2023 Lecture Summaries

Nicky’s lecture was about a lesser known period in the development of Tell Nabasha in the North East of the delta. Usually thought of as a Late Period/Ptolemaic site, there is significant evidence dating back to the 18th dynasty, mainly in the form of royal and private statuary.

The site has had different names. Flinders Petrie called it Nebese but its ancient name was imt or Imet, and it was the capital of the imt-peHu nome. Initial exploration by Jean Jacques Rifaud in 1825 led to his discovery of a red granite shrine of Amasis II, of Dynasty 26. Petrie, with FL Griffith, began work there in 1886, attracted by tales of a ‘big stone’, a monolithic shrine, but found few other above ground structures. Petrie’s initial plan of the site shows a cemetery, temple and town but all that remains today are small areas of the temple and town; the rest is covered in modern buildings. Petrie concluded that the temple was sacred to Wadjet, with the monolith being in a smaller temple dedicated to Min. After the workmen dug around the monolith they didn’t fill in the trench, which became waterlogged so the monolith collapsed and was largely destroyed.

The Ramesside sculptural material is associated with the entrance pylon of the temple and consists of reused blocks from the time of Ramesses II, possibly from Piramesse. Petrie also found a sphinx of Amenemhat III now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (BMFA). The material from Tell Nabasha was split between the BMFA, Cairo and the British Museum. Sculptural material from the Old and Middle Kingdoms had been reinscribed during the Ramesside period, including columns, sphinxes and a, now missing, offering table of Amenemhat II. Some 12th dynasty statues were also found, used as foundations in the smaller temple. Petrie had suggested there was a Middle Kingdom temple on the site but there is no evidence of this.

Perhaps the most interesting piece was a block statue of the charioteer Merenptah. This was found by Griffith and sold to the Chautauqua Archaeological Museum in New York. When this was closed in 1905 and demolished in 1930, the collection vanished but the statue was sold by Sotheby’s in 1983 to a private collector. Images of it can be seen on the Sotheby’s website. Fortunately Griffith had copied the inscriptions, which tell us that the statue was a wrSy or ‘watchman’, a guardian of the temple. The phrase ‘I belong to Imet’ is found on the right side of the statue. Nicky constructed a speculative family tree from the names mentioned in the inscriptions to show a possible link with the site of Piramesse.  He speculated that an elite Theban family had moved to the delta and possibly married into an elite family at Imet.

Nicky then moved on to the tombs at Tell Nabasha. The majority of the cemetery is Late Period, overlying or reusing earlier tombs. Made of mudbrick, the tombs collapsed causing Petrie to misdate some. A group of Ramesside tombs had multiple chambers and were rich in terms of finds, including shabtis, two Ramesside plates and ceramic coffins. In the central part of the cemetery were the ‘Cypriote’ tombs, so called because Petrie thought they contained the bodies of Cypriot mercenaries, mainly because the grave goods included Cypriot pottery, spearheads, forked spear butts but no shabtis.  However, the pottery has close parallels with Palestinian/Philistine pottery and the spear butts are more likely to be the butts of staves. There are many theories about who is buried in these tombs but it may be that they are simply Ramesside Egyptians with imported artefacts.

In his summary Nicky concluded that the archaeology does suggest a Dynasty 18 settlement, and there is textual evidence for connections with Piramesse in Papyrii Anastasi II and IV.

Jean Barnett

Nicky Nielson is senior lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester.  He has long been interested in the eastern Delta and his lecture today was on the Ancient Egyptian settlement of Imet.  There is some confusion around the modern name of Imet known as Tell Nabesheh and also known as Tell Farum.  Some of the confusion coming after Petrie names the area Tell Nabesheh. 

The settlement is located in the eastern Delta, close to Pi-Ramesse and may well have been part of the extended city limits.  This is an important consideration given that it may well have attracted people relocating from Thebes and other areas to support the growing city of Pi-Ramesses.

Archaeological excavations

Initial exploration of the area was carried out by Jean Jaques Rifaud in 1825.  An interesting character who was a deserter from the French army.  He wrote about Imet in his travel discoveries publication in 1830 in which he mentions a red granite shrine of Amasis III.

In 1886 Petrie and Grifith excavate the area attracted by reports of a standing stone.  Initially Peterie described this as a standing sarcophagus, it was in fact a standing shrine.  Unfortunately due to a trench dug around the shrine during excavations the shrine later toppled and broke into several pieces.  It was Griffiths that did the majority of the work at the site which included excavations of a cemetery and temple complex.   This could help explain some of Petrie’s later interpretations  about the site in his published accounts. 

A variety of sculptures were discovered from the Old and Middle Kingdoms which were later reworked during the Ramesside period.  One of the most interesting statues was that of a Ramesside charioteer called Merenpatah.  The figure is that of a crouching man and has inscriptions on the different sides.  One of the inscriptions read ’I belong to Imet’ and information on Merenptah’s family and life are included.  It appears that he came from a Theban military family and married into a local priest family.  His wife was Ia who was connected with the local temple and described as ‘Mistress of Imet’.  It is very likely that this duality of family ties was common for families relocating to the area to support the expanding city of Pi-Ramesses. 

Tombs excavated in Imet

Tomb 35 is ascribed to be that of Pamerihu following the discovery of 2 shabtis bearing that name.  He was the father of Merenptah

Most late period tombs were probably older and were reused late period tombs.  Built from mud brick they have not survived intact.  One group of tombs, 3,5,7,and 8 were  probably a family complex.  They may have been, in fact, a single tomb with several  sub chambers.  These tombs revealed a number of small finds including shabtis.  Most are found today in either the Boston Museum of Fine Art or the British Museum. 

So called Cypriot Mercenary tombs number 1,2,14,17,18,24,26,29, and 33 were identified by Petrie as being different to other tombs excavated.  There were no shabtis found but a number of spear heads, pottery  and spear butts of non-Egyptian design were.  Later studies have identified these finds as more probably Levantine origin and not Cypriot at all.  It is also quite feasible that these were tombs of Egyptians which included items from foreign countries.  Not an unreasonable proposal given the significant international trading activities and cosmopolitan nature of near-by  Pi-Ramesse. 

Conclusions about Imet were that

·         Archaeological evidence suggests activity from dynasty 18 and beyond. 

·         Imet expanded at the same time as Pi-Ramesses during the establishment of the new dynasty and beginning of the  Ramesside period.

·         Evidence links Pi-Ramesses and Imet and it is feasible that Imet was part of a larger city footprint supplying Pi-Ramesses as families relocated to the new state capital from other parts of Egypt.  

Paul Newby 

Dr Franzmeier is director of the Pi-Ramesse project and has been for the last eight years.  He took over from Edgar Pusch who was director from the 1980s and who sadly died recently. 

The talk covered what and why Pi-Ramesses was and details  recent archaeological investigations. 

What was Pi-Ramesse

Pi -Ramesses is in  the north east of the Egyptian Delta,  and at first    glance it looks rather an odd place to build a capital city.  However, during the Ramesside period in the 19th dynasty it’s location was very strategic, especially in relation to the wider Egyptian empire and the Levant. It was not a greenfield site and had previously been the capital of the Hyksos and was known as Avaris. 

