The pyramid builders of ancient Egypt: a modern investigation of Pharaoh's workforce

299 Pages·2003·7.459 MB·English

by  David, Ann Rosalie

The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt
By the same author
The Ancient Egyptians: religious beliefs and practices
THE PYRAMID
BUILDERS
OF ANCIENT EGYPT
A Modern Investigation of
Pharaoh’s Workforce
A.R.DAVID
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 1986
by Routledge & Kegan Paul plc
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
First published in paperback 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1986, 1996 A.R.David
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
David, A.Rosalie (Ann Rosalie)
The pyramid builders of ancient Egypt.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Kahun (Ancient city) 2. Egypt—Social life
and customs—To 332 B.C. 3. Egypt—antiquities.
4. Pyramid of Sesostris II (Egypt) 5. Fayyum (Egypt)—
Antiquities. I. Title.
DT73.K28D38 1986 932 85–10775
ISBN 0-203-44261-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-75085-3 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-15292-5 (Print Edition)
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I THE BACKGROUND
1 The Geography and Historical Background 13
2 The Lahun Pyramid 40
3 The Towns of the Royal Workmen 56
PART II THE TOWN OF KAHUN
4 The Site and its Excavation 101
5 Legal and Medical Practices, Education and Religion 114
6 Everyday Life at Kahun 142
7 The Foreign Population at Kahun 175
8 Last Years at Kahun 195
PART III THE INVESTIGATION
9 Analysis of Egyptian Pottery 207
10 The Chemical Analysis of the Kahun Metals 215
11 Kahun: The Textile Evidence 226
CONCLUSION 248
BIBLIOGRAPHY 251
INDEX 256
v

Illustrations
Plates (between pages 174 and 175)
1 Dr Jesse Haworth
2 Sir William Flinders Petrie
3 The first Egyptology gallery at Manchester Museum, 1913
4 Flinders Petrie, his wife Hilda, and C.T.Campion at Kahun,
1914
5 Artist’s reconstruction drawing of the town of Kahun
6 Part of a group of objects found in a house in the
workmen’s western quarter at Kahun
7 Stone and faience jars used to hold perfumed ointments
and oils
8 A selection of jewellery
9 A dancer’s mask
10 A curious stone stand used in a house in Kahun
11 Examples of basket-making and rush-work
12 Domestic pottery
13 An oblong wooden stool
14 Impression of a carpenter making a wooden stool at Kahun
15 Small wooden cosmetic boxes
16 Larger wooden boxes
17 Firesticks from Kahun
18 Builders’ tools
19 A selection of stone, copper and bronze knives
20 Cast metal tools
21 A selection of carpenters’ tools
22 Agricultural tools
23 A wooden sickle with flint saws
24 Children’s toys
vii
viii Illustrations
25 Clay figurines
26 An early example of a sling
27 Examples of ‘foreign’ pottery found at Kahun
28 Scene from the tomb of the Vizier Rekhmire at Thebes
(18th Dynasty)
29 The remains of the village of Deir el-Medina at Thebes
30 The pyramid of Lahun built for Sesostris II
31 Reproductions of the wig ornaments and crown of Princess
Sit-Hathor-Iunut
32 Model of a weavers’ workshop from the tomb of Mekhet-Re
(12th Dynasty)
Figures
1 Map of Egypt 15
2 Map of the Fayoum oasis, showing location of Kahun,
Lahun pyramid and Gurob 19
3 Plan showing town of Kahun in relation to pyramid of
Lahun 102
4 Plan of Kahun town 105
5 a) & b) Foreigners shown in the Tomb of Khnumhotep at
Beni Hasan 159
6 An impression of the type of smelting hearth in use at the
time of Kahun 217
7 A hole drilled in one of the Kahun axes 220
8 The Universities Research Reactor at Risley 222
9 The gamma spectrum of an irradiated sample from a Kahun
knife 223
10 a) & b) Weaving sequence. Tomb of Khnumhotep, Beni
Hasan 227
11 Weaving sequence. Tomb of Khnumhotep, Beni Hasan 229
12 Horizontal loom. Tomb of Khnumhotep, Beni Hasan 230
Acknowledgments
Preparation for this book has been in hand for several years, and
has drawn upon the help, skills and advice of many people. I
would like to express my gratitude to those who made the initial
studies possible: the Director of the Manchester Museum, for
enabling me to publish the Kahun material in the collection; the
Petrie Museum at University College London, for granting
permission both to study their Kahun artefacts and to examine
the diaries and excavation reports of Sir William Flinders Petrie,
from which several extracts are quoted in this book. I would like
to thank my colleagues, Mrs Joan Allgrove McDowell, Dr G.
Gilmore and Dr G.W.A.Newton, for their contributions to the book,
and for their co-operation and substantial endeavours on behalf
of the Kahun Project.
Many people have contributed to the production of the book.
For the illustrative material, I am indebted to Mr W.Thomas of
the Manchester Museum for the photographs of the Kahun
collection, and to Mr P.A.Clayton for the photographs of the Lahun
treasure, the scenes in the tomb of Rekhmire, the Lahun pyramid,
and the village of Deir el-Medina. I would like to thank Dr M.Saleh,
Director of the Cairo Museum, for granting permission to include
the photograph of the model of the weavers’ shop from the tomb
of Meket-Rec, which has been kindly supplied by the Cairo
Museum. I am grateful to Mr E.G.Yong Wong for enabling us to
use his reconstruction drawings of Kahun town and the Kahun
carpenter.
The publishers have given me every encouragement and
support, and I am particularly grateful to Ms Elizabeth Fidlon for
her enthusiastic reception of the idea of a book on this theme, to
Mr A.Wheatcroft who, as editor, has guided it through to its
ix