly robbed within days of the interment) until modern times. It is now clear that the same flood was also responsible for another tomb being concealed from sight soon after the death of Tutankhamun until the 20th century ad: the notorious KV 55.

This sepulchre was found by the American businessmanexcavator Theodore M. Davis in January 1907. It contained a decayed mummy in a gilded and glassinlaid coffin (adapted for a king from a piece originally made for Kiya, junior wife of Akhenaten) from which all names and the face had been removed, a dismantled funerary shrine of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III and mother of Akhenaten (apparently in the process of being taken out of the tomb), four canopic jars (adapted for a king from a set made for Kiya), four ‘magic bricks’ of Akhenaten, and various assorted items. The theories woven to explain this deposit and identify its ultimate and former occupants cover hundreds of pages of books and periodicals, with little consensus, although the mummy is generally viewed either as Akhenaten himself or his ephemeral co-regent, Smenkhkare. The former presence of Queen Tiye’s body in the tomb has often been postulated on the basis of the presence of the shrine, and its later removal (at the time the remaining body was deprived of its identity) on the basis of the abortive removal of the shrine. In any case, there seems broad agreement that, whatever happened to it subsequently, the deposit originally represented the place where at least some of the members of the royal family who had died and been buried at Amarna were interred after the abandonment of Amarna as a capital city and dynastic cemetery during the first part of the reign of Tutankhamun – often placed in his third or fourth regnal year.

DNA analyses, whose results were published in 2010, were announced as showing that the KV 55 body was that

The entrance to KV 63, showing the layers that protected it for some 3,300 years.The layer on the right hand side is the flashflood layer, here rather thin as it is the extreme southern end of the deposit. Its layer of large stones, topped by a cement-like stratum, contrasts with the loose chippings used to make the floors of the huts above it (Photo: Stephen Cross.).

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of the father of Tutankhamun and thus that of Akhenaten (whose paternity of Tutankhamun is strongly suggested by texts on a block found at Ashmunein); however, the same DNA profile would apply to a paternal uncle of Tutankhamun – perhaps the best guess for Smenkhkare’s place in the family tree. The DNA evidence being thus neutral, the relative youth of the KV 55 body (as assessed by the vast majority of physical anthropologists who have examined it; there are, however, dissidents who would regard it as middle aged), and the fact that its reconstructed features look nothing like Akhenaten’s portraits (but look very much like the second coffin of Tutankhamun, which many suspect is reused) would seem to make Smenkhkare the most likely candidate.

Until the reassessment of the flood evidence, it was assumed that the ‘un-naming’ of the mummy, and the removal of any other bodies was carried out in the Ramesside Period, perhaps even as late as the time of Rameses IX, whose tomb (KV 6) was built close to KV 55, and during whose construction it might have been uncovered. However, analysis of the flash flood evidence shows that it could not possibly have been open that late: like KV 62 and KV 63, it must have been irretrievably lost under flood debris before the end of the first year of Ay’s reign. It thus would seem that the final state of KV 55 was the work of Ay and his associates, and perhaps carried out at the very same time that Tutankhamun was being buried.

As already mentioned, it seems highly likely that Tiye had been buried in KV 55, moved from the Royal Tomb at Amarna, where she had shared the burial chamber of her son Akhenaten. Her mourning is shown on a wall of that chamber, and Maarten Raven and the late Edwin Brock identified her sarcophagus from fragments found there in the 1990s.

Tiye’s mummy was identified in 2010 based on DNA analyses as the so-called ‘Elder Lady’ found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35) in 1898, which raises interesting questions about how it got there. While a large group of royal mummies, including that of Tiye’s husband, Amenhotep III, were moved to KV 35 by the priests of the Twentieth or Twenty-first Dynasty, it is unlikely that Tiye came with them: while Amenhotep III and his companions had been untouched by robbers since their arrival in KV 35, Tiye’s mummy had clearly been plundered in situ, with its coffin stolen and most of its wrappings stripped away. It had thus been The most spectacular find from KV 55, the gilded and glass-inlayed coffin that held the decayed mummy of a king, now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. The king’s identity has been the as-yet-unresolved subject of over a century of academic debate, but the mutilation of the coffin can now been dated by the flood evidence to the reign of Tutankhamun or the months following his funeral (Photo: Aidan Dodson).

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in the tomb much longer, perhaps even when it had been first robbed, Amenhotep II himself having been similarly treated. For some (including Dodson), this long seemed a reason for arguing that the mummy – and two others found alongside it – was of a member of Amenhotep II’s own family, rather than that of Tiye, as had been proposed on the evidence of comparing its hair with a lock labelled as Tiye’s, found in KV 62 – but the DNA evidence seems unequivocal.

On that basis, it would seem likely that Tiye’s mummy was moved directly from KV 55 to the tomb of Amenhotep II – rather than first to that of Amenhotep III, and moved to KV 35 with his body, as has often been surmised. This could be supported by the apparent presence in KV 55 of a piece of a glass vase that matched a fragment unequivocally found in KV 35. As to why KV 35 might have been chosen, it may simply have been that it was the closest major tomb to KV 55, and thus an option that involved the least labour – certainly far less than the two-kilometre journey needed to reach Amenhotep III’s tomb in the remote West Valley.

This putative reopening of the tomb of Amenhotep II to receive the body of Tiye directly after it had been removed from KV 55 has wider ramifications. Tiye’s mummy was found lying with two other, similarly denuded corpses – a male youth, who had originally been buried in another room of the tomb, to judge from the finding of one of his toes there (perhaps the Prince Webensenu who is known to have been buried in the tomb alongside his father, Amenhotep II), and a so-called ‘Younger Lady’. The latter has been identified as the mother of Tutankhamun on the basis of DNA analysis, with the 2010 publication also assessing her as a full-blooded sister-wife of Akhenaten, even though no such person appears anywhere in the inscriptional records of the time. However, Marc Gabolde subsequently pointed out that the same DNA profile would be found if Akhenaten and the Younger Lady were first cousins, whose parents and grandparents had also all been first cousins. Just such a descent has frequently been theorised for Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s principal wife, and thus a leading candidate for Tutankhamun’s mother (although she is only shown with daughters in surviving reliefs, the same is also true for Akhenaten’s only other known wife, Kiya; princes are in any case never shown in ‘family’ contexts before the Nineteenth Dynasty). Could the ‘Younger Lady’ accordingly be none other than the long-sought Nefertiti herself?

Notwithstanding her specific identity, the presence of the mother of Tutankhamun beside his grandmother Tiye in the tomb of Amenhotep II is intriguing, strongly suggesting that they arrived there together. That further suggests that they may have been extracted from the same area at the same time – which would be the flood-sealed area in the centre of the Valley of the Kings, where KV 55, 62 and 63 lie. One option could be that the Younger

Lady could have been yet another original occupant of KV 55; another is that she was the original occupant of KV 62, removed when the tomb was appropriated for enlargement for Tutankhamun – or even of KV 63.

But as the flash flood at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty successfully covered and concealed three tombs for over 3,000 years, did it also cover a fourth tomb, from which Nefertiti could have been removed in the same way, and at the same time, that Tiye had been taken out of KV 55? In support of this are some preliminary results from remote sensing work undertaken by the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the area during excavations in 2009, which suggested that a corridor might exist under the rock directly opposite Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Of course, further work is needed to verify whether there is anything there at all, let alone another tomb, but one might speculate whether it could have been intended to hold the balance of the mummies removed from the Royal Tomb at Amarna when it was evacuated – at the very least Princesses Meketaten, Neferneferure and Setepenre (Meketaten was certainly buried there, plus two girls whose names are now lost, but seem most likely to have been the youngest pair of the daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti). If the ‘Younger Lady’ was indeed an otherwise unknown sister-wife of Akhenaten, she could simply have been a further former denizen of the Royal Tomb.

It is unlikely that she is Nefertiti, as a graffito found in a quarry at Deir el-Bersha, just north of Amarna, in 2010 shows her still alive (as chief queen) a few months before Akhenaten’s death, while it now seems all but certain that she transitioned to being Akhenaten’s coregent, the female pharaoh Neferneferuaten, before her husband’s death. If suggestions that her death three years into Tutankhamun’s reign triggered the abandonment of Amarna and its Royal Tomb, this could make the putative ‘new’ tomb the place of Neferneferuaten’s primary burial – but without her kingly accoutrements, many of which were then recycled as parts of the burial outfit already being made for Tutankhamun. These have long been known to have included his canopic coffinettes, some pectorals, gilded statuettes and various other items, but in late 2015, it was also shown that much of Tutankhamun’s gold mask had been made for her, although the face had been replaced during the reworking process.

So, what particular events may have lain behind the archaeological data that is now available for understanding the history of the central area of the Valley of the Kings? Activity seems to have been restricted to the reign of Tutankhamun or not more that a few months after it: nothing in the flood-sealed area seems to predate Tutankhamun’s time. It seems likely that the first act followed the abandonment of Amarna as a royal cemetery around Year 3/4 of Tutankhamun, when all those who had been buried there were transferred to 7

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Thebes. To provide for them, either new tombs were cut, or tombs already cut for favoured officials appropriated.

One was KV 55, which probably received the mummies of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare and Tiye; the potential tomb suggested by remote sensing could have received the bodies of Meketaten, Neferneferure and Setepenre – and perhaps others who had died prior to Year 3. One or other of these deposits may have included the body of Neferneferuaten/Nefertiti – buried as a queen, rather than a king – whose demise has been argued to have been the catalyst for initiating the ‘counter-reformation’ that changed the king’s name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun (and the queen’s from Ankhesenpaaten to Ankhesenamun), and ended Amarna’s career as a royal residence and cemetery. Another option is that her mummy was laid in the original version of KV 62 – probably comprising just a corridor and single chamber, like KV 55.

Then, half a decade later, the death of Tutankhamun removed any familial brake on the erasure of Akhenaten’s legacy, and while KV 62 was being prepared for the young king’s burial, the neighbouring tombs were opened and their owners subjected to differential treatment. Smenkhkare was left in KV 55, albeit deprived of all evidence of his identity; a similar treatment may have been meted out to the daughters of Akhenaten in the putative additional tomb. Tiye and Nefertiti were

removed from their tombs and their mummies moved to a side-chamber of KV 35, but no trace has ever been found of the mummy of Akhenaten: perhaps it was destroyed to mark the definitive end to his religious experiment and to cast its author into the outer darkness.

Of course this potential scenario is built on a mixture of facts, interpretations and assumptions, and represents but one of a number of ways in which the underlying data can be read. As with so much in Egyptology, further work is needed, in particular to verify whether another tomb indeed exists in the area – while Nicholas Reeves’s on potential additional tombs in KV 62 may add another facet to the issues. What one can say, however, is that the mantra repeated by investigators since Belzoni – that the Valley of Kings is exhausted – is unlikely to become true any time soon.  Aidan Dodson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol, and Chair of Trustees of the Egypt Exploration Society. His new book, The Royal Tombs of Ancient Egypt, is due to be published in autumn 2016. He is also the author of two studies on the later Eighteenth Dynasty, Amarna Sunrise and Amarna Sunset (2014 and 2009).

Stephen Cross is an independent Egyptologist. He is a member of the Egypt Exploration Society, the Geologists’ Association (UK), the Merseyside Archaeological Society and the Liverpool Geologists Association. He was an advisor to the Supreme Council of Antiquities excavations in the Central Area, Valley of the Kings during the 2007–9 seasons.

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Nakht-Min: Ramesses II’s charioteer and envoy Khaled Daoud, Sabry Farag and Christopher Eyre report on the last season at the tomb of Nakht-Min at the Memphite necropolis at Abusir, supported by the Egypt Exploration Society through a fieldwork and research grant.

At the bottom of a cliff overlooking the village of Abusir, the tomb of the Nineteenth-Dynasty official Nakht-Min, the ‘First Charioteer of His Majesty’ and ‘Royal Envoy to All Foreign Lands’, stands very close to some random and unplanned modern houses, which are probably in fact built over land containing numerous antique remains. The rock-cut tomb, which was originally found by local antiques hunters over two decades ago, and subsequently properly excavated by a team of Egyptian archaeologists, is now undergoing documentation by a team of Egyptian-British experts.

Connected to his role as charioteer, Nakht-Min was Overseer of Horses, probably in charge of their grooming, training, feeding and general well-being: charioteers formed an army division, first introduced during the Second Intermediate Period. Nakht-Min was also the First Charioteer of his Majesty, a modifier phrase that indicates the close association he enjoyed with Ramesses II. Like many in his position, Nakht-Min also took on diplomatic roles, serving as royal envoy to all foreign lands, leading ambassadorial missions to Egypt’s neighbouring states on an ad hoc basis. That function had earlier also been carried out by the likes of Horemheb and Paramessu (Ramesses I), who eventually became rulers of Egypt – the first leading the country during a very critical period of its history, the second establishing a new line of rulers, ushering in the Ramesside era of pharaonic Egypt.

The escarpment where the tomb is located is a promising archaeological area, and most likely part of a larger cemetery of the Ramesside era, a period characterised by internal and external political conflicts, as well as societal, religious, architectural, artistic, and textual evolution and innovations. The cliff itself is located at the foot of the hill that accommodates the major First- and Second-Dynasty tombs. About 25 km south-west of Cairo, it lies at the southern end of the area traditionally known as the Abusir Cemetery: an extension and continuation of Saqqara and an integral part of the larger Memphite necropolis. The range of remains from various periods found at Abusir over the last 40 years – most recently by the Czech Institute of

A sketch of the tomb of Nakht-Min (drawing by Dietrich Raue, courtesy of Mohamed Yousef, South Saqqara Chief Inspector).

Egyptology, the Ministry of State for Antiquities, and

by Waseda University’s Institute of Egyptology – call for a major re-assessment of the topographical and chronological landscape of the cemetery.

T h i s ye a r’s se a son , foc u s i n g on epi g r aph ic documentation, photographic work, conservation 9

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Door jamb with titles of Nakht-Min, the First Charioteer of Ramesses II (Photo: Christopher Eyre/MSA-Liverpool University Nakht-Min Epigraphic Mission).

and a preliminary analysis of skeletal remains in the tomb of Nakht-min, was bound to reveal new pieces of information and new discoveries. The epigraphic documentation included standing tomb reliefs (in situ), large decorated blocks stored in the chapel, decorated fragments stored in three wooden sealed boxes, as well as in rooms VI and VII (see map, right). Most of the tomb’s decorated blocks had been removed and stored in the museum-like, purpose-built storeroom no. 1, near the Imhotep Museum (founded in 2006, the Imhotep Museum at Saqqara is a site museum designed to house artefacts from local excavations).

