Report about the Work done by the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo

Transcription

1 Report about the Work done by the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo in the so called Fakhry Magazine and in the Museum Magazine at Giza, Pyramids in Spring 2013, Autumn 2013 and Spring 2014 Nicole Alexanian, Sandra Müller Abstract Thanks to a grant of the Cultural Heritage Programme of the German Foreign Ministry the relief fragments from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur could be registered, cleaned, restored, documented and repacked in the magazines of Giza in by the German Archaeological Institute in close cooperation with the inspectorate of Giza. Furthermore the finds from Fakhry s excavations at Dahshur were registered, repacked and photographed. This work helps the Egyptian authorities to administrate and properly store the finds from old excavations. It also helps to decide which objects should be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum. The documentation of the relief fragments shall result in a new attempt to reconstruct the decoration programme of the valley temple, the oldest decorated pyramid temple of Egypt. Introduction In the 1950s the great Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry conducted excavations at the pyramids of Dahshur. During his work he discovered a great number of relief fragments from the decoration of the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid of King Snefru at Dahshur (Fig. 1). This temple is the oldest decorated pyramid temple of Egypt. Therefore the material is of great historical and artistic importance. Furthermore Ahmed Fakhry discovered a lot of objects like statues, tools, stelae, beads and pottery in the valley temple. 1

2 Figure 1. Valley Temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur as it is preserved today. GAI Cairo, D. Härtrich. The material was well published by Ahmed Fakhry 1. Fakhry s publication does not include, however, the small relief fragments and many small finds. Furthermore the quality of the published photographs is not completely satisfying. This is the reason why this important material did not receive the attention it deserves until today. After Fakhry s excavations at Dahshur the majority of reliefs and finds were stored in magazines and rock cut tombs at the Giza Pyramids Plateau. The royal statues of King Snefru were already restored with the help of the German Archaeological Institute and transferred to the Cairo Museum in In the context of the upheaval in January 2011 the majority of finds from old excavations were transferred to the newly erected central Museum Magazine at Giza and this was true also for the objects from Dahshur. 1 Ahmed Fakhry, The Monuments of Sneferu at Dahshur II, The Valley Temple, Part 1, The Temple Reliefs (Cairo, 1961); id., The Monuments of Sneferu at Dahshur II, The Valley Temple, Part 2, The Finds (Cairo, 1961). 2 Stadelmann, R., Der strenge Stil der frühen vierten Dynastie, in: Kunst des Alten Reiches. Symposium im Deutschen Archäologischen Institut Kairo am 29. und 30. Oktober 1991, SDAIK 28 (Mainz, 1995)

3 The Dahshur mission of the German Archaeological Institute has been excavating the Lower Causeway of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur since During this excavation about 50 new relief fragments from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid were discovered 4. These additional fragments allow a fresh view on the decoration programme of the temple. Therefore F. Arnold is conducting a new architectural documentation of the temple building at Dahshur. But it is of course not possible to study the new fragments without taking into consideration the ones excavated by Ahmed Fakhry. This is the reason why the German Archaeological Institute applied for permission to document the finds made by Ahmed Fakhry at Dahshur. The project is generously supported by the Cultural Heritage Programme of the German Foreign Ministry. Our intention is to make an inventory of all the finds from Dahshur, to restore them and to take digital photographs. Furthermore we intend to make drawings of all the relief fragments in a scale of 1:1 for documentation and as a basis for the reconstruction of the decoration programme of the temple. This work supports the Egyptian authorities to administrate and properly store the finds from old excavations. It also helps to decide which objects shall be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum. We received the permission to work in the magazines of the Giza Pyramids Plateau already in Then we were able to locate, with the help of the inspectorate Giza, most of the reliefs, small finds, statues and pottery from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. The work was done in the magazines from February 17 th until June 18 th 2013, from October 8 th until November 25 th 2013 and from February 6 th until May 15 th So far Alexanian, N., Die Gestaltung der Pyramidenanlagen des Snofru in Dahschur/Ägypten, in: I. Gerlach, D. Raue (Hrsg.), Sanktuar und Ritual Heilige Plätze im archäologischen Befund (Rhaden, 2013) ; Alexanian, N., W. Bebermeier, D. Blaschta, A. Ramisch, B. Schütt, S.J. Seidlmayer, Spurensuche am Aufweg der Knickpyramide, in: Sokar 18 (2009) 22 23; Alexanian, N., W. Bebermeier, D. Blaschta, S.J. Seidlmayer, Neue Forschungen am Aufweg der Knickpyramide, in: Sokar 23 (2011) 6 9; the annual reports for ASAE are in print. 4 So far Alexanian, N., Zu zwei Relieffragmenten vom Taltempel der Knickpyramide in Dahschur, in: Festschrift K. Mysliwiec, Études et Travaux 26.1 (Warschau, 2013) Members of the team were: Nicole Alexanian, Ahmed Amin Abd el Reheem, Amina el Baroudi Mourad, Pieter Collet (field director in autumn 2013), Kyra Gospodar, Sandra Müller (field director in spring 2014), Ulrike Pauly, Hassan Mohammed Ramadan Amin, Erico Peintner, Sameh Abd el Mohsen Abd el Atef, S.J. Seidlmayer, Peter Windszus. Inspectors of the inspectorate Giza were: Osama Hamed Jusef Hamada ( ), Mohammed Fathi Mansur el Makaui ( ), Mahmud Ahmed Mohamed Helal ( ), Gabr Abd el Daim Ali Amr ( ), Amal Ibrahim Mansur Ibrahim ( ), Wafa Mohammed Ahmed Swelim ( ), Hany Abdu Mohammed Darwish ( ), Mohammed Ramadan ( ), Hassan Mohammed Abd el Razek ( ), Laila Fayiz Mohammed Hassan ( ), Rasha Hossam el Din Ibrahim ( ) and Goma Abdullah Mansur ( ). 3

