moeller. unsealing tell edfu, egypt

2 NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY 75:2 (2012)

T he ongoing excavations at the ancient Egyptian settle-ment site located at Tell Edfu in the south of Egypt have provided new evidence for town administra-

tion during the transitional phase between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the early Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1770–1650 b.c.e.). The ancient town of Edfu functioned as the capital of the second Upper Egyptian province during that time and played an important role within its region. The excavations have focused primarily on exposing the admin-istrative quarter of this town that has been located along the eastern side of the tell (fig. 1). The two principal structures excavated thus far make up a large administrative building complex, with at least two substantial columned halls dating to the late Middle Kingdom, that was abandoned some time during the early Second Intermediate Period, when political power broke down and a group of foreign rulers called the Hyksos installed themselves in the eastern Delta region. After the abandonment of the administrative building, a large silo court was built on top of the older structures. These silos were used for grain storage and held the grain reserve of the ancient settlement, thus being part of a major administrative institution (fig. 2).

he results from the recent excavation provide a new glimpse of what administrative buildings looked like and how they might have functioned. Most of our knowledge concerning ancient Egyptian administration is based on the textual record, but the case of Tell Edfu provides a good opportunity to link the textual and archaeological data in a comprehensive way.

Archaeological Context of Late Middle Kingdom Sealings at Tell Edfu

he architecture and associated inds of the late Middle Kingdom administrative complex provide an excellent oppor-tunity to investigate closely the functioning of such an insti-tution within a larger urban settlement. he architectural layout clearly indicates that we are dealing with a large oicial building complex of palatial proportions that probably served a variety of purposes, including both administrative and resi-dential zones (ig. 3).

One of the most frequently discovered object categories from within this building complex are clay sealings; more than 1,400 pieces have been excavated thus far. his discovery has led to new evidence for what an administrative structure would have looked like and what kinds of activities would have been car-ried out inside it. hese can be deduced especially from the

Nadine Moeller

UNSEALING TELL EDFU, EGYPT:UNSEALING TELL EDFU, EGYPT:

Who Was a Local Official and Who Was Not?Who Was a Local Official and Who Was Not?

Figure 1. View of the excavation area

to the northeast with Ptolemaic temple

in the background.

NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY 75:2 (2012) 3

accumulation of objects on the surface of the last loor layer, which corresponds to the inal phase of occupation (Moeller 2010, 98–107). he archaeology concern-ing ancient Egyptian institutions and what kinds of buildings were used is still very fragmentary.

he irst traces of a columned hall in the current excavation area were found in 2005, when two sandstone column bases were discovered in situ in its mud loor. Already in the course of this initial season of excavations several clay sealings were found, indicating the presence of an administrative building here (Moeller 2007). Over the past six years, the Tell Edfu Project has focused on this structure and has been able to complete the excavation of vari-ous elements belonging to this administra-tive complex that could be reached without endangering any other mudbrick construc-tions in the vicinity (ig. 3).

he elements of the administrative com-plex that have been excavated to date con-sist of a southern columned hall that was fronted by an elongated room on its western side (ig. 3). his hall contained at least six-teen columns arranged in four rows. Several round sandstone column bases have been found in situ, while others can be recon-structed from the negatives let in the mud loor when the column bases were ripped out ater the abandonment of this structure (ig. 4). None of the actual columns were found; they had been dismantled and pos-sibly were reused shortly ater the building fell out of use.

In 2010 another large hall was discovered that was accessed via a doorway on the north side of the southern columned hall (ig. 3). his second hall, which has been termed “northern columned hall,” shows evidence for at least two rows consisting of eight large columns each; these can be reconstructed according to the round holes let in the mud loor where the column bases were removed (see igs. 3 and 5). he large diameter of the holes and the sand illing that was noted inside each suggest that the column bases

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southern

columned

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northern columned hall

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Figure 3. Plan of the column hall complex.

Figure 2. Excavation area, view to the south,

showing the grain silos of the Seventeenth

Dynasty overlying the earlier administrative

building complex of the Twelfth–Thirteenth

Dynasty.


and the columns would have been larger than those of the southern columned hall. here is a strong possibility that the northern hall was the central feature of this building complex.

