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The Search for the Lost Sun Temples: a Glimpse from the Satellite*

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The Search for the Lost Sun Temples: a Glimpse from the Satellite* THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST SUN TEMPLES: A GLIMPSE FROM THE SATELLITE* BY MASSIMILIANO NUZZOLO Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University – PRAGUE AND PATRIZIA ZANFAGNA Municipality of Venice, Office for Architecture, Territorial Planning and GIS-systems – VENICE Glossing the past: previous scholarship and Abu Ghurab In the last twenty-five years remote sensing has become an increasingly important tool for the study of ancient archeological landscape as well as for the understanding of its topographical, geo-morphological and spatial peculiarities.1 In Egyptology, too, remote sensing has been largely used in recent years – also in combination with other technolo- gies (e.g., Lidar) as well as with on-ground tools, such as geophysical surveying and 3D modeling programs – as a means for both the improvement of the cartography of some key areas of Ancient Egypt,2 and the identification of unknown structures (or even entire sites) hidden under the sand and no longer visible to date.3 From a different perspective, and with a more concrete and economic nuance, remote sensing has also proven an * The two authors have dealt, respectively, with the analysis of the theoretical, historical and archaeological data (Massimiliano Nuzzolo) and the analysis of the remote sensed data (Patrizia Zanfagna). As a whole, the article has been completely written by the first author except for the second paragraph (Satellite imagery: some preliminary remarks). The hypotheses proposed in the paper on the individual monuments (especially the hypotheses deriving from the analysis of SAR images) are however to be considered as the result of the combined work of both authors. 1 See S. Parcak, SatelliteRemoteSensingforArchaeology, 2009, p. 28-39. 2 On this subject see in particular the various activities of the « Theban Mapping Project » led by Kent Weeks (http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/), and the recent publications by P. Piccione, SatelliteSurveyofWesternThebes. AdifferentialGPSMappingProjectofthePrivateTombsofSheikhAbdel-Qurnah,GeographicalInformationSystem forthe Theban Necropolis, 2005-2006 (internet publication: http://spinner.cofc.edu/olgis/survey/); A-B. Pimpaud, Archeologia e Calcolatori, Suppl. 3 (2012), p. 175-184, with further bibliography. The latter study has now evolved into a complete archaeological GIS-based map of the Western necropolis which is available online at: https://independent. academia.edu/AlbanBricePimpaud. 3 This is especially the case of Sinai: see G. Mumford – S. Parcak, JEA 89 (2003), p. 83-116; S. Parcak, Archaeologia Polonia 41 (2003), p. 243-245; S. Parcak, in C. Wang (ed.), InternationalConferenceonRemoteSensingArchaeology, 2004, p. 136-141; G. Mumford, BASOR 342 (2006), p. 13-67. Revued’égyptologie68, 79-108. doi : 10.2143/RE.68.0.3285268 Tous droits réservés © Revue d’égyptologie, 2017-2018. 80 M. NUZZOLO – P. ZANFAGNA extremely useful instrument for the understanding of the diachronic evolution of the agricultural landscape of Egypt.4 In the framework of the present paper it is worth mentioning the studies carried out in the last three decades on the main sites of the Memphite necropolis, namely Giza,5 Saqqara6 and Abusir,7 which have significantly contributed to further our knowledge of the area in terms of architectural, topographical and environmental development. The area of Abusir, in particular, has a key role in this context since the objective of the pres- ent paper is to contribute to the possible identification of hidden archaeological structures located in the northernmost area of the Abusir plateau, better known as Abu Ghurab. Here, to the north of the pyramid field, the 5th dynasty pharaohs built some of the most intriguing monuments of ancient Egyptian architecture, the so-called sun temples. Their economic and cultic interaction with the contemporary pyramids, as well as their comple- mentary nature from an architectural and decorative standpoint, have already been the object of several studies,8 including those by one of the present writers.9 4 M. el-Desoky Hereher, MonitoringSpatialandTemporalChangesofAgriculturalLandsintheNileDeltaandtheir ImplicationsonSoilCharacteristicsUsingRemoteSensing (UMIDissertation), 2006. 5 The site of Giza has undergone a long-lasting and still ongoing process of mapping using diversified methods of research. The results of this work, conducted by the AERA, under the direction of Mark Lehner, are available online (http://www.aeraweb.org/projects/gpmp/). 