Monthly Archives: July 2013

The so called milk vessels from Nubia

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Figurative vessels from Ancient Egypt (see Bourriau 1987) include feminoform vessels with modelled breasts and often plastic arms. Such jars are attested in a variety of forms (see especially Seiler 2006 for the distinction between “Hathor” and “Isis” vases) and derive primarily from tombs (cf., e.g., Lopez Grande/de Gregorio 2009). In recent years, feminoform vessels have also been recorded from domestic contexts at settlements like Elephantine, the town area of Abydos and also Sai Island (Budka forthc.).

Although more common in the New Kingdom, pottery vessels with applied breasts and feminine faces are already known from the Middle Kingdom onwards (Stevens 2006: 171 with literature). They have often been labelled as “milk vessels”; various authors associate them with the cult of Hathor (e.g. Bourriau 1982: 78; Hope 1982: 87; Smith 2003: 47).

Unbenannt-1a

The prime feature which characterises the pottery vessels as feminoform vases are nipples or breasts applied to the upper part of the body of the jar. They are attested both as pierced ones, potentially functioning as small spouts, or as unpierced examples with a greater emphasis on anatomical details of the female breast. Feminine faces at the neck may complement these breast applications, but are sometimes missing. Applied arms including hands are present in some cases; sometimes they are executed in paint only.

At SAV1N, the excavation area in the north of the fortified New Kingdom town of Sai Island, two fragments of femino­form vases were found (see Budka forthc.). A surface find completes this small assemblage of three figure vases from 18th Dynasty Sai. The latter, a sherd collected by Francis Geus in 1998 from the surface, cannot be dated by context. It is a heavily worn shoulder fragment of a Marl A3 vessel. Modelled arms and hands are cupping the female breasts which are not pierced. There are no traces of wavy lines or incised comb patterns, as attested for an otherwise very similar jar from a tomb at Qustul (Bourriau 1982: 78, no. 50, Chicago 21044 from Qustul, tomb R. 29, early 18th Dynasty).

Fragment of feminoform vessel from Sai.

Fragment of feminoform vessel from Sai.

Although similar Marl A3 vessels are already known in the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period, the comparison from Qustul and the archaeological context from Sai itself suggest a dating of the Marl A3 feminoform vessel to the early 18th Dynasty. It is significant (if tiny) evidence towards reconstructing Pharaonic lifestyle on Sai during the New Kingdom – which includes references to the general theme of regeneration and fertility as well as traces of “private religion” (cf. Stevens 2006).

 

References

Bourriau 1982 = J. Bourriau, No. 50: Milk vase, in E. Brovarski/S.K. Doll/R.E. Freed (eds.), Egypt’s Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 78.

Bourriau 1987 = J. Bourriau, Pottery Figure Vases of the New Kingdom, in Cahiers de la ceramique égyptienne 1 (1987), 81-96.

Budka forthc. = J. Budka, Vessels of life: New evidence for creative aspects in material remains from domestic sites, in: B. Bader, C.M. Knoblauch, E.C. Köhler (eds.), Vienna 2 – Ancient Egyptian Ceramics in the 21st Century. Proceedings of the International Conference held at the University of Vienna 14th-18th of May, 2012, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta [Leuven 2013-2014, forthcoming].

Hope 1982 = C.A. Hope, No. 69: Decorated vase, in E. Brovarski/S.K. Doll/R.E. Freed (eds.), Egypt’s Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 86-87.

Lopez Grande/de Gregorio 2009 = M.J. Lopez Grande/E. de Gregorio, Cerámicas del Reino Nuevo con decoración pintada y plástica halladas en Dra Abu el-Naga (excavaciones del Proyecto Djehuty), in M. Polo/M. Ángel/C. Sevilla Cueva (eds), Actas III Congreso Ibérico de Egiptología / III Congresso Ibérico de Egiptologia. Trabajos de Egiptología (Papers on Ancient Egypt 5:2), Puerto de la Croz (Tenerife), 31-48.