Prior to the Ramesside city there had been a temple of Seth in Avaris. Seti I built a royal building, probably a palace of some kind, in the 19th dynasty. The city  became the primary residence of Ramses II and it was where he returned to after the battle of Kadesh with his troops.  There is some evidence of occupation into the 20th dynasty and beyond.  However, very little is known what was going on after Rameses III.  At some point in the 21st dynasty it appears the city was abandoned and that some of the stones from large buildings were removed and reused in the construction of Tanis. 

Discovery of Pi-Ramesse

Discovery and initial exploration of Pi-Ramesse was mainly done by  Egyptian Egyptologists.  Ahmed Kamal Pasha , who is regarded as one of the first Egyptian Egyptologist was responsible for discovery of the city. However, it was Muhammad Hamza and Labib Habachi who initiated most of the work uncovering the city.  In the 1980s Edgar Pusch started work on the site and continued for the next 35 years.  The city was relatively unheard of prior to the first World War .  However, purchase of some faience tiles by the Louvre following WW1 brought Pi-Ramesses to the attention of the wider world. 

What was Pi-Ramesses?

By the Ramesside period Pi-Ramesse was a major city . The city centre was 4 square kilometres and the wider city could have stretched as far as 250 square kilometres.  This would make it a city on the scale of places such as Babylon, Thebes and Memphis.

Pi-Ramesse was a military stronghold, seat of government and a major trading and diplomatic hub.

The city had a key strategic location being less than one day’s travel from the Mediterranean coast and was also close to the Egyptian boarder with the Levant. It was an important centre for international diplomacy with large  archival resources.  Evidence has been found of stables for 400 to 500 horses.  Not only a military headquarter, it may also have been an important naval base. Pi-Ramesses was very much the gateway to Egypt and as such would have had many impressive buildings reflecting its status and importance.  It would have been a very cosmopolitan and wealthy place to be. 

Why build a new capital?

Undoubtably the strategic location had a big influence on the development of Pi-Ramesses.  However, with the emergence of a new dynasty at the beginning of the Ramesside period it may have been felt important to make a break with the past. The transfer of power to the  new dynasty required a break from the old elite .  A new capital some distance from the previous centre of power would help with this transition in many ways.  There may also have been a desire to open up Egypt to the wider world.  The location of Pi-Ramesses to the Mediterranean and to the wider Egyptian empire would have facilitated this opening up and its development as a major international trading centre.   

Recent Archaeological Exploration

A magnetic imaging project from 1996-2013 has helped map larger areas of the city with tantalising evidence of ancient  buildings just beneath the surface.  These include temples, royal buildings, large villas and more humble domestic dwellings. 

Since 2016 a large, in fact monumental, building has been excavated.  It is similar in size to structures of other known Ramesside palaces and temples.  It is a complex site with multiple layers including irrigation ditches, lime kilns and foundation trenches for large walls.  Given the nature of the site most of the walls have gone.  However, large foundation trenches lined with sand are evident and show the scale of the building they once supported.  The building could very well have been a royal place and a significant one at that.  Evidence of columns have been found, similar in size and scale to the palace of Merenptah in Memphis.  There is some evidence of a much earlier royal building with remnants of plaster walls being found, some fragments with pigmentation and patters still visible. 

Very recently a drone survey has been carried out by a French TV crew who were filming in the area.  It is very hard to get permission to undertake drone surveillance in Egypt.  So it was lucky that the French group had permission and could extend their work to include aerial footage of the Pi-Ramesses archaeological site.  This work has provided new data on the scale of the city and has also allowed the tracing of the ancient riverbanks.  This is significant as the Nile does shift over time and it may be one of the reasons why the city was eventually abandoned due to silting up of the river. 

For further information and an on-line exhibition of finds go to piramasse-exhibition.de  and @quantirpiramesse2564

Paul Newby

Barbara started her talk by recalling the first mummy she ever saw as a child was Irtyru on a visit she made with her mother to the Great North Museum.  This visit  ignited a life-long  interest in mummies .  Barbara has seen many mummies over the intervening years however, she told us that, by far, her favourite mummy is ‘The Unknown Lady’ located in the Oriental Museum.

The Unknown Lady

As her name suggests very little is known about  this mummy due to extensive water damage received  in antiquity to any hieroglyphic inscriptions on the coffin  as to the name , location or occupation of this mummy.  Damage to the base of the foot and inside of the coffin is particularly bad and is where most of the information on the occupant would normally be found. 

The Unknown Lady was discovered in 1880 by Gaston Maspero.  It was sold in 1888 to buyers in Darlington.  In the 1930’s the mummy may have been used to advertise the film by Boris Karloff of the same name when it came to the cinema in Darlington.  By today’s standards this seems rather shocking and disrespectful.  Fortunately, the mummy was loaned  to the Durham Oriental museum in   1960 where she was  put on  displayed to the public.   In 1999 the loan became permanent when the mummy was gifted   to the museum where she resides today on display  in the Thacker gallery. 

What is known about the mummy has come from various scientific and not so scientific studies of The Unknown Lady by various scientist and medics. Unfortunately, some of these studies have resulted in significant damage to the mummy itself.  The torso in particular was badly damaged when it was cut open with a tenon saw.  This was done to retrieve a rather unusual prosthetic arm which was buried with the mummy.    The Unknown Lady  is Ptolemaic and is an elderly woman, around 56 years old .  This has been confirmed by various Xray studies  and scans of the body.  These studies have demonstrated that The Unknown Lady journeyed from a poor background to eventual wealth.  Evidence in her bones, Harris lines, similar to shin splints, which  demonstrate interruptions to her growth caused by a poor diet. Her health in general was poor.  There is evidence of damage to teeth, quite common in Ancient Egypt due to the grit contained in bread which was a staple food.  In addition, there were abscesses to her teeth. * ( Again, this type of abscess  was very common in Ancient Egypt.  Teeth abscesses were not only  very painful but also potentially fatal as they could lead on to more serious life-threatening infections such as  septicaemia and infectious endocarditis, which attacks  the heart.) In addition, there is evidence of both kidney and gall stones, and osteoarthritis.  The mummy also showed signs of a broken toe, damaged pelvis and slipped disk.  However, these were very likely due to damage caused during the various examinations of the mummy.   

The Brighton Mummy

This is the mummy of a little boy dating from the 1st century AD.  which also is on display in the Oriental museum.  It was auctioned   by Sutherby’s in 1975 following liquidation  of Angora antiques. It was sold for around £1500 to £2000 which in today’s money is £10,664.64 to £ 14,219.53.  So pretty expensive in terms of acquisitions if purchased today.  The mummy came to Durham in 1985 , to the Wolfson gallery, where it is on display today. 

The body has been beautifully wrapped but the little boy has lost his cartonnage mask.

Examination of the mummy originally estimated the age to be around 8-9  years old and 5 ft tall.  There is evidence of scoliosis to the spine.  Gold leaf was found around the mouth and nose.  Further examination of the mummy in 1985 by home office pathologist Dr Edmand Tapp estimated the age to be between 8 to 15 years old and possibly negroid.  The bones were in good order and CT scans showed that major organs had not been removed during mummification. 

