Ancient Egypt

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ANCIENT EGYPT October/November 2006 3

AANNCCIIEENNTT EEGGYYPPTTwww.ancientegyptmagazine.com

October/November 2006VOLUME 7, NO 2: ISSUE NO. 38

EDITOR:Robert B. Partridge, 6 Branden DriveKnutsford, Cheshire, WA16 8EJ, UK

Tel. 01565 754450Email [email protected]

ASSISTANT EDITOR:Peter Phillips

CONSULTANT EDITOR:Professor Rosalie David, OBE

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS:Victor Blunden, Peter Robinson,

Hilary WilsonEGYPT CORRESPONDENT

Ayman Wahby Taher

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Main image: Face of a coffin from tombKV63. Photo: courtesy of the

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From the Editor 4

Maps of Egypt 4, 5

Timeline 5

Bits and Pieces 6

Readers’ Letters 52

Subscribers’ Competition Winners 55

Subscribe 56

Back Issues 57

Book Reviews 58

Egyptology Society Details 62

Events Diary 64

Netfishing 67

CONTENTS

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45

features

Friends of Nekhen NewsRenée Friedman looks at the presence of Nubiansin the city at Hierakonpolis, and their lives there, asrevealed in the finds from their tombs.

The New Tomb in the Valley of the KingsThe fourth update on the recent discovery and thefinal clearance of the small chamber.

ANOTHER new tomb in the Valleyof the Kings?Nicholas Reeves reveals the latest news on the possibility of another tomb in the Royal Valley.

The Rekhyt BirdKenneth Griffin explains how the many representa-tions of the lapwing are much more than a simpleimage of a bird; they have a more significant meaning.

35Royal Mummies on view in theEgyptian MuseumA brief report on the opening of the secondmummy room in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

From our Egypt CorrespondentAyman Wahby Taher with the latest news fromEgypt and details of a new museum at Saqqara.

9

regulars

The Ancient Stones SpeakPam Scott, in the first of three major articles, gives apractical guide to enable AE readers to read andunderstand the ancient texts written on temple andtomb walls, statues and stelae.

36

Per Mesut: for younger readersIn this edition, Hilary Wilson looks at pomegranates.

54


My schedule of articles for inclusion in AE wascompletely disrupted this year by the discoveryof a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings, tomb

KV63.I am not really complaining, for I was as fascianated as

anyone to find out what the contents of this tomb mightbe. Thanks to the splendid cooperation of members ofthe University of Memphis Team and with images sup-plied by them and the Egyptian Supreme Council ofAntiquities, I have been especially pleased to have beenable to include a total of four articles in consecutive edi-tions, telling readers of the progress of the excavation.

The fourth and final account of the discovery andclearance of the tomb is included in this edition, and Iam surprised to find that this means we have devoted atotal of twenty-five pages to the discovery, undoubtedlythe best and fullest account of the find so far, and sec-ond-best only to any official and more formal book pub-lished by the team (in the not too distant future we hope).

Work on the contents of the tomb will continue whenthe new season begins and if there are any new develop-ments, I hope to be able to bring them to you. I am sureyou will have found the articles of interest. My main frus-tration was the time delay in getting the latest news toyou, which is always the problem with a bi-monthly pub-lication date.

Almost literally as I was putting the finishing touches tothe last KV63 article came news of another possiblepreviously unknown tomb in the Valley of the Kings.Nicholas Reeves, Director of the Amarna Royal TombsProject has written an article on the information avail-able at this stage. The prospects are exciting, but also, asyou will see from his article, challenging. The news hasalready caused some interest and debate and rather thanmake my own comments here, I will let you read boththe KV63 article and the article by Nicholas Reeves firstand add my comments and observations (for what theyare worth) after. No doubt AE readers will have theirown views.

I know some of you have noticed (and commentedfavourably upon) the fact that our “News from Egypt”section has been spreading over an increasing number ofpages in recent issues.

I was squeezing Ayman’s reports into a fixed and lim-ited number of pages, and they really warranted morespace. I have now decided that the quality and amountof information from Ayman deserves as much space as Ican manage. The number of pages allocated is not nowset in concrete and will vary depending on the amount ofnews and photos available.

Most articles are not time-critical; I suppose it is one ofthe “joys” of being Editor that, having reached the stagewhen an issue is full, I often find out about new discov-eries and information. If it is clear that readers wouldwant to share this news as soon as possible, some shuf-fling around of articles is inevitable.

By the time this October issue lands on your doorstep,the excavation season in Egypt will be back in full swing,with the onset of the cooler weather. The last season pro-

duced some remarkable discoveries, so we wish all theexpeditions well for another productive season.

Whilst foreign missions only work in Egypt for rela-tively short periods, the work of the Egyptian SupremeCouncil of Antiquities is an all-year-round operation andoften the opportunity is taken in the quiet season, whentourists are limited, to carry out much routine mainte-nance and inspection of the sites. It is always fascinatingwhen returning to Egypt to spot the many changes andimprovements being made.

You will have all read about the huge amount of civilengineering and archaeological work being undertakenin the centre of Luxor and around the temples of Luxorand Karnak. Most of the work is due to be completed bythe start of the tourist season. I am looking forward toseeing what has been going on when I make my plannedvisits at the end of this year.

One of these visits will be our magazine trip to Cairoin September (this issue had to be completed before thetrip, so I will bring you news of it in the December issue).

If this trip goes well (and there is no reason to assumeotherwise) we will consider other trips in the future, pos-sibly a week in Luxor.

Prices for trips to Egypt and to Luxor in particularhave been remarkably cheap this summer and I know anumber of people who have taken advantage of this. Forthose willing to put up with the building works in Luxorand the very high temperatures, the rewards are great,notably being able to visit the main sites without thehuge numbers of visitors there in the peak season.

Tourist numbers have increased dramatically, althoughon-going concerns about the political stability of coun-ries around Egypt may have influenced the decision ofsome to travel at this time. It is, however, nice to see thesites full of people, and if you happen to be there at abusy time you just need to bear in mind that most groupsspend a surprisingly short time there, and it is quite easyto find some peace and quiet at the larger sites.

RP

ANCIENT EGYPT October/November 20064

From the EDITOR

Detailed Map of Thebes



Maps and Time-line by Peter Robinson.

MAP of EGYPT Time-line

Periods

Dyn

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Fam

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News of an award

Congratulation to Professor Gaballa Ali Gaballa,who has just been awarded one of the highesthonours in Egypt, the 2005 “State Prize for

Social Sciences”. This is awarded by the Higher Councilof the Supreme Council of Culture.

P r o f e s s o rGaballa workedfor many years atthe University ofCairo and from1997 to 2002 wasthe SecretaryGeneral of theSupreme Councilof Antiquities. Heis now a Professorat the Universityof Cairo and is aspecial consultantand advisor to theMinister ofCulture.

The award is inrecognition of hismany years ofwork, especially inthe area of cul-ture and antiqui-ties.

British Museum Colloquium and Sackler Lecture, 2006

If you are ever planning a holiday in the UK andwant to guarantee a sunny week, then you can do lit-tle better than choose the same dates as the annual

British Museum Colloquium and Sackler Lecture, heldeach year in mid-July, which invariably enjoys (or suffersfrom) the hottest and sunniest weather of the year.

This year was no exception; on one of the daysLondon experienced its hottest July temperature onrecord. The air-conditioned lecture theatre was proba-bly the best place to be for the evening lecture and two-day Colloquium.

The Sackler Lecture, given this year by Dr LaurePantalacci, set the scene for the theme of theColloquium, “Egypt’s Great Oases: the Archaeology ofKharga, Dakhla and the Roads of the West”.

At the Colloquium, a series of lectures by experts fromaround the world presented papers on various aspects ofthe archaeology of the Oases, and much new informa-tion and research was revealed.

Professor Gaballa Ali Gaballa of the University ofCairo spoke on the work of Ahmed Fakhry, an Egyptianarchaeologist who pioneered research in the desert andwas amongst the first to realise the importance of thesites, as well as the problems they faced.

Tony Mills and other members of the Dakhleh OasisProject covered their long-term work at the Oasis, andother speakers covered communication between theOases and the Nile valley.

It was clear from the presentations that, far from beingprovincial backwaters, the Oases were an importantpart of Egypt; over the last few years, our knowledge ofthe area has increased dramatically.

Many of the sites are remote, some are being dam-aged by simple erosion, others are in close proximity tomodern towns and villages and are in danger of beinglost beneath modern buildings, and others are beingdeliberately damaged and vandalised.

It was, however, in the closing remarks by RudolphKuper from the University of Cologne, that the realproblems facing the many sites were highlighted.Tourism in the Oases has increased, and this presentsreal problems at many of the sites, which are often lessthan secure and open to anyone.

An increased population in the “New Valley”, withpeople being encouraged to move to the Oases from theNile Valley, has meant that, whereas the local inhabi-tants were familiar with their monuments and appreci-ated them, others new to the area often realise the“value” of them, and damage and looting has increased.The presence of more archaeologists often exacerbatesthis problem, for the implication is that there must besomething of value there. The discovery of a hoard ofgold in the temple of Dush in Kharga Oasis a few yearsago did not help. Only recently at least two mud-bricktemples have been flattened by a bulldozer, in anattempt to discover such treasure.

Further south, one of the most remote hieroglyphicinscriptions has been deliberately vandalised, and thishas to have been done by someone in a tour group vis-iting the area, for that is the only way anyone can getthere.

This news was quite depressing, but on the positiveside, measures are now being put in place to secure thesites, and the Gilf Khebir, in the south west corner ofEgypt, is to be made a National Park, which will restrictand control visits to the site.

In Dakhla, there are plans for a new museum dedicat-ed to the Oases of the Western Desert and it is hopedthat a programme of education will encourage all thepeople who live in the area to see the antiquities as partof their own heritage, important for their livelihood andfor tourists, rather than something to be plundered.

The annual British Museum Colloquium and SacklerLecture is open to anyone. Tickets usually go on sale in

News and views from the world of Egyptology

BITS and PIECES

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June each year. Details of the 2007 Colloquium will beincluded in AE, when available.

More on the Lion of Amenhotep III

In AE 33 (Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006) an article featureda “new “ lion of Amenhotep III, at the Citadel inCairo, which was very similar to the two well-known

lions of Amenhotep III from Soleb, now in the BritishMuseum in London..

Two other similar lions of Amenhotep are knownfrom Tanis, but the question was raised, where did thisexample come from? One of the Tanis lions was moved

to Cairo and I did wonder if this was the one now at theCitadel.

In AE issue 34 (Feb./Mar. 2006), the lion was men-tioned again as, following a visit to Cairo, the Tanis lionwas spotted in a garden at Zamalek, in Cairo, leavingthe issue of the original location of the Citadel lion wideopen.

I am pleased to say that the problem has been solved,thanks to Hourig Sourouzian, the Director of theColossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III TempleConservation Project.

Hourig saw the article in the magazine, and herknowledge of the sculpture of Amenhotep III meantthat she knew that the “Citadel lion” was actually a castof one of the British Museum Soleb lions! Close exam-ination of the less-well preserved of the two lions (I

included a photograph of the best preserved example,and it is the second lion that was cast), reveals this to becorrect.

Hourig was not certain when the plaster cast wasmade, or when the lion was placed at the Citadel. Olderguide books about the citadel state that two lions werelocated there at the base of the steps of the PoliceMuseum, but only one is there now. Perhaps casts ofboth lions were once located there?

The Soleb lions came into the collection of the BritishMuseum in 1835. It does seem an extraordinary amountof work to mould the lions in the UK and to send a cast(or casts) to Egypt, so it is possible that the lions werecast when they were still in Egypt, en route to the UK.

However, at the end of the nineteenth century and inthe early years of the twentieth, many internationalmuseums exchanged plaster casts of some of their best-known objects. This was a time when few travellers wentto Egypt and when there were hardly any books on thesubject; museums were quite happy to display casts. TheBritish Museum sent casts of many of its objects allaround the world, as far afield as Australia. In return,casts of objects in other collections were sent back and,in the main sculpture gallery, the Museum displayed formany years a number of casts of statues from theEgyptian Museum in Cairo.

As museums filled up with newly-excavated statues,the casts were removed and placed in storage.

It is most likely, therefore, that the lions were cast as aspecial request from the Egyptian Museum, in return for

bits and pieces



examples oftheir mainexhibits. Thecasts of theSoleb lions(and other stat-ues) may havebeen sent to theE g y p t i a nMuseum.

When suchcasts wereremoved fromdisplay, theywere often sentto other institu-tions and this isprobably how,

and when, the Soleb lion casts were moved to theCitadel.

I am not sure what sort of plaster was used, but it isclearly very hard, for the Citadel example is undamaged(other than ancient damage seen on the original). Theexposure to the air and the pollution in Cairo over a peri-od of a hundred years, or possibly even more, has giventhe lion a unique and well-weathered patina, which iswhy I thought it was carved from limestone (unlike theoriginals, which are carved in pink granite).

The originallion was dam-aged and inseveral pieces,and has beenrepaired in theBritish Mus-eum (the best-preserved lionis still in onepiece). Parts ofthe statue havebeen restored,but an ancientrepair to thebase, visible inthe original, isnot part of thecast.

The question remains, though … what has happenedto the other cast? There have been many improvementsand restorations at the Citadel and if the other lion hassurvived, perhaps it is still there somewhere. The Citadelis a fascinating place to visit and there is now a greatdeal to see there; AE readers should keep their eyesopen for the missing lion!

RP

bits and pieces

Cairo Cairo ReturnReturn

£139 rtn£139 rtnAlexandriaAlexandria

ReturnReturn£149 rtn£149 rtn LuxorLuxor

ReturnReturn£235 rtn£235 rtn

Hotels - Tours - Middle East Cruise Bookings


9ANCIENT EGYPT October/November 2006

Touring Exhibition in Japan from theEgyptian Museum in Cairo

Aspecial Exhibition has been put together that willtour ten Japanese cities over a period of twoyears. This is a token of gratitude for Japan’s

major support for the establishment of the new GrandMuseum of Egypt to be built at Giza.

The Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouq Hosniexplained that the Exhibition of over three hundredpieces would include many objects discovered duringthe last forty years by the Japanese Waseda University’sarchaeological mission to Egypt.

One of the objects, a Middle Kingdom cartonnagemask (shown above, photo: J. Rutherford) was temporarilyon display in the new Imhotep Museum at Saqqara.Found at South Abusir and belonging to a man calledSenw, it was in a very damaged and delicate state. Toenable it to go on the tour, it has been expertly con-served, by conservators Richard and Helena Jaeschke,using the latest techniques for the conservation of car-tonnage (linen and plaster).

Re-Opening of the Coptic Museum in Cairo

At the end of June, President Hosni Mubarak for-mally re-opened the Coptic Museum in Cairo,following a major refurbishment that has cost

over £E30 million.In his address during the opening ceremony, the

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said the CopticMuseum is one of Egypt’s most important museums,with a collection of over one thousand three hundredobjects on display in twenty-six galleries.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council ofAntiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass said, during a tour ofthe museum conducted by the President, that therestoration project included the addition of a newgallery devoted to the history of churches in Old Cairoand that a special gallery for temporary exhibitions hasalso been built.

The restoration began in 2003 and meant that themuseum was closed for almost three years.

The Museum has an important collection of manu-scripts, some of which date back to the fourth centuryAD, including thirteen bibles. The collection also fea-

tures textiles, icons and woodwork, as well as many largepieces of stone sculpture and carvings from sites aroundEgypt.

New Appointment by the SCA

Dr Zahi Hawass is pleased to announce a newappointment, that of Adel Hussein Mohamedto the post of General Director of Sharkia. Adel

began his career with the Supreme Council ofAntiquities in 1979, where he worked as an Inspector inMinia; in his later career he held Directorships of theNew Valley, Ain Shams, Saqqara and the Giza

From our EGYPT CORRESPONDENT

News from Egypt

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10 ANCIENT EGYPT October/November 2006

Pyramids. Adelbrings much expe-rience to his newjob in the NileDelta, which is richin antiquities. Heis responsible forsix missions work-ing together withEgyptian archaeol-ogists on the mainsites at Tell Basta,Tanis and Qantir. Iam sure many ofour readers havevisited these sites

and will continue to do so in the future.Adel is extremely happy to be in his new role and he

is looking forward to his Egyptian colleagues and mis-sions uncovering more ancient artifacts from this area.

ANCIENT EGYPT magazine wishes him every successfor the future.

New Development Plan for Saqqara

The SCA has recently announced a developmentproject for Saqqara, following the opening of theNew Imhotep Museum. The project is to be

completed in thirty months and will cost £E40 million.The work will be in three stages:

1. Preparing the area for improved systems fortourism.

2. Building new administration offices, conservationlaboratories and improved security systems.

3. Cleaning modern graffiti from tombs, providinghumidity systems and testing equipment forthem.

The project will also help to improve the documenta-tion of tombs with the help of the Italian Mission andmay involve about six hundred tombs in the area. Atpresent only seventeen tombs are open to visitors andthis number will be increased.

A new storage museum with improved security will bebuilt to house objects from excavations. This will helpstudents of Egyptology and secure and conserve theantiquities.

The Serapeum at Saqqara

In AE issue 33 (December 2005) I mentioned thehuge restoration and conservation project beingundertaken by the SCA at the Serapeum at

Saqqara. The Serapeum (the burial vaults of the sacred Apis

Bulls), which has been closed to visitors for many yearsnow, has been in serious danger of collapse and theimpressive and costly repair work by the SCA is still on-going. The scale of the work can be seen from these pic-tures. Initial restoration included the building of stonearches inside the vaults to prevent the collapse of theroof, but this was not enough and heavy steel girders arenow being fitted in the damaged parts of the vaults.Work like this, out of sight and not noticed by visitors, is

from our Egypt Correspondent

Above left: the new General Director of Sharkia, Adel HusseinMohamed.

Photo: J. Rutherford.Above right: the entrance to the Serapeum at Saqqara.

Photo: RP.Right: view of one of the corridors inside the Serapeum, showing the newstone arches to support the roof, the additional scaffolding now needed as atemporary measure and some heavy girders waiting to be fitted into placeas a more permanent measure.

Photo: J. Rutherford.

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essential to ensure the long-term survival of this impor-tant monument and, hopefully, to allow visitor accessonce more.

Neferhotep at Karnak

In AE 32 (October 2005), I reported on the findingof a statue of Neferhotep I in the temple of Karnak.Found beneath the foundations of the obelisk of

Queen Hatshepsut, the figure of the king had then beenonly partly revealed, but it was clear that it formed partof a double statue with the second figure of Neferhotepstill buried.

The statue was covered up again, but new excavationshave now taken place by archaeologists from the CentreFranco-Egyptian d’Etude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK)and more of the statue has been uncovered, includingthe superbly preserved second figure of the king.


Top left: one of the burial vaults in the Serapeum at Saqqara. The heavygirders are needed to prevent the roof of the vault from collapsing. Beneaththe girders can be seen the wooden protective covering over one of the greatgranite sarcophagi of the sacred bulls.

Photo: J. Rutherford.

Top right: the double statue of Neferhotep I as revealed by new excava-tions. The second figure of the king, to the right, is still partly buried.Right: detail of the face of the second image of the king.

Photos: courtesy of the Egyptian Supreme Council ofAntiquities and the Centre Franco-Egyptian d’Etude des

Temples de Karnak (CFEETK).

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Neferhotep is shown holding hands with a double ofhimself, probably his ka. The statue, as can be seen fromthe photographs, is buried deeply; its large size and thefact that it is an integral part of the foundations of thetemple mean that it is not certain that it can be removedfrom the site.

AE issue 34 (Feb. 2006) featured an article onNeferhotep I.

More on the Foundation Deposits recentlydiscovered at Karnak

In the last issue of AE, I reported on the discovery offoundation deposits with objects bearing the nameof Thutmose III and Hatshepsut.

All the objects, which included pottery (now restored,as much of it was broken when found), models of cop-per or bronze chisels, and gold and faience cartouches,have been removed from their find site, and I can nowbring you some photographs of them:

Discoveries in the “Hidden Valley” atFarafra Oasis

The “Hidden Valley” is a five-hundred-metre-square valley located sixty kilometers north eastof Farafra Oasis, and is not a well-known area,

even to people who live in the Oasis.An Italian team from Naples University has recently

discovered there a settlement from very ancient times.The team was headed by Prof. Barbara Barich andGiulio Lacarini and has been successful in finding shel-ters, knives and bracelets. Carbon dating of objects sug-gests a date of around 7700 BC.

Archaeologists believe that the shelters formed a smallcommunity of about twenty people. A cave, thought tobe sacred, was also found cut into a nearby mountain.Inside, there were a number of rock art representationsof sheep, gazelles and ostriches, together with hand-prints and some graffiti.

Treasures of Dakhla Oasis

The Fifth International Conference of theDakhleh Oasis Project took place in the summerin Cairo. It was well attended with an interna-

tional gathering of scholars who have excavated andstudied at the Oasis and were able to talk about theirfields of work. Papers were also given on a range of sub-jects from Dutch, French, German and Egyptianexperts on rock art, graffiti, pottery and studies carriedout at Kellis, the ancient Roman Period village nowcalled Ismant Al Kharab.

