Stone Tools at Sai Island

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Kenneth Griffin Meg Gundlach

By far, stone tools make up the majority of the small finds we handle each day. Even for a settlement site, both the East and West trenches are unearthing tools in unusually large quantities. Due to both the long history of use and the frequent employment of naturally shaped pebbles, these tools are extremely difficult to date. While they are common within our Eighteenth Dynasty contexts, we must admit that the area around the local medieval church is also littered with identical examples. The use of the natural rock shape can hamper the recognition and identification of these objects, and we were lucky to receive a crash course from Silvia Prell, an expert on macrolithics, who was here at Sai for the beginning of the season.

This year, the most commonly represented types of tool are pounders; heavy pebbles that can be used to grind and mix material against a slab of stone. These can come in multiple shapes and sizes, as well as a variety of materials.

One of the numerous pounders from SAV1 East (SAV1E 1823).

The example shown here (SAV1E 1823) is made from a quartz pebble, which are extremely abundant on the Island. Despite being broken in half, it is clear that the tool was roughly spherical in shape, with percussions marks present along the entire circumference, thus indicating that it was well used.

Hand mills and grindstones, which are used together, are the next most common stone tools from Sai with 175 and 142 pieces already registered this year. Both are usually made from quartzite, although it is also possible for them to be made out of sandstone. Though some complete examples have been found, many are highly fragmentary, such as this hand mill (SAV1W 1189).

Fragmentary hand mill from SAV1 West (SAV1W 1189).

This season 173 whetstones have been registered into the database. A whetstone, mainly in the form of a piece of sandstone, is a sharpening stone used for knives and other cutting tools. SAV1W 720 is a good example of this in which multiple faces of the stone were utilized, as can be clearly seen by the deep grooves on the surface.

Example of a whetstone from SAV1 West (SAV1W 720).

In our last blog post we asked our readers for comments and suggestions on a curious fragment of wood. We are grateful for all your suggestions on the identity of this object! This week we have an even stranger object for you to ponder.

Another curious object – this time in stone and from SAV1 West (SAV1W 1184).

SAV1W 1184 is a small natural pebble, irregularly shaped, which seems to have been worked. Small grooves appear to be carved at fairly regular intervals on the stone. Is this really a worked stone or is it simply the work of nature? If worked, what might this object represent and how old is it?

The New Kingdom town of Sai: end of week 4

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Julia Budka

It has been a very busy and challenging week – very hot and loads of biting nimiti-flies in the first half, now a bit cooler and windy. Giulia D’Ercole, Huda Magzoub and me went to Kerma for our very successful pottery workshop, bringing together a number of colleagues working at other New Kingdom sites. During the two days we were gone from Sai, Martin Fera, Stefanie Juch and Jördis Vieth supervised the cleaning of SAF2, the so-called governor’s residence. Despite the splendid results of the Laser Scanning Campaign in 2014, we were aiming for a better understanding of this key building in the southern part of the town, especially its pavements. Ingrid Adenstedt, presently busy working from back home in Vienna, will include our new SFM model from this season for her general reconstruction of the Pharaonic remains in the town area.

Martin Fera – fighting nimiti and taking SFM photographs of SAF2.

In the magazine, Giulia was busy collecting new samples for our iNAA analysis – the current focus is on what we assume to be Egyptian Nile clay wares, produced in Egypt and imported to Sai. We sampled already a number of cooking pots in 2014 – now various types of dishes, plates and small beakers will be tested.

Ken Griffin and Meg Gundlach continued their fantastic job of organizing the storage of finds after the registration of each object – everything from small faience beads to re-used sherds, figurines, curious wooden objects, abundant stone tools to architectural pieces.

At SAV1 East, work focused on Square 4 and 4a. As reported in an earlier post, we found new sections of walls in this southern part of the area. Today a large area still covered with what seems to be an early 18^th Dynasty pavement was unearthed in the southwestern corner. We are very exciting about this good state of preservation and will continue in this part of SAV1 East in the upcoming week!

New sections of mud brick walls and remains of a nice pavement in the western part of SAV1 East.