Animal mummies

Two animal mummies in Durham’s collection were discussed, namely a Jackal and a Cat mummy.

They come from the 26th dynasty and were possibly votive offerings.  Xray studies have confirmed that the mummies both contain skeletons.  It was sometimes the case that such offerings did not contain a mummifies animal. 

The Jackal dimensions are 340mm (H), 62 mm (W), 100 mm (D) .

The cat 190 mm (H), 50 mm (W), 66 mm (D).

Other mummies

In conclusion, Barabara briefly mentioned that other types of mummified human remains can be found outside of Egypt.  In Rome the Capuchin monks developed a form of mummification and buried bodies of monks in a catacomb. *( A similar catacomb can be found also in Palermo in Scilly and includes the bodies of the wealthy inhabitants of the city from the 19th century .  The last mummy being that of a young child in the 1920s.  The practise has now been stopped. )

In Denmark the preserved remains of Skrydstrup woman from the 1300 BC and Peruvian mummies from the high Andes were briefly discussed.

*Added by author post lecture

Paul Newby

Our second talk of the day was given by our Chair, Penny, and it was a fascinating complement to Joanne’s lecture. Penny began with some facts and figures about crocodiles. For example, adults can grow to 5 to 6 metres in length; an adult female lays between 50 and 100 eggs; and the animal’s bite is more powerful than that of a shark or a Rottweiler!

Crocodile cults were well known throughout Egypt, with images appearing on pre-Dynastic pottery and seals. One seal from the tomb of Tarkhan (T414) shows a count of crocodiles. During the Old Kingdom they are shown in landscapes depicting hippo hunts or cattle herding, where the crocodiles lurk just underneath the water. They also feature in the Pyramid texts as the ‘Lord of Baku’ and are connected with the goddess Neith. By the time of the New Kingdom Neith had become regarded as the mother of Sobek, both having links to various nomes.

In the Middle Kingdom the animal appears in a story in the Westcar papyrus as an arbiter of fate, when a wax crocodile turns into a real one and eats the man who has had an affair with the High Priest’s wife. By the time of Dynasty 13 Sobek had become part of the king’s titulary, as for example in Sobekhotep. In the New Kingdom, spell 31in the Book of the Dead is concerned with fending off a crocodile, while the stela of Pentawer (in the British Museum EA 1632) shows a man swimming away from one. There are many other scenes of crocodiles that illustrate the Egyptians’ fear of these animals, yet at the same time they were worshipped.

Sobek took multiple forms during the Ptolemaic period, becoming Suchos. The Book of the Faiyum lists them with different epithets. Crocodile cults also included the breeding of live animals, as evidenced by a box of hatchlings in the Petrie Museum, and the historian Herodotus describes how they were cared for. They could, however, be controlled. Ptah-pataikos amulets show a crocodile being trampled, and the Horus cippus in the Metropolitan Museum incorporates a text for keeping them at bay.

Slaughtering rituals are well-attested at the temples of Edfu and Dendera, and at some sites Sobek became associated with Seth. Texts from Edfu show the king spearing a crocodile, while at Dendera there are details of how the names of crocodiles relate to their attributes, for example imyu-mu ‘those in the water’. According to Juvenal there were factions at Dendera and Kom Ombo, with differing attitudes to crocodiles and these differences led at times to riots. Aelian also refers to rivalry between Dendera and Coptos over who was the most skilled at killing the animals.

But did this rivalry eventually go away? On the pylon at Edfu there is a scene, behind the figure of Ptolemy, of the crocodile god shaking hands with Horus. From Esna there is  a text of a hymn written using crocodile figures. Do these indicate a change in how these animals were viewed? Penny ended this thought-provoking talk with a picture of a Roman-period suit made of crocodile skin and left us to ponder on its purpose.

Jean Barnett

Joanne is a member of the archaeological mission, led by Maria Nilsson and John Ward, which has already completed 16 seasons at Gebel el-Silsila. Her talk today covered: an introduction to the site; an overview of Middle and New Kingdom Sobek cult centres; temples and cultic aspects of Gebel el-Silsila; an update on her research; and what happened to the cult of Sobek after the Middle Kingdom.

Gebel el-Silsila is located between Kom Ombo and Edfu and at 30km2 it is the largest quarry in Egypt. Sandstone was extracted at the site during the 18th and 19th dynasties. The site has yielded a huge corpus of graffiti but the cultic aspects were overlooked until recently. Joanne summarised the work carried out at the site during the 19th and 20th centuries and noted that the current survey has produced some 50 publications so far.

The Faiyum was the main area for the cult of the crocodile god Sobek, with, for example, the Temple of Renenutet at Medinet Madi and the labyrinth at Hawara. The temple of Sobek at Gebel el-Silsila was found in the 1960s but was lost when the area was cleared for the building of a canal. However, a statue of Sobek was found, plus a stela commemorating the god.

Among the evidence for cultic activity at Gebel el-Silsila are over 30 ‘Nile’ shrines, naos shrines, and temples. The quarries are located on the East bank, where finds have included a stela of Amenhotep IV (before he became Akhenaten), an 18th dynasty necropolis, rock art, and a shrine to Amenhotep III. Three temples have been discovered: the Speos on the West bank, the temple of Sobek on the East bank, and a temple of Hatshepsut that is now lost because of quarrying. This ‘lost’ temple was recorded in 1906 and 1972 but had disappeared by 1975. The temple of Sobek is of a conventional design, with a quay to the West side, a pit and a nilometer. The pit may have been used to house crocodiles. Joanne’s timeline for the temple showed its initial construction in mud brick under Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III, then in sandstone under Amenhotep III. It was destroyed after the end of the New Kingdom but was occupied temporarily during the Roman period.

Joanne then gave a summary of her recent research at the site, details of which will be published in due course. Finally, she summarised what happened to the cult of Sobek at Gebel el-Silsila. His image was erased from doorways in the Speos and in the shrines, and the temple was destroyed with the stone removed. The cult of Sobek was replaced by that of the triad of Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu.

Jean Barnett

Fatma began by emphasising the link between heritage and daily life: heritage is not just buildings, it includes crafts. She told us how she tries to highlight the importance of heritage, and the need to protect it for the future, to local groups via workshops. One of her projects, ‘The Place and the People’, was a series of lectures, both online and in person, bringing in non-specialists to emphasise that Egypt’s heritage is more than pyramids and is not just for academics.

She then turned to the involvement of the Egypt Exploration Society. In recognising different threats to Egyptian cultural heritage, the EES raised funds in 2020 to launch a new grant programme focusing solely on Heritage at Risk.  Between May 2021 and May 2022, six projects working on the documentation or the protection of Egyptian heritage were supported. These include some very different aspects of Egypt’s heritage, covering different periods, with the intangible as well as the tangible. Fatma gave us some detail on these various initiatives:

·         Endangered traditional crafts of Upper Egypt, for example, basketry

·         Salaam Tram: Archiving Cairo’s Lost Tracks. This involved the Shubra archive, launched by Mina Ibrahim, and resulted in the production of book of stories from the people who remembered the tram system.

