| Southport : Original Sources in Exploration | | |
Excavations at Hierakonpolis, at Esna, and in Nubia John Garstang | | | | |
|
Excavations at Hierakonpolis, at Esna, and in Nubia
[Published in 1907 in the Annales du Service des Antiquites de l'Egypte, Vol. VIII, pp.132-150, with 15 plates.
During
the years 1905-1906, by courtesy of the Service des Antiquites, Mr. E.
H. Jones and myself have made a series of excavations in Upper Egypt on
behalf of the University of Liverpool. The chief sites of actual
excavation were at Hierakonpolis and the necropolis of Esna, but other
experimental excavations were made, both in the desert to the immediate
south of Esna, and also near Dakke in Nubia (fig.1). The chief results
of this work are outlined in the following pages, but it may make the
arrangement clearer to give in the first instance a list of the places
referred to:
Messawiyeh
(south of Esna). — Large Necropolis of Archaic appearance, completely
plundered. A few potsherds and rough pottery vases.
Hierakonpolis
(Rom El Ahmar). — a, Pre-dynastic graves in the interior of the
fortress, b. Town-site of the early dynasties partly excavated.
El Kilh. — In the desert between Hierakonpolis and Edfu: a few burial places of Archaic appearance, plundered.
Edfu. — A few burial places of Ptolemaic times in the rocky desert to the west.
Hissayeh (south of Edfu). —Tombs chiefly of Ptolemaic period with some of earlier date; site in bad preservation.
Fig.1: Map of Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia, showing excavated sites (red dots).
Dakke in Nubia.— A few New Empire burials in the rocky desert to the west.
Kubban.—
Almost opposite Dakke. Graves of Egyptians hewn in the rock to the east
of the fortress: dates, chiefly XII and XVIII dynasties.
Kostamneh
(5 iniles north of Dakke) (p.133). — 200 graves of primitive character,
but ranging possibly from early date as late as the XII dynasty;
excavated 1906. Within the Egyptian fortress, the remains of Roman or
Byzantine fortress. In the vicinity, a few graves of Egyptian officials
of XII and XVIII to XX dynasties.
In the following Report the
excavations are described in the following order: 1. Hierakonpolis and
the Archaic sites with plates 1-7; 2. Kostamneh, with plates 8-12; 3. Esna with plates 13-15
ARCHAIC SITES.
A
chief object in view, when fixing camp at Kom el Ahmar (Hierakonpolis)
in the first days of 1906 was to examine what remained of the archaic
sites between that point and Edfu, which lies some fifteen miles to the
south. The old walled town and temple of Hierakonpolis itself had been
already explored, particularly the latter, by Quibell in 1898 and Green
in 1899, and more recently the dealers' shops at Luxor and elsewhere
had for some time previous to our arrival shown evidence of
considerable unlawful digging in the same vicinity. In the summer of
1906, our preliminary survey had located for us several cemeteries
between Hagar Esna on the north and the Edfu deserts to the south, all
more or less recognisable as archaic in character, from the pottery
fragments upon the surface and the nature of the opened graves. To the
irreparable loss of History, when we finally turned to excavate these
sites, not a grave remained intact. Tomb robbers from Qurneh and
elsewhere, during the late summer of that year (if hearsay may be
trusted), had stripped every place of its antiquities and of the
information which it had contained. They had even hoarded their loot in
spots known to themselves, and returned at various times to recover
further consignments for the market.
MESSAWIYEH.
The most
important of the sites thus destroyed was Messawiyeh, from which
we recovered only sufficient fragments to prove that this had been a
chief source of the beautiful painted vases of archaic style which, for
a year or two past have been plentiful in the shops of Luxor. In this
site (p.134) our exploration revealed a necropolis as large in
extent and more prolific in graves than any of that class lying between
Negadali and Silsileh; yet not a single grave remained for us to
excavate.
Two or three burying grounds of small size lie along the
desert edge further to the south; from these were taken two isolated
vases of red-slip pottery of peculiarly thin and light fabric, but
archaic in general appearance. Another important site that has
disappeared was near Hierakonpolis itself, at the foot of the higher
desert. Shortly after the excavations of 1899 had concluded, it
seems that the villagers and others discovered an ancient burying place
hidden from view at the north of one of the desert gorges, about two
kilometres westward from the fortress, and half a kilometre only from
the rock tombs which had been the headquarters of the expedition. Here,
having access to the natural spring of water which rises in the desert
near Bassaliyeh, and with the connivance of a guard of the Service (now
dismissed), the plunderers leisurely despoiled the whole site so that
not a grave remained intact. The potsherds gleaned from the surface
indicated that the early 1st Dynasty was represented by the deposits.
