A fragmented stela from SAV1 West

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Julia Budka

One of the highlights of this season at SAV1 West is a small fragment of a private sandstone stela, SAV1W 590. Unfortunately it is without proper archaeological context being a surface find which Martin Fera discovered south of Square 1, more or less in line with the town enclosure.

This interesting piece (10.6 x 11.2 cm with a width of 3.4 cm), the upper part of a round-topped small stela, was decorated in raised relief of quite good quality. The lunette shows the common motif of a so-called shen-ring flanked by two udjat eyes. Below the right udjat eye, facing left, the presumed donor of the stela is represented: He is wearing a shoulder long wig and is offering a libation to persons facing him. Only the lotus flower held by the first seated person on the left is preserved – it was probably a female family member, maybe the mother of the donor. However, in the 18^th Dynasty the lotus as an attribute is also well attested for men. For example, a fragmented sandstone stela discovered in the elite New Kingdom cemetery at Sai shows a seated couple, with the man holding a lotus flower next to a woman embracing him (T16S21, see Minault-Gout/Thill 2012, Sai II, p. 162, p. 84).

All in all, the upper part of our sandstone stela displays a scene commonly associated with funerary stelae – a son, taking the role of a funerary priest, offering to family members, in most cases to his deceased parents. A nice complete example of this general theme is the round-topped limestone stela British Museum EA 280.

According to the stylistic features of hair and costume of the donor, I would suggest the mid 18^th Dynasty as most likely date for the stela from SAV1 West. Closely similar are representations of persons on stelae originating from the reigns of Thutmose III and especially Amenhotep II – for example the stela of viceroy Usersatet offering to Thoth, now in the British Museum (EA 623).

The anonymous donor of SAV1W 590

Regrettably, no text has survived on our piece identifying the offering person by name – we can safely assume that it was one of the officials working and living on Sai, and maybe even getting a tomb and burial here. What must remain open for now is whether the small stela from SAV1 West depicts an Egyptian official (born in Egypt and temporarly stationed in Nubia) or rather an “Egyptianized” family member of the elite indigenous clans who are known to have played an important role in Upper Nubia during the New Kingdom. The missing lower part of SAV1W 590 may have held some text and thus give additional information – maybe we will be lucky enough to relocate it next year!

Almost ready to close the 2014 field season

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Julia Budka

Time is passing by – tomorrow will be the last day of our 2014 field season in the New Kingdom town of Sai Island; and it was a very fruitful, productive and pleasant season! Large amounts of material were unearthed and all working areas provided interesting results. We are currently busy packing the pottery collected as representative samples, washing the last diagnostic sherds and making final drawings of important pieces.

The database of small finds from both SAV1 West and SAV1 East now comprises 1732 pieces – and several large boxes of grind stones and pounders are still awaiting registration; one of the first tasks for 2015! The majorities of the finds from the 2014 season are worked stones and re-used pot sherds, but there are also fayence pieces (Nun bowls, beads, one ring) and a lot of clay objects. Some of the latter are nicely identifiable, e.g. rudimentary female figurines and animal figurines, but others are more obscure. One example is SAV1E 851 – a rather amorphic piece of clay with incised decoration on several sides. Its incised decoration pattern reminds us of the female figurines commonly found in the New Kingdom town of Sai, but its shape is markedly different. Its context does furthermore not allow a precise dating – it is coming from one of the mixed areas in Square 1B, in the northern area of Building A – ranging in date from the 18th Dynasty up to Christian and Ottoman times.

All in all, the finds from this season nicely complement the corpus we already know from sector SAV1 North – and its wide repertoire and remarkable diversity is very promising, processing will keep us busy in the next months!

The New Kingdom town wall at SAV1 West

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Julia Budka

During the 2014 season we successfully located the 18^th Dynasty enclosure wall of the Pharaonic town of Sai in both of our new trenches at SAV1 West. We can hereby confirm the reconstruction of our French colleagues which was based on a surface survey, the general outline of the town and the location of the Western city gate.

The western edge of the Pharaonic town of Sai: looking across the Western city gate towards the new squares in the North. To the right, the Northwestern tower of the Ottoman fortress, built above Pharaonic remains, is visible.

