ARCHAEOLO GY INTERNATIONAL

primarily of the ruins of four sets of long Provisions fo r the pyramid builders: mudbrick galleries. Three streets cut west to east through the galleries. Scattered else­ new evidence from the ancient site of Giza where throughout the site are house-like Mary Anne Murray structures, bakeries and craft workshops, as well as two major domestic settlements The great pyramids of Giza are fa mous emblems ofancient Egyp­ associated with the complex, known as the tian civilization, but until recently little was known about where Eastern and Western Towns (Fig. 1). and how the pyramid builders lived. The site of their large Dating evidence from the pottery, the settlement has now been found, and excavation is revealing its mud sealings (Fig. 3) and the detailed stratigraphic phasing of the site indicates complex layout and providing evidence of the plants and animals that the settlement was in use during the on which the builders depended for their fo od supply. reign of the pharaoh Menkaure (2490- 24 72 BC), the builder of the final Giza pyr­ amid. The evidence also indicates that the etween about 2550 and 2470 BC area of low desert south of the pyramid site was a royal facility for the production the three Egyptian pharaohs of complex, about 400m south-southeast of of food and other items used to support the the fourth dynasty, Khufu, Kha­ the Sphinx (Fig. 1). Excavations began here builders of the pyramids. The tombs of Bfre and Menkaure, built their in 1988 and continued sporadically until these workmen are located just above the colossal pyramids and mortuary 1998. Then, in October 1999, we began a settlement in the hills to the west (Fig. 1) temples on the Giza plateau close to more intensive continuing phase of exca­ and are being excavated by Zahi Hawass, present-day Cairo. These enormous state vation. secretary-general of the Egyptian Supreme projects would have employed thousands The excavations have so far revealed a Council of Antiquities. of conscripted labourers, whose settle­ substantial well planned settlement that A major aim of the project is to investi­ ment near the pyramids is being studied by covers some 9 ha and can be divided into at gate the daily life of the pyramid builders, the Giza Plateau Mapping Project (GPMP).1 least 30 distinct areas. They include the including their food supply, by asking The first aim of the GPMP was to locate the 200m-longWall ofthe Crow, which bounds such questions as: what types of food did settlement, and then to investigate the the site on the northwest, and a large royal they have, did they all consume the same social and economic infrastructure that administrative building with associated foods, did they have to produce it them­ supported the pyramid-building enter­ storage structures (silos) at the southeast­ selves or was it provided for them, and how prise in what was one of the major urban ern edge of the site (Fig. 2). An enclosure does the Giza settlement compare in this centres in Egypt in the third millennium BC. wall connects the Wall of the Crow and the respect with other Egyptian settlements? Excavations to find the settlement of the royal administrative building, thus fram­ To address these questions, a comprehen­ pyramid builders eventually focused on an ing the main part of the site, which consists sive programme of sampling plant and

gure Aerial viewof th e Giza plateau, showing the three pyramids of(from right to left) the pharaohs Kh ufu, Kh afre and Menka ure, Fi 1 the Sphinx, the site of the pyramid builders' settlement (righ t foreground) and their cemetery(left foreground).

38 N!IIIIEii•iieiNM �iii!i�Eiiiei�Ei

size. More than 30,000 litres of soil have been processed in this way from the nearly 4000 samples collected so far, and nearly 2000 of these have been analyzed. When the plant remains have been recovered and identified, they are analyzed using a series of quantifiable indices, calculated for several variables (Table 1). However, full interpretation of the plant and animal remains depends on understanding their provenance (i.e. from what parts of the site gallery sets they came), so in the next section the main features of the site are brief!y described.

Table The quantifiable indices and 1 variables used in analyzing the plant remains recovered from the Giza site. In dices EASTERN o Presence (or ubiquity) analysis o Density of items per litre TOWN o Ratios of crop taxa

o Number of taxa

o Fragmentation index N o Ratio of twisted to straight barley

o Density of wood charcoal l o Presence of wood charcoal vs presence of animal dung m 50 Variables

o Site Figure 2 Simplified plan of the settlement of the pyramid builders at Giza. Redrawn o Sample fr om a plan prepared by Mark Lehner, director of the Giza Plateau Mapping Project. o Plant group: e.g. cereals, pulses, fruits, weeds, etc. animal remains was undertaken. All ani­ to retrieve and analyze the plant remains, o Context type: fl oors, pit fills, etc. mal bones from the excavation were all of which were preserved by charring. 2 o Interior or exterior retrieved (more than 152,000 items to date) We recovered them by machine flotation, o Entity: rooms, buildings, etc., by and they are being analyzed by Richard which separates out the charred plant frag­ phase Redding of the University of Michigan. My ments by washing excavated soil samples o Area role as the archaeobotanist for the project is through sieves of 1 mm and 0.25 Jlm mesh o Area type: bakery, house, etc. o Phase

