Preliminary Report of Fieldwork season 2005 in the necropolis of Asyut
Mahmoud El-Khadragy - Jochem Kahl – Ursula Verhoeven
From 29th August to 29th September the Egyptian-German joint mission of the South Valley University, Sohag and the Johannes Gutenberg Universiät Mainz/ Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster conducted fieldwork in the ancient necropolis of Asyut situated in the western mountains. From 1st October to 12th October the mission studied objects in the magazine in Shutb.[1]
Fieldwork concentrated on Tombs III, IV and V of the First Intermediate Period, Tomb I of Dynasty 12 and the mapping of the necropolis (fig. 1).
The cleaning of Tomb III (Iti-ibi; N12.1) was finished and the documentation of the architecture, the decoration and the objects were continued.[2] The tomb's forecourt (pl. 1) could be made out and was added to the existing plans (fig. 2). Two small side chambers in the north and the south probably belong to the original layout of the tomb. It is not possible to determine the original size of the chambers because of the later destruction of the area. The axis leading to the tomb’s entrance was also disturbed by later activities. The southern part of the forecourt shows clear signs of being reused with the installation of an offering basin made of limestone (pl. 2) and two underground basins cut into the rock and plastered with pinkish mortar. They were found filled with (late) Roman pottery.
The shafts and the burial chambers in the inner hall were plundered, excavated several times during antiquity and again during the last century. Especially pottery and wooden models seem to belong to the original burial equipment (pls. 3-5). However, later objects were found among others as well:
An ushebti from the overseer of the priests Amenhotep, probably 18th Dynasty (pl. 6), a golden earring (weight 8,25g) representing a composite animal (head of a cow and body of a serpent) and dating from the Persian or Ptolemaic Period (pl. 7), a Ptolemaic mummy cartonage of a man called Pa-di-Imen (pl. 8), and a pottery fragment representing Christ (pl. 9).
Different layers of plaster on the walls and on the floor indicate that the inner hall was reused several times during later periods. The reliefs and paintings on the wall were cleaned by local restorers. Many fragments of late Roman and Coptic pottery were found in the niches hewn into the hall's western wall.
In Tomb IV (Khety II; N12.2), the two recently found shafts were cleaned. Their existence remained hidden to Egyptologists until last year.[3] Shaft 1 is situated near the southeastern pillar, and shaft 2 close to the southwestern pillar. Both shafts were already plundered in antiquity. Shaft 1 leads to a burial chamber in the south, while shaft 2 gives access to three burial chambers in the south and two in the north. Even if the existence of the several chambers in shaft 2 points to a later reuse, there is some evidence that both shafts were already finished at the end of the First Intermediate Period: pottery, fragments of wooden models and bricks of typical FIP/MK measurements found in front of the burial chamber of shaft 1 are clear indications. In addition, later objects were found, e.g. a model of a double feather (pl. 10).
The façade, the entrance way and the large hall’s roof were destroyed after the visit of the French Expedition. A smaller part of debris in the forecourt of Tomb V (M11.1) was removed. The interior of the hall is still filled with the debris of the collapsed roof and façade. There is a false door with an autobiographical text on the west wall of the hall and an autobiographical inscription on the south wall of the hall. In addition, fragments of painted decoration are still visible on the walls, for example a desert scene. Facsimiles of the remaining decoration were made.
In the Tomb of Djefaihapi I. (Tomb I; P10.1), facsimiles of the inner hall, the inner passage and the northern wall of the large hall were made. The inner passage and the large hall show painted decoration in vivid and well preserved colours has escaped the scholarly attention for centuries because of the tomb’s darkness and some later plaster covering parts of it. The scenes represent the tomb owner standing in the marshes accompanied by female members of his family, offering bearers and boys picking figs.[4]
More than a thousand tombs are situated in the necropolis, but there is no map of it. Therefore the Asyut Project began to map the necropolis last year. This work was continued this season: The location of the still visible tombs was determined and included in a map. Whilst surveying the necropolis for its mapping, a hitherto unknown decorated tomb was detected (N13.1), its walls covered with visitors’ graffiti. It was protected by erecting a stone wall and an iron door. It is to be hoped that the tomb can be studied completely next season.
Mapping the necropolis led to an assortment of new results. Twenty tombs and four quarries were added to and are now included in the map (fig. 1). The map divides the mountain into squares of 50 m x 50 m. Like in a city map, each square has a code consisting of a number and a letter. The different architectural structures are labelled within a square in numerical order. Thus the hitherto unrecorded tombs received a denotation according to this system. Other already known tombs were also denoted accordingly and can be referred to either by this code or by their common labels, e.g.:
Tomb I (Siut I, Tomb of Djefai-hapi I) = P10.1
Tomb II (Siut II, Tomb of Djefai-hapi II) = O13.1
Tomb III (Siut III, Tomb of Iti-ibi) = N12.1
Tomb IV (Siut IV, Tomb of Khety II) = N12.2
Tomb V (Siut V, Tomb of Khety I) = M11.1
Mapping and geological observations made the picture of the mountain become more concrete than ever before.[5] In the south and the north, the mountain is cut by small wadis and consists of eleven layers of limestone. Rock tombs were hewn into each layer. Some chronological preferences are obvious: The nomarchs of the First Intermediate Period and the early Middle Kingdom chose layer no. 6 for constructing their tombs, the nomarchs of the 12th Dynasty preferred layer no. 2. During the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom, stones were quarried in the south of the mountain (O17.1), thus not violating the necropolis. During the New Kingdom, stones were hewn in the First Intermediate Period/Middle Kingdom necropolis (O15.1), sometimes in the nomarch’s tombs themselves (N12.2, N13.2).
Restoration] work was done in Tomb I (wall paintings), Tomb III (reliefs and paintings on the walls), Tomb V (reliefs and paintings on the walls), and Tomb O 14.2 (paintings). In addition, some objects were restored, especially a mummy cartonage. The accompanying restorers were Mrs. Nagla Abdel Mocty Fathy and Mr. Helal Akel Atala.
[1] Members of the mission were ass. Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Khadragy, South Valley University, Sohag, Field director; Prof. Dr. Jochem Kahl, Universities of Münster and Mainz, Field director; Prof. Dr. Ursula Verhoeven, University of Mainz, Project director; Dr. Ulrike Fauerbach, Surveyor; Dr. Eva-Maria Engel, Archaeologist; Dr. Sameh Shafik, Epigrapher; Prof. Dr. Dietrich Klemm, Geologist; Rosemarie Klemm, M.A., Egyptologist; Omar Nour el-Din, M.A., Egyptologist; Meike Becker, M.A., Epigrapher; Monika Zöller, Egyptologist; Yasser Mahmoud, Epigrapher; John Moussa Iskander, Egyptologist; Omar Ahmed Abu Zaid, Egyptologist; Diana Kleiber, Egyptologist; Christiane Dorstewitz, Egyptologist. The accompanying inspector was Mr. Magdy Shaker.
[2] Publication of Tomb III will be prepared by Jochem Kahl.
[3] Cf. Kahl/El-Khadragy/Verhoeven, in: SAK 33, 2005, 163.
[4] The painted scenes will be published by Mahmoud El-Khadragy.
[5] We are grateful to Rosemarie and Dietrich Klemm for their five day visit in the gebel and their valuable comments on the geological structure of the mountain.