Monthly Archives: January 2013

Pots in Our Hands!

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After finishing the detailed drawing of storage bin 14, we finally could move the in situ pots! We managed to recover the complete beaker in one piece – a great moment of joy for DSC_1849the ceramicist!

The smaller red burnished vessel was broken and fell into some pieces, which we will be able to fix together, reconstructing the jar.

Having the pots in our hands, and being able to analyse them closely, I can now also confirm their presumed dating: both are early 18th Dynasty, pre-dating Thutmose III and thus early than the nearby Temple A.

Therefore it is safe to assume that feature 14 belongs to an early occupation phase of SAV1E during the very beginning of the New Kingdom – just on the arrival of the Egyptians on Sai Island!

In situ Pots in Square 2 – an Update

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Today, we cleaned the small bin in Square 2 and christened it “Feature 14“. We now have the complete outline of the feature and will document it with a detailed drawing tomorrow – this will complement our photographic documentation.

This is why we kept the Documenting Feature 14ceramics found inside still in place – and great news here: exactly as we hoped, there was another intact vessel in the Northwest corner of the bin, just next to the one we saw last week! Both pots clearly date to the early 18th Dynasty and are set on debris which filled the bin. Other fragments of sherds of the early New Kingdom were discovered in the filling material during cleaning – nothing later, so it really is an undisturbed context! In the eastern part of feature 14, a pottery dish was smashed by collapsed mud bricks and is still only partly visible.

Feature 14 status 1901

Registration of Finds & more

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By the end of week 2, our Filemaker Database for objects from SAV1E comprises 85 pieces. Most of them are reused sherds (e.g. scrapers) and stone tools (e.g. grinding stones and pounders). Each object gets an entry in the database and is illustrated by photos. In a future step we will also make technical drawings of selected pieces.

NB Photo makingThe highlight so far was a tiny piece of fayence: this fragment illustrated here was discovered directly between mud bricks of the eastern wall of Building A. Thanks to parallels, it is clearly coming from a so-called Nun-boSAV1E-085-01iwl, datable to the 18th Dynasty. Such fayence bowls, decorated with floral designs, fish and marsh scenes, are commonly found within the context of New Kingdom temples, but also appear in domestic contexts. Examples for finds of Nun-bowls from settlements are among others Abydos, Kom el-Rabia and also SAV1North, the northern area of the Pharaonic town on Sai Island.

In situ 18th Dynasty Pottery!

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Just before closing for the weekend, we started cleaning a small storage bin set against a gravel deposit in the south eastern part of Square 2. It is located outside of our main building (Building A) and was found with what seemed to be original filling material.

MohammedMohammed Feature 14 did a very good job working on this fragile structure, brushing its outline and exposed carefully the upper part of a 18th Dynasty beaker with a smaller vessel inside. These vessels are still in place where they have been left c. 3400 years ago!

 

We will continue here on Saturday and empty the bin, but the find is indeed exciting and just a perfect closing of a sucessful week: in situ material from the original use of this structure confirms our proposed dating of the New Kingdom activity in this area to the early 18th Dynasty! Feature 14 a

We will know more once the complete vessels  have been taken out and processed – and we will keep you posted!

New Features in Square 2

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Mapping our wall and other features in Square 1, we christened the partly exposed major building at SAV1E “Building A”. Today, we discovered a new rectangular structure lined by mud bricks, just in the Northwest corner of Square 2 and thus still within “Building A”.

DSC_1025 scmallThe photo shows the first outline of feature 15 early this morning. In the geophysical survey of 2011, a sub rectangular anomaly was visible at exactly this location. Similar to the circular pits in Square 1, the new feature is filled with soft sandy material – maybe it is some kind of installation for storage. Associated ceramics are again mostly early-mid 18th Dynasty in date.

 

Mud Brick Architecture at SAV1E

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As work progressed in Squares 1 and 2, we can now happily confirm that we have a mud brick structure of considerable size at SAV1E – its North-South extension is more than 15 m and we calculate c. 12 m for its East-West side. Both, size and orientation match perfectly a structure visible on a geophysical survey conducted in 2011.

WORK at the eastern wall

Cleaning the remains of the mud brick wall in Square 1.

As yet, we have unearthed only parts of its eastern and southern wall – although most of the eastern wall is now a negative impression filled with very soft sandy material, there are sections with bricks still in place, giving the width of the wall.

Section of the eastern wall of large mud brick structure at SAV1E. Note the circular depression west of the wall – they also showed up at the geophysical survey’s map and are possibly storage pits?

Section of the eastern wall of large mud brick structure at SAV1E. Note the circular depressions west of the wall – they also showed up at the geophysical survey’s map (and are possibly storage pits?)

Because of the large amount of New Kingdom ceramics associated with the remains, we remain confident that it dates to the 18th Dynasty. Details of the architecture, stratigraphy and possibly functional use will be clarified in the course of upcoming fieldwork!

From House Hold to Drawing Sheets

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From working at several archaeological sites in Egyptian Delta and Nile valley up to the First Nile cataract and acquaintance with various types of ceramics, it can be said that the pottery collection coming from SAV1 North in Sai Island offers a significant opportunity to study a great diversity of both Egyptian and Nubian pottery. These are diverse in fabrics, manufacture techniques and shapes. Such a variety is evidence of a multi-cultural society that has lived on Sai around ca. 1400 BC.

During the first ten days of the 2013 mission, pottery drawings achieved have covered a good amount of these various ceramics mainly including the essential elements of house hold such as storage vessels, dishes, bowls and cooking pots.

Fatma KeshkThe Nubian ceramics, containing a good majority of cooking pots decorated with impressions from rectangular or circular basketry, recall the Nubian pottery found on Elephantine Island during the early New Kingdom in shapes, decorations and handmade techniques. Other vessels like dishes, flower pots and incense burner are typical of Egyptian 18th Dynasty style.

Drawing both Nubian and Egyptian pottery simultaneously allows a worthy chance of comparison. The pursuit of ceramics documentation throughout this season can indeed expose other interesting details that are crucial to the study of the whole pottery corpus in Sai.

Making Progress

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Despite some attacks by “nimiti“ today, we are making good progress in both squares at SAV1E. Interestingly, the ceramics from Square 2 in the South comprise already much 18th Dynasty material – 51 % of the total and this just 20 cm below the surface! As proposed already in our first week, this seems to be connected to the neighbourhood of Temple A.

Work in Square 1

Work in Square 1

Square 1 gets more and more interesting as well – at it’s eastern side there are mud bricks already in place and along a very promising North-South alignment. But before going deeper there, we have to work through material which covers the western half and is mostly a deposit of gravel and sand, as illustrated here. Finds were not numerous today and all of us are looking forward to the next step of work tomorrow!

Stone tools for grinding and more

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On a very windy day today, fieldwork continued in both squares and produced among others some stone tools characteristic of the New Kingdom. These are mainly hammers, pounders and grinding stones in various materials such as quartz, sandstone and diorite. SAV1E-028This example of a pounder (SAV1E 028) is made in sandstone and measures 7.5 x 7 x 5.2 cm.

Beyond the New Kingdom

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Simultaneously with the ongoing excavation in SAV1E, processing and recording of ceramics and small finds are carried out in the digging house. Besides the corpus of New Kingdom wares comparable to SAV1N, a large number of sherds attest to the Post-New Kingdom activity on Sai Island. P001

Among them there are also many decorated fragments and the one illustrated here was today’s highlight! It is well known that there was a Meroitic, Post-Meroitic, Christian and Ottoman occupation of the site.