Although the remaining in situ decorations are by no means extensive, they provide vital contextual information that will facilitate the virtual reconstruction of the tomb reliefs. Their varied colours, subject matters, the mix between sunk, raised and incised texts, as well as layout enhance our knowledge of the artistic canon of the New Kingdom, particularly in rock cut tombs at the Memphite necropolis. In the antechamber (II), sections of raised relief on the north wall show the remains of a pair of feet of two figures, one male and one female, facing eastwards: the woman’s feet are coloured light red, the man’s are executed in a darker shade, with red outlines showing the straps of the sandals he is wearing.

The remaining parts of the opposite south wall show feet of a striding male figure facing inwards (westwards), and before him are visible the remains of feet standing on platform, possibly of a god receiving the deceased

Parts of a garden scene with a pond at its centre (Photo: Christopher Eyre/ MSA-Liverpool University Nakht-Min Epigraphic Mission).

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Nakht-Min. This layout, indicating both entry to the underworld and the going forth into this world, provides a semantic representation of the cosmic cycle of life, death and rebirth of the deceased.

Leaving this antechamber, leading deeper into the western sphere, one finds door jambs with a gold-like wash and incised with vividly painted hieroglyphs (see the image on the opposite page). The three columns of text show some of the titles of Nakht-Min: 1. For the soul of the Osiris, the First Charioteer, Nakht-Min, true of voice 2. For the soul of the Osiris, Master of Horses, NakhtMin, true of voice 3. For the soul of the Osiris, Overseer of Charioteers, Nakht-Min, true of voice.

They outline the stages of Nakht-Min’s military career to ever more senior positions, eventually leading to the offices of overseer of the charioteer forces and master of horses.

A large decorated block sits on the floor at the entrance to the chapel, room IV, made of local limestone and covered with a thin layer of decorated plaster. The decoration is highly weathered, with the plaster flaking and coming off the limestone surface. The design depicts a garden (see opposite page), with a pond shown from above, its waves slightly raised by carving and painted with a darker blue pigment. The rectangular pond, bordered by rows of lotus flowers, shows aquatic vegetation, including yet more lotus flowers and floating lotus leaves. Along its sides are identical registers with rows of fruit trees, separated by two narrow registers of patterned lotus flowers and leaves. All registers are bordered by thick red lines. A garden for the deceased was an integral part of his afterlife and social standing: a place for his soul to find rest and refreshment, a symbol of life and resurrection, while its presence in the artistic canon of New Kingdom tomb reliefs also reflects the practical function of gardens in the earthly life of an Egyptian high official.

A further limestone block (above right), located in room IV and part of the north wall, is of significance to us, as it provides information on the wife of Nakht-Min, the lady who accompanies her husband and stands by him in various scenes, portrayed in different parts of the tomb. The bold raised scene on this block shows an elegant figure seated on a lion-legged chair and low back, extending her hand to touch the shoulder of her husband who is similarly seated on a low-back chair, his feet placed on a foot-rest. The lady wears a tight-fitting dress, her long, black wig almost reaching the lower part of her back while some strands (either part of the wig or natural hair) appear around her cheeks and neck.

The fresh information brought to light this season was a crudely executed text behind this lady: ‘… of his house, his sister, his beloved, Chantress of Bastet, Hathor, true of voice.’ Of all the inscriptions we have traced, this is the

The seated figure of Nakht-Min’s wife (Photo: Christopher Eyre/MSALiverpool University Nakht-Min Epigraphic Mission).

only text found so far that mentions the name of NakhtMin’s wife. Her role as chantress is, however, mentioned in room VIII, where an Underworld Book showing the passage of gates, is written in cursive hieroglyphs on white-washed plaster. An inscription in this room reads: ‘the Osiris, Lady of the House, Chantress of Bastet Lady of Ankhtawy’. A woman of high social standing, who may have inherited her post as chantress from her family, she sang and played the sistrum and possibly took part in festivities and the daily ritual in the sanctuary of Bastet, located not far from where the tomb of Nakht-Min was built. Known as the Bubasteion, it is less than 2 km to the south, above the cliff, where some New Kingdom tombs were excavated by French Archaeological Mission of the Bubasteion at Saqqara under the direction of Alain Zivie.

Music and musicians were an integral part of Egyptian religion and temple ritual, where singing and the sound of musical instruments protected the deity, drove away enemies, dispelled evil, and at the same time provided a tranquil and spiritual atmosphere for participants in the ritual.

This text was not the only significant discovery of the season. During the last week of our intense fieldwork, we managed to invite an anthropological expert to carry out an initial examination of the skeletal remains found during the first season of work in the tomb in 1993.

These remains were discovered in room IX, the burial 11

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chamber, and were cleaned, classified and grouped. An initial examination has now shown that the remains belong to three human skeletons and that of a small animal.

According to Dr El-Merghani, Director of the MSA Research and Archaeological Conservation Centre, of the three human skeletons, one is male, another female, while the third was too badly damaged to identify without further conservation and restoration.

The animal remains are those of a small dog. The male skeleton belonged to an individual aged 50 to 60 years, while the female would have been 40 to 50 years old.

Next year, we intend to focus on architectural planning and survey, and the completion of epigraphic and photographic documentations. Conservation and restoration work will continue, including specialized analyses such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the identification of materials based on their crystalline structure, allowing us to examine building materials (limestone, plaster, mud brick), pigments and binding media. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) will be used to analyse organic compounds (e.g. food remains) Further study of the skeletal remains is needed to identify with certainty the skeletons’ gender, age, ancestry, height and possible pathologies. For this, the remains will need to be sent to the MSA Research and Archaeological Conservation Centre. Appropriate permissions from the MSA will be sought and all measures will be taken to ensure safe and secure transportation of the skeletal remains to the research centre. Pottery, ceramic, linen, ropes, palm petioles (midribs), stored in rooms VII, VIII and IX, will be analysed during the next season. We will use radiocarbon dating to determine the age of some of the organic materials found inside the tomb, particularly the skeletal remains, linen and midribs, as well as other organic materials found in situ inside and outside the tomb. The presence of Ramesses II’s name in the tomb, as well as textual, iconographic and paleographic features, point to the reign of this king. Radiocarbon dating will help ascertain whether the skeletal remains do indeed date to the original (Ramesside) occupation of the tomb or derive from later reuse.

Column of hieroglyphic text showing the titles and name of Nakht-Min’s wife (Photo: Christopher Eyre/MSALiverpool University Nakht-Min Epigraphic Mission)

The titles of Hathor, Nakht-Min’s wife, from Room VII (Book of Gates decoration) (Photo: Christopher Eyre/MSA-Liverpool University Nakht-Min Epigraphic Mission).

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Muslim cemetery

Abusir

The tomb of Nakht-Min

Location of the tomb of Nakht-Min (above) and Abusir (left) (Images: Google Earth).

Keyword: Abusir Abusir is located about 25 km south-west of Cairo, Sitting at the edge of cultivated land, it is the entry to the realm of the underworld, as also indicated by its Egyptian name Per-Wesir, ‘the domain of Osiris’.

Already used as a cemetery during the Early Dynastic Period, Abusir rose to importance at the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty when Userkaf, the dynasty’s founder, had a sun-temple built here, followed by at least four of his successors. Excavations beginning around the turn of the 20th century revealed several pyramid complexes as well as mastabas dating to that period. Abusir is also the origin of the largest find of Old Kingdom papyri to date (hence ‘Abusir Papyri’).

Though in continuous use since the Fifth Dynasty, it was during the New Kingdom, and particularly during the Ramesside Period, that the site again witnessed extensive mortuary activity – of which the tomb of Nakht-Min is one example. Abusir once again became an attractive burial ground during the Saite-Persian Period (6th–4th centuries bc), as shown by excavations by the Czech Institute of Egyptology.

 The MSA-Liverpool University Epigraphic Mission would like to thank all the staff of the MSA for their help and collegial cooperation. In particular, we would like to thank Dr Mamdouh el-Damaty, Professor and Minister of State for Antiquities, the General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and Mr Hany Abo el-Azm, Director of the Foreign Missions and Secretary of the Permanent Committee for their help. Indeed, our further gratitude goes to Mr Ala’a el-Shahat, Director of Saqqara, Mr Sabry Farag, Chief Inspector of Saqqara and the mission co-director, Mr Hamdi Amin, Chief Inspector of North Saqqara, Mr Mashhour Mohamed, the mission’s inspector, as well as Mr Mohamed Yousef, Chief Inspector of South Saqqara for their collegial and unmatched support. We are also grateful to our conservators, Mr Ashraf Youssef Ewais, Director of Saqqara Conservation and Restoration Department, Mr Abdo Masaoud Fahim, conservator, Mr Shaban Ismaeil Abdelatif, restoration technician, as well as to our workers who spared no efforts to facilitate our work in the tomb. Finally, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the Egypt Exploration Society for its generous support. Without the EES Excavation Fund, we would have not been able to carry out the work we have managed to achieve during this season.

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Museo Egizio: framing archaeological context Celebrating its first anniversary since the inauguration of its renovated galleries in 2015, curator Paolo Del Vesco reveals the crucial role the Museo Egizio in Turin has played within field archaeology in Egypt.

The Museo Egizio in Turin houses one of the foremost Egyptological collections in the world. Its origins go back to the 17th century when the Savoy rulers began to collect Egyptian antiquities, eventually leading to the formal establishment of the museum. Today, it displays more than 13,000 objects, with a further 23,000 or so preserved in its storerooms.

The renovation project aimed to transform what was to some extent still a 19th-century collection into a fully contemporary archaeological museum. Completed after three years, it doubled the museum’s display space to include all four floors of the late-17th-century building which has housed the Egyptian collection since the arrival of its first core in Turin around 1824. Three additional underground floors have been added, used to

house the building systems, storage and display spaces, as well as museum services (ticket office and bookshop).

Throughout the restoration and renovation work, part of the collection, although relocated in temporary exhibition galleries within the museum building, was kept open to the public. With the arrival of a new director, Christian Greco, in April 2014 and the creation of a team of curators, the final plan for the new galleries was drawn up and implemented.

Watercolour and ink drawing by M. Nicolosino, showing the first layout of one of the ground-floor statue galleries, around 1832 (Inv. no.: Provv. 3524, copyright: Museo Egizio, photo: F. Lovera).

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Showcasing the tomb of Kha today: ten free-standing display cabinets holding the grave goods from one the most significant finds in ancient Egypt. Compare to the image on p. 19 (Copyright: Museo Egizio, photo: P. Dell’Aquila).

Similar to other European collections of Egyptian antiquities, that of the Turin museum has a dual character. On the one hand, it is firmly rooted in the antiquarian collecting practices that informed the early 19th-century approach to the past. On the other, it ties in with the history of the exploration – and exploitation – of the Egyptian archaeological landscape during the first quarter of the 20th century.

The earlier core of the Turin collection (about 5,300 statues, papyri and smaller objects) is the result of the Savoy king Carlo Felice’s 1824 purchase of the first collection assembled by Bernardino Drovetti, consul general of France in Egypt. The second and largest lot (more than 25,000 objects) comprises artefacts gathered in the course of archaeological work carried out in Egypt first and foremost by the then director of the Turin Museum, Ernesto Schiaparelli, and later by his successor Giulio Farina, between 1903 and 1937.

If the objects from Drovetti’s collection can only occasionally be traced to their places of origin, almost all the objects from the Turin Museum’s excavations in Egypt still retain at least some information about their provenance (site) and in many cases can even be attributed to a more specific context (a tomb, a temple, an area of a specific site). The eleven different sites explored

by Schiaparelli and Farina include many archaeological areas of prime interest for the reconstruction of ancient Egyptian life, religion and funerary customs, such as Giza, Heliopolis, Deir el-Medina, Asyut or Qau el-Kebir

(some 45 km further south of Asyut), and they feature prominently throughout the new display in maps, plans, description panels and archive photographs. Indeed, the renovated Museo Egizio systematically highlights the archaeological character of the collection. After the first three rooms dedicated to the history of the collection, the display follows a strictly chronological order, from the end of the 5th millennium bce down to the early Islamic period (7th-10th centuries ce). At the same time, the new galleries place a strong emphasis on context. Whenever archive documentation indicates that an individual assemblage of artefacts was discovered together, it is presented as a thematic unit in its own showcase or a clearly delimited section of a showcase.

The choice of structuring the display as far as possible according to a contextual approach to material culture, derives from the archaeologically informed idea that the value resulting from an assemblage, such as a funerary one, always exceeds the sum of the single items’ values, because of the chronological, symbolic or ritual meanings embedded in the act of assembling the components. This is the case, for instance, with the burial of a ‘king’s acquaintance’ named Perim (Fourth 15

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Dynasty) uncovered during the Museum’s excavations at the provincial site of Gebelein. Likewise, the coffins, boat models, statues, jars, jar stands and hemispherical bowls found in the early Twelfth Dynasty tomb of Shemes at Asyut are assembled and arranged in a large showcase in a way reflecting the layout typical for burials of the period.

In other cases, we assigned an entire section of a gallery to a more substantial group of objects. The human remains and fragmentary artefacts retrieved in 1904 by the Italian archaeological mission from Nefertari’s tomb in the Valley of the Queens, for instance, or eleven coffins found in the tombs of Khaemwaset (QV 44) and Sethherkhepeshef (QV 43), belonging to members of two families who lived in 7th-century bce Thebes, are displayed in sub-sections of the so-called ‘Coffin Gallery’ on the first floor of the Museum.

In instances where the photographs or notebooks of Schiaparelli’s collaborators (especially Virginio Rosa) provide more detailed information, we were able to provide an accurate reconstruction of the original layout – most notably in the case of two tombs excavated in 1911 at Gebelein, namely, an intact family burial from the late Fifth Dynasty and a First Intermediate Period pillared tomb attributed to the ‘chief of troops’ Iti and his wife Neferu.

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Burial assemblages Opposite page: the early Twelfth Dynasty tomb of Shemes at Asyut.

Above and right: the Fourth Dynasty tomb of the ‘king’s acquaintance’, Perim, from Gebelein (Copyright: Museo Egizio, photos: P. Dell’Aquila).

The two large rooms devoted respectively to Deir el-Medina and the intact tomb of Kha and Merit (discovered in 1906) offer a perfect synthesis of the principles underlying the displays of the new Museo Egizio, which is always striving to strike a balance between rigorous scientific presentation, reconstruction of contexts, and accessibility and visibility of the artefacts.

In the case of the Deir el-Medina sub-collection, the richness and variety of materials on one hand and the paucity of contextual information on the other called for a solution that could enhance the narrative and didactic potential intrinsic to these artefacts. We hence arranged the objects not according to their find-spot (which is too often unknown), but in thematic units: life and religious beliefs of a small community, professions and the logistics of work on the royal tombs, funerary rituals and the village necropolis.

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A different approach was instead devised for the display of the tomb of Kha. This funerary assemblage, comprising over 450 objects, was almost entirely granted to the Turin Museum at the moment of the partage (the division of finds) with the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1906. Schiaparelli’s original display showed the objects piled up in a small room to evoke their appearance at the time when the tomb was discovered, but this is clearly not an option for a modern museum with mass appeal.