At SAV1 West, Martin Fera and Stefanie Juch focused on the eastern half of Square 1S. In the last two days, we managed to join this new trench with Square 1, excavated in 2014 by removing the latters southern baulk according to its stratigraphy. The deposits and findings in both squares closely resemble each other and allow to a much better understanding of the occupation phases within the town.

Present status of eastern halfs of Square 1 and Square 1S in SAV1 West.

Present status of eastern half of Square 1 and Square 1S in SAV1 West.

At present, the dating of the exposed mud brick structures sitting on stratigraphic layers and cut by later pits is still unclear – there are hints for a date much later than the 18^th Dynasty. However, checking today’s pottery from Square 1, there was quite a pleasant surprise: the uppermost filling, still covering what seems to be the early occupation (with several phases), yielded a significant amount of early 19^th Dynasty sherds! This is extremely exciting! We know of course about activities under Seti I on Sai, but until today these were scattered and fragmented finds, archaeological proof of a continuous occupation is still lacking… Much potential and many open questions for our next week of work!

Furthermore, during this week Miranda Semple, the project’s micromorphologist, started sampling with a focus on SAV1 West. Especially promising are samples from the small “wall street” running along the town enclosure wall potentially highlighting daily activities such as waste but also giving information about the maintenance of the street etc.

Simultaneously with the excavation, the first micromorphological samples were taken this week.

Samples from inside the newly exposed buildings will complement these street remains and hopefully help us to understand the very complex formation processes at SAV1 West.

Sayantani Neogi, the project’s geoarchaeologist, was very busy these days with research on the sandstone cliff along the eastern side of the town and the question of a possible landing place during the New Kingdom. Her first observations are already highly interesting and important for reconstructing the past landscape.

All in all, the first four weeks of AcrossBorders’ 2015 field season were extremely productive and have yielded significant new data – confirming results from the last seasons, but also giving room to new thoughts and innovative lines of research.

Discussing New Kingdom ceramics at Kerma

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Julia Budka

Huda Magzoub, Giulia D’Ercole and me just returned to Sai from a very successful ceramic meeting in Kerma. This was actually the third time that colleagues working on New Kingdom sites in Nubia gathered for a 2-day on-site workshop to discuss fabrics, wares, vessel typologies and much more. The first meeting was held on Sai Island in 2012, followed by a meeting in Amara West in 2013 and we are very grateful to the Swiss Mission working at Dukki Gel/Kerma directed by Charles Bonnet that they hosted this year’s meeting. Philippe Ruffieux, the mission’s ceramicist, organized a splendid meeting bringing together colleague from Tombos (Stuart Tyson Smith and Bruce Williams), Amara West (Anna Garnett and Alice Salvador) and Sai Island (the three of us).
We had the great chance to look at samples and sherds from all the sites under investigation – this time the very close parallels between newly excavated material from Dukki Gel and Sai were among the prime interests.

Our joint application of petrography (OM) and iNAA shows some significant differences between “Egyptian style” and “Egyptian” vessels from Sai – work in progress!

Giulia gave a brief update of our ongoing petrographical and chemical analyses of New Kingdom fabrics and clays from Sai. We tried to explain why we do think that some of the Nile clay vessels are real imports from Egypt (especially painted wares, cooking pots and small dishes), whereas the majority was of course produced locally in “Egyptian style” on the wheel. Unfortunately we are still missing any evidence for pottery kilns datable to the 18th Dynasty on Sai.
The highlight of our 2 days at Kerma was of course the tour led by Charles Bonnet through the excavations at Dukki Gel and the visit to the site museum!

Amazing tour with Charles Bonnet through his recent findings at Dukki Gel.

Looking much forward to future meetings and a continuous fruitful exchange! I would like to express once more my gratitude to the Swiss mission hosting us during a very busy (and hot) week of their own fieldwork – very much appreciated!