We were also able to identify some later additions and Post-Pharaonic construction work in our new trenches. During excavations, it was not very clear whether the later wall in Square 1W was located above a bastion and if the “front wall” we found could be of New Kingdom date after all.

Both questions have been answered in the meantime: There is no tower attached to the enclosure wall in the area of Square 1, and the “front wall” post-dates clearly the 18^th Dynasty city wall. The situation in trench 2 seems to be very similar – the outline of the 18^th Dynasty wall is now understandable, despite of the deep Post-New Kingdom pits within the brickwork, and it corresponds nicely to the presumed line drawn from the Western city gate towards the North.

Among the most important results of this season is the discovery of floor levels and occupation deposits on the inner side of the enclosure wall, both at Square 1 and trench 2 – all was covered by sand and mixed debris, but now there are really remains waiting for us which seem to be undisturbed! There are several floor levels visible, having been cut by the later pits – suggesting subsequent phases of Pharaonic presence at the site. Thus, SAV1 West will potentially add a lot of information about the inner structure, evolution and layout of the town – and will keep us busy in the next years.

The enclosure wall in Square 1 – almost completly destroyed in the northern part, damaged in the southern area but note the promising deposits towards the East.

The enigmatic “fish dishes” again

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Julia Budka

As processing of the 18th Dynasty pottery from SAV1 West, 2014 season, continues, new information comes up daily! As reported, the material is closely similar to the pottery corpus from sector SAV1 North and also SAV1 East. However, there are also some – maybe significant – differences. For example, the amount of Blue painted pottery is remarkable; as in SAV1 East, we do encounter a number of conical bread moulds, these have been largely missing at SAV1 North.

Another intriguing group of vessels are the so-called “fish dishes”! A number of Marl clay examples were found in Square 1 at SAV1 West.

Fragment of Marl clay “fish dish”, SAV1 West

This large fragment illustrates the geometric decorative pattern inside. In exactly the same style, but made in a local Nile clay, more than 10 fragments came up in the fillings of Building A at SAV1 East this season! Does this indicate a difference between our two current excavation areas? Or could it also be that my previous assumption, based on the comparison with Elephantine was completely wrong? I did speculate last year because there are more Nile silt “fish dishes” from Sai Island than Marl clay version that different from the situation in Egypt, the “real” Egyptian Marl B/E trays had been frequently reproduced in Nubia in local material. Are the new Marl dishes from SAV1 West just an accidental find? Or are they of chronological significance, maybe originating from a phase with the first “supply” of Egyptian functional wares? But how would this correspond to the findings of Nile “fish dishes” from SAV1 East which date to the heyday of Sai in the 18th Dynasty, the time of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II. It is especially this era when a lot of high quality material, including decorated Marl clay vessels, was brought to the temple town of Sai.

All in all, the picture deriving from the New Kingdom town of Sai Island gets more and more complex the better we understand the architectural layout, the structure of the town and especially the material culture! Every small pottery sherd potentially adds information…

Next week I will focus among other things on the large amount of incense burners, footed bowls and dishes with pigments, possible painter’s pots from the 2014 season. The pottery gives a nice glimpse into past activities at SAV1 West which we still have only touched on a superficial level.

The western part of Building A: New finds at SAV1 East

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Julia Budka

Our last week of excavation at SAV1 East for the field season 2014 has just started – and so far we are very happy with the results (not with the nimiti attacks which are back to their usual force for the month February…)! All in all, exactly like last year, we managed to trace the anomalies visible on the geophysical survey map from 2011: Our Building A is growing in size, it is getting more and more comparable to the so-called governor’s residence SAF2 in the southern part of the town.

Outlines of Building A in its eastern part, status of 2013.

As we were hoping, the further westwards we moved within the site SAV1 East, the higher the deposit gets! Thus, other then last year with our “negative walls”, we were able to find and document some remains of the foundations of substantial mud brick walls, as well as nice remains of a mud pavement between two parallel walls.

The western extension of SAV1 East, with mud pavement between two new North-South walls.

The 2014 season seems to have confirmed the alignment of Building A along the main North-South street, thus being exactly in line with Temple A and also the governor’s residence SAF2. The entrance area is located in the western part, where the structure was accessible from the street. Very striking are remains of a schist-pavement in the newly found entrance rooms at the western side of the building. Unfortunately, the pavement has been badly destroyed in ancient times, but we are positive that we will be able to reconstruct the former area covered by schist according to the clusters of broken fragments.

