DOCSLIB.ORG

Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-Brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of So-Called “Nile-Mud”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-Brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of So-Called “Nile-Mud” Volume IV ● Issue 1/2013 ● Pages 9–22 INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY homepage: http://www.iansa.eu IV/1/2013 Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of so-called “Nile-mud” Martin Odlera*, Veronika Dulíkováa, Lucie Juřičkováb aCzech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Celetná 20, 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic bDepartment of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44 Prague 2, Czech Republic ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: More than 200 archaeological features were looted in Abusir during the Egyptian Lotus revolution in Received: 27. February 2013 January 2011. The survey of the looted features brought to light among other material mollusc shells Accepted: 24. June 2013 from mud-brick, mud plaster and layers covering and filling tombs and shafts. Sixteen features could be dated to the Old Kingdom (5th–6th dynasty, ca. 2435–2118 BC); there are two possible features Keywords: from the 3rd dynasty or early 4th dynasty (ca. 2543–2436 BC) and one feature datable to the Late Abusir Period (664–404 BC). Four species of gastropods and five species of bivalves were identified. A Old Kingdom number of the species are now either extinct or have a limited range in the Nile with these including: Late Period Unio elongatulus, Coelatura aegyptiaca, Anodonta cygnaea, and in all probability Etheria elliptica. Molluscs The most frequent freshwater species in the corpus, from slow flowing or stagnant waters, could be Environment evidence for the environment from which the mud for mud-brick and mud plaster was extracted. It mud-brick could have been the Lake of Abusir, irrigation channels or the slower flowing part of the Old Kingdom Old Kingdom pottery west branch of the Nile. shells 1. Introduction should therefore provide information about the environment in which the so-called “Nile-mud” was gathered for the Concerning the area of the concession of the Czech Institute production of mud-brick and mud plaster. The freshwater of Egyptology, more than 200 archaeological features were malacofauna of the Nile Basin was summarised recently looted in Abusir during the Egyptian Lotus revolution in a volume concerning the River Nile (Van Damme, in January 2011. The looters broke into storerooms and Van Bocxlaer 2009). An overview of Ancient Egyptian sealed tombs, ransacked the entire area and damaged as yet molluscs is provided by entries in Lexikon der Ägyptologie unexcavated tombs and shafts (Figure 1).1 The nearby so- (Feucht 1982; Seyfried 1986).2 Molluscs in Ancient called Bonnet’s cemetery, dating back to the Early Dynastic Egyptian mud-brick, mud plaster and pottery have not, to our period and excavated only partially (Bonnet 1928), was knowledge, been examined in the literature as yet. Species of taken over by the village of Abusir in March 2011 as an molluscs were thus determined and only published as finds enlargement of an existing Muslim cemetery. A number of in archaeological contexts, most recently e.g. from the Satet the preliminary results of the survey of the looted structures temple on the island of Elephantine (Falkner 1982, 155–163), in the field are presented here with a focus on the finds of from Tell el-Dab’a (Boessneck, Driesch 1992, 43–44), from malacofauna and their provenance. Buto (Boessneck, Driesch 1997, 214–215), from the Qubbet Malacofauna is a well-known indicator of the natural el-Hawa cemetery (Edel, Seyfried, Vieler 2008, LXXXII– environment – molluscs in mud-brick and mud plaster LXXXIII) and from the Early Dynastic site Tell el-Farkha *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 2The detailed information in the chapter on marine and freshwater shells in 1Preliminary report on the looting in Abusir was only published in Czech Ancient Mesopotamian material culture is, however, not yet surpassed by (Bárta 2011a). any work in Egyptian archaeology (Moorey 1999, 129–140). 9 IANSA 2013 ● IV/1 ● 9–22 Martin Odler, Veronika Dulíková, Lucie Juřičková: Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of so-called “Nile-mud” Figure 1. Looted features in the concession of the Czech Institute of Egyptology in Abusir with total station coordinates. The satellite image of the Memphite necropolis is used as a basemap (Bárta, Brůna 2006). 