A Curious Wooden Object from SAV1 East

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Kenneth Griffin Meg Gundlach

This past week a curious wooden object (SAV1E 1913) was unearthed at SAV1 East, currently being excavated by Julia Budka, Jördis Vieth and Huda Magzoub, which has generated much discussion between the team and the house staff. At first there was disappointment as it was thought that, based on the shape of the object, we had stumbled across a modern tool (screwdriver), which had been discarded by earlier excavators of the site. However, once the object had been removed from the trench it was clear that this was not the case.

The wooden object SAV1E 1913.

The object, which is approximately 10cm in length, appears to be broken roughly in half lengthwise. The top of the piece is bulbous in shape, ending in a slight point. It is nicely embellished with three lightly incised bands, each consisting of three strands, which encircle the piece. This leads to a platform, just less than 1cm thick, which contains a slight decorative lip at the top. Finally, the object contains a fairly long and slender rod, which tapers at the point. Looking at it from the broken side, the piece resembles the shape of the familiar Egyptian ankh-sign.

What exactly is this object and what era does it date to? It was excavated in a substantial debris layer along the southern edge of Square 4, comprised of mixed material ranging in date from the early 18^th Dynasty to the Ottoman period.

One suggestion is that the object is part of a decorative piece of furniture, perhaps the knob from a chest of drawers or something similar.

The main problem with this is that the rod would extend too far into the furniture, which seems impractical. Could the object be a wooden spindle, a device to spin fibres into thread? While it is an attractive proposal, this time it seems that the rod would have been too short!

Wooden spindle.

Another suggestion is that it could be a top or spinning top, a toy which is designed to be spun rapidly on the ground. Despite the fact this type of toy is known from as early as the Pharaonic period, the overall shape makes this also unlikely.

Spinning top.

Perhaps the most practical use for the object, as proposed by our Sudanese housekeeper Sidahmed, is that it is part of a kohl pot. In this case, the bulbous part would form the handle, the platform would act as the lid, and the rod would be used as an applicator for the kohl. While kohl is a well-known cosmetic to be used by the Egyptians, it can still be found in many African countries today, such as these elaborate examples from Morocco. Therefore, the date of the object could range from the Pharaonic Period to modern times, with the latter bring the most likely scenario.

Moroccan Kohl pots.

We welcome any suggestions and comments from our readers both on the function of this object and its dating!

Image credits

Spinning top – http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/254178/spinning-top-wood-tonala-mexico-1962-1963

Spindle – https://awalimofstormhold.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/5thcentwoodenspindle.jpeg

More bricks, walls, finds and ceramics: end of week 3

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Julia Budka

Today was the hottest day so far in the 2015 season – unfortunately not yet hot enough to prevent the numerous nimiti-flies from being very active…

This week was extremely busy and successful – in both areas (SAV1 East and SAV1 West) new mud brick walls were discovered and the number of finds and pottery increased much. Object registration continues by Kenneth Griffin and Meg Gundlach – the database comprises already 2576 objects ranging in date from the Paleolithic Period to Ottoman times. The number of items datable to the 18th Dynasty rises with every day of fieldwork.

The cowroid fayence amulet SAV1W 723.

One of the highlights among the small finds from this season is definitely an intact, small cowroid fayence amulet depicting the goddess Taweret on its flat side. It was found close to the bottom surface of the town wall’s foundation in Square 1S.

In Square 1S, Martin Fera, Stefanie Juch and their gang of workmen have exposed some fragile street deposits in the lane running along the inner side of the town enclosure as well as in situ mud brick structures in the eastern half of the square. A particularly promising structure is located in its southeastern corner – still filled with dense mud brick debris, worked stones and pottery fragments its date remains to be clarified in the upcoming week.

Promising mud brick features in Square 1S, Southeastern corner.

At SAV1 East, Jördis Vieth, Huda Magzoub and their team of local workmen have exposed more remains of pavements and new sections of walls in Square 4. Due to the poor state of preservation, work here is very challenging – I am nevertheless very positive that we will be able to understand the stratigraphical relations of the scattered remains in the next weeks. The present working hypothesis is that there are early 18^th Dynasty structures in the southern part of Square 4 – pre-dating Building A and finding close parallels around Temple A (excavated by Michel Azim) and in Square 2 of our excavation (storage bin feature 14).