·         The architectural irrigation complex of El-Khatatba documentation project, which collected data about a structure that its neighbours wanted to demolish.

·         Photographing and documenting the mausoleum of el-Ashraf Khalil

·         The Fish Markets of Alexandria, cataloguing daily life there, and the Roman baths 

·         Water management in Hermopolis Magna.

An exhibition called ‘Heritage Everywhere’, linked to these projects, was staged at the cultural centre in Cairo.

Fatma’s lecture was a little different from our usual sessions, focusing on something other than Egypt’s Pharaonic past. If you want to read more about her work, have a look at Issue 61 (Autumn 2022) of ‘Egyptian Archaeology’, published by the EES.

Jean Barnett

Using a selection of the jobs described in the Satire of the Trades, also known as the Instruction of Dua-Khety, Sarah considered their pros and cons. She looked at the scribe, the soldier, the sandal-maker, the field hand and the washerman.

The Satire recommends the scribe as the best job but was it? Sarah pointed out the difficulty in translating the term ‘scribe’, as it often referred to a function close to accountancy. She used the biography of Paheri, grandson of Ahmose son of Ibana, to illustrate some of the functions of the scribe, which Paheri combined with acting as mayor of Esna and El Kab. The advantages were the opportunities for travel, wearing good linen clothing, proximity to the elite, and, as Paheri did, impressing others with your tomb biography. However, this has to be set against a long apprenticeship, monotonous work especially when counting grain, poor posture when bending over documents, and needing speed and accuracy.

Paheri’s grandfather, Ahmose, had been both a soldier and sailor, a rare example of someone with a military career. There was a certain form of scribal accountancy in the military, as after a battle, the hands of dead enemies were severed and counted. Scribes, however, did not appear to have a high opinion of soldiers. The advantage of being a soldier was the chance of being so good in battle that you became wealthy if, that is, you survived. Sarah set this against the numerous disadvantages: a short life span, harsh training, basic rations, and, worst of all, the possibility of dying in a foreign land.

Sarah then moved on to a job that doesn’t sound too bad: the sandal-maker. However, as sandals were made of leather, this involved working with animal carcasses and at one point, biting the skins in order to pull the toe strap through the sandal. Leather processing is illustrated on many tomb scenes but they often ignore the smelly phases of cleaning and depilating the skins. This seems to be a job with huge disadvantages!

The field hand cannot have been a pleasant job that people wanted to do, as evidenced by the number of shabtis found in tombs. Field workers were bound to the agricultural calendar so, even when the Nile was in flood and they could not work the land, they would be used in the corvée on building projects. Their main tool was the scratch plough, used by hand to carve a trench into the ground. Sarah returned to the tomb scenes of Paheri, as they show him in the role of taskmaster, organising his field workers. Agricultural work was arduous for those who did it and also presented difficulties for the scribes who had to control it.

Sarah’s final candidate for worst job was the washerman. Aside from the unpleasant task of washing other people’s dirty linen, the washerman also had to contend with the danger of attacks from crocodiles and hippos in the river, and occasional complaints, as evidenced by a letter found at Deir el Medina to the scribe Amenemope. It was also a heavy, manual task not made easier by the lack of soap; the cleaning was done with lime and potash.

So what was the worst job in ancient Egypt? Sarah’s strong candidates were the field hand, the sandal-maker and the washerman. The Satire of the Trades gives a vivid picture of these jobs and more, but probably the most important message to take from this text is that these back-breaking jobs were done by the ordinary people of Egypt.

Jean Barnett

Dylan’s lecture took us on a journey down the Red Sea coast of Egypt to look for evidence of expeditions to Punt and to determine, if possible, where it was.

 At Ayn Sakhna, excavations have discovered evidence of expeditions by Amenemhat III, Amenhotep I and Nebkaure. Boatsheds were built into the cliffs so that dismantled boats carried across land routes could be re-erected there. The boatsheds were then walled off for protection and one passage contains the remains of a boat set on fire, causing the ceiling to collapse. Dylan’s photographs then took us down the coast to Wadi el-Jarf. He noted that ships cannot hug the Red Sea coast because of dangerous reefs. Wadi el-Jarf was where the papyrus of Meya was found. This records the transport of stone from quarries to Giza for the building of Khufu’s pyramid. Nearer the coast there were areas for storing items used on a more temporary basis, for example anchors. Also, a mole was built out into the sea to make a harbour. Going further south, we arrived at Mersa Gawasis and Wadi Gusus, where a stela, now at the Oriental Museum in Durham, records an expedition to Punt. The cliffs at Mersa Gawasis have slots in them that held various stelae, with boatsheds underneath.

The most famous expedition is that of Hatshepsut but there are none recorded after the end of the Middle Kingdom, possibly because of the construction of the Darius Canal, giving access to the Red Sea from the south of the delta region. But what were these expeditions for? The answer to this provides some clue as to where Punt was. The Egyptians wanted turquoise for jewellery and copper for tools. There were copper mines at Serabit el-Khadim on the south of the Sinai Peninsula and Dylan also noted that Hathor, the local god, is known as the Lady of Turquoise. His theory is that Punt was located near the coast. Inscriptions in the tomb of Harkuf at Aswan record an expedition to Nubia in the time of Pepy II and referring to Punt. The tomb of Rekhmire (T100) portrays offering bearers from Punt carrying baboons, gold chains, and incense trees. The registers depicting this scene show a hierarchy, with offerings from Punt and Crete at the top, then from Nubia and Syria, then slaves at the bottom. Dylan positions Punt to the South East of Egypt. This area, Somalia and Southern Arabia, was the source of the trees from which incense was extracted. At el Kab the tomb of Sobeknakht refers to Kush stirring up Wawat, Punt and the Medjay, suggesting Punt was near Nubia.

In the Deir el-Bahri temple of Hatshepsut there are illustrations of ships in Punt, showing sea life that is not native to the Red Sea, and baboons, also not native to Egypt, and an Indian rhinoceros. Also shown are buildings on stilts and the king and queen of Punt. The Egyptians are shown departing with trees in baskets, giraffes, bows, lion pelts, ebony, ivory, gold eye paint, all presented to Amun and clearly valued. Dylan also traced the journey taken by the hero of the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, who met the king of Punt, and suggests a location near Eritrea.

Finally, Dylan showed pictures of Wadi Hammamat, the route from Quseir on the coast to Koptos on the Nile. This was a valuable source of the greywacke, from which the Narmer Palette was made, and has many inscriptions along its route referring to expeditions.

This was an entertaining lecture, and Dylan’s many photographs really brought the subject to life.

Jean Barnett

2022 Lecture Summaries

‘There was Light- Amenhotep III and His Dazzling World’, by Rachel Barclay and Penny Wilson

Rachel began our study day with an overview of the exhibition currently running at the Oriental Museum in Durham. Although the exhibition is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, it showcases objects from across the 18th dynasty rather than any relating to Tutankhamun in particular. This was a period of military expansion and trading ventures, a period of stability that enabled a flowering of the arts.  Rachel showed pictures of a number of objects in the exhibition including statues, a decorated box, vessels made of travertine and blue glass, and cosmetic implements made of imported elephant ivory. In this period the depiction of the human form adopted a more sensuous style, with statues having elongated torsos and more detail on faces and wigs. Two notable items in the exhibition are part of a cult statue of Amenhotep III, with a gold collar and detailed blue glazed kilt, and a small but beautiful boxwood statue of a servant girl holding a jar. This latter piece is well-known, having featured some years ago in the BBC series ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’.

