Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History, Madrid, 20th-24th January 2003, ed. S. Huerta, Madrid: I. Juan de Herrera, SEdHC, ETSAM, A. E. Benvenuto, COAM, F. Dragados, 2003.
On the daily amount of excavation for the construction of the rock-cut tomb during the New Kingdom Period of Andent Egypt
Takaharu Endo
INTRODUCTlONl excavation per day for the construction of this rock- cut tomb, whilst reconsidering the decipherment of Rock-cut tombs are a well-known type of building the hieratic inscriptions reported by Fábián. from the early period of ancient Egypt. Their construction peaked during the New Kingdom period (ea. ]550-1069 BC). Many tombs of roya] fami]ies RECONSIDERATlON OF THE HIERA TIC INSCRIPTIONS and high officia]s were bui]t on the western bank of a LEFT IN TT32 rocky mountain near the present city of Luxor. Many hieratic documents, written main]y by workers at the The places where the hieratic inscriptions remain in Kings' tombs in Oeir el-Medina (Cerny ]930-35; TT32 are the cei]ing and walls of the narrow corridor Cerny and Sauneron ] 935-70) inform us in detai] to the burial chamber, which stretches over 20 m in about the organization of work in constructing these the same sectiona] formo The inscriptions often rock-cut tombs (Cerny 1973; Eyre 1987).2 The dai]y include a measurement and a date, accompanied by a amount of excavation by these workers, however, is horizontal ]jne. The further into the rock-cut tomb, the not known because of the scarcity of any written ]ater the date, and it is possib]e to calculate the records; thus, we have not succeeded in calcu]ating amount of excavation per day by comparing the the actual duration of construction from the size of the number of days between the recorded dates. In the existing tombs. ancient Egyptian calendar, ayear was divided into Given this situation, we may now pay attention lo three seasons: Akhet (inundation); Peret (emergencc the hieratic inscriptions left in Theban rock-cut tomb of crops, or winter); and Shemu (harvesl, or summer). no. 32 (hereaftcr «TT32» in accordance with Each season was four months long, with each month Egyptologica] convention). These inscriptions, comprising 30 days, and with 10 days in a week. By recent]y described by Fábián from the Hungarian adding the five epagomena] days at the end of Shemu, archaeologica] team (Fábián 1992), are mostly short ayear totalled 365 days (Spa]inger 2001). The dates notes containing measurements and dates. We can written in the tomb are in accordance with this safely assume that the excavation workers ]eft these calendar system. The hieratic inscriptions and their graffiti to record their rate of progress. U nfortunately, interpretation are shown in Figure 1, and below is a as there seem to have been some errors in deciphering reconsideration of the inscriptions that Fábián seems the dates in the hieratic inscriptions in Fábián' s to have deciphered incorrectly. report, it cannot be used as a direct source for rlnscription 5] Fábián interpreted the date of this research. In this paper, 1 examine the amount of inscription to be «day 29'1», but according to the 812 T. Endo
r1'1:a ea .f9lJ,,~1!.tf04LVI~ ;:.w'o~OT L_:--,- -r- - 1. cxtremity, the first month of Pere!, day 6, insidc measurcmenl? 2. the fírst month 01'Paet, day 23, extremíty r-' 3bd I prt xw 6 q3b.j bbsl (translítcralion by Fábián) 3bd 1prt sw 23 rJ (translitcraLion by Fábián)
... -=- . ,~,o ;~¡ -,ec.n la .".... "'1 ~ -- -
3. the fourth jTIoJ1thof Peret, day 2 4. the fírst month of Shemu, day 28 Jbd 4 prf sw 2 (trans!itcration by Fábián) 3bd 1 Smw sw 28 ltranslitcration by Fáhián)
~ ~\ «-:)~f:. a \\, ) ,. ~e~1i -
s. the third month of Shemu, day 29'1 6. lhe secolld month 01'Akhet, day 23 3bd J .~mw sw 29? (tmnslitcration by Fábián) 3bd 2 3{¡! sw 23 (translíteration by Fábián) the thlfd month 01 Shemu, day 15 ,he sccond month of Akhel, day 17 3bd 3 .~mw vw /5 (translitcratíon by author) 3bd 2 3/1I sw 17 (transli'eralion by author) (; .. :' t1fIII11" 1 ~"'O 1--.. -~OJ 1" . - :)/~II'(., - '- -- T- 8. lhe fourth month of Akhct, day 25 7. the thírd month of Akhct, day 16 3bd 4 3b! sw 25 (translitcration by I~'ábián) 3bd 3 3b! sw 16 (tmnslíteration by Fábián) lhe thírd monlh 01'Akhct, day 25 3bd 3 3ht sw 25 (transllteration by author)
~..~ -::\ "".., - ~- J\..~ ~;;F" V4-- -- .