Remains in the southern part of SAV1 East, probably earlier than Building A.

Furthermore, Giulia D’Ercole joined us this week – she has already started to sample pottery vessels for iNAA analysis in Vienna. The focus of the 2015 season is on Egyptian style vessels – both imported ones from Egypt and locally produced wheel-made vessels.

Geoarchaeological research by Sayantani Neogi and Miranda Semple commenced this week as well – they successfully surveyed parts of the hinterland of the New Kingdom town. Miranda starts sampling archaeological deposits for micromorphological analysis at SAV1 West next week.

Micromorphological research at Sai will start with the sampling of street deposits at SAV1 West.

All in all, everything worked out according to schedule with more than satisfying results so far – and with two weeks of fieldwork in the town waiting for us!

First impressions of the 18th Dynasty ceramics from SAV1 West

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Julia Budka

While during the first two weeks the pottery coming from SAV1 West was not as abundant as last season, this has changed since we are working in the lower debris of the east part of Square 1South.

The sherds arrive in large baskets in the digging house.

This corresponds exactly to the findings in the respective area of Square 1: not only is the amount very large, but also the size of the sherds and the high number of complete profiles (especially of dishes and pot stands) is striking. Thanks to two of our workmen washing and sorting the sherds, the statistical analysis of the wares and vessel types is conducted. A detailed study and drawing of selected pieces will happen later in the season.

A selection of sherds gets washed for further processing.

Large diagnostic pieces have survived from SAV1 West.

Remarkable are the considerable number of Nubian cooking pots, so-called fire dogs, fish dishes and painted wares. Furthermore, a group of fragmented incense burners was found. These show traces of use, are smoked, with remains of resin in the interior and very often they are covered with a thin white wash. Painter’s pots were also discovered in the last days – the most frequent pigments are yellow, red and blue.

The pottery from the debris level we are currently working on is still partially mixed with Post-New Kingdom wares (c. 5-10 % of the material, especially Christian pottery), but the New Kingdom material is clearly late 18^th Dynasty in date. A considerable amount of Thutmoside material is also present. All in all, the good state of preservation of the 18^th Dynasty ceramics support our hope that some nice remains of possible multiple-phases of use are waiting for us in the eastern part of the squares at SAV1 West.

End of week 2: more bricks and finds

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Julia Budka

Time flies by even faster during excavations… we just closed the second week of fieldwork in Pharaonic town of Sai in the sectors SAV1 West and SAV1 East – after some ice-cold days at the beginning of the week, the conditions are now perfect and still almost completly nimiti-free.

According to our time plan, we managed to verify the state of preservation of the town enclosure wall in the western part of our new trench at SAV1 West.

Trench 1 South, SAV1 West on day 1 of the 2015 season.

The picture has markedly changed since work started: the outline of both the original brick work and the later destruction/pitting are now clearly visible.

Trench 1 South at the end of week 2 of the 2015 season.

Work will focus on the eastern half of Trench 1 South in the upcoming week – very promising in situ remains of mud brick buildings are already visible.

At SAV1 East, we are concentrating on Building A. Good progress was made in finding the continuation of already known walls as well as new sections of the western part of the building.

Work at SAV1 East concentrates on the foundations of Building A.

Registration, processing and recording of pottery, stone tools and other finds also continued – the amount of finds is considerable and will keep us very busy in the upcoming weeks!

Sand, debris and bricks: New sections of negative walls from SAV1 East

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Julia Budka

At SAV1 East, excavation of the large building complex, Building A, is ongoing, supervised by Jördis Vieth and Huda Magzoub. Previous work has enabled us to make comparisons of this complex with the governor’s residence in the southern part of the town. Building A dates to the mid-18th Dynasty.

Like last year, we are currently finding large numbers of schist (amphibolite) fragments in the western part of SAV1 East. Because many of these fragments are still coated with gypsum/plaster we think that this part of Building A was once equipped with a nice schist pavement.

Plan of SAV1 East with Building A highlighted. The arrow marks our present working area.