HIERAKONPOLIS.
Meanwhile,
however, we had undertaken two distinct pieces of work at Hierakonpolis
itself. This place, like the ancient portion of Abydos, contains two
special features, its ancient temenos and its ancient fortress. At both
places the temenos seemingly enclosed not merely the ancient temple but
a small township of regular form associated with it. These in each case
lie now just within the line of cultivation; while separated by
something like half a kilometre, standing isolated in the desert to the
west, there is in each case also a large fortress which seems at some
stage to have been contemporary with the temple and town.
a. The Temenos.
At
Hierakonpolis the township seems to have been in full vigour during the
I, II, and III Dynasties, and during this period the fortress seems to
have been built for its protection.
Plate 1: Ruins of Hierakonpolis
In our excavations, which began
early in 1906, within the N.E. corner of the main town wall, we were
able to trace the foundations of several houses of the III dynasty
(pl.2 fig.1). Their date was recognisable from the forms of the vases
in alabaster and pottery found within them. In one case, the
foundations of a wall were laid (p.135) with irregular pieces of stone
for several metres, with a large stone in the length which seemed to
indicate the threshold of a building. These houses seemed to consist
uniformly of one room only, about two metres square, leading out to a
tiny enclosure or courtyard. This enclosure was formed by the
continuation of the sides of the room, and it was even smaller in size.
From this courtyard a door led out to a narrow way, about a metre
across, which separated two rows of similar buildings. As the door of
the room led into the courtyard only, it was the side of the house
which abutted on the street. The rooms and courtyards seemed more or
less continuous along the line of the street, with an occasional
opening.
Plate 2: 1. Ruins of 3rd dynasty house. 2. Lapis lazuli figure from Hierakonpolis.
A further
object of some historical interest is the potsherd shown in pl.3, fig.1,
with a graffito which seems to represent the name of Narmer. The
enclosure clearly is the facade usually associated with the royal names
in archaic times, but there is no hawk or other emblem traceable above.
The whole area abounds with flint implements and worked flints of
various forms. They are most commonly found at about the depth of 1
metre and many of them (as shown in pl.4), are familiar from the
examples found in the royal tombs of the earliest dynasties. Other
specimens are of unusual form. In plate 3, fig.2, for instance, there is
shown a flat flint with round serrated edge, like a rotatory saw.
In the same illustration (p.136) appears a crescent-shaped flint of a
type common during the III dynasty, and occurring also in earlier
deposits. But the specimen shown in pl.4, fig.1 is the most
noticeable.
Plate 3: 1 Potsherd from Hierakonpolis with name of Narmer. 2. Flint implements.
The photograph well illustrates its form, which must have
had some special use or significance. The length of this remarkable
implement is 13 inches or 33 cms. In addition to the foregoing there
were found great quantities of small archaic objects, such as spindle
whorls, grinding and pounding stones, arrowheads (pl.7, fig.1), etc., the
description of which must be withheld for a more detailed report. The
site showed also some trace of later importance, as witness some
inscribed stone monuments of the XI dynasty and sculptured temple
-stones of the time of Thothmes III, in the central portion of the
ancient temple area.
Plate 4: 1. Large flint items of curious forms from Hierakonpolis. 2. flint knives with handles.
b. The Fortress.
The other piece
of work taken up at Hierakonpolis was an examination of the foundations
of the fortress which, as already mentioned, lies just westward
in the desert. Our photograph (pl.5) gives a general view of this fine
structure from the south-west, showing both the inner and outer walls.
Plate 5: The Old Empire fort at Hierakonpolis, from the southeast.
