Author Archives: Julia Budka

Processing New Kingdom Ceramics

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As every day, processing ceramics and drawing selected vessels was carried out today. We are happy that Huda Magzoub, our inspector and skilled drafts person, joined us again in the lab to help with drawings.

DSC_2097Documentation of the material from old excavations at SAV1N, especially from the early levels of the 18th Dynasty, is continuing; the freshly excavated material from SAV1E requires cleaning and reconstruction work as first step. Today, we finished the in situ-vessels from feature 14, the large beaker and the small ovoid jar – they are now ready for drawing!

vessels 39 + 40

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

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!

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.

Ready for Week 2

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Tomorrow excavation will continue in the two new squares in SAV1E. The northern square is illustrated in the photo, with a first mud brick structure in its north western corner (to the left in the foreground on the photo,at the end of week 1 and still in rough outline).Blog Illustr 1

The material associated with it suggests a date to the New Kingdom: A total amount of 2776 diagnostic sherds has been processed in our first week – of which 880 are datable to the 18th Dynasty (32 %). A small amount (14 pieces) dates to the Ramesside period; the remaining material originates from the Post-New Kingdom and here predominantly from the Post-Meroitic and Christian as well as the Ottoman period.