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Glossing the Past: the Fifth Dynasty Sun Temples, Abu Ghurab and the Satellite Imagery

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Glossing the Past: the Fifth Dynasty Sun Temples, Abu Ghurab and the Satellite Imagery PES XIX_2017_studied_90-136_PES 14.12.17 9:47 Stránka 110 1 1 0 PES XIX/2017 GLOSSING THE PAST: THE FIFTH DYNASTY SUN TEMPLES Fig. 1 Historical cartography of the Abusir plateau in comparison (from left to right): Lepsius’ map (1849: pl. 32), De Morgan’s map (1897: pl. 11) and the Franco-Egyptian map (EMHR 1978, sheet 21). The circles enclose the two missing Pyramids Lepsius XVI and Lepsius XXVIII Glossing the past: the Fifth Dynasty sun temples, Abu Ghurab and the satellite imagery Massimiliano Nuzzolo – Patrizia Zanfagna On the northernmost foothill of the Abusir plateau, which is usually known as Abu Ghurab, a few hundred meters from the royal necropolis, the Fifth Dynasty pharaohs built some of the most intriguing monuments of ancient Egyptian architecture, the so-called sun temples. So far, however, only two of the six temples known from the textual sources of the time have been identified and systematically excavated, i.e. that of Userkaf and Nyuserre. Four sanctuaries still remain to be discovered. The present paper has thus the aim to shed some light on their possible locations by means of the combined analysis of archaeological evidence, historical cartography and new remote sensing imagery. Over the past two decades, remote sensing techniques have well as the identification of a complex system of commu- been increasingly used in Egyptology for the study and re- nication, dating back to the Old Kingdom, between the construction of the archeological landscape of ancient Red Sea coast and the copper mines of the Wadi Maghara Egypt and the analysis of its topographical and spatial pe- (Mumford – Parcak 2003: 83–116; Parcak 2004a: culiarities. Important contributions have been provided by 136–141; Mumford 2006: 13–67).2 several scholars, especially as regards the improvement On a smaller, intra-site scale, it is also worth mentioning of the cartography of some key areas of ancient Egypt, the studies of the main sites of the Memphite necropolis. thanks to the combination of satellite data with modern These investigations largely contributed to the knowledge on-ground tools, such as geophysical surveying and 3D of the area as regards both specific monuments, and the modeling programs. This has led to a better understanding topography and environmental evolution of key sites of of important aspects of the landscape organization and the necropolis itself, such as Giza,3 Saqqara4 and Abusir.5 exploitation in ancient Egypt, as well as to the detailed The area of Abusir – and particularly the area of Abu mapping of specific areas, e.g. Thebes, with significant im- Ghurab, which is the northernmost foothill of the Abusir plications and results not only for the scientific community, plateau – has a primary position in the perspective of but also for the touristic and site management activities.1 the present paper. In fact, starting from January 2017, In some cases the use of remote sensing tools has also a three-year based research project (“Rise and Development led to the identification of unknown structures, or even en- of the Solar Cult and Architecture in Third Millennium BC tire sites, hidden under the sand and no longer visible to Egypt”) has been launched at Charles University in Prague date. The archaeological exploration carried out in the late under the auspices of the Grant Agency of Czech Republic 1990s and early 2000s in South Sinai by Sarah Parcak and (GA ČR, No. 17-10799S). The project – which is directed Gregory Mumford, for example, significantly contributed by the main writer and includes a varied team of specialists to the discovery of several previously unknown sites as from both the above-mentioned university and L’Orientale PES XIX_2017_studied_90-136_PES 14.12.17 9:47 Stránka 111 GLOSSING THE PAST: THE FIFTH DYNASTY SUN TEMPLES PES XIX/2017 1 1 1 University of Naples, Italy, with which Charles University developments of satellite technology, and particularly signed an agreement for archaeological cooperation the generation of the COSMO Sky-Med satellites – and in 2015 – has the scope, among others, to reassess the the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images generated overall topography of the site of Abu Ghurab and, at the therein – compared and combined with the traditional same time, to contribute to the identification of the missing panchromatic images, such as the ones available through sun temples. the Google Earth system, allow us to investigate the above- In fact, out of the six sun temples known from epi- mentioned area with an increased level of accuracy which graphic and historical sources, only two of them have been has not been possible so far. archaeologically excavated so far, i.e. the sun temples of It is not the matter of the present paper to discuss the Nyuserre and Userkaf (Borchardt 1907; Ricke 1965 and importance