Seiler 2006 = A. Seiler, „Erhebe dich, Vater! …, deine Milch dir, die in den Brüsten deiner Mutter Isis ist.“ Zu Form und Funktion einer Gruppe anthropomorpher Gefäße aus der Nekropole in Dra’ Abu el-Naga/Theben, in E. Czerny et al. (eds.), Timelines. Studies in honour of Manfred Bietak (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 149/1), Leuven, 317-327.

Smith 2003 = S.T. Smith, Wretched Kush. Ethnic identities and boundaries in Egypt’s Nubian Empire, London and New York.

Stevens 2006 = A. Stevens, Private Religion at Amarna (British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1587), Oxford.

Re-assigning Marls as Mixed clays?

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Few days ago, preparing our sherds for the cutting of the thin sections, we stumbled across two samples (SAV/S 57 and SAV/S 59), previously classified as “marl D”. With a fresh break, they appeared a little bit peculiar compared to the others classified as this well established Egyptian fabric. Therefore we wondered if they actually were something different from a marl D (being aware of the variations within this group, cf. Rose 2007: 14-15), as for example a mixed clay, attested at other New Kingdom sites like Elephantine and Memphis (see Aston 1999: 6; Budka 2005: 94-95; Bourriau 2010: 27-28, G6b).

This ‘suspicion’ seems now to be confirmed by means of the microscopic observation of the thin section!

SAVS 57 blog

SAV/S 57

Under the thin calcareous layer forming the white slip of the vessel, both of these samples disguised a quite ferruginous matrix, surrounding by numerous silicate minerals as quartz and feldspar (mainly plagioclase). Among others, the non-plastic inclusions included: Fe-oxides, biotite and muscovite mica, clino-pyroxenes and possibly volcanic rock fragments plus scattered clay pellets. In addition, small to medium calcareous inclusions were identified in the framework – but in a significant lower amount than in the proper marl D fabric.

SAV/S 29

SAV/S 29

SAV/S 57 and 59 show a very fine and homogeneous texture and few shrinkage cracks. In contrast, some of the marl D samples (for example SAV/S 29) are characterized by a high secondary porosity.

Taken together, the present data suggests that both SAV/S 57 and SAV/S 59 are likely to be either a mixture of Nile and Marl clays, or even pure Nile silts containing a small percentage of limestone particles (cf. Bourriau 2010: 24, G6a)! Forthcoming chemical analyses will allow us to confirm (or modify) this idea looking at the bulk composition and at the comparison between the samples!

SAV/S 59

SAV/S 59

By now we can just stress once again the usefulness of such kind of scientific interdisciplinary approach and the advantages that may derive from combining macroscopic observations and analytical methods in the study of the ceramic materials.

 

References

Aston 1999 = D. A. Aston, Pottery from the Late New Kingdom to the Early Ptolemaic Period, Elephantine XIX, AV 95, Mainz am Rhein.

Bourriau 2010 = J. Bourriau, The Survey of Memphis IV. Kom Rabia: The New Kingdom Pottery, Excavation Memoir 93, London.

Budka 2005 = J. Budka, XII. Zur Keramik des Neuen Reiches – erste Beobachtungen anhand des Materials aus der Oststraße B II, in G. Dreyer et al., Stadt und Tempel von Elephantine, 31./32. Grabungsbericht, in MDAIK 61, 2005, 90–116.

Rose 2007 = P. J. Rose, The Eighteenth Dynasty Pottery Corpus from Amarna, Excavation Memoir 83, London.

First week at the Lab

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Here in Vienna, things are proceeding quickly and very well. Thanks to the efficiency and the professionalism of our colleagues from the Departments of Lithospheric Research and of Geodynamics and Sedimentology and to the excellent scientific facilities available at their ‘Dünnschlif​flabor’ (thin section laboratory) in the Centre of Earth Sciences, the first set of samples is already prepared: ready for being looked at under the microscope!
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First set of thin sections.

First set of thin sections.

So, last week, coming back from London, we started also with the preparation of the second group of ceramics: 24 samples including different Nubian and Egyptian fabrics as well as imports.

At present, I’m temporary settled in the lab where I’m splitting my day between the observation of the first set of thin sections at the microscope and the preparation of the new samples together with Claudia Beybel who is patiently teaching me how to realize – step by step – a perfect ‘Dünnschliff’!

