Colloquium abstracts Asyut through time: conflict and culture in Middle Egypt The Annual Egyptological Colloquium Thursday 20 July and Friday 21 July 2017 BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum Asyut, rural shrines, and the rise of anthropological context rarely preserved in the the Coptic Church Egyptian Nile valley: a middle-sized provincial Phillip Booth, University of Oxford town combined with its hinterland in a continuous Starting from an unpublished text attributed to historical setting accessible for research. Constantine, Bishop of Asyut (c. AD 600) – the Our presentation will report on the first three field First Encomium on Saint John of Heraclea – this seasons, focusing on the documentation of Shutb’s paper explores the connection between rural ancient heritage in relation to the surrounding saints' shrines within the region of Asyut and the landscape. ascendant anti-Chalcedonian ('Coptic') episcopate founded in the late 570s, of which Constantine was Objects in context: the Turin Museum a prominent member. It first of all highlights the excavations in Asyut (1906–1913) extensive production of texts which Constantine Paolo Del Vesco, Museo Egizio and his episcopal colleagues within the region Ernesto Schiaparelli and his Missione produced in this period, and the pressing need to Archeologica Italiana (MAI) carried out seven edit their neglected Arabic corpora. But it also fieldwork seasons in Asyut between 1906 and argues that these same bishops were promoting 1913 and brought back to Italy more than 3,000 the region's rural shrines in competition with their objects, including human remains. All the artefacts Chalcedonian rivals, who still dominated the cities. are still awaiting complete assessment, study and In this, these bishops attempted to mark out the publication. Recently conducted research on the region's hinterland as a distinct sacred space, museum archive documentation by Alice Sbriglio, linked through the shrines of which the new in collaboration with Jochem Kahl, allows us to bishops were the cultic impresarios. partially reconstruct the work done by the Italian mission and understand the original contexts of In search of ancient Shashotep many objects. This paper aims to present an Judith Bunbury, University of Cambridge & overview of the main funerary assemblages from Ilona Regulski, British Museum Asyut, now in the Museo Egizio of Turin, along with The British Museum Asyut region project aims at the contextual data available from the archive. reconstructing and preserving the deep history of the Asyut region through survey and A wood workshop at Asyut at the beginning of documentation of its pharaonic and post-pharaonic the Middle Kingdom: technical and stylistic heritage, including the varied responses of local study of a profuse production communities who live atop the layers of history Gersande Eschenbrenner-Diemer, UCL below. The village of Shutb, 5km south of Asyut The necropolis of Asyut has provided one of the city, offers an excellent window into the micro- most abundant ranges of wooden funerary material history of a rural community living on an ancient dating from the early Middle Kingdom. The quality site. The village perches atop the remains of and distinctive features of these products support ancient Shashotep – a regional centre and the hypothesis of a regional artistic school. Today, capital of the 11th Upper Egyptian province the Asyut finds are mainly divided across three from c. 2000 BC onwards. The situation on the large European Egyptological collections (British ground thus provides an ideal archaeological and Museum, Louvre and Museo Egizio in Turin). Together they shed new light on a major craft frame and a wide social range. Rifeh is most activity in early second millennium BC Egypt. famous for the so-called soul-houses; other Combining the study of manufacturing techniques, important finds are less famous but demonstrate materials and stylistic features of this production, how this local centre interacted with other local the local specificities will be examined in order to centres and the royal residence. In the Middle highlight its evolution, to define dating criteria, and Kingdom, coffins used at Rifeh were heavily to assess the origin of the craftsmen. influenced by those made at Asyut and Meir and it seems likely that they were even produced there. The 11th Upper Egyptian nome: shedding new Other objects such as model coffins show links to light on a neglected neighbour of Asyut royal cemeteries at Thebes and Lisht. The talk will Ann-Cathrin Gabel, FU Berlin focus on single objects and tomb groups in order The common designation of the area between the to provide evidence for these connections. 