The head of the Dakhleh Oasis Project is Anthony J.Mills, who has worked in the Oasis for nearly thirtyyears – the team has carried out research in the Oasissince 1978.

At least twenty-five Roman temples have been foundin Dakhla, the best-preserved being the Temple of Deirel Hagar, which, under a team headed by AnthonyMills, was restored during the 1990s. Some graffiti on amud-brick wall still remain there – the names of teammembers from an expedition visiting the site thelate1800s.

To mark the opening of this year’s conference, DrWafaa El Saddik, Director of the Egyptian Museum in


Left: the foundation deposits recently discovered in the Temple of Amunat Karnak, by the Centre Franco-Egyptian d’Etude des Templesde Karnak (CFEETK).

From top to bottom: - Restored pottery objects from the deposit. Note the green faience car-

touches in some of the bowls, which is probably how they were origi-nally buried.

- A closer view of some of the faience cartouches. - Details of some of the many bronze or copper chisels found in the

deposit.Photos: courtesy of the Egyptian Supreme Council of

Antiquities and the Centre Franco-Egyptian d’Etude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK).

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Cairo, and Dr Zahi Hawass, head of the SCA, organ-ised an exhibition in Room 44 of the Egyptian Museumentitled “Treasures of the Dakhleh Oasis”. Someobjects have never been on display to the public before,so I went along to see this small but very beautiful dis-play of objects from the Old Kingdom, Late Period andRoman times.

I have chosen two objects out of the collection to writeabout. The first is the anthropoid coffin that was foundwith four others in a single chamber of a tomb at EinTirghi in 1986, and is from the First Persian Period. Theother coffins from the same tomb are in the RoyalOntario Museum, Canada.

It was probably a family tomb, because the inscrip-tions on the coffin lids show a family relationship. Thisparticular coffin was displayed in a glass case and wasthe main feature of the exhibition, due to its well-placedposition in the room. The excellent lighting attracted meto it straight away.

The coffin is highly decorated and brightly painted,especially the facial features, wig and trunk of the body.It is made out of small pieces of wood, a common fea-ture during this period, because wood was scarce. Someanalysis of children’s bodies found at Ein Tirghi showsthat they suffered from anaemia. A small percentage ofchildren died at birth. Adults were short in height andthe average life expectancy was the mid-twenties.

The second exhibit is a collection of seven glass vesselsfound at the Roman village of Kellis (Ismant al-Kharab). The one I want to mention is the “GladiatorJug”, which is highly decorated on all sides and is paint-ed in beautiful colours on pale and darker green glass. Itdepicts a scene of a gladiator in combat; he has darkcurly hair and is stretching out his left hand holding hisshield. In his right hand he is holding a dagger. In anoth-er scene a gladiator is shown wearing a helmet andcrouching down. The referee, depicted in white cloth-ing, waves his rod or stick. Looking at the vase closelyyou will see many colourful floral motifs around theneck and base of the vase. To me this is the very best ofthis glass vessel collection.

I was informed that room 44 in the Egyptian Museumwill hold all temporary displays and exhibitions on arotation basis, so be sure to check out this room on yournext visit to the museum.

My thanks to Dr Hawass and the Director of theEgyptian Museum, Dr Wafaa El Saddik, for allowingme to take photographs of this very special exhibition.



Above left: the head of a painted coffin from the First Persian Period,found at Dakhla Oasis.

Above: the glass “Gladiator Jug” also from Dakhla.

Photos: Ayman Wahby Taher, courtesy the SCA and theEgyptian Museum, Cairo.

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The Mortuary Temple ofAmenhotep III at Luxor

In AE issue 35 (April 2006), we reported on theremarkable finds made by the Colossi of Memnon andAmenhotep III Temple Conservation Project, under theDirectorship of Hourig Sourouzian.

Many significant finds of fragmentary statues ofAmenhotep III have been found and also a large num-ber of granite statues of the goddess Sekhmet. The dis-coveries were a surprise to all concerned, at a site thathas been plundered and excavated since antiquity andthat many thought would reveal nothing new.

Hopes will be high of more discoveries when the newexcavation season gets underway at the end of the year.



Above top: view of the Sekhmet statues as first uncovered.

Above: moving a large block.

Right top: a closer view of one of the Sekhmet statues.

Right:lifting some heavy blocks. Note the face of a colossal statue of Amenhotep III.

Photos: courtesy of the SCA.

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The Imhotep Museum at Saqqara

Egypt’s first “site” museum was opened in lateApril this year. The idea of a series of new muse-ums at specific archaeological sites in Egypt was

suggested in the early 1990s but it was kept under wrapsuntil 1997.

When Dr Zahi Hawass took office some four yearsago as the Supreme Council of Antiquities’ SecretaryGeneral, several museum projects had already been puton hold. Dr Hawass has strong beliefs about the preser-vation and protection of Egyptian monuments and hewanted to pursue the idea and ensure that visitors to thegreat sites could also see objects found there. In the pastobjects were either moved to the Egyptian Museum inthe heart of Cairo, or simply placed in storage at thesites. Continuous excavations and lack of space in theEgyptian Museum meant that many objects worthy ofdisplay, which helped to tell the history of the monu-ments and sites, were hidden from view.

With support from the Culture Minister, FaroukHosni, Dr Hawass developed the plans for the first ofthe site museums, to be built at Saqqara. At the sametime, plans for the extension to the Luxor Museum weredrawn up, and the completion of this extension is some-thing of which the SCA is justly proud.

The new museum at Saqqara has been called the“Imhotep Museum” in honour of the Vizier of KingDjoser. It is believed that Imhotep was the architect forthe king’s great funerary complex and pyramid and he

was also venerated in late pharaonic Egypt as a wiseman and patron of medicine.

I myself couldn’t wait to see this outstanding museum,so I went along early one morning to do my own explo-ration tour for readers of AE.

Built of stone, the new museum is built right at thebase of the Saqqara plateau. Many of you will knowwhere the ticket office for the site is (or actually was, forit has moved), opposite the Valley Temple of King Unas.The new museum is to the right of the road, past thispoint and on the edge of the cultivation. The ticketoffice has been moved to this area too and there is spacefor visitors’ coaches and cars to park.

The architects of the new building have incorporatedelements of ancient Egyptian architecture in theirdesign, notably many dating to the Old Kingdom.

Parts of the exterior and interior design pay homageto the ancient architects and builders, but result in asplendid modern building, spacious and attractive and asuperb setting and home for the objects it contains.



Top left: the entrance to the Imhotep Museum at Saqqara.

Left: the base of a statue of king Djoser.

Photos: J. Rutherford.

Above: a splendid Old Kingdom wooden head with inlaid eyes, movedto the Imhotep Museum from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Photo: RP.

AEAyman38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 15

On arrival, I was asked if I wanted to see the specialdocumentary film before going into the museum, but Iwas so keen to see the display I declined this invitation,for the moment, and went into the museum first. Theelectronic doors opened and I walked into the cool airconditioning of the main hall.

Firstly, you encounter the solid base of a statue of theThird Dynasty king Djoser, on which are inscribed theking’s name and titles and also Imhotep’s name. Thefeet are shown stepping on the nine bows of Egypt,which represent foreign countries. The base is on a four-month loan from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The Museum’s major objective is to display the mostsignificant artifacts discovered on the Saqqara site, thosethat help explain the history and purpose of this hugearchaeological site. Apart from one or two moved fromthe Egyptian Museum in Cairo, all the objects havecome from antiquities storage magazines and havenever been on display to the public before.

In the second hall, high up on the wall, is a list ofarchaeologists who have excavated in Saqqara from1850 to 2006. Many of the names will be familiar toAE readers; they include some of the best knowndeceased and living Egyptologists, such as AugusteMarriette, Gaston Maspero, Jean Phillippe Lauer,Walter B. Emery, Alain Zivie and Geoffrey T. Martin –archaeologists who have made discoveries dating from

the early Dynastic Periods right up to Greek and Romantimes, and even beyond into the Coptic era. (I had bet-ter mention that the last two Egyptologists on the list arevery much alive and well, and still working.)

This hall, named the “Saqqara Missions”, also has adisplay of discoveries by Dr Hawass. The two of his Iwould like to mention are the anthropoid painted coffincased with gold from the Late Period and the coppermedical instruments from the tomb of Qar the physi-cian.

The third hall, named “Saqqara Style”, displays thevarious styles of art found in the history of Saqqara, fea-turing a collection of stone vessels used for cosmetics

from the Early Dynastic period. Amongst other objectsare clay vessels and huge alabaster pots in variousshapes. More than forty thousand vases carved fromhard stone were found beneath the Step Pyramid.Many of these are from the First and Second Dynastiesand it is believed Djoser placed them in his tomb.


Top left and above:view of the “Imhotep Architecture” hall, which includes examples of reliefand stone architectural features from the Step Pyramid complex. Ribbedcolumns are shown and also elements of a “palace façade” feature.Left:some of the fine alabaster vessels from the site.



AEAyman38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 16

The fourth hall, named “Imhotep Architecture”,which is open-plan and the largest of the galleries, dis-plays the architectural style of Djoser’s funeral complexat the site.

Items include the remains of columns, and a frieze ofcobras brought from the façade of the Southern Tomb’scult chapel for protection. When you visit the complexof Djoser, many of the elements of the building havebeen restored. The museum display shows originalblocks, the way in which fallen blocks were pieced backtogether, and also how the buildings were originally con-structed. Visiting this gallery will make a visit to thepyramid complex at the top of the plateau much morerewarding.

Some larger objects dominate the centre of thegallery, including a headless statue of King Djoser, andan unusual “Snake Pillar” which Dr Hawass has pub-lished under the title of “A Fragmentary Monument ofDjoser from Saqqara”. This publication has helpedmany Egyptian scholars including myself with theirstudies.



Above: the painted wooden head of a woman from one of the NewKingdom tombs at Saqqara, discovered by Alain Zivie.

Left: a fine example of an Old Kingdom statue from one of the tombs atSaqqara. Most of the monuments open to visitors at Saqqara date to the OldKingdom, but the site was in continuous use from before this time right up tothe Roman Period.


AEAyman38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 17

At the back of the fourth hall stands a full-sized copyof the blue-tiled wall of the Step Pyramid’s SouthernTomb, showing King Djoser in a ceremonial dress forhis jubilee, known as the Heb-Sed. The Southern Tombis closed to visitors, so this exhibit provides an opportu-nity to see the unique reliefs of Djoser and the stunningblue colour of the tiles. Many of the tiles in this displayare originals.

I think the masterpiece of this gallery is a small bronzestatue showing Imhotep seated and holding a papyrusstem. No contemporary image of Imhotep is known andmost of the representations we have date to the LatePeriod of Egyptian history. His tomb, which manybelieve has to be at Saqqara close to that of Djoser, hasnot been found, despite the efforts of archaeologists foralmost two hundred years.

The fifth hall, named “Saqqara Tombs”, provides youwith information about the contents of the tombs. Onshow is a coffin with remains of blue colours, and a cof-fin text inscribed on its inner sides painted in black on ayellow base. A rowing boat was also found, and this ison display above the coffin. This room pays tribute tothe many archaeologists at Saqqara who have made dis-coveries of funerary ware such as offering tables, falsedoors and amulets, all of which can now be seen, manyfor the first time.

The sixth and final hall, named “Lauer’s Library”, is

dedicated to him and his life’s work at Saqqara, espe-cially his efforts in restoring the Step Pyramid complex.Here there is a wonderful display of some of his per-sonal belongings, which include his hat, camera, com-pass and tools. He worked in Egypt for around seventy-five years until his death in 2001. Be sure not to miss thisroom because it is so different from the others.

As I walked back out of the air-conditioned museuminto the brilliant sunshine, I decided to seek some rest inthe Visitors’ Centre to watch the ten-minute documen-tary film on Saqqara, produced by National Geographic inconjunction with the SCA. The room is very spaciouswith comfortable seating on all three sides.

In the middle of the room stands a small model of theStep Pyramid complex and behind this is the widescreen. The film is in English and is narrated by theEgyptian film star Omar Sharif. Dr Hawass gives a shortintroduction to Saqqara Museum and Dr Alain Zivietalks briefly about his discoveries. I found the film veryinformative and well worth the time.

During my visit, I saw a reasonable number of touristsand visitors, but in my opinion it needs many more tocome to the museum.

If you visit Saqqara with a tour, there will probablynot be time to visit the museum and it is doubtful ifmany of the more popular tour companies will includethe museum on their itineraries. Hopefully, the moreserious and specialist tour companies will see the newmuseum as an absolute must for visitors.

It is easy to make a special visit to Saqqara, but if youare making your own way there, then do make sure youhave the time to visit the museum and can spend as longas you like there. The facilities are of the highest stan-dard, consisting of restrooms, shops, and a cafeteria.The complex is well designed and features a walkthrough palm-tree-lined paths to the museum entrance.

The ticket price is £E15 for tourists for the museumonly and I believe you can also buy a combined ticket,which will include the museum and the other sites atSaqqara. It doesn’t matter what time of the day you visitthe museum because all the buildings are fully air-con-ditioned. The important thing is not to miss it.

Ayman Wahby Taher

Ayman is currently a full-time lecturer in Egyptology atthe University of Mansura, Egypt. Prior to this heworked for the Supreme Council of Antiquities forseven years under the guidance of Dr Zahi Hawass. Heis also a qualified tour guide in Egypt.



Above: a fine blue/green faience broad-collar from one of the tombs atSaqqara. Photo: J. Rutherford.

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When embarking on a project at a site as largeand at least superficially featureless as the desertportion of Hierakonpolis, the first order of

business is to conduct a surface survey and figure out whatyou’ve got. This is exactly what Walter Fairservis andMichael Hoffman did in the early years of the Expeditionbeginning in 1964, making inventories of, and assigninglocality numbers (HK6, HK29, etc.) to, the various fea-tures identified throughout this immense site. These sur-veys revealed not only interesting facets of thePredynastic occupation, but also the presence of threediscrete cemeteries of the Nubian inhabitants ofHierakonpolis in the Middle Kingdom and SecondIntermediate Period: HK21A and HK47 located at oppo-site edges of the site; and HK27C in the centre, near theFort.

All three were assumed to belong to the Pan Grave cul-ture – Nubian mercenaries, probably the Medjay ofEgyptian sources, who were brought in to defend Egyptduring the troubled times of the Second IntermediatePeriod. Cemeteries of this distinctive culture have beendetected all along the Nile Valley, but the people remaina mystery. We still do not know for certain who they were,where they came from, and where they went when the jobwas done. They were first discovered by Flinders Petrie,who coined the name “Pan Grave” because their shallowround graves resembled frying pans, and indeed some ofthem do.

Test excavations at HK21A in 2001 uncovered six ofthese pan-like graves, all unfortunately badly plundered,but with enough of the characteristic incised pottery andjewellery to mark their presence.

Far richer and better preserved were the graves atHK47, which had been dug deeply into the loose whitesand and lined with multi-coloured goat and cow skins.Although all of the burials had been plundered, the funer-ary offerings left outside the graves escaped untouched.These above-ground offerings are typical of Nubianfunerary practices and here included a number of pots(Egyptian and Nubian) and baskets as well as a little bot-tle, which had been deposited together with a leather bagcontaining a kit for making carnelian beads. The leatherof the bag had deteriorated, but still preserved was theband of woven beads that once adorned it. White, blue,and dark blue faience beads were used to create an intri-

cate diamond pattern, which thanks to modern consoli-dants, we were able to recover still in position.

Despite the disturbance of the graves, we found a sur-prising amount of new information about the appearanceand profession of the Pan Grave people. Many graves stillcontained remnants of leather garments, often dyed redand occasionally decorated with charming leather tassels,in addition to elaborately woven fringed cloth with whichthey apparently lined their leather kilts. Large quantities

AE brings you the fifth report on the excavations and research at Hierakonpolis (ancient Nekhen), supported by the Friends of Nekhen. Renée Friedman, the Director of the Hierakonpolis Expedition, looks at

Nubians at Hierakonpolis.

AE AE SupporSupporting Egting Eg yptoloyptologicalgicalCauses: 2006Causes: 2006

TThhee FFrriieennddss ooff NNeekkhheennTThhee FFrriieennddss ooff NNeekkhheenn

Excavating a pan-shaped grave in the Pan Grave cemetery at HK21A.

AENekhen5.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 19


of beads were also found, some still on their string, thuspreserving the original pattern. These included a com-plete bracelet of stunning garnet beads, and an armlet ofrectangular mother-of-pearl plaque beads, one of themost characteristic elements of Pan Grave attire. By piec-ing together the bits of raw hide thong remaining in oneset of beads, conservator Fran Cole was able to recon-struct the armlet revealing its original curve over the arm.

A leather bow grip, bow string and arrow shafts with thetrimmed feather fletching remarkably still in place leave

little doubt about their day jobs. Examination by physicalanthropologists shows that the people interred here weremainly young men, seventeen to twenty-five years of age,of over-average Egyptian stature, (171 to180 centimetres;5' 6" to 5' 9"), with strong muscle attachments in theirlegs, as one might expect of military professionals.Colourfully adorned with tasselled leather garments,fringed kilts, and bespangled with beads at neck, arms,wrist and ankle, they must have been an impressive sight.

Intriguing as this Pan Grave cemetery was, it was no

Left: an offering deposited outside one of the Pan Graves included a little jar and aleather bag containing a bead-making kit.

Photo: J. Rossiter.Above top: the C-Group cemetery in the shadow of the Fort.

Photo: J. Rossiter.Above: a Thirteenth Dynasty scarab, our first find from the C-Group cemetery.

Photo: J. Rossiter.Below left: the woven bead pattern on the leather bag from the Pan-Grave offering.

Photo: J. Rossiter.Below: the plaque bead armlet after conservation.



match for the surprises in store for us at HK27C, thecemetery by the Fort. Our first surprise was the exquisitescarab found on the first day of our test excavations in2001. Our second revelation was that this cemetery actu-ally belonged to the Nubian C-Group, probably the last ofits kind in existence after the waters of Lake Nasser flood-ed the heartland of this indigenous Nubian culture.

Although these Nubians (called Nehesy in Egyptiansources) were also prized for their fighting skill, and in theemploy of nomarchs in the First Intermediate Period, itseems that they either adopted Egyptian funerary prac-tices or returned home at death. During the MiddleKingdom, when Egypt occupied Lower Nubia to theSecond Cataract with a series of imposing forts built tocontrol a people they called “wretched” and “vile”, lack ofevidence for their presence suggested that these particularNubians were not welcome north of Aswan. Thus, a C-Group cemetery, located over one hundred kilometresnorth of the political border, was definitely an unexpect-ed discovery.

Excavations in 2001 and 2003 uncovered twenty-threeout of an estimated one hundred graves, revealing dis-tinctive funerary architecture, still intact above-groundoffering places, delicate decorated pottery, exquisite jew-ellery and colourful leather garments typical of thisNubian culture, showing that at least in death the inhab-itants proudly displayed their cultural links, despite beingpositioned within Egyptian territory.

Dating from the Eleventh Dynasty through earlySecond Intermediate Period (2055-1700 BC), the wealthof the graves suggests these people were not slaves or pris-oners of war, but members of a community that was res-ident at the site for several generations. The reason fortheir presence, their lifestyle and their interaction with theEgyptian population are issues that we are exploring andfurther excavations are planned for winter 2007.

As elsewhere, none of the graves had entirely escapedplunder, but organic preservation in a select few was spec-tacular. In one instance, the preservation of the skin of anolder woman allowed us to reconstruct the pattern of herelaborate tattoos. A diamond of short dashed linesadorned her left hand, and a pattern of dots and dashesran down the back of her left arm. Skin adhering to theribs preserved a dotted zigzag line along the front of thetorso, with a more elaborate lattice pattern of dottedsquares running down along the abdomen, up over thehip and onto her back. Tattooing is typical of Nubian cul-tures, and it is from Nubia that the Egyptians adopted thepractice in the Middle Kingdom. Who would have imag-ined we would have a cemetery of such trend-setters!

The same tomb also contained copious amounts ofleather. Unique to this burial were delicate fragments ofcut-work leather of differing quality. One mass of leather,perforated with a pattern of parallel rectangles (c. 5mm x

and a

tery.

ffering.

Right top: feather fletching still in place on the Pan Grave arrows.

Right centre: the tattooed skin of a Nubian dancer(?) from the C-Groupcemetery.

Right bottom: the remains of leather garments with carefully made perforations; a loincloth on the left and a hairnet on the right.



2mm), looked so incredi-bly fragile, yet turned outto be sufficiently supplefor Fran Cole to examinethe construction of thegarment from which itoriginated. Composed ofa patchwork of pre-cutpanels with a specificnumber of cut-out rec-tangles per row, it appearsmost similar to a loin-cloth, a light but hard-wearing garment worn bysoldiers, sailors and work-men to protect their linenkilts, and again is a fashion that the Egyptians adoptedfrom Nubia. Although generally a garment restricted tothe male wardrobe, there are some exceptions.

