March 3, 2010

We finished our last day in the field today.  It is very difficult to believe that the season is over.  The days went so quickly, at least mostly they did.  There were a couple of those 100+ degree days that didn’t actually speed along, but overall we can’t believe we have been working for five weeks.

Sand Covering Parts of the Amun Temple

Only Catharine and I went to the field today as the crew is now finishing up various tasks and Peter, Ginger, and Joel had maps and drawings to work on in the house.  Catharine and I took our last motorboat ride across the Nile to pick up the car.  As we carried our brand new wood box, commissioned to hold our finds from the season’s work, along the Corniche (the road that runs along the Nile) to the boat, we got a number of odd looks.   It did look a bit like a coffin with its very ornate silver-toned handles that were a bit oversized for the box.  Never mind, they made it easy’ to carry. 

We drove to the site where a final load of sand was being delivered.  We have

Sand Being Delivered to the North Village Area

been covering the exposed mud brick walls of the village houses which are so very fragile.  I hope the layer of sand will allow them to survive until our next season.   We still had some more to do this morning.  While the workmen were finishing with the sand, Catharine and I packed the wood box with the finds and then,  with our inspector,  we went to the huge magazine north of the town of Qurna.  There I turned over the box and the keys to the Supreme Council of Antiquities representative.  We will be able to access the material in the future as long as we apply for permission.

Our Box

After that task was finished, we trundled off to the Inspectorate where the final papers were signed to conclude the work.  Our colleagues were very efficient and everything was finalized smoothly.  Then we packed up the truck with the field equipment, paid the workmen, and took off in our faithful Land Rover for Chicago House.  The trip went smoothly, except for a very long, hot, half hour in a traffic jam going over the bridge; annoying, but ultimately it was just a traffic jam.

We will pack up our equipment for storage tomorrow, and then our suitcases.  Friday it’s off to Cairo and Saturday we land in New York.   It has been an amazing season.  We have discovered new information about the Amun Temple and the North Village and know that our decisions to work in these areas were good ones.  We can’t wait for 2011 to return and work again.

- Diana Craig Patch

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Facsimile Painting of a Scene in the Tomb of Sennedjem at Deir el-Median, MMA 30.4.2, Rogers Fund, 1930

In order to understand the North Village better, after work yesterday, we took a field trip to see Deir el-Medina, another village for workmen of the New Kingdom that is just north of Malqata.  Deir el-Medina, however, is much larger and better preserved than our site.  It was home to the artisans who built and decorated the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and was called Set Maat -”The Place of Truth.”  The village and its surrounding cemeteries were excavated by the French Archaeological Institute under the direction of Bernard Bruyère from 1922 to1951.  More recently Domonique Valbelle and Charles Bonnet re-investigated the site to better understand the construction phases.

The Workmen's Village at Deir el-Medina

Deir el-Medina is very well preserved, being out in the desert and built of stone rubble as well as mud brick.  It is in a small valley surrounded by hills and, like the North Village, it was surrounded by an enclosure wall. 

Deir el-Medina appears to have been founded in the early Eighteenth Dynasty and continued to function until the end of the Ramesside Period – about 500 years. This is far longer than the few decades that North Village at Malqata was inhabited.  The community at Deir el-Median grew over time and ultimately had about sixty-eight houses. The sizes and plans of the houses varied, but all were fairly small, like the North Village structures.  The house walls were made of mud brick, built on top of stone rubble foundations and covered with mud plaster, which was white washed or painted in colors.  A typical house had four to five rooms:  an entrance, a main room, two smaller rooms, a kitchen with a cellar  below, and a staircase leading to the roof. The house reamined cool in the summer and warm in the winter by placing the windows high up on the walls. There were also household shrines consisting of a mud brick

 

 

 

platform with a small flight of steps. The houses were grouped along a main road that led through the village, and led to some side streets as well.  The plan of the town changed as the population grew over time.

The tombs built by the workmen for themselves had small rock-cut chapels and burial chambers and were capped by small mud brick pyramids.

A pyramid tomb at Deir el Medina

The workers could walk over the hills to the Valley of the Kings.  They seem to have had a pretty god life and when they were not paid on time, they went on strike!

-Peter Lacovara

Monday, March 1, 2010

Arriving at the Garage on the West Bank

 

Our Daily commute to the site is a bit more scenic than being stuck bumper to bumper on I -85.  After a hearty early breakfast at Chicago House we walk along the river to the dock where we catch a motor launch (or “lunch” as it’s pronounced in the local dialect) to cross the Nile to the west bank and the site.  We have to weave in and out between the gigantic tourist boats and the other motor boats criss-crossing the water. Sometimes we’re buzzed by cormorants skimming over the water in search of a snack.