9. the founh month 01'Akhel, day 20+x" 3bd 4 3bt sw 20+x7 (tTanslíteralion by Fábián) 10.I11II1 ,he fourt.h month of Akhet. day 26, 60 cubits the 10Ulth Illonth of Akhet, day 10 1/1111(3bd 4) 3bt sw 26 m!¡ 60 (translitemtÍon by Fábián) 3bd4 311t5W lO (translíteralion byautbor)
Figure 1 Hieratic inscriptions with dates, inscribed in the corridor of TT32 (adapted from Fábián 1992, pp. 141-152) On the daily amount of excavation for the construction of the rock-cut tomb 813 palaeography in the New Kingdom period (Mol!er 1927, p. 60), it could represent «day 15». [Inscription 6] As in the previous case, Fábián's interpretation of «day 23» seems to be incorrect; according to the palaeography it could represent «day 17». [lnscription 8] Fábián translates this as «the fourth month of Inundation, day 25», but as earlier dates than this are inscribed further along the corridor, a !0 different translation seems to be required. Additionally, a date from the inscription about 1.65 m further along from this inscription is translated as «the N+-- fourth month, day 26» (Figure 1-10). However, it seems impossible to excavate such a large section in 3m a single day, considering the amount of excavation completed during other work periods. Although we figure 2 () cautiously acknowledge that it is possible to read the The position of the hieratic inscriptions 1-1 in the corridor of first hieratic in the figure as «the fourth month» as TT32 (reproduced by author, based on Fábián 1992, Fig. 3) interpreted by Fábián, since the date is clearly interpreted as «day 25», it could also be interpreted as «the third month». In referring to the drawing 01' TT32 made by the [lnscription 9J Fábián reads the date as «day 20 Hungarian investigation team (Kákosy 1988, abb. 1), +x'»>, but according to the palaeography, it should the section 01' the corridor where the inscriptions probably be interpreted as «day 10». Because he remain is about 1.58 m high and 1.05 m wide. Supposing the workers worked without any holidays,4 translated the inscriptions in Figure 1-8, located it is possible to calculate the daily amount 01' before this inscription, as «the fourth month, day 25», excavation by multiplying the distance between the he probably judged that al! the dates on the recorded dates by the cross-sectional area 01' the inscriptions further along the corridor were later than corridor (= approx. 1.58 m x 1.05 m), and then «day 25». dividing it by the number of days between those dates. Based on the reconsideration of Fábián's translation in the preceding paragraph, the result 01' DISCUSSION calculations using the abovementioned formula is indicated in Table l. The amount of excavation was It is a wel!-known fact-for instance, from the con verted to dny, which was a unit commonly used in ancient Egypt (1 dny 1 cubic cubit; 1 cubit ostracon discovered in the tomb of Senenmut (TT71), = = approx. 52.5 cm; 1 dny = 0.14 m3). The number 01' the high official who was in Queen Hatshepust's days from «the third month 01'Shemu, day 15» to «the favour (Hayes r1942] 1973, pp. 21-23, pis. second month of Akhet, day 17» 01' work period V XIII-XVI)-that the amount 01' excavation was was calculated to be a total of 97 days, by adding five recorded after each day's work in order for the epagomenal days to the 45 days 01' the season 01' workers' supervisor to monitor the progress of the Shemu and the 47 days 01'the season of Akhet. work. 1 believe that the short inscriptions found in When we look at Table 1, some differences in the TT32 are graffiti recording the progress 01'work, just amount 01' excavation per day during each work as in the abovementioned hieratic inscription, period can be observed, but they tend to be aIthough it is very rare to find an example of such