The 12Th Dynasty Punt/Bia-Punt Expeditions from Mersa/Wadi Gawasis

Chapter 9 The 12th Dynasty Punt/Bia-Punt Expeditions from Mersa/Wadi Gawasis

For the ancient Egyptians, Punt was an important source of exotic raw materials – elephant ivory, ebony, gold, obsidian – and especially incense, but also prized animal skins and live animals (baboons) that were not found in Egypt. Punt was located a great distance to the southeast of Egypt, probably in the Sudanese-Eritrean lowlands, where these materials and animals are found, and its products could be obtained either through overland routes, or, less fre- quently, seafaring routes. Based on the archaeological and textual evidence at the Middle Kingdom harbor of Saww, present-day Mersa/Wadi Gawasis on the Red Sea, ca. 12–20 successful seafaring expeditions were sent to Punt and/or Bia-Punt (the “mine” of Punt), over the course of the main use of the harbor, ca. 180 years, from Senusret i to Amenemhat iv. Although not frequent, these seafaring expeditions were aimed at bypassing control of the Upper Nile by the Kerma kingdom, as well as Kerma control of land routes to the east of the Upper Nile. No doubt the infrequency of these seafaring expeditions had to do with the huge logistical and organizational problems involved in these undertakings, as well as the very risky nature of long-distance voyages on the Red Sea. Because of the infrequency of these seafaring expeditions, the goods/materials of Punt/ Bia-Punt still must have been reaching Egypt in the Middle Kingdom via the Nile, from the Kerma kingdom in Upper Nubia, and through Lower Nubia, which was firmly under the control of the Egyptian forts there. But Egyptian relations with Kerma were contentious – hence the desire to send seafaring expeditions directly to the harbors of Punt/Bia-Punt in the 12th Dynasty. The earliest known, Egyptian seafaring voyage to Punt occurred in the Old Kingdom, during the reign of Sahura (see El Awady 2006, 2008) – long before Kerma became a powerful polity on the Upper Nile. But already by this time there probably were dangers along the overland routes to Punt, and hence this seafaring expedition to Punt was organized in the 5th Dynasty. The later, 6th Dynasty tomb inscription/biography of Pepynakht (called Heqaib) at Qubbet el-Hawa, Aswan, suggests these problems: Pepynakht was sent to bring back the body of the controller of Nekhen, Kaaper’s son the overseer of foreigners, Ankhti, who had been building a boat to travel to Punt, when he was killed by the “Aamu” and “Sand-dwellers” (Studwick 2005: 335). Harkhuf’s overland

The 12th Dynasty Punt/Bia-Punt Expeditions 193 expeditions from Aswan to (regions near) Punt, also in the 6th Dynasty, were probably successful because they included security forces on the caravans and/or because of their large size. In the 12th Dynasty the Egyptians built forts and fortified towns in Lower Nubia, and during the reign of Senusret iii, more forts were built above the Second Cataract. But unlike these Nubian forts, the harbor of Saww was not intended to be permanently occupied. This probably was due to the difficulties of reaching and supplying the harbor from the Nile Valley, a distance of ca. 150 km through the desert wadis, by donkey caravan (donkey bones and dung have been found at the site). The major problem for human occupation at the harbor was a lack of fresh water, as well as foodstuffs and other necessary supplies. The Intef-iker (Antefoker) stela found by Sayed at Wadi Gawasis in the 1970s states that ships for this seafaring expedition sent from Saww were built at Qift on the Nile in Upper Egypt, and then disassembled and taken overland to the Red Sea harbor site – so even the expedition ships had to be transported from the Nile Valley to the Red Sea, along with all of the needed food and supplies, which for the most part were unavailable outside the Nile Valley. The main harbor facilities were located on the northern side of a paleo-bay, no longer in existence, and about 700 m inland from the present-day shore line. There is evidence of small tent structures on top of the western fossil coral terrace, as well as camps in a beach area below this terrace top to the southeast, where fish bones, mainly sea bream and parrot fish, were identified. These fish were caught locally, but there is also evidence (dung and a ram horn) that live sheep were brought to the harbor from the Nile Valley. Sayed also found the remains of another camp on the southern slope of the western coral terrace, just to the west of the beach camps. There is no evidence of free-standing buildings at the harbor, and the main facilities consisted of eight man-made chambers and galleries, excavated into the western fossil coral terrace. These man-made caves were used for storage, including an estimated 26 coils of ship rigging left in the rear of Cave 5. There is evidence in the largest gallery-cave (Cave 2) of wood-working, including a large amount of wood debitage, most likely the result of salvaging used ship tim- bers. Cave 3 also was used for food storage, for spikelets of emmer wheat that had been transported from the Nile Valley to make bread at the harbor. In the entrances to Caves 2 and 3 there is also evidence of hearths and food remains, and it has been suggested by Andrea Manzo that the long galleries may have provided shelter for expedition members. The areas on top of the western terrace slope, just outside the entrances to the man-made caves, were used for a variety of activities. A living area with mats had been created just to the south of the entrance to Cave 1, and outside