First of all, before starting with the cutting, the samples need to be consolidated, so they were immerged in a special glue (araldite) and put in vacuum so that the glue can penetrate deeply into the ceramic material. Since several of our samples (for example the Nubian wares) are very porous and brittle, this operation has sometimes to be repeated more than one time.
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As a next step, the samples remain 24 hours in the oven at 40 degree Celsius to become completely dry.

On the next day, they are finally ready to being cut in order to obtain a straight slice,almost completely plan.

The new cutting machine.

The new cutting machine.

Thanks to the new wonderful machine present in the lab, this procedure took relatively short time and the result was perfect.

Further steps involve the grinding and the polishing of the section; for this operation horizontal rotary plates with diamond discs of various grit sizes that magnetically adhere to the grinding wheel were used.
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Polishing the section on the plate.

Polishing the section on the plate.

The plates work in water and in transition from a coarse to the next fine grit size, the surface of the sample becomes perfectly flat and smooth! The final polishing is realized by hand with Si abrasive powder.

Gluing the section on the glass.

Gluing the section on the glass.

 

 

 

 

At this point, the samples can be glued on the glass slides, previously cleaned and matte on one side. After another night in the oven at 40 degree Celsius, the samples are ready to be cut at 30 micron.

And for Claudia and me it is finally the time for a coffee together on the nice terrace of the department!

The gold of Kush

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Nubia is famous for its rich supply of gold and it is well known that Nubian gold was among the main Egyptian economic interests during a long time span (cf. Vercoutter 1959). During the London colloquium last week, the role of gold for the Egyptian presence in Nubia was discussed again.

There is increasing evidence that the location of the Egyptian New Kingdom sites in the Abri-Delgo-reach as rich gold ore region was important for their function (see Klemm & Klemm 2013, also Darnell 2013, 828). For example, recent work at Sesebi has stressed the importance of gold exploitation for the function of the site (Spence/Rose 2009; Spence et al. 2011). Evidence from Tombos (Stuart T. Smith) and Amara West (Neal Spencer) show a similar picture. Also Sai Island had direct access to gold ores and probably played a role in gold mining of the New Kingdom.

The German geologists Rosmarie and Dieter Klemm gave a very interesting paper in London – and more information can be found in their recent publication “Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia.” According to the Klemms, gold mining expanded during the 18th dynasty to large scale in Nubia. They could trace a significant change in processing and prospecting methods, most importantly “the introduction of the grinding mill to the mining industry in the New Kingdom” (Klemm & Klemm 2013, 9) which allowed the increased exploitation of auriferous quartz vein systems. From their point of view, there is a connection between Ancient Egypt’s gold mining industry in the Abri-Delgo-reach and the New Kingdom temples of the region (Klemm & Klemm 2013, 568-570). And indeed – at all of the sites mentioned, mills and grinding stones suitable for producing quartz powder have been found.

Kushites bringing gold to Egypt, tomb of Viceroy Huy (Thebes)

Kushites bringing gold to Egypt, tomb of Viceroy Huy (Thebes)

Back in 1959, Vercoutter reconstructed the amount of gold coming from Kush in contrast to Wawat according to Egyptian texts (Vercoutter 1959, 135): there is a clear difference, especially during the reign of Thutmose III (also the starting date of the Royal building activity in the region) when much more gold of Wawat was registered. From the time of Amenhotep III onwards, Kush seems to have gained in importance as gold mining area – scenes like the famous representations in the tomb of Viceroy Huy illustrate that gold was an important item sent to Egypt at the end of the 18th Dynasty. Textual evidence implies a decline in gold production in Ramesside time – something we might be able to confirm or modify by future archaeological fieldwork!

 

References

Darnell 2013 = John C. Darnell, A Bureaucratic Challenge? Archaeology and Administration in a Desert Environment (Second Millennium B.C.E.), in J.C. Moreno García (ed.), The Administration of Egypt, HdO 104, Leiden 2013, 785-830.

Klemm & Klemm 2013 = Rosemarie Klemm, Dietrich Klemm, Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Geoarchaeology of the Ancient Gold Mining Sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese Eastern Deserts, Natural Science in Archaeology, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer, 2013

Spence/Rose 2009 = Kate Spence, Pam Rose, Fieldwork at Sesebi, 2009, Sudan & Nubia 13, 2009, 38–46.

