Tasks Completed

horizon ISSUE 13 Summer 2013 The Amarna Project and Amarna Trust newsletter Tasks completed Despite political uncertainties, the expedition’s work has gone on without interruption. Our main news this time is of two completions. In April the excavation of the South Tombs Cemetery, that began in 2006, came to a successful end. Whilst following a careful plan to gain even coverage across the site, the target of 400 Amarna Period individuals, set by the anthropologists, was reached. Much study and writing have already been done, and the aim now is to complete in the coming two years a major report on the cemetery and what it tells us about the people of Amarna. A selection of recently found objects is presented here, on pages 2 and 3. The first stage of repair at the Great Aten Temple, started in spring 2012, has also been finished, namely, the laying out in new stone of the small palace inside the outer mud-brick pylon. For photographs, see pages 8 and 9. Once more it remains for me to thank all our supporters, whose donations and encouragement enable the project to function. Barry Kemp, Chairman In 1994 a replica of one of the original giant sandstone columns was erected in the Small Aten Temple. In the spring of 2013 the sculptor responsible, Simon Bradley, returned to carry out an inspection and maintenance. The first step was to surround the column with scaffolding. On page 12 you will find illustrations of the final stage. contents From life to the afterlife 2 Fund raising, Grants and Tours 7 Human hair from the South Tombs Cemetery 4 Amarna in Berlin and New publications 8 The fight against encroachments at Amarna 4 The House of the Aten 8 The Amarna Digital Atlas 6 Amarna’s third building material 10 The Amarna Trust 11 horizon page 2 From life to the afterlife: burial goods at the South Tombs Cemetery Anna Stevens Excavations at the South Tombs Cemetery Only rarely can we identify objects that look as though they have yielded a small but important were purpose-made as burial goods. One example of such is a miniature bladed tool that might have been used in the assemblage of artefacts, deposited as Opening of the Mouth Ceremony ( Horizon 4, page 3). More burial goods for the deceased. often, the objects seem to be items that were used in life, and then interred in the burial. They might have been taken to the Most common (apart from the ubiquitous potsherd) are small grave because they were perceived to have protective scarabs, decorated beads and other items of jewellery – qualities, or simply because they were important to the pendants, rings with decorated bezels and circular rings worn deceased. They offer a small glimpse of the problems, on the ears or in the hair. We have found calcite vessels, a priorities and individuality of the people who lived at Amarna small faience bowl and wooden tubes and applicators for some 3000 years ago. kohl eye paint – sometimes still containing the kohl itself! A number of other cosmetic implements have also been The selection illustrated here comes from the most recent recovered. seasons. Copper-alloy toe ring obj. 39993 Ring bezel with duck and Faience Bes pendant Excavated in 2011, this toe ring was one of the papyrus motif obj. 40067 obj. 40089 most unexpected discoveries from the site – This fragile piece of metal forms Found within a burial that had toe rings are not at all well known from ancient part of the rectangular bezel of a been heavily disturbed by Egypt. It was found on the second toe of the finely made finger ring. The robbers, this pendant in the right foot of a man aged around 35–40 who had natural scene it depicts – a duck shape of the domestic god Bes is suffered multiple broken bones during his life. flying over a papyrus clump – is very likely to have been worn by Was it simply an item of adornment, or might it one more commonly known from the deceased during life. Bes have had a magical or medical role connected Amarna wall paintings than from pendants are quite often found with these injuries? personal items of adornment. amongst houses at Amarna, and show that Akhenaten had little interest in outlawing religious practices that centred upon the Faience bowl obj. 40083 domestic wellbeing of his Fitting neatly into the palm of the citizens. This pendant is a hand, this shallow faience bowl particularly large and detailed of rounded profile is a rare example of the type. example of a faience vessel from the cemetery. horizon page 3 Engraved plaque obj. 40085 Faience fish pendants from a necklace obj. 40116 Perhaps the commonest personal item in the cemetery is the single With only a handful of intact necklaces and collars recovered from small decorated bead, in this case made from glazed steatite from Amarna, finds such as this – a group of pendants found in a grave which much of the glaze has worn away. On one side is carved a and once strung together – are very important. The pendants were king in the form of a sphinx, the sign for ‘ruler’ behind him and for found with hundreds of little ring beads, a selection of which is ‘life’ in front. On the other side, a gazelle rests amidst vegetation, shown. The fish itself could be a symbol of rebirth, and so is an suggesting a contrast between power and submission. appropriate motif in a funerary context. Child’s bracelet obj. 40115 Two sets of tweezers obj. 40119 Stone bead with insect and lizard design This remarkable little bracelet was Found together in the burial of a woman obj. 40113 found in place around the wrist of who had long plaited hair, these This little bead is noteworthy for the images of the an infant. What is unusual is the tweezers are the first so far known from lizard and insect carved on its underside, unusual technology. Small lengths of gold the cemetery. Assuming they were used motifs carved in quite a naturalistic posture. The wire have been hammered into for cosmetic purposes, they show the meaning of the design is obscure to us now, but links, which are then folded over importance of personal grooming and may well have had magical properties. What is one another to form a chain that appearance – some things don’t change! also nice is that, whilst stone beads were often looks very modern at first glance. It coated with a blue glaze, this has been bypassed shows the amount of care that here, allowing the unusual natural swirled design could be expended on goods for within the stone to show. even the very young. Nothing like it has been found before at Amarna. Finger ring with papyrus design obj. 40120 Faience jewellery is reasonably common at the cemetery, but this ring is unusual in that it has survived the millennia unbroken. It is also quite a finely made piece; after the bezel was moulded, sections of faience were carefully cut away to create an openwork design of conjoined papyrus heads, an unusual motif. Wooden handle or staff (?) with decorative binding obj. 40138 Wood is one substance that does not survive well at the cemetery. This patch of bark covering is probably from a handle or staff. Finely cut strips of another material For burial goods found in earlier seasons, see Horizon 1, page 6; Horizon 4, have been plaited together and set into spaces page 3; Horizon 5, page 1; Horizon 6, pages 2–3; Horizon 7, page 3. shallowly cut into the bark. horizon page 4 Individual 329 (skull 255). Skull with very Individual 314 (skull 272). Skull of a child Individual 310 (skull 275). Skull with hair well preserved hair, showing detail of hair (8½ years old) with side lock of small possibly dyed with henna (?) and with dark extensions braided into the hair. The hair braids. inserted coloured extensions. is covered with textile. Human hair from the South Tombs Cemetery Burial in a desert valley that has occasionally been flooded means that most of the tissue on the bodies has been lost. The bones, however, have survived well and so has the hair. From the excavations have come many skulls with hair still in place, together with many loose hair samples that had become detached when the graves were robbed. Jolanda Bos, who began a study of the hair in 2012, writes: Between 20 and 27 May 2013, a triage was conducted of No wigs were found, but a large number of extensions was the skeletal remains from the excavation seasons 2012 and discovered, and the way in which the extensions were 2013. Over 100 skulls were looked at. On 28 of these hair braided or tied into the hair was often well visible. Often the was found and they were selected for study. The extensions were set in very short (10 cm) hair, by braiding uniqueness of the Amarna human hair samples became the strands in with the hair of the individual. The extensions clear this season, on account of the number of complete were then covered up by the original hair, creating a ridge in hairstyles dating to this limited period, especially in the coiffure. One of the skulls presented a very complex combination with the preservation conditions and the ethnic coiffure with approximately 70 extensions fastened in complexity of the group. different layers and heights on the head. The fight against encroachments at Amarna The free internet service ‘Google Earth’ offers satellite 2 images of Amarna of very good resolution.

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