We were led to make excavations hereby various considerations. In the
first place, the date of the fortress had apparently not been precisely
determined, and there were several features in its construction,
particularly of its gateway, which demanded further study. In the next
place the whole of the area outlying this fortress had been filled with
a cemetery of Archaic date: it was probably the great burying ground of
the locality from a time early in the pre-dynastic age, continuing
through the early dynasties. The whole of this necropolis had been
exca\(aJed or plundered so that nothing remained; but, within the
fortress, except for the uncovering of several walls in the interior,
there seemed to have been no systematic excavation. It seemed to us
that such an excavation was essential for determining at any rate the
date of the fortress, especially as the tombs of the early dynasties
crept up to its outer walls.
Plate 6: Predynastic graves below the foundation of the fort.
After clearing away, therefore,
all the sand accumulated against the southerly wall of the fortress in
the interior (a very considerable labour), we came upon an entirely
undisturbed portion of the original necropolis at an average depth of
about 1.50 m. below the real surface. This depth had of course been
much increased by the blown sands. In all we excavated 188 (p.137) of
these primitive graves. The position of these graves in relation to the
walls of the fortress, as shown in pl.6, was of very great interest.
They seemed to belong for the most part to about the middle of the
predynastic scale, and to be earlier in date than the earliest
historical monuments; they would seem also to have been covered with
blown sands and forgotten before the fortress was constructed.
Otherwise the burials in themselves presented little of exceptional
character, although during the excavations one or two noteworthy
antiquities were discovered. Amongst these should be placed almost
first the stone perforated hammer shown in pl.7, fig.1. It was
broken in half and the other portion could not be found. It is an
object of a type familiar to Archaeology in the Bronze Age of Europe,
but of a rare and interesting appearance in the Nile Valley.
Plate
7: 1. Stone hammer and flint arrowhead (Necropolis at Hierakonpolis). 2. finely worked
flint knive (Necropolis at Hierakonpolis). 3. Wooden strainer and spoon (grave near Edfu desert).
OTHER SITES.
Passing then more to
the south, along the desert edge, we found, before arriving at the Edfu
Desert, one or two small burying places, which though entirely
disturbed, gave us indications of a type of art allied to that of
predynastic times. The wooden strainer and spoon shown in pl.7,
fig.3, now in the Cairo Museum, are remarkable. The curious pottery of
thin, fine fabric, has already been mentioned. It was black inside, and
the slip surface showed plainly the burnishing marks of the pebble
running symetrically down from rim to point. Fortunately there were
recovered two whole bowls of this class of pottery, and fragments of
the same may be picked up along the desert edge in archaic sites
between Hierakonpolis and Hissayeh, the region which we had set
ourselves to explore. It was generally associated with a grave about 1
metre square or 1 metre by 2 and about 1 metre in (p.138) depth: but
this grave was not in general the somewhat shapeless hole in the ground
characteristic of prehistoric burying places. It resembled rather some
of the more carefully formed shallow pit tombs of the earliest
dynasties. The full significance of those small indications did not
appear until after a year's excavation at Esna, which we were shortly
to undertake.
In that site, a large necropolis proved to be no
older than the XII dynasty, though it was continuous throughout the
Hyksos period and flourished apparently during the XVIII, XlX and XX
dynasties. But, in the graves of the XII dynasty were commonly found
pottery bowls or fragments of them, of red surface more or less
burnished, and black inside, and also fragments of bowls decorated with
incised lines or punctuated patterns which were in some cases whitened.
Before returning to Egypt for a second season at Esna, Mr.
Weigall, Inspector in Chief of the Service, favoured us with a
preliminary report of his recent observations, not merely over the same
region, but far up into Nubia. The sporadic appearance of the
familiar black -topped pottery of Archaic style both at Hu and at
Abydos, as described by Mr. Mace and others, had for some years
excited a considerable amount of interest. It had already become
evident that if the source of this re-appearance of archaic pottery
could be traced, then there Avas a strong probability that the home of
the veritable pre -dynastic pottery of Middle Egypt, familiar from
excavation at Negadah and a hundred sites, must lie in the same
direction. The importance of this opportunity became at once fully
apparent,, and aided by every facility granted by the Service, an
expedition was detached to go at once up into Nubia, in the hope that
there at any rate we should get beyond reach of the plunderers'
destruction, which robbed us of all satisfactory evidence upon
this important problem in the sites which had been attempted in the
previous year.
[Continue to part 2]
[Return to Table of Contents]
|
|
| Southport main page Main
index of Athena Review
Copyright © 2023 Rust Family Foundation.
(All Rights Reserved). | | |
.
|