Penny continued the lecture by focussing on one object- a stele of Akhenaten found in 1909 at Buhen. Its subject is a campaign in Nubia to protect the gold mines from attack by local tribes. Shortly after its discovery the stele was sent to Pennsylvania. In the salvage operation at Buhen in 1962, part of the Aswan dam project, a number of objects were distributed to Cairo and the supporting institutions, one of which was the Gulbenkian Museum (as the Oriental Museum was then known). Our museum received some fragments that are part of the 1909 stele, and these are part of the exhibition, mounted together with a reconstruction of the text.

This talk was an excellent introduction to the exhibition in general and to one display in particular. Do make some time to visit the Oriental Museum and see these pieces. The exhibition runs until 21st May 2023.

‘The Modern Resurrection of Tutankhamun’ by Aidan Dodson

Aidan joined our study day via zoom to talk about Tutankhamun, but not about the discovery of his tomb. His theme was how Tutankhamun has emerged from obscurity to become a recognised figure. He was probably the son of Akhenaten, who by the time of his death had restored Egyptian religion to its traditional forms, but his memory was relegated to obscurity. His cartouche was erased from Talatat blocks from Amarna reused at Karnak. He is absent from the Abydos King list, which jumps straight from Amenhotep III to Horemheb, and Manetho’s list has no Amarna kings at all. The erasure of Tutankhamun was compounded by the decline in the use of hieroglyphic script and the Arab conquest of Egypt in the seventh century that formed a watershed between the past and the present. After this point, scholars were limited to Classical sources, which they assumed to be accurate.

The next turning point was the discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1822 and the work of Champollion, but it was not until the 1850s that scholars were really able to read hieroglyphs. However, much effort was expended in trying to reconcile the new material with the classical sources rather than vice versa. The next significant step was the work of John Gardner Wilkinson, who discovered the tomb of Amenhotep-Huy, TT40, with its damaged but readable representations of Tutankhamun. By inspectiing cartouches of Amenhotep III and Tutankhamun on the Prudhoe lions from Gebel Barkal, Wilkinson also realised that Tutankhamun’s name was missing from the Abydos king list.

In subsequent decades of the 19th century more data came to light. In 1840 Prise D’Avennes noted blocks from Amarna reused in the second pylon at Karnak. In 1854 Lepsius attempted a reconstruction of the descendants of Amenhotep III. Mariette found canopic jars with Tutankhamun’s name on them in the Serapeum. In the 1890s Petrie found a vase of Tutankhamun at Gurob. During this period there were still doubts about Tutankhamun’s relationship to Amenhotep III and the prevailing view was that he must have attained the throne through marriage into the royal family.

The early 20th century saw discoveries made by Theodore Davies including gold foil showing a smiting scene from KV58 that led him to propose this as Tutankhamun’s burial place. Of course it was the discovery of KV 62 in 1922 by Howard Carter that brought Tutankhamun to the notice of the world at large. Aidan touched briefly on the excavation and pointed out that although a wealth of objects came out of the tomb, very little new data emerged. He also touched on the subsequent damage to the mummy at some point between when it was put back into the tomb at the end of the excavation, and 1968 when it was taken out again for re-examination.

Finally, Aidan reminded us of the stories of mysterious curses that have proliferated after the death of Lord Carnarvon, and noted that, to this day, there is no consensus on Tutankhamun’s cause of death.

‘After Amarna: temple Restorations under the Reign of Tutankhamun and Beyond’, by Jun Wong

In our third lecture Jun concentrated on the topic of erasure. Akhenaten had erased images of the traditional gods, so Tutankhamun was faced with the task of restoring them. But Tutankhamun’s own inscriptions were then erased by subsequent pharaohs. For example, Horemheb damaged the images of both his two predecessors. So this causes a certain confusion when we look at these images. Tutankhamun’s Restoration stele refers to neglected temples and his actions in restoring them, initiating a new age but it makes no mention of Akhenaten or his religious policies.

Most of Jun’s examples came from Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el Bahri. She, of course, reigned over a century before Tutankhamun but images of her were erased in the same way. Jun showed us several examples of where some areas of the temple walls had been left empty; nothing had been restored apart from the name of Amun-Re, sometimes around a sun disk, even if his name had not been there originally. Images of the gods have been restored, sometimes more precisely than others, and in some examples we were able to see how figures had been moved closer together to disguise the gap left by the missing figure of Hatshepsut. Jun noted that the restoration can be haphazard: the restored parts may not fit the proportions of the original scene or they may be superimposed on text. In the text itself, the name of Hatshepsut is erased and the name of Amun-re filled in rather than the name of another person.

Jun went on to talk about the process of restoration, showing us images of red markings that would indicate to the restorers what to work on. In terms of technique, sunken reliefs are easier to restore, as the stone can be shaved off, but raised relief is more difficult because areas of stone may need to be cut back to some depth. Occasionally a damaged area has been filled plaster, such as the scene of the Ennead in the middle portico, where white plaster can be seen clearly against the original stonework.

Finally, Jun made the point that given the different layers of damage and restoration it can be difficult to differentiate what was done and when, not least because there are inconsistencies in how much stone was removed.

Jean Barnett

The Burial Chamber Wall Paintings in the tomb of Tutankhamun from creation to conservation 

Lori Wong (Getty Conservation Institute, California)

Lori is a PhD student at Durham. She is a conservator of wall paintings and talked to us about a ten year project, 2009-2019, by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Getty Conservation Institute in California.

We were reminded that the environment of the Valley of the Kings is arid, dry and dusty and this has determined the preservation of the wall paintings in the burial chamber.

The wall paintings were dismissed by Howard Carter as being “rough, conventional and severely simple”, but Lori thinks this is a harsh view.

There are paintings on all four walls. The east wall is meant to be viewed first and then you view the rest, counter-clockwise. The east wall depicts Tutankhamun’s body being pulled on a sledge by twelve mourning figures. Ay (as Osiris) is carrying out the opening of the mouth ceremony on the north wall, and Nut is welcoming the king into the underworld. Twelve baboons representing the twelve hours of night appear on the west wall. On the south wall, Tutankhamun stands before Hathor, with Anubis behind him. 

On 19 August 2009 the Telegraph published an interview with Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s then head of antiquities, who warned that humidity and fungus, caused by visitor’s breath, were eating into the walls of the royal tombs. In response, several tombs would be closed and visitors would only be able to visit replicas (www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/6053123/Pharaohs-tombs-could-disappear-in-150-years.html). The condition of the paintings and the nature of the threat to them had to be better understood. Hence the need for the project.

Lori told us that visitors do have an impact. Moisture is created from sweat (but fluctuations in humidity in summer are also detrimental as the paintings require a stable environment) and visitors touch the walls and bring dust into the tombs on the clothing.