Disturbed area in the western part of Building A; note the schist fragments, once part of a pavement and dislocated during the destruction phase.

During this week, we will focus again on these entrance rooms and hope to get further stratigraphical information confirming our present dating of Building A to Thutmoside (mid 18^th Dynasty) times.

SAV1 West: New extension towards the West

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Julia Budka

As we have successfully located the mud brick enclosure wall of the New Kingdom town of Sai in our new trenches at SAV1 West, it proofed necessary to add an extension to Square 1.This extension, Square 1W, includes the high slope towards the West of our excavation area, thus reaching outside of the walled New Kingdom settlement – this will enable us not only to understand the Post-New Kingdom depositional processes affecting the town wall better, but eventually also allow some observations on its original construction and composition.

With cleaning the surface of the new trench today, we got already interesting information – whereas the material covering Square 1 was 75% 18^th Dynasty in date, the immediately adjacent extension revealed only 8% at its western half and 15% at the eastern half. The majority of the ceramics are rather Post-Meroitic and especially Christian and Ottoman. This nicely seems to illustrate that Square 1W is situated outside the Pharaonic town, whereas Square 1 is located directly above the 18^th Dynasty enclosure and comprises occupation deposits from the interior of the town.

First Results: Mud bricks, ceramics and much more

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Julia Budka

Week 2 at SAV1 East and SAV1 West has just started – our first week of fieldwork passed very quickly, with promising first results! Both sites are keeping us really busy, but already at this early stage some findings are worth mentioning:

At SAV1 East we are actually following up our work of last year – the western extensions to our first squares at this site mirror the discoveries from 2013. We were already able to trace mud brick remains just below the surface – according to their alignment they could very well represent the western part of Building A – possibly with some entrance rooms and a substantial wall enclosing the large courtyard. Like in the eastern trenches, we are facing the problem of many pits and disturbances dug into the Pharaonic remains – nevertheless we are very optimistic to come up with a more complete understanding of the 18^th Dynasty building activity in this area in the next weeks.

In both trenches at SAV1 West in situ remains of the enclosure wall have been unearthed. Associated small finds and the ceramics support its dating to the 18^th Dynasty. Especially at Square 1 the amounts of New Kingdom pottery are huge – east of the wall we have large assemblages of mid 18^th Dynasty ceramics, comparing well to SAV1 North and also in some respects to SAV1 East. Especially remarkable are a considerable number of Nubian cooking pots, of so-called Fire dogs, of fish dishes and painted wares! One of my favorite pieces which just came out today is a Blue painted sherd – until now this particular type of decorated ware was very rare at Sai – will our current excavations modify this picture?

We also started to register the small finds and tools – some of the highlights are net weights, Nun bowls and female figurines – all very well known from other Egyptian sites and also within the Pharaonic town of Sai.

All in all, we are more than happy with the outcome of the first week and very keen to continue the investigation of life at Sai Island during the New Kingdom! Lots of questions are still open…

New Perspectives: The western edge of the Pharaonic town

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Julia Budka

One of our goals this season is to investigate the enclosure wall of the fortified New Kingdom town of Sai on its western side, just north of the main city gate. We opened two squares at a new site labelled SAV1 West.

Both trenches comprise mud bricks visible on the surface – according to their alignment they should belong to the enclosure wall of the town and maybe to one of its towers. Therefore it was no surprise that a large amount of 18^th Dynasty pottery came to light already during surface cleaning – however, the precise quantities and proportions are quite interesting. Square 1 (10 x 10 m) yielded 26 baskets of pottery and 75 % are datable to the 18^th Dynasty! The remaining 25 % include Post-Meroitic material, but most of it is Christian and Ottoman ceramic.

Trench 2 (15 x 5 m) is set above a shallow depression further south and only 9 baskets of pottery were collected from the surface – out of these sherds, just 24 % are of New Kingdom date. The majority belongs to material of Post-Pharaonic times, in particular the Christian/Medieval period. Thus, the relations of the ceramics are completely opposite than in Square 1. An interesting starting point for the upcoming weeks – does it reflect the neighborhood of the Ottoman fortress which is closer to Square 2 than to Square 1 and/or a disturbance in ancient time? Or can it be explained differently? We’ll keep you posted as work at SAV1 West continues!

