With the support of the grant given to the EES Delta Survey by the British Academy Jeffrey and Patricia Spencer hope to survey in March/April 2011 a large tell, Kom el-Daba, in Kafr es-Sheikh Governorate which they first visited in 1990 and which has substantial brick remains. Updates from the field will be posted here.
Jeffrey Spencer with Sabri Abdel Aziz Khater of the SCA at Kom el-Daba in 1990
We are planning a new range of books to appeal to people who don’t necessarily know much about ancient Egypt or the EES.
We would be grateful if you could take the time to complete this survey, through which we aim to gain insight into what people want from mainstream Egyptology writing.
Here is a link to the survey:
Dr David Jeffreys, Director of the EES Survey of Memphis, has been confirmed as a speaker at the June study day, 'Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids'.
Details of the talk are as follows:
One of our cities is missing! (Where was Memphis in the Old Kingdom?)
The work of the Survey has focussed recently on the early development of the city in the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods. Geophysics, sediment coring and pilot excavation all seem to indicate a location in the Nile Valley east of the famous Saqqara mastaba field, but the shifting location of pyramid sites over time might also provide a clue. This talk tries to probe and analyse the distribution of pyramids, not only as individual funerary complexes but also as a reflection of the real capital settlement of Memphis.
Can the pyramids themselves show us where the ancient capital city of Memphis was during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom?
For the full programme or to book your place please see here.
The Egypt Exploration Society’s new title, Qasr Ibrim: The Textiles from the Cathedral Cemetery by Elisabeth Grace Crowfoot is now available to order.
Elisabeth Grace Crowfoot was an expert on ancient textiles and in 1976 she was invited to join the Egyptian Exploration Society’s expedition to Qasr Ibrim, after having worked in Cambridge on textiles from the Ibrim seasons in the 1960’s. She worked with the expedition until 1984, analyzing, sorting, washing and cataloguing textiles as they were excavated, assisted in the field by Nettie Adams. Miss Crowfoot had completed this text before her death in 2005 and it has been edited for publication by Nettie Adams.
The dry height of the site of Qasr Ibrim above the Nile river has resulted in superb preservation of organic material. The textile collections from the excavations have already become one of the largest from any site in the middle Nile valley. They are unique as an unmatched sequence, dating from the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty to the Late Ottoman Period and ranging from the domestic remains of town life and tiny exotic imports of the site’s great years to the cast off garments and furnishings, pitifully mended and re-mended, from ages of disaster and decline. The important textiles from the Cathedral cemetery at Qasr Ibrim, including those from the burial of Bishop Timotheus, are published here with detailed descriptions and a photographic record of the most significant pieces.
This slim, attractive volume is available from the Society’s Online Bookshop or direct from the EES Publications Department.
The London Office and Library will close at 4.30 pm on Thursday 21 April 2011 and reopen after the Easter holidays and May bank holiday at 10.30 am on Tuesday 3 May 2011.
The Cairo Office will be closed on 17 April (Palm Sunday), 24 April (Easter), 25 April (Sham El Nessim/Easter Monday), and 23 July (Egypt National Day) 30-31 August (Eid El Fitr), 6 October (Armed Forces Day), 6-8 November (Eid El Adha), 26 November (Islamic ‘Hijra’ New Year).
The joint University of Potsdam / SCA Tell Basta Project*, which is supported by the EES as an Amelia Edwards Project, has recently completed its Spring 2011 season. The team was among the first to return to work after the resignation of President Mubarak and here the Head of Mission, Eva Lange, reports on a successful season in the 'New Egypt'.
The Egyptian Museum and fire-damaged National Democratic Party building. Image courtesy of Daniela Rosenow.
The spring 2011 field campaign at the site of Tell Basta, the ancient city of Bubastis, commenced on 3 March. On 1 March, Daniela Rosenow and I arrived in Egypt; the other members of the team followed a few days later. The next day I went to the SCA-office, in order to sign the contract and to collect the necessary papers. Despite the unusual situation in Egypt, things went very smoothly and our Egyptian colleagues were very supportive. In the afternoon of the same day we headed to Zagazig, as one of the first missions to return to the Delta. We spent the following day, 3 March, the opening day of our campaign, on the site, checking the containers and the site itself. Fortunately, no harm had been done. We were welcomed by our Egyptian colleagues and friends at Tell Basta whom we have known for many years now. Needless to say, after the recent events, a happy reunion took place.