0 800 m Figure 2. Looted features with molluscs in the concession of the Czech Institute of Egyptology in Abusir. Three other archaeological contexts with molluscs are added to the map, excavated tombs AS 37 (Neferinpu), AS 54 and AS 57. 0 400 m 10 IANSA 2013 ● IV/1 ● 9–22 Martin Odler, Veronika Dulíková, Lucie Juřičková: Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of so-called “Nile-mud” Figure 3. Vaulted mudbrick tomb RD T 81 dated preliminarily by the pottery into the Late Period. Part of the vault was destroyed and the mud-brick laid scattered around along with human bones and mummy wrappings. Limestone sarcophagus was also smashed with its lower head part lying near the right lower corner of the picture (photo M. Frouz). (Abłamowicz 2012, 418–419). Species of molluscs found in from Lahun had, among other data, an entry on the levigating the feature AS 57 in Abusir were determined by L. Juřičková of clay on the east bank of a water body for the production of and published by Z. Sůvová (2011); finds from the Lake of mud-brick (Collier, Quirke 2006, 12–15). Abusir were published by L. Juřičková (Cílek et al. 2012). A fundamental monograph on Ancient Egyptian mud-brick was published by Spencer (1979). Environmental studies of 2. Methodology Ancient Egyptian mud-brick are scarce, with existing articles focused on erosion (Spencer 1994) and sedimentology of The rescue expedition of the Czech Institute of Egyptology mud-brick (Tell el-Moqdam: Morgenstein, Redmount 1998; arrived at site in March 2011 with the main aim of Karnak: Kemp 2000, 80–81; Amarna: Kemp 2000, 80–81). documenting the damage in the field and in the storehouses. Pollen determination and analysis of mud-brick contents has The robbers’ illicit digs were documented by GPS and total been published from Giza (Ayyad, Krzywinski, Pierce 1991) station coordinates, photographs, description of the tombs, and Abusir (Pokorný et al. 2009, 36). Information on shafts and unidentifiable features in the field. The material environmental sources is also complemented by written remaining after the looting near the features was sampled, sources. The Middle Kingdom papyrus UCL 32190, III.1 primarily pottery and occasionally other find types, yet Figure 4. The mollusc shell in situ in the mud mortar of Neferinpu’s tomb (AS 37) (photo M. Odler). 11 IANSA 2013 ● IV/1 ● 9–22 Martin Odler, Veronika Dulíková, Lucie Juřičková: Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of so-called “Nile-mud” 12 Table 1. Features with mollusc shells found during the survey of the looted structures in Abusir (March 2011). Three other archaeological contexts with molluscs are added to the table, excavated tombs AS 37, AS 54 and AS 57. ID of Type of Specification Dating Dimension of Depth of shaft dug Mudbrick description Dimensions of Pottery Reference feature feature shaft opening by robbers mudbrick (cm) RD S 38 shaft tafl shaft dynasty 5–6 0.98 × 1.05 1.5 unpublished RD S 62 shaft tafl shaft dynasty 3–4 0.81 × 0.80 3.63 21.5 × 10.5 × 7 frg. of beer jar with plastic rib, unpublished bowl with internal ledge, bowl; Early Dynastic – dynasties 3–4 RD S 64 shaft mud-brick shaft dynasty 5–6 1.36 × 0.93 1.32 dark brown 20 × 10.5 × 7 unpublished RD T 18 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 light brown ? × 13 × 9 frg. of beer jar, platter; Old unpublished Kingdom – dynasties 5–6 RD T 21 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 dark brown 29.5 × 14 × 7–8 unpublished RD T 29 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 1.1 × 1.06 1.98 light brown sandy material ? × 13 × 6.5 unpublished RD T 43 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 30 × 10 × ? unpublished RD T 50 tomb stone tomb dynasty 5–6 light brown sandy material 27 × 13.5 × 8 unpublished RD T 58 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 dark brown 29 × 14 × 9 frg. of stand; Old Kingdom – unpublished dynasties 5–6 RD T 61 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 dark brown 24 × 12 × ? frg. of beer jar and bowl; Old unpublished Kingdom – dynasties 5–6 RD T 65 tomb stone tomb dynasty 5–6 light brown 24 × 12 × 8 frg. of beer jar; Old Kingdom – unpublished dynasties 5–6 RD T 71 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 0.95 × 0.95 1.25 dark brown 22 × 11 × 7 unpublished RD T 74 tomb stone tomb dynasty 3–4 frg. of beer jar with plastic rib; unpublished Early Dynastic – dynasties 3–4 RD