A Ramesside ostracon depicts a dancing girl wearing acut-work loincloth, apparently as her special (and only)performance costume (see above).The similarities betweenthe tattoos that adorn this dancer and those found on ourNubian lady are certainly intriguing, and, despite the timedifference, this combination of loincloth and tattoos maybe more than coincidental. Although our lady was wellinto her forties and had lost all of her upper teeth, alocalised injury to her lower back suggests that in heryouth she may well have done a back flip or two.

Age apparently also brings modesty, as our lady wasburied with far more clothing that the girl on the ostra-con. Impressions on the skin of the ear and chin suggestthat finer-quality leather, with perforations less than 4mmin length (making for an astonishing forty-two slashes persquare centimetre), may be the remnant of a leather hairnet that was tied under the chin. Her other garmentsinclude a leather top with brown and white, horizontallystriped, flaring sleeves that connected to a bodice of pinkleather with yellow appliqué. A colourful combinationindeed!

Other garments madeof a patchwork of brown,beige, pink, red and yel-low leather panels werefound in several graves,but almost exclusivelythose of women; theyprobably derive fromtheir multicolour skirts.Leather kilts with bluefaience beads sewn at theseams and edges werefound in the graves ofmen.

In addition to typicalNubian clothing and tat-

toos, we also observed characteristic Nubian funeraryarchitecture.The most elaborate was the well-built ring ortumulus of mud-brick, four courses high, around Tomb17. After its construction, several large boulders wererolled in, and between them a platform or offering chapelof specially selected bright yellow fieldstones was erected.As was the Nubian custom, numerous offerings of potterywere left above ground on all sides of the tumulus. Wefound pots, both Egyptian and Nubian, under almostevery rock, nestled in brick cists or simply left up againstthe side of the brick ring. The final appearance must havebeen a dazzling tribute to the young man, twenty to thir-ty years of age, buried within.

But it wasn’t just pottery that they left as above-groundofferings. A short length of beads just below the surfacesoon revealed itself to be part of a string of over onethousand six hundred tiny blue faience beads wrappedaround an iridescent shell pendant. Painstakingly collect-ed in small clusters for restringing in their original order,they produced a result that is an elegant addition to anyoutfit.

Despite being so far north in what we consider to beEgyptian territory, the occupants of the cemetery appearto have made few concessions to Egyptian influence other

Above: a Ramesside ostracon of a tattooed dancing girl. (ostracon IFAO 3779).

(After W.H. Peck, Egyptian Drawings, New York 1978, pl. 68).Below left: a typically Nubian tumulus around Tomb 17.

Below right: a hand-made Nubian pot with incised decoration; a hallmark of the C-Group Nubians.



than a general use of Egyptian pottery, mud-brick insteadof stone for their tumuli, and in some cases simple wood-en coffins. In death, at least, they dressed like Nubians,constructed Nubian funerary architecture, and depositedNubian grave goods above ground in traditional Nubianfashion. The population of the cemetery, which includesan even spread of men, women and children, was obvi-ously a wealthy one, with most of the inhabitants livinginto their forties and beyond in relatively good health.Caries and abscesses with relatively minor arthritis are themost common pathologies. The Egyptian pottery indi-cates a date ranging from the Eleventh Dynasty into theSecond Intermediate Period, suggesting a long-term pres-ence at the site and this is not the only evidence forNubians at Hierakonpolis

Other evidence for C-Group presence is found at anisolated sandstone knoll on the northern edge of the siteknown as HK64. Adorning this hillock is a vast array ofincised petroglyphs, many of which can be attributed tothe Nubian C-Group culture, as well as one of the rareexamples of rock painting north of Aswan, depicting aboat and a quadruped in black pigment (see overleaf).

Surrounding this rock-art hill was a series of superim-posed campsites/fireplaces containing Nubian potteryand quartz cobbles, suggestive of Nubian lithic technolo-gy. What exactly this all meant remained a mystery untilthe excavation of one campsite revealed a rounded pit,fifty centimetres in diameter and twenty centimetres deep,containing a carefully laid mass of ostrich feathers. Thelong tail feathers lined the pit, while filling it were severallayers of smaller feathers. Carefully nestled between theselayers was a small stone with an inscription that providesan intriguing explanation for this deposit and the recur-rent visits to this remote site. The stone reads: “TheGolden One, she appears in glory” and is a reference tothe goddess Hathor in her solar function.

As the Eye of the Sun, Hathor left Egypt after herdrunken humiliation while trying to exterminatemankind, and still angry she roamed the deserts of the farsouth in the form of a bloodthirsty lioness. Various deitiessought her out and tried to entice her back to Egypt.Ritual texts relate that when Hathor finally agreed toreturn, a large entourage was assembled. Among thosewho escorted her back to Egypt were various Nubiantribesmen. They danced for her and made specific offer-ings in her honour. A stanza from a ritual papyrus reads:

“Let us take for her feathers of the back(s) of ostriches,which the Libyans slay for you with their throw sticks …”

With this hymn as well as graphic representation fromthe site itself of an ostrich and throw stick, it is not hardto imagine this ostrich-feather deposit as an offering fromthe Nubian tribesmen who were celebrating the annualreturn of Hathor. The unique discovery of the actualremains of this popular celebration is an exciting newexplanation for the activities at the site and of the Nubianpopulation, be they resident or mobile.

The return from the south of the distant goddess was apopular celebration also for the Egyptians and corre-sponded with the coming of the Nile flood in lateJune/early July. While a desert location such as HK64seems an odd place to celebrate the inundation, it was infact the natural place to greet it. The millennia of siltsdeposited by the Nile on its banks meant that the flood

Left and above: an offering of a beautiful shell pendant wrapped roundwith beads appears, just below the surface in the C-Group cemetery.

Below: the shell pendant restrung – an elegant addition to any outfit.


plain was actually higher than the low desert that sur-rounded it. Before the Nile flooded its banks, a rise inground water would be noticeable in the low desert. Eventoday at HK64 the high water table is evident and thereis a perennial well nearby, whose waters are reputed to beeffective in curing skin complaints. Old habits appear todie hard, as those who make use of the well are still in thehabit of leaving behind offerings of soap and combs.

Prior to the discovery of the C-Group Cemetery, it wassuggested that desert-pastoralists, attracted by the rapid

growth of desert flora induced by the rising ground water,were responsible for the remains at HK64. This may stillbe the case, their arrival acting as a potent signal of thecoming flood to their urban kinsmen as well as theEgyptian population. The ritual texts suggest that,although officially despised, Nubians eventually becamesymbols of Hathor’s return and came to play key roles inthis and other celebrations.

All the evidence indicates that a good time was had atthis place; a hearty feast, song and dance, and perhapseven a little rock music. Recent research in Sudan hasdemonstrated that the quartz cobbles with abraded endsfound around many petroglyphic sites were not used tomake the rock art, but to play the rock art. While the sand-stone of our hill may not respond to a percussion beat asmusically as Sudanese granite, such a usage wouldexplain the large number of quartz cobbles in the camp-sites at HK64. Clearly a bit of experimental archaeologyis called for in the near future to find out for sure.

Such celebrations may have served as a way for theNubian population to renew its ethnicity by interactingwith kinsmen; it also may have acted as a recruitingground, or job market, as inscriptions of several seniorarmy and caravan leaders at this rock suggest far more

Above: the painted boat at HK64, one of the rare examples of rockpainting north of Aswan.

Left: dedicated to Hathor, a deposit of remarkably preserved ostrichfeathers and an inscribed offering stone.

Photo: J. Rossiter.

24 ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2006


25

interaction between Nubians andEgyptians than the official documentshave hitherto allowed us to acknowl-edge.

The C-Group cemetery atHierakonpolis is the northernmostone now known. In New Kingdomtimes, Hierakonpolis was adminis-tered as part of Nubia under the con-trol of the Viceroy of Kush. The rea-son for its inclusion in the land ofNubia may well have been because ofits sizable and varied Nubian popula-tion. As work continues we hope tounderstand more fully the relationsbetween the different Nubian peoples,their place within Hierakonpolis and,indeed, all of Egypt.

AcknowledgementsExcavation and study of the Nubianlocalities was made possible by grantsfrom the National GeographicSociety and the Michela Schiff-Giorgini Foundation, with additionalfunds from the Friends of Nekhen.

Renée Friedman

Unless otherwise stated, all photo-graphs and images are by the author.

About the Friends of NekhenPlease help support the work of the HierakonpolisExpedition by becoming a member of the Friends ofNekhen.

As a member you will receive an annual newsletter, theNekhen News, produced exclusively for Friends. This con-tains all the latest news and research from the site (muchmore than we can include in AE). Membership also enti-tles you to special rates on Expedition publications.

Your contribution (which is tax-deductible if you live inthe United States) will support vital research that mightnot otherwise be possible and is an ideal way of sharingthe excitement and commitment of the HierakonpolisExpedition.

For more information visit the web site: www.hierakonpolis.org

or send an email to: [email protected] contact:

The Hierakonpolis Expedition, Dept. of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, The British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG.

ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2006

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Above right: a petroglyph of a hunted ostrich from near the ostrich feather deposit

at HK64.


Since March this year, when the discovery of thenew tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV-63) wasformally announced, the team from the University

of Memphis and their Egyptian colleagues have beenworking hard to clear the small chamber and to makesome sense of the contents.

The excavating season, which should have ended inthe Spring, was extended. The Director of the excava-tion, Dr Otto Schaden, was the last member of the teamto leave Egypt, at the end of July, for a well-deservedbreak, having overseen a season that lasted a recordseven months.

The last report ended with the chamber cleared of allthe storage jars and with just two of the seven coffinsremaining. Up to that point no bodies had been found,although the coffins and jars contained a wide range ofobjects and materials, which included pottery, linen,natron, stone fragments, six feather-filled pillows orcushions and a small gilded coffin.

The clearance of the tomb was filmed by theDiscovery Channel and many AE readers may havehad the chance to see the first programme, if not both.It is unusual for an excavation of this type to be record-ed and presented in this way, and it gave a unique (if, ofnecessity, selective) view of the work.

The programmes highlighted three aspects of thework that are not necessarily apparent from the writtenaccounts and the photographs released so far.

It was clear that work in the confined space was farfrom easy, and that the working conditions were equallybad. When the excavation extended into what is nor-

mally the closed season for work in Egypt, temperaturessoared in the Valley of the Kings, and the few fans intro-duced into the shaft and chamber will have done littlemore than circulate hot air. For the excavators it washot, uncomfortable and dusty work.

The appalling condition of the woodwork in the tombwas perhaps more apparent in the TV programme. Fourof the coffins had been badly attacked by termites andwere in an extremely fragile condition. The termites hadtreated the thick black coating on the coffins like treebark, and had tunnelled into the wood beneath thislayer.

The result was that the black pitch was in some casesall that was keeping the powdery wood together. Thissituation was not helped by the fact that the coffins werepacked with heavy items, which exerted pressure on thecoffin walls from the inside, causing them to split andthe lids to collapse inwards. Interestingly, the faces offive of the coffins are relatively well preserved and arenot affected by termite damage. The faces were not cov-ered in black pitch, just yellow paint on the carved woodsurface.

The unsung heroes and heroines of archaeology arethe conservators, and their work often goes unnoticed.Chief Conservator Nadia Lukma faced an amazingchallenge – to conserve the wood in situ, so that thecoffins could be removed from the tomb.

It was important to keep the coffin fragments togeth-er in panels or sections as far as possible. A number oftechniques were used, which included the use ofJapanese tissue paper. This is very thin, but very strong

KV-63 Update: the final stageAAEE brings you the fourth and final article on the latest tomb discovered in the Valley of theKings. Will we finally know the answer to the question “is this a tomb or a funerary cache?”

Above left: plan showing the layout of the tomb contents. All the storage jars have been given reference numbers and each of the coffins allocated a reference letter. Plan: courtesy of the University of Memphis Mission.

Above right: view into the tomb, showing the coffins and storage vessels still in situ. Photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.


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and was carefully stuck to the wooden surfaces, proba-bly using something like a water-soluble cellulose-basedadhesive. This paper can easily be removed at a latertime.

Gaps in the wood were carefully packed with cottonwool, soaked in a special solution that hardened. Bothtechniques enabled the damaged fragments to beremoved in larger pieces and will enable further conser-vation and possible restoration of the coffins at a laterstage.

Such a major attack by termites is not necessarily rare,but is a first for a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Justimagine (though perhaps it is better not to) the conse-quences if similar damage had occurred in the nearbytomb of Tutankhamun or the almost contemporarytomb of Yuya and Thuya, also filled with many splendidfunerary items and coffins.

The conditions inside the chamber did not help thework of conservators. From the moment the tomb wasopened, the team had to work quickly, but as safely anddiligently as possible. The wood would begin to sufferfrom the changes in temperature and the increasedhumidity in the confined space. The latter was a major

concern, as many of the coffins included natron in theircontents. This absorbs moisture, expanding in theprocess and potentially causing further damage.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that the TV docu-mentary showed was the excitement and pure delight ofthe team members when they made their discoveries. Itis easy to forget, when reading a formal excavationreport, that archaeology can be exciting, and any find,be it a piece of pottery or something more substantial,can be a source of delight and wonder and an amazingexperience for those few trained experts privileged,experienced and lucky enough to be in the right place atthe right time.

With just two coffins left, the small infant coffin (coffinD) and the larger coffin (E) against the rear wall of thechamber, hope remained that there might be bodies inthe chamber. Both coffins, unlike all the others, stillappeared to be sealed.

The team used an endoscope (a small camera with alight attached) to look through holes in the last twocoffins to see if they could determine what, if anything,might be inside. The results were disappointing: it waspossible to see only bits and pieces of flowers, potteryshards and dirt.

The infant coffin was empty. It was discovered thatthis well-made coffin was covered in gold and laterpainted with a thick layer of black pitch, which virtual-ly obscured all the details. The face and head area

Above: view of coffin E with the lid removed, revealing the floral collars. Note the Japanese tissue paper applied to the outside of the coffin to hold it

together and also the cotton wool used to fill and consolidate some of the gaps.

Photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.



appear to be in good condition and elaborately execut-ed, but the remainder of the wood is in poor conditiondue to termite damage. The coffin measures aroundforty-six centimeters in length, just a little longer thanthe gilt coffinette found inside coffin G.

Attention turned then to the final coffin. Lying closeto the wall, at the head and feet of this coffin, two morepillows or cushions were found, bringing the total foundin KV63 to eight.

The exterior of the base and parts of the lid were cov-ered in Japanese tissue paper, to strengthen it before thelid was carefully removed. A carved inscription deco-rates this coffin, but it is covered by thick black pitch andhas not yet been read.

Everyone was hoping for a mummy, but what wasrevealed was a coffin packed full to the brim with thesame variety of objects found in the other coffins.However, on top of the debris were a number of elabo-rate floral collars. Made using real flowers, stitched ontoa papyrus backing, they also incorporated beads andgold. They had been laid rather carelessly in the coffinand were crumpled and partly squashed by the coffinlid. These delicate objects will present another hugechallenge for conservator Nadia Lumka.

Similar collars have been found before in the Valley, in1907/08 in the so-called embalming cache ofTutankhamun, which also contained pottery, linen, andjars and bundles containing natron.

The coffin base was too large to be lifted from thechamber with all the contents in place, as its fragile statemeant that it could not take the weight of the contents;they were much heavier than a mummy would havebeen.

There was little choice but to clear the coffin in thetomb, an excavation in its own right, and then to removeits base from the chamber. The coffin was carefully emp-tied, revealing more of the same types of objects foundin the other coffins, but no mummy or any humanremains.

Once the coffin was removed it was possible to sweepthe floor of the chamber to ensure that nothing hadbeen missed and to be certain that there were no otherchambers to be found.

Now that the chamber has been cleared, a newperimeter or enclosure wall has been built around theshaft and the tomb has effectively been closed.

All the objects were removed to the nearby tomb ofAmenmesse, used as a laboratory and storage area dur-ing the excavation (although a few of the larger objectshave been moved to the SCA storage magazine inLuxor), where they will be safe until the new seasonstarts early next year, when conservation work and studyof the objects can continue.

All the evidence from the tomb points to a date duringthe reign of Tutankhamun, though speculation and avariety of theories abound as to why and when this

Above: view inside the coffin, showing the crumpled floral collars, beads and the glitter of gold.Photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.


chamber was filled. The hard evidence from the tomb islimited and frustratingly fragmentary – an inscriptionon a jar mentions Year Five of a king’s reign, but withno name, and elsewhere the end of a name “… paAten”, Ankhesenpaaten perhaps?

The cache of objects, for it is clearly not a tomb, con-tains unique artifacts, and there may be more surprisesto come when the detailed study of them continues.

It is possible that the chamber once contained a bur-ial, for the doorway was sealed. This original sealing wasbroken down when, possibly, some or all of the originalcontents were removed. The chamber was then filledwith the coffins and storage jars and the doorway re-sealed for the last time.

The mass of material clearly comes from a burial oran embalming cache and the indications are that theywere not simply swept up from the floor of this smallchamber, but were brought from elsewhere. Fragmentsof one pot were found in two separate coffins, whichwould indicate a fairly rushed clearing-up process. If allthe objects were from an important burial, then thismight explain why they were treated so respectfully.

We know Tutankhamun acquired objects for his ownburial that may have come from the royal tombs atAmarna; perhaps when these tombs were cleared andthe burials moved back to Thebes, the items of little orno intrinsic value were also collected and moved to this


Top right: Dr Zahi Hawass visited the tomb when the final coffin wasopened; here he examines the contents.

Photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Supreme Council ofAntiquities.

Right: Dr Otto Schaden, the Director of the excavation, shown holdingthe small gilded coffin.

Photo: Elise van Rooij.Below: comparable material – pottery and a floral collar – from the

“Embalming Cache of Tutankhamun” discovered in the early twentiethcentury and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Photo: RP.


chamber. The coffins appear to have been used simplyas storage chests, though they could not have been low-ered down into the chamber full. The work in filling thischamber would have been extensive and indicates theimportance the objects had, to someone.

There will no doubt be many theories about wherethese objects came from and who they were made for. Ifwe are lucky, the answer may be revealed by the study ofthe material. This does, of course, pose an intriguingquestion. If this chamber is a cache of funerary equip-ment and items from Amarna, then where are all thebodies? There is the distinct possibility that the Valley ofthe Kings is far from exhausted and there may, as somepeople have argued, be Amarna cache tombs still to befound there.

The Memphis team and their Egyptian colleagueshave laboured long and hard on this tomb and are to becongratulated on their work. Inevitably in the world ofEgyptology, the excavation has posed more questionsthan given answers, but has nevertheless added a newand important chapter to the history of the Valley of the

Kings and a fascinating era of ancient Egyptian civilisa-tion.

A special study season will begin early next year whenmore work and conservation on the objects will be car-ried out by the Memphis team.

RP

AE would like to thank Dr Otto Schaden and theKV-63 team for providing information and photographsof their work, and in particular Roxanne Wilson, whowrote the second and third articles on the discovery.

AE has made a donation to the expedition’s funds foreach article published.

Visit the official Websites:KV-10.com and KV-63.com

Below (and main cover image): the face of coffin F, the best-pre-served in the tomb, and nicknamed “The Princess” by team Chief

Conservator, Nadia Lukma. Photo: courtesy of the University of Memphis Mission.




On Friday 10 February 2006, Egypt’s SupremeCouncil of Antiquities made public at last whathad been rumoured among Egyptologists for

many months: the discovery of a new and completelyundisturbed tomb in the Valley of the Kings, locatedbeneath ancient workmen’s houses outside the entrance tothe long-known sepulchre of pharaoh Amenmesse.

KV63, as it soon became known, represented the first

new tomb to have been found in the royal Valley since thediscovery of Tutankhamun by Lord Carnarvon andHoward Carter in 1922.

Six months later and the KV63 chamber stands fullycleared, revealed (to evident media disappointment) notas a burial proper but as an embalmers’ cache of surpluscoffins and mummification refuse dating from the veryend of the Amarna period. It is an interesting find – and

Just as the clearance of tomb KV63 in the Valley of the Kings has been completed comes news fromDr Nicholas Reeves, Director of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, of another

possible new tomb in the heart of the Valley.

Is therIs there ANOe ANOTHER new tomb inTHER new tomb inthe Vthe Vallealley ofy of the Kings – “KV64”?the Kings – “KV64”?

Plan of the central part of the Valley of the Kings, showing the areas excavated by the Amarna Royal Tombs Project and the approximate position of “KV64” as established by the ground radar survey. Map by Shin’ichi Nishiyma, copyright and courtesy of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project.

Tutankhamun

Rameses VI

AEKV64.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 31


far more significant than the commentators seem to haverealised. For what KV63 clearly signals is the existence inthe Valley of the Kings of yet another tomb – one con-taining the burial(s) to which these embalming materialsrelate. And this further tomb is one upon which theAmarna Royal Tombs Project (ARTP) is potentially ableto shed some intriguing light.

Observant followers of the KV63 story will havenoticed that ARTP had some small involvement in thatparticular find – not as the tomb’s physical discoverers,who were of course a University of Memphis mission ledby Dr Otto Schaden, nor as KV63’s excavators, but as theteam that first pinpointed the existence of an anomaly atthis spot in 2000, using ground-penetrating radar (GPR).

