Preliminary report of the 2002 campaign of the Belgian mission to Deir al-Barsha

Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts - Abteilung Kairo

Volumn 60, Issue , 2004, Pages 237-283

  Willems, Harco ^a   De Meyer, Marleen ^a   Depraetere, David ^a   Peeters, Christoph ^a   Hendrickx, Stan ^a   Herbich, Tomasz ^a   Klemm, Dietrich ^a   Klemm, Rosemarie ^a   De Beeck, Lies Op ^a   Depauw, Mark ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 60950083924     PISSN: 03421279     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (106)

1. P.E. NEWBERRY, El Bersheh I (The Tomb of Tehuti-hetep), in: ASE 3, 1894 (hereafter cited as El Bersheh I);
2. F.LL. GRIFFITH/P.E. NEWBERRY, El Bersheh II, in: ASE 4, 1894 (hereafter cited as El Bersheh II).
3. S. TIMM, Das christlich-koptische Ägypten in arabischer Zeit II, Beihefte TAVO 41,2, Wiesbaden 1984, p. 694.
4. WANSLEBEN's original publication there referred to has not been available to us, but TIMM gives a brief summary of the words it devotes to the pharaonic monuments. This includes a description of a subterranean "Hieroglyphic cave" with Coptic crosses, "which the country people commonly call the Church". Although TIMM doubts whether this can be the Djehutihotep tomb, this is in fact likely. The local population still call this tomb al-Kanîsa, 'the church', even today, and on Shamm an-nasîm it is frequented by visitors from miles around who want to get a baby. WANSLEBEN's original diaries, which are now kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, contain a very rough sketch plan of the area (see M. MARTIN, Le journal de Vansleb en Égypte, in: BIFAO 97, 1997, p. 191, fig. 12, reference kindly provided to us by Dr. Gertrud van Loon). Its most interesting features are that the village is depicted as being surrounded by a wall, and that some sort of rectangular structure is indicated between the village and the foothills, somewhat north of the Wâdî Nakhla.
5. H. VON MINUTOLI, Reise zum Tempel des Jupiter Ammon in der libyschen Wüste und nach Ober-Aegypten in den Jahren 1820 und 1821 II, Berlin 1824, pl. 13.
6. PM IV, pp. 177 ff.
7. LD II, Blatt 134;
8. LD Text II, pp. 115-120.
9. In 1869, see El Bersheh II, p. 46.
10. A.H. SAYCE, A dated inscription of Amenophis III, in: PSBA 9, 1887, pp. 195-197.
11. See W.V. DAVIES, Djehutyhotep's Colossus Inscription and Major Brown's Photograph, in: W.V. DAVIES (ed.), Studies in Egyptian Antiquities. A Tribute to T.G.H. James, BM Occasional Paper 123, London 1999, pp. 29-35.
12. He was at any rate on close terms with him during his campaign in Deir al-Barsha, see T.G.H. JAMES, The Discovery and Identification of the Alabaster Quarries of Hatnub, in: CRIPEL 13, 1991, pp. 79-84.
13. A. BEY KAMAL, Rapport sur les fouilles exécutées à Deîr-el-Barshé en janvier, février, mars 1901, in: ASAE 2, 1901, pp. 206-222;
14. ID., Fouilles à Deir-el-Barché exécutées dans les six premiers mois de l'année par M. Antonini de Mallawi, in: ASAE 3, 1902, pp. 276-282;
15. G. DARESSY, Fouilles de Deir el Bircheh (novembre-décembre 1897), in: ASAE 1, 1900, pp. 17-43.
16. There is also a brief article from this period on some of the tombs in zone 6: J. CLÉDAT, Notes sur la Nécropole de Bersheh, in: BIFAO 1, 1901, pp. 101-102.
17. See E.L.B. TERRACE, Egyptian Paintings of the Middle Kingdom, London 1968 for some of the most well-known objects found and references to further literature.
18. For a survey of the early archaeological activity at Deir al-Barsha, see T. ZIMMER, La moyenne Égypte: méthodes d'investigation bibliographique et priorités, BSFE 96, Mars 1983, pp. 22-25.
19. See now also H. WILLEMS, s.v. Deir el-Bersheh, in: K.A. BARD (ed.), The Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, London - New York 1999, pp. 246-247 (with bibliography).
