EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Digging Diary 2011 Summaries of some of the archaeological work undertaken in Egypt during 2011 appear below. The sites are arranged geographically from north to south with the oases at the end. Field Directors who would like reports on their work to appear in EA are asked to e-mail a short summary, with a website address if available, as soon as possible after the end of each season to: patricia. spencer@ees.ac.uk PATRICIA SPENCER Abbreviations: ED Early Dynastic; OK Old Kingdom; FIP First Intermediate Period; MK Middle Kingdom; SIP Second Intermediate Period; NK New Kingdom; TIP Third Intermediate Period; LP Late Period; GPR Ground Penetrating Radar; GR Graeco-Roman. Institutions and Research Centres: AERA Ancient Egypt Research Associates: AUC American University Cairo; BM British Museum; CFEETK Franco-Egyptian Centre, Karnak; CNRS French National Research Centre; DAI German Archaeological Institute, Cairo; IFAO French Institute, Cairo; HIAMAS The Hellenic Institute of Ancient and Mediaeval Alexandrian Studies; MSA Ministry of State for Antiquities, Egypt; OI Oriental Institute, University of Chicago; SCA Supreme Council for Antiquities; Swiss Inst Swiss Institute for Architectural Research and Archaeology, Cairo; UCL University College London; UMR, USR research groups of the CNRS; WMF World Monuments Fund. SUMMER 2011 (May to September) Lower Egypt Tell el-Daba: The Austrian Archaeological Inst continued its work, directed by Irene ForstnerMüller. In the late summer/autumn Manfred Bietak, on behalf of the Austrian Archaeological Inst, excavated the middle Hyksos Period palace,
attributable in its later phase to King Khayan. Of particular importance was a double entrance gate and pits with sawn-off right hands in front of the palace façade (see further, pp.32-33). The plan of the palace seems to be Near Eastern and its size is c.10,500sq m. In front of the palace a wide cultic building with remains of four columns was found. Below the palace earlier stratigraphic levels were investigated - probably late MK palatial buildings. Of particular importance was a magazine destroyed by a large fire. Among the finds were amphorae filled with Egyptian blue artefacts, Middle Cypriot pottery made in Egypt and magic knives of ivory. Other finds included a sistrum made of ivory, faience and copper and an ivory (mirror?) shaped like a djed-pillar. http://www.auaris.at/ Giza: The SCA team, directed by Zahi Hawass and Adel Okasha, continued excavation of a large cemetery c.2km S of the tombs of the pyramid builders. The tombs of this cemetery, which is surrounded by a large wall, are larger than, and different from, those of the pyramid workers and are probably those of middle-class priests. Tomb 2110 belongs to Rudka, a priest of the pyramid complex of Khufu (see EA 38, p.26), and Tomb 2109 to Kaemnofret, a scribe of the temple. To the W of 2109 are other tombs and separate shafts. Altogether 13 interconnected tombs were found, mostly built of limestone. www.drhawass.com/ Saqqara: The SCA team, led by Zahi Hawass and Abdel Hakim Karara, continued work in the OK cemetery at the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, excavating the rock-cut tomb of Shepsespuptah, whose titles include Inspector of the Royal House, Priest of Djedkare Isesi, and Priest of the Pyramid of Unas. The tomb (late 5th Dyn/beginning of the 6th Dyn) has a unique biographical text in which Unas orders the cutting of a sarcophagus for the deceased, as well as scenes of agriculture, music
and dancing and the making of statues and metal beds. www.drhawass.com/ Upper Egypt Medinet Madi: The site and visitor centre are now open to the public at the end of the second phase of the Medinet Madi Development Project, directed by Edda Bresciani, and supported by the SCA, The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Univ of Pisa. A buffer zone has been created around the ancient site to protect it and to limit agricultural encroachment and Medinet Madi, Wadi el-Rayan and Wadi el-Hitan are now connected by 28km of unpaved panoramic track. Visitors now approach Medinet Madi from the S along the ancient processional route and can visit c.280 m of the site as far as the large Roman town square on its N side. The visitor centre provides a history of the site and the whole Fayum area through replica statues, information panels and photographs. It also has a café, library, conference area and an eco-lodge for overnight stays. Karnak: Archaeological research and restoration programmes continued in the precinct of AmunRe under the auspices of the CFEETK (SCA/ CNRS USR 3172) directed by Mansour Boreik (SCA) and Christophe Thiers (CNRS). At the Ptah temple (see EA 38 pp.20-24) excavation, supervised by Christophe Thiers and Pierre Zignani, focused on the SW area of the temple, close to the mud-brick precinct wall linked with the first Ptolemaic gate. In the SW part of this enclosure, the gate associated with two granite column bases was studied. Inside the courtyard, clearance brought to light limestone roofing slabs reused as pavement. Excavations also revealed mud-brick walls beneath the foundation sand of Tuthmosis III’s temple. They seem to be associated with pottery sherds from the end of the SIP/
Egypt Exploration Society Expeditions SUMMER/AUTUMN Sais (Sa el-Hagar): The EES/Univ of Durham team, led by Penny Wilson, completed the recording of 150 ‘bags’ of pottery collected by the SCA from the waste water project in the village of Sa el-Hagar and the material was repacked for storage in the magazine. Research also continued on the material from Excavation 11, a Late Ptolemaic-Roman pottery dump, perhaps from a kiln, to prepare it for publication. All the excavated material was recorded and important pieces were reconstructed and drawn.