Brown spots (a micro-organism) cover all the surfaces in the tomb. These were studied by Havard University and they were found to be dead and will not continue to grow. The micro-organism (which was impossible to exactly identify) grew soon after the tomb was sealed. The brown spots are therefore not caused by modern visitors. The brown spots were not removed by conservators because they are embedded into the paintings. Also, they are ancient and this is the only tomb that has them. Can it be argued that the brown spots themselves have archaeological value?

Various non-invasive techniques were employed to study the wall paintings including x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, infrared, ultraviolet radiation sources and visible induced luminescence (VIF). Limited samples were taken, with permission, in order for cross sections of the decoration to be analysed.

A coarse earthen plaster was found to have been used to fill holes. Above that was a fine buff-coloured clay-based plaster, which was applied wet. Repairs had been made using grey plaster made of gypsum. On top of the plaster, on all walls apart from the south, there was a ground layer of white huntite. A yellow background was then painted on all of the walls, apart from the north, where the figures were painted first and then the yellow background was painted around them. Restorations carried out in the 1930s showed up using VIF and infrared. Extra brown spots had actually been added to blend in the restorations!

A grid had been set out on the walls, in order to proportion the human figures. The conventional 18 square grid was used on the north wall, and the Amarna 20 square grid was used on the south wall.

We can only speculate about why the four walls were treated differently – were different people working on different walls? Were the walls decorated at different times? The tomb was, after all, finished in a hurry.  

Various conservation interventions have now been put in place to help stabilise the wall paintings. Walkways and barriers prevent visitors from touching the walls, but at the same time provide them with a better view. A ventilation system was installed to extract carbon dioxide and sweat and remove the damaging fluctuation in humidity. Dust is reduced by closing the door at the entrance, and a metal grille captures the dust on visitors’ shoes. There is continuous monitoring of the wall paintings.

In 2014 the Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation produced a high-resolution 3D replica of the burial chamber, as seen in 2009, including cracks, pitting and dust. This is on display at Howard Carter’s mudbrick house, 3km away. The idea being, in 2009, that the tomb might be closed and tourists would visit the replica instead.

Tut's Tomb: A Replica Fit for a King (nationalgeographic.com)

Lori concluded by telling us that the greatest threat to the tomb is flooding, not tourists. The last flash flood was in 1994. Work is being done on flood control in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens.

A fascinating lecture.

Jennifer Morrison

Anyone with an interest in ancient Egypt will be well aware of the phenomenon of mummification of human beings, but Dr. Ikram’s lecture today provided a fascinating insight into the mummification of animals. Animals played a significant part in the lives of the ancient Egyptians. Animals were hunted, domesticated, had an important role in religion, and their cries even appear in the language, as in the onomatopoeic word for ‘cat’. But why were they mummified? Dr. Ikram explained that the purpose of mummification was to ensure that the soul would have a body in the afterlife, and this was true for animals as well as humans. Unfortunately, animal mummies were not always respected; in the nineteenth century cats in particular were exported, ground up and used as fertiliser!

Dr. Ikram began by explaining why the study of animal mummies matters. They can provide indicators and enable the study of many factors: climate change and the environment; species DNA; veterinary practices; cultural beliefs; the technology of the mummification process; trade in materials and exotic animals; the economy in general; and human-animal relationships. In her study of the process, Dr. Ikram has found that most animals were eviscerated then desiccated with natron, soaked in oils or resin, then bandaged. There were exceptions, for example, birds, which were not usually desiccated but dipped in oil. She has carried out a number of experiments on rabbits and sheep and has used a number of methods including visual analysis, radiography and CT scans, to show up fakes.

Dr. Ikram then took us through her categorisation of animal mummy types: pets, food for the afterlife, sacred animals, votive offerings and others, for example as guardians. Pets are shown in tomb art, and the remains of pet baboons have been found in the Kings Valley tombs. Isotope work on the baboons has shown the source of the animals. 40 boxes of foods were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, including ducks, to sustain him in the afterlife. The most common types of animal mummy, however, are the votive offerings, which proliferate in the Late Period, although the Apis bull cult dates from the first dynasty. There were also cults focused on rams, on crocodiles at Kom Ombo, on the Ibis bird, many of which were found in the gallery at Saqqara, and on cats. Mummies of very small creatures, notably shrews, are also useful sources of information. One unusual type of mummy is the amalgam, that is, a mummy that is not what it appears to be. One example was an ‘ibis’ containing only sand. Were the priests cheating? Or was it considered important to retain all the material from the mummification process, even the debris?

There was a cottage industry producing animal mummies for the temples, so the animal cults were not only an important part of the religion of ancient Egypt but were also an important factor in its economy in terms of care for the animals, the need for raw materials such as resin and natron, and catering for the needs of pilgrims at the associated festivals. Dr. Ikram’s lecture certainly emphasised the vital role that animals played in the lives of the ancient Egyptians.

Jean Barnett

Katherine began by reminding us of the functions of the tomb in ancient Egypt and the importance of the ka, ba and akh of the deceased. She then took us on a visually stunning tour of four of the rock-cut, bi-partite tombs of the Theban necropolis. These were TT52, the tomb of Nakht; TT69, Menna; TT409, Samut called Kyky; and TT178 Neferenpet. The first two date from the 18th dynasty and display the classic T-shape, with a transverse hall showing scenes of daily life, bisected  by a longer hall showing scenes of the deceased’s funeral and afterlife. The layout of the decorations shows a symbolic movement from the secular in the east, the land of the living, to the sacred in the west, the land of the dead.

Scenes from the tomb of Nakht include agricultural activity, offering tables laden with food and drink, a painted false door, scenes of hunting and fishing in the marshes, and scenes from the Beautiful Festival of the Valley, the annual procession of Amun westwards from Karnak to Thebes. Menna’s tomb is located in the same area and has a similar collection of scenes together with scenes of boats and men beating someone- a tax defaulter perhaps? In the longer hall there are scenes of the weighing of the heart, the funeral and the opening of the mouth ceremony for Menna and his wife.

The tomb decorations of Samut and Neferenpet date from the Ramesside era  and display a number of structural and stylistic changes.  The tombs retain the T shape but the halls are shorter, and the focus of the decorations shifts from the deceased to the gods, as there are more scenes involving divine beings and fewer agricultural and official scenes. Illustrations are accompanied by more texts and prayers. Samut is shown venerating the goddess Mut and the god Amun-Ra, and his tomb also contains a rare depiction of a king, Ramesses II. Neferenpet’s tomb fronts onto a shared courtyard and includes a scene of offerings being made to Amenhotep I and Ahmose-Nefertari, whose cult developed during the Ramesside period.

Katherine ended her talk by summarising her research in which she looked at the location of the elite tombs at Thebes. They are situated on the upper slopes, visible from Karnak and with views over the royal mortuary temples. She noted clusters in certain areas, one of which she called the ‘Amenhotep II quarter’. This area is visible from his mortuary temple, suggesting a deliberate spatial connection. She concluded that there does seem to be a religious focus to tomb location, with beautiful scenes inside the tombs and a beautiful view from outside.

