Bard, Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt

437 Pages·2009·34.65 MB·English

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Introduction to the Archaeology of
Ancient Egypt
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For
Wallace Sellers
and
Rodolfo Fattovich
with much gratitude
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Introduction to the Archaeology of
Ancient Egypt
Kathryn A. Bard
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© 2007 by Kathryn A. Bard
blackwell publishing
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First published 2007 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
1 2007
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bard, Kathryn A.
Introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt / Kathryn Bard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-1149-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-4051-1149-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-1148-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-4051-1148-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Egypt–Antiquities. 2. Egypt–Civilization–To 332 B.C.
3. Egypt–Civilization–332 B.C.–638 A.D. I. Title.
DT60.B373 2007
932–dc22
2006037650
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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Contents
List of Plates ix
List of Figures xi
List of Maps xv
Abbreviations of References Listed in Suggested Readings xvi
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xix
1 Egyptian Archaeology: Definitions and History 1
1.1 Introduction: Ancient Egyptian Civilization and its Prehistoric
Predecessors 3
1.2 Egyptian Archaeology 3
1.3 Egyptology 5
1.4 History of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology 5
1.5 Archaeological Methods 15
1.6 Archaeological Theory 18
1.7 Ancient Egypt and Egyptian Archaeologists in Fiction and Films 19
2 Hieroglyphs, Language, and Pharaonic Chronology 23
2.1 Language of the Ancient Egyptians 25
2.2 Origins and Development of Egyptian Writing 25
2.3 Scripts and Media of Writing 28
2.4 Signs, Structure, and Grammar 29
2.5 Literacy in Ancient Egypt 32
2.6 Textual Studies 32
2.7 Use of Texts in Egyptian Archaeology 34
2.8 Historical Outline of Pharaonic Egypt 36
2.9 The Egyptian Civil Calendar, King Lists, and Calculation of
Pharaonic Chronology 38
3 The Environmental Background to Pharaonic Civilization: Geography,
Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resources 45
3.1 Geography: Terms and Place Names 47
3.2 Environmental Setting 51
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3.3 Environmental and Other Problems for Archaeology in Egypt 54
3.4 The Seasons and the Agricultural System 56
3.5 The Ancient Egyptian Diet 58
3.6 Other Useful Animals and Plants 60
3.7 Building Materials 61
3.8 Other Resources: Clays, Stones, Minerals 62
3.9 Imported Materials 64
4 Egyptian Prehistory: The Paleolithic and Neolithic 67
Paleolithic 69
4.1 Paleolithic Cultures in Egypt 69
4.2 Lower Paleolithic 71
4.3 Middle Paleolithic 72
4.4 Upper Paleolithic 76
4.5 Late Paleolithic 77
4.6 Epipaleolithic 79
Neolithic 80
4.7 Saharan Neolithic 80
4.8 Neolithic in the Nile Valley: Faiyum A and Lower Egypt 84
4.9 Neolithic in the Nile Valley: Middle and Upper Egypt 86
5 The Rise of Complex Society and Early Civilization 89
Predynastic Egypt 91
5.1 The Predynastic Period: Egypt in the 4thMillennium BC 91
5.2 Lower Egypt: Buto-Ma’adi Culture 91
5.3 Upper Egypt: Naqada Culture 94
5.4 Lower Nubia: A-Group Culture 101
5.5 State Formation and Unification 104
The Early Dynastic State 109
5.6 Organization and Institutions of the Early Dynastic State 109
5.7 Early Writing and Formal Art 117
5.8 The Expanding State 119
5.9 Who Were the Ancient Egyptians? Physical Anthropology 120
6 The Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period 121
6.1 The Old Kingdom: Overview 123
The Early Old Kingdom 128
6.2 The 3rdDynasty: Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara 128
6.3 The 4thDynasty’s First King, Sneferu, and his Three Pyramids 133
6.4 Khufu’s Great Pyramid at Giza 137
6.5 The Great Sphinx and Khafra’s Pyramid Complex 141
6.6 Menkaura’s Giza Pyramid and its Remarkable Valley Temple Finds 143
6.7 Giza Pyramid Towns 144
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Contents vii
6.8 Giza Mastabas, Queen Hetepheres’s Hidden Tomb, and
the Workmen’s Cemetery 148
The Later Old Kingdom 152
6.9 Sun Temples of the 5thDynasty 152
6.10 Later Old Kingdom Pyramids and the Pyramid Texts 153
6.11 An Expanding Bureaucracy: Private Tombs in the 5thand 6th
Dynasties 157
6.12 Egypt Abroad 160
The First Intermediate Period 162
6.13 The End of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period:
Causes of State Collapse 162