Only the southern and western limits of the whole build-ing have been clearly identiied during the excavation (see ig. 3, walls W 458 and W 398); the eastern and northern limits remain buried under several meters of later settlement layers. he currently exposed area of this building complex encom-passes about 325 m2. he excellent preservation of the stratigra-phy has allowed for a detailed analysis and identiication of the various phases of construction, occupation, abandonment, and postabandonment. he associated ceramic evidence links the main period of use of this complex to the late Middle Kingdom (end of Twelth to mid-hirteenth Dynasty), while there is evi-dence that the northern columned hall remained in use until the early Second Intermediate Period (late hirteenth Dynasty).

A large corpus of more than 1,400 clay sealings has been excavated in relation to this late Middle Kingdom adminis-trative complex; they were found in several layers associated with its use and gradual abandonment. he two largest accu-mulations of sealings come from the inal occupation layer of the southern columned hall and a dense deposit related to the abandonment of the northern columned hall. he following discussion will investigate two examples of recurrent sealing motifs, which open the debate on whether the owners of these seals were local oicials at Edfu and or whether there are other possible indications as to their identities.1

Sealings with the Motif of Symmetrically Arranged Nefer and Ankh Signs

A large number of sealings found in the late Middle King-

dom administrative building show the same decorative motif, which is characterized by the symmetrical, mirror-image arrangement of nefer signs in pairs lanking a larger central sign that can be identiied as a stylized ankh (see ig. 6). he seal impressions on the sealings were made using a scarab seal, the most common type of seal during the late Middle King-dom. he decorative motif can be assigned to the design group 3A3 “varia,” according to the recent classiication by Daphna Ben-Tor, and it is typical for the late Twelth to hirteenth Dynasties (Ben-Tor 2007, 16–17, pl. 7).

At Tell Edfu, a total of 105 sealings showing this speciic motif have been found; many of them were stamped multiple times, and in one case the sealing shows a second seal impres-sion with a diferent decorative pattern that countersealed the former. he relatively large number of sealings showing this particular image with the nefer and ankh signs suggests that the

Figure 4 (above). View of the southern columned hall

with sandstone column bases in situ, (southwest view).

Figure 5 (below). Northern columned hall

underneath later silos (view to the east).


oicial who owned this seal was a local inhabit-ant of Edfu.

Also noteworthy and of importance in the context of this discus-sion is the fact that the identiiable back-types (88 out of the 105 seal-ings) show a relatively wide range of objects being sealed with this scarab (chart 1). here are peg sealings with round and square peg impressions of difer-ent sizes (ig. 7) and box sealings that can be recognized by their lat surface showing wood iber and string imprints (ig. 8); a few also have basket impressions (ig. 9) as well as imprints of cloth and string, which fall under the category of fabric sealings (ig. 10). he latter group is problematic for its precise identiication, since the fragments are quite small and show mainly tissue impres-sions and string. None is large enough to clearly identify as having been attached to storage jars

(for good examples of jar sealings, see von Pilgrim 2001, pl. 18D). In several cases the folds of fabric are visible, which makes them likely candidates for having been attached to bags. Josef Wegner adopted the term “fabric sealings,” which include any examples with fabric impressions on the back (Wegner 2007, 300–302, ig. 135 no. 3). A few examples also show papy-rus impressions (ig. 11). By far the largest percentage (71%) consists of peg sealings (chart 1), of which the majority shows square pegs (39 out of 62 identiied examples).

Since a concentration of these was found near the doorway between the southern columned hall and the adjacent room to the west, it is most likely that a larger number of them had been used for sealing this door on a regular basis. Some of them might also have sealed wooden boxes. Diferences between peg sealings that had been attached to wooden pegs used for closing boxes and for closing doors (this closing mechanism is attested for both) are still diicult to identify, even ater a

1cm

Figure 6. Sealing with motif of symmetrically arranged ankh and nefer signs.

Figure 7. Back of a peg sealing

showing string and peg negatives.

Chart 1. The percentages of the encountered back-

types for the sealings with the ankh and nefer motif.