Spence et al. 2011 = Kate Spence et al., Sesebi 2011, Sudan & Nubia 15, 2011, 34–39.

Vercoutter 1959 = Jean Vercoutter, The Gold of Kush, Kush 7, 1959, 120-153.

Welcoming our youngest team member

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Dani-Kara 1607We’re very happy to welcome with Daniela Wölfl a new student assistant for AcrossBorders! Daniela is studying Egyptology at the University of Vienna, finishing soon with a BA degree.

Daniela has already some practice in drawing ceramics and is in general interested in archaeological documentation and the study of material culture. She will help us with digitalising our records, in particular the 1:1 ceramic drawings.

As first work task, she re-organises the large data set of photographs of both objects and ceramics from our field season 2013 – not only essential for the further processing of the finds, but also a nice opportunity to get familiar with the range of materials and different types of objects coming from the New Kingdom town of Sai Island!

Hybrid pottery types at Egyptian sites in Nubia

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Hybrid pottery types

An interesting phenomenon was addressed during several papers at the colloquium last week in London: The appearance of “hybrid” pottery types – locally produced vessels modelled on Egyptian types, but with a “Nubian” influence as far as the surface treatment, production technique or decoration is concerned. Well attested at Sai, Amara West and Sesebi, such types raise a number of questions. Egyptian style vessels made of local fabrics, shaped by hand or (clumsily) wheel-made with a Nubian surface treatment like ripple burnishing or incised decoration might be products of a temporary or local fashion. It remains to be investigated whether they also refer to the cultural identity of their users or whether they are the results of more complicated processes. All in all, hybrid pottery types from New Kingdom levels seem to attest a complex mixture of life styles in Upper Nubia.

At Sai, examples have been found both at SAV1 North and SAV1 East in 18th Dynasty levels, especially in contexts datable to the Thutmoside period.

Annual Egyptological Colloquium at the British Museum: Nubia in the New Kingdom

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On our way to London: Giulia, Florence and me will be attending scientific events at the British Museum, organized by our British colleagues headed by Neal Spencer. In addition, Veronica Hinterhuber, much waited-for future collaborator of AcrossBorders, will also join us on this occasion from Berlin! And I am especially happy that Huda Magzoub, our inspector from NCAM, kindly accepted an invitation as well and is already waiting for us in London!

Tomorrow we will be busy with two informal workshops, bringing together scholars currently working on New Kingdom sites in Nubia as well as some other colleagues with specific expertise. Giulia will present our pottery samples and I will mainly focus on questions of the early development of Sai at the very beginning of the 18th Dynasty. Huda has prepared a presentation on some nice New Kingdom pot sherds from the Sudan National Museum’s collection, among them an amphora from Sai with an hieratic docket.

Thursday and Friday will be completely occupied by the two-day colloquium “Nubia in the New Kingdom: Lived experience, pharaonic control and local traditions” – a very rich programme focusing on new insights from the latest fieldwork at major settlements and cemeteries in Nubia. Elephantine, Aniba, Amara West, Sai, Sesebi, Dukki Gel, Tombos and other sites will be in the spotlight – temple architecture, settlements, tombs, statues, ceramics and other finds will illustrate the complex picture of the material culture and social identities at Egyptian sites in Nubia during the New Kingdom. Abstracts of the colloquium are available via the British Museum website!

Kerma presence at SAV1 East

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A small sneak preview of my upcoming London paper: based on results from recent fieldwork, I will summarize our present understanding of the diachronic development of the New Kingdom town at Sai Island, and I will also briefly speak about the possible cohabitation of Egyptians and Nubians.

The earliest level at area SAV1 East within the New Kingdom town corresponds to the domestic remains and structures excavated by M. Azim in the 1970s around Temple A (SAV1, Azim 2011-2012). Azim was able to show that these occupation remains are earlier than the stone temple and thus Pre-Thutmose III in date – based on parallels from the site of Gism el-Arab and observations on Nubian ceramics found in the surroundings of Temple A, an interpretation of SAV1 as Kerma classique habitation site was tentatively suggested (Azim 2011-2012: 36-37).