In this case, we decided to lay out the grave goods in ten large, freestanding showcases so as to maximize visibility, while recalling the original context of the artefacts through various means: the physical proximity of the Deir el-Medina hall, a video presentation with a 3D reconstruction of the burial, quotes from Schiaparelli’s description of the discovery, historical photos showing some of the objects as they were found, and keeping together sub-groups of originally associated objects whenever possible.

Dutch-Italian mission in the New Kingdom necropolis surrounding the tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara and to new collaborations with the Egyptian museums, such as the recent hosting of visiting curators from the NMEC (National Museum of Egyptian Civilization). Lastly, the museum visitors’ experience of the archaeological character of the collection has recently been expanded with the opening of new displays, the ‘Galleries of Material Culture’ distributed along the main route through the Museum, which offer a kind of open-storage access to many thousands of artefacts and fragments previously unseen.

The new display is far from being the only and final outcome of this process of renovation. The Museum is experimenting with new approaches to communication and outreach, and starting projects of social inclusion specifically aimed at the involvement of the North African and Senegalese communities residing in Turin.

It is implementing restoration and research projects, seeking international collaborations, and launching a new programme for the publication of catalogue volumes. Moreover, since last year the Museum is strengthening its connection with Egypt through fieldwork, thanks to the participation in the joint

Reconstruction of an intact family burial of the late Fifth Dynasty, based on the detailed notes of Virginio Rosa, excavated at Gebelein in 1911 (Copyright: Museo Egizio, photo: P. Dell’Aquila).

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Showcasing the tomb of Kha back then: Ernesto Schiaparelli’s layout, aiming to recall the original find situation (Copyright: Soprintendenza Archeologia del Piemonte).

The ‘Galleries of Material Culture’, allowing to display many objects kept in storage until now (Copyright: Museo Egizio, photo: P. Dell’Aquila).

 Paolo Del Vesco studied Ancient History and Egyptology at the University of Pisa and received a PhD in Oriental Studies there in 2008. He has held research positions at Pisa, Leiden and London, and was appointed as a curator at the Museo Egizio in 2014. Last year, he joined the Dutch-Italian Saqqara Expedition 19

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Samut North:‘heavy mineral processing plants’ are mills In January 2014, the French Eastern Desert mission under Bérangère Redon and Thomas Faucher discovered two ‘heavy mineral processing plants’ at Samut North.Yet as further work has now shown, the structures are, in fact, mills of outstanding proportion.

Since early 2014 the French Archaeological Mission of the Eastern Desert has been working in the Samut district, with the aim to close gaps in our knowledge of the mining, production and circulation of gold in Ancient Egypt up to the Ptolemaic Period. During the course of the season, two large round structures were cleared and, tentatively, identified as mineral processing plants – though with the proviso that further excavations were needed to verify their function. And indeed, as more recent works shows, the original assumptions now need to be revised.

Right: the Eastern Desert and the Samut district (Image: Bérangère Redon/HiSoMa).

General view of the Samut North mills, from north-east (Photo: G. Pollin).

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stage of crushing the quartz blocks just extracted from the mine. This was a necessary step before the washing and melting operations to extract gold from the quartz ore. During our excavations, quartz powder was indeed discovered between the slabs of the western structure, along with two modern nails. These objects probably date back to the occupation of the site by English miners in the early twentieth century. This proves that the structure was open and completely empty at that time and probably means that the English miners, who had definitely (and correctly) identified the structure as a mill for grinding quartz, cleared it out in order to recover remaining ore powder, ready for washing and melting. Examples of such recoveries of ore are known from Attica: while not high enough in gold content for ancient miners, who therefore left the powder behind, it was profitable to exploit for their modern successors.

At present, it is difficult to propose a reconstruction of the operation of the two mills discovered in Samut North, since they are almost unparalleled. The field observations led us to restore a wooden arm, stuck in a central axis and fitted with a stone wheel (or two diametrically opposite wheels) at its extremity. It was probably moved by men or animals, almost certainly walking inside the two rotundas, between the central Cavity in the center of the western rotunda (Photo: A. BĂźlow-Jacobsen).

Trace of wear on the pavement of the western rotunda (Photo: A. BĂźlow-Jacobsen).

The two rotundas are about 10 m in diameter; their floor is entirely paved with large stone slabs, although the eastern structure suffered depredations that occurred either in medieval times (an Umayyad jug was found last year in its filling), or early in the twentieth century.

They are both surrounded by a peripheral wall of 50 to 80 cm in height, made of large blocks and small stones bound with clay; its inner face is slightly sloping into the interior of the structure. Inside, the floor consists of large slabs near the wall, and smaller slabs in the central space. The stones are filled in with clay, forming an extremely smooth horizontal surface. In the centre of the west rotunda (the eastern counterpart is destroyed), there is a cavity delimited by large stone slabs, probably a posthole.

A few centimetres off the peripheral wall, a clear trace of wear is visible on the pavement of the two rotundas (more perceptible in the western one), 10-15 cm wide and perfectly circular in shape. Certainly caused by the frequent passage of a wheel, it explains the special layout of the floor slabs: the biggest and most resistant slabs were placed where the mill ran, to support its weight.

The grinding mills of Samut North were most probably used to reduce the ground ore into powder, after the first 21

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post and the grinding wheel. It seems indeed impossible that the two mills were powered by people or animals walking outside the rotundas because they are tangential; one might imagine them walking on the peripheral wall but this would require a very large wheel (more than 1.20 m) and, since the walls are not wide enough for more than a single animal or person to walk, their power would probably not have been enough to move the heavy wheel.

Other examples, which share some similarities with the Samut North mills, do exist, in particular in the nearby Eastern Desert site of Compasi and in the Laurion mining district, near Athens. But most of them are poorly studied and preserved (the Samut North examples are both the largest and the best preserved mills of their kind), which led the archaeologists to their misidentification with mineral processing plants, as we did first at Samut North. Still, these circular mining structures have been attracting renewed interest in recent years, and their review, in light of our findings in the Egyptian Eastern Desert, will probably lead to a better understanding of their operation and evolution.

Keyword: Mining in the Eastern Desert The area between the River Nile and the Red Sea, today known as the Arabian Desert, has been a source of stone, minerals and ores since before Pharaonic times, lasting well into the Roman Period. Some of the principal deposits of gold as well as copper were located in the Eastern Desert, but it was also a source of limestone, sandstone, calcite and granite – all relatively close to the Nile valley and accessible by a number of wadis, but also to harbours on the shores of the Red Sea, such as Berenice.

Over 150 ancient gold mines are known in the Eastern Desert. Extraction was a hard and laborious process, involving the panning of alluvial gold or the crushing, grinding and washing of gold-bearing rock – work often done by convicted criminals, slaves or war captives, and for many of them often in effect a death sentence.

The Egyptian state kept mining areas under careful control. The ‘gold of Coptos’ – the region including Samut – was administered from Thebes during the New Kingdom, monitored by Nubian soldiers and scouts, though next to nothing is known about its administrations during the Ptolemaic period. The Samut excavations, which brought to light more than 1,300 ostraca in Greek and Demotic, will certainly add valuable information.

Photogrammetry of the remains of a grinding mill at Compasi (Image:Th. Faucher).The trace of the wheel’s passage is much more visible than at Samut North.  Bérangère Redon (CNRS-HiSoMA, Lyon) and Thomas Faucher (CNRS-IRAMAT-CEB, Orléans) have been the director respectively deputy director of the Eastern Desert mission since 2013.The mission is funded by the French Foreign Office and the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), with the participation of the CNRS and the ‘Fondation du Collège de France’. We thank the Ministry of Antiquities for their authorisation and help. Images: © The French Archaeological Mission of the Eastern Desert.

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Amarna glass: from Egypt through the ancient world Anna K. Hodgkinson reports on the glass finds from recent seasons at Tell el-Amarna and the uses of X-ray fluorescence in their analysis: determining and comparing their chemical composition may allow to trace trade networks across the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean.

An excavation at the domestic building complex M50.14-16 in Tell el-Amarna’s Main City, carried out in the autumn of 2014, yielded large quantities of raw glass, indicating a busy glass industry at the site. Two glass ingots, one complete and one large fragment, were found, one of which was of similar size and colour to those found in the Uluburun shipwreck. In addition, excavations yielded more than 500 smaller fragments, glass rods, bars and strips, and partially unfinished glass beads. These objects are now stored in the magazine at Amarna, together with similar objects from other recent excavation projects, including site O45.1 and those at the House of Ranefer and Grid 12.

Since the materials from these recent excavations can be traced to specific archaeological contexts – as opposed to many museum objects – they make ideal samples for a large chemical analysis project across Amarna. Chemical analysis would reveal local variations in compositions and provide information on the origins of and trade in both raw materials and colourants used. It can also be used to compare the chemical profiles of the M50 ingots with those of some of the Uluburun ingots and with other glass objects.

While a range of high-end, accurate and precise laboratory methods exist for chemical analysis, these are almost exclusively located outside Egypt. Since it is impossible to export archaeological material from Egypt even for analytical purposes, the on-site chemical analysis of the glasses stored at Amarna using portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) is currently the most practical solution to detect chemical compositions. pXRF devices have been used at archaeological sites in Egypt, including Amarna, in recent years, for example for pigment and ceramics analysis. The equipment is light-weight and can be easily transported, and it is also significantly cheaper than laboratory-based machines.

Most importantly, pXRF can analyse an object without a pulverised sample or thin-section being necessary, meaning that chemical analysis can be carried out in Keyword: Uluburun shipwreck The Uluburun shipwreck is a Late Bronze Age find dated to the late 14th century bc, discovered in 1982 just off the shore of Uluburun, at the south-western tip of Turkey. Excavated between 1984 and 1994, it brought to light one of the most spectacular archaeological assemblages of its period to have emerged from the Mediterranean Sea. The ship’s cargo contained mostly trade items, such as metal and glass ingots, jars, jewellery, weapons and tools, which before the ship’s discovery were known primarily from ancient texts or Egyptian tomb paintings, matching many of the royal gifts listed in the Amarna letters – and now, perhaps, also actual finds from Amarna.

A selection of glass rods from the 2014 season at Amarna M50.14-16.

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Map of central and southern Amarna showing recent sites yielding large quantities of glass objects.

a non-destructive fashion. It has to be emphasised, however, that pXRF analysis is a pure surface analysis.

Glass has a tendency to weather, and all glasses found at Amarna have a thick oxidised surface crust. Moreover, the pXRF does not accurately measure any elements lighter than aluminium, leading to diff iculties in quantifying, or even confirming the presence of certain trace elements, such as natrium, one of the main components of Egyptian glasses, and magnesium.

A pilot study to test the usability of such a device for the chemical analysis of glasses from Amarna was undertaken at the Egyptian Museum Berlin in July 2015. The study was carried out on 68 glass objects from Amarna in the Museum’s collection. The corpus contained a variety of glass rods, flattened strips, an unfinished glass bead, fragments of raw glass ingots and one ceramic shard with raw glass adhering to it. In addition, some fragments of glass vessels with polychrome decoration and some items of glass jewellery were analysed.

Analyses were carried out with a NITON XL3t GOLDD+ ED (energy dispersive)-XRF analyser, one of the commonly used devices in archaeology. The instrument was calibrated using standard reference materials, and each object was measured several times with a measurement time of 120 seconds. After every 20 measurements, the Corning A reference standard, which best reflects the average composition of the glasses studied, was measured in order to monitor the consistency. The metallic elements and compounds were

The pXRF instrument mounted below the (open) sample chamber while placing the object.

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the most accurately reflected due to their high atomic number. The periodic table of elementals (see p. 27) lists the elements that can and cannot be accurately detected using pXRF. The weathered surface was removed from four objects: one dark blue and one red glass rod, the fragment of a dark blue glass ingot, and the shard of an opaque dark blue glass vessel with polychrome decoration were selected. The chemical compounds that most significantly changed were silicon oxide and calcium oxide. Minor changes were detected in aluminium oxide, iron oxide and potassium oxide values.

In order to verify the results of the pXRF analyses, the same four glass objects were analysed using a scanning electron microscope FEI Quanta 400, equipped with an X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDX). Some differences between the results of the SEM-EDX and the pXRF were noted. However, copper oxide, phosphorus oxide, manganese, aluminium oxide, potassium oxide and titanium oxide and iron oxide proved to be either very or at least fairly reliably reflected using pXRF. The largest group of glass objects from Amarna are blue in colour, darker blue usually being derived from cobalt.

Lighter blues are produced by adding copper, although this colourant can also produce darker blues, resulting

in hues almost equal to those developed using cobalt.

These elements, together with antimony, a commonly used opacifier, can be traced very easily using pXRF. Laboratory-based analyses have demonstrated that a generally low potash content is present in Egyptian cobalt glasses as opposed to copper glasses. Mesopotamian glass, by contrast, has been found to contain much higher concentrations of potash, irrespective of colourants used – this most probably being linked to the regional differences in the plants used to produce the plant ash for the manufacture of glass. Analyses of some of the Keyword: X-ray fluorescence X-ray f luorescence ( X R F ) is a n a na ly t ica l technique based on the interaction of X-rays with a target material. Radiated, the material will emit characteristic ‘secondary’ (or fluorescent) X-rays, allowing to identify its elemental composition. The technique is non-destructive and thus well-suited to the analysis of rare or fragile artefacts. Museum curators, conservators and archaeologists may use it to gain information on an artefact, such as specific materials and techniques used in its manufacture, which in turn can suggest provenance or authenticity.

Site plan of Amarna site M50.14-16.

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Glass ingots 40344 (left) and 40384 (right) from the 2014 season at Amarna M50.14-16.

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glass ingots from the Uluburun shipwreck have shown that these were similar in composition to the dark blue glass from New Kingdom Egypt. It has been suggested that the cobalt was sourced in the Egyptian Western Desert, in the region of the Dakhla and Kharga oases, indicating that the glass is of Egyptian origin. This is based on the presence of nickel, zinc and manganese, which occur together with aluminium in impurities of Egyptian cobalt sources.

Simultaneously, Egyptian cobalt glasses have been found to contain higher levels of alumina than those coloured with copper. Therefore, a representative scatterplot was produced, based on similar plots produced on museum objects previously analysed. This plot shows some overlap in the two groups, but also highlights distinctive concentrations. It would now be possible to recreate this with the two recently discovered glass ingots in addition to other glass objects from Amarna.

The experiments have demonstrated that pXRF technology can measure to a suff icient degree of reliability chemical elements which can help indicate the origins of the glasses and their raw materials, making it useful to the study of New Kingdom Egyptian glasses.

Not only will a chemical correlation between the ingots found at site M50.14-16 and those from the Uluburun shipwreck give information on trade and provenance of raw glass during the Late Bronze Age, it will also give insight into socio-economic structures present at Amarna and facilitate the understanding of the wider context of the glass workshops located in Amarna’s Main City. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that elemental changes may occur when the weathered surface crust is removed.