Mohammad on the Fatma ez-Zahra

We land on the opposite bank and make our way through the bustling streets of houses, hotels, and shops that have sprung up around the ferry landing, dodging taxis, busses, motorcycles, push carts, camels, and donkeys as we go. There, along a narrow dusty street, is garaged the land rover that Chicago House has kindly put at our disposal.  It is a venerable beast with a history going back to Robert Braidwood’s surveys of Iran and Turkey in the 1950’s.

 Having grown rather cantankerous in its old age, only Diana and Ginger have been able to master its eccentricities and coax it through the labyrinth of winding side streets in the town and over the bumpy, dusty roads to the site and back every day.

At the beginning of the season the juggernaut was overhauled and a new ignition installed and that most essential part of an Egyptian vehicle, the horn, repaired.

It's a Tight Squeeze Getting out of the Garage

Our workers, who in the old days would arrive on donkey back now ride motorcycles to work.  Once at the site, though, the un-mechanized process of archaeology, trowelling, scraping, sweeping, and sifting continues much as it did in Braidwood’s day more than half a century ago.

-Peter Lacovara

 

Sunday, February 28, 2010

As Catharine mentioned in a posting from last week, near the end of the first season (Dec., 2008), three of the members of the Malqata team, along with Yarko Kobylecki, a photographer for Chicago House, took a balloon ride over the site of Malqata to obtain low-altitude aerial photographs.  Ballooning has become a major tourist attraction on the West Bank of Luxor, and some days, dozens of balloons are seen taking off and being carried off at the whims of the wind. 

Last season, unfortunately, we could not afford to accept the whims of the wind, since we had a definite target in mind.   Fortunately, we had a pilot who was willing to spend the time it took to get us right over the site, and who had the knowledge and talent to do so.   The winds at different altitudes vary in direction, so by carefully controlling the balloon’s height above the ground, the pilot was able to guide the balloon to where we wanted to go. Interestingly, the direction we wanted required a very low altitude.  So after a breath-taking flight, sometimes reaching the awesome height of 9-10 feet above the ground and often scraping against the top of the sugar cane, we were close to Malqata.  The trip alone was worth the price of admission, since we were able to see formations that could not be seen from the ground.

Plowing Patterns

Finally, when we were near Malqata, the pilot took us up to elevations from which we could see and photograph the entire site, as well as individual components.

The Amun Temple from the Air

But these photographs are more than just pretty pictures.  Using modern software, we can correct for lens distortion, altitude, and the oblique angle of the photographs, and use them to help map the outlines of walls and to check the accuracy of the previous plans that were done by the Metropolitan Museum.  At the Joint Expedition to Malqata, we are utilizing these new technologies to increase the completeness and accuracy of the plans to gain additional knowledge of the site.

-  Joel Paulson

Head of Amenhotep III, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Gift of Morgens-West Foundation

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Amenhotep III, who created Malqata, was the most prolific builder that Egypt had ever seen. Other than Ramesses II (who ruled a century later), no other Egyptian pharaoh constructed as many temples and other monuments, or commissioned as many statues, or larger ones. One of his most common epithets was Aten-tjehen, which means “the Dazzling Sun Disk.”

Amenhotep came to the throne as a boy around 1390 BC, taking the throne name Nebmaatre, and ruled for about 38 years, a comparatively long reign. His principal wife was Tiye, whose family appears to have come from the town of Akhmim in Upper Egypt.

Queen Tiye as a Sphinx, MMA 26.7.1342, Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926

Despite her non-royal origins, Tiye became extremely influential in her husband’s reign, and she is often represented with her husband in statues of the time. Because of her status, Tiye’s parents, Yuya and Tjuyu, were given a rich burial in the Valley of the Kings. This tomb (KV 46) was found largely intact in 1905. ( http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_860.html)

Shawabti of Yuya, MMA 30.8.57, Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915

One of Tiye’s sons succeeded his father as Amenhotep IV, later changing his name to Akhenaten.

The Palace complex at Malqata was built by Amenhotep III to celebrate three Sed- festivals (jubilees) that took place in years 30, 34, and 37 of his reign. The palace and its associated buildings, were called the Per-Hay or “The House of Rejoicing.” The Amun temple (built for the second festival) was called Per-Amun em Per-Hay or “The House of Amun in the House of Rejoicing.”

Pavement from the King's Palace, MMA 20.2.2, Rogers Fund, 1920

of Amenhotep III’s reign come from inscriptions on wine jars, found at Malqata’s Amun Temple, which record the vintage as belonging to Year 38. Amenhotep was buried in a large tomb in the West Valley of the Kings, Tomb WV 22 (http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_836.html).