4 Work in the Fakhry Magazine The so called Fakhry Magazine is situated in the Western Mastaba Field of Giza next to the mastaba of prince Hem junu (G 4000). It was erected to shelter the long relief frieze of female personifications of estates from the lower part of the walls of the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. The majority of objects stored in the Fakhry Magazine are reliefs from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. Some of the reliefs and statues belong to the pyramid complex of Djed ka Re Isesi at Saqqara South, however. The female figures of villages (personifications) represented on the reliefs from Dahshur present offerings to King Sneferu and are geographically arranged according to the nomes where they are situated. The Upper Egyptian nomes were represented on the western walls of the valley temple, the Lower Egyptian nomes on its eastern walls 6. The lower part of the temple wall was still in its original place when Ahmed Fakhry excavated the valley temple in Ahmed Fakhry decided to remove the reliefs and transported them to Giza in order to protect them. Today only some feet of female figures remain in situ. The long frieze is almost completely present in the Fakhry Magazine. The decorated lower part of the western wall of the valley temple 7 was completely transferred to the Fakhry Magazine at Giza. From the eastern wall only one part could be located at Giza 8. In addition 17 large relief fragments are stored in the Fakhry Magazine. The relief wall and the fragments were photographed and drawn to the scale of 1:1 on transparent plastic foil. We decided to redraw the entire relief wall and all the fragments, even though Fakhry s drawings are well done. Sometimes, however, technical details are missing and remaining colours were also not indicated. During the work it was noticed that small relief fragments stored in the Museum Magazine belong to the frieze in the Fakhry Magazine. We were able to rejoin 15 fragments to the long western wall (Fig. 2) 9. After the frieze has been transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum the fragments can be reattached to the wall in the future exhibition. We owe special thanks to the directors of Giza Dr Ali el Asfaa and Mohammed el Sheikha for their constant support of our work. 6 Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.1, 17 58; Jacquet Gordon, H. K., Les noms des domaines funéraires sous l Ancien Empire égyptien, BdÉ 34 (le Caire, 1962) ; Baines, J., Fecundity Figures. Egyptian Personification and the Iconology of a Genre (Warminster, 1985) ; Alexanian, in: Festschrift K. Mysliwiec, Études et Travaux 26.1 (Warschau, 2013) Fig Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.1, Figs. 9 12, Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.1, Fig These fragments are now stored in a new wooden box (box 13 01) in the Fakhry Magazine. 4

5 Figure 2. Part of the western relief frieze showing females figures of villages (personifications of estates). Small fragments which were stored in another magazine could be rejoined to the relief frieze. GAI Cairo, Ahmed Amin. Two limestone altars 10 and two pedestals for flags (?) 11 and the rear part of a chapel (?) from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur were transferred from the Fakhry Magazine to the Museum Magazine (numbers SF ). Work in the Museum Magazine In the Museum Magazine firstly the boxes with the letter ج for university were identified. It was clear that these boxes -ج contain objects from Ahmed Fakhry s University excavations. Due to the facts that no provenience was indicated and Ahmed Fakhry worked not only at Dahshur but also at Saqqarah and in the oases, all boxes had to be opened and checked. After intensive work, we came to the conclusion that 32 boxes contained relief fragments from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur. Additionally we identified seven boxes containing statues and small finds from Dahshur. Further statues, pedestals or offering tablets were stored in the shelves of the magazine without any wrapping or box. There are also several boxes containing pottery. Here it is unfortunately almost impossible to tell, whether the pottery was discovered during Fakhry s excavations at Dahshur or at Saqqarah South. It is clear, however, that the pottery dates to the Old Kingdom and belongs to a Memphite cemetery. We did not study the pottery so far. 10 Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.2, Fig Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.1, Figs. 2A and 2B. 5