The KV63 anomaly looked to us at that time very muchlike a void – a tomb – but we could not be certain. Time,we believed, would tell: it was a feature we had earmarkedfor future investigation as and when our project, workingsystematically, reached that particular part of our conces-sion. But then – crisis! Politics intervened, and ARTPfound itself out in the cold.

However disappointing it was for ARTP to have missedthe chance of excavating KV63, the physical location ofthat tomb by Schaden’s team was for our projectimmensely helpful. Not only did it confirm that the theo-ry of further Amarna burials, which had been driving usthese past years, was indeed soundly based, but it provid-ed also the vital corroboration needed properly to evalu-ate the output of our 2000 GPR survey. After the uncov-ering of KV63, it was possible to assess, with a great dealmore insight than previously, what our team’s GPR hadand had not revealed.

The practicalities of GPR survey are straightforwardenough; the key to the process is a sober analysis of thedata generated. ARTP were lucky: through friends andcolleagues in Japan, we were able to enlist the services ofHirokatsu Watanabe, one of the most experienced GPRspecialists in the field, with impressive results to his creditat sites in Japan itself and at the rich royal cemetery-siteof Sican in Peru. Watanabe’s radar survey was not onlysystematic and thorough, taking in most of the ARTPconcession and other parts of the Valley also, butextremely measured in its conclusions.

The GPR equipment Watanabe employed for theARTP Valley survey was a customized 400 MHz system.

The way the technology works is as follows: an electro-magnetic wave is emitted downwards (at pulse intervals ofsix nanoseconds) from a boxed antenna dragged along theground; the reflection echo is received and displayed on amonitor as a traverse profile.

This raw data is recorded for subsequent laboratoryprocessing – the disentangling of what is actually therefrom a multitude of confusing reflections.

The images generated do not represent the actual formor dimension of the object detected, but are mere pat-terns, to be analysed as aggregates of arcs with the displaycolours varying according to the force and velocity of thevarious reflection echoes. The basic trick is that differenttypes of underground features produce distinct screenpatterns: a pipe, for example, will generate a couple of

AEKV64.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 32


nested arcs; a ditch a cross-pattern above a couple of nest-ed arcs; and a void or underground chamber a distinctivepattern of radiating arcs.

The most recent of ARTP’s GPR readings to beanalysed by Watanabe is shown opposite. It is an imagethat has caused much excitement in recent weeks becauseits radiating arcs clearly indicate a void – which in a ceme-tery context almost certainly means a tomb. The featureitself is located not far distant from KV63, at a significantdepth adjacent to the southeast corner of the modernflood-barrier erected around Tutankhamun. For ease ofreference ARTP has labelled this void “KV64” – theinverted commas acknowledging the obviously tentativenature of the identification at this stage.

The possibility of yet another tomb in a cemetery whichwas merely presumed to be exhausted should cause nosurprise: Belzoni wrongly declared the Valley to beworked out in 1820; several tens of tombs later TheodoreDavis incorrectly ventured the same opinion in 1912; andit is an assessment most have tended tacitly to assumesince the finding of Tutankhamun in 1922.

By 1997, I had become convinced, from a library-basedanalysis of the situation, that beneath the Valley floorwere concealed still one or more additional Amarna-peri-od reburials – reburials analogous to that of the hereticpharaoh Akhenaten discovered in 1907 in tomb KV55 inthe central part of the Valley. This belief inspired me toset up the Amarna Royal Tombs Project to investigateselected parts of the site afresh, beginning in 1998.

My particular quarry at that time (though prioritieschanged when we discovered the extraordinary state ofpreservation of the archaeological record beneath thetourist paths) was the burial place of Nefertiti,Akhenaten’s wife and co-regent, but also the whereaboutsof Akhenaten’s secondary consort Kiya and his seconddaughter Meketaten. These were all women upon whosefunerary furniture, I had concluded, Tutankhamun had

drawn, either for the preparation of his own burial, or forthe refurbishment of Akhenaten’s, before the young kingre-interred the ladies’ bodies close by.

It is a question bound to be asked: could it be that theradar image now before us represents not only a tomb,but a tomb containing the body or bodies of one or moreof these missing Amarna women – the burials for whichARTP had been searching since 1998? It is at least a pos-sibility, and all the more fascinating since the site hasclearly not been disturbed since antiquity.

The temptation to investigate this new and potentiallysignificant feature in the Valley of the Kings will undoubt-edly be strong. If Egyptology decides to do so then let itbe cautiously, in the right way and at the right time, andnot at the expense of the immensely important overlyingstratigraphy.

The work requires a strategy; there is an obvious needto consult widely in advance; and the excavators – who-ever they may be – must be certain, before any workbegins, that they are physically capable of attaining allpossible objectives, with adequate funding, expert staff,and access to every sort of technology.

The Valley of the Kings is no ordinary site; the stakeshere are incredibly high. It was the fifth Earl ofCarnarvon, Carter’s sponsor, who commented that youeither find great things in the Valley, or nothing at all.ARTP may have found nothing – that possibility surelyexists; but then again we might, in all seriousness, be inthe presence of a second Tutankhamun – another find ofquite extraordinary importance, containing a wealth ofmagnificent burial equipment; a tomb hermetically sealedand preserving air samples, smells, pollen, insects,microbes, dust – an entire ancient environment of ines-timable scientific value. We should recall that in the caseof Tutankhamun the treasure was rescued, but the poten-tial of the tomb’s more fugitive data was lost forever whenthe excavators excitedly broke through the sealed door-

Opposite top:Hirokatsu Watanabe, the GPRspecialist, with his equipment in

the Valley of the Kings in2000.

Opposite bottom: “KV64” as revealed by theARTP’s 2000 radar survey.Images copyright, and

courtesy of, the AmarnaRoyal Tombs Project.

Right: the entrance to the tomb of

Rameses VI and the retainingwall around the entrance to theTomb of Tutankhamun, show-ing the approximate location of

possible tomb “KV64”.This photo was taken before thelatest flood-protection measureswere introduced and a “roof ”

built over the entrance toTutankhamun’s tomb.

Photo: RP.

Rameses VI

Tutankhamun“KV64”?

AEKV64.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 33

way to peer in. In 1922 they knew no better; Egyptologiststoday have no such excuse.

If there is to be another Tutankhamun, then we must beprepared. Whatever “KV64” eventually turns out to be,we have, for the present, to take it seriously; we cannotrisk selling it short.

Nicholas Reeves

Dr Nicholas Reeves is Director of the Amarna RoyalTombs Project, which excavated in the Valley of theKings between 1998 and 2002. His books include Valley ofthe Kings: the decline of a royal necropolis (KPI, 1990) TheComplete Tutankhamun (Thames and Hudson, 1990) and(with Richard H. Wilkinson) The Complete Valley of the Kings(Thames and Hudson, 1996).

For further information on the excavations and work ofthe ARTP in the Valley of the Kings, visit the web site

www.valleyofthekings.org


This news, and Nicholas Reeves’s views, seem, so far at least, notto have created as much interest as might have been expected.There have been the beginnings of a healthy debate on the sub-ject in some of the on-line Egyptology chat rooms, and reportshave appeared in the press, although not everyone is necessarilyin agreement.

There is, of course, the possibility that the radar images maybe misleading, and there may be no tomb at all, or that any tombmight be empty, so perhaps no one should get their hopes up toomuch at this stage, pending further investigations.

The news, though, has to be good for the SCA. Further exca-vation in the Valley of the Kings is probably inevitable, especial-ly after the discovery of KV63, and to be able to plan and under-take future work, with the knowledge that there might be a tomb(possibly intact) in the area, can only be helpful.

The first decisions to be made are if and/or when any investi-gation or excavation should take place. There is even the timeand the opportunity to arrange, as some people have suggested,an international conference of archaeologists and experts to poolideas and opinions.

Should “KV64” be Investigated?Although there may be a new tomb in the Valley, it has lain thereuntouched for over three thousand years, and a decade or moreof delay in excavation is but the blink of an eye in the historicalcontext. There will undoubtedly be, however, pressure and agenuine desire to excavate to see what is there. The nature of thecontents of an Egyptian tomb are well known and our knowl-edge of the likely state of preservation of any contents meansthat the necessary archaeological techniques and technical skillsare substantially available now worldwide.

When Should it be Excavated?Whilst, therefore, it might be possible to excavate now or in thenear future, the matter is not that simple.

The eyes of the world would, quite literally, be on any excava-tion. Over eighty years ago, the media caused the excavators ofthe tomb of Tutankhamun many problems and the media fren-zy would undoubtedly be worse today, given the desire for“instant” and “live” news.

There would be the practical problems of access to the Valleyand any excavation, and of allowing visitors to still see at leastsome of the other tombs. The location of the new tomb, its prox-imity to Tutankhamun, and its depth could pose a physical threatto that tomb in the event of a flash flood.

If the tomb is opened, and is found to be intact, then it couldconceivably contain many more objects than the recently-foundKV63. This tomb was cleared in a matter of months, but theTomb of Tutankhamun took Howard Carter over four years to

clear and, today, clearing a similar tomb could well take longer.Conservation of objects would be critical, and all the resources

necessary would need to be in place from day one. Carter used anearby tomb as a “laboratory” for his conservation work, and theMemphis team also had to do this. Conditions and facilities insuch temporary laboratories are less than ideal, and it could beargued that there would be the need for a purpose-built, state-of-the-art conservation laboratory to be provided before any workis started.

There would be a desire for any objects to be put on display assoon as possible, as was done with the Tutankhamun objects.This may not be possible now, for there is limited room in thecurrent or planned museums – another factor that needs to beallowed for; and, of course, all of this will take time and cost agreat deal of money.

One way forward might be for further surveys to take place. Apainstakingly thorough open excavation of the overlying area isessential before digging down to any tomb – the informationwithin the stratigraphy is crucial, arguably more important thananother tomb, although excavations by Carter in this area mayhave already disturbed some of the historical layers.

If a sealed tomb is found, it might be possible to drill into itwithout disturbing any air-tight seal for tests on the ancient airand for any micro organisms, although this would be a difficultexercise. (It was done at the sealed second boat pit at Giza sever-al years ago.) It would also be possible, in theory, for cameras tobe used to look into the tomb without demolishing any doorwaysor breaking seals.

In this way, it would be possible to see what, if anything, thetomb contained and then to plan a more leisurely excavation,with better knowledge about the tomb contents and their condi-tion and with all the above problems addressed in full.

The SCA could pull together a team of Egyptian and inter-national archaeologists and technicians and there would proba-bly be no shortage of people willing to offer their professionalskills.

In the meantime, the knowledge that something might bethere may, for example, help to plan any future developments inthe centre of the Valley and the efforts there to ensure water run-off avoids tomb entrances.

To excavate or not to excavate? It is, and will be, a difficultdecision to make. Caution and planning should be the watch-words, but the temptation will be strong to see what this radarscan really shows ... and what a tomb at the heart of the Valley,close to the tomb of Tutankhamun, might reveal about the fas-cinating history of the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

RP

Editor’s Comments

AEKV64.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 34

The second Royal Mummy room in the EgyptianMuseum in Cairo has recently been opened andseveral mummies that have not been on view to

the public for many years, if at all, are now included.Some mummies have been moved from the first room,

which now houses the mummies from the Eighteenthand Nineteenth Dynasties. On view are: Sequenenre,Amenhotep I, Queen Meritamun, Thutmose I, II andIII, Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, Sety I, Rameses II andMerenptah.

In the new room are mummies from the Twentiethand Twenty-first Dynasties: Rameses III, IV, V and IX,Pinudjem II, Queens Istemkheb, Maatkara andHenttawy, Princess Nesikhonsu and PriestDjedptahiufankh.

A separate entrance charge is made for each of theserooms. The plan is for all the royal mummies to bemoved in a few years’ time to a new museum of the his-tory of Egypt, currently being built at Fustat, not farfrom the Citadel.

The royal mummies have been on display intermit-tently since they were discovered at the end of the nine-teenth century. Most were found in the two famouscaches, one at Deir el-Bahri in 1881 and one in the tombof Amenhotep II in 1898.

The photograph below (supplied by AE reader BrianPlayfair) shows the display of the royal mummies in aroom in the old museum, which was housed in a royalpalace at Giza. This replaced an earlier museum atBulaq. The Giza museum was later replaced by the cur-

rent museum, built in 1902. Many of the major piecesfrom this collection will, in a few years’ time, be movedback to Giza, to the new Grand Egyptian Museum,where building work has just started.

The smaller photo, taken in the current museum in theearly years of the twentieth century, shows theunwrapped mummies of Yuya and Thuya, the in-laws ofAmenhotep III. Their virtually intact tomb was discov-ered in the Valley of the Kings in 1905. These mummieshave been on and off display too, but have not been onview to the public now for many years. They remain intheir coffins in the museum.

RP


Royal Mummies in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

AEhieroglyphs1.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 35

Anyone visiting Egypt or museums with Egyptiancollections, or even reading magazines such asANCIENT EGYPT, cannot fail to be aware of the

huge number of hieroglyphic inscriptions to be foundboth on the monuments and on objects of all kinds.

Since the decipherment of the hieroglyphic script inthe early nineteenth century, these texts have addedimmeasurable to our knowledge of the ancient Egyptiancivilisation. For most people, however, these inscriptionsremain a tantalising mystery. In this three-part series, Iwill introduce the basic principles of the hieroglyphicscript and show you how you too can begin to make “theancient stones speak”.

The signsTo the uninitiated, the hieroglyphic script appears to bea series of unrelated pictures – birds, animals, humanfigures and objects – and indeed the ancient Egyptian

script probably did begin as simple pictures. In someinstances this pictographic use of signs continued, so

that the symbol of a bull , for example, could be

used to represent the word “bull”. Early on, however,the technique was developed of using pictures to repre-sent other ideas that were not as easily expressed in pic-torial form, but happened to have a similar sound. A

good example of this is the familiar ankh sign . It is

actually the picture of a sandal-strap (imagine the loopgoing around the ankle, the crossbar across the instepand the post between the toes), the word for which wasankh in ancient Egyptian. However, the word ankh (orsomething very similar) also meant “live” and otherrelated words so, in order to express this rather morecomplex concept, the ancient scribes used the picture of


In the first of a three-part series, Pam Scott offers an approachable introduction to readinghieroglyphic inscriptions on monuments and museum objects.

The Ancient Stones Speak

Finely-carved hieroglyphs from the Middle Kingdom “White Chapel” of King Senusret I, in the Open Air Museum at the Temple of Karnak. Photo: RP.


a sandal strap to spell out the sound of the words for“live”, “life” and so forth.

Hieroglyphic is therefore known as a mixed script,with signs being used both pictographically to repre-sent objects, and phonetically to represent sounds.Signs which are used pictographically are known asideograms or sense signs; those which are usedphonetically are called phonograms or sound signs.Some signs, however, like the ankh symbol, can be usedboth as ideograms and as a phonograms, dependingupon the text.

VowelsThe hieroglyphic script shows only the consonants thatmake up a word; vowels are not written. Of course vow-els would have been essential in the spoken language, sosome words, although they may look the same, wouldprobably have been pronounced quite differently.Imagine writing the word “cat” without its vowels: aswell as “cat” it could mean “cot”, “coat”, “cut”, “cute”or even “acute”. Only by looking at the context of theword could we establish the meaning.

A study of Coptic, the language and script used by theearly Egyptian church, has been useful in supplying thelikely pronunciation of some Egyptian words, but forpractical purposes we usually supply a short “e” in orderto be able to pronounce the consonants represented bythe signs. Thus “p+r” is pronounced “per”; “n+b” ispronounced “neb”.

Direction and layout of inscriptionsAs a monumental script, hieroglyphic was extremelyflexible, fitting into the available space and changing itsorientation to suit to the scenes it accompanied.

So, for example, the name of the god Osiris could bewritten in four different directions:

In a vertical column, reading from topto bottom, facing left:

In vertical columns, reading from topto bottom, facing right:

In horizontal lines, reading from right to left:

In horizontal lines, reading from left to right:

In order to know where to start reading an inscriptionyou simply need to remember that signs representingpeople, animals or parts of these almost always face thebeginning of the word. In other words you read intothe front or faces of the signs.

Look at the lintel of Senusret III, now on display inthe Open Air Museum in the Temple of Karnak (seebelow, Photo: Pam Scott) on which you will see two linesor registers of text.

It is the two pintail ducks on the lower register thatgive us the clue to the orientation of the text. Since theyare facing the beginning of the text we see that there aretwo inscriptions, each beginning in the centre with theankh sign, like mirror images of each other. Thus thedecoration of this architectural feature would have pre-sented a pleasing, harmonious symmetry when in situabove a doorway.

The same piece also demonstrates that the ancientEgyptians rarely strung out their inscriptions in a longline in the way that we do in English. Instead, signs weregrouped to fit neatly into imaginary rectangles withsigns of different sizes carefully placed so as to give bal-ance to the whole.

Notice, for example, how the circle representing thesun god Ra is tucked in neatly above the back of theduck, and how in the upper register the three pairs ofraised arms in the oval cartouche are arranged in a tight

triangle , making a compact group.

Although this arrangement of signs gives a muchmore aesthetically pleasing effect, it makes it a littlemore difficult to decide in which order the signs shouldbe read.

As a general rule of thumb, however, upper signsare read before lower ones. Hence the name of the

god Ptah, written , should be read in the

order , while that of the god Amun,

written , should be read in the order



.

Unfortunately for us, the Egyptian scribe did not leaveany space between individual words. As we shall see,however, there are clues to be found from the contextand in the structure of the words themselves.

The Egyptian “alphabet”As we have seen, hieroglyphic signs fall into two broadcategories – phonograms (sound signs) andideograms (sense signs). Like the ankh sign, howev-er, some symbols can, and often do, play the role of bothideogram and phonogram, depending upon the word inwhich they appear.

Phonograms can represent either one, two or threeconsonants. The most frequently used are the twenty-four one-consonant signs (also called uniliteral oralphabetic signs) which make up what is sometimescalled the Egyptian “alphabet”. In theory, all Egyptian

words could have been written using only these signs,but in practice only a limited number were.

TransliterationIn order to record what consonant(s) each symbol rep-resents, scholars use a process known as translitera-tion, which involves writing the appropriate soundvalue of each sign using the equivalent letters of thealphabet.

The sign of a horned viper, , for example, istransliterated as “f ”, its nearest equivalent sound.Sometimes the sound represented by a hieroglyphic signcannot easily be represented using only the letters of thealphabet. In these cases special symbols are used fortransliteration.

In the following table of one-consonant signs eachsign is shown with its transliteration and approximatepronunciation. Although the first five appear to us to bemore like vowels, they were not used as such in thescript.




Left: hieroglyphs on a funerary papyrus in the British Museum in London. Photo: RP.

Sign Object Trans- SoundDepicted literation



Here are some examples of gods’ names, written using“alphabetic” signs, together with their transliteration:

The following kings wrote their names using onlyalphabetic signs ( is a late adaptation of a hiero-glyphic character sometimes used in foreign names,transliterated as “l”). The royal names are enclosed inan oval “frame” known as a “cartouche”.

Write your name in hieroglyphsA popular souvenir from Egypt is a T-shirt or a pendantbearing your name written in hieroglyphic characters.To write modern names in hieroglyphs you can use the“alphabetic” signs, plus one or two extras for soundsthat were not present in the ancient Egyptian language.

You will be following in the footsteps of some ofEgypt’s later, foreign, rulers who used these phoneticsigns to inscribe their names on their monuments.

Here are a few tips:

Use for “a”; for “i”; for “o”; for “w”

or “u”; for “f ” or “v”; and for “l”.



You can omit short “e”s or unstressed vowels altogether,

but if an “e” is stressed, use or , whichever

sounds the closest, e.g. = “Peter”.

Draw a woman at the end of a feminine name,

and a seated man at the end of a masculine name.

Follow the ancient scribes’ example of writing in neatrectangles, rather than stringing the signs out in a singleline.

Two-consonant (biliteral) signsAs well as the one-consonant signs, ancient Egyptianalso used symbols that represent two and three conso-nants.

The sign , for example, represents the conso-nants “m+n”, is transliterated as mn and pronounced“men”. Below are some of the more commonly usedtwo-consonant signs, with their transliteration andapproximate pronunciation.

Two-consonant signs are frequently accompanied byone or two one-consonant signs that repeat all or part oftheir sound value. These are known as phonetic com-plements and as such are neither transliterated norpronounced.

The name of the god Amun, for example is written

, using the one-consonant sign , followed

by the two-consonant sign , mn, and another one-consonant sign , n, which is acting as a phoneticcomplement for the second consonant in mn. The result-ing transliteration is imn (not imnn, since the final n is aphonetic complement and does not add to the soundvalue of the word).

Some more royal and divine names written using one-and two-consonant signs and phonetic complementsare:

Opposite left: cartouche with the name of King Amenhotep II, from a block in the Open Air Museum at Karnak. Photo: RP. Opposite right: painted inscription from the roof of the temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu, showing the royal titles. Photo: Pam Scott.



Three-consonant (triliteral) signsPhonetic signs representing three consonants are theleast common type. Below are some of the more fre-quently used ones:

Like the two-consonant signs, those with three conso-nants are often accompanied by phonetic complements.The sound values that are repeated vary from sign tosign. For example:

has the third consonant repeated and should betransliterated ,

has the second and third consonants repeat-ed and should be transliterated as nfr.