6 The site of Saqqara has certainly been the main focus of scholarly attention due to its central position in the history of the Memphite necropolis. The most comprehensive work on the Saqqara plateau, including all the maps and satellite images hitherto available, is E. Bresciani – A. Giammarusti, TheNorthSaqqaraArchaeologicalSite.HandbookfortheEnvironmental RiskAnalysis, 2003. However several studies were produced on limited parts of the necropolis as well as on the use of diver- sified methods of field analysis such as, for example, geophysics. In this context it is worth mentioning at least the most recent, where it is also possible to find further bibliography: M. Nuzzolo, in M. Bárta – F. Coppens – J. Krejči (eds.), Abusirand SaqqaraintheYear2015, 2018, p. 257-292; V. Dobrev, in F. Raffaele – M. Nuzzolo – I. Incordino (eds.), RecentDiscoveries and Latest Researches in Egyptology. Proceedings of the First Neapolitan Congress of Egyptology, Naples, June18th-20th 2008, 2010, p. 51-65; I. Mathieson – J. Dittmer, JEA 93 (2007), p. 79-93; D. Jeffreys – A. Tavares, in M. Bárta – J. Krejčí (eds.), AbusirandSaqqaraintheYear2000, 2001, p. 27-32. 7 Works at Abusir were mainly conducted by the Czech team from the university of Prague, under the direction of Miroslav Verner, first, and Miroslav Bárta, later. The main results of this survey are available in M. Bárta – V. Bruna, SatelliteAtlasofthePyramids, 2006, p. 10-14. See also M. Bárta – V. Bruna, EA 26 (2005), p. 3-6; M. Bárta etal., Abusir XXIII.TheTomboftheSunPriestNeferinpu(AS37), 2014, p. 3-5, pl. 1.1-1.4. 8 W. Kaiser, MDAIK 14 (1956), p. 104-116; E. Winter, WZKM 54 (1957), p. 222-233; P. Posener-Kriéger, Lesarchives dutemplefunérairedeNéferirkarê-Kakaï(LesPapyrusd’Abousir):traductionetcommentaire (BdE 65), 1976, p. 519-526; M. Rochholz, in R. Gundlach – M. Rochholz (eds.), ÄgyptischeTempel–Struktur,FunktionundProgramm (HÄB37), 1994, p. 255-280; S. Voss, UntersuchungenzudenSonnenheiligtümerder5.Dynastie.BedeutungundFunktioneinessingulären TempeltypsimAltenReich, 2004; H. Vymazalová, in N. & H. Strudwick (eds.), OldKingdom:NewPerspectives.Artand Archaeology2750-2150BC, 2011, p. 295-303; J. Janák – F. Coppens – H. Vymazalová, in M. Bárta – F. Coppens – J. Krejčí (eds.), AbusirandSaqqaraintheYear2010,2011, p. 430-442; M. Verner, SonsoftheSun.RiseandDeclineofthe5thdynasty, 2014, p. 199-226. 9 M. Nuzzolo, SAK 36 (2007), p. 217-247; M. Nuzzolo, SAK39 (2010), p. 289-312; M. Nuzzolo, in I. Hein – N. Billing (eds.), ThePyramids:BetweenLifeandDeath (BOREAS 36), 2015, p. 163-186. RdE 68 (2017-2018) THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST SUN TEMPLES: A GLIMPSE FROM THE SATELLITE 81 However, out of the six sun temples known from epigraphic and historical sources, the location of four of them is still completely unknown and has not received particular atten- tion so far.10 The search for the lost temples is, instead, not only of relevant scientific interest but also extremely promising when we consider the chance, not very common for the Ancient Egyptian sites, to base our search on the cross-examination of the historical cartography available on the area with both the Photogrammetrical Map scaled 1:5000 – which was realized in 1978 by the Egyptian Government and the French Aviation (IGMF) – and the remote sensing imagery produced by both optical and radar sensors. Moreover, the most recently developed satellite imagery, namely the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images produced by the generation of the COSMO Sky-Med satellites – compared and combined with the traditional panchromatic images, such as, e.g., the ones available through the Google Earth system, allow us to investigate the above area with a increasing degree of detail and accuracy. In this context we will not discuss either the importance of the new radar technology and imagery for the exploration of the archaeological landscape, or the differences among the existing types of radar images, given that several studies have dealt with these issues.11 Rather, what we would like to emphasize here, especially in the perspective of possible future investigations in the field, is the importance of applying this technology to the case study of the sun temples in Abu Ghurab. This approach can offer not only a better vision and understanding of the sun temples area, but also complement our knowledge of the overall topography of the 5th dynasty royal necropolis of Abusir, of which Abu Ghurab, in the antiquity, was considered as an integral part.12 Before summarizing the historical investigation of the site in the last centuries and pre- senting the results of the combined analysis of archaeological, topographical and remote sensed sources, some preliminary remarks are necessary on the different features of the panchromatic and radar images we use for this investigation, as well as on their combined integration. 10 Some scholars have even doubted the existence of other sun temples by arguing that some of the 5th dynasty kings (i.e., Sahura and Neferirkara) were in fact reusing the temple of a previous king (i.e., Userkaf): see R. Stadelmann,
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