Profiling Punt: Using Trade Relations to Locate ‘God’S Land’
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PROFILING PUNT: USING TRADE RELATIONS TO LOCATE ‘GOD’S LAND’ Catherine Lucy Glenister Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Ancient Cultures at the University of Stellenbosch Department of Ancient Studies Faculty of Arts Supervisor: Professor I. Cornelius April 2008 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this research thesis is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. Signature: Catherine Lucy Glenister 06/02/2008 Copyright ©2008 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ABSTRACT The geographical location of Punt has been the subject of much scholarly controversy for years. Numerous locations have been provided, favouring either regions in southern Arabia or East Africa. The latter being the more accepted theory in this case. Locating the region of Punt is linked to the foreign trade relations of Egypt during the Dynastic period. The practices that governed the Egyptian economy and thus its trade relations are studied, along with textual translations and visual sources in order to determine the kind of contact Egypt had with Punt, the trade relations between these two regions and the commodities they traded. These things determine the landscape that Puntites traversed, providing a profile of their habitat, the people that lived in it and thus a possible location for the region, which is believed to encompass the Gash Delta, on the borders of modern day Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan. KEYWORDS Punt; Ancient trade; God’s Land; Gash delta OPSOMMING Die geografiese ligging van Punt is jarelank 'n akademiese twispunt. Verskillende liggings is voorgestel - die gunsteling gebiede is of suidelike Arabië of Oos-Afrika. Die laasgenoemde is die meeste aanvaarbaar. Die plekaanwysing van Punt is gekoppel aan die buitelandse- handelverhoudings van Egipte gedurende die Dinastiese-tydperk. Die oorheersende regeringspraktyk van die Egiptise ekonomie en dus handelverhoudings, is in hierdie studie behandel. Die teksvertalings en visuele bronne is getuienis vir die kommoditeite verhandel en dus kontak tussen Egipte en Punt. Hierdie inligting is aanwyser tot die omgewing waarin die Puntiete beweeg het, die profiel van hul omgewing en die volk wat daar gewoon het. Dus is die moontlike plekaanwysing van Punt, die Gashdelta naby die grens van moderne Eritrea, Ethiopië en Sudan. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the knowledge and expertise of my supervisor, Professor Sakkie Cornelius. Thank you for all the hours you have spent reading and re-reading it, as well as helping me find some much needed sources and inspiration. Also many thanks to Florian Lippeke in Tübingen and Kristina Lahn in Hamburg for enabling me to acquire some much needed journal articles that were not available in South Africa. To my family, thank you for supporting me throughout the duration of this labour and to my friends, Lorna, Dewald and especially, Duane for their encouragement and unfailing faith in my work capabilities. This thesis would not have come to completion without all of you. CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 2 1.2 CHAPTER LAYOUT 4 CHAPTER 2: THE STATE, ECONOMY AND TRADE IN ANCIENT EGYPT 7 2.1 THE EMERGENCE OF THE EGYPTIAN STATE 7 2.2 THE ECONOMY OF EGYPT 9 2.2.1 REDISTRIBUTION 9 2.2.2 RE-APPROACHING REDISTRIBUTION 11 2.2.3 THE EGYPTIAN ECONOMY: A POSSIBLE REALITY 12 2.3 CURRENCY AND THE MONETARY SYSTEM 13 2.4 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN TRADE 14 2.4.1 DOMESTIC TRADE 14 2.4.2 FOREIGN TRADE 17 2.4.2.1 Differentiating ‘trade’ in ancient Egypt 17 2.4.2.2 Foreign expeditions 18 2.4.2.3 Northern ‘trade partners’ 19 2.4.2.4 Southern ‘trade partners’ 22 CHAPTER 3: PUNT IN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOURCES 26 3.1 OLD KINGDOM SOURCES 26 3.2 MIDDLE KINGDOM SOURCES 33 3.3 NEW KINGDOM SOURCES 41 3.3.1 HATSHEPSUT’S MORTUARY TEMPLE AT DEIR EL- BAHRI 41 3.3.2 TOMB 67 50 3.3.3 THUTMOSIS III’S ANNALS AT KARNAK AND THE TOMBS OF THEBAN OFFICIALS 52 3.3.4 NINETEENTH DYNASTY SOURCES AND THE PAPYRUS HARRIS 58 CHAPTER 4: TRADE ROUTES 61 4.1 ESTABLISHING TRADE ROUTES DURING THE OLD AND MIDDLE KINGDOM 61 4.1.1 HARKHUF AND YAM 61 4.1.2 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RED SEA TRADE 63 4.2 RE-ESTABLISHING TRADE DURING THE NEW KINGDOM 73 4.2.1 OVERLAND TRADE WITH PUNT 75 4.2.1.1 Puntite rafts 75 4.2.2 SAILING ON THE RED SEA 79 4.2.2.1 Egyptian vessels 79 