Katherine’s presentation was accompanied by many lovely illustrations. You can get some flavour of these by going to the following websites:

https://osirisnet.net/tombes/nobles/nakht52/e_nakht_01.htm

https://osirisnet.net/tombes/nobles/menna69/e_menna_01.htm

https://osirisnet.net/tombes/nobles/kyky/e_kyky_01.htm

https://osirisnet.net/tombes/nobles/neferrenpet178/e_nfrrnpt_01.htm

Jean Barnett

Bernadette began by reminding us of the standard plan of pre-Ptolemaic Egyptian temples, with an axis running from the sanctuary through to the pylons representing a flow of movement from dark to light. The sun rises in the East, over the darkest part of the temple, and gains height during the day ending in the West, where it shines through the pylons into the hypostyle hall. Bernadette called this the solar narrative of the temple, with the courtyard statues of the king acting as receptors of the sun’s light rather than any kind of ego statement. Thus the temple contained the Egyptian creation narrative, activated by the sun.

To illustrate this, Bernadette took us first to the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. Using images from the Digital Karnak website (https://digitalkarnak.ucsc.edu/) she illustrated the building stages beginning with Senusret I, noting that the orientation of the original part never changed from a 90 degree angle to the Nile. At the time of the winter solstice the sun would therefore shine through the pylons at sunset. Bernadette then explained why this seemed to her rather odd. Neither of the two Egyptian calendars was linked to the sun. The civil calendar was a simple 365 continuous count and the religious calendar was lunar, so why was Karnak oriented towards the winter solstice? To explain her theory, Bernadette used charts of the four solstice points that are located on the horizon depending on the latitude of the location. For Luxor these are at degrees 64 (summer sunrise), 116 (winter sunrise), 244 (winter sunset) and 296 (summer sunset). She then imposed onto the chart the figure of Nut, the sky goddess, showing that the arc of Nut’s body places her hands and feet on these solstice points, the temple at Karnak being aligned to her right hand (summer sunset) and left foot (winter sunrise). Further to this, a diagram of the alignment of Karnak with Deir el-Bahri shows Nut’s hands and feet again on the solstice points. Also, a significant number of the sarcophagi in the Kings’ Valley are oriented towards the winter sunset solstice point. Supporting her theory with key points from the ascension myth from the Pyramid Texts, Bernadette concluded that Karnak is oriented towards the summer solstice sunset, not the winter solstice.

Turning to Amarna, Bernadette highlighted the important differences between the temples to Aten and the standard plan, the most significant being the lack of both a roof and a sanctuary. In the religion of Akhenaten there was no need for these, as the sun could not be contained. Therefore at Amarna the solar narrative has no darkness; it is all about light. Akhenaten declared that he would not expand the city beyond the Northern and Southern boundary stelae. Significantly, the summer solstice sunrise to the winter solstice sunrise falls within these boundaries. The sun never leaves these parameters, so did Akhenaten see himself as the sun? Did he realise that everything comes from the sun and that maat would be maintained independent of any prayers or rituals? Bernadette suggested that if the answer to these questions is ‘yes’ then Akhenaten was before his time, and we can think of him as a proto-Aristotelian.

After a fascinating lecture that demonstrated how Egyptology can encompass a wide variety of disciplines, in this case astronomy and cosmology, Bernadette played us video of a recitation of the Hymn to the Aten over a beautiful sunrise.

Jean Barnett

Katja is an expert on the Pyramid Texts. Her talk discussed the beauty of sunlight and radiance and its connection with the regalia and power of the king.

Katja’s first slide was an image of Seti I wearing a Henu (ostrich feather) crown with 8 uraei snakes on it. The snakes spit fire to defend the wearer. They represent light, fire and flame and wear gold and red discs. 

‘Divine Light in Egypt in Mesopotamia’ was a project at the University of Toronto between 2008 and 2013. Katja asked how divine was the king of Egypt? From the Old Kingdom, the king was thought to descend from the sun god. The myth of the divine birth of the king was popular from the time of Hatshepsut in the 18th dynasty, and possibly as early as the 5th dynasty. The king was thought to be the physical descendant of the god. Hatshepsut legitimised her reign by claiming that Amun took the form of her mother’s husband, Thutmose I, held the ankh to the Queen’s nose and conceived her.

Hatshepsut described herself as youthful and divine:

‘Looking at her was more beautiful than anything (else). Her form was as (that of) a god. Her character was as (that of) a god. Her effectiveness was as (that of) a god. When her Majesty had become a beautiful young woman, it was Wadjit (the uraeus snake that spit fire), who is in her moment (of rage), who made her divine shape majestic’.

In The Tale of Sinuhe B252, Senwosret I was described as ‘God beneath a canopy of electrum’; the ‘likeness of Ra’.

On the Karnak Stele, Khaneferre-Sobekhotep IV was described as ‘Perfect God, likeness of Ra, Golden One…. Like Ptah-Sokar, a Lord of radiance….. like the sun disc’.

During the Old Kingdom, kings were described as ‘divine sons’. For instance, on the Karnak Stela, Ahmose is described as ‘Likeness of Re, offspring of Re, who illuminates the kingship’. And on the small Sphinx Stela, Amenhotep II is ‘the image of Atum, Perfect God, likeness of Re, offspring of Harakhte’.

During the Amarna period, Akhenaten said he was the ‘luminous child’ or the ‘little one’ of the Aten. He claimed to be descended from the sun god. One of Aya’s hymns reads ‘May you (Aten) form him in the morning like your own manifestations, may you build him in your image, like Aten’. His divine status was proven by depicting him the same size as the god. And because he and the god touched, he was endorsed by the god as his legitimate heir.

The name Tutankhamen means the living image of Amun.

Kings were also shown as divine by being depicted in animal (theriomorphic) form, being super human and strong. Common animals were lions, hawks and a winged sphynx. Statues, like a human head on a falcon body (Louvre E5351), show the king as a falcon, or part falcon. Both Horus and Re were falcons.

The animal link can also be read in the texts:

‘Lion of the rulers, Thutmose III angered like a divine falcon’.   

Katja went on to tell us about the paraphernalia associated with the king. At their coronation the king became the deputy of god on earth and the god bestowed trappings on the king. These include the crown – Hatshepsut is crowned with a blue crown by Re. The blue crown with twirly uraei was used by the king so they looked like a god. The icons on the Henu crown represent sunrise from the Book of the Dead, so the king is being portrayed as a solar deity.

There are also lunar associations. Seti I said he was the ‘moon of the lands’ and that his father Ramesses was a Ra emitting rays and he was ‘a star at his side’. Kings were equated with shooting stars – Prince Osorkon was described on the battlefield like a shooting star. Kings were described as fire. Flames defeat enemies. The fire initially came from cobras or the sun disc, but later from the king himself who has fiery breath like a cobra. In the tomb of Tutu there is an inscription which reads ‘the king’s arms are like the rays of the Aten’.

The king ruled the earth like the sun ruled the sky. There are many hieroglyphs for light terms, such as to shine and to glitter. Pre Amarna, the light refers to the sun disc. After Akhenaten the king himself illuminates. The king was described as being like harakhte (the sun that rises from the horizon – i.e. the morning sun). Light leads to beauty (nfrw). Quotations relating to beauty and light include – ‘beauty is radiant’, ‘sparkling beauty’. ‘The king illuminates the land with his beauty’.