20. A brief account reproducing a newspaper clipping was published by J. LECLANT, Fouilles et travaux en Égypte et au Soudan, 1969-1970, in: Orientalia 40, 1971, p. 234.
21. In 1972 diese excavations, directed by MAHMOUD HAMZA and OSIRIS GHOBRIAL, led to the find of the tomb of the First Intermediate Period nomarch Khuu (see J. LECLANT, Fouilles et travaux en Égypte et au Soudan, 1971-1972, in: Orientalia 42, 1973, p. 405;
22. M. ROBINSON, in: E. BROVARSKI ET AL. [eds.], Bersheh Reports I, Boston 1992, p. 3).
23. D. KESSLER, Historische Topographie der Region zwischen Mallawi und Samalut, Beihefte TAVO 19, Wiesbaden 1981, pp. 96-107.
24. See also F. GOMAÀ, Ägypten während der Ersten Zwischenzeit, TAVO 27, Wiesbaden 1980, pp. 107-113.
25. The results of the latter inspection formed the basis of H. WILLEMS, The Nomarchs of the Hare Nome and Early Middle Kingdom History, in: JEOL 28, 1983-1984, pp. 80-102.
26. H. WILLEMS, Deir el-Bersheh. A Preliminary Report, in: GM 110, 1989, pp. 75-95
27. (hereafter cited as WILLEMS, in: GM 110);
28. O.E. KAPER, Un moine distrait à Deir el-Bercha, in: W. H. VAN SOLDT (ed.), Pap uit lemen potten. Papers in memoriam of Mia Pollock, Leiden 1991, pp. 38-41.
29. E. BROVARSKI ET AL. (eds.), Bersheh Reports I, Boston 1992
30. F. SCHOKKING, Geotechnical Stability Investigation of the Ancient Burial Site of Deir el-Bersheh, Province of Minia, Egypt, Haarlem, Geological Survey of the Netherlands, Project Number 5103, 1992.
31. A.J. SPENCER, Excavations at el-Ashmunein III. The Town, London 1993, pp. 51-71.
32. See S.J. SEIDLMAYER, Gräberfelder aus dem Übergang vom Alten zum Mittleren Reich, SAGA 1, Heidelberg 1990, pp. 403 ff.
33. ID., Wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Entwicklung im Übergang vom Alten zum Mittleren Reich, in: J. ASSMANN/G. BURKARD/V. DAVIES (eds.), Problems and Priorities in Egyptian Archaeology, London 1987, pp. 175-217;
34. ID., Die Ikonographie des Todes, in: H. WILLEMS (ed.), Social Aspects of Funerary Culture in the Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdoms, OLA 103, Leuven 2001, pp. 205-252;
35. B.J. KEMP, How Religious Were the Ancient Egyptians?, in: Cambridge Archaeological Journal 5, 1995, pp. 38-50;
36. H. WILLEMS, Het nomarchaat als politieke, sociale en religieuze factor in de Egyptische provincie, in: Phoenix 46, 2000, pp. 72-104.
37. See the studies by S.J. SEIDLMAYER mentioned in the preceding footnote.
38. SEIDLMAYER, Gräberfelder, pp. 394-397 and passim.
39. Fortunately the recent dissertation by S.A. OREL, Chronology and Social Stratification in a Middle Egyptian Cemetery, unpublished Ph. D. 1993, has greatly improved the accessibility of the find material retrieved by J. GARSTANG at Bani Hasan.
40. WILLEMS, in: GM 110, pp. 75 ff.
41. For a preliminary description of the quarries at Deir al-Barsha, see R. KLEMM/D. KLEMM, Steine und Steinbrüche im alten Ägypten, Berlin - Heidelberg u.a. 1992, pp. 118-124
42. (hereafter cited as KLEMM, Steine und Steinbrüche).
43. The site is mentioned only in passing in P. GROSSMANN, Christliche Architektur in Ägypten, HdO 62, Leiden 2002, p. 259.
44. See S. TIMM, op. cit., pp. 693-694.
45. For a plan and a brief description of the church see S. AL-SURYANI/B. HABIB, Guide to Ancient Coptic Churches & Monasteries in Upper Egypt, Sohag 1990, p. 115.