Sometimes, however, for example in monumentalinscriptions, where space is frequently at a premium,

phonetic complements may be omitted altogether.Below are some Egyptian words that contain three-con-sonant signs and phonetic complements

Ideograms or Sense SignsAs we have seen, signs can be used to represent ideas aswell as sounds. These are known as ideograms orsense-signs and these may be used in one of twoways.

As logograms or whole-word signs, that rep-resent pictorially the object, person or animal that isbeing referred to. The sound value of these signs cor-responds to the name of the object they depict.These are sometimes followed by a stroke known asa stroke determinative, which indicates that herewe are dealing with the object depicted, or a veryclosely related concept. For example:

r pr ib

sun mouth house heart.

Carved relief with elaborate hieroglyphs, from the tomb of Sety I in the Valley of the Kings, now in the British Museum in London. Photo: RP.


As determinatives used to express or determinethe general sense of a word spelled out using soundsigns. Determinatives are placed at the end of theword and are not transliterated or pronounced.

For example, the word , “woman”,

consists of two alphabetic signs, which give its soundvalue, followed by the determinative of a seatedwoman, which helps to define the word.

Many determinatives, known as generic determi-natives, are used in several different words that haverelated meanings.

For example, the words , “sun”, “day”

and , “rise”, “shine” both have the

sun as a determinative.In the table below are some of the more commonly

used generic determinatives together with the conceptswith which they are associated. As was mentioned earli-er, in the hieroglyphic script no space was left betweenindividual words. Since a determinative invariably endsa word, it can be a useful clue to identifying where oneword ends and another begins.

Using the list of determinatives below, see if you candivide the line of hieroglyphs at the bottom of this pageinto the words listed above them.

You have now met all the types of signs that appear inhieroglyphic texts, although of course only a small pro-portion of the seven hundred or so signs that were com-monly in use in Middle Egyptian, the “classical” stage ofthe writing, have been introduced.

Have a look at the photographs that are included inthis article (and others in this edition of AE) and seehow many signs you can identify.

One of the “tricks of the trade” when approachinghieroglyphs is to be aware that most of the inscriptionsyou come across are either names or standard formulaethat are repeated over and over again. In temples, forexample, it is the king’s names and titles that are ever-present, together with those of the gods with whom heis shown in company.

In tombs and on funerary objects it is formulae forensuring the continued existence of the deceased thatare most often found.

In the rest of the series (there will be two more parts,the next one in the February/March edition) we will belooking at both royal and funerary inscriptions. By mas-tering a few simple principles and familiarising yourself




with some of the most commonly occurring forms youwill surprised how many inscriptions you will be able toread.

Pam Scott

Pam is a tutor in Egyptology at the University ofManchester, where she regularly gives courses inEgyptian hieroglyphs for the Centre for ContinuingEducation.

Inscribe 2004, by Saqqara Technology, has been usedto reproduce the hieroglyphs in this article.

Further ReadingAllen, James P. Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to theLanguage and Culture of Hieroglyphs. Cambridge UniversityPress, 2000. A substantial work, this provides an up-to-date alternative to Gardiner, complete with exercises, asign list and a dictionary.

Collier, Mark and Manley, Bill How to Read EgyptianHieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself. BritishMuseum, 1998. One of the best and most recent bookson how to read hieroglyphs which, surprisingly, made itinto the best-seller lists! This is an extremely useful, prac-tical introduction concentrating mostly on funeraryinscriptions. It includes several exercises, referencetables, vocabulary and sign lists.

Faulkner, Raymond O. A Concise Dictionary of MiddleEgyptian. Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,1988. An invaluable translation tool for the moreadvanced student.

Gardiner, Sir Alan. Egyptian Grammar, 3rd edn. GriffithInstitute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1957. Ratherout of date now, but for many years the standard workfor the study of Egyptian grammar. The sign list is essen-tial if you are serious about learning to read hieroglyphs.

An inscribed block from the Open Air Museum at Karnak. Photo: RP.



Images of the Rekhyt fromAncient Egypt

Above: a rekhyt rebus: The rekhyt bird raises arms in adoration of Rameses II as represented by his double cartouche.Carving on a column in the temple of Amun at Karnak. Photo: RP.

The lapwing first makes an appearance in Egyptian artduring the Protodynastic Period. The bird is depicted onthe deck of a boat, on a fragment of slate palette knownas the “Plover Palette”, which is housed in the EgyptianMuseum in Cairo.

From the same period comes the limestone ceremonialmace-head of “king” Scorpion, on which a series of stan-dards with lapwing birds hanging from their necks aredepicted. This scene has been interpreted by many schol-

ars as depicting Scorpion’s victories over the people of theDelta, who are depicted as the rekhyt people. However, thescene could also depict the sovereign’s control over all thepeople of Egypt.

The earliest depiction of the rekhyt bird during the OldKingdom comes from the statue base of the pharaohDjoser. This base, which is on display in the EgyptianMuseum in Cairo, depicts three rekhyt birds, each withtheir wings intertwined, under the feet of the pharaoh. As

The lapwing was represented in ancient Egyptian art for a period of over three thousand years, butthese images are much more than just a representation of the bird, as Kenneth Griffin reveals.

The lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), has, for a period of over threethousand years, been abundantly represented in both Egyptian artand hieroglyphs. The lapwing can be identified by its characteris-

tic short pointed bill, rounded head, long squared tail and especially bythe long crest on its head. To the Egyptians the bird was referred to asrekhyt. They were often depicted in Egyptian art in papyrus marshes,perching on their nests. It is generally accepted that the rekhyt peopleare to be identified as the lowest class of society in ancient Egypt andhave been called “subjects”, “common people”, “plebeians” or“mankind”. However, other scholars have suggested that the rekhyt peo-ple were actually foreigners who had settled in Egypt.

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well as the three rekhyt birds there is alsoa depiction of the “nine bows”, whichwere a symbol used to denote the ene-mies of Egypt; thus the rekhyt people inthis instance are closely linked withEgypt’s enemies, a theme that remainsuntil the end of pharaonic history.

Depictions of the rekhyt birds withtheir wings intertwined in an act of sub-mission, were frequent in Egyptian art.Even in the markets of Egypt today it ispossible to find live ducks in this posi-tion. This prevents the birds not only

from flying, but also from walking; theycannot stand properly, so consequentlylie on their legs.

Images of the rekhyt birds in themastabas of the Old Kingdom are quitecommon. In the majority of cases, thebirds are depicted in the marshes, eitherflying or sitting upon their nests.

One relief from an Old Kingdommastaba that does stand out comes fromthe Fifth Dynasty mastaba of Nefer atSaqqara. Here the tomb owner isaccompanied by his wife or daughterwho holds a lotus blossom in one hand,while in the other she clutches a rekhytbird by its wings. It has been suggestedby Partick Houlihan that the rekhyt inthis depiction was a pet or plaything.He points out that children often carrytheir pet birds, the hoopoe being themost common, while accompanyingtheir parents.

Occurrences of the rekhyt birds fromthe Middle Kingdom are rare. with onlyone relief worthy of comment.

The relief, which is on display in theEgyptian Museum in Cairo, depicts twoimages of Amenemhat I seated on hisSed-festival pavilion. Beneath the pavil-ion there are seven representations ofthe rekhyt bird in an act of praising. It islikely that there were originally ninebirds depicted, but unfortunately the leftside of the relief is missing. Nine inancient Egypt was a significant number,which appears many times. One cre-ation myth revolves around nine deities,known in Greek as the ennead, whilethe “nine bows” symbolises the tradi-tional enemies of Egypt.

Depictions of the rekhyt during theNew Kingdom are numerous.

Above all, the most common depic-tion of the rekhyt is the rekhyt rebus,which first makes an appearance duringthe reign of Hatshepsut and continuesto be depicted through to the Graeco-Roman Period.

A rebus is an artful intertwining ordecorative arrangement of hieroglyphicand other pictorial elements. At firstglance, a rebus looks like a picture, but itis meant to be read as a phrase or clause.The use of the rebus was fairly commonin ancient Egypt, where writing and artwere never really separated. This rebusappears on many of the templecolumns, with over one thousand exam-ples in the Hypostyle Hall at Karnakalone. The rebus, made up of a number

Above: detail of the Scorpion macehead

showing rekhyt birds hanging fromthe standards in the top register.

Drawn by Sam Channer. (After Cialowicz, 1997Protodynastic Egypt.)

Below: the base of a statue of Djoser,

showing rekhyt birds before the feet of the king.

Photo: RP.

46



of hieroglyphic signs reads “all the rekhytpeople worship N” (N being the name ofthe king in whose reign the relief wascarved).

The most important element of therebus is the rekhyt figure itself. The figureis usually depicted resting upon a hiero-glyph in the shape of a basket, meaning“all”. This reminds one of the nestsupon which the lapwing bird wouldcommonly be seen by the ancientEgyptians.

Another element of the rebus is thehieroglyph in the shape of a five-point-ed star, meaning “worship”, which isusually placed just in front of the face ofthe rekhyt figure. The act of worshippingis confirmed by the depiction ofupraised human arms which often formpart of the rebus.

While the simplest form of the rekhytrebus depicts the lapwing bird withhuman arms raised, in an act of adora-tion, and wings pinned back, in an act ofsubmission, it was possible to have vari-ants.

The most common variations aredepicted in the temple of Rameses II atAbydos. These include rekhyt figuresdepicted with a human body and thehead of a lapwing; a human body witha lapwing crest; or a complete humanwith only the hieroglyphs in front of thefigure identifying it as a rekhyt person.These variants are not unique to thistemple.

In fact, the earliest form of the rekhytrebus, which is located on the third tierof Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahri,

depicts a kneeling rekhyt figure that hasthe body of a human and the head of alapwing (see below left).

From Luxor Temple there are also anumber of depictions of rekhyt figuresthat are completely human in appear-ance and can only be identified by theiraccompanying hieroglyphs..

Perhaps the most intriguing examplesof the rekhyt rebus come from the mor-tuary temple of Rameses III at MedinetHabu. High up on the outside walls ofthe Migdol entrance gate there are sev-eral depictions of a kneeling human fig-ure who can be identified as a rekhyt by

Above: a rekhyt rebus from Luxor Temple.

Author’s photo.

Below left: a column from the third tier of themortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, depicting a kneelingrekhyt figure.

Author’s photo.

Below right: detail of a rekhyt bird from the baseof the Djoser statue.

Photo: RP.



Below: a statue base of Nectanebo II.

A statue of the king would have fitted into the slot in the top of the

base. Note the rekhyt bird on the left of the base.

Author’s photo.

the lapwing’s crest projecting from theback of his head. The hands of the fig-ure are raised in adoration, as is the casein the previous examples, and the five-pointed star hieroglyph is placed infront. What is intriguing about theseimages is that the depictions seem todepict the pharaoh Rameses III as arekhyt person. He wears royal attributesincluding the nemes headcloth, divinebeard, shendyt kilt and the bull’s tail.

So what function did the rekhyt rebushave?

It has been suggested by a number ofEgyptologists, including Bell, Wilkinsonand Brand, that the function of thisrebus was to indicate the areas of thetemples that were accessible to the“common people”. Peter Brand, whilstdiscussing the examples from thehypostyle hall of Karnak, says that therebus was “a visual sign to the publicthat they had access to this part of thetemple” and that “the illiterate couldeasily be taught to recognise this designas a visual sign meaning ‘you may standhere’ ”. However, a study of the various

areas of the NewKingdom temples, wherethis rebus is present, sug-gests otherwise.

It is the belief of mostEgyptologists that the“common people” wouldhave had access to onlythe forecourts of the tem-ples and even then it isdebatable whether thiswas allowed all yearround or just during festi-vals.

Of the six temple forecourts exam-ined by this author, where the rekhytrebus is located, five have hieroglyphicinscriptions specifically mentioning thatthe rekhyt people have access. Thisincludes an inscription from the fore-court of the temple of Khnum atElephantine which states, “He(Amenhotep II) made [this], for hisfather Khnum, who dwells inElephantine. He made a festival hall inorder that all the rekhyt people may seethat which he makes for him.”

In opposition to the belief that therekhyt rebus was used to designate areasaccessible by the “common people” itwas observed that of the four hypostylehalls, and five inner sanctuaries orshrines, where the rekhyt rebus was locat-ed, only the great hypostyle hall atKarnak has a direct inscription statingthat it was accessible to the rekhyt people.

If the function of the rekhyt rebus wasnot to signify the areas of the templeaccessible to the rekhyt people, what wasits function?

There are two possible answers.Firstly, it is possible that the rebus was

no more than a “filler” used by thesculptors. However, it is hard to believethat the Egyptians would have gone toall the trouble of using this rebus thisway if it had no significance whatsoever.

The other possible function of therebus, and the one that I believe ismuch more likely, is that it signified thatthe rekhyt people were present in thetemple metaphysically and not physi-cally.

The Egyptian temple, representingthe cosmos, needed to include all classesof society in order to maintain maat, cos-mic order.

Baines says that the rekhyt, along withtwo other classes of society known as thepat and henmemet “form a quasi-mytho-logical description of the peoples of theEgyptian cosmos, excluding non-Egyptians”. Moreover, foreigners andenemies were frequently depicted on thetemple walls, although in all cases theyare being defeated by the pharaoh orbrought before the gods as captives.These themes were necessary depic-tions, which maintained maat andhelped banish isfet, “chaos”.

During the New Kingdom it becamevery common to depict the rekhyt underthe feet of the pharaoh in the same wayas the “nine bows”.

Above: the “People’s Gate” at Luxor

Temple, which has a depiction ofa number of kneeling rekhyt people.

Note the small lapwing between the two figures.

Author’s photo.


There were various different methodsof doing this. Statues of the pharaohsoften had the rekhyt depicted on theirbases, a practice which continuedthrough to the Late Period.

Tutankhamun depicted the rekhyt onthe footstool of one his thrones now inthe Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

A relief from the tomb of Kheruefdepicts Amenhotep III and his wife Tiyeseated under a canopy, the base ofwhich has fourteen depictions of therekhyt rebus.

A large number of faience tiles depict-ing the rekhyt, many originating from thetemple of Rameses III at MedinetHabu, have also been found. These tileswere believed to have decorated thefloors of the palace of the pharaoh orperhaps the dais from where the kingwould greet his people.

The theme of these depictions wasthus to emphasise that the pharaoh wasin complete control and that the rekhytpeople were subjugated and inferior.

This theme of control can also be seenthroughout the temples of the NewKingdom where there are images of thepharaoh holding a rekhyt bird in hishand. The bird is usually directedtowards the deity facing the king who inturn presents the emblems of kingshipto the pharaoh, his reward for maintain-ing maat.

During the Graeco-Roman Period, itbecame common to depict the rekhyt fig-ures as part of a frieze around parts ofvarious temples. These friezes consist ofa large number of rekhyt figures, eachwith their hands raised in adoration andsitting on the nb sign, similar to the rebusdiscussed earlier. However, the appear-ance of the birds is most striking and itis often difficult to tell for certain if theyrepresent the rekhyt people. The birdsare usually very stout in appearance,highly decorated and often missing thedistinctive crest of the lapwing bird.Clearly the artists of the period weretrying to duplicate the New Kingdomexamples, but in their own style.

With the emergence of Christianitythe Egyptian temples were shut down

Above left: a painted relief from the Temple ofSety I at Abydos, showing the kingreceiving the emblems of kingship fromAmun-Ra. Note that the pharaoh isholding a rekhyt bird in the directionof the god.

Author’s photo.

Above right: a coloured faience tile depicting arekhyt rebus, from the temple ofRameses III at Medinet Habu andnow in the Egyptian Museum inCairo.

Photo: RP.

Left:a frieze of rekhyt birds in the Temple of Deir el-Haggar, Dakhla Oasis.

Photo: Cheryl Hanson.

ANCIENT EGYPT June/July 2006 49


and images of the gods and pharaohswere mutilated. Surprisingly though,images of the rekhyt, with the appear-ance of a bird complete with humanhands, seem to have been spared the

deliberate damage inflicted on manyreliefs, despite the fact that they wouldhave contradicted Christian ideology.

Kenneth Griffin

Kenneth is a Student of Egyptology atthe University of Wales, Swansea,where he recently completed hisMasters in Ancient Egyptian Culture.His area of study was the rekhyt rebus inNew Kingdom temples.

He will be continuing his study of therekhyt for his Ph.D., also at Swansea.

Further reading:Bell, Lanny (1998) “The New Kingdom‘Divine’ Temple” in Temples of AncientEgypt, ed. Byron E Shafer. London:Cornell University Press. Pp.127-84.Houlihan, Patrick F and Goodman,Steven M. (1988) The Birds of AncientEgypt. Cairo: American University inCairo Press. 93-6.Nibbi, Alessandra (1986) Lapwings andLibyans in Ancient Egypt. Oxford: DEPublications.


A relief from the Migdol Gateway in the Temple of Rameses III at

Medinet Habu, showing the king as a rekhyt person.

Author’s Photo.

Above:a particularly fine representation of a rekhyt bird on a block now in

the Open Air Museum at the temple of Amun, Karnak.Photo: RP.



DEAR AAAA NCIENTNCIENT EEEE GYPTGYPT

Dear AE,I was very interested to read Dylan Bickerstaffe’s article(Issue 36) about the confusion he uncovered between thelids of two sarcophagi, those of Rameses III and Setau.It is fascinating to see how errors that crop up are thenrepeated in other publications.

I personally get quite amused when I read inEgyptology books published in English, that the word“cartouche” comes from a French word which meanscartridge; this is then followed by some theory aboutNapoleon’s soldiers supposedly thinking that theylooked liked their own cartridges. I am not sure that sol-diers, particularly at that time, would have been at allinterested in un-deciphered texts.

In fact the “Robert” French dictionary has cartouche astwo separate words and entries:

1. Cartouche, masculine noun, first appears as “car-toche” in 1547. It describes a “sculpted or drawn orna-ment ... designed to receive an inscription, a motto orcoats of arms”. Later, it came to refer to the “ellipticalframe” containing hieroglyphs.

2. Cartouche, feminine noun, first appears as “car-tuche” in 1571. It describes the “conical or cylindricalcardboard or metal wrapper for the charge of afirearm”.

In other words, these are two words which merely lookalike; their different gender (and date) is the proof thatthey are not the same word.

Sorry to disappoint you about Napoleon’s GrandeArmée.

Please keep up the good work of unearthing andexposing inaccuracies.

Micheline EdwardsSittingbourne, Kent.

Ed: Thanks, Micheline. As someone who has used muz-zle-loading muskets and paper cartridges, I have neverbeen convinced by the connection. Thanks for puttingthe record straight and showing that those who selectedthe word for the frame for royal names actually knewwhat they were doing.

Dear AE,In the recent article on Egyptian wine (Issue 36) on page18, “bunches of grapes” are illustrated. I’m only aninterested layperson in Egyptological terms, but I haveto say that I’m not seeing bunches of anything; I’m noteven seeing grapes – since when do grapes have theirseeds on the outside? Seriously, the fruit looks far morelike mulberries to me.

Now, the mulberry is heat-tolerant (I lived with it inPakistan) and its juice makes a very pleasant and refresh-ing drink. Most fruit juices can be made into wine, and

the application of heat to wine makes brandy (over-sim-plification, I know!), which even today tends to be drunkout of fancier glassware than wine. Could the mysteri-ous shedeh therefore have been a (?mulberry-based)brandy?

I’m not in the habit of writing letters to editors, butthis one bugged me. Sorry!

Joan AlamNorth Cave, East Yorkshire.

Ed: There is no doubt from scientific testing that thejars in Tutankhamun’s tomb contained wine and shedeh,and that both were made from grapes.

I can understand your comments about the image Iselected for use in the article. It comes from the tomb ofSennofer and is a very stylised version of a grape vineand bunches of grapes (see below).

The artists have painted life-sized bunches of grapesand very simplified vine leaves on the rough ceiling ofthe underground chamber, where lumps of rock, toohard to cut away, protrude from the surface. The grapesare represented by a coloured base with the individualgrapes shown on top. The scale shows they are grapes,but if one didn’t know the size, as reproduced to a small-er scale in the magazine, they do look like mulberries.

Dear AE,I read with great interest the article on Ancient EgyptianWine in your June/July issue, but surely the mystery sur-rounding the drink named shedeh is easily explained?

Its not all that different from wine – it’s actually a verysuperior kind of sherry, that was served only in upper-crust households, as in “May deah, would you care for aglass of shedeh before dinnah?”

Mick OakeySussex Egyptology Society.

readers’ letters

AEletters38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 51

Dear AE,We were intrigued by the article in Issue 36 entitled“Visiting Middle Egypt”, particularly as I and my wifehad made a similar journey in April this year. The majordifference between our visit to Middle Egypt and AnnEglintine’s was that ours was part of an itinerary takingin selected sites in Upper Egypt around Luxor as well asMiddle Egypt. We embarked on our trip from Cairo,driving down from Cairo on the first morning, spendinga day and a half in Minya.