As planned, we undertook several tasks during this campaign. Firstly, in the entrance area in front of the temple (Area A), which is currently the focus of our archaeological investigations, a trench was excavated, to help us to answer some chronological questions.
Satellite image of the site showing the location of Area A. Click here for a larger version.
Area A is situated within the sacred area of the temple of Bastet, which is defined by the enclosure wall of the temple. In this area, but outside the temple building itself, we would expect to find the necessary support buildings, such as living quarters of priests, archives (such as the famous “house of life”), workshops, as well as a variety of religious buildings attached to the great temple, such as chapels for minor deities.
Detecting the mud-brick walls
Our excavations in Area A over the last two years have revealed massive walls, belonging to large installations, most probably to compartments of so-called ‘tower-houses’. Our investigations of the pottery and small finds last season showed that those walls on the surface date to within the Ptolemaic Period. These buildings must once have formed the support buildings of the temple and cannot be interpreted as ordinary living quarters. This is clear from the ‘Canopus Decree’, established in the reign of Ptolemy III, of which a copy was discovered within the entrance hall of the temple in 2004, proving that the great temple of Bastet continued to be one of the most important temples of Egypt into the Ptolemaic period. Therefore the temple area would not have been available for non-temple staff at this time.
Excavation of the Ptolemaic buildings in Area A
Our work has raised the question of whether or not the Ptolemaic buildings have predecessors from the earlier, pharaonic period, or in other words, if the Ptolemaic walls were built on top of walls of installations dating to the Late Period and how these buildings were related to each other.
The northern part of grid-sqare Y/4 was chosen for the excavation of a trench (TB 4a Y/4.NS), using, as starting point, the preserved east-west oriented profile of a wall we had already documented in autumn 2010.
View to Y3 and Y4
Surprsingly, under a thick wall of mudbrick, a very distinctive layer of smashed limestone came to light. Obvously it is a constuction layer, used as a foundation for the Ptolemaic buildings. Below the limestone-layer, older walls dating back into the Late Period, came to light as we had expected. Especially remarkable were fragments of two or three Bes-vases which we discovered in the deeper layers of our trench. The season ended on the 4 April before we had reached the end of the Late Period level so we will continue working in this area in the autumn.
The result of the excavation in Y/4 is very important, as it has given us, for the first time, a glimpse of the actual appearance of the Late Period architectural environment of the temple of Bastet. Of course, this is just the beginning. Area A needs much more investigation, but these early results are very promising.
Taking photographs of the trench in Area A Y/4
Apart from excavation other research has been undertaken by several members of the Tell Basta Project. The pottery collected during this season and the last have been documented and studied by Mandy Mamedow. Daniela Rosenow completed the epigraphic work on the reliefs of Nectanbo II in the sanctuary of the temple, and I myself started a database recording the reliefs of Osorkon I in the entrance hall of the temple and documented fragments of a shrine of Osorkon II dedicated to Osiris. Veit Vaelske documented and studied the numerous terracotta figurines,which came to light during our recent exvataions in Area A, and Theresa Steckel completed the documentation of the statue fragments in the temple.
Last but not least, preparation for the arrangment of objects from Tell Basta and the hinterland in the new site museum continued. Together with Mr Hisham Mohammad Abd el-Moaman el- Hefnawi (Deputy Director of the Antiquities of Sharkeya) I chose objects from the local magazine and we developed a concept for the exhibition. The new site museum will be dedicated to the local history of Bubastis as a metropolis of the Eastern Nile Delta. Here, many very interesting and extraordinary objects will be on display soon.
*We are delighted that from the autumn 2011 season onwards the project will be conducted under the auspices of the University of Potsdam, the SCA and also the EES.
All images courtesy of Eva Lange unless otherwise stated.
Following the successful seminar on mud-brick architecture at Doughty Mews on 12 March 2011 two of the speakers, Maria Correas and Caroline Simpson, have provided details of a series of online resources they are building to aid research in this field.
