Simpson Terseset

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gypt xploration Society

Two Lexical Notes to the Reisner Papyri: wrt and trsstAuthor(s): William Kelly SimpsonSource: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 59 (Aug., 1973), pp. 220-222Published by: Egypt Exploration SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3856118.

Accessed: 18/03/2014 17:14

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the

one

grinding

orn

and the other

tirring

fire;

the second

figure

holds

her

left

hand

rather

similarly,

nd Borchardt

p.

158

n.

2)

ascribes

like

purpose

to

the

posture-'um

sich

gegen

die

Glut

zu

schiitzen'.

KATE

BOSSE-GRIFFITHS

Two lexical notesto the Reisner

Papyri: whrt

nd

trsst

I. IN

Papyrus

eisner,

D

29,

heading

or list f

workmeneads

nttm

whrt,

thosewho

re

n

(or

from)

he

dockyard-workshop'.I

his

nstitution

lays major

ole n P.

Reisner I but s not

otherwise

ttested

nP.

Reisner

and II.

In

the

ommentary

n

P. Reisner

the erm

s

erroneously

read

krt,

ince

the

sign

n

question

eemed to be

Sign

List N

29,

the

sandy

hill-slope;

he termkrt

was

consequently

iscussed.2

t is now evident ome that he nitial

ign

s the

similar ake

sign

of

Sign

List

X

7,

which

s

bestknown romtsuse

n

writings

f

wnm,

to eat'.

n

brief,

rt s

to be

eliminatedrom hediscussion

nd ndex fP. Reisner

and

the

erm

roperlyecognized

s whrt.

The

sign

f

the

ake,

ign

List

X

7,

is not

otherwise

epresented,

o the

best f

my

knowledge,

n

early

hieratic:

t

does not

occur n the

palaeographic

ables of Moller's Hieratische

aldographie,

,

The Hekanakhte

apers,

nd

theAbu Sir

papyri.

he instance fP. Reisner

,

D

29,

may

be the

only

example

oted o date. For

similar

writings

f whrt

n

hieroglyphic

ne has

only

o consult

he

admirable istmadebyFischer,3 he

reading

f which

prompted

me to

dispose

of thespuriouskrt.

As

is well

known,

hieratic

as a

generalpreference

orfuller

writings,

s

exemplified y

the normal

writings

fwhrt

n

P. Reisner

I.

II.

In

Papyrus

Reisner

a term

n

the

accounts

s

rendered s

trsst,

bread

unit or

compensation

unit'.4

ts

importance

s indicated

y

the remark:One

gains

the distinct

mpression

hat he

ultimate

urpose

of the

document

s a whole

is

the

computation

f

the number

of

man-days

x-

pended

n a work

roject

n order o determine

he ost f he abor

n termsf erseset

nits.'s

he

only

other

nstance

f the term

hat

could

find s the ocus of

Hekanakhte

apers

V,

Ro.

30-3,

in

which

1,000

WFsrt-loaves,

00

bhsw-loaves,

nd

3,700

trsst-loavesre added

to

obtain total

of

6,000

trsst-loaves

r

units,

perhaps

mplying,

s

James

uggests,

n

unexpressed quivalence

of

5

Shrt-

loavesto 4 trsst-loavesnd i bhsw-loafo 3 trsst-loaves.6 curious et of trsst ocumentshas now

come

to

my

ttention

n the

nscriptions

n wooden

objects,

ircular

isks,

egs,

ones,

nd a diamond

shaped

bject,

rom

he

debris fRoom

F

5

at the ort fUronarti.7

osthave

been

plastered

ith

a

light

oating

nd have

piercings,

single

ole,

nd/or

hree maller

oles,

or hinwooden

ails

to attach

hem.

One

bears

the

date

of Year

33

of Ammenemes

II,

without

month r

day,

nd

hence

the

bjects

re

ecurely

ated

n theTwelfth

ynasty.

hey

were ound ith ixhard-stone

eights

inscribed

ith

nits

f

gold.

W.

K.

Simpson,

Papyrus

Reisner

,

pl.

7, 7A.

2

Ibid.

33,

I35,

pl.

7A.

3

Henry

G.

Fischer,

Dendera n

the

Third

Millennium

.C.,

211-I2.

4

Papyrus

Reisner

, 35

and

passim.

5

Ibid.

35.

6

T. G.

H.

James,

The

Hekanakhte

apers,

6o-I.

7

D.

Dunham,

Uronarti, halfak,

Mirgissa

Second

Cataract

Forts,

Iu.

34-5,

pls. 27-8.

I have

attempted

nthe

accompanying

igure

transcription

fthetexts

f these

objects.

For those

n the Museum of Fine Arts

have

had

access

to

the

originals

s well

as

N. F. Wheeler's

opies

madeatthetimeof

their

iscovery.

or the

objects

in Khartoum

have

had to

rely

n the

photographs

nd Wheeler's

opies.

The

writing

s

generally

lear

except

when

damage

has

occurred,

yet

the

texts

are not

easy.

The letters

n

the

accompanying

igure

efer

o

the

objects

as follows:

A)

24-5-8;

MFA

24.732; S(econd)

C(ataract) F(orts) 11, 4, 37, pl.

