Excavations At Mendes

273 Pages·2004·25.611 MB·English

by  Donald B. Redford

EXCAVATIONS AT MENDES
CULTURE AND HISTORY OF
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
EDITED BY
B. HALPERN, M.H.E. WEIPPERT
TH. P.J. VAN DEN HOUT, I. WINTER
VOLUME 20
EXCAVATIONS AT MENDES
Volume 1. The Royal Necropolis
BY
DONALD B. REDFORD
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2004
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Redford, Donald B.
Excavations at Mendes / by Donald B. Redford.
p. cm. — (Culture and history of the ancient Near East, ISSN 1566-2055; v. 20)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: v. 1. The Royal Necropolis —
ISBN 90-04-13674-6 (alk. paper)
1. Mendes (Extinct city) 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—Egypt—Mendes (Extinct city) I.
Title. II. Series.
DT73.M54R44 2004
932—dc22
2004045902
ISSN 1566-2055
ISBN 90 04 13674 6
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printed in the netherlands
introduction v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. The Temenos Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
D.B. Redford
2. The Sarcophagus and its Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
D.B. Redford
3. The Relief-decoration of Nepherites’ Tomb and Related Epigraphy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
D.B. Redford
4. The Third Intermediate & Saite Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
D.B. Redford
5. The Inscriptions and Cursive Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
D.B. Redford
6. Royal Necropolis: Object Catalogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
S. Redford
7. Ceramic Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
R. Hummel & S.B. Shubert
8. The Human Remains (Third Intermediate Period) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
C. Lang
9. Charred Plant Remains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
A.C. D’andrea
10. Faunal Remains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
D. Brewer
11. Basket-handle Jars: Their Origin and Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
A.D. de Rodrigo
Plates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Edited by S. Redford
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
vi gary n. knoppers
introduction vii
PREFACE
The present volume of Mendes excavations represents the results of four seasons of work in the Royal
Necropolis (1992-1995). In addition to this the information gleaned from sondages in the Sacred Lake
(Field BB) is also included (199l)1 I should like to thank the following for their contribution to the
editing of the material in this book: S. Redford (plans, text figures and general editing), G. Mumford
(text figures, section inking). Thanks are especially due Donald Hansen, director of the NYU expe-
dition to Mendes and Richard Fazzini, curator Brooklyn Museum, for placing at our disposal field
notes and photographs from the 1977 season of the NYU expedition.
The staff of the Mendes expedition of the University of Toronto was as follows:
199l: S. Anton, G. Mumford, S. Redford, C. Redford, D. B. Redford.
1992: S. Adamson, A. de Rodrigo, C. d’Andrea, A. Hawkins, M. Borst, R. Hummel, M. Jones,
J. Leland, G. Mumford, D. Makris, D. Mitchel, L. Pawlish, S. Redford, D.B. Redford, K.
Sweet.
1993: S. Adamson, C. d’Andrea, T. Butler, A. de Rodrigo, R. Hummel, G. Mumford, R. Nesbitt, S.
Redford, D.B. Redford, L. Pawlish, J. Revez, L. Wilding.
1994: S. Adamson, C. d’Andrea, J. B’naity, T. Butler, A. de Rodrigo, J. Hellum, J. Gray, J. Leland,
P. Julig, G. Mumford, R. Nesbitt, L. Pavlish, J. Revez, L. Wilding, S. Redford, D.B. Redford.
Photographs were taken by Tracy Butler; field drawings were produced by Rupert Nesbitt and Joy
Leland.
The funding for the excavations of the University of Toronto at Tell er-Rub’a (Mendes) and its
publication comes from a research grant provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada.
From 1998 the Akhenaten Temple Project and the Mendes Excavations have been under the aegis
of the Pennsylvania State University, and currently enjoy their sponsorship and support. It is with the
help of a subvention from this university that the present work is published.
1 The work in fields AM-AE (the “Harbor”) and the Middle and Old Kingdom sondages (HA and AL-K)
will be published in future volumes.
viii gary n. knoppers
introduction 1
INTRODUCTION
The first controlled scientific excavations to be undertaken at the site of Tell er-Rub’a (Mendes)
were those of New York University under the direction of the late B.V. Bothmer, D. Hansen and
K. Wilson between 1963 and 1980. It is impossible within the narrow parameters of an introduction
to express our indebtedness to this expedition for the vast array of archaeological data they provided
which has constituted a firm foundation for our own work. At this juncture the fundamental work
of R. Stieglitz must be noted, as his survey of the mound and the resultant map forms the basis of
our division of the site into “fields.”Beginning in the surviving northwest angle of the site, on the
south side of the Mansura road, each 100-metre square of the Stieglitz grid has received a double-
letter designation. This will provide an easy means of identification and location for both survey and
excavation units.
The work in field AL (0 × N100; 0 × E100), the “necropolis” (fig. 1) was occasioned and given
focus by the need to address three problems: l. the physical arrangements of the interment of which
the surviving sarcophagus is the centrepiece; 2. the relationship of this mortuary installation with the
eastern temenos wall; 3. the stratigraphic relationship of field AL to the main temple of the Ram
(fields AJ - AK). A number of adverse circumstances conspired to impede the work. The overburden
of sebakh was obvious, but its depth and extent unclear. The temenos wall of the northwest enclosure
on the eastern side was weathered to the point that neither face was in evidence. Uncontrolled and
unrecorded digging around the sarcophagus had removed important stratification. Finally, the dumps of
earlier excavators were unmarked, a common complaint all over Egypt, but especially at Mendes.
We were aided in resolving these problems by the work of a magnetometer team from the University
of Toronto, under the direction of Larry Pawlish (Department of Physics), which undertook a survey
of the northwest enclosure in the summer of 1992. Striking anomalies were detected southeast of the
sarcophagus and along the N-50 metre line, to the northwest of the sarcophagus. These discoveries
in large part dictated the placement of squares and trenches.
Figure 1. Grid map of site with area of the royal necropolis outlined.