Maria Correas (left) and Caroline Simpson during the seminar
The 'Mud and Straw' site (http://mudandstraw.wordpress.com/) aspires to be a hub for anyone and everyone interested in modern and ancient Egyptian mudbrick houses – whether professionally or as a hobby. It was conceived as a place for people with a passion for the subject to get in touch with each other, to share information and photographs and to find the latest updates about all things mud'brick. The ultimate aim of the site is to keep a visual and written record of what, sadly, is a rapidly disappearing building tradition. If you are interested in being involved or would like further information, please visit the website or contact Maria Correas: maria.correas-amador@durham.ac.uk.
Caroline Simpson is also working on creating an easily accessible historical resource of photographic and other images of Qurna. The Qurna of the hillside has now gone, and the built culture of the Qurnawi systematically eradicated. Modern web technology will enable the cultural heritage of the last 200 years of this World Cultural Heritage site to be visible by all who would like to see it – not least the displaced Qurnawi themselves. The album will be a part of the existing Qurna website: www.qurna.org The intention is that anyone who has images of Qurna that they feel are special in some way and show elements of the vanished culture can get a password and upload them to the site. It is at the early stages, but if you are interested do get in touch with Caroline: Caroline@qurna.org
Dr Jeffrey Spencer gives the opening talk at the seminar
The third speaker at the seminar was Dr Jeffrey Spencer, Deputy Keeper of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Musuem and co-director of the Society's Delta Survey. The entire event was broadcast online and the talks can be be viewed below (requires Adobe Flash Player).
Mud brick Seminar 12 03 2011 Part 1 (Dr Jeffrey Spencer)
Mud brick Seminar 12 03 2011 Part 2 (Maria Correas and Caroline Simpson)
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (France, Luc Besson, 2010):
Review by John J Johnston
The possibility of my reviewing Luc Besson’s latest film was originally suggested because it concerns the adventures of a lady novelist and sometime journalist in pre-WWI
Unlike the doughty Amelia, the heroine of this film, Adèle Blanc-Sec—‘Like the wine’—is young, glamorous, and far more in the tradition of 1960s comic-strip characters such as Modesty Blaise or Barbarella. This is perhaps unsurprising as the character originated in Jacques Tardi’s series of acclaimed bandes dessinées and the film, itself, is based, specifically, on two of these: Adèle et la bête (1976) and Momies en folie (1978).
The character is transferred from page to screen by relative newcomer, Louise Bourgoin, Besson’s first choice for the role. Adèle is no mere Lara Croft manquée, however: she is a woman of her time—always elegantly gowned and gorgeously bonneted she is at turns charming, acid-tongued, compassionate and incorrigibly headstrong. Adèle’s ‘catchphrase,’ uttered at moments of the greatest peril, assists in signifying the various strands of the character.
From the outset, the film seeks to engage with the Egyptological milieu during the title sequence with Eric Serra’s evocative, Orientalising theme and caricatures of each of the main characters based around the form of a cartouche.
We then learn that Adèle is in
Although this serves to provide the basic premise for the film, the plot is rather less straightforward, involving, as it does, a living pterodactyl, the President of France, a number of unsuccessful prison escapes, the most bizarre tennis-related accident, can-can dancers, death by guillotine, and the resurrection of Ramesses II, himself, who, of course, speaks perfect French.
Written, co-produced, and directed by Luc Besson, the film looks superb and the cinematography of Besson’s regular collaborator, Thierry Arbogast, in both Egypt and Paris is sumptuous.
As might be expected with an auteur of Besson’s nature, a number of Egyptological inconsistencies do occur in order move the action forward, not least in the inclusion of an ancient machine for wrapping mummies and piles of gold coins strewn around a XIXth Dynasty tomb. However, any film, which can resurrect the mummy of Ramesses II, looking much as we might expect him to look, and to give him one of its most knowing and amusing lines, should not be dismissed out of hand, even if his glittering coffin appears to be a direct replica of one of Tutankhamun’s, right down to the cartouche of Nebkheperure, over which the king’s bony fingers twitch, briefly in close-up!
There are aspects, which suggest that the filmmakers do, at least, know their ‘mummy fiction.’ Patmosis returns to life with an almighty sneeze just like the resurrected protagonist of Poe’s ‘Some Words with a Mummy’ (1845) and the subsequent discussion about Patmosis’ anachronistic profession also reminds one of Poe’s ideas regarding the advanced state of Egyptian technology. The treatment of the mummies in this film, rendered by a combination of CGI and motion-capture of actors from La Comedie Francais, is certainly a world away from the bandaged, lumbering monstrosities of popular cinema and more in keeping with their literary antecedents.