This was only our third visit to Egypt, so we are not ascomfortable with independent travel as Ann is and weused an English-speaking tour guide who is also a qual-ified Egyptologist, called Mahmoud. After testing himout last year, we decided to arrange a custom itinerarytaking in sites in Middle and Upper Egypt.

Mahmoud arranged all transport (an air-conditionedminibus), access to sites, security and accommodation.The security included obtaining the pre-requisite per-missions to cross from one Governate to another, TouristPolice escorts (for our minibus) and a plain-clothedpoliceman who accompanied us to all the sites we visit-ed around Minya. In Minya we stayed at the MercureMinya, (otherwise known as the Nefertiti Hotel), whichis located on Corniche El Nil Street, for two nights. TheMercure Minya is comfortable hotel, set in lush greengrounds. Our room had a view of the Nile. During ourday and a half in Middle Egypt we visited Beni Hasan,Tuna el-Gebel, Hermopolis and Tell el Amarna.

We visited Beni Hasan after arriving in Minya. Thiswas the busiest of the sites we visited; there were twogroups of tourists (ourselves and a French couple) visit-ing the tombs at the same time. Apparently these twogroups (the French and ourselves) were the only touriststhat had visited Beni Hasan all day, although there werea number of tourists staying at the Nefertiti.

The next day, we set off early to visit Tuna el-Gebel,Hermopolis and Tell el Amarna. At Tuna el-Gebel andHermopolis we saw no other tourists. At Tell el Amarnawe visited the Northern Tombs (Ahmose, Meryre, Pentuand Panehesey), The Royal Tomb, Boundary Stela, TheSmall Aten Temple, Thutmose’s Studio and the Tombof Ay. We were escorted around by the SupremeCouncil of Antiquities’ Inspector in charge of theAmarna site. At Tell el Amarna, there was anothergroup being shown around but we had the impressionthat they were not tourists, but visiting archaeologists.

The day after we set off for Luxor via Abydos; this triptook us twelve hours, with at least eight changes ofTourist Police escort.

It is difficult to put a cost to our time in Middle Egyptas it was part of a larger trip; I can only say that it is like-ly to be more expensive than travelling by rail fromLuxor.

This type of arrangement provides a more “comfort-able” alternative, and takes the pain and uncertainty outof independent travel. It is certainly not an approachthat can be embarked upon on the spur of the moment.

We spent several months discussing the detail of the itin-erary with our guide.

Tony & Margaret MarsonBoreham, Essex.

Ed: Unless you travel with a specialist tour companythat organises tours to Middle Egypt, this is a good wayof getting there, and the services of Egyptian guides areessential. Many of the tour guides for tour companieswill undertake private tours like this, too.

Dear AE,I was so interested in your lead editorial in this month’smagazine (Aug./Sept.). Having tried to read some ofChristian Jacques’ works I have wondered if many ofthe problems encountered were due to poor translation.However, having researched extensively in ancientEgyptian medicine, I can only wonder at his fantasticknowledge and “discoveries” that we, the plebs, have notyet unearthed (Beneath the Pyramids)!

I find it quite common for people to accept every wordthey read, or programme they see or hear on TV andradio as the gospel truth. We have all seen this exhibitedrecently in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, a rip-roaringyarn, but yarn only!

I find some WEA learners and groups I give talks to,new to Egyptology, often have confused fact with fiction– “Well, they said on that programme ...” – so I encour-age them to read my copies of the magazine, or betterstill to subscribe themselves.

I am reminded of a story my father told me as a childmany years ago (back in the 50s) concerning an episodein the Archers when Grace was killed in the stable fire.Scores of floral ributes and wreaths were delivered tothe BBC for her funeral. People didn’t understand thenthe difference between fact and fiction anymore thanmany of the populous today.

Keep up the good work dispelling these silly fables anddumbing-down of facts.

Christine HumberHerne Bay, Kent.

Dear AE,In the absence of any Egyptology Societies or meetingsin the North East of England, if there is enough inter-est I would like to form an Egyptian interestgroup/Egyptology Society in the Durham area. Pleasecontact me at

33 Alder Park, Brandon,

DURHAM DH7 8TU or phone 0191 378 2047.

Kelly Thompson


readers’ letters

AEletters38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 52


An exclusive AA NCIENTNCIENT EE GYPTGYPT calendar for 2007

Only available to readers of ANCIENT EGYPT.Free-standing, compact, handy size (16 cm wide x13 cm high), a desktop calendar, ideal for the home oroffice.

One page per calendar month.

Features “Faces of the ancient Egyptians” – faces ofprivate individuals: scribes, viziers, offering-bearers, servants and nobles – a different full-size, full-colourphoto on each page.

Ideal Christmas present for friends and relatives – ortreat yourself ! The calendars will be available fromNovember 2006.

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Europe, £6.25 including p&p; rest of the world £6.75, including p&p.

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Payment by credit/debit card, Paypal or UK cheques,payable to ANCIENT EGYPT Magazine.

Coming in future issues ofANCIENT EGYPT

– Dying to be EgyptianElisabeth Kerner looks at some of the lesser-knownfunerary monuments of London.

– The Tomb of Harwa at ThebesChristopher Naunton reports on excavation and con-servation work being undertaken in one of the largesttombs in the Theban necropolis. Harwa was an importantofficial of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty and his splendid tombreflects his high status.

– Technology Innovators of Ancient Egypt

or “How did they do that?” Denys Stocks has adopted ahands-on approach to ancient technology, which, coupledwith his engineering background and detailed research,now means that he can re-create the ancient technology tocut and carve some of the hardest of stones for statues,jars, sarcophagi and buildings. This, the first of what willbe a series of three articles, looks at the earliest periods ofEgyptian history up to the beginnings of the DynasticPeriod.

– Ancient HierakonpolisIn the last of her series of six articles on work atHierakonpolis supported by the Friends of Nekhen,Renée Friedman looks at the numerous finds from thesite, at how they have been conserved and how they canreveal much about life in the ancient city.

– The Ancient Stones SpeakPam Scott continues her series of articles on how to readand understand ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The secondarticle looks at royal names.

– Ancient Egypt and The BibleMichael Tunnicliffe investigates the closely intertwinedhistory of ancient Egypt and the Holy Land and the waysany evidence can be interpreted.

Plus Reviews ... Events ... etc., etc.

AE2007 Calendar ad.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 53


Pomegranates

These days we are encouraged to eat and drink sen-sibly and some foods are advertised as being morehealthy than others: pomegranates for instance.

The pomegranate is a fruit in a category all of its own.It is neither a citrus fruit, like an orange, nor a stone fruit,like a peach. On the outside it might look a bit like a rosyapple, but on the inside it is completely different, eventhough the German word for pomegranate is granatapfel.In French it is known as grenade. You might think that thisis because the fruit resembles an old-fashioned grenade orhand-held bomb, like the badge of the Grenadiers’Regiment, but of course, it is the other way round. Thepomegranate was around for thousands of years beforethe invention of gunpowder, so the hand grenade wasnamed after the fruit.

When I was a child, you only saw pomegranates in theshops around Christmas time, and then they were boughtas a special treat. My grandmother remembered pickingout the red seeds with a hatpin. We were always warnednot to get the juice on our clothes because it stained andthe bitter-tasting pith could turn your fingers yellow.

The Egyptians knew a thing or two about pomegran-ates, though the tree was not a native of Egypt. It origi-nated in the region south of the Caspian Sea and the firstevidence for its cultivation comes from places like Turkey,Syria and Iran. The Israelites were familiar with theattractive shape and colour of the fruit, and it was used indecorative weaving or embroidery on the hems of priest-ly robes, (Exodus 28:33) as well as in the carved capitals ofcolumns in the Temple of Solomon, (I Kings, 7:20).

It seems that pomegranates were first grown in Egypt inthe early New Kingdom but, since models of the fruithave been found in Middle Kingdom tombs, travellersmust have known about it for some time before it was suc-cessfully grown in Egyptian gardens.

The first mention of a pomegranate tree in Egyptianinscriptions comes from the tomb of Ineni, an official atthe court of Thutmose I, who recorded all the differenttypes of tree that he wanted to have planted on his estate.A dried pomegranate was found among the food offeringsleft in the tomb of Djehuty, a butler who served QueenHatshepsut. Thutmose III recorded many plants andtrees at the Karnak Temple, in a room now known as theBotanical Gallery because of these scenes. Unfortunatelythere are no inscriptions with these reliefs, and the painthas gone, so we can only guess at what some of the plantsare. However, the pomegranate tree is quite distinctive.

In the famous tomb painting of Ipuy, showing a gar-dener working a shaduf to raise water, several trees andplants are clearly shown, with leaves and flowers of theright shapes and painted the correct colours. The pome-granate tree is identified by its trumpet-shaped red flow-ers. The tree blooms in the hottest part of the year andthe bright scarlet flowers were ideal for use in floralwreaths and bouquets.

Beads shaped like pomegranate flowers were threadedinto multi-coloured necklaces and collars. InTutankhamun’s tomb, pomegranate leaves were woveninto a garland and an elaborate funerary collar madeentirely of natural materials.

PER MESUT

Above: a pomegranate. Photo: HW. Above right: a silver vessel in the shape of a pomegranate,

from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Photo: RP.

for younger readers

AEpermesut38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 54


Tutankhamun also owned a large silver vase in the dis-tinctive shape of the pomegranate fruit. Engraved aroundthe body of this vase is a frieze of pomegranate flowers.The fruit’s shape is easily recognised among the offeringsof food presented at temples and in tombs. At the AbydosTemple of Sety I, the king is shown offering to the gods atray of bread, fruit and roast ducks. In the centre of thistasty meal is a pomegranate, painted in realistic colours.

The pomegranate has a thick rind, yellow blushing tored. There is a bitter pithy layer between the tough outerskin and the mass of seeds inside. Each seed is surround-ed by a deep pink or red jewel-like capsule of juicy flesh.Pomegranate tastes of pomegranate – there is no otherway to describe its flavour. It has a slightly acid sweetnessthat is very refreshing.

Now, with all the pomegranate health drinks on themarket, you can taste it for yourself. The ancientEgyptians also drank pomegranate juice and it is still afavourite drink in Cairo. The cordial or syrup made frompomegranate juice is known as grenadine and this, or anartificial version of it, traditionally provides the red partof a “tequila sunrise” cocktail. Dried pomegranate seeds,used as a spice, and a thick, brown syrup, made fromunder-ripe fruit, are popular ingredients in some MiddleEastern and North African cookery. The syrup is used togive a sweet-and-sour flavour to dishes and is particularlygood with chicken or duck.

It has been suggested that the ancient Egyptians madea wine from pomegranates as a cheaper alternative togrape wine. This drink, known as shedeh, is mentioned inlove poems where a girl’s kiss is said to be sweeter thanshedeh, but the link between pomegranates and shedeh hasnot yet been proved (see AE36). The skin and pith of thepomegranate fruit were used as dyes to turn leather yel-

low. The bark and root of the tree were recommended inmedicinal prescriptions for getting rid of parasitic worms.

It seems that the pomegranate, once it had becomeestablished as an Egyptian tree, quickly earned a placeamong the sacred plants of Egypt. The red colour of thefruit was the colour used for the sun’s disc crown, emblemof Ra. The many seeds it contains were symbolic of plen-ty and fertility. In the setting of the tomb, the offering ofpomegranates would be seen as a way to promote therebirth of the dead person to life in the next world. All inall, the pomegranate tree was a useful and significantplant as well as being very attractive.

Further reading: The Garden in Ancient Egypt by Alix WilkinsonAn Ancient Egyptian Herbal by Lise Manniche

Hilary Wilson

Above: a faience collar from the tomb of Tutankhamun, with beads representing pomegranates (the round yellow ones). Photo: RP.

Below left: modern products made from pomegranates. You can taste the fruit enjoyed by Tutankhamun. Photo: HW.

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AEpermesut38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 55

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6

May/June 2000Vol 1 Issue 1

Cracking Codes: The Rossetta

StoneThe Mummy

DetectivesThe Lost Tomb

July/Aug 2000Vol 1 Issue 2

Undersea CitiesEgyptology on the

internetRamesses the

GreatFinding Pharaoh

Sept/Oct 2000Vol 1 Issue 3King Djoser

Valley of the KingsPlumbing the Secrets of the

Sphinx

Nov/Dec 2000Vol 1 Issue 4

Science v. Archaeology

Lesson of Bahareya

The Temple of Horus

Jan/Feb 2001Vol 1 Issue 5

The Naming of Kings

Egyptian Museum, Berlin

‘Heaven and Hell’

April/May 2001Vol 1 Issue 6

Queen of Egypt:Amelia Edwards

Mapping Ancient Egypt

Treasures of the Pharaohs

June/July 2001Vol 2 Issue 1

Nine Measures of Magic

The Egyptian Underworld

Luxor Museum

Aug/Sept 2001Vol 2 Issue 2

Neb Re: A Ramesside

Offi cialEgyptian Music::

Doug Irvine


Flying over EgyptThe Saladin Exhibition

The Amarna Her-esy (Part 2)

Mar/Apr 2002Vol 2 Issue 5Comic Relief:

Humour in Ancient EgyptThe Pharaoh

Hound

May/June 2002Vol 2 Issue 6Hatshepshut:

Egypt’s female Pharaoh

Hatshepsut’s Red Chapel


Birds & Beasts of Egypt

Der El MedinaEgypt’s Emerald

Mountain

Sept/Oct 2002Vol 3 Issue 2Birds in ritual

Ballooning above LuxorAncient craft skills Part 1

Nov/Dec 2002Vol 3 Issue 3

Monstrous Images

Coptic Cairo: the Hanging Church

Restored


Scientifi c Investigators:

the ‘Savants ‘ in Egypt

Mar/Apr 2003Vol 3 Issue 5

Napoleon:the return of

FranceEgyptian icon?

The camel’s tale

May/June 2003Vol 3 Issue 6

NefertitiCharming the snake and the

scorpion


‘Egypt Reborn’at the Brooklyn Museum of ArtNefertiti: Sun

Queen

Oct/Nov 2003Vol 4 Issue 2

Miu! The Egyptian Cat Story

Detroit Institute of Arts

Dec/Jan 2003/4Vol 4 Issue 3

Exploring Khufu’s Pyramid

Desert ImagesEgyptian burial

customs

BACK ISSUES

Feb/Mar 2004Vol 4 Issue 4

Vamping VenusEgptianising Art

The power of porphyry

The Forty Days Road

April/May 2004Vol 4 Issue 5

Venus and the Vamp (Pt. 2)

Boats on the NileThe Oriental

Institute, Chicago

June/July 2004Vol 4 Issue 6The God Seth

Crime and Punishment

Howard Carter and the Goldsmith

Aug/Sept 2004Vol 5 Issue 1

What happened at Meidum?

Mummy: The Inside StoryA New Home for

the Petrie Museum

Oct/Nov 2004Vol 5 Issue 2

Obelisks in ExileThe Canopic Shrine

of Tutankhamun

The Gilf Kebir & Gilf Uweinat

Dec/Jan 2004/5Vol 5 Issue 3

How old is theSphinx at Giza?

Growing old dis-gracefully at Deir el

MedinaThe ‘Destruction of

Mankind’

Feb/Mar 2005Vol 5 Issue 4

The Egyptian Royal Family

Discovering the lost

half of a PapyrusThe tomb of Yuya

and Thuya

Apr/May 2005Vol 5 Issue 5

Dogs in ancient Egypt

‘The Riddle of the Pyramids’ by Zahi Hawass

Luxor Museum

June/July 2005Vol 5 Issue 6

Tutankhamun’s mummy:

the CT scan resultsThe Island of Elephantine

Ancient Egyptian Houses

AUG/SEPT 2005VOL 6 ISSUE 1

Queen Meryetamun at Akhmim

Dressing NefertitiReplica tomb of Thutmose III in

Edinburgh

OCT/NOV 2005VOL 6 ISSUE 2

Rameses II at Gerf Hussian and the Ramesseum

The Royal MummyA Victorian view of

Egypt

DEC/JAN 2005/6VOL 6 ISSUE 3Ancient Egyptian

SphinxesThe Temple of PtahAncient Egyptian

Medicine A Lion of

Amenhotep III

FEB/MAR 2006VOL 6 ISSUE 4

Granite or Quarzite?Rock types in

Egyptian sculptingA soul of NekhenAncient Egypt in

Madrid

APRIL/MAY 2006VOL 6 ISSUE 5

A new tomb in the Valley of the KingsSeven Coffi ns- but

who are they?Did the ancient Egyptians reach

Malta?

JUNE/JULY 2006VOL 6 ISSUE 6Ancient Egyptian

WineNew Tomb Part 2

Early Christianity in Egypt

Belzoni and the Royal Sarcophagi

AUG/SEPT 2006VOL 7 ISSUE 1

New discoveries at Karnak Temple

Gold Cartouches of Thutmose III

A new coffi n for Menkaura

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First published in 1993, this is a revised and updated edi-tion and earlier reviewers have called it “the definitiveaccount of the feline in Egypt”.

Most modern cats are thought be descended from thecats of ancient Egypt, providing a living link between theancient civilization and modern times, and the authorlooks in some detail at the significance of cats in Egyptianlife, religion and art.

The first chapter “Running Free” looks at the variouswild cats found in ancient Egypt and indeed still presenttoday. The ancient Egyptians’ closeness to the naturalworld makes it no surprise that cats were closely associatedwith people, and that the ancient Egyptians may have evenencouraged this link, seeing the usefulness of cats for pestcontrol. It is not surprising that the cat (probably descend-ed from wild “swamp cats” finally entered the home, andthe chapter “Together at Last” looks at the domesticatedcat.

Although there is only limited evidence before the NewKingdom, we have a wealth of information from this peri-

od to show thedomesticated cat as aloved and pamperedpet, but also one thatwould keep the homefree of rats and mice.Cats are shownunder their owners’chairs and evenhunting in themarshes with theirowners.

The ancientEgyptians adoptedthe attributes andappearance of manyanimals into the pan-theon of deities and

the cat was no exception. “A Poor Man’s Lion” looks at themany aspects of cats as divine beings in the often- complexworld of Egyptian mythology.

“Pride Goes Before a Fall” is a fascinating chapter thatlooks at the representations of cats in a series of drawingson papyri and ostraca, most of which date to the NewKingdom and probably come from the Workmen’s Villageat Deir el Medina. In cartoon-type drawings, cats areshown undertaking various human activities, seated onchairs, feasting, preparing their make-up and being waitedon by mice (the original Tom and Jerry!) These delightfulscenes tell us much about real life in ancient Egypt and theattitudes of the poorer members of the population to thewealthy.

The final chapter, “Buried With Full Honours!”, looks atmummified cats, both those that were domestic pets andthe large number that were mummified as votive offerings.The author puts forward a number of theories why so

many cat mummies (and indeed other animal mummies)were made in ancient Egypt.

This book is beautifully illustrated throughout and is adelight to read, and you don't have to be a cat-lover toenjoy and benefit from reading it.

As the author points out, the cat has remained essential-ly unchanged since antiquity and perhaps our own modernattitudes, feelings and prejudices towards cats are not dis-similar to that of the ancient Egyptians. It begs the ques-tion, “Are we very different, in spite of time, geography,language and technology?”

This is really a gift book for the cat-lover, who will enjoy thefine photographs of cats in modern Egypt, with theirEgyptian owners and in their city environment. Lovers ofancient Egypt and cats will delight in the images of mod-ern cats amongst the ancient ruins.

It clearly is written by a cat-lover, for fellow cat-lovers, forit is the positive aspectsof cats throughoutancient Egypt that fea-ture in the short text; itconcentrates on theancient Egyptians’apparently genuine loveand respect for cats,which were consideredspecial and not just asdomestic pets. (No men-tion here of the mass-murder of millions ofcats in the later periods of ancient Egyptian history, to pro-vide offerings to the gods.)

Whilst this book may be of limited use to anyone want-ing to find out about cats in ancient Egypt, as a gift forfriends or relatives who dote on cats, then it would be ideal.If they happen to have a passing interest in ancient Egypt,too, then that will be a bonus.

This small booklet (48 pages) features the photographs ofJohn Feeney, who visited Egypt in 1963, intending to stayone year, but who actually remained there for forty years.

The photographs are excellent. They are accompaniedby minimal text and captions, but they need nothing more,for they speak volumes in themselves, reflecting various

BOOK REVIEWS

The Cat in Ancient Egyptby Jaromir Malek.Published by the British Museum Press. ISBN 978 0 7141 1970 6. Papercover, price £9.99.

Cairo Cats: Egypt’s Enduring Legacyby Lorraine Chittock. Published by Camel Caravan Press. ISBN 977 17 2431 2. Papercover, price US$ 18.95.

Photographing Egypt: Forty Years Behindthe Lensby John Feeney.Published by the American University in Cairo Press.ISBN 977 424 891 0. Papercover, price£8.50.

AEreviews38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 58


aspects of Egypt, thepeople (includingDorothy Eady “OmmSety” taken in 1980),deserts, buildings andthe River Nile.

Of particular interestare some photographstaken during the lastinundation of Egypt inSeptember 1964, withone particularly evoca-tive and splendid imageof the Colossi ofMemnon at Thebes,reflected in the stillflood waters.