Back at SAV1East, Sai Island

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Julia Budka

As scheduled, we started today the 2014 field season with our team of workmen, supervised by Rais Imad Mohammed Farah and our NCAM inspector Huda Magzoub. It’s very good to be back at SAV1East – we extended our excavation area towards the North and West aiming to cover more of Building A.

Especially the Western part proved already very interesting after the first surface cleaning – almost 50 % of the ceramics are 18^th Dynasty in date! They can be well dated to Thutmoside time respectively the mid 18^th Dynasty. Like we observed in 2013, the amount of beer jars and bread moulds is striking! Especially conical bread moulds increase in quantity the further south we get in our new squares – mirroring the results of last year and probably reflecting the nearness to Temple A, the local Amun-Re temple of the 18^th Dynasty.

Just today, I had already fragments of 30 bread moulds among the surface material, always associated with 18th Dynasty beer jars and flower pots. Hopefully we will be able to contextualize these findings this year more precisely!

Landscape archaeology and environmental remains at Sai

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Julia Budka

Simply a perfect start into the New Year – we arrived safely yesterday on Sai Island, early enough to enjoy the beautiful sunset!

Today we got settled and are currently preparing everything to start excavating on Saturday. With the beginning of 2014, I have furthermore the pleasure to welcome two new team members of AcrossBorders, both of them will also join us in a few days on the island.

Erich Draganits studied Geology and Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Vienna. Within the Earth Sciences he is specialized in clastic sedimentology, deformation of sediments, landscape evolution and Earth surface processes. Based on his expertise and interest in interdisciplinary research he carries out geoarchaeological studies at numerous archaeological excavations including diverse sites, periods and countries like Austria, Italy, Greece, India, Turkey and now also Sudan.

This January, Erich will conduct a first geoarchaeological survey (including drilling and test pits) on Sai – investigating the harbour situation, geological formations, sandstone quarries and more. He will closely cooperate with Konstantina Saliari and also Giulia d’Ercole who is investigating the clay deposits of the island related to her research on the local pottery production.

Konstantina Saliari is the second newcomer. She has studied archaeology and prehistoric archaeology at Athens where she received her MA in 2011. She is currently a PhD student of the University of Vienna and has joined AcrossBorders as researcher specializing in zooarchaeological remains. In the upcoming season, Konstantina will work on animal bones coming from the site of SAV1N within the New Kingdom town of Sai.

Environmental and climatic settings and changes are important issues for our research questions and the aim to reconstruct living conditions at Sai Island during the New Kingdom. We aim at estimating the human interaction with the landscape and will tackle the question of the location of settlement areas and cemeteries over the ages. Assessments of real living conditions in the past are essential to understand the relations of the Egyptians living on Sai with the indigenous Nubian population.

Just one small example – from Egyptian texts, temple reliefs and wall paintings we have plenty of evidence that various wild and domestic animals were imported to Egypt from Nubia.

Davies & Gardiner, The tomb of Huy, Theban Tomb series vol. 4, pl. 48: Boat with cattle from Nubia, being brought to Egypt.

At least five different types of cattle are mentioned in the texts! For example, the beautiful paintings in the tomb of viceroy Huy at Thebes show jw3-cattle being brought from Kush. It is intriguing whether there are possibilities to reconstruct differences between cattle also in reality, using the corresponding bones. How do the actual remains relate to the texts and pictoral representations of Upper Nubian animals in general? What kind of wild and domestic animals can we trace at Sai Island and can we estimate their numbers?

Davies & Gardiner, The tomb of Huy, Theban Tomb series vol. 4, pl. 23: jw3-cattle are brought from Kush.

Joint research by Erich, Konstantina and others will help to understand the environmental conditions on Sai – the expected new data will allow putting the island in a broader context and can also adress very detailed questions about living conditions in Kush.

I am very happy to welcome Erich and Konstantina as new team members, looking forward to their first results this season!

AcrossBorders

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

Tag Archives: Sai Island