and the benefit of the new radar technology 1969). Since January 2010, the former has also been the and imagery for Egyptology, given that several studies object of an overall field re-examination by an Italian have definitely proven that they are extremely useful archaeological mission – from L’Orientale University of tools of investigation (Parcak 2004b: 63–78; Parcak 2010: Naples – of which the present writer is co-director (see 362–382).7 Nor will I discuss the differences among Nuzzolo – Pirelli 2011; D’Andrea – Pirelli – Iannone – the available panchromatic and radar images and all the Nuzzolo – Zanfagna 2014: 48–98). However, the location properties of the latter for archaeological research in desert of four sun temples is still completely unknown, and areas (in this regard, see the wide résumé available in although it is a widespread opinion that these temples must Parcak 2009: 41–80). have been located nearby the other two (cf. Verner 2014: What has to be stressed instead – especially in the per- 209),6 their precise identification has never been addressed spective of future investigations in the field, which is also in detail in past scholarship, up to the point that some one of the aims of the abovementioned project – is the scholars have even casted doubts on their existence importance of applying this technology to the Abusir/Abu (Stadelmann 2000: 529–542). Ghurab case study. This approach can offer not only The location in Abu Ghurab of at least some of these a better vision and understanding of the sun temple area temples is instead supported by the main historical source in Abu Ghurab, but also complement our knowledge of the of the time, i.e. the Abusir papyri, which tells us that the overall topography of the Fifth Dynasty royal necropolis sun temple of Neferirkare (actually one of the missing tem- of Abusir, which was actually considered, together with ples) was reached twice a day by boat from the pyramid Abu Ghurab, as a single conceptual and geo-cultural unit of the same king, with the aim to perform religious and in the Old Kingdom. administrative duties (Posener-Kriéger 1976: 519–520; Before analyzing the new satellite imagery, we will Nuzzolo 2007: 233). Visually, Abu Ghurab appears nowa- begin by summarizing the archaeological and topograph- days as a restricted area for the solar temples (and the solar ical investigation of the site in the last centuries, in order aspects of the king’s cult), contiguous to the main royal to get a wider view of the development of the exploration necropolis for the king’s funerary cult, and this would and knowledge of the sun temple area. logically indicate that the other sun temples, too, should be located nearby the ones already known (Nuzzolo 2015: Historical cartography and explorations 303–304). of Abu Ghurab The search for the missing sun temples is also extremely promising when we consider that in the sites of Abusir and As with most Egyptian sites, the modern exploration of the Abu Ghurab, we have the chance, not very common for area of the sun temples in Abu Ghurab can be dated back other Egyptian sites, to base our analysis on the cross- to Napoleon’s expedition. In the famous Description de -examination of an extensive historical cartography of the l’Égypte the French savants recorded the presence of area with either the Photogrammetrical Map scaled 1:5000 “pyramides en ruines” – certainly corresponding to the (which was realized in 1978 by the Egyptian Government actual pyramids of Abusir – and of a very small structure and the French Aviation IGMF), or the remote sensed which is called an “éminence que l’on croit avoir été une imagery derived from both optical and radar sensors. Pyramide”, most likely Nyuserre’s sun temple (Descrip- Moreover, the Abu Ghurab/Abusir area offers scholars an tion 1809: pl. 1). incredibly unique case of investigation of ancient sacred The second brief description of the site was elaborated landscapes because of its chronologically limited use in by the explorers Howard Vyse and John Shae Perring in a time span of around 100 years, roughly corresponding the years 1837–1938. Although they focused their atten- to the Fifth Dynasty. In fact, the main architectural features tion on the cartographical and topographical report of the of the site were shaped and arranged in the natural setting pyramid field,8 the two scholars also recorded, with the in the time span between Userkaf and Djedkare, and no number 12, the presence of a small building – supposed to longer significantly affected for the coming millennia. be a pyramid – on the northernmost hill of Abusir, known In a paper published in 2013, the present author already as the “Reeghah village” (Vyse 1842: 10–12, and fig. 2). emphasized the importance of the combined application The explorers also drew the remains, simply called of remote sensed data and historical cartography for the “ruins”, of a structure supposed to be the valley temple, improvement of our knowledge of the area of Abusir/Abu which was connected by a causeway to the upper temple.
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