Photographers will love this book, but visitors to Egyptwill enjoy seeing views of things that have changed forev-er, but also, thankfully, those that remain timeless – one ofthe enduring joys of this fascinating country.

Issue 37 of AE (August 2006) featured an article byFrances Pritchard on the Exhibition at the Whitworth ArtGallery; this is the full catalogue of the exhibits.

Space in the magazine allowed only a glimpse of therichness of the exhibition, and this large, superbly illustrat-ed book is the first in-depth study of the textiles at theWhitworth from this period.

Many of the items were discovered by Flinders Petrie inEgypt and are unique survivors of costume.

Egypt in the first Millennium was a rich cultural melting-pot and this diversity is reflected in the clothing actuallyworn by people and taken with them to their graves.

This book is an absolute must for anyone interested inthe history of textiles and clothing. Some of the textiles arestunning in their richness, colours and intricacy of design,

as the large-scalecolour photo-graphs in this cata-logue admirablyshow. The way thecloth was madeand cut for the gar-ments is really fas-cinating and isexplained conciselyand clearly. If youwere not able to seethe exhibition, donot miss the cata-logue.

This large and impressive volume is the catalogue of the“Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” exhibition, currently on showin Germany and coming to Paris at the end of the year. (AUK venue for 2007 is possibly on the cards, too).

The exhibition comprises over four hundred and fiftyobjects, many recovered from the sea bed at the sites ofAlexandria, Herakleion and East Canopus. The range ofobjects is impressive, from granite colossal statues to goldjewellery and small coins. Most date to the end ofEgyptian history and the time we know as the PtolemaicPeriod, although some New Kingdom objects were clearlymoved to these sites in Ptolemaic times to decorate thetowns.

As a catalogue, this is an excellent publication with pho-tographs and descriptions of all the objects and back-ground information to put them in their historical context.

Exhibition catalogues such as this, featuring a wide rangeof objects, always become major reference books for any-one interested in the subject or period, and this will cer-tainly be the case with this book with its four hundred andsixty-four packed and informative pages.

The fact that the archaeological sites are all under waterhas meant that, unlike land sites, they have not been dis-turbed or plundered since they first first covered by thewaters of the Mediterranean; it is only in recent years thatunderwater archaeology has revealed them again.

The book is full of information about the excavation andconservation process, complete with some amazing under-water images of the objects as they were first found andalso of the process of lifting them from the depths back onto dry land again for the first time in almost two thousandyears.

Impressive as many of the objects are, it is perhaps theimages of them lying on the sea bed, surrounded by fish orseaweed that are most fascinating and almost haunting.

Divided into sections and illustrated with general photo-graphs as well as photographs of the exhibition objects (notin their exhibition number order), with full descriptionsand details of them, part I looks at “The Religion and itsHistory”, part II looks at the many aspects of “Religionand Beliefs” and part III at “Trade and Everyday Life”.

The discoveryand conservation ofthe objects is cov-ered in part IV,“From Excavationto Exhibition”, andthere is a fullnumeric catalogueof the works in theexhibition, listedand illustrated inpart V. Part VI(Appendices) liststhe contributorsand various

Egypt’s Sunken TreasuresEdited by Franck Goddio and Manfred Clauss.Published by Prestel. ISBN 3 7913 3545 6. Hardback, price £30.

Clothing Culture: Dress in Egypt inthe First Millennium ADby Frances Pritchard.Published by The Whitworth Art Gallery, Universityof Manchester. ISBN 0 903261 57 X. Papercover, price £25.

book reviews



acknowledgements, though what is sadly missing form thisotherwise excellent volume is a bibliography for furtherreading.

Visitors to Egypt heading to the Faiyoum or Meiduminvariably stop, en route, at the Roman town of Karanis,which is just off the modern paved road.

The site is large and impressive with two small but well-preserved Roman Period stone temples and the remains ofhouses clearly visible; the outlines of stone and mud-brickwalls emerge from mountains of sand, debris and pot-sherds.

Karanis can be a very confusing site to the visitor – whatwas the town really like, why was it situated there, whenwas it excavated and what was found there? The smallmuseum at the site displays some fine objects, but it is dif-ficult to understand them in their context.

This is, therefore, the publication you have been waitingfor (although it is a re-printed/slightly revised version of an

earlier publica-tion of 1983,which fell out ofprint), and itdetails the dis-coveries of theUniversity ofM i c h i g a nExpedition toEgypt from1924 to 1935.

All the ques-tions you may ever have asked about Karanis are answeredhere, and, as a frequent visitor to the site, I find that it nowmakes much more sense, having read this book.

The contents cover the rural economy of the area inRoman times, the excavations at the site, domestic life inthe town, and the temples. Karanis was an important trad-ing centre, probably mostly concentrating on exports toRome of grain grown in the fertile Faiyoum.

The archive images of the houses and temples as exca-vated are excellent. (Many of the houses are now chokedwith sand and impossible to see.) The scale of some hous-es is remarkable – many were three stories tall, often beingbuilt directly over the remains of earlier houses.

The book is richly illustrated (all in black and white) withphotographs, line drawings and plans. These are truly fas-cinating. Most interesting are perhaps the small finds fromthe site, which include textiles, furniture, personal items,tools and toys, all of which help us to visualise Karanis asa thriving, bustling centre of activity and trade in theRoman Period.

RP

This is a fascinating book andwhilst not “Egyptology” with atouch of Israel as one wouldexpect, is rather more aboutmodern images taken in a sim-ilar fashion to the early cameraobscura photographs. It is aninteresting insight to photogra-phy as used by Flinders Petrie,alongside which an interestingnarrative transports the readerto the expanses of the desertand ancient sites as well asrevealing some interestingthoughts in the mind of theauthor.

The original idea for David Wise’s trip was a chance hiton a website citing that the oldest pinhole camera photo-graphs were taken by William Flinders Petrie around the1880s in Egypt and that in 1906 he was “pinholing” thepyramids at Giza. This led David to follow in Petrie’s foot-steps.

So follows a beautifully produced book, full of excellentcamera obscura photographs, taken and developed by Daviden route. They transport the reader back a hundred years,whilst displaying the beauty and magic of Egypt’s birthrightwith a panorama of dunes, fossil outcrops and oases.

Much of the narrative is based on the dozen visits Davidhas made to Egypt over the past years and whilst this is notin a continuous format, more in a diary style, there are illu-minating concepts and impressions his experiences haveyielded. I especially enjoyed his encounters with the empti-ness of the desert and its peace. His comments on his alto-gether different reception in Israel are also intriguing andenlightening.

The book’s presentation is slick and the end papers arenicely produced from antique printing plates of an Arabicpoem, translated at the beginning of the volume. Theamount of work needed to produce this interesting publi-cation has very obviously been a labour of love. One can-not fail to feel the passion of David’s work, which manifestsitself in every photographic plate. I found this truly givesanother dimension to those of us who love and have jour-neyed into Egypt, whether as Egyptologist, holidaymakeror armchair traveller.

Chris HumberChris works at the Herne Bay Museum for CanterburyCity Council Museums, is a tutor in Ancient Egyptianstudies for the WEA, is undertaking post-graduate researchin Egyptian medicine and researching Egyptian law –crime and punishment.

A Velvet Silence – PinholePhotographs of Egypt and Israelby David Wise. Published by Urban Fox Press. ISBN 1 905522 11 8. Price, papercover £14. Special Edition (in purpose-made linen bag, dyed redwith earth from Mount Sinai, with a bag of spices, apinhole photograph and a bookmark) £24.www.urbanfoxpress.com

Karanis: An Egyptian Town in RomanTimesEdited by Elaine K. Gazdaby.Published by the Kelsey museum of Archaeology,University of Michigan. ISBN 0 974187 3 0 5. Price US$10.

book reviews



The period we know as the Middle Kingdom (2055-1630BC) is regarded by many as one of the most important inthe history of ancient Egypt, when the arts flourished andEgypt began its expansion and the beginings of theEgyptian Empire, reaching its peak in the New Kingdom.

Objects from this period are plentiful, but monumentalstructures are more rare and are often overshadowed, inthe eyes of most visitors to Egypt, by the Old Kingdompyramid sites and by the New Kingdom and later temples.In histories of Egypt, the Middle Kingdom is often notgiven the space and coverage it deserves.

The ancient Egyptians themselves saw the MiddleKingdom as a classical period of art, history and literature.

In the last two hundred years of excavations, more hasbeen discovered about this important period in ancientEgyptian history, and the author has brought together inthis new book all the latest information to produce a com-prehensive and detailed history.

The book is divided into three main sections. The firstgives a detailed history of the Middle Kingdom, startingfrom the end of the Old Kingdom, to set the scene,through the First Intermediate Period, to the formation ofthe Middle Kingdom. There then follows a reign-by-reignaccount of the kings of the Middle Kingdon, detailingtheir exploits, their military campaigns and their buildingworks.

The second section looks at the “Archaeology andGeography” of Egypt, nome by nome, and at the temples,tombs and towns that survive. Excavations at many ofthese sites are described; they are why, and how, we nowknow so much about this period. Houses at sites such asElephantine and Kahun have revealed many domesticitems which, along with many objects found in tombsalong the length of the Nile Valley, mean that we have adetailed, fascinating and sometimes intimate glimpse of lifeat this time.

The chapter on “Society” brings all the archaeologicalevidence totgether and also introduces the literature of theperiod. Important documents give a rare insight into how

the Egyptians organisedtheir society and how theysaw their lives.

Useful appendices give afull list of Kings and theirvarious names and anotherof Viziers and Treasurers.There is also a good andextensive bibliography.

The author has produceda very readable, informativeand scholarly book, whichwill be ideal reading for any-one wishing to study or justunderstand the importanceof the Middle Kingdom.

This is a catalogue produced for a recent exhibition held inthe Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago.

The display of of fifty-two historic photographs from theOriental Institute Archives coincided with the new perma-nent installation of objects from ancient Nubia.

These photographic images document a variety ofarchaeological sites in Nubia, some of which have disap-peared under the waters of Lake Nasser and others thatare so remote that few tourists have ever seen them.

These documentary images, taken during the consecu-tive winter field seasons of 1905-1906 and 1906-1907, rep-resent just a small part of a corpus of nearly twelve hun-dred black-and-white negatives that were made by theEgyptian Expedition of the University of Chicago, underthe direction of James Henry Breasted.

The original glass-plate field negatives for the first seasonof the expedition, 1905-1907, were made by German pho-tographer Friedrich Koch. For the expedition’s second fieldseason up the Nile, 1906-1907, Breasted decided to sup-plement the professional glass-plate photography of HorstSchliephack with a second camera that used roll-film. Thesmaller-format film negatives were used to take ethno-graphic photographs, as well as candid photographs of theexpedition members at work.

All the photographs included in the exhibition are in thisbook, complete with a full description. Archive photogr-pahs such as these are always important and in the case ofmany of the sites illustrated here are of special importance.Many of the Nubian temples were moved to save themfrom the rising waters of Lake Nasser, and the plates hereshow them in the original location and condition. Sometemples could not be moved and these images are some ofthe few records we have of them today.

The importance of photographs is admirably shown inone image of a splendid and intact colossal granite head ofa king found at Gebel Barkal in the Sudan. Althoughunfinished, the headcame from one of thelargest granite statues tobe found at this site,and stood over eighteenfeet tall. The face of thestatue was superbly fin-ished.

Some time after thephoto was taken andbefore the statuearrived in Khartoum,the nose was broken offand lost.

RP

book reviews

The Middle Kingdom of AncientEgyptby Wolfram Grajetzki.Published by Duckworth Egyptology. ISBN 07156 34356. Paperback, price £16.99.

Lost Nubia: A Centennial Exhibit ofPhotographs from the 1905-1907Egyptian Expedition of the Universityof Chicago by John A. Larson.Published by the The University of Chicago. ISBN 1-885923-45-7. Paperback. Price US$19.95.



Egyptology Society Contact DetailsSocieties Within the UK

Ancient Egypt & Middle EastSocietySecretary: Mrs Sue Kirk.2 Seathorne Crescent, SKEGNESS,Lincolnshire PE25 1RPTel: 01754 [email protected] www.aemes.co.uk

The Ancient World SocietySecretary: Sandy Davey.The Post Office, Main Road,Sibsey, BOSTON, Lincolnshire PE22 0TNTel: 01205 [email protected]

Association for the Study ofTravel in Egypt & the Near EastSecretary: Dr. Patricia Usick.32 Carlton Hill, LONDON NW8 0JYTel: 0207 328 [email protected]

Bolton Archaeology andEgyptology SocietyChair: Sara Vernon.13 The Hollies, Breightmet Fold Lane,BOLTON BL2 6PPTel: 01204 362273

The Egypt Exploration SocietySecretary: Dr Patricia Spencer.3 Doughty Mews,LONDON WC1N 2PGTel: 020 7242 [email protected]

The Egypt Exploration Society –Northern BranchSecretary: Prof. Rosalie David.KNH Centre of BiomedicalEgyptology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Manchester,Oxford Road,MANCHESTER M13 9PTTel: 0161 275 2634

Egypt Society of BristolChairman: Dr Aidan Dodson.c/o Department of Archaeology,University of Bristol,43 Woodland Road,BRISTOL BS8 1UUTel: 0117 942 1957info@egyptsocietybristol.org.ukwww.egyptsocietybristol.org.uk

Egyptian Society (UK)Secretary: Linda King.Hatton Villa, Westleigh, TIVERTON, Devon EX16 7HYTel: 01823 672649 (evenings)[email protected]

Egyptology ScotlandContact: Mrs Eleanor Robertson,29 Dalmahoy Crescent,BRIDGE OF WEIR,Renfrewshire PA11 [email protected]

Egyptian Cultural BureauEmbassy of the Arab Republic ofEgypt,4 Chesterfield Gardens,LONDON W1J 5BGTel: 0207 491 [email protected]

Essex Egyptology Groupc/o Lesley Kelly.69 Links Avenue, Gidea Park,ROMFORD, Essex RM2 6NHTel: 01708 [email protected]/EEG.htm

Friends of the Egypt Centre –SwanseaSecretary: Carolyn Graves-Brown.The Egypt Centre,University of Wales, Singleton Park,SWANSEA SA2 8PPTel: 01792 [email protected]/egypt/Friends/Friends.htm

Friends of the Petrie MuseumSecretary: Jan Picton.Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology, University College London, Gower Street,LONDON WC1E [email protected]/FriendsofPetrie/

Horus Egyptology SocietySecretary: Christine Fishwick.53 St James Road, Orrell, WIGAN WN5 8SXTel: 01942 517958www.horusegyptology.co.uk/

Leicestershire Ancient EgyptSocietySecretary: Carol Walters.1109 Elizabeth House, Waterloo Way, LEICESTER LE1 1QPTel: 0116 262 8807

The Manchester Ancient EgyptSocietySecretary: Colin Reader.54 Rigby Road, MAGHULL,Merseyside L31 8AZTel: 07932 [email protected]

NEMES (North East ManchesterEgypt Society) Chairman: Alan Fildes. 65 Kersal Road, Prestwich,MANCHESTER M25 9SNTel: 0161 773 [email protected]/

North East LincolnshireEgyptology AssociationChairman: Steve Johnson.Grae-Mor, Church Lane, TETNEY, Lincolnshire DN36 [email protected]

North Yorkshire Ancient EgyptGroupSecretary: Jo Hirons. 26 St James Street, Wetherby,LEEDS LS22 6RSTel: 01937 [email protected] www.nyaegroup.org.uk

Northampton Ancient EgyptianHistorical SocietySecretary: Linda V. Amas.52 Back Lane, Hardingstone,NORTHAMPTON NN4 6BYTel: 01604 [email protected]

Norwich Egyptology Society.(Inaugural Meeting 30th September.) Contact Dee Mason, [email protected]

Plymouth & District EgyptologySocietySecretary: Jane Wearing.Crossfields, 72 Tavistock Road, CALLINGTON, Cornwall PL17 7DU Tel: 01579 [email protected] www.pades.co.uk

Poynton Egypt GroupSecretary: Liz Sherman.7 Craig Road, MACCLESFIELD,Cheshire SK11 7XNTel: 01625 [email protected] www.poyntonegyptgroup.org.uk

RAMASES (North KentEgyptology Society)Secretary: Annette Jones.7 Gordon Avenue,QUEENBOROUGH,Kent ME11 5BDTel: 01795 [email protected]

SELKET (South YorkshireEgyptology Society)c/o Adam Cadwell. 37 Windermere Court, North Anston, Nr SHEFFIELD S25 4GJTel: 01909 [email protected]

Society for the Study of AncientEgyptSecretary: Keith Lucas.25 Norton Lees Lane, Norton LeesSHEFFIELDYorkshire, S8 9BATel: 0114 [email protected]

Southampton Ancient EgyptSocietySecretary: Norman Pease.Brambletye, Whitenap Lane,ROMSEY SO51 5STTel: 01794 516352.

Staffordshire Egyptology SocietySecretary: Carole Dawes.Grange Farmhouse, Whitgreave Lane, Whitgreave,STAFFORD ST18 9SP.Tel: 01785 [email protected]

Sudan Archaeological ResearchSocietyChairman: Derek Welsby.c/o The British Museum,Great Russell Street,LONDON WC1B 3DGwww.sudarchrs.org.uk

Sussex Egyptology SocietySecretary: Carol Woods.Overlee, Bracken Lane,Storrington,SUSSEX RH20 3HSTel: 01903 743525www.egyptology-uk.com

Tameside Egypt GroupSecretary: Anne Marie Lancashire.152 Victoria Street, Newton, HYDE,Cheshire SK14 4ASTel: 0161 366 [email protected] www.cedar-view.co.uk/Egypt

Thames Valley Ancient EgyptSocietySecretary: Philip Wickens.467 Basingstoke Road,READING RG2 0JGTel: 0118 987 2878www.tvaes.org.uk

The Three Counties AncientHistory SocietyRoy Jenkins,Episcopi Cottage, Upper Wick,WORCESTER WR2 5SYTel: 01905 425742

Wessex Ancient Egypt SocietyChairman: Angela Dennett.4 Maclean Road,BOURNEMOUTH,Dorset BH11 8EPTel: 01202 [email protected]

Wirral Ancient Egypt SocietySecretary: Mrs Brenda Bridge.9 Woodfield Road, BEBINGTON,Wirral CH63 3DXTel: 0151 334 [email protected]

Societies Outside the UK:

AUSTRALIA

Ancient Egypt Society ofWestern AustraliaPresident: Colin Simcock.PERTH,WESTERN AUSTRALIAwww.aeswa.org.au

CANADA

The Society for the Study ofEgyptian Antiquities/Société pour l'Étude de l’Égypte Ancienne

– Head Office, Toronto. P.O. Box 578 Postal Station “P” TORONTO, Ontario M5S 2T1 CANADA Tel: 416-906-0180; Fax: [email protected] [email protected]://www.geocities.com/ssea.geo

AEendpages38.qxd 13/02/1950 19:25 Page 62


– Montreal Chapter/Chapitre du Québec à MontréalC.P. 49022, Succ. Versailles MONTREAL, Quebec, H1N 3T6CANADAtél./fax: [email protected]://sseamontrealvip.homestead.com/anglais.html

– Calgary ChapterPresident: Dr William D. Glanzman, Department of Behavioural SciencesMount Royal College4825 Mount Royal Gate S.W.CALGARY, AlbertaCANADATel: (403) 440-6437/Fax: (403) [email protected] http://www3.telus.net/public/james135/CalgarySSEA.htm

MALTA

The Egyptological Society ofMaltaPresident: Helen Foster. Flat 6 Block B,Olive Court,Triq il-Bahhara,QAWRA,[email protected]

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Ancient Egyptian SocietyChairman: Eric Swanepoel.P.O. Box 48407,ROOSEVELT PARK,2120,REPUBLIC OF SOUTH [email protected]

The Egyptian Society of SouthAfricaChairman: Keith Grenville.P.O. Box 246,PLUMSTEAD,7801,REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

SWEDEN

The Egyptological Society ofStockholm c/o Eva Olinder,Cypressvägen 4S-18248 ENEBYBERG,SWEDEN [email protected]

USA

American Research Center inEgypt1256 Briarcliff Road NEBuilding A, Suite 423WATLANTA, Georgia 30306, USA. Tel: 404 712 9854Fax: 404 712 [email protected] http://www.arce.org/aboutarce/aboutarce.html

North Texas (Dallas) ChapterPresident: Rick Moran.http://www.arce-ntexas.org/

Northwest (Seattle, Washington)ChapterPresident: Scott Noegel. Dept. of Near Eastern Languages &Civilizations, University of Washington, Box 353120, SEATTLE, WA 98195, [email protected] http://home.earthlink.net/%7Earcenwor/ARCE_Northwest_Chapter.html

Orange County Chapter –CaliforniaPresident: John Adams. 481 S. Country Hill Rd. ANAHEIM, CA 92808, [email protected] http://www.ocpl.org/lectures/egypt.htm

Oregon (Portland) ChapterPresident: John Sarr. P.O. Box 15192 PORTLAND, OR 97214, [email protected]

Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)ChapterNick Picardo. [email protected]

Washington, DC ChapterPresident: Samir Gabrielhttp://www.arcedc.org/

The ARCE has “Chapters”throughout the USA:

Arizona (Tucson) ChapterPresident: Suzanne Onstine.585 S. Stephanie Loop,TUCSON, AZ 85745, [email protected] http://web.arizona.edu/~egypt/ARCE_AZ.htm

Georgia (Atlanta) ChapterPresident: Vincent [email protected]

Illinois (Chicago) ChapterPresident: Emily [email protected] http://www.arcechicago.com/

Massachusetts (Boston)ChapterPresident: Dr Kathryn [email protected]

New Mexico (Albuquerque)ChapterPresident: Mae Araujo. [email protected]

New York (New York City)ChapterPresident: Billy Morin. [email protected]

Northern California (Berkeley)ChapterPresident: Bob Busey. http://home.comcast.net/%7Ehebsed/

These societies offer a range of lectures, slide shows, trips & activities to anyone interested in the subject.