46. See El Bersheh II, pl. II.
47. El Bersheh I, p. vii.
48. G.W. FRASER, in: El Bersheh II, p. 55.
49. G. DARESSY, in: ASAE, 1900, p. 23.
50. H. WILLEMS, Chests of Life, MVEOL 25, Leiden 1988, p. 69.
51. O.E. KAPER/R. VAN WALSEM/H. WILLEMS, in: Bersheh Reports I, p. 43.
52. Of course, there are the 1:100,000 and 1:50,000 survey maps of the Survey of Egypt, which include the site. They are at such a small scale as to be useless for our type of work. D. KESSLER has published a map (scale 1:200,000) which must have been based on the former of these plans. It is useful in that it affords some impression of the ancient geography of the region, but is even less detailed than the survey maps (Historische Topographie der Region zwischen Mallawi und Samalut, Beihefte TAVO 19, Wiesbaden 1981, Karte 1).
53. For the different numbering systems, see M. ROBINSON, in: Bersheh Reports I, pp. 7-9.
54. and ID., in: Bersheh Reports I, pp. 48-50.
55. DO. ARNOLD, in: DI. ARNOLD, The Pyramid of Senwosret I. The South Cemeteries of Lisht, vol. I, New York 1988, pp. 140-141;
56. M. BIETAK, Egypt and Canaan during the Middle Bronze Age, in: BASOR 281, 1991, Fig. 14.
57. For the wide-mouthed jars see B. BADER, Tell el-Dab'a XIII. Typologie und Chronologie der Mergel-C-Ton-Keramik. Materialien zum Binnenhandel des Mittleren Reiches und der Zweiten Zwischenzeit, DÖAW 22, Wien 2001, Abb. 48c (including more parallels).
58. th Dynasty, with a slightly different rim profile;
59. th Dynasty;
60. B. BADER, op. cit., Type 46, Abb. 30-38.
61. DO. ARNOLD, in: EAD. (ed.), Studien zur Altägyptischen Keramik, Mainz 1981, pp. 069-171.
62. J. BOURRIAU, in: W.V. DAVIES (ed.), Egypt and Africa, London 1991, p. 129.
63. and E. BROVARSKI, Ahanakht of Bersheh and the Hare Nome in the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom, in: W.K. SIMPSON (ed.), Studies in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Sudan, Boston 1981, pp. 18-21.
64. A new translation and historical commentary in Dutch has just appeared (H. WILLEMS, De autobiografie van Ahanacht I uit Deir al-Barsja, in: K.R. VEENHOF/R.J. DEMARÉE [eds.], Zij schreven geschiedenis, MVEOL 33, Leiden 2003, pp. 57-70).
65. El-Bersheh II, pp. 56-57.
66. D. BAILEY, The Pottery from the South Church at el-Ashmunein, in: CCE 4, 1996, pp. 47-86. Only a few examples are given in this preliminary report. A full ceramological report will appear later.
67. th Dynasty, though occasionally it can also date to the First Intermediate Period. On the bottom, this seal is incised with what seems to be the representation of a fish.
68. See for instance also J. GARSTANG, Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt as Illustrated by Tombs of the Middle Kingdom. A Report of Excavations Made in the Necropolis of Beni Hassan During 1902-3-4, London 1907, pp. 66, 79, passim.
69. The instrument was rented on the basis of a co-operaation agreement between Warsaw University's Cairo based Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology and Programa de Estudios de Egiptologia, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas, Argentina.
70. Analysis of the survey material was carried out by JANINE BOURRIAU, PETER FRENCH, STAN HENDRICKX and LIES OP DE BEECK.
71. REISNER, Diary 1915, pp. 18-21.
72. E.g. J. DE MORGAN, Fouilles à Dahchour. Mars-Juin 1894, Wien 1895, fig. 19;
73. G. BRUNTON, Qau and Badari I, London 1927, p. 45 and fig. XXIV, 31-33.
74. KAMAL also mentions an abundance of these mice bones in other tombs in the plain (in: ASAE 2, 1901, p. 207).
75. P. NEWBERRY, Funerary Statuettes and Model Sarcophagi, Fasc. 1 (Catalogue Général du Musée du Caire) nos. 46530-48273, p. 381, no. 48502;
76. J. BOURRIAU, Patterns of Change in Burial Customs, in: S. QUIRKE (ed.), Middle Kingdom Studies, New Maiden 1991, pp. 11-12.
