EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Digging Diary 2014-15 Summaries of some of the archaeological work undertaken in Egypt since late summer 2014, with a brief supplement for late spring 2014.The sites are arranged geographically from north to south, ending with the oases. 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: 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. Institutes and Research Centres: ARCE American Research Center in Egypt; AUC American University, Cairo; BA British Academy; BM British Museum; CFEETK Franco-Egyptian Centre, Karnak; CNRS French National Research Centre; DAI German Institute, Cairo; FNRS National Fund for Scientific Research, Brussels; IFAO French Institute, Cairo; MSA Ministry of State for Antiquities, Egypt; NVIC Netherlands-Flemish Institute, Cairo; OI Oriental Institute, University of Chicago; PCMA Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology, Warsaw; Swiss Inst Swiss Institute for Architectural Research and Archaeology, Cairo; USR CNRS research group. SRING - SUMMER 2014 Upper Egypt Luxor (Wadi Khatasum): Miguel Polo and his team continued work at TT 209 for a third season between May and June 2014. Built in the Wadi Khatasum, which flows from the Valley of the Colours to the Ramesseum in Luxor West Bank, this is one of the less-known, late Theban tombs. Since its inclusion in the catalogue of Gardiner and Weigall in 1913 it has always been assigned a Saite chronology. The proprietor’s name has been given differently several times and in current literature is mentioned as Seremhatrekhyt (although this is one of his titles). Since 2012 this tomb is the centre of the ‘Proyecto dos cero nueve’ (Archaeological Mission of the University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain). The field activities have focused on the courtyard and on the first of the underground chambers, the transversal hall. In the courtyard the goal was to
reach bedrock to clear the access leading into the inner chambers and to expand the excavation area to the north and east to identify the superstructure on the slope of the wadi. Conservation efforts have focused on the consolidation of the façade, which was weakened by a hole in the upper west side. Closing this has restored aesthetic value to this part of the tomb, removed a potential risk of weakening to the wall and has assured a proper support to the inner vaulted ceiling of the transversal hall. The stratigraphic excavation of the site revealed a complex deposit in which objects of different nature and chronology are interlaced: the construction of the tomb during the TwentyFifth Dynasty, the permanent erosive action of the wadi, the ritual use of the superstructure until, at least, half a millennium after the building of the tomb, the gradual collapse of the building around the first centuries ad, a possible reoccupation of the underground chambers during the Byzantine period and, in more recent times, the action of archaeologists, looters and residents of nearby villages. The registration of this deposit was performed using a rigorous procedure of excavation, with macroscopic distinction of each stratigraphical unit, photographic recording and GIS mapping. The identification of larger and more complex architectural structures than hitherto known provided a second set of new information. The tomb had a superstructure within the slope of the wadi: walls that surround the courtyard on three sides and a rectangular long chamber to the north have been already identified. The underground chambers were accessed through a staircase of monumental width with a central flight of steps and two side ramps. In the inner transversal hall, a door leading to hitherto unknown underground spaces was found. It has not been possible to enter these areas, as they are covered by deposits that will need to be carefully excavated in next season. Inscriptions around the doors have allowed to identify the titles (among them ao HAt) and the name of the owner, Nisemro or Ashemro (the first hieroglyphic sign, Gardiner’s A26, can have both readings). Karnak: The CFEETK (MAE/CNRS USR 3172) programmes of archaeological research and conservation continued at Karnak, directed by Abdel Hakim Karar, then Mohamed Abdel Aziz (MAE) and Christophe Thiers (CNRS USR 3172). At the Ptah temple, excavations conducted by Benjamin Durand uncovered a
Roman-Byzantine settlement built against a southern enclosure wall of the temple. Excavation led by Guillaume Charloux (CNRS USR 3172) to the East of the temple brought to light a small limestone sphinx and many objects and statuettes thrown away in a huge pit. The epigraphic and conservation programme of the Akhmenu and the northern storerooms of Tuthmosis III continued, in cooperation with Christian Leitz (Univ. Tübingen). The programme concerning the 8th pylon continued and a complete high-resolution orthophotographic survey was made for the southern side of the pylon by Ph. Soubias and J. Maucor (CNRS USR 3172). R. David (LabEx Archimede) and M. Naguib (MAE) organized a workshop in September devoted to the Ptolemaic Theban ceramic, and continued with colleagues the study of ceramics from the Ptah temple, the Treasury of Shabaqo and the Temple of Osiris the Coptite. The Karnak online project continued under the supervision of S. Biston-Moulin. http:// www.cfeetk.cnrs.fr/karnak. AUTUMN 2014 Lower Egypt Buto: The survey work by the German Archaeological Institute Cairo, directed in the field by Robert Schiestl, was continued during October around Buto (Tell el-Farain) and the site of Kom el-Gir, 4 km northeast of Buto. The focus of this season was the investigation of the ancient landscape in the region by means of auger core drilling. One central question was the tracing of a potential ancient branch of the Nile just east of Kom el-Gir, where currently the Masraf Nashart and the Masraf Bahr Nashart flow. A new percussion drill was used in the field to make two transects consisting of 12 cores, with depths between 7 and 12 m. The drillings provided evidence for an ancient watercourse. Coring was also undertaken just beyond the current edges of Kom el-Gir to see whether the site continues into areas currently used as fields. This, surprisingly, does not seem to be the case. With the help of a Differential GPS a Digital Elevation Model of Kom el-Gir was created. The work was undertaken in cooperation with Andreas Ginau and Jürgen Wunderlich of the Department of Geography of the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Bubastis: In September/October the fieldwork of the Austrian Academy of Sciences continued
Egypt Exploration Society Expeditions (www.ees.ac.uk)
SUMMER - AUTUMN 2014 Imbaba and Minufiyeh: Work continued on the Wadi Gamal terraces on the high ground southwest of the Neolithic settlement of Merimde Beni Salama (Imbaba) (September/October 2014). Here, Joanne Rowland and her team (EES/Freie Univ. Berlin) carried out a 1 x 1 m gridded survey with recording and total collection in a sample of the grid squares that revealed further Middle Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic evidence. Investigations and analysis were carried out on the low ground in proximity to the north-south running gas pipeline construction project. In Minufiyeh (August/September 2014), work focussed on the archaeological cemetery
of Quesna, as a section of the older and newer building phases of the falcon necropolis were excavated to investigate the differences between these phases of use. Excavations at the site of the OK mud-brick mastaba tomb were completed. Finds analysis will be ongoing in the spring 2015 season in both areas. Sais: During August and September, the EES/ Univ. of Durham team led by Penny Wilson continued the excavation of the area next to the Late Ramesside house, which includes a magazine complex of the Late NK and a large wall with domestic quarters attached to it, probably from the very early TIP. The excavations confirmed the fact that there are two relatively well-preserved
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assemblages of material one on top of the other. The magazine contained a fine array of Canaanite amphorae, meat jars, pot-stands and funnel-necked jars. All of them were in fragmentary condition and the process of reconstructing the vessels was begun, with several Egyptian amphorae and two large plates completed. The later large wall and its associated structures contained two huge hearth areas as well as a series of circular storage bins and other ephemeral mud-brick structures. More cobra figure fragments were found this season to take the total to over 100. In addition, the first evidence for a completely destroyed Late Antique structure at Kom Rebwa was also found.