14th Egypt Exploration Society –Study-Day.

The Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara.(See details on page 65.)

14th Egyptology Scotland –Glasgow Branch.

Simon Eccles: Ancient Egypt in the NewlyRefurbished Kelvingrove Art Gallery andMuseum.

14th Society for the Study ofAncient Egypt –Nottingham Venue.

Chris Naunton: Watercolourists at the EES.

17th Egypt Society of Bristol.Tom Hardwick: Monarchs and Miners –What went on in Sinai?

20th Poynton Egypt Group.Lecture TBA.

21st Leicestershire AncientEgypt Society.

Martin Davies: The Rescue of the Monumentsof Nubia.

21st Southampton Ancient EgyptSociety.

Mark Walker: Mummies at the Movies.

28th Sussex Egyptology Society –Horsham Venue.

Cathie Bryan: Tales of the Crypts – TheEgyptiansing Tombs of Paris & London.

28th The Bloomsbury Academy– Conference.

Mysteries of Amarna(See details on page 65.)

EVENTS DIARY

OCTOBER 2006

1st Essex Egyptology Group.Charlotte Booth: Current Research inEgyptology.

2nd Tameside Egypt Group.Michael Tunnicliffe: Egypt & the Bible. Whodo you believe?

4th Staffordshire EgyptologySociety.

Joyce Tyldesley: Crime & Punishment inAncient Egypt.

5th North East LincolnshireEgyptology Association.

“Study evening” at Cleethorpes NavyClub.

7th Plymouth & DistrictEgyptology Society.

Julie Hankey. Lecture TBA.

7th RAMASES (North Kent)Society.

Study Day on the Amarna Period.

7th Thames Valley AncientEgypt Society.

Society AGM, followed by Lecture TBA.

7th Wessex Ancient EgyptSociety.

Jaromir Malek: Some Unexpected Aspects ofEgyptian Art.

9th Manchester Ancient EgyptSociety.

Michael Rice: Egyptian Hounds.

9th Wirral Ancient EgyptSociety – AfternoonLecture.

Tony Judd: When the Desert was Green –Hunters and Herdsmen in Egypt’s Savannahs.

11th Friends of the EgyptCentre – Swansea.

Lucia Gahlin: Purity & Order in an EgyptianHousehold.

14th Ancient Egypt & MiddleEast Society.

Elaine Leachman: The Life of Howard Carter& John Bimson: Now you see them, now youdon’t – the strange case of David and Solomon.

14th Egyptian Society (UK). Paul Nicholson: The Berenike Project (with3D slides).

4th Wessex Ancient EgyptSociety.

Patricia Usick: An Architect’s Progress –

Charles Barry’s Travels in Egypt.

5th Essex Egyptology Group.Rosalind & Jac Janssen: The Ancient

Egyptian Market – A Practical Session.

6th Tameside Egypt Group. John Johnson: Tombs & Buildings of the

Village of Deir el Medina.

6th University of Bristol –Amelia Edwards MemorialLecture.

David Singleton: The Qasr Ibrim Taharqo

Wall-Painting Rescue Project.

At 5.15 pm in the Reception Room, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road,Bristol 8. Contact The Egypt Society of Bristol forfurther details.

7th The Egypt ExplorationSociety – Northern Branch

Neil Spencer: On Egypt’s Western Delta

Frontier – New Results from Kom Firin.

7pm in Lecture Theatre 1, StopfordBuilding (Medical School), The Universityof Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester,M13 9PT.


Campbell Price: Living in the Past? Elite Self-

Preservation in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.

11th Thames Valley AncientEgypt Society.

Lecture TBA.

11th University of Bradford –Saturday Day-School.

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt.

(See details on page 66.)


George Hart: Alexander the Great and his

Conquest of Egypt.

13th Wirral Ancient EgyptSociety – AfternoonLecture.

Liverpool University Bursary AwardStudent: Report on Fieldwork.

14th Egypt Society of Bristol.Paul Nicholson: Egypt in the Third Dimension

– Stereophotography in Egyptology and

Archaeology.

(Note: This lecture will be in 3D.)

Many Societies arrange regular lectures and events that are open to the public. Althoughevery effort is made to ensure that the details below are correct ANCIENT EGYPT cannotbe held responsible for the accuracy of the information provided. As events may be sub-ject to change or cancellation, or tickets may be required, please ensure that you contact

the appropriate body (as listed on our “Society Contacts” page) before attending.

Deadline for submission: all eventsentries should be received by 31st

October for inclusion in the next issue.To add an event to the AE Events

Diary, please contact the Editor.

NOVEMBER 2006

1st&2nd The British EgyptianSociety – Conference.

50 Years Since Suez: from Conflict to

Collaboration.


1st Staffordshire EgyptologySociety.

Bob Roach: Pharaonic Stones – The Rocks of

Egypt & their Uses.

4th Plymouth & DistrictEgyptology Society.

Kasia Szpakowka: Nightmares & Other

Ancient Egyptian Demons in the Dark.



15th Bolton Archaeology andEgyptology Society.

Shirley Addy: Rider Haggard and Egypt.

7.30pm at Bolton Town Hall.


Study Evening.

17th Poynton Egypt Group.John Johnson: The Wars of Kamose.

18th Egyptian Society (UK). Irving Finkel: Board Games in Egypt.

18th Leicestershire AncientEgypt Society.

Colin Reader: Saqqara – A Personal

Perspective.

18th Southampton Ancient EgyptSociety.

Martin Davies: The Drowned Land of Nubia

and the Rescue of its Monuments.

18th Sussex Egyptology Society –Worthing Venue.

Pamela Rose: Recent Work at Qasr Ibrim.

21st Egyptology Scotland –Aberdeen Branch.

Kenneth Kitchen: Foreigners in Egypt and

Egyptians Abroad?

22nd Friends of the EgyptCentre – Swansea.

Wolfram Grajetzki: A Forgotten Period – The

Egyptian Thirteenth Dynasty.

25th North East LincolnshireEgyptology Association –Day-School.

Amenhotep III, Amarna & Mummies.

Speakers: Joanne Fletcher & StephenBuckley.

25th RAMASES (North Kent)Society.

Wine & Wisdom Evening.

30th Horus Egyptology Society. Charlotte Booth: Sex, Marriage and

Childbirth.

DECEMBER 2006

events diary

2nd Wessex Ancient EgyptSociety.

AGM and Grand Christmas Party, fol-lowed by a lecture by Christine el Mahdy.

3rd Essex Egyptology Group.Christmas Party.

4th Northampton AncientEgyptian Historical Society.

Dylan Bickerstaffe: Strong Man, Wrong Tomb– The Mystery of Belzoni’s Sarcophagus.

4th Tameside Egypt Group.Christmas Party.

5th The Egypt ExplorationSociety – Northern Branch

Judith A. Corbelli: Funerary Decoration inGraeco-Roman Egypt.7pm in Lecture Theatre 1, StopfordBuilding (Medical School), The Universityof Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester,M13 9PT.

6th Friends of the EgyptCentre – Swansea.

Kim Ridealgh: Hatshepsut – Puppet, Martyror Usurper?

6th Society for the Study ofAncient Egypt – DerbyVenue.

Penny Wilson: Hearts, Birds and Bas– AFlight of Fancy.

6th Staffordshire EgyptologySociety.

Christmas Event.


Study Evening.

9th Egyptian Society (UK).Christmas Party, followed by AidanDodson: Saites, Sand a Scottish Pretender.


Ian Shaw: The Harem Palace in Ancient Egypt.

9th Society for the Study ofAncient Egypt – DerbyVenue.

Penny Wilson: Hearts, Birds & Bas – AFlight of Fancy.

9th Southampton Ancient EgyptSociety.

Christmas Social and Lecture. Michael Feeney: Akhenaten, Heresy, andSymbolism – a New Perspective.

9th The Egypt ExplorationSociety.

AGM, lecture and reception in the after-noon/early evening in the Khalili Theatre,Main Building, SOAS, London.Ian Shaw: The Royal Harem in Ancient Egypt.Details in the EES Autumn mailing.

14th October, 2006STUDY-DAY – THE EGYPT EXPLORATIONSOCIETY

THE SACRED ANIMALNECROPOLIS AT NORTH

SAQQARASpeakers:

Dr Jeffrey Spencer: Patterns of Development

in the Saqqara Necropolis; Professor Harry Smith: The Late Period

Development of the Saqqara Necropolis into a

City of Sacred Animal Cult Temples and

Catacombs;Mrs Sue Davies: Aspects of the Sacred Animal

Necropolis as revealed by the Material Finds and

Documentary Evidence;Dr Paul Nicholson: The North Ibis Catacomb,

and the Sacred Bronzes.

At the Brunel Gallery Lecture Theatre,School of Oriental and African Studies,Thornhaugh St, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG.

Admission by ticket (£25 standard, £15student) only; apply to the EES LondonOffice.

28th October, 2006CONFERENCE –THE BLOOMSBURY ACADEMY

The Bloomsbury Academy stages amajor conference, involving eminentEgyptologists, in May and October eachyear. The next event will be: (cont. over)

9-10th University of Wales,Swansea – Conference.

The Exploited and Adored – Animals in Ancient

Egypt.



Lecture TBA.

11th Wirral Ancient EgyptSociety.

AGM & Christmas Party.

12th The Ancient World Society.Christmas Party.

12th Egypt Society of Bristol.George Hart: The Art and Myth of Kingship

in Ancient Egypt.

16th Leicestershire AncientEgypt Society.

Charlotte Booth: Parallels between Ancient

Egyptian Religion and Modern Hinduism.

2nd Ancient Egypt & MiddleEast Society.

Christmas Lectures & Dinner. Speakers: Martin Davies: The Drowned

Land of Nubia & the Rescue of its Monuments

& Joyce Filer: Mummies I have Met.

2nd Thames Valley AncientEgypt Society.

Lecture TBA.

MAJOR EVENTS



ANCIENT EGYPT is owned, and published bi-monthly, by Empire Publications. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and nothing may be reproduced

without the permission of the Editor.

The Publishers and Editor are not liable for statements made and opinions expressed inthis publication. Unless otherwise stated all images are from the Editor’s

collection. Any articles not specifically attributed are by the Editor.

For information on back issues and subscriptions, visit our Web site: www.ancientegyptmagazine.com - Email: [email protected]

MYSTERIES OF AMARNA

From 10.30 - 17.30, 28th October,2006, at the UCL Bloomsbury Theatre,University College London.

Speakers:Dr Elzabeth Frood: Assessing Belief andPractice – the Origins and Developmemnt of theAten Cult.Dr Aidan Dodson: Father and Son – DidAmenhotep III and IV Rule Together? andDecline and Fall – the Enigma of Tutankhamun’sLast Years.Dr Christian Loeben: In Search of PrimevalUnity – the Reasons for Akhenaten’s Persecution ofAmun.Dr Marion Eaton-Krauss: Ankhesenamun –Sister, Wife and Widow of Tutankhamun.

Tickets £34, from: The Box Office, The UCL Bloomsbury, 15 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AHTel: 020 7388 8822

www.egyptology-uk.com/bloomsbury

1st - 2nd November, 2006CONFERENCE – IN LONDON, PRESENTEDBY THE BRITISHEGYPTIAN SOCIETY ANDTHE LONDON MIDDLEEAST INSTITUTE

50 YEARS SINCE SUEZ: FROMCONFLICT TO COLLABORATION

A landmark forum on the evolving rela-tionship between Egypt and the UnitedKingdom.

At the School of Oriental and AfricanStudies, University of London,Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square,London WC1H 0XG.

Senior politicians and the Ambassadorsfrom both countries, as well as experts ineconomics, business, cultural heritage andrelations, Egyptology, the arts and educa-tion will consider how Egypt and the UKcan develop closer ties in these areas,through government and the public andprivate sectors.

Also taking part will be Vivian Davies,Keeper, Department of Ancient Egyptand Sudan at the British Museum, DrGaballa Ali Gaballa (Professor ofEgyptology, ret. Cairo University);Nicholas Warner (Gayer AndersonMuseum, Cairo); and Professor FekryHassan (Professor of Archaology, UCL).

For further information please contactMcKenna Campaigns (Forum publicityagents): Carol McKenna: 01962 793003;07979 805169 or Andrew McKenna:01962 793007; 07748 793041. Email: [email protected] See also the British Egyptian Society web-site,

www.britishegyptiansociety.org.uk

11th November, 2006DAY-SCHOOL –THE UNIVERSITY OFBRADFORD

DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Lectures by Joyce Tyldesley and StevenSnape.

Held at John Stanley Bell LectureTheatre, Richmond Building, Universityof Bradford.

Ticket price £17.50 (concessions £14).Tickets available from Short Course Unit, School of LifelongEducation and Development, Universityof Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP. Enquiries: (01274) 233217 or 233213.Email: [email protected]

9th - 10th December, 2006CONFERENCE – THE EGYPT CENTRE,UNIVERSITY OF WALES,SWANSEA

THE EXPLOITED AND ADORED:ANIMALS IN ANCIENT EGYPT

The Conference seeks to explore therole of animals in Egypt from ancienttimes up to and including the IslamicPeriod. Themes include: defining and cat-egorising the animal; the relationshipbetween people and other animals; theinfluence of animals upon Egyptian socie-ty and religion; modern costructions ofanimals in ancient Egypt.

Around twenty international speakerswill include:Miriam Bibby (University of Manchester),Harold Hays (Leiden University),Angela McDonald (University of Glasgow),Michael Rice,Hilary Wilson (University of Southampton),Alan Lloyd (University of Wales, Swansea).

The Conference will be open to all andaims to encourage research into the role ofanimals in ancient Egypt as well as toincrease public awareness of issues.

(continued)

Cost £40 for both days, £25 for one.Optional special conference “Tapas”evening £25.

Contact: The Egypt Centre, University of WalesSwansea, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP; Tel. 01792 295960

www.swansea.ac.uk/egypt

20th - 24th February, 2007CONGRESS – IN LANZAROTE

VI WORLD CONGRESS ONMUMMY STUDIES

In Teguise, Lanzarote, Canary Islands,Spain, the congress will look at mummifi-cation of the dead in antiquity (not just inancient Egypt) and papers from expertsfrom around the world will present theirlatest findings and research.

Topics covered will include:History of Mummy Research, Research Methods, Conservation of Mummies, Funerary Archaeology, Paleopathology and Paleoparasitology,Applied Technology and Mummification Methods and AnimalMummies.

The historic town of Teguise is locatedin the centre of the Island, about ten kilo-metres from the coast. An attractive pro-gramme of parallel activities will be pro-vided for persons accompanying delegates.

For more information, visit the web site:http://www.6mummycongress.com

23rd - 24th June, 2007CONFERENCE –IN LONDON

THE EGYPT EXPLORATIONSOCIETY 125TH ANNIVERSARY

CONFERENCE

At The School of Oriental and AfricanStudies, University of London. Contactthe EES for details.

events diary

Found: Back IssueIn the last issue it was mentioned that AE 9 (Oct/Nov 2001) had sold

out sometime ago, and that it remains the only back issue not available.There was also an appeal for any readers with “spare” copies to get intouch with the Editor.

As if on cue, there is now a downloadable version of this long lostgem available free from our website in a handy pdf format.

Just visit: www.ancientegyptmagazine.com/pdf-09.htm



NETFISHING

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM – PART TWOThis month’s NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the World Wide Web has to say about

the Middle Kingdom, a period of history that often gets overlooked when compared with the magnificence ofthe Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom.

In the last issue we gave an historical outline of the Middle Kingdom, whilst in this issue we look at some other aspects of the Period,concentrating on the literary, artistic and military heritage that the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055-1650 BC) has left behind.

ANNCCIIEENNTT EGGYYPPTT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

Victor Blunden

The Old Kingdom is often referred to as “The Pyramid Age”, because of the huge monuments that survive at Giza, and theNew Kingdom is renowned for its fabulous wealth, the treasures of Tutankhamun, and the beautiful temples that still standin Luxor today, but what remains of the Middle Kingdom? Unfortunately, remarkably little. Its pyramids (referred to in the

previous issue) were made of mud-brick rather than stone and so they have not survived at all well. Its temples were dismantled andrebuilt by later pharaohs, and its great fortresses in Nubia have all been covered by the waters of Lake Nasser. What survives fromthis Period is, therefore, largely the literature and the artwork.

More than anything else, the Middle Kingdom is renowned for its great literature, and the Period is often spoken of as being“Egypt’s Shakespearean age”. Two of the most famous stories of this period are:

The Tale of Sinuhe – in translation: http://www.touregypt.net/storyofsinuhe.htm in hieroglyphs: http://jennycarrington.tripod.com/JJSinuhe/index.html

The Eloquent Peasant – in translation: http://touregypt.net/featurestories/peasant.htm in hieroglyphs: http://www.rostau.org.uk/ep/index.html

In addition, the quality of the jewellery of the Middle Kingdom is so exquisite that it set a standard that was never surpassed.Indeed, the trinkets of the New Kingdom seem crude in comparison. Much of the MK jewellery was found in the pyramids of thekings’ daughters, buried in the Faiyum. To see some of these impressive jewels visit:

www.touregypt.net/egyptmuseum/egyptian_museumR.htmand then click on a piece that captures your eye. The pectoral of Princess Mereret is stunning; it shows her father, Senusret III, as agriffin, crushing the enemies of Egypt beneath him. The anklet of Mereret is also interesting as, at 34cm, it seems far too large to fitaround a young girl’s ankle – but it is not. Some of my students made a copy at Manchester University and found it was a perfect fit,with the gold claws hanging down on either side of the foot to warn away any intrusive scorpions!

The tombs of the Middle Kingdom were largely undecorated, all the emphasis being placed on the coffins and the “tomb mod-els”, which accompanied the deceased. The best examples of these come from the tomb of Meket-Ra, refer to:

www.metmuseum.org/explore/newegypt/htm/wk_mek.htmand for a close-up of some of the details of the boat models visit:

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/museum10.htm

Two other famous tombs of the Period are to be found at Aswan. As these tombs belong to the Nomarchs (governors) of the region,they are well decorated and are good examples of the artwork of the Period. For Sarenput I; refer to:

www.osirisnet.net/tombes/assouan/sarenpout_1/e_sarenpout_1.htm# (Be sure to scroll through the pictures to see the carvings of his favourite dogs.)Also visit the tomb of Saranput II, which features a rare depiction of an elephant:

www.osirisnet.net/tombes/assouan/sarenpout_2/e_sarenpout_2.htm

One of the measures that Egypt took to maintain its security was to annex the lands to the south of Aswan, the lands of Nubia.Military fortifications were erected to control the river traffic and to act as trading posts and transshipment points for the largeamounts of gold (nub) that were mined in this area. The largest of these “forts” was the one built at Buhen, which had very elaboratedefences; refer to:

www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/africa/fortress_of_buhen.html and to:

www.learningsites.com/EarlyWork/buhen-2.htmfor a “Virtual Tour”.

One of the most important sites to have survived from the Middle Kingdom is the town of Kahun, built to house the workers whoconstructed the kings’ pyramids. The town appears to have been suddenly abandoned, leaving behind much evidence of the dailylives of the inhabitants: their tools, domestic goods and even children’s toys. Refer to:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/kahun.htmfor an outline and to the “Virtual Kahun Project” site for more detailed information:

www.kahun.man.ac.uk/intro.htm


AWT is an agent of Kuoni Travel Ltd

We offer unique itineraries to major cultures throughout the world. We specialize in Egypt where we are the fi eld leader visiting more areas than any other company. We visit all the classic sites and also go off the beaten track, exploring remote ruins and current excavations. Most of our tours are accompanied by leading experts.

On November 11th 2006 we are proud to offer a truly unique departure to Egypt with the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon. This journey is based on the renowned excavations of the 5th Earl and Howard Carter. Sites visited include Tell el Balamun and Simbellawein in the Delta and a private visit to the Tomb of Tutankhamun along with many other classic West Bank sites.

On October 28th 2006 Professor Kent Weeks accompanies a very special tour ‘Unknown Egypt’ exploring the rarely visited sites of Abu Sir, Tanis, The Faiyum, Amarna, Mo’alla, El Tod and of course the Valley of the Kings!

Check our website for Rock Art and Libya tours.

The air holiday shown is ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority and provided by Kuoni Travel Ltd.ATOL 0132. ATOL Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom. Kuoni Travel is a member of ABTA. ABTA No. V258X.

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