Above: cobalt blue glass vessel fragments: 40377 (left) and 40527 (right) from the 2014 season at Amarna M50.14-16. Below: Some of the glass objects analysed in the Egyptian Museum Berlin.

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Left: scatterplot showing potassium oxide (K2O) and aluminium trioxide (Al2O3) levels in the blue glasses analysed in Berlin.

Below: the periodic table of elements, colour-coded according to element recognition using ED-pXRF.

(LBA = Late Bronze Age)  I would like to thank the Egypt Exploration Society for kindly funding this pilot study. I would also like to thank the supporting institutions and persons involved in the analytical series: Friederike Seyfried, director of the Egyptian Museum Berlin and conservator Nina Loschwitz, the excellence cluster TOPOI, particularly Michael Mayer and Gerwulf Schneider for providing the instrument and reference materials, and the representatives of the Institute of Geographical Sciences of the Freie Universität Berlin: Philipp Hoelzmann and Frank Kutz, the latter having acted as radiation officer and supervising the pXRF measurements. I would also like to thank Ina Reiche and Stefan Röhrs of the Rathgen-Forschungslabor for the SEM-EDX measurements and for lending me reference materials, and Markus Ostermann and Manfred Torge at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, who also provided glass standards. I am furthermore very grateful to Caroline Jackson and Paul Nicholson who provided invaluable advice.

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Searching for Ptolemy XII: inscriptions from Sinai Hesham Hussein gives us a look at some finds from Tell Maessalem, near Port Said: well-preserved blocks of an as yet unidentified cult building of Ptolemy XII Auletes (c.80–58 and 55–51 bc) for the first time reveal historical traces of that king in this north-western region of the Sinai Peninsula.

Right: a detailed satellite image indicating Tell Maessalem and the location of the discovered blocks (A). Below: a satellite image of north-western Sinai with Graeco-Roman archaeological sites (Image: Google earth).

For an archaeologist, to live and work in the same region can be quite significant. It is through this local presence that important information came to my attention regarding some royal inscribed blocks that had been found, in 2007, by a fish farmer while building a pond.

The archaeological context of the find, not surprisingly, had been destroyed and the blocks moved elsewhere for sale.

Tell Maessalem is one of a number of archaeological sites in the North Sinai region dating back to the Graeco-Roman era. More specifically, Tell Maessalem is located in the plain of el-Tina (Sahl el-Tina) in the north-western part of the Sinai Peninsula, approximately 10.2 km west of Tell el-Farama, and about 20 km northeast of al-Qantara. During the Graeco-Roman Period Tell Maessalem stood on the western bank of the now vanished Pelusiac branch of the Nile. In the early 1990s, the Supreme Council of Antiquities undertook some limited excavations at the site, but since then it has become surrounded by commercial fish farms. When a new pond was recently dug outside the site’s buffer zone, about 500 m to the east (see Site A on the map), uncovering a significant number of limestone blocks, some with inscriptions, pond construction quickly turned into an illegal excavation. Unfortunately, in the process the looters, hoping to find gold, completely destroyed the archaeological context and damaged most of the blocks. Eventually, the royal blocks were put up for sale. Even so, I succeeded in finding the blocks’ hiding place and with the help of the al-Qantara Inspectorate managed to move them to secure storage at the alQantara Magazine (North Sinai).

Thirteen inscribed limestone blocks, well-preserved except for damage sustained during the illegal dig, have since been cleaned of adhesive mud by a team of Egyptian conservators. It was noted that traces of chisel marks are still visible on the blocks. Our research shows that the exposed blocks had been reused as cheap foundation for a building of the late Roman Period.

Traces of ash-lime mortar are still visible, covering the sunk relief, indicating the reutilization of the blocks.

Below: Relief of Ptolemy XII Auletes (H: 0.19 m,W: 0.60 m, D: 0.40 m) (Photo: Hesham Hussein).

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Part of a wig, decorated collar and mane of a male lion deity (Photo: Hesham Hussein).

walls would have been about 0.5 m deep. It is, in fact, the only decorated and inscribed cultic building of its type known in Sinai of the Ptolemaic Period. Comparing the remaining scenes with those of other archaeological sites in North Sinai, may yet enable us to complete further parts of our puzzle, perhaps confirming that Ptolemy XII Auletes had dedicated this chapel to the different forms of the god Horus, lord of Tharw, lord of Mesn.

Extended damage turned the study of the scenes and inscriptions into a sort of puzzle: a block inscribed with the remains of four vertical lines shows the royal titulary (nomen and praenomen) of Ptolemy XII Auletes with some unusual features, using hieroglyphs that are not attested anywhere else in connection with this ruler.

Remains of a wig, a decorated collar and the mane of a lion seem to indicate a lion-headed deity in human form (a leontocephaline). Such a god is indeed attested from the Sinai, with a seated statue discovered at Tell Heboua, which might be the lion-headed Horus, lord of Mesn, a frontier city located in the same region.

Another block decorated with a wig and a collar found in two parts and the remains of a crown with feathers have been identified. While the complete scenes are lost, some blocks can be matched to each other: a partially destroyed block showing a life-size kilt (a shendyt) indicates a seated male with a belt around his waist; it might belong to another one showing a foot, perhaps suggesting a seated male god.

Only one decorated ceiling block was found, and while the puzzle is still incomplete we can confirm that the ceiling would have shown a complex and detailed representation of stars on (apparently) a blue background, symbolizing the night sky.

What remains of the incomplete scenes and inscriptions suggests that the blocks came from the ruins of a cultic building, dating back to Ptolemy XII Auletes, the father of Cleopatra. The blocks’ thickness indicates that the

Part of the ceiling decorated with stars (Photo: Hesham Hussein).

ď ą Hesham M. Hussein is Inspector of the Ministry of Antiquities for North Sinai. He has excavated on Sinai, at Alexandria, al-Sharqia and Fayum, and supervised the excavation project at Tell el-Kedwa. He was also one of the Visiting Scholars at the Egypt Exploration Society in 2015. The author wishes to thank Dr Mohamed Abd el-Samie, former Director of the North Sinai and Lower Egypt, and al-Qantara Inspectorate for his efforts and support.

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Digging Diary 2015-16 Summaries of some of the archaeological work undertaken in Egypt between autumn 2015 and spring 2016. The sites are arranged geographically from north to south, ending with the oases. Field Directors who would like reports of 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: jan.geisbusch@ees.ac.uk

Jan Geisbusch

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; ERT Electrical Resistance Tomography; GPR Ground Penetrating Radar Institutes and Research Centres: AEHAF Ancient Egyptian Heritage and Archaeology Fund; AFAS Academy of Fine Arts Seville; ARCE American Research Center in Egypt; CFEETK FrancoEgyptian Centre, Karnak; CNRS (USR) French National Research Centre (Research Groups); DAI German Archaeological Institute, Cairo; IFAO French Archaeological Institute, Cairo; IOS RAS Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of the Sciences; ISMEO International Association of Mediterranean and Oriental Studies; MMA Metropolitan Museum of Art; MSA Ministry of State for Antiquities, Egypt; OI Oriental Institute, University of Chicago; RBF Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Lower Egypt Buto: The survey of the DAI Cairo led by Robert Schiestl continued in autumn 2015 with a study of the landscape in the region about 5 km NE of Buto (Tell el-Farain). Following the detection of an ancient Nile branch by auger core drilling in 2014, about 2 km E of Kom elGir and about 500 m E of the modern Masraf Bahr Nashart, the investigation with a vibracoring device was continued in cooperation with Andreas Ginau of the Dpt of Geography of the Goethe Univ Frankfurt am Main. Two transects across the supposed course of the branch were laid N and S of the 2014 transect. While evidence of an incised ancient watercourse appeared in the S transect, this was not the case in the N transect, suggesting a different course. https://www.dainst.org/projekt/-/ project-display/51318

Northwest Saqqara/Abusir South: During Sep 2015, a Japanese mission from Waseda University under the direction of Sakuji Yoshimura and Nozomu Kawai conducted supplementary

excavations in the monument of Prince Khaemwaset and the tomb chapel of Isisnofret on the summit of a limestone outcrop, approximately 1.5 km NW of the Serapeum. They found several relief fragments from the walls and the false door in the monument of Khaemwaset.The area around the shaft of the tomb of Isisnofret was excavated in order to understand the stratigraphy from the initial excavation of the tomb till the disturbance by ancient tomb robbers. Several fragments of potsherds originating from the burial chamber were uncovered in the debris left by later intruders to the burial chamber. They also continued restoration work of the sarcophagus of Isisnofret, led by Hiroko Kariya. http://www.egyptpro.sci. waseda.ac.jp/e-abusir.html

Dhashur North: During the two excavation seasons of 2015 (April/May and Aug), the mission under Sakuji Yoshimura and Ken Yazawa (Univ Waseda) cleared five shaft-tombs. Shaft no.125 is Ramesside with a mud-brick enclosure wall measuring 9.1 m (N-S) x 16.8 m (E-W); its N part is lost. The tomb has three chambers to the W and one chamber to the E, and a vast number of wooden shabtis, fragments of wooden coffins, lids of canopic jars, scarabs and beads were recovered. from it. Most of the shabtis and coffin fragments were varnished with black resin and details painted in yellow. The other four tombs were located to the N of Shaft 125. One opening of Shaft 131 is only 4 m N of the opening of Shaft 125; it also dates to the Ramesside Period. However, shabtis of Shaft 131 were entirely different, with nine made of greenish-blue faience, the others of wood and covered with white pigment. The burials of Shafts 127 and 128 were almost empty, with the exception of pottery vessels, dateable to the late MK. Finds from Shaft 130 were exceptionally few, leading us to question whether it had been used at all.

Upper Egypt Sohag: The ARCE mission under field directors Nicholas Warner, Dina Bakhoum, Alberto Sucato and Emiliano Ricchi had completed conservation work inside the sanctuary of the church in 2014.

A new grant from USAID received in 2015 has provided the means to continue this project starting in Sep, which will now focus on the nave.

Three components were included in this season: 1) architectural conservation involving new paving, anastylosis of fallen columns based on the results of excavations carried out in 2009 and 2010, and the creation of a display of carved and inscribed stone architectural elements; 2) cleaning-tests on

Dhashur North: alabaster canopic jar lids from Shaft 125 (Photo: Sakuji Yoshimura and Ken Yazawa).

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paintings, plaster and masonry on the interior walls to formulate comprehensive cleaning and conservation of the two surviving original nave walls and training for Egyptian conservators; 3) community development aimed at promoting public awareness of heritage values. www.arce.org Dendera: The third joint IFAO/OI/Macquarie Univ campaign was conducted in Nov-Dec 2015.

In addition to the study of the well-known and preserved sanctuaries, the aim of this new project is to investigate extensively and on a diachronic basis the combined development of settlement, necropolis and landscape at Dendera. Pierre Zignani (CNRS-IFAO), co-director for the architectural study of the temples, focused his research on the Roman mammisi. Deep trenches were opened on the NW and NE corners of the monument in order to study the foundation techniques. Conducted in partnership with the OI, these operations also confirmed that the great temple enclosure wall was constructed in two successive phases, one earlier than, one after the mammisi. Gregory Marouard (OI, Univ of Chicago), co-director for the study of the urban areas and enclosure walls, ran multiple trenches inside and outside the Hathor temple precinct.

Nagada II C-D occupations were discovered directly under the Isis temple, for which first evidence for a MK phase have been revealed. Nonfunerary EDP layers were also located in the SW part of the intra-mural area. Confirming previous observations by Kemp (1978), well-stratified OK layers from the very beginning of the 4th to the late 6th Dyns were excavated less than 20 m E to the Hathor temple, where early settlement remains are preserved of a significant thickness. Pottery and seals bearing the royal serekh indicate important administrative activities here. Resumption of the FIP domestic area, located E and outside of the enclosure wall, was also started this year. S of the main precinct,Yann Tristant (Macquarie Univ), codirector for the cemetery area, undertook (already in 2014) a re-excavation of the Abu Suten group of mastabas, previously studied by Petrie (1898) and for which a late 3rd/early 4th Dyn dating was confirmed by associated pottery. Succeeding the Fisher excavations (1915-17), research on the EDP is in progress in still untouched parts N of the cemetery. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/archeologie/ dendara

Coptos:Work was undertaken by Laure Pantalacci (IFAO/Univ Lumière Lyon 2) in Oct and Nov 2015. Restoration: The anastylosis of the two monumental doorways S-E of the Min precinct was resumed. Their door-jambs have been re-

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erected and now await the setting up of the lintels and corniches. Mammisi area: Further blocks of the birth-house ceiling were exposed in the forecourt area. To the E of the mammisi, the SW corner of another Roman enclosure has been exposed; it seems that this enclosure was square, its sides 45 m long. ‘Coptic’ area: the S wall of the ruined Christian building was cleaned to its lower course, and five new blocks from the temple of Ptolemy IX reused in this wall were exposed and recorded.

The building covers older structures, presumably of Roman date: to the S, several sandstone slabs forming a paved way oriented NW-SE; to the West, remains of plastered, red-brick wall and floor. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/archeologie/coptos

Karnak: The CFEETK (MOA/CNRS USR 3172) programmes of archaeological and epigraphic research and conservation continued at Karnak between Sep and Oct 2015, under the direction of Mohamed Abdel Aziz and Christophe Thiers. To the S of the Ptah temple, Guillaume Charloux started an extensive sounding to gather clear data on the different mud-brick enclosure walls and to reach the deepest archaeological levels of this area. To the E of the temple, Benjamin Durand excavated houses from the Roman Period time; 25th Dyn and Roman-Byzantine pottery was studied by Stéphanie Boulet and Romain David.

The restoration and conservation programme of the N storerooms of Tuthmosis III is ongoing under the supervision of Camille Bourse. Thanks to funding by the Brunner Foundation (Univ Heidelberg), the vestibule of Alexander’s chapel was completely restored by Manon Lefevre. Final work and cleaning of the bark-chapel of Tuthmosis III in the open air museum is ongoing under the supervision of Antoine Garric and Cécile de Oliveira. Jessie Maucor finished the photographic survey of the Opet temple. The Karnak online project continued under the supervision of S. Biston-Moulin, providing high-resolution photographs and Egyptological data of the Karnak temples. http://www.cfeetk.cnrs.fr/karnak.