The word ‘shd’ means to illuminate, but also to elucidate, explain or enlighten. This is about enlightening minds. The king is wise, and so cures people of misunderstanding.

The final topic that Katja discussed was gold. Jewellery made the kings look sparkly like gods. When they died the kings have gold masks. The skin of a god was said to be gold. Hatshepsut was said to have skin of electrum. Amenhotep was the ‘mound of gold’.  Ahmose was ‘a golden one’.  

Jennifer Morrison

Ilaria’s lecture presented us with the fascinating hypothesis that mastaba K1 at Beit Khallaf near Abydos could be a royal tomb, possibly that of pharaoh Sanakht of Dynasty 3, that predates the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. Ilaria’s doctorate focussed on the chronological problems of the third Dynasty, an era when the pyramid was introduced as royal funerary architecture. Accepted theory puts Djoser as the founder of the Dynasty and Sanakht as a later, lesser king. Ilaria analysed the evidence from royal reliefs, seals and the architecture of the site at Beit Khallaf, aiming to find evidence that Sanakht’s reign predates that of Djoser.

Royal representations of the period were already using a six-line grid for the human figure, and Ilaria analysed these to create a relative chronology. She found that there were differences between the third Dynasty kings and those from earlier periods. Representations of Sanakht bore greater similarity to those of earlier depictions than to those of Dynasty 4. She concluded that the third Dynasty was a moment of change when new standards were introduced for the representation of kings. Most of the reliefs of Djoser, Sanakht and Sekhemket that she studied came from Wadi Maghara in Sinai, an important site for copper mining.

Turning to inscriptions, Ilaria analysed seal impressions from funerary material found at Beit Khallaf, now housed in the Petrie Museum. Amongst the various titles on these seals were some relating to Sinai, suggesting that the kings were planning expeditions there to source the copper deposits.

The Beit Khallaf necropolis has five mastabas, but was it an elite burial site? Ilaria’s third source of evidence related to architecture. During the first Dynasty, courtiers were buried close to the king, separate burials coming later in the Old Kingdom, so she suggests that a provincial necropolis would be odd at this time, leading to the argument that Beit Khallaf was a royal site. Prior to the Step Pyramid, mastabas were built of lighter materials so the third Dynasty appears to be an era of mastaba development, Beit Khallaf, with its five mud brick structures, providing a ‘missing link’ between these earlier tombs and the Step Pyramid.

Of the five mastabas, K1 is the largest and the only one with inscriptions, which Ilaria compared with those of other first and second Dynasty tombs. K1 was also rich in artefacts, with weapons, pottery, flints and blades. The inscriptions are similar to those of second Dynasty royal tombs in terms of style and content. So is K1 a royal tomb? A seal found there has a cartouche, implying a king’s name, and it has the attributes of a royal site such as monumentality, rich funerary equipment, and royal iconography. If it is a royal tomb, is it that of Sanakht, and does he therefore predate Djoser?

This was a thought-provoking talk with an insight into research away from a site, but Ilaria is now trying to fund further work at the site itself, using various social media including the crowd funding platform gofundme.

Jean Barnett+

Penny’s lecture was divided into two parts: an overview of her survey work in the Northern part of the Nile delta, followed by an update on the excavation at Sais. The survey was of eleven sites in the Kafr el Sheikh governorate, carried out for the Egypt Exploration Society. There are hundreds of sites in the area, which is dominated by waterways, but few are well-known. Many are Late Roman. Preliminary work consisted of collecting satellite images, mapping data and consulting old reports. This was followed by topographical surveys, pottery collection and recording, drill coring to reveal the geology of the settlements, magnetic mapping, and risk assessment. The latter is increasingly important, as sites may be threatened by modern development.

Penny concentrated on six of the sites: Kom el Ahmar, Kom Kebir, Tell Tin, Tell Mansur, Tell Iniezi and Tell Landahur. A magnetic survey at Kom el Ahmar indicated sub-surface remains consisting of a raised platform and gouges that are possibly graves. Amphorae recovered from the site suggest a Late Roman date, and a large quantity of glass was found together with glazed pottery that may date from the 9th and 10th centuries CE. One of Penny’s photos showed a large mound of modern rubbish, a continuing threat to archaeological sites, as it contaminates the area and hiders excavation. The site of Kom Kebir, which has already been excavated by the Egyptian authorities, is close to where the Sebennytic branch of the Nile might have been, as indicated by drill cores that showed underlying clays. Again, Late Roman pottery was recovered dated to the 4th to 7th centuries CE. The site also has an unusual building with a labyrinth of passageways, a room plastered to resemble stone, and a room accessed via steps. One suggestion is that this may be a bathhouse.

Access was difficult at the site of Tell Tin, as it was in the area of a fish farm, with no roads! Magnetometry indicted a square feature, possibly a platform, underneath the mound. The site also yielded a lot of glass. There was evidence of Christian activity at Tell Manusr, as a church had been excavated by the Ministry of Antiquities. Magnetometry showed a rectangular enclosure around the church, so it may have been a monastic site. Magnetometry at the Ptolemaic site of Tell Iniezi indicated a lot of linear features and evidence of burning, possibly from kilns. Interesting finds here were an alabaster dish and a quantity of black Buto ware. Finally, Penny reported on the large site of Tell Landahur. Its 15m high mound is cut by a military post erected during the 6-day war in the 1960s. A quantity of Late Roman pottery was found, but perhaps the most striking thing about the site is the panoramic view from the mound, indicating its strategic location.

In the second part of the lecture Penny gave us an update on her work at Sais. The aim was to confirm the pattern of waterways around the site, using ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography). Remote sensing and satellite imagery shows water retention in the landscape and the evidence shows that the river moved westwards. Excavation revealed mud bricks, a possible enclosure wall and a temple building. In the Northern enclosure at Kom Rebwa earlier excavations had uncovered a structure with a column base and scattered pottery, including Canaanite amphorae, dating from the late 20th Dynasty to the 21st squashed on the structure’s floor. The aim for 2021/2 was to complete the excavation.

The pottery layer consisted of a mix of materials going back as far as the late Old Kingdom, indicating reuse in the rubble strengthening the brickwork of a wall under which the pottery layer continued. In order to deal with the mass of broken pottery the floor was divided into grids of 1m square, then the fragments were lifted from each grid layer by layer. The pieces were marked so they could be reconstructed later, after drying and cleaning. The pottery looked as if it had been smashed and thrown down arbitrarily. Other material found included cutting tools and lumps of bitumen. Grid 3 was particularly interesting, as it contained a quantity of beads under a meat jar, similar to beads found on top of the pottery layer during the 2019 season. In grid 6 a glass rod and pieces of faience, ivory and gold were found. Other work was carried out by Durham University students, who found a hair ornament, a Bes amulet and a wadjet eye.

This was a really absorbing lecture that gave an insight into the methods and some of the problems that lie behind archaeology in Egypt. It will be interesting to see whether, in Penny’s next update, the purpose of the pottery layer can be clarified.

Jean Barnett