The layout of the settlement The most conspicuous feature is the Wall ofthe Crow, which probably controlled the flow of people and materials into and out of the four sets of mudbrick galleries (Fig. 2). Each set is about 35 m long north to south and about 52 m wide (or 100 ancient Egyptian cubits). There are eight galleries in each set. Like many ancient Egyptian houses, the galleries have baking and cook­ ing facilities in the back (southern end) and an open living area in the front, thus resem­ bling an elongated version of what is a common Egyptian house plan. There are also low-angle platforms at regular inter­ vals within the galleries. The function of the gallery sets is not clear, but one inter­ pretation is that the angled platforms are bed platforms and that the galleries may have been used as a type of barracks for rotating shifts of pyramid builders. Evidence from ancient Egyptian texts indicates that groups of unskilled workers on pyramid-building projects were tempo­ rarily conscripted, and worked in overlap­ ping rotation in and out of these long-term royal projects. For example, graffiti from Figure 3 Mud sealings were used to seal documents, jars, doors, etc. They often record Giza depict the rivalry between two gangs information in the form of hieroglyphs such as the names ofkings (which provide usefu l of this period, the "Friends of Menkaure" dating evidence), the contents of the object being sealed, or the destination of the sealed and the "Drunkards of Menkaure".3 Egyp­ product. tologists infer that these gangs were

39 ARCHAEOLO GY INTERNATIONAL

Figure Pictorial diagram of how 4 the pyramid-building workforce at Giza may have been organized into gangs and smaller work­ 2,000 groups (phyles}; from Lehner crew 1997 (n. 3, p.225).

l,OOO gang l,OOO gang 'Friends 'Drunkards of of Menkaure' i\ llenkaure'

200 200 200 200 200 200 2QO 200 200 200 phyle phyle phyle phyle phyle phyle phyle ph)1 phyle phylc ' 'Great' 'Asiatic' 'Green· 'Little' '!..3sr' 'Great' 'Asiatic' 'Green' 'Little 'Last' �M L:> � fb:: �M oo � ·ll�

men in each phyle) men in each phyle) (20 x 10 (20 x 10 organized into smaller workgroups called More than a dozen bakeries have also phyles. There is uncertainty about the been identified, most of which are in the numbers involved in the gangs, but one backs of the galleries or attached to them, Figure 5 An excavator at Giza holding an estimate for Giza is that a crew of 2000 with others scattered throughout the set­ ancient bread mould from the site. workmen would have been split into pairs tlement. If a rotating labour force was of rival gangs of 1000 men each, with ZOO housed in the galleries, these bakeries pre­ to have been the main staples in the diet of men in each phyle (Fig. 4). If teams of 40 to sumably produced their daily bread. The the pyramid builders - as for most Egyp­ 50 workmen occupied the front of a gal­ byproducts of the two types of cereal found tians at the time. This conclusion is sup­ lery, supervised by an overseer living in a on site, emmer wheat and hulled barley, ported by the fact that nearly 60 per cent of house at the back, 1500-2000 men could are bread and beer, which are always found the over half a million pottery sherds from have slept in the four sets of galleries.4 together in ancient Egypt and were likely the site are frombread moulds (Fig. 5), and

Figure Experimental reconstruction of a bakery at Giza, with all the elements fo und in ancient bakeries at Giza. 6