(www.ees.ac.uk)
www.dur.ac.uk/penelope.wilson/sais.html.
Minufiyeh Governorate: The EES/Free Univ Berlin team, directed by Joanne Rowland, conducted a GPR survey at Quesna, on the N edge of the gezira, focusing on the area immediately around the OK mastaba tomb. Trench 9, S of the falcon necropolis, located the burials of 25 individuals - some very disturbed - with ceramic sherds of the LP-Roman Period. Three double-vessel type coffins were excavated and reconstruction continued of coffins excavated in previous seasons. Trenches 10 and 11 investigated linear features shown by the GPR survey and located LP and Ptolemaic ceramic sherds, but no structural remains. A field-school was held simultaneously (see pp.78). In Khatatbah, investigation of this area along the W Delta desert edge continued, with a pedestrian survey targeting 18 available areas, all but one on the stretch of land W of the Nasiry Canal and E of the asphalt road from Khatatbah
Tell Basta: Moving blocks in preparation for epigraphic recording. Photograph: The Tell Basta Project to Giza. Palaeolithic and Neolithic material was identified, together with some Late Ramesside ceramic sherds in one area. Following drill-coring in the spring (see EA 39, p.4) pedestrian surveys were also carried out at Kom Usim, where surface ceramics were predominantly Late Roman with a small amount of Byzantine/Islamic material, and at el-Rimaly, close to Quesna, where most ceramics are LP, with a few examples of Late Roman and modern material. http://minufiyeh.tumblr.com. Tell Basta: The season of the EES/Univ of Göttingen/SCA mission, directed by Eva Lange, was dedicated mainly to the documentation and analysis of pottery, small finds and glass excavated in previous years (see pp.12-13). The work on the pottery focused on the studying of fabrics and types of the LP and Ptolemaic Period, both Egyptian and
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imports. The glass fragments were documented and revealed an unexpectedly large corpus of ware-types, dating from the second century BC to the early seventh century AD, which is unique for the E Delta. Complete epigraphic documentation began of all the decorated blocks of Osorkon I in the entrance hall of the temple of Bastet, revealing numerous hithertounknown reliefs. Documentation of fragments of temple statues, started two years ago as part of a dissertation project, was almost finished. Three trainees from the SCA were trained in the documentation of finds and pottery and in epigraphic work. http://tellbasta.tumblr.com/. Memphis: The Survey of Memphis team, directed by David Jeffreys (UCL), carried out a field-school season in collaboration with AERA (see further pp.5-6). The main purpose was to train young Egyptian inspectors in field surveying and recording methods, drawing on the skills acquired by graduates of earlier field-schools at AERA Giza. The site chosen was the early MK cemetery and adjacent MK settlement at Kom Fakhry, just S of the modern town of Mit Rahina - which offers the earliest in situ stratigraphy. After preliminary cleaning, excavation revealed settlement details including large rooms and a clear street pattern. Several sculptural pieces were found, including a limestone group statue and parts of a dwarf lamp statue similar to those found by Petrie at Kahun. www.aeraweb.org/category/blog/2011-field-season/.