6 Our main aim was the documentation of the reliefs. The larger fragments were already published by Ahmed Fakhry 12. The last relief (Fig.) number in his publication is Fig We decided to adopt his publication numbers in our numbering system and continued the numerical numbering with additional fragments. Our last relief number now is That means that 1054 relief fragments were not mentioned in Fakhry s publication. Of course, most of the unpublished fragments are small with little or no relief decoration. We nevertheless decided to document every single fragment because it might be of importance for a future reconstruction. We generated an Excel list and included all existing numbers, the 1 st original box numbers (e.g. box MM 38) and the 2 nd new box numbers (e.g. box 13 01). Apart from Fakhry s publication numbers we found some fragments with 3 rd Fakhry SVT REL (Snefru valley temple) REL (relief) numbers, 4 th numbers -ج (for university excavation), 5 th restoration (tarmim) numbers or 6 th other unclear numbers. All numbers are indicated in the Excel list. We undertook a full documentation of all the relief fragments including a 1:1 drawing, a description with measurements, an identification of the relief depiction, description of colours etc. and a full photographic documentation. During our work we noted several details not included in Fakhry s publication. We were also able to find several new joins of the fragments. Figure 3a (left). The cleaned parts of the relief fragment can be clearly distinguished from the parts affected by salt. GAI Cairo, E. Peintner. Figure 3b (right). Final photograph of the cleaned corner fragment 67 from a pillar with colour remains. GAI Cairo, Ahmed Amin. 12 Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.1. 6

7 If necessary, the relief fragments were cleaned by E. Peintner. Some reliefs were affected by salt. In this case the salt was removed manually (Fig. 3a). In other cases an old restoration with gypsum was completely deteriorated. Here, the old gypsum was removed and the fragments were fixed with glue. E. Peintner furthermore undertook a detailed study of the colours used (Fig. 3b). He noted that the relief ground was painted in several cases with a beige brownish colour which is very unusual. E. Peintner further observed pharaonic restorations and was able to identify different carvers 13. After documentation the relief fragments are wrapped in thin paper and in foam material. They are stored in 22 new wooden boxes numbered to Lists of all objects are inside and attached outside the boxes. The boxes are clearly labeled. It is now easy to locate any fragment without opening the boxes. For the future exhibition in the Grand Egyptian Museum, the photos and lists will help to choose the objects for the exhibition. The finds consist of statues, stelae, pedestals, jewellery, sealings and sealing impressions, tools, weapons, stelae, glass objects, pottery objects, stone vessels, beads, amulets from fayence and small copper objects. They date to the Old, Middle and New Kingdom 14. The majority of statues belong to the Middle Kingdom when the cult of King Snefru was revived in the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid 15. Ahmed Fakhry published all complete statues, pedestals and stelae. He did not, however, comprehensively publish the smaller objects. We gave new SF (Snefru Find) numbers. Altogether 1928 objects were registered in an Excel list according to their 1 st numbers (new SF (small find) number (SF 001 SF 1211), SVT (Snefru Valley Temple) number by Ahmed Fakhry, ج number (University excavation number), restoration (tarmin) number, registernumber or other numbers), 2 nd location (original box number and new box number), 3 rd material, 4 th description and 5 th dimensions in cm. All finds were photographed and cleaned, if necessary. We are sure that the photographic documentation, especially of the statues, will show the artistic quality of the statues for the first time (Figs. 4, 5). Drawings were made so far only from stelae, sealings and sealing impressions. The objects were packed in 18 new boxes numbered until See so far the observations of Peintner, E., in: N. Alexanian, in: Festschrift K. Mysliwiec, Études et Travaux 26.1 (Warschau, 2013) 38. A full report will be worked out by E. Peintner in the future. 14 Fakhry, Sneferu Dahshur II.2 ; Alexanian, N., Spektrum und Veränderung der Funde aus den Tempeln des Snofru in Dahschur, in: I. Gerlach, D. Raue (Hrsg.), Sanktuar und Ritual Heilige Plätze im archäologischen Befund (Rhaden, 2013) Compare, Verbovsek, A., "Als Gunsterweis des Königs in den Tempel gegeben..." : private Tempelstatuen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches Ägypten und Altes Testament, Studien zu Geschichte, Kultur und Religion Ägyptens und des Alten Testaments 63 (Wiesbaden, 2004). 7

8 Figure 4. Sitting limestone statue dating to the Old Kingdom. GAI Cairo, DAH 2013 PW 0004, P. Windszus. Figure 5. Statue fragment from black granite dating to the Middle Kingdom. GAI Cairo, DAH 2013 PW P. Windszus. 8

9 During our work it became clear that several reliefs and objects published by Ahmed Fakhry are not stored in the magazines of Giza. We received information that the other finds are stored in the magazines of Atfih, Saqqarah and eventually in the Cairo Museum. In order to complete our studies, we intend to document these objects as well. 9

10 Captions of the Figures: 10