The Necropolis at Tell Edfu: an Overview
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Title; The necropolis at Tell Edfu: an overview Author(s): Joanna Aksamit Journal: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 20 (Research 2008), 2011, 379-386 ISSN 1234–5415 (Print), ISSN 2083–537X (Online) ISBN 978–83–235–0821–2 Published: Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw (PCMA UW), Warsaw University Press (WUP) www.pcma.uw.edu.pl – www.wuw.pl The necropolis at tell edfu — an overview egypt the Necropolis at tell edfU: aN overvieW Joanna aksamit national museum in Warsaw abstract: an overview of research on the necropolis at tell edfu eighty years after discovery. Keywords: tell edfu necropolis, old Kingdom, first intermediate period, middle Kingdom archaeological work at edfu began in 1858 started excavations at tell edfu. Thef rench when auguste mariette began to remove were set on finding greek and coptic debris covering the great temple of horus. papyri and limited their work to the upper digging for fertile soil (sebakh) on the tell layers of the mound.2 The efforts of pierre extending to the west of the temple started lacau, who directed the first campaign, and at the same time. in the decades to come his successors, h. henne and o. guéraud, this was to lead to an almost complete dis- brought excellent results and in 1928 pierre appearance of the mound which had been Jouguet, then director of the IFAO, wrote: several meters high. antiquities from the “edfou a beaucoup donné dans ses couches tell were sold widely by dealers in edfu and supérieures. les couches inférieures du luxor, yet the fact that the ruins of ancient Kôm se présentent moins favorablement” djeba (roman apollinopolis magna), (Jouguet 1928: 267). as well as the remains of a pharaonic in the meantime digging for sebakh at the necropolis were hidden under the rubble base of the tell uncovered further mastabas was recognized only after several decades of and it dawned on the excavators that there digging (Vandier 1981: 55–56). was need of regular excavations of the in 1912 a mastaba belonging to qar, necropolis. The first to start archaeological called pepi-nefer, the nomarch of edfu work and documentation on the tell edfu under the reigns of pepi i and merenre of the necropolis was maurice alliot of the IFAO, sixth dynasty, was discovered by accident.1 who in 1932 excavated a large mastaba (the two years later the institut français so-called mastaba of posener), situated d’archéologie orientale du caire (IFAO) south of the mammisi, first discovered 1 For the famous biographical inscription carved on the offering niche, currently in thec airo museum, see daressy 1917; el-Khadragy 2002. 2 There is no report from the first campaign (1914), directed by pierre lacau. for reports from successive seasons of fieldwork, seeh enne 1924; 1925; guéraud 1929. 379 PAM 20, research 2008 Joanna aksamit egypt as a result of digging for sebakh in the finally stopped. in 1937, when excavations 1926/1927 season (alliot 1933). in 1933 at tell edfu were resumed by the franco– alliot also excavated the superstructure of polish mission, both the necropolis and the the mastaba of isi, father of pepi-nefer and town were regarded as equally important his predecessor in the office of nomarch, foci of activity. in fact, the necropolis is uncovered accidentally in december 1932 known today only from the three seasons of at the base of the main tell (alliot 1933; fieldwork carried out by the franco−polish 1935; see also ibrahim 1933: 131–134). mission in 1937–1939 (Tell Edfou 1937; it was after that that sebakh digging was 1938–1939; 1950). the earliest phases The earliest mastabas discovered so far (see a cemetery even in the predynastic period. aksamit 2004) can be dated to the fifth in the vicinity of the said mastaba of dynasty, but there are some clues sug- posener, alliot found some oval brick gesting that the area south and southwest structures, which he identified as empty of the mammisi could have been used as predynastic graves. his interpretation Fig. 1. Plan of Tell Edfu after the third campaign of Franco–Polish excavations (After Tell Edfou 1939: Plan 1) 380 PAM 20, research 2008 The necropolis at tell edfu — an overview egypt should be treated cautiously, but tombs of tell. a few predynastic artifacts and some undoubtedly early dynastic date were dis- sherds of early dynastic schist plates were covered in the 1980s by egyptian archae- found also by the franco−polish mission in ologists in the plain not far south of the rubbish lying in the area of the necropolis. EDFU IN the old Kingdom excavations in 1937–1939 discovered with simple stone sarcophagi with little or or rediscovered numerous mastabas no decoration; usually the bodies (without belonging to local officials of the fifth traces of mummification) were