All in all, in spite of a couple of rather too broad comedy elements, this is a hugely entertaining film and deserves a wider audience than its largely art-house release is likely to muster.
Currently on limited general release in the
French with English subtitles
Rated 12A.
William Carruthers, a recipient of the Society's Centenary Award in 2009-10 and a regular visitor to the Society's archives, is now pursuing doctoral research into the history of Egyptology in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. Here, Will explains how the records of EES Committee meetings can reveal the influence of certain individuals and institutions on the development of our subject.
Histories of Egyptology can suffer from their narrowness. Whilst not always true, it is simple to find Egyptological histories at the national level, or ‘heroic’ biographies of prominent figures in national Egyptological discourses. In the history of British Egyptology, for example, Petrie is often seen as a heroic British figure. My research seeks to move beyond such narratives. Whilst I am looking at certain prominent figures – Walter Bryan Emery (1903-1971), at one time the EES’ Field Director and a so-called ‘giant’ of British Egyptology, amongst them – it is clear that their careers are not simply embedded in national contexts.
Bryan Emery (left) and Flinders Petrie.
I spent two weeks recently in the EES’ Lucy Gura Archive researching the Society’s Committee Minutes. The Minutes – held in a number of volumes and dating from the Society’s inception – are an extremely valuable aid in understanding why it is necessary to examine Egyptology as a transnational discipline, even if this is not immediately obvious.
Minute books from the late 19th and early 20th centuries now kept in the EES Lucy Gura Archive
When he is first mentioned in the Minutes, for example, Emery’s fortune is clearly in the control of the EES Committee, a national body. On July 6th 1923, discussing the Society’s forthcoming field season at Amarna, this Committee included British figures clearly connected to the British establishment. They included Sir John Maxwell, not only formerly in command of the British Army in Egypt, but also Governor of Nubia and Omdurman (and later responsible for the suppression of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland). Alan Gardiner, another so-called ‘giant’ of British Egyptology and a product of Charterhouse and Queen’s College, Oxford, was also amongst the Committee members.
A note in the minutes of the meeting on 6 July 1923 in which Emery's participation in the forthcoming Amarna expedition was discussed
Minutes of the meeting of 1 February 1922 which note that among those present were the well-established Egyptolgists H. R. Hall of the British Musuem, Alan Gardiner, and Percy Newberry, by then retired Professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. Note also that at this meeting John Pendlebury, later Director of Excavations at Amarna but then still a student at Cambridge, was elected a member of the Society along with the archaeologist Ernest MacKay.
These eminently British men (the committee included a sole woman, Lady Helen Tirard, translator of Erman’s Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben into English), directed Henry Hall – of the British Museum, no less – to write to Thomas Peet, Brunner Professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, to enquire whether Emery could join that winter’s expedition. So far, so British – despite Tirard’s translation.
Yet, simultaneously, it is possible to argue that viewing this situation as part of a national narrative is disingenuous. During the same meeting, the EES accepted donations from a Mr. G. D. Libby on behalf of the Toledo Museum of Art, and a Miss Scripps on behalf of San Diego Museum. Financially, Emery’s prospects were as much linked to American donors as they were to any decisions made at the level of a national Committee; without that money, the EES could not do its work.
Of course, this conclusion is hardly revolutionary. It is common knowledge that the EES had, for a long time, an American Branch (eventually wound up after World War Two for financial reasons), and it is clear from excavation reports that the Society had international backing and supporters, as remains the case to this day. However, it is odd that this factor is not taken into consideration when discussing national Egyptological narratives – one might think that nations acted as impenetrable entities when, in fact, the situation was far more fluid.
Throughout the almost 50 years during which Emery was connected with the EES, for example, American association with the Society is constant. The Society’s interactions with the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago over the publication of The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos (see earlier article here) stretch to at least the mid-1960s (long after the end of the EES American Branch had ceased to exist). These interactions are a constant, systematic, conversation in the Minute books. Other countries are also represented.