T 81 tomb mud-brick tomb Late Period dark brown with addition of 36–37 × 16.5 × 9 Late Period pottery frgs. unpublished chaff and pottery sherds RD T 83 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5–6 dark brown with addition of 21–23 × 10.5 × 6.5 frg. of beer jar and bowl; Old unpublished pottery sherds, shells, chaff Kingdom – dynasties 5–6 and sand RD U 63 unidentified mud-brick feature dynasty 5–6 frg. of beer jar, miniature bowl; unpublished feature Old Kingdom – dynasties 5–6 RD U 151 unidentified mud-brick feature dynasty 5–6 dark brown with addition 26 × 12.5 × 8 unpublished feature of sand RD U 153 unidentified mud-brick feature dynasty 5–6 dark brown 28 × 14 × ? unpublished feature RD U 161 unidentified mud-brick feature dynasty 5–6 unpublished feature AS 37 tomb stone tomb late dynasty 5 Bárta (2013) AS 54 tomb mud-brick tomb late dynasty 3 Bárta (2011b) AS 57 tomb mud-brick tomb dynasty 5 Vymazalová et al.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • PYRAMIDS and ZIGGURATS AS the ARCHITECTONIC REPRESENTATIONS of the ARCHETYPE of the COSMIC MOUNTAIN. Part I
    I Andrzej WIERCINSKI, Warszawa PYRAMIDS AND ZIGGURATS AS THE ARCHITECTONIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ARCHETYPE OF THE COSMIC MOUNTAIN. Part I "Is there a man of you who by anxious thought can add a cubit to the age of his life? "(The Gospel of St. Matthew, 6, 27, according to Greek text) 1. Explanation of the problem The astrobiological religion played the role of a main ideological system which regulated societies of the formative-theocratic phase of cultural development of mankind which was distinguished by the rise of cultic centers of the monumental architecture. The latter ones were the cores of early urbanisation process. This religion has precised a model of the world with well defined position of man within it, and the sense of his activities. Its essence consisted of a dynamical and informational principle of transformation of an Absolute One into pairs of polarised opposites which, in turn, create an universal frame of reference of Cardinal Points organizing the time-spatial order of rhythmically repeating and mutually synchron­ ised cosmic, biological and socio-cultural processes and, at last, the psychic processes of the human individual. All these was vivified, personificated and deified ( for the main assumtions of the model see: A. Wiercinski, 19761 ). The astrobiological model of the world and man was statically patterned in mutually equivalent, due to a symbolical analogisation, archetypical (in Jungian sense) and iconic-numerical representations. Among them, the main position has been occupied by: the Cosmic Mountain, the Cosmic Tree � Cosmic Ladder � Cosmic Pillar, the Mandala, the Cosmic Man� man as Microcosmos and, © Del documento, los autores.
    [Show full text]
  • Press Release Sahure
    PRESS RELEASE Belgian Archaeological Mission to Elkab discovers important fragment of unique Old Kingdom royal statue Since 2009, the Belgian Archaeological Mission to Elkab, directed by Dr. Dirk Huyge of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, has focused its research on the settlement area of Elkab. Excavation campaigns in 2009, 2010 and 2012 have revealed the presence of a vast habitation area, situated within the Late Period Great Walls, immediately north and west of the temple zone. The oldest occupation phase dates back to the prehistoric Badarian culture (ca. 4200 BC); the most recent one concerns the early Old Kingdom (ca. 2700-2500 BC). The finds at Elkab demonstrate a continuous occupation of the site during almost two millennia. They bear witness to the on-the-spot gradual transition from a prehistoric (Neolithic/Predynastic) village lifestyle to a fully-developed Old Kingdom urban society. The latest test trenches executed at the site in February-March 2015 have allowed the mission to better document both the important 2 nd Dynasty habitation layers, including substantial rectangular buildings with large walls and stone foundations, as well as the late Predynastic (Naqada III period) occupation. The most exceptional find of the 2015 campaign, however, was that of a fragment (base and lower part of legs) of an Old Kingdom royal statue. The preserved height is 21.7 cm. The inscriptions on the fragment have been independently verified and read by Egyptologists Prof. John Coleman Darnell (Yale University, New Haven, US) and Dr. Luc Delvaux (Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Belgium).
