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

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Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-Brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of So-Called “Nile-Mud” Volume IV ● Issue 1/2013 ● Online First 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). Online First IANSA 2013 ● IV/1 ● Online First 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 Online First IANSA 2013 ● IV/1 ● Online First 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). Online First IANSA 2013 ● IV/1 ● Online First 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” 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.
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