Luxor: Between Nov 2015 and Feb 2016, Chicago House architect/artist Jay Heidel continued to supervise the data management programme and database for the 50,000 inscribed architectural blocks and fragments stored and displayed in the Luxor Temple blockyard. So far he has created 3,500 entries in the database and affixed aluminium numbered tags (produced this summer) on 600 fragments. Egyptologist/ artist Krisztián Vertés continued his facsimile penciling of the Tetrarchic Roman frescos in the Imperial Cult Chamber, and has now turned his skills on the E wall. Luxor Temple conservator Hiroko Kariya has been conducting her annual condition survey, maintenance, and treatment of the blockyard material. New educational panels have been produced for the fore area of the temple (electrostatic paint on aluminium) that are being set up now. http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/ epi

Thebes: During the 8th campaign at Thebes, the team of Myriam Seco Álvarez (AFAS) continued with the archaeological and restoration works begun in previous years at the Temple of Millions ofYears of Tuthmose III. It excavated the exterior and interior zones of the N part of the W enclosure wall and the outside area of the W part of the N enclosure wall of the temple. Also excavated were some squares in the second courtyard of the temple, as well as some areas on the upper terrace.The team finally opened a new area outside the N-E corner of the enclosure wall, where a necropolis of the 12th Dyn was discovered. In these sectors, tombs XVIII, XIX and XX were excavated. Outside the W enclosure wall, excavations began at tomb XXI. Restoration work continued with the protection of the mud bricks of the N enclosure wall and the area of the temple magazine. Part of the first and second main ramps

Sohag: results of architectural conservation (Photo: ARCE).

Coptos: the southern wall of the ruined Christian building, with the paved way to the south and the red-brick wall to the north (Photo: Laure Pantalacci). of the temple were also restored. Documentation and database updating continued, to enable the further study and eventual reconstruction of some parts of the temple. On 12th Dec the exhibition ‘Eternal Thebes’ opened at the Luxor Museum, showing a selection of discoveries of the last few years. http://thutmosisiiitempleproject.org/ Western Thebes (Medinet Habu): The epigraphic team in the small Amun temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III under the supervision of J. Brett McClain continued work on the drawings for Medinet Habu XI and XII, between Oct 2015 and Feb 2016, while Tina Di Cerbo and Richard Jasnow continued their digital documentation of LP and medieval graffiti in the N Ptolemaic annex. Epigrapher Jen Kimpton, assisted by Anait Helmholz, continued the survey and cataloguing of blocks and fragments of the destroyed Medinet Habu W High Gate, while artist Keli Alberts has started the facsimile drawing of selected groups. Photographers Yarko Kobylecky, Hilary McDonald, and Owen Murray all worked on the systematic documentation of the area prior to moving of inscribed blocks and fragments onto storage platforms. Senior conservator Lotfi Hassan and Nahed Samir supervised the Medinet Habu conservation work with the support of two new grants, one from the RBF for the continuation and expansion of the Ramesses III S well

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conservation and restoration work. The second grant, from USAID Egypt, allows the development and restoration of parts of the S and W areas of the Medinet Habu precinct, including paved walkways on both sides of the mortuary temple, the House of Butehamun site, and an open-air museum planned for the area of the W High Gate.

Egyptian conservators trained by Chicago House during the last two seasons now form the two core conservation teams for both projects. Masons Frank Helmholz, assisted by Johannes Weninger and the stone team, finished the adjustment of the upper cornice blocks on the newly restored Domitian Gate, improving on Daressy’s original restoration. They are also assisting Lotfi in the USAID grant-supported restoration of Ramesses III-period sandstone pavement and mud-brick walls along the S side of the mortuary temple that will allow public access to the W precinct. http:// oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/epi

Western Thebes (TT 33): During the last season in TT33, the Strasbourg Univ/Montpellier Univ/ IFAO team led by Claude Traunecker continued work inside the tomb. Regarding its epigraphy, Silvia Einaudi finished copying the inscriptions carved on walls and pilasters in the first pillared hall, and collated some texts from the cenotaph (XIII) and rooms XIV-XVI for Prof Traunecker.

Isabelle Régen collated the texts from the Books

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Medinet Habu: the Western High Gate team – Yarko Kobylecky, Hilary McDonald, Ellie Smith, Owen Murray, Brett McClain, Jen Kimpton, Anait Helmholz, and Keli Alberts (Photo: Ray Johnson). of the Underworld around the cenotaph (XIII), Daniel Werning (Humboldt Univ Berlin) and Barbara Engelmann von Carnap (Heidelberg Univ) worked respectively on the Book of Caverns (rooms XVII-XIX) and the Opening of the Mouth ritual (room V). One of the goals of the season was also to scan the cenotaph, in order to have precise plan and sections of this monumental area, but due to external factors beyond our control, use of the 3D scan proved impossible. We could nevertheless create a topographic relief of the cenotaph thanks to the combined use of photogrammetry and topography (Olivier Onézime and Gaël Pollin, IFAO). The images are georeferenced. While there are no final results yet, the preliminary plan/sections already reveal amazing insights. We will pursue the use of photogrammetry and topography in the rest of the tomb in the next seasons. http://www.ifao. egnet.net/archeologie/tt33/ ••• http://egypte.unistra. fr/les-travaux-de-terrain/la-tombe-de-padiamenopett33-responsable-claude-traunecker/ ••• http://www. montpellier-egyptologie.fr/tombe33?PHPSESSID=cabe b469070117fe40ad4582572fcf46

Western Thebes (TT 47): The ninth season of work at el-Khokha by a team from Waseda University under the direction of Jiro Kondo took place between Dec 2015 and Jan 2016. The main objective was to clean the forecourt of the tomb of Userhat, Overseer of the King’s Private Apartment under Amenhotep III, which had been rediscovered in 2007. In the course of clearance, a dense concentration of the pottery sherds dating to the Ptolemaic Period was revealed. In addition, a number of the fragments of funerary equipment such as a coffin, canopic chest, and shabtis (Late to Ptolemaic Period) recovered in the forecourt.

A complete Demotic ostracon was found as well. A condition survey and initial conservation intervention for the wall paintings were carried out in the tomb of Khonsuemheb, discovered in 2013. X-ray fluorescence analysis on the pigments of the wall paintings was conducted by a team from Tokyo Univ of Science. An anthropological study of the human remains was done by the scientists from the National Museum of Science in Japan. http://www.egyptpro.sci.waseda.ac.jp/e-tt.html

Western Thebes (TT 107): Initial phases of cleaning in the inscribed portico of TT 107 was supervised by Boyo Ockinga and Susanne Binder from 17–21 Jan 2016 for the Epigraphic Survey.

Bases of three rock-cut columns were exposed,

as well as a lower level of limestone rubble fused into a concrete-like conglomerate by ancient floodwaters over the original rock-cut floor.

Debris on the floor in front of the tomb doorway was partly removed, revealing a low door sill that supported the mostly destroyed jambs. Two inscribed wall fragments were recovered, a small one from the doorway, and a larger flickstein from the rubble covering the floor area to the E. The rest of the flooring will be cleared next season.

Senior epigrapher J. Brett McClain continued the first collation of the facsimile drawings of the portico façade reliefs done by senior epigraphic artists Margaret De Jong and Sue Osgood, while Ray Johnson initiated the second collation of the drawings. http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/epi Armant: The joint IFAO/CNRS-Univ.

Montpellier 3/USR 3172 mission, directed by Christophe Thiers (CNRS, USR 3172-CFEETK), continued the archaeological survey in Armant between Oct and Nov 2015, focusing on the area of the naos of the Montu temple. Most of the debris lying above the W part of the naos was removed this season, allowing to uncover parts of the stone foundation. As expected, MK limestone blocks have been reused inside the Ptolemaic foundation; they are mostly in sunken relief (probably from Amenemhat I), one in high relief. Also one limestone block bears the name of Ramesses II. A granite block with the names of Senwesret III was found; it could match with another one already known on the site. In the E part of the naos, the cleaning of the foundations brought to light another Ramesside block, with figures of Ptah and Sekhmet. At the W edge of the pronaos, a huge wall (probably a precinct wall) cut by the foundation pit was already known; removal of debris revealed another part of this wall running to the N, beneath the debris. It was built directly upon OK levels.

The part of the OK section now cleaned shows mud-brick structures, ash and charcoals levels, destruction levels (with broken mud bricks) and a lot of pot sherds. A drainage system built in the middle on this huge mud-brick wall was also uncovered in a sounding on the N. On top of the wall, a round-shaped red brick structure dating to the Byzantine Period was found. Romain David (Univ Montpellier 3) continued studying Ptolemaic and late Roman pottery found during excavations. Pierre Zignani (CNRS UMR 5060) with the help of Mohamed Gaber (topographer,

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TT 33, room XIII, gate from the Book of the Amduat (Photo: Gaël Pollin, IFAO).

IFAO) continued the architectural survey of the foundation blocks. Olivier Onezime (topographer, IFAO) undertook a complete photogrammetric survey of the pylon in order to complete the architectural survey, especially with the mudbrick layers filling the NK sandstone pylon. He also generated an ortho-image of the OK section.

Younes Ahmed Mohamadein (conservator, IFAO) continued the conservation-restoration programme of sandstone, limestone and granite blocks found during the work. A programme to remove salt from the walls of the crypts started this season. http://recherche.univ-montp3.fr/egyptologie/ ermant

Thebes (Malqata): In Jan and Feb 2016, the joint expedition to Malqata of the MMA and the AEHAF, led by Diana Craig Patch and Peter Lacovara, continued its work restoring the Palace of the King and excavating in the the newly found W settlement and in the area to the W of the audience pavilion, where there are indications of a craft production center. https://imalqata.wordpress. com

Edfu: Conducted by Nadine Moeller and Gregory Marouard (OI, Univ of Chicago), the Tell Edfu Project continued its work Oct-Nov 2015, focusing on two main areas: the extension of the administrative area from the MK to the beginning of the NK (Zone 1), which led to the discovery of an early NK domestic installation built onto the

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abandonment of an extensive silo courtyard from the late SIP. The main objective in this area is to reach – about 3 m below the current surface – the N part of a vast columned hall attached to the administrative MK/early SIP complex previously discovered by the Tell Edfu Project. Work in the OK area started in 2012 (Zone 2), now covering a surface about 1000 m2 and located less than 20 m to the W of the Ptolemaic temple of Horus. Under multiple structures of domestic occupation from the 6th Dyn and early FIP, profoundly disrupted by sebakh digging, several layers from the 5th Dyn have been exposed in relation to three phases of mud-brick enclosure walls, which mark an important limit for the OK settlement to the N and W.The oldest of these precincts might not have functioned as a town wall considering the width and decorative aspects of its outer face with a fine mud coating and regular buttresses. A massive building from the late 4th/early 5th Dyns is under investigation within this area, well-preserved in elevation, with a complete wooden door and lintel still found in situ marking its E access. Under these significant levels, and on the natural sand layers, small structures made from thin mud-brick walls appear, possibly dating to an earlier period (4th Dyn), an archaeological phase never found present at Edfu before. The study of the various OK, FIP and MK enclosure walls at the site also continued this season.

Gebel el-Silsila: During the first part of the Nov–Dec 2015 season the team, led by Maria Nilsson (Lund Univ), returned to an area called ‘Tiberius’ Stables’, within Quarry 24 on the east bank, were a series of new rooms were discovered through surveying and clearing areas of sand and rubble. Given the large number of ostraca (text and pictorial), coins and other archaeological material, the area is now considered an administration building. Work is expected to continue during the spring and winter seasons of 2016, but so far ten rooms with neighbouring corridors and pathways have been discovered. Another project that required continued work was the study of shrines 30-31. Work was begun as soon as the Nile water had subsided, as it generally covers the shrines Mar-Oct. A total of six statues and reliefdecorated walls were discovered within the two shrines, despite previous description of them as having been completely destroyed. In fact, shrine 31 is the best preserved of all 32 cenotaphs at Gebel el-Silsila. The shrine has retained its original architectural details, including its threshold, floor, door jambs, internally dressed walls, and four wellpreserved statues, dedicated to the owner of the shrine, Neferkhewe, and his family. Neferkhewe, who is described within the shrine as ‘the overseer of the foreign lands’ and ‘chief of the Medjay’, was active during the reign of Thutmosis III. http://

Edfu: silos in Zone 1 (Photo: Oriental Institute-University of Chicago).

Gebel el-Silsila: Neferkhewe and his family in Shrine 31 (Photo: Maria Nilsson-Gebel el-Silsila Project).

gebelelsilsilaepigraphicsurveyproject.blogspot.se

Oases Dime es-Seba / Soknopaiou Nesos (Faiyum): The Nov 2015 season, led by Paola Davoli and Mario Capasso (Univ Salento) was devoted to the study of the objects and of the archaeobotanical remains found during the 2003-14 seasons and stored in the MSA General Storehouse at Kom Aushim. Among the many materials recovered in the excavation of the temple of Soknopaios ST 20 there are hundreds of pieces of furniture, statues and various cult objects, made from basalt and local fossiliferous limestone. In addition to twelve statues, hathoric capitals, chapels in classical style with decorated cornices, two small chapels in Egyptian style with columns and floral composite capitals have been recognized.Three offering tables on high bases have been recomposed, as well as parts of two stone naoi for the statues of the gods. One of these is a roof of the main naos, made from a single block of local limestone, in the temple of Soknopaios. Its size

is considerable: 1.4 m in width and 1 m in depth.

On the front frame a sun flanked by two cobras is engraved in high relief, with painted wings. The documentation of papyri and ostraka, in Greek and Demotic, currently under study for publication, has been completed too. www.museopapirologico.eu Sudan Abu Erteila: Very significant discoveries were made during the eighth excavation season of the Italian-Russian archaeological joint mission during Nov and Dec 2015. The mission is organized in international cooperation by ISMEO and IOS RAS. The international team, led by Eugenio Fantusati, Marco Baldi and Eleonora Kormysheva, mainly focused its attention on the stone-floored naos of the local Meroitic temple. In addition to devotional objects, the room notably yielded a basalt altar behind an offering table and a lion-

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headed water channel; moreover, the team brought to light a basalt sacred barque-stand, described by the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums of Sudan (NCAM), which granted the excavation licence, as ‘one of the most important discoveries in the last ten years of Nubian archaeology’.The stand shows incised divine figures and two lines of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions on each face. Cartouches found allowed to date the temple between the first century bc and first century ad, confirming a previously suggested chronology. The barque stand will help to improve our comprehension of the still little-known Meroitic world and its relationship with Ancient Egypt. Furthermore, these new discoveries confirm the ancient prestige of Abu Erteila and its relevance in contemporary Nubian archaeology..