    [Show full text]
  • Glossing the Past: the Fifth Dynasty Sun Temples, Abu Ghurab and the Satellite Imagery
    PES XIX_2017_studied_90-136_PES 14.12.17 9:47 Stránka 110 1 1 0 PES XIX/2017 GLOSSING THE PAST: THE FIFTH DYNASTY SUN TEMPLES Fig. 1 Historical cartography of the Abusir plateau in comparison (from left to right): Lepsius’ map (1849: pl. 32), De Morgan’s map (1897: pl. 11) and the Franco-Egyptian map (EMHR 1978, sheet 21). The circles enclose the two missing Pyramids Lepsius XVI and Lepsius XXVIII Glossing the past: the Fifth Dynasty sun temples, Abu Ghurab and the satellite imagery Massimiliano Nuzzolo – Patrizia Zanfagna On the northernmost foothill of the Abusir plateau, which is usually known as Abu Ghurab, a few hundred meters from the royal necropolis, the Fifth Dynasty pharaohs built some of the most intriguing monuments of ancient Egyptian architecture, the so-called sun temples. So far, however, only two of the six temples known from the textual sources of the time have been identified and systematically excavated, i.e. that of Userkaf and Nyuserre. Four sanctuaries still remain to be discovered. The present paper has thus the aim to shed some light on their possible locations by means of the combined analysis of archaeological evidence, historical cartography and new remote sensing imagery. Over the past two decades, remote sensing techniques have well as the identification of a complex system of commu- been increasingly used in Egyptology for the study and re- nication, dating back to the Old Kingdom, between the construction of the archeological landscape of ancient Red Sea coast and the copper mines of the Wadi Maghara Egypt and the analysis of its topographical and spatial pe- (Mumford – Parcak 2003: 83–116; Parcak 2004a: culiarities.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstract Volume
    ABSTRACT VOLUME August 11-16, 2019 1 2 Table of Contents Pages Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………………...1 Abstracts Symposia and Contributed talks……………………….……………………………………………3-225 Poster Presentations…………………………………………………………………………………226-291 3 Venom Evolution of West African Cone Snails (Gastropoda: Conidae) Samuel Abalde*1, Manuel J. Tenorio2, Carlos M. L. Afonso3, and Rafael Zardoya1 1Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC), Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Evolutiva 2Universidad de Cadiz, Departamento CMIM y Química Inorgánica – Instituto de Biomoléculas (INBIO) 3Universidade do Algarve, Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR) Cone snails form one of the most diverse families of marine animals, including more than 900 species classified into almost ninety different (sub)genera. Conids are well known for being active predators on worms, fishes, and even other snails. Cones are venomous gastropods, meaning that they use a sophisticated cocktail of hundreds of toxins, named conotoxins, to subdue their prey. Although this venom has been studied for decades, most of the effort has been focused on Indo-Pacific species. Thus far, Atlantic species have received little attention despite recent radiations have led to a hotspot of diversity in West Africa, with high levels of endemic species. In fact, the Atlantic Chelyconus ermineus is thought to represent an adaptation to piscivory independent from the Indo-Pacific species and is, therefore, key to understanding the basis of this diet specialization. We studied the transcriptomes of the venom gland of three individuals of C. ermineus. The venom repertoire of this species included more than 300 conotoxin precursors, which could be ascribed to 33 known and 22 new (unassigned) protein superfamilies, respectively. Most abundant superfamilies were T, W, O1, M, O2, and Z, accounting for 57% of all detected diversity.