The EES Minutes are a reminder that Egyptology cannot simply be placed into national brackets. Systematic transnational connections, sustained over decades (and perhaps even centuries), have helped to produce Egyptological knowledge – on the ground, such as Emery’s fieldwork at Amarna, or in published volumes discussing Egypt, such as those related to Abydos. A transnational network of entanglements have, therefore, systematically impacted from afar upon Egypt itself, and disentangling them will help to understand Egyptology’s relationship with the country.
Front cover of the minute book for 1915-27
The Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt has today opened to visitors several of the New Kingdom tombs at Saqqara which were excavated by the EES/Leiden mission, directed for the EES by Professor Geoffrey Martin, in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Most belong to the ‘Amarna Period’ and date to the reigns of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Ay or Horemheb.
The tombs that have been opened belong to several Eighteen Dynasty officials: Horemheb (before he became king); Maya, Tutankhamun’s Treasurer; Ptahemwia, the Royal Butler, and a harem official of the reign of Tutankhamun, Pay and his son Raia. Also opened was the tomb of Tia, Overseer of the Treasury in the reign of Ramesses II. For a press report of the opening ceremony see here.
The excavations of these, and other important and finely decorated tombs at Saqqara, are being published by the Society and Leiden in a series of volumes, of which several are available at the EES on-line shop:
The Tomb of Maya and Merit I by Geoffrey Martin will be published by the EES later this year and can be sponsored by making a donation here. Donors who give £50 or more will be credited in the book and anyone who donates more than £300 will receive a complimentary copy.
Scene from the tomb of Maya and Merit
On Wednesday 1 June 2011, and with less than a week to go before his departure to Cairo, Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mr James Watt, CVO, kindly squeezed in a visit to our office at Doughty Mews, to meet with our staff team and to discuss developing stronger relationships for the future. This is the first such visit for a number of years and one that was warmly welcomed by us all at the Society.
HE The new British ambassador to Egypt, James Watt (centre), with (L-R) Chris Naunton, Karen Exell, Patricia Spencer and Roo Mitcheson.
This is a critical relationship for the Egypt Exploration Society to develop and one that brings with it an opportunity to strengthen the Society further. We are delighted that the Ambassador had time to take a tour of our archive collection and to discuss our future fieldwork strategy. Mr Watt left us with a tangible sense of how the EES intends to develop in the future and we were all bowled over by his dynamic approach and enthusiasm for our work, which he confirmed in correspondence with EES Development Director, Victoria Perry, after the visit: "I'm impressed by the quality and newness of what you're doing - and by its importance"
We are very appreciative to the Ambassador for giving us his time and support at this immensely busy moment and would like to wish Mr Watt and his family all the best for their forthcoming move to Cairo.
The Society's online library catalogue is temporarily unavailable due a fault. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and would like to assure members and others that we are working hard to resolve the problem and will have the catalogue back online as soon as possible.
In the meantime those wishing to establish whether or not particular books or other items are available in the library should contact the Librarian via the following page: http://www.ees.ac.uk/contact/index.html
Our members might be interested to know that a few recent additions to the Graeco-Roman Memoirs cannon have come back in stock here at Doughty Mews.
For a while now our supply in the office had been fairly limited, but thanks to an expidition to King's College we now have a much increased range of GRM's, including many Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Tebtunis Papyri, and rare special editions.
You can go to the Society's online bookshop to browse the recent additions to the available GRM range.
After a visit from a BT engineer, the catalogue of the EES Library is now back online. We do apologise for its temporary disappearance last week and do hope it didn't prove to be too inconvenient for members.
On Saturday 11 June 2011, the EES hosted a Saturday Seminar at the University of Durham. Angus Graham attended and has sent his personal view of this very successful event:
‘The Self Presentation of Ancient Egyptian Rulers and Their Subjects’ was a very enjoyable, extremely interesting and informative day instigated by Heba Abd El-Gawad and chaired by Penny Wilson. Liz Frood kicked the day off with a review of ‘Elite representation in the late second, and early first millennium BC’ looking at the evidence of inscriptions, stelae and statues and critically their context from the Temple of Buhen (now in Khartoum Museum), the Temple at Wadi es-Sebua and the temple complex of Karnak. She very neatly led up to the period and material discussed by Campbell Price.