approximately 0.5-1.0 dny. Concerning the number inscriptions remaining in the actual architectural 01' workers engaged in the excavation work, one relics.3 Moreover, in the case 01'TT32, the fact that it excavator with a few assistants behind him to carry contains dates recorded intermittently for almost a out limestone chips would have been the best whole year makes it a valuabJe source 01'information arrangement when we consider the limited workspace for studying the construction process (Figure 2). width of about 1.05 m. My provisional conclusion is 814 T. Endo
number of da)'s excavated distance amount of exca\'ation \'I'ork ~riod dail,'" amount of eXC8vation , day I from "[he [irsl month of Peret, lO "[he [irst month of Peret 17days !-24cubits 7.43 dny 0.44 dny da)' 6" 23" 11 [rom first month of Peret . day LO fourth month of Perer . da;: 69days JO.76cubits 64.57 dnv 0.94 dllY "the 23" "the 2" 111 from "the fourth month of PUe! ,day LO"the first month of Shemu ,day 56days cubits 4J.14dny 0.73 dny 2" 28" 6.86"' ,day ¡hird month nf Shemu ,day 47days ]9.43 IV from "the first month of Shemu 28" to "¡hi' 15" 3.24* cubils dn}' O.41dIlY , ] , day 97days 11.62 cubils 69.72 dny V from "!he third month of Shemu 15" to "the second month of Akhet da)' 7" 0.72 dny , , VI frum to "¡he of Akher day 29days cubits 27.42 dny 0.95 dny "the second month of Akhet da)' ! 7" ¡hird month 16" 4.57'" ,day , da) VII [rom third month of Akhet ]6" lo third monlh of Akhet IOdays 1.33 euhits 8.00dn.Y 0.80 dny "the "the 25" ] VIII from "the third month of Akher ,da}' "the fourth month of Akhet ,ua}' 10" 15 uays ¡,90cuhits 1.43 dl1.v 0.76 dny , 25" 'o da) , day 16days 1.24cubits 7.43 d/l)' IX from ",he four1h month of Akhct 10" to "the fourth month of Akhet 26" 0.46 dny
Table 1 Daily amount of excavation for the construction of TT32. Each work period is based on the reconsideration of hieratic inscriptions, in section 2 above. Regarding the column labelled «excavated distance», the figures with asterisks are obtained fram a plan (Fábián 1992, Fig. 3), and the rest are adapted fram the description in Fábián' s paper.
to set the daily amount of excavation per worker at SUMMARY 0.5-1.0 dny (0.07-0.14 m3), and presuming that there were some holidays from work, this indicates that a In this paper, I have examined the rock-cut tombs of volume somewhat larger than this was excavated in ancient Egypt by focusing on the hieratic inscriptions one day's work. on the ceiling of rock-cut tomb No.32 (TT32) in For comparison, we consider the hieratic Thebes, which recorded the progress of excavation documents of the New Kingdom period, which was work. When 1 calculated the daily amount of contemporary with TT32. The study by Ventura excavation per worker during the construction of the (1988), who attempted to decipher papyrus number rock-cut tomb, based on the reconsideration of the 1923 (stored in the Egyptian Museum of Turin), hieratic inscriptions first reported by Fábián, the m}). presumed that the scribe who had the role of result was approximately 0.5- 1.0 dny (0.07-0.14 controlling the work schedule for the excavation of In addition, 1 have demonstrated that these values do the royal tomb of Ramesses VI made an estimate that not conflict greatiy with hieratic documents related to «the project to complete the tomb in three years the excavation of royal tombs in the same New would go as planned if 108 dny were excavated per Kingdom period as TT32. It is expected that this day (54 dny per crew with two crews working)5 with concIusion will shed new light on studies concerning 348 work days in each year». Unfortunately, as this the number of days taken to build rock-cut tombs in papyrus has no description of the number of workers, ancient Egypt. the amount of