7 The Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period 167
The Middle Kingdom 169
7.1 The Middle Kingdom: Overview 169
7.2 Pre-Unification 11thDynasty: SaffTombs at Thebes 175
7.3 Mentuhotep II’s Complex at Deir el-Bahri 176
7.4 Model Workers and the Deir el-Bahri Tomb of Meketra 177
7.5 12th-Dynasty Temples 178
7.6 12th- and 13th-Dynasty Pyramids 182
7.7 Towns and Domestic Architecture: Kahun and South Abydos 186
7.8 Nomarchs in Middle Egypt: The Beni Hasan Tombs 189
7.9 Mining in the Sinai and a Galena Mine in the Eastern Desert 190
7.10 Egyptian Forts in Nubia and Indigenous Peoples There 191
The Second Intermediate Period 195
7.11 The Second Intermediate Period: The Hyksos Kingdom in
the North 195
7.12 The Kerma Kingdom in Upper Nubia 199
7.13 The Theban State During the Second Intermediate Period 205
8 The New Kingdom 207
8.1 The New Kingdom: Overview 209
The Early New Kingdom 217
8.2 Early New Kingdom Architecture: Ahmose’s Abydos Pyramid
Complex, and the Theban Mortuary Temples of Hatshepsut and
Thutmose III 217
8.3 Amenhotep III’s Malkata Palace 220
8.4 Tell el-Amarna and the Amarna Period 221
8.5 The Amarna Aftermath and Tutankhamen’s Tomb 229
New Kingdom Temples 235
8.6 Restoration of the Traditional Gods: Sety I’s Abydos Temple 235
8.7 The Temples of Karnak and Luxor in the New Kingdom 236
8.8 Ramessid Mortuary Temples 240
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Royal and Elite Tombs 244
8.9 Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens 244
8.10 Elite Tombs at Thebes and Saqqara 250
State Towns and Settlements 256
8.11 The Workmen’s Village and Tombs at Deir el-Medina 256
8.12 Nubian Temple Towns 261
9 The Third Intermediate Period and Late Period 263
9.1 The Third Intermediate Period: Overview 265
9.2 The Late Period: Overview 269
9.3 Tanis: A New City with Royal Tombs 272
9.4 Napata/Gebel Barkal and Sanam 275
9.5 el-Kurru and Nuri: The Kushite Royal Tombs 278
9.6 Saqqara: The Serapeum and Animal Cults 281
9.7 Some High Status Tombs of the Third Intermediate Period
and Late Period 284
9.8 Tell el-Maskhuta and Tell el-Herr 287
10 The Greco-Roman Period 289
Greco-Roman Egypt 291
10.1 The Ptolemaic Period: Overview 291
10.2 The Roman Period: Overview 295
10.3 Alexandria 299
10.4 Greco-Roman Settlements in the Faiyum 301
10.5 Two Greco-Roman Temple Complexes in Upper Egypt:
Dendera and Philae 303
Sites Outside the Nile Valley 307
10.6 The Western Desert: Bahariya and Dakhla Oases 307
10.7 The Eastern Desert: Roman Ports, Forts, Roads, and
Quarrying Sites 309
Nubia 314
10.8 Qasr Ibrim 314
10.9 Meroe: The Kushite Capital and Royal Cemeteries 316
11 The Study of Ancient Egypt 323
Glossary of Terms 327
Suggested Readings 330
Appendix: Additional Readings in French, German, and Italian 357
Chapter Summaries and Discussion Questions 366
Index 382
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Plates
3.1 Agricultural scenes in the 19th-Dynasty tomb of Sennedjem at Deir
el-Medina 000
6.1 Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara 000
6.2 Statues of Rahotep and Nefert from their 4th-Dynasty tomb at Maidum 000
6.3 Khufu’s reconstructed cedar boat in the museum next to his pyramid
at Giza 000
6.4 The Great Sphinx of Khafra at Giza 000
6.5 Pair statue of King Menkaura and Queen Khamerernebty II
excavated by George Reisner in Menkaura’s valley temple at Giza 000
6.6 Painted limestone bust of Prince Ankh-haf from his 4th-Dynasty tomb
(G 7510) at Giza 000
6.7 Pyramid Texts in the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara 000
7.1 Inscribed stela excavated at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis 000
7.2 Views into Cave 5 at the Middle Kingdom port of Saww on the
Red Sea, where 50–60 coils of rope were left by sailors almost
4,000 years ago 000
7.3 Statue of Mentuhotep II from his mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahri 000
7.4 Reconstructed shrine of Senusret I at Karnak 000
7.5 Gold headband of Princess Sit-Hathor-Iunet from her tomb at Lahun 000
8.1 Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri 000
8.2 Punt relief from the second colonnade of Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir
el-Bahri 000
8.3 Relief of Akhenaten and Nefertiti seated below the Aten sun-disk 000
8.4 Painted limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti, found in the studio of
the sculptor Thutmose at Tell el-Amarna 000
8.5 Decorated, gold-covered throne and footrest of Tutankhamen 000
8.6 Tutankhamen’s inlaid gold mask 000
8.7 Gold shrine of Tutankhamen’s canopic containers, from his tomb’s
“Treasury” 000
8.8 The Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Karnak 000
8.9 Painted scene from the 19th-Dynasty tomb of Queen Nefertari in
the Valley of the Queens 000