77. ElBersheh II, pp. 55-66.
78. This stela had already been published earlier by S. SHARPE, Egyptian inscriptions from the British Museum and other sources II, London 1855, pls. 33, 47.
79. J. CLÉDAT, in: BIFAO 2, 1902, p. 69, pls. VI-VII.
80. G. ROEDER, Hermopolis 1929-1939, Hildesheim 1959.
81. The graffiti in the nearby quarries from Deir Abû Hinnis, which date in part to the Amarna period, have been studied in somewhat greater detail (A. GASSE, Rapport préliminaire d'une mission épigraphique à Deir Abou Hennés, in: ASAE 69, 1983, pp. 95-102).
82. D. DEVAUCHELLE, Notes sur les inscriptions démotiques des carrières de Tourah et de Mâsarah, in: ASAE 69, 1983, pp. 169-182.
83. KLEMM, Steine und Steinbrüche, pp. 122-123.
84. J.A. HARRELL, Ancient Egyptian Limestone Quarries: a Petrological Survey, in: Archaeometry 34, 1992, pp. 195-211.
85. I.M.E. SHAW, in: Amarna Reports III, London 1986, p. 202, fig. 10,7;
86. ID., in: Amarna Reports IV, London 1987, pp. 164, 167, fig. 13, 6.
87. B. KEMP, Resuming the Amarna Survey, in: Egyptian Archaeology 20, 2002, p. 10 (photo).
88. R. KLEMM/D. KLEMM, Die Steine der Pharaonen, München 1981, PP. 37-38
89. (hereafter cited as KLEMM, Steine der Pharaonen).
90. R. KLEMM, Vom Steinbruch zum Tempel. Beobachtungen zur Baustruktur einiger Felstempel der 18. und 19. Dynastie, in: ZÄS 115, 1988, p. 43.
91. D. ARNOLD, Building in Egypt. Pharaonic Stone Masonry, Oxford 1991, pp. 33-36.
92. See also: B. ALSTON/J. HARRELL/I. SHAW, in: P.T. NICHOLSON/I. SHAW (eds.), Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge 2000, p. 7.
93. KLEMM, Steine der Pharaonen, p. 38, Abb. 38,1;
94. J. HARRELL, Ancient Quarries near Amarna, in: Egyptian Archaeology 19, 2001, p. 36.
95. A. KLUG, Königliche Stelen in der Zeit von Ahmose bis Amenhotep III, Monumenta Aegyptiaca VIII, Turnhout 2002, p. 367.
96. This also contradicts FRASER who dates quarry 8 to the Ptolemaic Period, without giving any argumentation. SAYCE also suggests a later date for die quarries inside the wadi (A.H. SAYCE, in: PSBA 9, 1886-87, P.196).
97. elaborating upon remarks by W. SPIEGELBERG, in: ASAE 6, 1905, pp. 219-233.
98. B. KEMP, in: JEA 87, 2001, p. 17. It is however not clear whether the lines in Sheikh Sa'îd resemble those in quarry 2 (Late Period) or those in quarry 15B (New Kingdom).
99. The likelihood that the temple of Thoth was built with stone from the Wâdî Nakhla has already been pointed out by ROEDER, Hermopolis, p. 90, § 24.
100. G. ROEDER, in: ASAE 52, 1954, pp. 411, 429;
101. th Dynasty (A.J. SPENCER, Excavations at el-Ashmunein I. The Topography of the Site, London 1983, p. 7, pl. Ia (2);
102. A.J. SPENCER, Excavations at el-Ashmunein II. The Temple Area, London 1989, p. 42).
103. S. SNAPE/D. BAILEY, The Great Portico at Hermopolis Magna. Present State and Past Prospects, BMOccasional Paper 63, London 1988.
104. G. ROEDER, Vorläufiger Bericht über die deutsche Hermopolis-Expedition 1938 und 1939, in: MDAIK 9, 1940, p. 78 (the discovery);
105. D. ARNOLD, Zur Rekonstruktion des Pronaos von Hermopolis, in: MDAIK 50, 1994, pp. 13-22;
106. A.J. SPENCER/D.M. BAILEY, Ashmunein (1983), BM Occasional Paper 53, London 1984, pp. 8-9, 26, 30-32.