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Egypt Exploration Society Expeditions (www.ees.ac.uk)

Kom ed-Dahab: In September 2015, Gregory Marouard conducted the first season of the joint OI/EES Delta Survey mission at Kom ed-Dahab, in the Eastern Delta-Damietta Inspectorate. The site is an isolated island located 1 km from the W shore of Lake Menzala. Revealed by satellite images in 2011, this kom extends approximately 800 m in both N-S and E-W directions and covers an area of about 30 ha. Completely untouched, as it is still surrounded by water and reeds and can only be accessed by boat, it has so far never been the object of any archaeological fieldwork. Kom ed-Dahab is an early Roman town, probably an ex nihilo foundation, which appears to have been established in the Menzala lagoon in the 1st century bc. Its location, wide open to the Mediterranean Sea, and very peculiar urban layout indicate a strategic harbour settlement – an emporium – possibly located at the extremity of an ancient Nile branch (Bucolic?) and once connected to some metropolis such as Mendes/Thmuis or Sebennytos further inland. An extensive pottery survey has confirmed the unusually short life of this settlement, apparently abruptly abandoned around the end of the 2nd/early 3rd century ad. Five areas of geomagnetic survey have been conducted on a total surface of about 3.5 ha.These have confirmed its Hippodamian (grid) layout and the existence of multiple major buildings, already noticeable on satellite images, such as a possible palace with hypostyle courtyard, two buildings in stone, several red-bricks monuments and a complete red-brick theater. This last monument measures 58–60 m in length and is so far the fifth example of its kind ever discovered in Egypt. According to its plan, an imperial pattern typical for the Antonine period, it could date from the 2nd century ad, comparable to two others examples at Pelusium (Tell el-Farama, Tell el-Kana’is).

Quesna (Minufiyeh): The summer 2015 season focused entirely on post-excavation work based at the Quesna archaeological area. The team, led by Joanne Rowland, completed the recording of finds from previous seasons’ excavations, including the reconstruction of the ceramic coffins. The finds, including ceramics, from the OK mastaba tomb were sorted, examined and reconstructed where possible; very interesting in terms of the history of

Kom ed-Dahab: aerial view of the theater, just above the orchestra and the frons scenae (stage background) (Photo: Oriental Institute-EES Delta Survey). disturbance of the structure as well as its original date. The season was funded by the EES. www. minufiyeh.tumblr.com

Imbaba:Work in Sep–Oct 2015 included a survey visit to el-Qata, and otherwise focused on the registered site of Merimde Beni Salama and the Wadi el-Gamal area. At Merimde (entirely funded by an ARCE Antiquities Endowment Fund) the team started constructing the low protective wall around the site, including an excavation trench to prepare for the building of a guardian’s hut. This area had not been covered by the former magnetic survey due to the large amount of modern surface debris. However, investigations uncovered the remains of ephemeral Neolithic structures and storage/rubbish pits; ongoing analysis in 2016 will confirm the exact time frame. On the Wadi el-

Gamal the surface survey was completed, and small test trenches on the Wadi el-Gamal confirmed the presence of in situ sub-surface lithics dating to the Middle Palaeolithic, which is very interesting in relation to the routes of human dispersals out of and back into Africa; exact date to be confirmed. A magnetic survey on the Wadi el-Gamal confirmed further subww-surface deposits which we hope to investigate in spring 2016 (work funded by TOPOI Excellence Cluster – Freie Univ Berlin, Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust, Delta Survey (EES British Academy); the geophysical survey was funded by the EES. Work at both sites – Quesna and Imbaba – would have been impossible without Rais Omer Farouk and his team from Quft, the local workforce and the MSA officers in Cairo, Tanta and Abu Roash. www.imbaba.tumblr.com

Lisa Giddy: The Survey of Memphis - The Middle Kingdom Objects The volume continues the Survey of Memphis series of EES Excavation Memoirs, cataloguing and classifying the small finds dating from the Middle Kingdom, such as flint tools, polishers and burnishers, seal impressions, scarabs, beads and others.

Expected date of publication: summer 2016

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Cover for illustration purposes only. Actual cover may change.

EES publications in preparation

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Naukratis in its riverine setting Since 2012, the British Museum has been undertaking a programme of survey and excavation at the port of Naukratis in the western Delta. Ben Pennington describes how new geoarchaeological fieldwork (funded by the EES since 2014) aims to paint a picture of the ancient landscape around the important Late Period, Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine site.

From the late 7th century bc, the city of Naukratis in the western Delta was one of the most important ports in Egypt. It was the place where trade between Late Period Egypt and the Greek Mediterranean was focused and the economic gateway to the royal Pharaonic city of Sais. The city was home to a cosmopolitan population of Greeks, Egyptians, Cypriots and Phoenicians. An enormous temenos to Amun-Ra in the south of the city existed in tandem with Greek temples to Apollo, the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux, favoured patrons of sailors), Hera, Aphrodite and others in the north. The settlement continued to flourish for over a thousand years, through Ptolemaic Egypt and the Roman period, and into Byzantine times before declining at some point in the later first millennium ce.

Naukratis was first excavated by Flinders Petrie from 1884 onwards, and then by David Hogarth and Ernest Gardner at the close of the nineteenth century. Since that time (and a little earlier), the site has constantly been under threat from the actions of the sebbakhin:

local farmers who dug out the mud-brick walls of the buildings for use as fertilizer on their fields. This quarrying of the site continued through the early twentieth century such that by the time the next set of archaeologists arrived in the 1970s and 1980s, the area of previous excavations was by then an enormous manmade lake some 3 or 4 m deep, the size of nearly seven football fields. More recently, the lake has been mostly drained by the Egyptian authorities, a new fieldwork programme has been initiated by the British Museum (since 2012), and access to the site of the original excavations is now possible again, if a little damp and boggy in places! Surrounding the old lake depression are various villages collectively known as Kom Geif (Kom Jiayf ), home to many of our local workmen and hospitable villagers, many of whom are very interested in the work we are doing.

The British Museum Naukratis Project, directed by Dr Alexandra Villing, has been working for over a decade on artefacts that were collected during the early

The hand-auger: a standard tool of the geoarchaeologist in Egypt, here shown in its component parts (Photo: Ben Pennington).

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excavations, results of which can be seen online at http:// www.britishmuseum.org/naukratis. Alongside this, the new programme of fieldwork, directed by Dr Ross Thomas and comprising topographic and magnetometer surveys as well as excavations, has greatly expanded our knowledge of the city. Through the help of a grant from the EES Delta Survey, a programme of focused geoarchaeological work has also begun, in order to help answer a number of very important questions about the port of Naukratis: in particular the position and navigability of its waterfront, and its overall landscape setting within the western Delta.

Naukratis was never a port on the coast; it was always an ‘inland port’, some 70 km upstream from the sea, situated on the banks of one of the long-disappeared branches of the Nile in the Delta – the Canopic branch.

It was this great river that provided the lifeline of the port and its connection to the sea and Mediterranean trade.

Unfortunately, despite over a century of archaeological research at the site, before the current investigations the position of the river relative to the site remained a mystery. Petrie suggested the river lay on the western side of the site; Hogarth instead thought it was on the

Retrieving sediments from the hand auger for analysis (Photo: Ben Pennington).

Augering in progress with the location of the old excavations (the ‘lake’) in the background (Photo: Alexandra Villing).

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Discussions on the meaning of ‘natural’ sedimentary layers seen at the bottom of an archaeological trench (Photo: Ben Pennington).

pieces of worked wood, even a graffito. These pieces of pottery provide a chronology for the deposition of the sedimentary layers, and are also extremely useful in helping direct the spatial focus of the archaeological survey.

The results of the auger survey so far have shown that the river was without doubt located to the west of the site, abutting the settlement during the Late Period.

Later, the river migrated westwards, away from the site, leaving a swampy area between the main river channel and the city. In Roman times, Naukratis expanded in this direction, over the swampy area that the river had occupied just a few hundred years earlier, and the inhabitants built a new waterfront at the edge of the river, almost a hundred metres west of the Late Period riverbank. Importantly, the new research has also shown that the river was deeper and more navigable than some Egyptologists had previously postulated. Archaeological excavations guided by the results of the auger survey have now excavated the ancient Late Period riverbank itself, finding large quantities of well-preserved archaeological material.

Future geoarchaeological work will focus on the more general landscape setting of Naukratis, the topography of the site and its hinterland, and the locations, ages and functions of potential canals and other watercourses in the vicinity.

east. Investigations by the American team in the 1970s and 1980s ended up placing the river in a seemingly nonsensical position, running right through the centre of the site and the Egyptian temenos – a suggestion which does not mesh with the archaeological evidence. One of the main goals of the survey has thus been to definitively locate the ancient Canopic branch of the Nile: a goal which has now been achieved.

As with so much geoarchaeological fieldwork in Egypt, the humble hand-auger has been used as the main tool for these ‘geoarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental, geomorphological and geographical’ studies at Naukratis.

The hand auger allows fast, targeted retrieval of sediments from particular locations, which a geoarchaeologist or sedimentologist can interpret in order to paint a picture of the (ever-changing) ancient landscape. The hand auger can be used in confined spaces with the minimum of disruption to local farmers: on field boundaries, in small irrigation ditches, at the edges of fields, and at the bottom of archaeological trenches. Augering can retrieve material from a depth of up to 10 m, well below the water table, and in a matter of hours rather than weeks, providing a targeted snapshot of the stratigraphy.

Significant quantities of pottery have been brought up alongside the sediments at Naukratis. The survey has retrieved hundreds of sherds including diagnostic rim fragments, imported wares, a stamped amphora-handle,

 Ben Pennington, geoarchaeologist, is a PhD student in Geography and Archaeology at the University of Southampton and has conducted palaeo-landscape surveys on several EES-funded and other missions in the Delta, and as part of the team of the Theban Harbours and Waterscapes project in Luxor.

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The pyramid, town and cemeteries of Zawyet Sultan The archaeological remains of Hebenu, modern Zawyet Sultan, opposite el-Minya, shed light on the life of a provincial town from prehistory up to the early Islamic Period. Richard Bussmann, Gianluca Miniaci, Aly el-Bakry and Elena Tiribilli present the preliminary results of their 2015 survey at the site.

The remains of Hebenu offer an excellent opportunity to explore an ancient Egyptian settlement together with the cemeteries of its inhabitants. The archaeological site lies adjacent to the modern village of Zawyet Sultan, better known in Egyptology as Zawyet el-Maiyitin, Zawyet al-Amwat or Kom el-Ahmar. Hebenu was the capital of the 16th Upper Egyptian nome in pharaonic times and is most famous for its small pyramid and a series of decorated rock tombs of the Old and New Kingdoms. Previous fieldwork at the site, by Richard

Lepsius, Alexandre Varille, Raymond Weill and a team led by Barry Kemp, has brought to light a wealth of objects from the Predynastic Period, the Old and New Kingdoms and the Late Period through the early Islamic Period. However, it is difficult to understand how monuments and objects relate to the settlement remains and the landscape of Hebenu. The aim of the current archaeological mission therefore is to establish a local context for the pyramid and to explore life at Hebenu/ Zawyet Sultan over the past 5,000 years.

Entrance area of the site with view on the pyramid, enclosure wall and rock tombs (Photo: Mission to el-Minya).

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Map of the site with major archaeological features (Image: Google earth).

The archaeological site occupies the desert slope, beginning at the modern village and the large Muslim cemetery in the north, reaching an open area one kilometre further south, called Kom el-Dik, where archaeological remains start mixing up with modern construction debris. Today’s site sits hard at the bank of the river, and substantial parts of the ancient settlement, which might extend below the village and Muslim cemetery, have probably been washed away. Previous excavations mainly concentrated on the northern part of the site. Well-known features in this area include the pyramid and the rock tombs as well as a large chunk of an enclosure wall, inscribed blocks of the New Kingdom

and a staircase, which leads to the Ramesside rock tomb of Nefersekheru.

The pyramid (see the photograph on the opposite page) dominates the entrance area to the site. It is one of the seven known small pyramids of Upper Egypt dated to the late Third Dynasty. All are built in the accretion layer technique and have almost identical measurements.

Unlike the other pyramids, however, the pyramid of Hebenu has an outer casing of smooth bright limestone blocks. Werner Kaiser and GĂźnter Dreyer hypothesized that this casing might be a later addition, and there is some evidence supporting their hypothesis: marks on the outer surface of the blocks seem to stem from

Right: mud brick structures in front of the pyramid (Photo: Mission to el-Minya).

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Left: chambers on top of the enclosure wall.

Opposite page: rectangular and anthropoid shafts in the tomb of Khunes.

Below: Burial shafts of subaltern elites. Bottom: burial chamber near staircase.

(All photos: Mission to elMinya)

claw chisels, which were not typically used in the Old Kingdom.

Some mud-brick structures are visible on the surface to the west of the pyramid. They might belong to an ancillary building of the pyramid, similar to the structures found at the pyramids of Elephantine and Edfu.

Pottery collected during the survey from the layers abutting against the foundations of the outer casing of the pyramid covers almost the entire history of Ancient Egypt, ranging from the late Old Kingdom to the Roman Period. However, the stratigraphy is much disturbed in this area. Weill discovered near the pyramid an area which he called ‘predynastic cemetery M’. Unfortunately, there are no definite traces of the cemetery visible on the surface today.

The main area of the site was originally occupied by what probably were domestic structures. The mud bricks were later dug up, and the area is now covered by massive heaps of pottery, mostly domestic debris. Some rectangular chambers, perhaps cellars, located towards the upper end of the desert slope, demarcate the original extent of occupation. Judging from the surface pottery, the last phase of activity in this area can be dated to the Roman Period. A series of similar chambers were built on top of the enclosure wall (see photo above), indicating perhaps that the Roman town originally extended beyond the wall.

Previous excavators noted a series of shaft tombs and mastabas located at the main site (see the pictures on the right). The 2015 survey revealed that these are part of an extensive cemetery lying below the Roman settlement.

Over one hundred shafts were recorded behind the enclosure wall at the lower end of the desert slope up to the rock tombs. Some of them cluster together and 40

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could well belong to a single tomb. Near the staircase, a stone-lined burial chamber was found exposed, whose shaft had been quarried away. The architectural structure of the funerary chamber reveals a layout that we would expected at the bottom of other shafts as well. In all likelihood, the main site originally was the cemetery of the subaltern elites of Hebenu in the late Old Kingdom.

These mid-ranking officials were buried on the desert slope below the rock tombs of their patrons, a typical pattern of cemetery organisation in Middle Egypt, also seen, for example, at Beni Hassan.

The inscriptions and architecture of the rock tombs were originally published by Lepsius, who identified 16 decorated structures. One of the best-preserved examples was the tomb of Khunes, Lepsius’ tomb no. 2. Khunes was a late Old Kingdom official, who probably lived during the reign of Teti (c.2320–2300 bc). His tomb was largely intact, when Lepsius visited Zawyet Sultan.

Today, a large part of the structure is missing and the area is covered by debris and stone blocks that have collapsed into the tomb. The tomb, with three main chambers and three rectangular shafts, was later re-used for intrusive burials: 20 roughly anthropoid cavities were cut into the floor of the chambers in order to accommodate corpses or coffins. A comparison of the maps and drawings in Lepsius’ Denkmäler with the preserved walls shows that he did not record all architectural features, some of which are now covered by debris. He also missed some parts of the wall decoration and several inscriptions. More inscriptions may be found on the fragments and blocks in front of the entrance area of the tomb. This material as well as the history of the tomb’s destruction over the past 150 years require fuller investigation in the future.

Parallel to the excavation, the team of the mission has begun the documentation of objects from Hebenu

excavated by Weill and now housed in the Louvre Museum. Weill assembled his own collection from purchased objects and those found during his excavations (including material from Zawyet Sultan), shared with the Egyptian government – common practice at the time.

In 1950, he bequeathed the largest part of this collection to the Musée du Louvre, with usufruct in favour of his wife. After Mme Weill’s death in 1992, the collection finally became property of the Museum, which now houses – among the rest of the collection – more than 350 objects from Zawyet Sultan. The analysis of these objects will contribute to the integration of Weill’s excavation reports with current fieldwork at the site.

From the 2015 survey, it appears possible, with all due caution, to say that the Old Kingdom settlement concentrated on the area around the pyramid. Rock tombs for the highest officials at the site were built in the late Old Kingdom together with a cemetery for the subaltern elites below. No trace of Middle Kingdom activity has been recorded at the site. In the New Kingdom, tombs and temples were built at Hebenu, whereas the settlement proper was located outside the confines of the modern archaeological site. During the Roman Period, the site was overbuilt with houses, and the cemeteries moved further south. By this time, the pyramid was probably long forgotten and buried under the settlement.

 The mission is directed by Richard Bussmann, Gianluca Miniaci and Aly el-Bakry. Richard Bussmann is Senior Lecturer at University College London. Gianluca Miniaci is Marie Curie Research Fellow at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, and Honorary Research Associate of the UCL Institute of Archaeology. Aly el-Bakry is chief inspector of North Minya. Elena Tiribilli is an independent researcher and member of the missions to el-Minya and Tell Mutubis.

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An erased queen in the Hathor temple at Gebelein The decorations of the temple were damaged at least twice during pharaonic times, and these destructions were state-sanctioned, write Daniel Takács, Wojciech Ejsmond, Julia Chyla and Piotr Witkowski.

Despite over 130 years of archaeological work at Gebelein and its convenient location just 28 km southwest of Luxor, the area is still poorly known to scholars, as our 2015 season showed: Local authorities were already aware of the existence of a rock-cut temple, but so far it has remained unpublished and unknown to researchers. Its speos consists of two rooms: the walls of the one at the rear are covered with poorly preserved decoration and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The cult place was dedicated to two gods, and there is no doubt that one of them was Hathor, bearing the cult epithet ‘Lady of Gebelein’. The other deity was probably Amun, though unfortunately his depictions and name are not preserved in their entirety

The Nile valley between Farshut and Aswan, showing the location of Gebelein (Image: Google earth).

Gebelein from the eastern bank (Photo:Wojciech Ejsmond).

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(in contrast to the depictions and name of Hathor), and further studies are needed to verify our supposition.

Amun was particularly despised by Akhenaten and his representations were destroyed extensively during the Amarna Period. Images and names of the goddess Hathor were sometimes preserved, sometimes destroyed to different degrees, leaving us with a puzzling inconsistency regarding the ideas behind the mutilations.

In the Gebelein speos, her representations seem to have escaped destruction during the Amarna Period, instead suggesting a later date for the damaging of her cult statue in the niche. Most of the known rock-cut temples date from the Nineteenth Dynasty or later, while only three precede the New Kingdom. The destruction of the names and representations of Amun was the first clue to date the execution of the decoration before the Nineteenth Dynasty.

The most puzzling detail was the lack of royal names in the temple. Detailed studies of reliefs and inscriptions, however, yielded intriguing results, as they allowed tracing the construction of the temple and its first phase of decoration to the reign of the queen whose name her successors wanted to erase from history: Hatshepsut.

The goddess Hathor, lady of Gebelein (Photo:Wojciech Ejsmond).

Piotr Witkowski and Daniel Takรกcs examining the erased name of Hatshepsut(Photo:Wojciech Ejsmond).

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Examples of different methods of visualising a 3D model of the rear wall of the speos: A – simple 3D model, B and C – 3D visualisations as a pseudo-elevation map (B: without normals, C: with normals) (Image: Piotr Witkowski).

The presence of her depictions is indicated, among other things, by fragments of preserved hieroglyphic inscriptions containing feminine word endings. The preserved circumstances in which the cartouche is located, indicate that it contained the name of this queen.

After the death of her husband – Thutmose II – Hatshepsut exercised power as a regent on behalf of her stepson and nephew, Thutmose III, then a minor. At some point, Hatshepsut began to use a full royal titulary, reserved only for pharaohs, despite the fact that Egypt had a rightful ruler in the person of Thutmose III. For decades, researchers thought that the queen wanted to assume full royal powers, with her ambitious building programme and depictions as a legitimate ruler on temple walls aiming to legitimize her reign at the expense of her stepson.

More recently, that view has changed and current scholarly opinion holds that the situation was a good deal more complex: Queen Hatshepsut ruled together with young Thutmose III in order to ensure the stability of Egypt, and many of her actions helped to strengthen the position of the young king. Not until many years after her death did Thutmose III start to destroy depictions and textual references to his stepmother as a king.

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Hatshepsut was neither the first nor the last woman ruling in Egypt. Other queens who were ruling independently do not appear to have been erased from history in this manner, simply because they were women.

Why Thutmose III wanted to blot out the name of Hatshepsut as a ruler many years after her reign is still contested. Maybe further work in the speos will reveal more evidence concerning the queen’s damnatio memoriae.

Keyword: Gebelein Gebelein is located some 30 km south of Thebes, on the western bank of the Nile, and was capital of a nome during the Ptolemaic Period. It is named after its two hills: Gebelein in Arabic, or Inr-ti (‘Two Rocks’) in ancient Egyptian. The site was also known by its Greek names as Aphroditopolis and Pathyris.

Already mentioned in the Déscription de l’Egypte of 1804, archaeological work there only began in 1884.

G. W. Fraser and M. W. Blackburn excavated at the site for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1893.

On the eastern hill, the remains of a Hathor temple have been found, dating back primarily to the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom and still in existence in Roman times. The western hill is the site of a partially explored cemetery, in use since the Predynastic Period. Furnishings of the Tenth Dynasty tomb of the nomarch and the high priest Ini found there are now in the Museo Egizio in Turin, as are contents of the First Intermediate Period tomb of the royal treasurer, an army commander Ini and his wife Neferu.

Measuring and documenting sacred space The documentation of the speos was undertaken by traditional measuring and supplemented with photogram metr y. Combining both methods in Geographical Information System (GIS), we were able to create the plan of the temple in a fast and accurate manner. Various photographic methods were used by Piotr Witkowski, which allowed us to enhance features that are no longer visible to the eye or else very difficult to see. This enabled some fragments of wall decoration to be more visible, and to confirm the presence of previously unseen painted inscriptions several metres above the speos.

Wojciech Ejsmond and Daniel Takács examining the decoration of the speos (Photo: Piotr Witkowski).

 Daniel Takács is a graduate student at the Department of Oriental Studies in Egyptology at the University of Warsaw, who is currently funded by the International Visegrad Fund and working on the publication of the speos. Wojciech Ejsmond is a PhD student of archaeology at the University of Warsaw and director of the Gebelein Archaeological Project. Julia Chyla is a PhD student of archaeology at the University of Warsaw, field director of the project and working with Piotr Witkowski (MA student of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw) on the documentation of the speos.

The research was financed by the Consultative Council for Students’ Scientific Movement of the University of Warsaw and the University of Warsaw Foundation.

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Bookshelf

Josef Wegner and Jennifer Houser Wegner, The Sphinx That Traveled to Philadelphia.

Penn Press, 2015 (ISBN 978 1 93453 676 6).

Price: £19.50 This study of a single object – the largest sphinx in America – shows just the sort of engaging and rich narrative, which can be relayed by considering an object beyond its ancient Egyptian context. The book is as much about sphinxes located in ancient Memphis, as it is about excavations in Egypt or the creation of collections of Egyptian objects in the early 20th century. Likewise, there is much insight into the history of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, which, in full disclosure, was where the reviewer was first exposed to archaeology as a child.

For the Egyptologically inclined the ancient aspect is not ignored: accessible sections focus on ancient Memphis and Memphite theology, a comprehensive overview of sphinxes throughout Egyptian history, and a study of the Philadelphia sphinx that considers its relation to other large specimens of its kind. The thorough and clear investigation into the Philadelphia sphinx closely considers decoration and possible lost attributes and finally the origin of the sculpture before its ‘recycling’ into a monument of Ramesses II. The autopsy is enhanced by questions like: ‘Was the sphinx painted?’, which are fully explained and illustrated for a general audience.

The book’s richness comes from the narrative after the 1912 discovery of the sphinx during Flinders Petrie’s excavations at Memphis – sections focus on the negotiations to bring the it to Philadelphia, all aspects of its travel and transportation to its new home at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and its reception by the public and the students. The sphinx re-ignites the archaeological ambitions of the museum, financed by the patronage of Eckley Coxe, whose generosity was integral in acquiring the sphinx and in sponsoring excavations which provided the museum with the archaeological material it now displays, most significantly from the Merenptah palace in Memphis. Yes, Memphis!

More specifically Petrie’s concession at Memphis, temporarily on hiatus on account of World War I,

the resulting public dispute and correspondence is an enjoyable section which reads more like a screw-ball comedy than a dispute between leading academics. Integral to making all these sections vibrant are the numerous illustrations that enhance and clarify the text. It is particularly notable that care has been taken to make the archival documents, like letters and newspaper articles, legible for the reader to enjoy themselves, with only the diabolical handwriting of Flinders Petrie fully transcribed.

These personal letters, newspaper clippings, and photos illustrate the sphinx’s journey and reception in Philadelphia, whether its receipts for exceptional freight due to the its weight or humorous newspaper articles in which the newly arrived sphinx gives his opinion about his first encounter with America. Perhaps best is that digressions which touch upon the sphinx’s story are given space, such as the possible commissioning of a successful Philadelphiabased producer of silent movies to film the disembarkment of the statue. The book was originally intended as a children’s book, and there are some remnants of that origin in the writing style, but it is clear that the wealth and breadth of information the authors had collected was too sophisticated to be contained in a shorter and simpler book. There is a lot of enjoyable and wide-ranging topics covered that shows just how much a single, albeit singular sphinx can inspire both academia and popular culture.

EMMA LIBONATI

Brian Fagan, Lord and Pharaoh: Carnarvon and the Search for Tutankhamun. Left Coast Press, 2015 (ISBN 978 1 629 58151 4).

Price: £16.50 There is no dearth of books on the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, and these will no doubt multiply as the centenary approaches. There are also a number of studies of its discoverer, archaeologist and artist Howard Carter. However, surprisingly little

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has been published about Carter’s sponsor, the fifth Lord Carnarvon, without whose money and commitment there would have been no discovery. No biography of Carnarvon exists, nor does The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt dignify him with an entry, unlike Carter.

Archaeologist Brian Fagan’s relatively brief Lord and Pharaoh aims to fill this lacuna – not with a conventional biography, but with an original and intriguing parallel biography of Carnarvon and Tutankhamun. It mixes fact and speculation, enlivened with occasional novelistic touches, while never ignoring the available archaeological and biographical evidence, even when this contradicts Fagan’s own view. As he frankly admits, the events of Tutankhamun’s reign are ‘a ghostly palimpsest of incomplete inscriptions’, supplemented by a scatter of artefacts; and much of Carnarvon’s correspondence was destroyed in the Second World War. Indeed, Fagan confesses in a final chapter intended mainly as advice to fellow archaeologists groping for ways to justify their recondite research to non-archaeologists: ‘this is about the most speculative book on the past I’ve ever written’.

Fagan detects parallels between Carnarvon and Tutankhamun in the preface. ‘They turned out to have much in common – privileged upbringings, frail health, isolation from the real world, ingrained sense of entitlement, and even a common cause of death – from the effects of an infected mosquito bite. And, of course, they “met” in the end with the discovery of the pharaoh’s tomb.’ The shared frail health and the mosquito bite – notorious in Carnarvon’s case and based in Tutankhamun’s case on recently announced DNA evidence of his suffering from malaria – were the deciding factors for Fagan in going for a parallel biography.

Chapters 1 and 2 set the scene historically in the Valley of Kings with the discoveries of Napoleon Bonaparte’s savants, Giovanni Belzoni, Jean-François Champollion and many others, followed by the digging for tombs of the American ‘robber baron’ Theodore Davis, who gave employment to Carter. Chapter 3 then switches to the mid-2nd millennium bc in the time of Akhenaten and describes life in conflict-ridden Akhetaten (el-Amarna), including the early years of Akhenaten’s son, the club-footed Tutankhaten.Then, in Chapter 4, we return to Victorian times, to Highclere Castle, and the aristocratic childhood and youth of Carnarvon, whose failed formal education at Eton College and Cambridge University nevertheless left him with a love of reading and as a confirmed autodidact (evoked in the well-known photo of Carnarvon studying a book in Carter’s house at Luxor), along with a lifelong dedication to gambling and a penchant for dangerous automobiles. Subsequent chapters alternate between Tutankhaten’s ascension to the throne as Tutankhamun while still a boy; Carnarvon’s dilettante digging in Egypt leading to the discovery in 1908 of the Carnarvon Tablet of the pharaoh Khamose; the rise of Horemheb as regent while Tutankhamun comes of age; the arrival of Carter as an archaeologist digging for Carnarvon through long years of failure; the sudden death of Tutankhamun and the violent confusion over his successor; and eventually

EGYPTIAN

the dazzling success of Carnarvon and Carter’s gamble in November 1922, followed by their falling out, and the abrupt death of Carnarvon in Cairo.

Perhaps I am prejudiced as a writer of biographies (including Champollion’s), but I enjoyed Lord and Pharaoh. Ancient Egypt is in many ways alien, but at the same time fascinates us. Understanding the lives of its varied and colourful explorers, such as Carnarvon, is a valuable way to bring the distant past to life.

ANDREW ROBINSON

Salima Ikram, Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt. AUC Press, 2015 (ISBN 978 9 77416 687 7). Price: £14.95 This book provides a comprehensive introduction to aspects of death and the Egyptian afterlife, while also exploring the relationship and magico-religious interaction between the living and the dead. Following an

ARCHAEOLOGY

overview of the historical development of Egypt and the topographical and climatic features which gave rise to this civilisation, the author discusses the range of beliefs that pertained to the afterlife, with particular focus on elements of the individual personality, the significance of the Osirian Myth, various deities associated with death, and the funerary books intended to assist the deceased to enter the afterlife.

In a chapter devoted to mummification, the effect of ancient and modern tomb-robbery on the bodies is described, as well as pertinent theories, based on recent discoveries, regarding the origins of mummification and the possibility that some mummies were defleshed.There is also an overview of source material (Egyptian and classical inscriptional evidence and the scientific studies of mummies); the historical development and methodology of mummification; associated gods and specialist priests; and restorations and fake mummies.

The author’s personal experience with experimental mummification and funerary archaeology certainly brings new insight to this book, particularly in her discussion of animal mummification. Here, she clearly explains the background of the four main categories of animal mummies (pets, victuals, sacred, and votive), and considers the validity of various intriguing theories: for example, to obtain the vast numbers of votive animals that the cults required, were the animals bred in captivity or collected together from different areas of Egypt?

