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!

End of week 1

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Julia Budka

There's a Gebel somewhere on this picture...

There’s a Gebel somewhere in this picture…

When Gebel Abri, the dominant feature of the river bank east of Sai Island, is not clearly visible, it’s never a good sign… We had to close our fieldwork earlier today, a very strong wind prevented us from continuing in our two areas, SAV1 West and SAV1 East.

Even if this may not be the best end of the first week in the field, there is much on the bright side: lots of new mud bricks, more of the enclosure wall, more floor remains at SAV1 East and only five lonely nimiti in week 1!

We managed to locate the enclsoure wall also in the new square in SAV1 West.

Contemporaneously with the excavations, processing of the pottery, stone tools and all other categories of finds is conducted in the digging house. There are already a number of new fragments of firedogs, net weights, female figurines and of course grindstones, hammers and pounders. The ceramics complement nicely my assessment of last season: especially noteworthy is the abundant presence of mid- to late 18^th Dynasty pottery from the east side of SAV1 West, thus coming from structures within the town, enclosed by the town wall. I am especially excited that there is one hieratic docket on a Nile clay storage vessel coming from this area – hoping for some quiet moments on Friday to check this important find (inscribed finds and texts are still rare from our excavation) in more detail!

Negative walls and foundation trenches of Building A

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Julia Budka

Work was resumed at sector SAV1 East – this season we are focusing on Square 4. The aim is to understand the respective part of Building A, especially the wall 34, its foundation bed 33 and the adjacent floor pavements.

Today, work continued in the foundation trench 33, exposing more of 18^th Dynasty mud bricks. However, most of the bricks were removed in antiquity. The filling material of the trench mainly contains pottery from Late Christian times and also some Ottoman sherds. The 18^th Dynasty ceramics can be dated to Thutmoside times, corresponding to our previous assessments of the dating of Building A.

SAV1 East, Square 4. In the front the newly exposed bricks in foundation bed 33.

As observed in the last years, SAV1 East yielded already after a few days of excavation a considerable number of bread moulds. This is one of the distinctive features of this sector within the New Kingdom town – markedly different from SAV1 North and also SAV1 West.

Back at SAV1 West: more mud bricks!

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Julia Budka

Today was the first day in the field with our gang of workmen headed by Rais Imad Mohammed Shorbagi – and it was already very successful and promising! We just cleaned the surface of a southern extension to Square 1 at SAV1 West and faint traces of mud bricks are already visible. They are perfectly in line with the enclosure wall and should represent the same monument. And we hope that in this section the wall will be better preserved than in our original trench from 2014.

The surface of the southern extension of Square 1 after the first cleaning.

The pottery from the surface cleaning was processed today as well – 24 baskets of sherds illustrate how rich in sherd material this sector of the Pharaonic town is! And already the surface material is to 40% 18^th Dynasty in date – the other 60% percent are mostly Christian, but also some Post-Meroitic material is present.

As far as the New Kingdom material is concerned, our results from 2014 and the preliminary dating of the enclosure wall are supported by the first baskets of this year’s fieldwork: the pottery dates to Thutmose III and later.

Looking much forward to making more progress at SAV1 West in the upcoming weeks!

Season 2015 in the Pharaonic town of Sai Island

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Huda Magzoub

Today was the start of the new season of archaeological excavations in Sai Island within the Pharaonic town! Like last year, it was our pleasure that the people of Sai Island came to celebrate a good year near the archaeological site and with the participation of the New Kingdom town mission under the leadership of Julia Budka. Happy New Year and a very successful season to the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums, to the Nubian people and good luck to the director of the mission and all team members!

Impressions from last year’s celebration of the season.

AcrossBorders

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

Category Archives: Upper Nubia