4.2.3 SAILING CONDITIONS 92 CHAPTER 5: PROFILING PUNT – COMMODITIES, PEOPLE AND CULTURE 94 5.1 COMMODITIES 94 5.1.1 FLORA AND FAUNA 94 5.1.1.1 Aromatic produce 94 5.1.1.2 Other botanical commodities 100 5.1.1.3 Fauna 100 5.2 PEOPLE 108 5.2.1 PUNTITES: THE REPRESENTATION OF FOREIGNERS 109 5.2.1.1 Defining ‘the foreigner’ 110 5.2.1.2 The Puntite race 113 5.3 THE CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN THE VICINITY OF THE RED SEA HILLS 118 5.3.1 EAST AFRICAN COAST AND INTERIOR 119 5.3.2 SOUTHERN ARABIAN COAST AND INTERIOR 125 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 130 ADDENDUM - SAILING AND VESSEL CONSTRUCTION TERMINOLOGY 134 BIBLIOGRAPHY 135 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1.1 Tile inlays of the enemies of Egypt in the palace entrance of the mortuary temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu. 2 Figure 2.1 Illustration of domestic barter exchange. 16 Figure 2.2 Crewmen parttaking in private transactions at quayside stalls in the tomb of Ipuy (TT217). 16 Figure 2.5 The ‘Men of Keftiu’ in the tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100). 23 Figure 2.6 Egyptian commodities offered for trade with the Puntites in Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. 23 Figure 3.1 The Palermo stone. 27 Figure 3.3 Anchors used in the shrine of Ankhu and the inscription from the shrine. 27 Figure 3.5 Stela of Khentkhetwer. 38 Figure 3.6 Stela of Khnumhotep. 38 Figure 3.7 Hatshepsut’s mortuary in the valley of Deir el-Bahri. 42 Figure 3.8 Egyptian vessels on the western wall in the Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. 42 Figure 3.9a The arrival of the Egyptians on Puntite shores. (lower registers) 46 Figure 3.9b The arrival of the Egyptians on Puntite shores. (upper registers) 47 Figure 3.10 The loading and departure of the five Egyptian vessels from Punt in the Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. 48 Figure 3.11: Egyptians, Puntites and other southern chiefs bringing commodities before the pharaoh Hatshepsut. 51 Figure 3.12 Felling incense trees in Punt in the tomb of Hepusonb (TT 67). 51 Figure 3.13 Tribute and trade in the tomb of Puyemre (TT 39). 54 Figure 3.14 Puntites and their commodities in the tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100). 54 Figure 3.15a Sketch of the arrival of a Puntite envoy via rafts in Egypt in TT 143. 55 Figure 3.15b Fragment of the wall of TT 143, depicting the arrival of the Puntite rafts. 55 Figure 3.16 The Puntite envoy in the tomb of Amenmose (TT 89). 57 Figure 3.17 a&b A robed Puntite envoy presenting their commodities directly to a pharaoh in TT 143. 57 Figure 4.4 Assyrian kalaks on the Tigris River. 75 Figure 4.5 a&b Inflated animals skins used as storage containers. 75 Figure 4.7 A diagrammatic representation of a mortise-and-tenon joint. 80 Figure 4.8 A cross-sectional diagram of the hull construction of Khufu’s vessel. 80 Figure 4.9 A bipod mast of an Old Kingdom vessel. 80 Figure 4.10a Depiction of a nautical vessel in the solar temple of Sahure at Abusir. 82 Figure 4.10b A hogging-truss and a truss-girdle. Figure 4.11 One of the Dahshur vessels at the Carnegie Museum. 83 Figure 4.12 A dove-tail fastening. 83 Figure 4.13 A typical riverine vessel from the Middle Kingdom. 83 Figure 4.14 Modern model of a vessel from Hatshepsut’s Punt expedition in the Science Museum in South Kensington in London. 89 Figure 4.15 An example of a typical riverine vessel from the New Kingdom. 89 Figure 4.16 The enhanced hogging-truss on Hatshepsut’s nautical vessels. 90 Figure 4.17 The enhanced steering-gear on Hatshepsut’s nautical vessels. 90 Figure 5.2 Piles of red-coloured incense from Punt. 98 Figure 5.3 Fragments of the Puntite reliefs at Deir el-Bahri showing the felling of ebony trees. 98 Figure 5.4 a&b Marine life in the Punt reliefs of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. 101 Figure 5.5 A baboon presented to the pharaoh on the return of the Punt expedition to Egypt. 101 Figure 5.6 A fragment of the Punt relief depicting a baboon climbing a dom-palm above some long-horned cattle. 101 Figure 5.7 Nubian tribute in the tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100). 103 Figure 5.8a The remains of giraffe’s body in the scenes of tributes from southern countries in Hatshepsut’s temple mortuary at Deir el-Bahri. 103 Figure 5.8b Nubian tribute in the tomb of Rekhmire (TT 100). 103 Figure 5.9 Mother baboon and her young confronting a rhinoceros on the Punt relief in Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri.