New thoughts on Building A

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Julia Budka

Back in Vienna, processing the data from the field season is keeping us busy. The most important discovery of 2013, Building A is of course still one of the focal points. In general, the new work in area SAV1 East has produced further evidence that the New Kingdom town on Sai experienced its heyday during the reign of Thutmose III and added important knowledge concerning the general layout of the town.

Despite of its fragmentary state, a tentative reconstruction of Building A is possible. Please note that this is a first assessment, any comments are very welcome!

Our “North”, “East” and “South” walls clearly frame a central part of the complex, but are not the outer enclosures or outer walls. This became clear as we unearthed an area covered by a floor north of wall 21 in Square 1a. This floor (marked as hatched area on the sketch above) was partly cut by later pits filled with dump material, but it is clearly contemporaneous to Building A. So we have a paved area towards our northern limits of excavations. The “Northern” wall running East-West has an obvious corner in the Northwest part of Square 1 – we might interpret this as an entrance situation, a possible doorway into a large courtyard, occupying most of Square 1 and extending into Square 2. Within this courtyard there were several pits, of which feature 6 was the most substantial circular storage installation. Towards the east, this courtyard is flanked by wall 3. This wall allows calculating the North-South extension of this part of Building A as 16.3 m; the East-West extension of the courtyard is still not fully exposed, but was traced as up to 10 m until the baulk of Square 2.

As was posted earlier, Building A finds a very close parallel in the so-called governor’s residence SAF2 in the Southern part of the New Kingdom town. The central part of this building is not a courtyard but a large columned hall with a mud brick pavement. The eastern extension of SAF2 can be compared to our traces of a mud brick wall in the Northeastern corner of SAV1 E – broken off towards the East due to the sloping ground, it is very likely that there was once a kind of annex alongside the courtyard.

Furthermore, and in analogy with SAF2, one might expect a series of small entrance rooms in the western part of Building A which is still not yet excavated. This will be investigated by means of excavations in 2014!

The functional interpretation of Building A must stay open for the moment, but we might have unearthed another administrative building within the Pharaonic town of Sai, with possible links to Temple A and/or SAF2. It is striking that we could date Building A as contemporaneous to these major buildings in the Southern part of the town which all share a common East-West-alignment along a North-South axis, thus following the typical grid pattern of fortified New Kingdom town in Nubia.

All in all, our newly discovered complex at SAV1E seems to support the important role of Sai within the Egyptian administration in Upper Nubia during the 18^th Dynasty.

Crossing Borders, Encounters with “Old Friends”

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Julia Budka

One of the aims of AcrossBorders is identifying human behaviour of specific individuals under different circumstances – some persons have left textual records at both Sai and on other sites. As prominent example, Nehi, viceroy of Kush under Thutmose III, is well attested at Sai, Elephantine and also elsewhere.

One of the door jambs of Nehi, reused as treshold in the New Kingdom town

Nehi’s monuments illustrate that mobility of administrative staff and officials is not a modern phenomenon, but was also common in Pharaonic Egypt. During the New Kingdom there is both archaeological and textual evidence that officials had temporary living quarters in different parts of Egypt as well as in Nubia. In addition, statues, stelae, shrines and in particular rock inscriptions allow tracing Egyptian officials at more than one site.

Having spent the last three days in the beautiful region of Aswan, I had the chance to think about the busy lives of the protagonists of the complex Pharaonic administration during the New Kingdom. Egyptian officials who participated in expedition and/or military campaigns towards the South had to pass through Aswan and Elephantine. Obviously they spent some time there before their departure to Nubia as hundreds of rock inscriptions attest.

The island of Sehel is covered with hundreds of rock graffiti, a majority originating from the New Kingdom

Most importantly, I enjoyed the reunion with viceroy Nehi at Aswan – we visited Elephantine where a doorjamb of him was found and one of his most beautiful statues is kept today at the Nubian Museum in Aswan (a kneeling statue holding a sistrum).

In the upcoming years, AcrossBorders will try to tackle questions like: how did Egyptian officials like Nehi experience their job-related mobility and especially their assignments to specific sites, in our case to Sai island? Was a mission outside of Egypt more/less desirable/prestigious? Can we find differences in the ancient reception of staying in the frontier region of the First Cataract or in Nubia proper?

Masalaama Sudan!

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Julia Budka

There can be no doubt any longer – our 2013 fieldseason has definitly ended, it’s time to say goodbye to Sudan, my bags are already packed for an early flight tomorrow morning to Egypt!

I will spend two more weeks visiting Pharaonic sites in Upper Egypt – among others, brief visits to Abydos and Elephantine are on my list, the sites that compare in so many respects nicely with Sai Island and share a special importance in the 18th Dynasty.

A Brief Summary of the 2013 field season

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Julia Budka

After 10 weeks in Sudan, it feels very strange to get ready for leaving in a few days! Today I had to pack everything up at the Museum and to say goodbye to all of the kind and helpful colleagues of NCAM and the French Unit.

Having spent the last days with preparing the lecture and writing the report, many new ideas and thoughts have crossed my mind and I am very eager to continue the post-excavation processing of SAV1 East! We really made some significant discoveries this season – for now, I will just give a brief overview focusing on the most important results.

The key discovery at the new excavation site SAV1E and the highlight of the 2013 season on Sai Island was of course the confirmation of the geophysical survey picture: we were able to trace the eastern part of a very large rectangular mud brick structure (North-South extension of 16.3 + x m; East-West 10 + x m) which we labelled Building A.

Most of the bricks from its walls have been taken out and are now just “phantom walls” represented by a sandy pit, but we found large sections of the foundation trench and also an area with a floor coating towards the North. Associated finds and especially potteryallowed us to date Building A to the mid 18^th Dynasty (see below). Its western part still remains to be excavated – the prime task for next season!

All in all, the new fieldwork conducted in 2013 at SAV1E adds important aspects to the understanding of the development and history of the Pharaonic Town of Sai Island:

(1) The earliest remains at SAV1E are dating to the early 18^th Dynasty; there is nothing of the Kerma period prior to the New Kingdom. The area can therefore be safely interpreted as part of the newly founded Egyptian town. The Kerma ceramics we found are clearly originating from early New Kingdom contexts as in SAV1 North.

(2) The southern part of SAV1E with remains like the storage bin (feature 14) can be linked with the domestic zone excavated around Temple A by M. Azim – this area is characterized by small structures with single-brick walls and storage facilities. It is an early occupation phase comparable to Level 4 at SAV1N and clearly of pre-Thutmose III date. The in situ vessels of storage bin 14 give a more precise dating as early 18^th Dynasty, possibly Ahmose-Thutmose I.

(3) The northern part of SAV1E yielded so-called Building A – a not yet fully exposed mud brick structure with an orthogonal layout and most importantly with striking parallels to the so-called residence SAF2 in the Southern part of the Pharaonic Town. We really cannot wait to excavate the western part of Building A in order to confirm this hypothesis! As we have been fortunate to discover pottery in the foundation trench, we have a good dating indication of the building date of Building A: the pot sherds give us a terminus ante quem non for the setting of the foundations and this is the time of Thutmose III! This all suggests that Building A belongs to the major remodelling of the New Kingdom Town of Sai during the reign of this king. The newly discovered structure does also fit nicely into the grid-pattern of the Southern part of the town with roughly north-south and east-west aligned streets and it is most likely contemporaneous with Temple A and the mud brick enclosure wall.

View above Temple A to SAV1E at the end of fieldwork in 2013

Summing up, the first field season of AcrossBorders in 2013 was very successful and will allow us making very specific plans for the upcoming seasons!

Lecture in Khartoum, March 12 2013

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Julia Budka

Its a great honor and pleasure that I have been invited by the Sudan Archaeological Society to give a lecture at the Greek Athletic Club here in Khartoum. Tomorrow, at 7.30 pm I will present our latest findings of this season: “New Archaeological Fieldwork on Sai Island, New Kingdom Town”.

I intend to give an overview of our excavations at SAV1 East, focusing of course on Building A and the new evidence we have for substantial Thutmoside building activity within the Pharaonic Town of Sai.

Overview of SAV1 East at the end of our 2013-season.

New Kingdom Temples and more in Khartoum

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Julia Budka

After our long trip but successful trip from the North to Khartoum yesterday, we enjoyed a very nice visit to the National Museum at Khartoum today – the museum is a real treasure box full of Sudan’s rich cultural heritage and antiquities!

For the “Newcomers” Joerdis, Sebastian, Nicole and Vicky it was the first time to look at the fantastic collection, Giulia took the opportunity to get some Egyptological background information.

Besides the splendid objects on display, stretching in time from the Paleolithic Period to the Medieval time and more recent periods, we spend much time in the 18^th Dynasty temples of Buhen, Semna and Kumma as they compare in some respects nicely to Temple A on Sai. The Egyptian New Kingdom presence in Nubia – our daily topic on Sai Island during the past nine week – was thus highlighted in a perfect way. I am very happy that despite the exhaustion of the past days the remaining team members were still so enthusiastic in sight of these monuments and that many questions came up!

Special thanks at the end of the field season

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Julia Budka

Having just finished packing, we are ready to leave to Khartoum tomorrow morning after nine busy and successful weeks on Sai. Although it’s time to say goodbye to our beloved island for this season, we take a lot of memories, pictures and of course tons of documentation material with us! SAV1E will continue to keep us busy at home! I will write a post wraping-up things once I am in Khartoum.

I don’t want to finish this 2013 field season without expressing my warmest thanks to a very special person: Huda Magzoub did a fantastic job as our inspector, was always extremely helpful, working both in the field and in the lab, taking an interest in all of the team members with their different tasks and being a real support to me in many respects! Neither wind, nor heat, nor the worst nimiti-days could stop her from endless efforts and enthusiastic participation!

I also appreciate her support in our good relations with the local communities and her energies trying to communicate the importance of archaeology in present times! Together we set up new signs marking the areas of some of the most important archaeological sites on Sai Island like the Kerma cemetery and the Pharaonic town. It was a real pleasure working with Huda and I am deeply grateful for all.

Pottery from the Foundation trench of Building A

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Julia Budka

Processing of the pottery from SAV1E comes towards a closing – still not to an end, as the finds have been far too numerous and will also keep us busy at home and for next season. However, the most important data are already collected allowing some first observations.

Among the most important pottery vessels of the 2013-season are for sure the two rim sherds recovered from the foundation trench of the northern wall of Building A.

P57 in its original find position: the foundation trench of wall 31.

Especially relevant is the fragment of a decorated Marl clay vessel. P57 is made in a so called Marl A4 according to the Vienna System. Its mouth diameter measures 10.6 cm and 48 % of the rim of this nice jar thrown on the pottery wheel are preserved. An irregular band in dark brown is painted along the top part of the rounded lip; the beginning of a slightly flaring neck is partly preserved.

Such vessels are known from various contexts in Egypt from the Thutmoside era onwards (mid-late 18^th Dynasty) – our example seems to be Thutmose III in date (or slightly later, maybe Amenhotep II). Its find position within the otherwise undisturbed section of the foundation trench of wall 31 is therefore very important and gives us a good dating indication for Building A!

P57 was documented by a detailed drawing in scale 1:1 and by digital photographs.

Back to some initial ideas: Bread at SAV1E

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Julia Budka

Having finished excavating Square 2b, the southern extension of our area SAV1E in the New Kingdom town, I would like to come back to some of my thoughts at the very beginning of our work there: It intrigued me from the start that especially in the southern part there are so numerous fragments of bread moulds – several hundreds of fragments were found this season, the detailed quantitative analysis is still on-going. Naturally, we connected this frequent appearance of bread with the neighbourhood to Temple A, located just 30 meters further to the South.

Today, having completed the section drawing of the Southern baulk of Square 2b, I noticed again a high number of bread cones and some ashy areas. It is especially feature 26 which is interesting in this respect and it shall be briefly introduced here: From the very start of digging, the South-western corner of Square 2b comprised a sandy depression and a lot of mud brick fragments.

Overview of eastern part of Sq. 2b – feature 26 is visible in the background.

We soon labelled this “feature 26”, obviously a kind of pit in the surroundings of feature 26 and not too far away from the storage bin 14. Going deeper and cleaning all the collapsed bricks, the size of feature 26 decreased from 1.85 x 2,05 m to just 1.30 x 1.70 m – but its outline became much clearer! Its eastern side is quite well preserved, no matter that the bricks are very decayed. It definitely had once a circular shape and both inside and towards the western part there were ashy deposits – and again, a large number of bread moulds appeared!

Feature 26 in its final state of excavation.

Altogether, feature 26 might really represent the remains of an oven – and maybe an area for heating the typical bread cones.

As feature 26 is located well outside of Building A, set against the natural gravel deposit on the sloping ground at the southern area of SAV1E, I tentatively propose that this structure belongs to some kind of an industrial zone between Temple A in the South and Building A in the North.

The final week on Sai Island

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Julia Budka

Today we started into our final week (Week 9) on Sai Island; luckily for us the temperature is increasing daily – nimiti don’t like it hot!

All of us are busy with finishing various tasks – Joerdis and Sebastian with final level plane drawings, Nicole with her fire dogs, Giulia started to look at Egyptian Marl clays, Vicky is drawing and washing pot sherds excavated this season at SAV1E and Huda switched from documenting sherds in the lab to writing up her report of a very busy and long season!

I spent today cleaning a bit more in Square 2b: things are definitely getting clearer and several new observations are possible. Nevertheless, it is already clear that we will have to extend digging in this area and will continue here next year, insha’allah!

Both pottery and small find databases increase daily and we will carry on processing, taking a lot of pictures of both objects and especially pottery sherds in the next days!