27, I/2; (B)

24-5-I8;

MFA

24.747;

SCF

ii,

35,

37,

pl. 28,

3;

(c)

24-5-10; Khartoum;

SCF

II,

35, 37, pl. 27,

I/3;

(D)

24-5-Ii;

Khartoum;

SCF

II, 35,

37, pl.

27,

i/I;

(E) 24-5-I6;

MFA

24.754;

SCF

n1, 5, 37, pl. 27,

2/I;

(F)

24-5-14;

[continued

n

p.

222]

220

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BRIEF

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The

function

f

these

objects

s notclear to

me,

although

oth

shape

and

the texts hould

prove

sufficientor

closer

dentification

ftheir se. Since

all have holes for

wooden

pegs

or nails

in

part

preserved),

t

must

be

assumed that

hey

wereattached

o

something

lse.

The use of the term

h3

furtherdentifies

hem

s

a sortof record' or

memorandum'.

he

ink-signs

n the front nd

back

of

one

of them

dd

and

nfr) uggest

hat the material

o

which

they

referwas later

examined

nd

found n

sound

condition. romthetexts

seefigure)

t

s clear

hat

hey

efer

o baked

units f

bread,

perhaps

n

the

shape

of

the

objects

themselves,

nd that hese

units

or oaves

were

made from

ixed

quantities

f

barley

nd

wheat

ssigned

o or

provided

by

the

work

force

msr).

n

'B'

sixty

nits

re

baked from

/3heqat

of

northern

arley,

n

'C'

seventy

nits

from

heqat

of

wheat.

The

writings

with

hefire-drill

urther

uggest

hat t s

usedfor

he erm

sw

with

he ense f

baking

nd

not

as

a

determinativeor

rsst

see

'C').

I

have

considered everal

nterpretations

or

these

objects

but feel

unconvinced

by

any

of

the

alternatives,

r

combinations

f

them: that

hey

re in

the

nature

f

receipts

orbaked

goods

taken

from

he

bakery,

hat

hey

were

presented

o the

bakery

s authorization

or he

expenditure

f

grain

and the

baking

of

bread,

that

they

merely

ommemorated

transaction

r

act of

baking,

or

that

they

erved as models forthe

shape

of

the

loaves to

be delivered.

These factors ould have been

simply

ransmitted

rally

r

by

hieratic

messages.

The

certain

actors

re

their

se

as

a

memorandum

(sh3)and their ttachments a docket o partof a container uchas a storage in,although heydo

not

seem to

be

ideal for

overs

r

plugs.

t is

curious

hat ne ofthem

hould

be so

formally

ated n

terms

f a

regnal

year

nd

yet

ack

an

indication

f month nd

day.

The

horizontal

ign

with

loop

above

it n

E'

and G'

looks

ikethe coverof a bin

or a

levelling

tick

o smooth

he

heaps

of

grain.'

The

term

ndm(

)

n

B', 'E',

and G'

may

ignify

he

object

tself

r

the wood fromwhich t smade.

Similarly,

he first

word

n

G'

may

be

a

termfor

he

object

tself.

n

'F'

and

I',

I

am not

certain

whether o read

the

verbal

phrase

shiwn-twollowed

by

mm r to

postulate

n unattested twmm

r

*wtmm

s a termfor

oven

or

for

bakingoperation.

I

draw

attention o these

puzzling

objects

and

their exts

n

the

hope

that

parallelsmay

come to

light

to

provide

a

better

xplanation.

ince the

daily

allowance

of

trsst nits s known from

he

Reisner

papyri

o be about

eight

per day,2

nd

since the

amount

of

grain

used

in

baking

hem

s

provided

now

in

these

texts,

t s

possible

that

hese documents an

be used

to

determine he

daily

caloric allowance for labourer n theTwelfth

Dynasty.

The dockets an be taken o represent

ten-day

llowancefor

single

worker,

/3heqat

of

northern

arley

n B'

and i

heqat

of

wheat n

'C'.

These

Uronarti

dockets',

f

such

they

re,

may

add

significantly

o

the solutionof the trsst

problem

f

the

examples

n

Khartoumcan be collated and

the

group

submitted

o

further

tudy.

WILLIAM KELLY SIMPSON

A

consideration

f

Papyrus

Kahun

13

OF

the domestic

ocuments

f

the Middle

Kingdom

discovered

t

Kahun,

Papyrus

Kahun

13

is the

mostcomplex.Petrie,Kahun,pl. 13: convenientranscriptionySethe, nhisLesestiicke,I.) The

MFA

24.

748;

SCFII,

35,

37,

pl.

28,

4

upper;

(G)

24-5-17;

Khartoum;

SCFII, 35, 37, pI. 28,

I; (H) 24-5-15;

Khartoum;

SCF

11,

35,

37,

pl.

28,

2;

(i)

24-5-13;

Khartoum;

SCF

II, 35, 37,

pl. 27, 2/3. Although

these

copies

cannot

be

called

definitive,

specially

n

respect

o

the

objects

n

Khartoum,

he

readings dopted

should

be

given preference

ver

those n

SCF

II,

34-5.

1

See,

for

xample,

he

objects

represented

n

the

frieze f

objects

n

the

tombof

Hesy-Re':

Vandier,

Manuel

d'archdologie,,

part2, 716,

fig.

743.

2

Papyrus

Reisner

, 44-5.

222


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