    [Show full text]
  • Missing Royal Boat Graves at Abusir? 714 MIROSLAV VERNER
    INSTITUT DES CULTURES MÉDITERRANÉENNES ET ORIENTALES DE L’ACADÉMIE POLONAISE DES SCIENCES ÉTUDES et TRAVAUX XXVI 2013 MIROSLAV VERNER Missing Royal Boat Graves at Abusir? 714 MIROSLAV VERNER Burials of boats in the Old Kingdom pyramid complexes rank among a number of questions which have been debated for a long time but, so far, have not as yet had any satisfactory answers.1 For example, it remains to be explained why such fundamental questions as the meaning of these boats (which might have changed in the course of time), the fl uctuating number of boats buried in one pyramid complex, the absence of boat graves in some pyramid complexes, etc., have not been answered. This brief article does not strive to tackle all these complex problems. Rather, it seeks to deal with only one archaeological aspect of the boat graves concerning the royal cemetery at Abusir. Not surprisingly, an impetus for this refl ection was provided by the Abusir papyri. Among the papyri coming from Neferirkare’s mortuary temple archive there are two fragments (one of them, 31 A, is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo whereas the second one, 31 B, is in the British Museum in London) the texts of which directly refer to the funerary boats which had originally been part of Neferirkare’s pyramid complex.2 The text on fragment B specifi es that the boats were two and were called the South Boat and the North Boat. Moreover, the text also mentions the extent of damage revealed during the inspection of the South Boat.
    [Show full text]
  • Seafaring in Ancient Egypt
    Seafaring in Ancient Egypt Cheryl Ward For more than 40 years, Abdel Moneim Abdel crafts were built of thick planks fastened by lashing Halim Sayed sought evidence to expand our and by mortise-and-tenon joints that were not locked knowledge of ancient Egyptian seafaring in texts, in place with pegs. These wooden boats are built like images, and along the Red Sea coast. His work in those of no other culture in the world then or since. this area provided the first, and for many years, the I have argued elsewhere that wooden boat building only physical evidence of a second millennium BCE technology evolved independently within Egypt presence on the Red Sea and inspired a number of in response to local conditions and within a social students and scholars to further explore questions structure that relied on boats as a means to legitimize related to the nature of Egyptian voyages on the Great power through participation in a regional trade Green. This brief contribution assesses the impact of network at least occasionally accessed via the Red Sea Professor Sayed’s discoveries at Marsa Gawasis on our before the third millennium.2 understanding of the business of going to sea in the Early boat builders in Egypt had sufficient raw Middle Kingdom through an evaluation of relevant materials, easy conditions for traveling on the Nile, finds from the joint Italian–American expedition at and other resources that made travel attractive to Gawasis currently directed by Rodolfo Fattovich of sedentary populations. Abundant native timbers and the University of Naples l’Orientale and Kathryn buoyant grasses or reeds allowed experimentation and Bard of Boston University.
    [Show full text]
  • Report on the Evolution of Funerary Architecture from Predynastic Pit-Graves, Through
    Report on the evolution of funerary architecture from predynastic pit-graves, through the "mastaba tombs" introduced in the Nagada II period, to the pyramid complexes of the Old Kingdom (Using Abusir pyramid complex to describe the significance of its main elements). The House of Death is for Life, Eternally Napoleon enthused to the Armee d'Orient “Soldats! Du haute de ces Pyramides, 40 siècles nous contemplent". Bonaparte intimately understood the significance of the structures especially the administration and organization required to make these magnificent tombs possible. Pyramids are the visible apex of Egyptian burial practices. Are knowledge is considerably more than Napoleon’s but we are continuing to enhance our understanding of the environment that made them possible and required. The physical structures are linked inextricably to the people’s ideology and their belief that physical life was the preparation for their eternal spiritual life. Predynastic and early Dynastic Egypt’s