The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology

An area of 306 sq m was excavated in the Main City South at Tell el-Amarna between 7 October and 2 November 2017. The work focused on the area of a building complex denominated M50.14, M50.15 and M50.16 by C. L. Woolley, who initially excavated these buildings in 1922 on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society. After an initial season of re-excavation in 2014, the 2017 work encompassed the northern sections of house M50.16, the whole of house M50.15, as well as the eastern, south-eastern and south-western parts of courtyard M50.14. Several domestic and pyrotechnical features have been excavated and recorded, together with a large amount of material related to the processing and manufacture of glass, faience, stone (agate) and metal objects. The results of the excavation reflect the industrial character of several houses in Amarna’s Main City and provide a great insight into the layout and purpose of a domestic building in this settlement.

This article is the publication of Ashmolean Museum AN 1888.561, a small, damaged limestone object carved with images of deities and texts relating to the Nineteenth Dynasty high priest of Onuris, Minmose. These features, as well as the object’s distinctive form, are described, and a brief commentary is given for the texts. It is suggested that the object might be a votive Isis-throne.

During excavations in the spring of 2015 in the settlement of Elkab, a complete and almost intact crucible was discovered on the floor level of a Second Dynasty building. This article describes the crucible and its archaeological context, it explores the design of the crucible in comparison with contemporary crucibles of a corresponding style and it foreshadows the character of on-going research. The crucible has the shape depicted in Old Kingdom tomb metal-working scenes. Its profile became the hieroglyphic ideogram denoting metal-workers implying it was an iconic implement, although this is currently the only example of this kind of crucible from Egypt. Indeed, this is the earliest complete crucible for melting copper yet found anywhere.

The aim of the article is to reconsider the question of the co-regency of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II in the light of recent research casting into doubt the existence of this institution in the Middle Kingdom. The author re-examines the sources cited in favour of the co-regency, showing that the co-regency hypothesis generates more problems than it allegedly solves. Instead of searching for one simple solution for all seemingly insurmountable problems raised up by the available evidence, the author proposes to explain each problem individually. As a result, it seems that questions such as the alleged double coronation date of Amenhotep II, the problem of his two ‘first victorious campaigns’, or the presence of the images of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II in the temple of Amada can be satisfactorily explained without any necessity to maintain that both pharaohs ever ruled together, even for a brief period of time.

A statistical analysis of text A of the Wilbour Papyrus shows that the pattern of landholdings surrounding localities well reflects the population inhabiting settlements and allows their categorization without preconceived idea. The resulting typology fits only in part with classifications relying on administrative considerations, the central place theory or archeological criteria. Urban features are not limited to regional capitals. Main and secondary urban centers are distinguished by a hinterland of small localities; this hinterland is exclusive to each main urban center but shared in secondary urban centers. Small rural settlements are not homogenous and can be distinguished according to their agricultural activity, particularly cattle and horse breeding, and the locally predominant landholding institution.

This article explores the cultural implications of the sign N41 used in an apparently random constellation of words related to women, water and metals. The symbolic meaning of iron and its consistent relation with the sky in religious texts is explored to determine that the Egyptian cosmovision contemplated the sky as an iron container of water, pieces of which fell to the earth in the shape of meteors and were used to produce ritual objects. The indexicality of the N41 sign suggests that the relation between birth, afterlife, and iron existed even before the first attested long religious texts in Egypt. Finally, the lexical parallels between Egypt and Mesopotamia can be explained as a common reaction to the phenomena of falling iron meteorites.

This article aims at presenting a methodology for Social Network Analysis (SNA) applied to Egyptology and ancient societies studies, with its benefits and issues. One of the big issues dealing with social relationships in ancient Egypt lies in the use of kinship terminology defining relations outside the family. In that sense, SNA allows researchers to partially set aside links values contrary to traditional genealogical studies, especially for the graphical projection. Thus, biological and social brothers do not have to be distinguished using this method, although this distinction is often impossible to do. It then presents an empirical method developed using this branch of sociology on an Egyptological dataset dating back from the New Kingdom. With the help of centrality measures, SNA enabled attention to be drawn to secondary role characters at the first sight of the hieroglyphic documentation. However, studying such a type of documentation requires a cautious approach, especially regarding the nature and aim of the sources available.

Two colossal quartzite statues from Ihnasya el-Medina, now Egyptian Museum Cairo JE 45975 and JE 45976, dating to the late Middle Kingdom but reworked under Ramesses II, were recently attributed to Amenemhat IV. Examining the inscriptions, iconography, and style of the statues, it is argued here that they represent Senwosret III. Remarkably, the statues depict the king with both hands lying flat on the thighs, an iconographic detail that is not attested until the reign of Amenemhat III.

Egyptian senet boards follow a very consistent morphology that varies in small but notable ways throughout the 2000-year history of the game. A previously unpublished board, in the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California, may provide new insight into the evolution of the game in the early New Kingdom. A game table with markings distinctive of the Thutmoside Period, but oriented like Middle Kingdom and Seventeenth Dynasty boards, it is probably a transitional style. It likely dates to the Eighteenth Dynasty before the reign of Hatshepsut, a period to which no other games have previously been securely dated.

TT 209 was built in a wadi, a location that means it has been affected by flash floods since ancient times. The team in charge of its study and conservation has initiated a systematic programme of environmental data collection (temperature and relative humidity) in order to understand the natural conditions of the tomb and any transformations caused by archaeological work in its underground chambers, as well as to inform future conservation. These statistics can also be useful for excavation and conservation programmes in nearby tombs whose architectonic structure is similar and have also suffered from exposure to water damage.

The ostracon oBM EA 65597 contains two extracts from The Teaching of Khety, also known as The Satire of the Trades. It was used as a school exercise. On the recto a teacher wrote the first chapter of Khety in a small, neat hand. The text continues on the verso, but written by a student in an inexperienced hand. Various parallels are discussed, including the unpublished ostracon Cairo SR 12191, which joins oDeM 1218. On this ostracon a student has copied part of his master’s text. The discussed ostraca stem from an educational context and give us a glimpse into the didactic methods used in Ancient Egypt.

The Egypt Exploration Society archive contains unpublished pencil drawings by A. Klasens of seal impressions found in the Step Pyramid complex of Saqqara. Digitally inked versions of these drawings are published here for the first time. The seal impressions can be sourced to the Northern Galleries of the complex. The impressions were sealed on clay formerly plastered on a wall, and also bore the imprints of the end(s) of cylinder seals. To explain the presence of seal impressions of Khasekhemwy among the sealings drawn by Klasens, an attempt is made to trace the construction and use history of the Northern Galleries and the contemporary Western Galleries. Possible parallels between some of the Step Pyramid sealings and Beit Khallaf sealings are also discussed.

The Archives of the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam contain a stack of letters from W. M. Flinders Petrie to the German Egyptologist von Bissing, dating from between 1899 to 1911. Among other subjects, the letters refer to Petrie’s conflict with the French excavator Amélineau, his rival for the concession at Abydos, asking von Bissing to keep an eye on him. Furthermore, Petrie gives short reports about his work in Abydos, Heracleopolis, the Fayum and Memphis, sometimes with otherwise unpublished details. Personal details, complaints on the bureaucracy of the Service des Antiquités are other important subjects occurring in the letters.