Figure 8. Back of box sealing show-

ing the flat surface with wood grain

and string imprints.


thorough analysis of peg imprints from the Edfu sealings. hus far it is not pos-sible to make a distinction between door and box pegs based on the size or shape (square versus round) of the peg imprints. Wegner (2007, 302) also came to a similar conclusion.

About 18 percent of sealings had been attached to wooden boxes (chart 1). hey can be clearly recognized by their distinctive lat shape showing wood grain and string on the back. A total of seven papyrus seals (8%) were noted in this group; these are usually much less frequent in comparison to peg sealings, for example. Only two sealings can be identiied as having been attached to baskets and fabrics. his distribution strongly suggests that the owner of the scarab with the nefer motif was a local oicial with wide-ranging duties in the admin-istrative building complex at Edfu, especially in the southern columned hall. He sealed all sorts of commodities and documents but also doors.

Another important observation is that the seal impressions made by this scarab show con-siderable signs of use: the incised pattern of signs is relatively worn, indicating a long and intensive utiliza-tion of this scarab as seal (see ig. 6). It was not unusual for an oicial such as this to stay in his role over a consider-able amount of time. his can be further conirmed by the fact that these sealings were found in diferent archaeological contexts comprising almost all the various phases linked to the use and last phase of occupation, with an overwhelming concentration in the southern columned hall (chart 2).

he oldest archaeological context in which these sealings were found is one of the numerous small holes in the mud loor of the southern columned hall, which also contained several sealings showing the igure of a king who has been identiied as Amenemhat III (Moeller 2009). his hole had been used for placing a round-based jar into the loor; later, when the jar was removed, the now-empty hole was illed with some silt and trash and was then covered by four phases of loor renewal. he sealings were part of this trash illing.

In two cases sealings with the nefer and ankh motif were also found in the ill layer around two storage vessels that had been sunk deeply into the mud loor of the southern col-umned hall. Several further examples came from within the last layer of the mud loor. hus, in total sixteen sealings have been found in association with various later loor levels of the southern columned hall, which correspond to its phase of use (see chart 2). However, the largest number was found within the inal occupation layer of this hall (83 examples; see chart 2) especially near the doorway to the elongated room. he inal occupation layer is deined as the last phase of use that led to the accumulation of much trash on the mud loor, which was not cleaned up any longer and ater which the hall was abandoned (ig. 12).

Chart 2. Distribution of sealings with the nefer and

ankh motif according to the various archaeological

phases of the administrative building complex.

Figure 9. Back of a basket sealing

showing basket fibres and string.

Figure 10. Back of a fabric sealing

showing tissue negatives.

Figure 11. Back of

a papyrus sealing

showing papyrus

fiber impressions

and string


In the northern columned hall, four sealings showing this motif were discovered also in the last phase of occupation, which accumulated on top of the corresponding mud loor and which parallels the context in the southern hall. From other sites we know that administrative buildings were cleaned on a regular basis, and discarded sealings were removed from the loors and usually dumped on the outside of the buildings (Wegner 2001, 78–80). At Edfu we have not found any of these exterior trash deposits; they are likely to have been removed by later constructions on the tell.

It is diicult to estimate the precise duration of the function-ing of this administrative complex in terms of years. he phases of loor renewal, for which we can distinguish between twenty-ive to thirty layers, might signal an annual event linked to the end of each administrative cycle (ig. 13). If this hypothesis is correct, it is entirely possible that one of the oicials could have been in oice for most of the functioning of this administrative institution. It is, however, impossible fully to discard the pos-sibility of reuse by another person who succeeded him in this oice. Nevertheless, the owner of the sealing with the nefer and ankh motif was most likely a local oicial, which can be seen both from the distribution of back-types and the archaeologi-cal context.