Most exciting about this week’s work in Square 4 is the confirmation of traces visible on the geophysical survey map from 2011: we have located another “negative” wall of Building A – obviously the continuation of its major wall in the south, running roughly east-west. Some of the bricks are still left in place, but most of the material has been taken out as it was the case with the other walls of the structure. However, the remains are sufficient to confirm once again the dating and they will enable us to reconstruct the ground plan of Building A in its southwestern corner.

Newly exposed area of Building A: note the sandy trench marking the “negative wall” and the bricks still in situ.

Scientific trip to the Abry market

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Huda Magzoub

This week I was accompanying a group of experts working with Julia Budka and focusing on the scientific analysis of the composition of mud bricks used in the ancient Egyptian city on the island of Sai. This study is highly relevant to understand the ancient plants and botanical species.

During our trip to Abry market, looking for modern comparisons, the following caught my attention:

The production of agricultural tools in a traditional, local way:

The tool maker sets wood on fire using wood a bellow for pushing the air – his tool is made of an animal skin and iron. The bellow is used by hand to push air to ignite the fire for heating the iron preparation for a variety of forms, especially to manufacture tools for cultivation.

Local tool (bellow) made from animal skin.

Some of the tools manufactured are the following:

– Machete: or Mongal (local name) used for cutting and cleaning plants.

– Metaphase: or torya used to dig the ground and organized in preparation for planting.

– Axe or Nagama (traditional name) is the tool used to dig a hole to put the seed on the ground.

Farming tools and their method of manufacturing.

The other thing that caught my attention at Abry was:

The presence of a large room on the Nile containing large and bulky machines, tubs of cement inside the room and outside, located to the west of the gas station of Abry.

According to the locals, it goes back to the period of the English presence in Sudan and has been used for grain milling and turning it into flour, using the water from the Nile. The mill is run both by air and water, converting it into kinetic energy.

Machine for grinding seeds and pulling water from the Nile.

Object Registration from SAV1 East and SAV1 West

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Kenneth Griffin Meg Gundlach

As with any archaeological excavation, object registration has an important role to play at Sai. Since arriving last week, over 300 finds have been registered, photographed, and entered into the FileMaker database, which now comprises 2060 entries. This year the database has been amended slightly in order to include some additional data and to provide links to each photograph, a feature which enables the thumbnails to be increased in size at the click of a button! The objects range in size—from large quartzite grindstones to small faience beads—and in date—from the Palaeolithic Period to Ottoman times. The most abundant genre of objects needing to be registered is stone tool: grindstones, hand mills, hammers, pounders, and whetstones.

Some of the highlights registered this season include a pottery camel, a pottery quadruped, a fragment of a female figurine, and a flint sickle blade, all of which come from SAV1 West.

The pottery camel (SAV1W 800), likely dating to the Christian/Medieval era, is missing its head and front legs. The rest of the figure is well preserved, including the hump, and it is even possible to identify it as a male camel! Faint traces show that a red wash had been applied to the surface.

The small quadruped figurine (SAV1W 910) is also missing its head, thus making any identification uncertain. The feet are also damaged, as is the tail. Traces of a yellow pigment are still present on the figure. Could it be a dog, cow, or even a horse?

SAV1W 910

SAV1W 906 is a fragment which originally formed part of a female figurine. Despite its small size, the pubic triangle is clearly visible while the buttock is well also defined. The left hand is still visible on the hip. The figure is unfortunately broken at the waist, right knee and left thigh. However, this particular form is well known, particularly during the Eighteenth Dynasty.

SAV1W 906

Finally, SAV1W 909 is a well-shaped flint blade with the serrated edges well preserved. While flint tools are well known from the Predynastic Period in Egypt, it is known that sickle blades, for example, continued to be used through until the Roman Period. In fact, the lack of weathering on this artefact suggests that it may date to the New Kingdom.

SAV1W 909

For only the first week of excavating, the finds have been quite exciting and prolific. We look forward to the rest of the season and sharing more highlights here on the blog!

AcrossBorders

This is the blog of the ERC starting grant project AcrossBorders (ERC grant agreement n° 313668)

Monthly Archives: January 2015