- Peter Lacovara

Our colleague Hourig Sourouzian, working in the funerary temple that Amenhotep III built near Malqata, has just unearthed a perfectly preserved head of the king:

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/huge-sculpture-of-pharaoh-amenhotep-iiis-head-unearthed-in-egypt/

Friday, February 26, 2010

Two days ago we decided that one more area we wanted to explore this season, in order to get a better feel for the extent of the village, was a short row of bricks visible west of the “Lower Village.”  The Lower Village is what I call a group of what are probably houses at the base of the desert terrace, the area we first began to excavate three weeks ago.  As soon as we started to clear the brick (a good thing we did because there is only a partial course of foundation bricks left), we found several pits.  We cleaned out the smaller one, away from the wall, to see what kind of material was being dumped there. 

Pit Six After Excavation

The pit contained sandy fill with some small pebbles (most layers here have some pebbles from the desert) and lots of sherds and animal bone.   The sherds themselves are very interesting as is the animal bone, but that is another blog entry.  The most amazing thing we found was four pieces of leather!

When we find an undisturbed and un-weathered layer here the preservation of material is often spectacular.  Such is the case with the contents of this pit.  Two pieces of leather are small and curved, but plain.  If they were once dyed, which was common, no color survives. The other two, however, demonstrate a decorative technique. 

Fragment of Woven Leather

The leather has been systematically slit vertically a number of times.  Then a strip of rawhide has been slid under and over the slits to producing a woven pattern.   Both pieces, although the surfaces were hard, were so brittle I was very worried as I had to handle them during photography.

Second Fragment - Two Pieces are Woven Together

The ancient Egyptians used leather as early as the Predynastic Period (ca. 3800 B.C.), generally for covers, bags, and aprons.  The methods for tanning hides, which came from sheep, goat, cattle, and gazelles, apparently were fairly uncomplicated and did not change much over time.  By Dynasty 18 (ca. 1550-1295 B.C.), leather was also used for seats of chair, parts of chariots, furnishings or covers, some military equipment (for example, shields, quivers, wrist guards), membranes for drums, belts, and sandals.  I have included a piece from a quiver at the Metropolitan Museum that shows the same kind of decoration that we have from Malqata.

28.3.5, Rogers Fund, 1928, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Finding leather at Malqata should not be surprising (except that it survived at all) because Ludwig Borchardt, a German Egyptologist, found substantial evidence for leatherwork while excavating at Amarna between 1907 and 1914.  Amarna, of course, is the city that Amenhotep III’s successor Akhenaten built, not long after our site was in use.

 - Diana Craig Patch

View of the Amun Temple this Morning

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Half of Libya transferred itself to the Nile Valley this afternoon in the form of a violent sandstorm that dove us off the site about ten minutes before quitting time (2:00pm). I noticed dust blowing from the west at about 1:15 and a couple of dust devils 

The Dust Devil Before the Storm

came through – then, very suddenly, we couldn’t see anything and decided it was best to run for cover (even the casemate walls didn’t protect us from the storm). 

Three Desert Rats Returning Home (I stayed out of the photo by taking it)

It’s still blowing (8:30 pm), so we may be in for an all-nighter.

At the Amun Temple, we started by sweeping the walls and pavements so Charlie could draw them (see Charlie’s February 24 blog). In the past week, we’ve been excavating down to the desert in a few places where there was no preserved paving. We want to see how the bricks of the casemates (the substructure on which the temple is built) are resting on the desert surface (called the jebel here).

A Casemate Wall is at the Left (just above my shadow) - the Trowel lies on the Jebel Surface

This week, Joel is working with some of our colleagues at Hierakonpolis, a site south of here that is connected with Egypt’s earliest history – the time before the pharaohs (see http://www.archaeology.org/interactive/hierakonpolis/). When he gets back on Saturday, we’ll measure the levels of the desert, the walls, and the pavements through the center of the temple and across the back wall so I can draw cross sections of the building – something that wasn’t done 100 years ago.

Sand Being Delivered to the Site

In preparation for leaving the site next week, we’ve started filling in some of the more vulnerable areas with sand. We’ve exposed a lot of brick edges since we started working almost three weeks ago, and we don’t want them to break, or completely disappear over the next year.

-  Catharine Roehrig

View of the West Bank During Today's Sandstorm (from our water taxi)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

At a site like the Amun Temple at Malqata, mud brick is everywhere:  in big walls, in little walls, and in the temple floor paving.  Eroded bits even pave the surrounding desert. But mostly what you notice is the dust.  Yes, the better part of an entire Egyptian temple is now little more than dust and it’s everywhere. It collects in your hair, up your nose, down your throat. Every fold and interstice of your clothing gets clogged. When you wipe your face in the heat of the afternoon sun, it comes off like theatrical pancake makeup (the color is somewhere between Iago and Othello). But I’ve come here not to bury mud brick, but to praise it!