14th and the 10th Upper Egyptian nome as ‘the Asyut region’ indicates the special importance of Valorising the ordinary: documenting the Asyut. At the same time, it suggests that other vernacular heritage of Shutb village cities and settlements in the vicinity might have Kareem Ibrahim & Heba Shama, Takween played a minor role in comparison. This applies to Integrated Community Development Cairo the 11th Upper Egyptian nome and its regional Shutb is a small village located 5km to the south of capital Shashotep (modern Shutb) which is Asyut City in Upper Egypt. The history of the situated only 5km from Asyut – a proximity that is village as a human settlement dates back to the remarkable. Known as Egypt’s smallest nome, the pharaonic era. Its unique geographic setting – area has consequently received little attention in located on a mound (of human occupation layers) Egyptology; information on its pharaonic history is and surrounded by agricultural fields – has still sparse since archaeological investigations contributed to preserving the village’s historic have mostly been carried out in Asyut and its landscape, traditional urban fabric and many of its necropolis. However, inscriptions in the tombs of vernacular buildings. Moreover, the village is Asyut and Deir Rifeh – though badly preserved – privileged with a rich intangible heritage through its attest to a relationship between both capitals and social and economic ties with the larger Asyut their strategic importance during the First region. However, this tangible and intangible Intermediate Period. Despite their scarcity, a closer heritage is at risk of eventual loss due to urban look at the archaeological and textual sources thus pressures, deteriorated physical and reveals that this region in fact offers a lot of socioeconomic conditions, and most importantly, information, especially concerning our lack of appreciation of such heritage among understanding of Middle Egypt’s history in general different stakeholders. In March 2016, Takween but also of Asyut’s history in particular. Providing a Integrated Community Development – an Egyptian diachronic overview of the nome’s development, consultancy firm – started collaborating with the this paper aims at reinvestigating the role of the British Museum’s Asyut region project in an 11th Upper Egyptian nome and its capital extended effort to document this valuable heritage, concerning their interaction with Asyut. and to embark on a dialogue with the different stakeholders to establish a level of appreciation Rifeh: burial customs between and understanding of the village’s tangible and palace and local tradition intangible heritage. This presentation aims at Wolfram Grajetzki, UCL illustrating the main findings of this process, how it Rifeh is the modern name of a series of cemeteries engages with the local residents in order for the in Middle Egypt which served the regional centre village heritage to benefit the community, how this Shashotep. Flinders Petrie excavated here in effort would contribute to establishing a shared 1906/07 and found burials dating from the First long-term vision towards the protection and Intermediate Period up to the Ramesside Periods. management of this heritage while fulfilling the The burials cover a wide social distribution from village’s developmental needs, and, more local governors to the local farming population. It is importantly, how this effort, its potentials and its one of the few burial grounds in Middle Egypt with limitations are relevant to other Egyptian villages a continuous series of burials covering this time suffering from similar conditions. Asyut: capital that never was Asyut emphasising local patterns of thought and Jochem Kahl, FU Berlin craftsmanship in comparison with, for example, the Located 375km south of Cairo, the city of Asyut customs followed at the royal residence(s). was a gateway to important trade routes leading to the oases of Dakhla and Kharga, and on to Darfur Asyut’s First Intermediate Period pottery: in present-day Sudan. Asyut’s very name – new insights into ancient material translated into English as ‘Guardian City’ – Andrea Kilian, Mainz University highlights its considerable strategic importance, Asyut is well known for its monumental tombs of which almost inevitably consigned it to the fate of the nomarchs of the First Intermediate Period and becoming what cultural anthropologists have early Middle Kingdom. The inscriptions, especially termed a ‘wounded city’. Its geographical location those of Tomb I, have attracted much scholarly in the middle of Egypt placed Asyut between rival interest and have been extensively incorporated by blocs of power on several occasions in the course Sir Alan Gardiner in his Middle Egyptian Grammar. of history, with damage inflicted in the wake of civil Less well known is the pottery from this period wars and occupation by foreign rule – yet it would which yields peculiar characteristics unique to appear that the city’s changing fortunes prompted Asyut. The main focus of this paper is the pottery its culture to thrive and flourish. Asyut’s history as retrieved from Tomb N11.1, one of the few tombs a major population centre and a regional capital dating to the early to middle First Intermediate stretches back more than 4,500 years. Indeed the Period. The inventory from this tomb is markedly ancient Egyptians held Asyut’s artistic and cultural different from that of the late First Intermediate knowhow in high esteem; reusing, reconfiguring Period.