As reported, feature 14 and other remains in the southern part of SAV1E allowed us to link our new excavation site with the domestic zone around Temple A. Interestingly, within the storage bin (feature 14) and in its surroundings there have been several fragments of Kerma vessels in the local Nubian tradition. A Nubian presence is therefore traceable at SAV1 East, mostly represented by cooking pots, but also fine wares and a storage vessel have been found. This compares well to material documented at SAV1 North and to what Azim mentioned for the zone around Temple A. Parallels can be also named  from other Upper Nubian sites like e.g. Sesebi (see Rose 2012).Kerma presence1Thanks to the associated Egyptian material at SAV1 East, we are able to date the Kerma material as early 18th Dynasty, pre-Thutmose III, but not pre-New Kingdom. Characterized by small structures with single-brick walls and storage facilities, the area at the eastern edge of the site can be safely interpreted as part of the newly founded Egyptian town without an earlier Kerma habitation below.

References:

Azim, M. 2011-2012. Une installation civile antérieure au temple A, 11–36, in M. Azim/J.-F. Carlotti, Le temple à de l’île de Saï et ses abords, CRIPEL 29, 11–63.

Rose, P. 2012. Early 18th Dynasty Nubian Pottery from the Site of Sesebi, Sudan, in I. Forstner-Müller/P. Rose (eds.), Nubian Pottery from Egyptian Cultural Contexts of the Middle and Early New Kingdom. Proceedings of a Workshop held at the Austrian Archaeological Institute at Cairo, 1-12 December 2010, Ergänzungshefte zu den Jahresheften des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes 13, Vienna, 13‒29.

Paper in current issue of “Sokar”

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The table of content of the current issue of the German journal “Sokar” is online, it will appear in print by mid July. Sokar 26 features my paper in German with the title “Die 18. Dynastie auf Sai Island (Nordsudan) – neue Puzzlesteine als Ergebnisse der Feldkampagne 2013“ (The 18th Dynasty on Sai Island – new bits and pieces as results of the 2013 field season). This well-illustrated paper (13 colour figures!) summarizes the most important outcomes of our recent work at SAV1East. I explain the discovery of Building A and its significance for our understanding of the general layout of the town – highlighting also the prominent position held by Sai Island during the mid 18th Dynasty in Upper Nubia. Besides further confirmation that the New Kingdom town at the island was founded at the very beginning of the 18th Dynasty, the 2013 excavations at SAV1East revealed a marked development and heyday of the site during the time of Thutmose III/Amenhotep II.

I can’t wait to hold the current Sokar in hands – especially because of a number of other very interesting articles, including another paper on Ancient Sudan – Angelika Lohwasser presents her recent assessment of Sanam.

Making progress: Towards petrographic studies of our pottery samples

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Today, Giulia is invited to watch first steps of works with our samples in the thin section laboratory of the Center for Earth Sciences, University of Vienna, Department of Lithospheric Research. We brought the first 12 samples for thin sections there yesterday – a group of Marl clay amphorae and another group of Oasis ware.

Samples1We are very grateful to all the colleagues who made this cooperation possible – the infrastructure at the Center is fabulous and promises high quality results, important steps forward for our petrographic studies on New Kingdom ceramics from Sai Island! The thin sections will allow Giulia to investigate under various types of microscopes the properties of the individual wares in detail and to assess the microstructure of the sherds. This will help us tremendously to understand the differences we have made between the wares from the macroscopic point of view and might already challenge some of our classification. For example, one “Marl D” sherd is a bit peculiar and different from the others – I suspect it might be a Mix clay after all, but hopefully the thin sections and the comparison between the samples will shed light on these questions.

We wish to thank in particular Prof. Christian Köberl, Deputy Head of the Department of Lithospheric Research (and Director General of the Natural History Museum Vienna) for his kind support, Dieter Mader for welcoming us at the department and Sigrid Hrabe and Claudia Beybel for the work in the lab, for realising the thin sections of our samples and especially for giving Giulia the great opportunity to learn a little bit about the technical steps of work.