40 J;lllliitl ,•• •• •�' '''�" iltl�l;i

show that these constructions often served plant remains consist of relatively few spe­ as elevated platforms for the drying of cies, primarily two cereals (emmer wheat grain and other foods, and in this case a and hulled barley), several pulses (small­ concentration of fish remains from the seed legumes such as lentil, grass pea and 25 m-long colonnade points to the drying bitter vetch), and fruits such as common of fish. It has also been suggested that the fig, sycamore fig, Christ's thorn and possi­ hall may have been a common area or pub­ bly grape and date. The animal remains are lic space, and a concentration of CD7 bowls limited to four domesticates (cattle, sheep, (used for food and drink), together with the goats and pigs) and six species offish (Nile fish and other animal remains, suggests perch, catfish, tilapia, tiger fi sh, grey mul­ that it may have been used as a communal let and puffer fish). This is a surprisingly eating area. short list and it is clear that the plant and What are believed to be domestic houses animal assemblage from Giza lacks the Figure 7 Experimentally baked bread are another prominent feature of the Giza diversity of food species commonly found (using various mixtures of emmer wh eat settlement. They include, for example, a at other ancient Egyptian settlements. and barley) in locally made reconstruc­ row of dwellings along the west side of the The plant samples are dominated by tions of the type ofmould used at ancient hypostyle hall and the so-called gate weeds, primarily large wild grasses and Giza. houses at the beginning of each of the three legumes, which were probably weedy con­ west-east streets, which were perhaps taminants of the cereals coming into Giza remains of beer jars are the second most used to monitor people and goods going as offerings, tributes or tax, whether from common type of pottery. The third most into and out of each set of galleries. In all, local sources or more distant provinces. common type are what are referred to as more than three dozen house units are There is little evidence of nuts or roots and CD7 bowls, a type unique to Giza, which is recognizable within the settlement area. tubers, and, as yet, no evidence of plants likely to have been used for the consump­ Unlike the planned layout of the main area, providing oil or fibre; nor do the animal­ tion of both food and drink. the Eastern and Western Towns (see Fig. 2) bone remains contain any evidence of The textual and artistic evidence asso­ are self-organized domestic settlements hunting, which is most unusual for an ciated with Old Kingdom bakeries was also that more closely resemble other ancient ancient Egyptian settlement. studied, and it was decided that some Egyptian town sites, and were probably Another striking feature of the plant baking experiments were needed to help home to longer-term residents. Small silos assemblage is that, on average, the site has understand the archaeological evidence. A and ash-filled chambers suggest that resi­ relatively few plants (only 3.6 plant items standard type of Giza bakery, which had dents, perhaps families, stored their own per litre of soil overall), which is much most of the major elements found in other food and cooked for themselves. Excava­ lower than at other settlements, such as bakeries at the site, was chosen for exper­ tions have shown that the Eastern Town New Kingdom Memphis (96.5) and First imental reconstruction (Fig. 6). During the extends beneath the modern town nearby. Intermediate Abydos (144.4).5 The low experiment, it was found that all parts of The mud sealings, pottery and stratigraphy density of plant remains and the few spe­ the bakery had a function when we actu­ all suggest that the eventual and probably cies represented may indicate that food ally tried to bake bread, which involved intentional abandonment of the site took preparation, fuel use and the disposal of experimenting with different mixtures of place at the end of the fourth dynasty, fuel were specialized and routine activities. emmer wheat and barley, heating and c. 2500 BC, soon after the reign of the When the number of items per litre is stacking the bread moulds, pouring the pharaoh Menkaure. assessed by area, however, those with the dough and ensuring that the fire stayed at highest relative density are found to be the an even temperature. The bread from the Feeding the pyramid builders so-called houses or domestic areas. They first experiment proved to be barely edible So what did the pyramid builders live on? also generally have a higher diversity of (Fig. 7), but we plan further experiments What types of food did they consume? The food plants than other areas and are more and hope to learn how to improve the prod­ uct. There are also areas that were clearly used for storage. South of the galleries, for example, we found a large double-walled building. The evidence from the mud seal­ ings found there indicates that it was some type of royal administrative building (see Fig. 2). Further excavation uncovered a huge storage facility, including eight large mudbrick silos (each one about 2.8m or 5 ancient Egyptian cubits in diameter, Fig. 8). It is like! y that grain was dispensed from this central storehouse, protected behind the double walls of the administra­ tive building. Ultimately, before the end of the fourth dynasty c. 2500 BC, the silos were destroyed and some 20 tonnes of limestone and granite were dumped into them. Associated with the gallery sets there is a roofed colonnade (a hypostyle hall; see Fig. 2), which has a series of troughs, benches and column bases at regular inter­ vals. The remains of similar troughs and Figure 8 Remains oflarge mudbrick storage silos within the royal administrative build­ benches excavated elsewhere, for example ing at the Giza settlement, with the pyramids of the pharaohs Kh ufu and Khafre in the at the site ofT ell Karrana in Mesopotamia,4 background.