The Temple of Amun is decaying as it has been doing for over 3000 years. Every time someone steps onto a mud brick site the decay accelerates. Unfortunately we have to brush off the tops of the walls and even remove decayed and disfigured bricks in order to study the structure.  But we do try to minimize the removal of original material, especially if it’s not really going to advance our knowledge of the structure or how it was built. The JEM team and the workmen began preparing the site for documentation two weeks before I arrived. Mostly what they did was sweep off the dust and tumbled brick from the walls and paving – the decay that followed the MMA’s 1917 excavation.

General View of Temple Cleaning

A long, level area of wall can reveal a good pattern of coursed mud brick work, but you must remove the top, adhered level of broken bricks and the mortar beneath.  When you do this, voila! You have beautiful, square edged, crisp, 3000-year old mud bricks. They look as if they were made just yesterday.  If you’re lucky, you might just find a brick that has the name of our friend Amenhotep III stamped into it.  As often as possible, we avoid this step by just sweeping the bricks.  Brushing brings to light lots of information, but only if you know what you are looking for. That’s why they brought me here, because I’m the Architect.  Just to show you what I’m talking about, here are a few photos of what I mean:

rain damaged brick (this shows how vulnerable this material is to the elements),

Rain Ruined Mud Brick

swept brick (they’re all rounded and pudgy looking),

Swept Bricks: the Sweeping Revealed the Coursing at the Edges

and nice brick (we had to go down through a foot of dust and broken brick to find these beauties).

Superb Bricks Revealed by a Little Digging

Our workmen are an important part of this excavation as they are able and hard working members of the team and we often find their expertise in mud brick (a traditional building material in modern Egypt) an asset to the expedition. 

- Charlie Evers

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

While we have had lots of pottery at the North Village, we have also found a far more rare fragment, a bit of a glass vessel.

Glass was first produced in some quantity in Egypt in the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty and was a highly valued commodity. The technology for making glass had come from the Near East and raw glass was probably imported from there as well.

The kilns of the time could barely melt glass so, so it was not molten enough to blow. Instead, it was “core-formed.” That is, a stick with a piece of mud on the end was dipped into the melted glass mixture and turned until it was covered, like a candy apple. While it was cooling, thin rods of colored glass could be applied to the surface and would melt into the body of the vessel to form designs. The melted canes could be drawn up or downward to form chevrons and other patterns, like the icing on a napoleon. For a video on how core-formed glass is made go to:

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/videoDetails?segid=3720

When it had all cooled, the mud core could be scraped out leaving an interior space for the vessel. So difficult was it to make that glass was as valuable as precious gems and indeed, much of the inlays in Tutankhamun’s jewelry and coffins was glass not stone. The robbers who broke into his tomb appear to have left a great deal of gold, but taken most of the glass vessels, showing how valuable they were. Small and non-porous, glass vessels were ideal for perfumes and other rare and costly cosmetics.

26.7.1176, Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Glass factories were associated both with the palaces at Malqata and Amarna. The location of the glass factory at Malqata is not known, but this fragments shows we are on the right track!

-Peter Lacovara

Update:  we also  just found a glass rod, like the ones used n the video.

Monday, February 22, 2010 

During the excavation seasons from 1910-1912, Herbert Winlock (who was at the beginning of his long and distinguished career at the Metropolitan Museum) worked at Malqata. During these two seasons, the expedition was clearing the areas around the King’s palace including the northern mounds on the western edge of the Birket Habu (February 18 blog). As you can see in the photo below (another taken by our friend Yarko during last season’s balloon ride), there are two sets of mounds. The A mounds are quite regular in size and would have been visible as a row of small hills to anyone sailing into the Birket basin (the agricultural land along the left side of the photo). 

Mounds along western edge of Birket Habu

            Mound B 1 at the bottom of the photo is close to the King’s Palace (which is just off the photo at the lower right). On the east side of mound B 1 (the left side in this photo), the excavators found the remains of a private house. Inside the house, in the midst of a deteriorated sack of linen cloth, was a stash of jewelry that had been accidentally left behind when the city was abandoned. The photo below, taken in 1911, shows the four necklaces that were in the sack: two strings of beads and two menat-necklaces.

1911 photograph courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The word menat refers to the key-shaped metal counterpoise on each of the two larger necklaces. The menat-necklace at the right is now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. The other three necklaces were given to the Metropolitan Museum in the division of finds at the end of the 1910-1911 season. You can see color photos of all three of the Met’s necklaces on the Museum’s website (www.metmuseum.org – go to the collection database, Egyptian Art, search for 11.215.450, or Malqata, which will bring up everything from the site).

- Catharine Roehrig