Stela of the Viceroy Hori from Buhen (EES Lucy Gura Archive)
Campbell addressed the self-presentation of ‘Non-royal individuals in the Late Period’ through the corpus of stone statuary found in the Karnak cachette. They both opened up fascinating issues concerning the placement and location of inscriptions, statuary and stelae within the temples as well as the (re)presentation of the individual and role of the statue
After the lunch break John Baines began an afternoon situated within the Ptolemaic Period by taking us step-by-step through the translation of a number of texts to interpret the roles and presentation of ‘Women in the Ptolemaic Period’. The day was rounded off by Heba Abd El Gawad’s discussion of ‘The King in the Ptolemaic Period’. Heba opened her discussion of propaganda by looking at some very recent examples of the presentation of heads of state. She then moved on to the presentation of the Ptolemies and how they negotiated their place within Egypt and also within a much broader political sphere. I listened to all this material with a great deal of interest and have taken away lots of food for thought. A very good way to spend a Saturday indeed!’
A Ptolemaic royal stela from The Bucheum at Armant (EES Lucy Gura Archive)
The Society is very grateful to Heba Abd El-Gawad for initiating this event and for her hard work organizing it, and to Elizabeth Frood, Campbell Price, John Baines, Heba herself and Penny Wilson for their contributions to the first EES Saturday Seminar held outside London. We hope it will be the first of many!
Professor Sarah Symons of the Integrated Science Programme & Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario recently visited the Society's London offices to study some of the unpublished material relating to the discovery and excavation of the Osireion at Abydos. She has sent the following report on her experiences.
"I recently spent an enjoyable and productive day deep in the EES archives in Doughty Mews, trying to track down an unpublished astronomical ceiling in the Osireion at Abydos. My main research field is ancient Egyptian astronomy, and astronomical ceilings are a key sources for information about how the night sky was perceived from around the New Kingdom onwards. However, ceilings with star names and constellations are relatively rare, partly because the ceilings of tombs and temples are very often the first parts to be damaged.
Photograph of the doorway leading from the anteroom of the Osireion through the sloping passage to the transversal room, showing a further doorway and Central Hall within
The clue I was following was spotted by an American colleague, Charles Herzer. He had been reading Frankfort's Cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos and found a mention of "a few stray fragments" of an astronomical ceiling. The excavation diaries from one of Frankfort's seasons were stored at the EES, so Charles and I agreed that whoever visited London first would investigate further.
I didn't find any more details of the ceiling, unfortunately, but I did look at a wealth of information in the form of the diaries and the Society's photo archives concerning excavations from the early twentieth century at the Osireion. Some of the pictures revealed interesting glimpses of life at the dig, including the delivery of a large steam engine (shown being lowered very gingerly down to the subterranean floor of the Osireion) which would have been used to pump away water. A large collection of negatives has recently been scanned and were available on a hard disc, while a whole drawer of other photographs from the Osireion and other Abydos sites offered even more views of walls, rooms, and artefacts. Importantly for me, I was able to find better images of the other astronomical inscriptions in the Osireion than I have had access to before.
Chris Naunton, Patricia Spencer, and Roo Mitcheson were incredibly helpful and interested in my progress. Spending the day immersed in the archives was both a pleasure and a worthwhile research visit."
Drawing by W. B. Emery of the scene of Nut and Shu from the west side of the roof of the sarcophagus chamber in the Osireion.
Collage of photos showing a detail of the torso, head and arms of the goddess Nut, from the west side of the roof of the sarcophagus chamber in the Osireion
Many of the photographs examined by Sarah were taken by Mr Herbert Felton whose work at Abydos is described in part here. An article on astronomical ceilings by Sarah was published in Egyptian Archaeology 30 (2007), 11-13.
Stamp of the photographer Herbert Felton on the reverse of the photograph of the relief of Nut (above)
On Tuesday 28th June a mixture of press, potential funders, industry contacts and charity directors convened at the Middle East Association in Green Park for an EES-hosted reception entitled ‘The Future of Archaeology in the New Egypt’. Supported by the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce (EBCC), the evening provided an ideal opportunity to highlight the importance of the Society, to build relationships with key partners from the Council of British Archaeology, Royal Geographical Society, Middle East Association, British Expertise amongst others.
Key-note speeches were given by Drs Karen Exell and Patricia Spencer and by the Secretary-General of the EBCC, Mr Taher El-Sherif, who stressed the importance of our work and the potential for development within the new Egyptian environment. The evening was an exciting opportunity to explain the importance of who we are and what we do and a chance to pro-actively seek support for the future.