funerary architecture can be traced though a progression of improvements, each a distinct enhancement to burial practices. Redford (2001, volume 1, p.61) writes that the history of Egypt’s extant burials can be dated to “...the oldest cemetery in the Nile Valley (Gebel Sahaba)” c.12000-9000 BCE of a semi-nomadic tribe; bodies were buried within a shallow pit and in a contracted position. This practice "… continued to be used for the poor throughout Egyptian history" (David, 1988, p.35), although the orientation of bodies differed (see Figure-1). Established tribes waned, probably because of climatic change, until c.6000 BCE with the origins of settled communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdf 439.15 K
    Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. ISSN 1110 – 6131 Vol. 25(3): 23 – 38 (2021) www.ejabf.journals.ekb.eg Marine, freshwater, and terrestrial snails as models in the biomedical applications Amina M. Ibrahim 1, Ahmed A. Hamed 2 , Mosad A. Ghareeb 3* 1Environmental Research and Medical Malacology Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Giza, 12411, Egypt 2Microbial Chemistry Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Egypt 3Medicinal Chemistry Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Giza, 12411, Egypt *Corresponding Author: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: A snail is a member of the molluscan gastropods that has a cosmopolitan Received: March 15, 2021 distribution, inhabiting marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats. The present Accepted: April 27, 2021 review highlights the importance of the snails as they have medical and Online: May 25, 2021 veterinary applications, besides being considered as excellent indicators of _______________ ecosystem health like Biomphalaria sp., and Lymnaea stagnalis freshwater snails. Also, snails have been proved to be excellent models in neurophysiology, Keywords: especially on learning and memory formation like Aplysia californica marine Snails, snail and Lymnaea stagnalis freshwater snails. Marine snails produce Molluscan gastropods, antimicrobial secondary metabolites that exhibit anticancer, antibiotic, antiviral, Marine snails, neurotoxic, or anti-inflammatory properties. These materials can be obtained Freshwater snails, from the extracts of Babylonia spirata, Buccinulum corneum, Buccinum Terrestrial snails, undatum, Littorina littorea “called littorerin”, Haliotis laevigata or H. rubra, Secondary metabolites Murex pectin, Tegula gallina, conotoxins released from Conus magus, and hemocyanins of Rapana venosa snails. Freshwater snails have many bioactive compounds that have antimicrobial activity.
    [Show full text]
  • “Funerary Boats and Boat Pits of the Old Kingdom.” Abusir and Saqqara In
    ARCHIV ORIENTALNf Quarterly Journal of African and Asian Studies Volume 70 Number 3 August 2002 PRAHA ISSN 0044-8699 Archiv orientalni Quarterly Journal of African and Asian Studies Volume 70 (2002) No.3 Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2001 Proceedings of the Symposium (Prague, September 25th-27th, 2001) - Bdited by Filip Coppens, Czech National Centre of Bgyptology Contents Opening Address (LadisZav BareS) . .. 265-266 List of Abbreviations 267-268 Hartwig AZtenmiiller: Funerary Boats and Boat Pits of the Old Kingdom 269-290 The article deals with the problem of boats and boat pits of royal and non-royal provenance. Start- ing from the observation that in the Old Kingdom most of the boats from boat gra ves come in pairs or in a doubling of a pair the boats of the royal domain are compared with the pictorial representa- tions of the private tombs of the Old Kingdom where the boats appear likewise in pairs and in ship convoys. The analysis of the ship scenes of the non-royal tomb complexes of the Old Kingdom leads to the result that the boats represented in the tomb decoration of the Old Kingdom are used during the night and day voyage of the tomb owner. Accordingly the ships in the royal boat graves are considered to be boats used by the king during his day and night journey. MirosZav Barta: Sociology of the Minor Cemeteries during the Old Kingdom. A View from Abusir South 291-300 In this contribution, the Abusir evidence (the Fetekty cemetery from the Late Fifth Dynasty) is used to demonstrate that the notions of unstratified cemeteries for lower rank officials and of female burials from the residential cemeteries is inaccurate.