Sealings Showing a Standing Male Figure Holding a Lotus Flower

he other most frequently encountered sealing motif is another decorative type: a standing male igure holding a large lotus lower (ig. 14). his motif depicts an interesting mix of Egyptian and Near Eastern features, such as the man dressed in an Egyptian style loincloth but also wearing crossed bands on the chest, a typical Near Eastern feature (Mlinar 2004, 114). Several hieroglyphic signs, such as the anra-style hieroglyphs and the degenerated nefer sign, can be seen in front of him. According to the available parallels, it is very likely that the scarab was manu-factured in Palestine, its date coinciding with the beginning of the Hyksos period (Mlinar 2004, 122–29, Type IV; D. Ben-Tor, personal communication). his particular motif appears irst in what has been termed the early Palestinian series (Ben-Tor 2007, pl. 63, nos. 3, 5, 6), and it becomes increasingly popular in the late Palestinian series (Ben-Tor 2007,

pl. 107 no. 7; pl. 102; nos. 7, 15, 19, 34, 40, 41). According to the analysis by Ben-Tor, the Edfu example dates to the latter series, which is mostly contemporary to the Fiteenth Dynasty. he irst appearance of scarabs from Canaanite workshops in Egypt seem to occur at the beginning of the Second Intermedi-ate Period, when the settlement of foreign populations might have facilitated trade relations between Egypt and southern Palestine (Ben-Tor 2007, 117–20).

Furthermore, scarabs of the early series (dated ca. 1700–1630 b.c.e.) are very rarely found in Egypt itself, in contrast to the late series, for which more examples are known from many Egyptian sites (Ben-Tor 2007, 186). Also interesting is the fact that the Edfu sealings showing the man holding the lotus lower were stamped by a scarab of good quality, with inely incised lines showing much detail, which stands in contrast to most of those depicted in the catalogue of Ben-Tor’s publica-tion (2007, pls. 102–103). A scarab with a similar motif was also found in a tomb at Esna, a site that lies about 55 km north of Edfu, dating to the Second Intermediate Period (Downes 1974, 61, 154, no. 2).

he motif of the standing igure with the lotus lower is one of the most frequently encountered motifs on sealings from the administrative building complex at Tell Edfu (123 in total). It occurs mainly in the northern columned hall, and the largest proportion was found in a layer linked to its abandonment (82 examples), where they occurred together with those naming the Hyksos ruler Khayan (for details, see Moeller and Mar-ouard 2012). Out of a total number of 333 sealings from this context, almost 25 percent show the motif of the standing male igure with the lotus.

Although a large percentage of the sealings was too small or poorly preserved to identify their back-types with certainty (41

y

ff

y

Figure 12. Final occupation layer

showing concentrations of discarded

objects in the southern columned hall.


sealings, not included in the chart), about 44 percent belong to the group of peg sealings, which mainly show round peg nega-tives (see chart 3). Roughly equal proportions are attested for wooden boxes (18%), baskets (16%), and fabric sealings (22%). None sealed a papyrus document. he much lower percent-age of peg sealings and the absence of papyrus sealings is note-worthy in comparison with those showing the symmetric nefer pattern described above. From the distribution of the various back-types except for the peg sealings, which are diicult to assign to doors or wooden boxes with complete certainty, the

emphasis on the sealings having been attached to a variety of commodities is clear.

his phenomenon needs some explanation as to the loca-tion and operational base of the owner of this scarab. If one takes the northern origin of the seal as accurate, several possibilities need to be considered. he most obvious interpretation is that the owner was based in the north, most probably in the Delta, pos-sibly at Tell el-Dab’a, and had been responsible for sealing a large amount of commodities

that were sent to the town of Edfu. Another option to consider is that the owner of the scarab was based in Edfu but had a northern origin, using a seal he obtained there and brought with him. A third possibility could be that he was a local Edfu inhabitant who acquired a northern seal via trade or as a git. In principle, all three options are possible, but there is some evidence that makes the irst solution the most likely one. Additionally, analysis of the sealing clay might be a possible way to verify this hypothesis further.

1cm

Figure 14. Sealing showing a male figure holding a lotus flower.

Figure 13. Superimposed phases of

floor renewal in the southern col-

umned hall.