laid on and sixth dynasties: besides the already a reed mat or directly on the ground. tomb mentioned isi and his son qar (m.V), equipment consisted of a fairly uniform set the mission discovered also the burial of pottery vessels, but the richer tombs were places of sabni, chancellor of the god equipped also with vessels and cosmetic (m.i), hor-nakht, general and chief of utensils made of copper, as well as stone prospectors (smntjw) (m.Vi) (see yoyotte vases. some of the vases bore incised deco- 1975), Khoui (m.iV) (see sainte fare ration and inscriptions with the names of garnot 1937), nefer “overseer” (m.iX) kings Wenis and teti; they can be counted and many other, anonymous tombs. among the masterpieces of old Kingdom The superstructures were built of mud craftsmanship and were undoubtedly brick; stone lining used in the so-called manufactured in the royal workshops in mastaba of posener being an exception. The memphis (aksamit 2001[2006]). The richest tombs had also stone false-doors mastabas, laid out in regular rows, were and stelae with relief decoration, while in oriented approximately north–south. The the other tombs only a vertical ridge in the largest tombs were concentrated in the mud-brick massif served as a substitute for eastern part of the excavated area and in the a false-door. The burials were placed in sector NOI on the western side of the tell, subterranean chambers, but in the larger where also the mastaba of isi was situated. mastabas there were also burial chambers The poorer tombs, without inscriptions as built in the superstructures. only in the a rule, were located in the southwestern richest tombs were the deceased provided part of the old Kingdom necropolis. the first intermediate period The use of the necropolis continued into was discovered from the times later than the first intermediate period. at some the old Kingdom. in the 1937 report point during that time a town wall was B. Bruyère mentioned some simple burials erected across the necropolis. This wall, in pottery coffins, supposedly later than the reinforced several times, became the old Kingdom, deposited in and between eastern limit of the necropolis for the the superstructures of the old Kingdom centuries to come. not much in general mastabas in that area (Tell Edfou 1937: 381 PAM 20, research 2008 Joanna aksamit egypt 57–58). The mastaba of nefer (m.iX), 1937: 53–56, 58). however, the assertion, also located on the inner side of the wall that in the first intermediate period the and dated usually to the first intermediate necropolis of edfu was located outside the period because of the style of its stela, excavated area, only to return to the area of should rather be connected with the transi- the old Kingdom necropolis in the mature tional phase between the old Kingdom and middle Kingdom, calls for reconsideration the first intermediate period (Tell Edfou (seidlmayer 1990: 40–68). the middle Kingdom during the middle Kingdom the 1938 and 1939. The findspot of numerous necropolis extended directly outside the stelae, found during the digging for sebakh town wall. Three main types of tombs can before the start of regular excavations at the be distinguished: necropolis, poses a problem: did they come 1. multiple burials in long subterranean from the area of the mastaba of isi or from corridors with entrances built of mud some other part of the middle Kingdom brick or stone; necropolis, completely destroyed by the 2. rectangular mud-brick underground digging?3 The jewelry of Queens obekemsaf structures with multiple burial chambers of the seventeenth dynasty, seen in luxor arranged on one or two levels; in 1895 and said to be found by the sebakhin 3. elongated rectangular vaulted chambers at edfu (some pieces are currently in the built on the surface, grouped in rows British museum; PM V 1937: 205; recently next to one another. russmann (ed.) 2001: no. 84), can indicate Besides, shafts and burial chambers of old that the territory of the necropolis with the Kingdom mastabas were often reused as richest tombs from that epoch could have family tombs. The mastaba ofi si, somewhat been destroyed already in the 19th century. modified and connected with the adjacent in turn, the part of the middle Kingdom/ mastaba NOI i, was converted into a cult second intermediate period necropolis place of the deified nomarch, who was excavated in 1938 and 1939 seems to belong given posthumously the title of vizier. to the ‘middle class’ of edfu. Bodies bearing it was in the corridor between the two evidence of mummification procedures mastabas that alliot found several stelae of were buried in simple wooden coffins, some- the inhabitants of edfu from the middle times with faces covered by gypsum masks. Kingdom and second intermediate period Beside one tomb (t.XXX), containing (alliot 1935: 19–20, pls XiV–XiX).