Image: Ph. Soubias / CNRS-CFEETK
CHASING SHADOWS: GRAFFITI IN THE EIGHTH PYLON AT KARNAK
Orthophotograph of the door into the east massif, with the inscription of the high priest Roma to its right.
Below left: stela-like graffito at the top of the stair ‘which the elder of the portal of the domain of Amun, senior chamberlain of the high priest of Amun (Roma-)Roy, justified, Amenemope, justified, made.’
Photos: J. Maucor, Q. Dufor / CNRS-CFEETK
wall at the top of the stair, an area now difficult to access for recording. These too are quite formal and probably New Kingdom in date. Smaller graffiti, mostly pictorial, cluster in and around the stela-like inscriptions. In 2013, Elizabeth and Julia systematically surveyed the block surfaces to ensure that these were all recorded. At head height on the north wall, roughly in the middle of the staircase, Elizabeth noticed a line of hieratic in black ink. Further up the stairs, near the light-well in the north wall, she saw faint, yellowish traces of what seemed to be large hieratic signs. Ink and
painted graffiti, or ‘dipinti’, rarely survive in Karnak, largely because of the exposure of the sandstone to the elements, so these were exciting discoveries. New photographic work undertaken by Ellen Jones in 2018 not only facilitated analysis, but revealed even more.
Above right: orthophotograph of the stela-like graffito of the ‘one in charge of confectionery’ Nebuneb.
Deciphering shades of black and yellow Documenting the graffiti in the staircase presented a number of logistical challenges. It is dark and narrow, and the uneven steps make setting up tripods tricky. Photographing the larger graffiti was difficult for even the widest EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY ISSUE NO 57 AUTUMN 2020
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