excavation per worker is not clear. However, it is known from other hieratic documents that during the reign of Ramesses IV of the same 20th ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS dynasty, between 60 and a maximum of 120 people- and during the reign of Ramesses IX, 62 workers in Many thanks are due to Shin-ichi Nishimoto, two crews composed of 31 workers per crew-were Associate Professor of Waseda University, for employed in the excavation of the royal tombs (Cerny reading through the draft of this paper and providing 1973, pp. 103-108; Eyre 1980, p. 113). If we apply valuable suggestions. these numbers to the excavation of Ramesses VI's tomb, the daily amount of excavation per worker would be 0.9-1.8 dny (approx. 0.13-0.25 m3), and NOTES this amount is not far from the abovementioned 1. This paper is a revised version 01' a paper written in number for TT32. Therefore, although there is still Japanese by Endo and Nishimoto, 2002. scope for further investigation, we can safely 2. In addition, regarding practical methods for excavation ] ] conclude that a daily amount of excavation per of the rack-cut tombs, see Mackay 921: Arnold 991, worker of 0.5-1.0 dny is an appropriate gauge for 211-21 R; Owen and Kemp 1994. caJculating the number of days taken to construct the 3. Although it is not the case with rack-cut tombs, some rock-cut tomb. successivc hicratic dates with parallel red lines are On the daily amount of excavation for the construction of the rock-cut tomb 815
preserved on the walls and ceilings of ¡he quarry at Theban Necropolis in the Ramesside Period (PhD, Qurna on thc western bank at Luxor. This record is very unpublished dissertation, The Queen' s ColIege Oxford). valuable for quantifying the daily work on producing Eyre. C. 1. 1987. Work and the Organization of Work in the stone blocks at the quarry (Nishimoto. Kawasaki and New Kingdom. In Labor in the Anclent Near East, ed. M. Endo 200 1; Nishimoto, Yoshimura and Kondo 2002). A. Powell, American Oriental Series 68. 167-221. New 4. According to the tcxtual sources from the workers' Haven. CT. village at Deir el-Medina during the Ramesside period, Fábián. Z. 1. 1992. Graffiti in TT32. In The /ntellectual the days 9-10. 19-20, and 29-30 of the Egyptian month Heritage of Egypt, ed. U. Luft, Studia Aegyptiaca XIV, were generally regarded as holidays from work. 137-156. Budapest. However, if the completion of a tomb had to be Hayes, W. C. [1942] 1973. Ostraka and Name Stones from hastened for some une x pected reason, then the the Tomb of Sen-mut (No. 7/) at Thebes. New York. excavation work was done with almost no holidays. Cf. Helck, W. 1977. Feiertage. Lexikon del' Agyptologie n, 145. Helck 1977. 145. Wiesbaden. 5. A number of hieratic inscriptions during the New Mackay. E. 1921. The Cutting and Preparation of Tomb- Kingdom period indicate that the building crew was Chapels in the Theban Necropolis. Journal of Egyptian divided into two sides, called «sml;y (the left»> and Archaeology 7: 154-168. «wnmy (the right)>>. However, it is difficult to determine M6l1er, G. 1927. Hieratische Paldographie, Band n. whether the distinction was related to the actual work or Leipzig. to the administrative practice. Cf. Eyre 1987, 185-186. Nishimoto, S., M. Kawasaki and T. Endo. 2001. Working Process for Producing Stone Blocks: Ancient Egyptian Quarry at Qurna. Journal of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Engineering 549: 271-276 (in Japanese). REFERENCE LlST Nishimoto, S., S. Yoshimura and 1. Kondo. 2002. Hieratic Inscriptions trom the Quarry at Qurna: an interim Report. Arnold, D. 1991. Building in Egypt. New York. Brilish Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 1: 20-31. Cerny,1. 1930-35. Ostraca hiératiques; Catalogue général