    [Show full text]
  • Astronomy, Topography and Dynastic History in the Age of the Pyramids
    Astronomy, topography and dynastic history in the Age of the Pyramids. Giulio Magli Faculty of Civil Architecture - Politecnico di Milano Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy It is known since the 19 century that in the layout of the pyramid field of the pharaohs of the 4 th Egyptian dynasty at Giza, a “main axis” exists. Indeed, the south-east corners of these monuments align towards the site of the temple of Heliopolis, which was plainly visible in ancient times. It was later discovered that a similar situation occurs in the main pyramid field of the subsequent dynasty at Abu Sir. Here, the north-west corners of three chronologically successive pyramids again voluntarily align towards Heliopolis. However, the temple was in this case not visible, due to the rock outcrop- today occupied by the Cairo citadel - which blocks the view. In the present paper, a multi-disciplinary approach based on historical, topographical and archaeoastronomical analysis is developed in an attempt at understanding this peculiar feature, which governed from the very beginning the planning of such wonderful monuments. A general pattern actually arises, which appears to have inspired the choice of the sites and the disposition on the ground of almost all the funerary complexes of the kings during the Old Kingdom. 1. Introduction An interesting feature exists in the layouts of the pyramids of Giza and Abu Sir: the presence of a “main axis” directed to the area where the ancient temple of the sun of Heliopolis once stood, on the opposite bank of the Nile. These axes are connected with a process of “solarisation” of the pharaoh which probably started with Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid.
    [Show full text]
  • Liste De Référence Annotée Des Mollusques Continentaux De France Annotated Checklist of the Continental Molluscs from France
    MalaCo Le journal de la malacologie continentale française www.journal-malaco.fr MalaCo (ISSN 1778-3941) est un journal électronique gratuit, annuel ou bisannuel pour la promotion et la connaissance des mollusques continentaux de la faune de France. Equipe éditoriale Jean-Michel BICHAIN / Strasbourg / [email protected] Xavier CUCHERAT / Audinghen / [email protected] Benoît FONTAINE / Paris / [email protected] Olivier GARGOMINY / Paris / [email protected] Vincent PRIÉ / Montpellier / [email protected] Pour soumettre un article à MalaCo : 1ère étape – Le premier auteur veillera à ce que le manuscrit soit conforme aux recommandations aux auteurs (consultez le site www.journal-malaco.fr). Dans le cas contraire, la rédaction peut se réserver le droit de refuser l’article. 2ème étape – Joindre une lettre à l’éditeur, en document texte, en suivant le modèle suivant : "Veuillez trouvez en pièce jointe l’article rédigé par << mettre les noms et prénoms de tous les auteurs>> et intitulé : << mettre le titre en français et en anglais >> (avec X pages, X figures et X tableaux). Les auteurs cèdent au journal MalaCo (ISSN1778-3941) le droit de publication de ce manuscrit et ils garantissent que l’article est original, qu’il n’a pas été soumis pour publication à un autre journal, n’a pas été publié auparavant et que tous sont en accord avec le contenu." 3ème étape – Envoyez par voie électronique le manuscrit complet (texte et figures) en format .doc et la lettre à l’éditeur à : [email protected]. Pour les manuscrits volumineux (>5 Mo), envoyez un courriel à la même adresse pour élaborer une procédure FTP pour le dépôt du dossier final.
    [Show full text]
  • Paleoecological Insights from Fossil Freshwater Mollusks of the Kanapoi Formation (Omo-Turkana Basin, Kenya) Bert Van Bocxlaer
    Paleoecological insights from fossil freshwater mollusks of the Kanapoi Formation (Omo-Turkana Basin, Kenya) Bert van Bocxlaer To cite this version: Bert van Bocxlaer. Paleoecological insights from fossil freshwater mollusks of the Kanapoi Forma- tion (Omo-Turkana Basin, Kenya). Journal of Human Evolution, Elsevier, 2017, 140, pp.102341. 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.05.008. hal-02323652 HAL Id: hal-02323652 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02323652 Submitted on 18 Aug 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Accepted Manuscript, Journal of Human Evolution (online Sept 2017, in print Jan 2020) Published version: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248417302245 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.05.008 1 Paleoecological insights from fossil freshwater mollusks of the Kanapoi 2 Formation (Omo-Turkana Basin, Kenya) 3 4 Bert Van Bocxlaera,b,* 5 6 aLimnology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. 7 bCNRS, Univ. Lille, UMR 8198 – Evolution, Ecology, Paleontology, F-59000 Lille, France 8 *Corresponding author. Address: UMR 8198 – Evolution, Ecology, Paleontology; Lille University – 9 Science and Technology, Cité Scientifique – Bât. SN5, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq cedex, France; E- 10 mail: [email protected]; tel: +33 3 20 43 40 15.
    [Show full text]