Also, were the bodies of Apis bulls cooked and eaten before interment?

Various categories of funerary equipment, including amulets, jewellery, bead nets, cartonnage covers, masks and mummy boards, canopic equipment, shabtis, are described, and there is a detailed chronological survey of the technological and stylistic development of coffins. Methods of provisioning the tomb – from food offerings and objects of everyday use to Corn Mummies and Osiris Beds – are also discussed. Theological and practical

considerations pertaining to royal and private tombs, including their location, financing, construction, and techniques of decoration, are also explored.The concluding chapter identifies the importance attributed to the funeral and the mortuary cults in the pursuit of immortality, and describes the curses, robbery and tomb usurpation that sometimes accompanied burial.

It also explains the ways in which the living continued to seek supernatural assistance from the dead.

A statement in the Introduction emphasises that, because of the nature of Egyptology, all analyses are merely an amalgamation of subjective interpretations based on an imperfect data set, and acknowledges that this book represents the author’s particular interpretation of the evidence. Nevertheless, despite this caveat, this book provides an excellent introduction to the whole subject area. The material is clearly presented in well-organised sections, and where appropriate, descriptions of specific categories of material (for example, funerary texts, coffin and tomb development) are treated in considerable detail. Some areas of scholarly debate or interpretation are also introduced and discussed, encouraging the reader to pursue these points in further reading.

The book also incorporates some excellent supporting material: a chronological table covering the period from ancient to modern times; a glossary of some important deities and Egyptological terms; and a list of further reading with a good selection of accessible titles which cover general topics as well as the more detailed material presented in the individual chapters.

The selection and arrangement of illustrative material used in this publication is another commendable feature. Rather than being scattered randomly throughout the book, the monochrome images, accompanied by extensive explanatory captions, are specifically positioned to complement and enhance the adjoining text.

ROSALIE DAVID

Proceedings ofCongress the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Proceedings of the Proceedings Tenth International of the Tenth Congress International of Egyptologists of Egyptologists Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Edited

by P. Kousoulis and N. Lazaridis Edited by P. Kousoulis Edited and by N. P. Lazaridis Kousoulis and N. Lazaridis Edited by P. Kousoulis and N. Lazaridis Orientalia Orientalia Lovaniensia Orientalia AnalectaLovaniensia 241 Analecta 241 Lovaniensia Analecta 241 Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 241 p. (2 vol.), ISBN: 978-90-429-2550-2 380ISBN: EURO 2015, XVIII-2241 p.2015, (2 vol.), XVIII-2241 ISBN: 978-90-429-2550-2 p. (2 vol.), 2015, ISBN:XVIII-2241 978-90-429-2550-2 380 EURO 3802015, EURO XVIII-2241 p. (2 vol.), 978-90-429-2550-2

380 EURO

These volumes publish moreatthan 150 volumes papers presented at thethan Tenth These volumes publish These more volumes than 150 publish papers more presented than 150 at papers the Tenth presented the These Tenth publish more 150 papers presented at the Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists, organized at the University of organized at the University of International Congress International of Egyptologists, Congress organized of Egyptologists, at the University organized of at the University International of Congress of Egyptologists, the Aegean (Rhodes), May articles are arranged in the Aegean (Rhodes), the22-29 Aegean May (Rhodes), 2008. The 22-29 articles May are 2008. arranged The articles in 22-29 are arranged the2008.

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The articles are arranged in thematic sections, dealing with Archaeology, Royal dealing ideologywith & society, thematic sections, dealing thematic withsections, Archaeology, dealingRoyal with ideology Archaeology, & society, Royal ideology &thematic society, sections, Archaeology, Royal ideology & society, Belief system Language, literature & epigraphy, Art & vitreous Belief system & ritual, Belief Language, system literature & ritual, & Language, epigraphy, literature Art & & vitreous & ritual, epigraphy, Art &Belief vitreous system & ritual, Language, literature & epigraphy, Art & vitreous material, world, Egypt and the south-eastern and material, Egypt and material, the south-eastern Egypt and Mediterranean the south-eastern Mediterranean and world, material, and Mediterranean Egypt and the world, south-eastern Mediterranean world, and Cultural heritage & museology.

Cultural heritage & Cultural museology. heritage & museology.

Cultural heritage & museology.

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http://www.peeters-leuven.behttp://www.peeters-leuven.be http://www.peeters-leuven.be http://www.peeters-leuven.be Bondgenotenlaan 153 B-3000 Leuven Bondgenotenlaan 153 Bondgenotenlaan B-3000 Leuven 153 B-3000 Leuven Bondgenotenlaan 153 B-3000 Leuven peeters@peeters-leuven.be peeters@peeters-leuven.be peeters@peeters-leuven.be peeters@peeters-leuven.be 18/02/161 09:49OLA_Kousoulis.indd 1 98730_Advertenie OLA_Kousoulis.indd 1 98730_Advertenie OLA_Kousoulis.indd 98730_Advertenie

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EGYPTIAN

ARCHAEOLOGY

In memoriam Robert Anderson Just before Christmas we received the sad news that Professor Robert Anderson, a Vice-President of the Society, had passed away on 24 November, aged 88.

Robert first visited Egypt in 1947, on military service, having only discovered where he was going part way through the voyage from Britain. There, he took up a role visiting British army outposts in the Canal Zone to monitor their educational activities. He was, however, more interested in taking his motorbike out into the desert (‘no-one knew I was there’) to read Homer, and eventually made his way, on leave, to Cairo and the pyramids of Giza. At that time, the famous site was free of tourists and the tombs could be freely visited.

The monuments sparked an interest and soon Robert had sent a request home to his father for some books on the subject. In 1948, three months after returning from military service, Robert went up to Cambridge where for two years he studied Classics before switching to Egyptology, under the tutelage of Stephen Glanville.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Robert was encouraged by his college, Gonville and Caius, to stay on and undertake research, which he did, on the texts of the Coptic saint Shenoute. However, after two years of this he was, by his own admission, ‘bored stiff’ and looking for a way to get out of Cambridge. It was his other great passion and expertise – classical music – that would provide him with the opportunity: during visits to the music department he met the librarian through whom he was offered a job in London working on a music magazine, and so he left Cambridge – and Egyptology – in 1954, without having finished his research.

In 1970, however, he returned to the fold as Honorary Secretary of the Egypt Exploration Society. His first act in the role was to announce the death of the legendary excavator Bryan Emery, who had had a stroke at his Saqqara dig house while excavations were in progress, in spring 1971. In the years that followed Robert ran the EES as one half of a formidable double act, along with its secretary, Mary Crawford. He delivered copies of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology to members in London on his bike; he recruited dozens of new subscribers while lecturing on Swan’s Nile cruises; and he did everything he could to create the perception, particularly among his colleagues at the other foreign institutes in Cairo, that the Society was a big player. Robert had cultivated such good relations with the British community in Egypt that the then ambassador, Michael Weir, invited him to live in the embassy. He declined on the grounds that he wouldn’t have enjoyed the endless socializing but he took an office there instead. Robert had decided to see the Society through its centenary year in 1982. To raise awareness and attract new subscribers, he planned a series of events, the most outrageous of which was a performance of Verdi’s Aida at the pyramids of Giza,

which was only scuppered by a last-minute bureaucratic change in Egypt. Instead, he conducted a performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Royal Albert Hall.

Robert’s focus on what we would now call ‘public engagement’ and raising support very much resonates with our activities of the last few years. Yet more recently, the Society has embarked on another ‘new’ programme of activities that chimes with work undertaken by Robert over many years: the Society’s programme of ‘scholarships’ for Egyptian visitors has closely followed the model established by the Robert Anderson Research Charitable Trust, which he created in the 1980s to enable scholars from Egypt and other countries in the Arab world, as well as Eastern Europe and elsewhere, to carry out their research in London. This has been an enormous success for the EES, and, unsurprisingly, has been warmly welcomed in Egypt. Robert had seen the need, and had quietly been addressing it, for many years.

‘I was a buccaneer, Chris’, he said to me during one of our last conversations when talking fondly of his days hustling for the EES in Cairo. ‘Such fun’ (said with great emphasis and a twinkle in his eye), is the other phrase he often used that sticks in my mind. He will be much missed.

CHRIS NAUNTON Director of the Egypt Exploration Society 48

The Egypt Exploration Society

Publications of the Egypt Exploration Society

Since its founding in 1882 the Egypt Exploration Society’s mission has been to explore ancient Egyptian sites and monuments, to create a lasting record of the remains, to generate enthusiasm for, and increase knowledge and understanding of, Egypt’s past and to raise awareness of the importance of protecting its heritage. Today the Society supports archaeological research projects throughout Egypt. We rely almost entirely on the support of our members and the wider public to fund our work and run an extensive programme of educational events in Egypt, the UK and beyond to convey the results to our audience.

So what does it mean to be an EES Member?

1. Protecting Egypt’s heritage Precious archaeological sites continue to be lost or damaged as the land becomes more and more valuable, environmental pressures increase, and looting continues. Unfortunately the rate of destruction is constantly increasing and our teams are working harder than ever to recover ancient material and information before it is lost entirely. By joining you will be helping to protect Egypt’s heritage for future generations to explore.

2. Keeping up-to-date with Egyptological research Through this magazine and The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology the Society publishes the latest information in Egyptology throughout the world. Full EES members receive two copies of Egyptian Archaeology a year. You can also add on JEA for a small additional fee, and take advantage of discounts on all our publications.

The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology One of the leading periodicals within the discipline of Egyptology, published by the Egypt Exploration Society. Volumes can be bought individually at a full price of £90 or by subsription as £25 (£31 overseas) add-on to an EES membership.

For further details, check out: http://ees.ac.uk/ publications/journal-egyptian-archaeology.html

3. Maintaining a permanent record of the past The Lucy Gura Archive contains documentation from over a century of exploration and excavation in Egypt making it one of the most important Egyptological archives worldwide and is regularly consulted by researchers. Donations from members are crucial to the preservation and survival of these irreplaceable records and to increasing access to them.

Geoffrey T. Martin: Tutankhamun’s Regent: Scenes and Texts from the Memphite Tomb of Horemheb

4. Access to a leading Egyptological library

(EES Excavation Memoir 111)

With over 20,000 publications the Ricardo Caminos Memorial Library is one of the leading Egyptological libraries in the UK. The library is open Monday-Friday 10:30-16:30, and members are welcome to use our research facilities and borrow up to three books at a time.

A revised edition of the 1989 landmark volume, The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb, Commander-inChief of Tutankhamun (EES Excavation Memoir 55), with changes made to take account of new finds and scholarly articles.

5. Meeting the experts Our events put you into direct contact with the world’s leading specialists as they present their current research. Members benefit from reduced ticket prices for these events and are regularly invited for free lectures given at our London Office.

Thank you Your support will make a very real difference to what we can achieve

Hardcover, ca. 430 pages, incl. 30 foldouts, numerous black/white images.

EES members’ price: £59.50 Full price: £70.-

For more information about the benefits of joining the Society and what your support will help us achieve please visit our website: www.ees.ac.uk, or speak to our team at the London office.

Address: The Egypt Exploration Society, 3 Doughty Mews, London, WC1N 2PG Phone: 0207 242 1880 Email: contact@ees.ac.uk

Visit our website today!

Don’t forget that you can also follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheEES Facebook: The Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society is a Company limited by guarantee and registered in England No. 25816.

Registered charity No.212384

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EES publications can be purchased from: The Egypt Exploration Society 3 Doughty Mews, London WC1N 2PG, United Kingdom T: +44 (0)207 242 1880 E: maria.idowu@ees.ac.uk W: www.ees-shop.com

Special offer for members of the EES and Friends of Saqqara: Get Tutankhamun’s Regent for £35 when you buy before end of March 2016. www.ees-shop.com

29/10/2015 18:29:13

No. 47 Autumn 2015

Graeco-Roman Archives from the Fayum

EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

By K. Vandorpe, W. CLarysse & H. VerretH the Fayum is a large depression in the western desert of egypt, receiving its water directly from the nile. In the early ptolemaic period the agricultural area expanded a great deal, new villages were founded and many Greeks settled here. When villages on the outskirts were abandoned about ad 300-400, houses and cemeteries remained intact for centuries. Here were found thousands of papyri, ostraca (potsherds) and hundreds of mummy portraits, which have made the area famous among classicists and art historians alike. Most papyri and ostraca are now scattered over collections all over the world. the sixth volume of Collectanea Hellenistica presents 145 reconstructed archives originating from this region, including private, professional, official and temple archives both in Greek and in native demotic.

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T he B ulletin of T he E gypt E xploration S ociety

2015 – Collectanea Hellenistica 6 496 p.

105 euro IsBn 978-90-429-3162-6

Engineering and Construction in Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period

O r i e n tA L i A L O vA n i e n s i A A n A L e c tA

A.s. LA LOggiA – engineering And cOnstructiOn in egyPt’s eArLy dynAstic PeriOd

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By a.s. La LoGGIa

Engineering and Construction in Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period

by

angela sophia la loggia

Peeters

Peeters

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2015 – orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 239 X-208 p.

85 euro IsBn 978-90-429-3181-7

SYLVIE CAUVILLE MOHAMMED IBRAHIM ALI

DENDA R A ITINÉRAIRE DU VISITEUR

Price £5.95

throughout history people have marvelled at the pyramids, from the elemental beauty of the step pyramid of djoser to the monumental scale and engineering achievement of the Great pyramid in Giza. the knowledge needed to build such grand monuments was vast, but not acquired overnight. the precursors to the pyramids, the massive mud brick tombs of the First and second dynasties, reveal a high degree of proficiency, ingenuity and capability by the architects, engineers and builders of that time. these mud brick structures, built almost five centuries before the Giza pyramids, reveal a structured and well organised society with well developed construction and management skills. In fact, the construction time and labour force requirements in these earlier structures were efficient and small in comparison to ventures in the proceeding dynasties. It is through these structures – and the development of the skills and diversity of industries required to sustain the building of them – that the foundation for the economic and social development of future generations and the dawn of large scale stone construction was laid.

Dendara Itinéraire du visiteur par s. CauVILLe & M. IBraHIM aLI Le site de dendara, avec ses temples et ses dépendences, est un des plus beaux et des mieux préservés de l’Égypte entière. L’Itinéraire en décrit tous les édifices en insistant particulièrement sur les plafonds étoilés à sujet astronomique, l’ensemble osirien – unique dans le pays – et des multiples rituels représentés, en hiéroglyphes et en images, sur les parois. Celles-ci viennent d’être restaurées par le service des antiquités de l’Égypte et les somptueuses couleurs du passé revivent; quelque trois cents photos rendent compte de cette splendeur retrouvée.

PEETERS

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2015 IV-327 p.

39 euro IsBn 978-90-429-3282-1

Peeters

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