Dr Karen Exell, the Society's Chair with Dr Nader Matter, the Egyptian Cultural Councillor and a Vice President of the EES.
"The Society has been working in Egypt for 130 years and has developed strong relationships with relevant government ministers, Egyptian archaeologists and local communities. The Society is now looking to increase its input into education and skills development through archaeological field schools so that Egypt’s heritage can continue to receive the care it deserves. In order to do this, as well as maintain other core activities, the Society, a charity, needs to increase charitable donations. Events such as this one allow the Society to spread the word about its work, and it was wonderful to be able to meet so many interested and supportive people who have the potential to help us in the future". Dr Karen Exell, Chair
The long-anticipated conversion of the former kitchen at no. 4 Doughty Mews into additional space for the storage of archival material has now begun. The Society’s 2009-10 fundraising campaign which focussed on raising awareness and financial support to begin the task of re-housing our invaluable collection generated over £15,000 for this purpose. The planned work to refurbish the kitchen could not be undertaken during 2010-11, for various reasons, but is now proceeding apace.
Staff removing the last remaining archival material from the kitchen where it had been kept in recent years as a temporary measure. It will be returned in due course, but not before the refurbishment of the room and the installation of conservation-standard storage facilities.
Members working in the library while the works are in progress may suffer some disruption; we would like to apologise if this is the case and to thank all members for their patience during this time.
The kitchen before and during the current work.
An excerpt from the Society’s Oral History Project interview with Professor Harry Smith has now appeared on the Society’s YouTube channel and is available below. In this part of the interview, which was conducted by Chris Naunton in March 2009, Harry talks about the EES' 1961 survey of archaeological sites in Egyptian (Lower) Nubia, which he directed and which formed part of the Society's contribution to the UNESCO rescue campaign. This was the last opportunity to gather information on the archaeology of the region before it was submerged beneath the flood waters created by the High Dam at Aswan.
Harry Smith (left) with Egyptian Antiquities Service Inspector Aly Hassan aboard the boat used during the Survey.
The first half of this part of the interview appears here and a second installment will follow shortly.The recording of Harry's voice is accompanied by footage shot by EES member Dr Anthony Hovenden during a tourist visit to Lower Nubia in 1962, and also by images from the Society's Lucy Gura Archive. We are extremely grateful to Professor Smith for his time and recollections and to Dr Hovenden for permission to use his footage.
The editing of this material was prompted by the recent work of Dr Alice Stevenson who had transcribed the interview on behalf of the Project, and whose interest was aroused by Harry’s mention of an A-Group cemetery discovered during the survey which had remained unpublished ever since. Alice is a specialist in the funerary practices of the earliest phases of Egyptian history – she is the author of the 2009 volume, The Predynastic Egyptian Cemetery of el-Gerzeh. Social Identities and Mortuary Practices (Peeters, Leuven, 2009) among other works – and has now completed a study of the site, based on the Nubian Survey records, which had been in Professor Smith’s possession until September 2009 when he presented them to the EES for the Lucy Gura Archive.
A short article on Alice’s work will appear in the next issue of The EES Newsletter which is currently in press, and a full version will be published in JEA in due course. Full-size versions of the images on this page are now available via our photo galleries at Flickr and the full set of photographs relating to Tunqala West will be available after the forthcoming conference 'Egypt at its Origins: The Fourth International Conference on Predynastic & Early Dynastic Egypt', at which Alice will be announcing the results of her work.
The survey team in the field. David O'Conner is seated at left, and Harry Smith is seated third from left. Between them is Professor Smith's wife Hazel.
Survey team members (L-R) Martin Minns, Aly Hassan (Egyptian Antiquities Service Inspector) and David O'Connor aboard the Nubian Survey boat in 1961.
Unfortunately, the Society's online library catalogue is again temporarily unavailable, this time due to a problem with the server which will replaced this week. We apologise for this second outage and for any inconvenience it may cause. At this time we expect the problem to have been resolved by Thursday (14 July) evening.
In the meantime those wishing to establish whether or not particular books or other items are available in the library should contact the Librarian via the following page: http://www.ees.ac.uk/contact/index.html