41 ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

similar to domestic areas in other ancient or brewing. Wood was the main fuel used Egyptian settlements. Most of the cereal, in the bakery ovens, and the analysis of pulse, fruit remains and other food items wood charcoal fromthe site carried out so have been found in the houses, probably far shows that over 99 per cent of it came because most of the food preparation took fromacacia trees. Acacia wood is a high­ place in these dwellings. In the gallery sets, quality slow-burning fuel that would have both the density of plant remains and the been an ideal choice for firing the bakery diversity of species are very low, which is ovens. Unlike most other ancient Egyptian to be expected if they were used as sleeping settlements, animal dung was apparently areas. The composition of the plant remains not a major fuel at Giza, and may not have from the storage areas and the bakeries is been used at all. similar. As yet, no storage facilities with their original contents in situ have been Conclusion discovered, the plant material found there The pyramid builders clearly did not live having been redeposited from elsewhere. on bread and beer alone. Our investi­ The low density of items in the bakeries gations - which continue - have already may be attributable to the abundance of demonstrated the great scale and complex­ fine ash, where most plant remains have ity of this state-organized project, which been burned away. The hypostyle hall has depended on a major investment of natural the lowest plant density and diversity, but resources and man hours (also, no doubt, this does not exclude its having been used woman hours), as well as many workmen's as an area for drying food or for communal lives, as is suggested by the size of their eating, because it is improbable that plants cemetery above the settlement. Much work would have become charred and been remains to be done as we excavate and ana­ preserved in the course of either of these lyze the cultural remains fromthis unique activities. settlement and endeavour to understand The evidence from the animal remains more fully not only how it was organized suggests clearer contrasts between differ­ but also the small details of the daily lives ent areas. As with the plants, the greatest of the pyramid builders of Giza. diversity of animal species occurs in the houses. For example, the three gate houses Notes 1. The is directed by Dr Mark Lehner and the royal administrative building (see GPMP Fig. 2) contained the remains of what who is affiliated to both Harvard Univer­ would have been the best cuts of beef, as sity and the University of Chicago and well as very large Nile perch. Certain who has been surveying and mapping the Giza plateau for more than 30 years. For a houses in the Eastern and Western Towns recent comprehensive review of the site, also show this pattern, although with more see M. Lehner, "The pyramid age settle­ sheep, goats and pigs. In contrast, the ment of the Southern Mount at Giza", galleries and the hypostyle hall contain Jo urnalof the American Research Center poorer cuts of meat fromcattle, sheep and in Cairo, 39, 27-74, 2002. Dr Murray is the goats, as well as large amounts of small project archaeobotanist and assistant bony fish. director in charge of archaeological The plant and animal remains so far science. analyzed indicate that the pyramid build­ 2. Dr Wilma Wetterstrom ofHarvard Univer­ sity was the project archaeobotanist from ers themselves subsisted mainly on bread, 1988 to 1997. beer, pulses, cattle, sheep, goats and cat­ 3. See p. 128 in A. M. Roth, Egyp tian phyles fish, whereas the inhabitants of the gate in the Old Kingdom: the evolution of a houses and the royal administrative build­ system of social organization (Studies in ing, who were presumably the overseers of Ancient Oriental Civilization 48, Oriental the workmen in the galleries, had, in addi­ Institute, University of Chicago, 1991). tion to these foods, much better cuts of 4. See pp. 224-5 in M. Lehner, Th e complete pyramids (London: Thames meat, especially of beef and pork, and large & Hudson, Nile perch. The longer-term residents in 1997). 5. C. Zaccagnini, "Comments on parallel the Eastern and Western Towns (where we wall structures", in G. Wilhelm & are still analyzing individual houses in C. Zaccagnini (eds), Tell Karrana 3 (Mainz more detail) appear to have lived on a more am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, Baghdader varied diet consisting of all these foods. Forschungen 15, 29-33, 1993). There is also good evidence that the 6. M. A. Murray, Cereal production and settlement was provisioned with food and processing in Pharaonic Egypt, with par­ fuel from elsewhere. The large amount of ticular reference to the town sites of Giza, meat indicated by the bone remains is Abydos and Memphis, PhD thesis, Insti­ likely to have come into the settlement in tute of Archaeology, University College London, 2000. the form of live animals, which were butchered there, an inference supported both by the finding that the cattle were most]y young males ( 1-2 years old) and by the lack of evidence of hunted animals. The cereals, too, probably arrived partly processed, apart fromthe large weeds we find, which would have been removed by hand prior to grinding the grain for baking

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