While the large number of sealings alone, which amounts to a quantity that can be compared to the sealings showing the nefer signs, allows for the possibility that we are dealing with a local oicial who was attached to the administrative build-ing complex and whose activities centered in the northern col-umned hall (per the distribution of the sealings), closer inves-tigation of the back-types and the archaeological contexts cast serious doubts on this interpretation (see chart 3).

he archaeological context for these sealings is also quite diferent from the sealing motif with the nefer signs. In fact, the largest concentration of the ones depicting the male igure with the lotus was in the abandonment layer of the northern columned hall, in a dense deposit along the western side of the room and close to a mudbrick bench, with an occasional seal-ing found in postabandonment phases. he ind spots of these sealings being considerably restricted to one particular corner of the northern columned hall cannot be a coincidence. Addi-tionally, not one was discovered in direct association with the mud-loor levels of either columned hall. In three of these con-texts from the northern hall, sealings with the standing igure motif occur together with examples of the nefer sign, indicating that they could have been contemporary, but the low number of the latter (four sealings were found in the same contexts as the one with the standing-igure motif, three of which are clearly from secondary deposits and therefore residual) does not support this hypothesis. However, the northern origin of the sealing with the male holding the lotus lower its very well with the fact that it was found in the largest quantity together with several examples naming the Hyksos ruler Khayan (44 sealings total, only 29 showed identiiable back-types, which are included in chart 4). As can be seen from the analysis of the back-types of the Khayan sealings in chart 4, which resembles the chart for the sealings displaying the male igure holding the lotus, there is also clear evidence for a prominence of sealed commodities, especially wooden boxes (52%). he majority of identiied back-types belong to the latter category, which are

recognizable by their lat shape showing wood grain and string impressions. Several examples also showed the edge of the box on their backs.

As far as the archaeological context is concerned, both the Khayan sealings and those showing the man with the lotus are less widely dispersed than the sealings with the nefer and ankhsigns, with the majority coming from the layer of abandon-ment at the western side of the northern columned hall.

Despite the diiculties of analyzing sealings with decorative motifs that do not reveal the true identity of their respective owners, in comparison with seals inscribed with the name and title of the person to whom they belonged, it is nevertheless possible to learn much more about the irst group of owners by taking into account the archaeological data.

he two most frequently encountered sealing motifs at Tell Edfu show clearly that their numbers alone do not necessar-ily help to identify the presence of a local oicial. he analy-sis of the back-types together with the archaeological context is crucial for this evaluation. While the owner of the sealing with the nefer signs was certainly a local oicial, the holder of the seal that made the impressions showing the male igure was probably not. He is closely linked via the archaeological context to the Khayan sealings, which is not surprising, since both of them are of northern origin. heir back-types can be primarily related to sealed commodities, the majority having been attached to wooden boxes, which is good evidence for the reception of large amounts of goods from the Nile Delta region, most likely from Tell el-Dab’a, the capital of the Hyksos rulers. he back-types of the sealings with the nefer motif, how-ever, show a much more dispersed pattern of sealing boxes and doors, which can be witnessed by the majority of peg sealings and by the fact that, while the percentage for securely identi-iable wooden box sealings is comparable, none of the other categories are.

Chart 3. Distribution of back-types for the sealings

depicting the male figure holding a lotus flower.

Chart 4. Distribution of back-types for the Khayan

sealings.


he analysis of the sealing clay for the origin sealings could, of course, shed further light on this issue, but it might be hampered if diferent clay sources were used within the same region. he current results of this study emphasize this trade contact between the early Hyksos and important provincial capitals in the south. hey also provide some new informa-tion about the lower tier of oicials within the administrative system, who oten remain invisible in the textual records but who in reality played signiicant roles for the functioning of an administrative institution (see also Smith 2001). A notable exception to this is the large corpus of administrative ostraca that have also been excavated at Tell Edfu dating to the end of the Second Intermediate Period and the early New Kingdom (slightly later than the sealings), which contain lists of people that might fall exactly into this category.2

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank D. Ben-Tor and J. Johnson for their comments and discussion of this topic. he drawings of the sealings were made by G. Marouard, and the photographs were taken by J. Schmied; without their work, this analysis would not have been possible. I am also grateful for the extensive work done by K. Bandy on the sealing catalogue and object database as well as L. Miller for helping to register the sealings in the ield. Last but not least I would like to thank the local Edfu inspectorate, especially Mohamed Zenan (director) and Ramadan Hassan Ahmed (director of the Elkab magazine) for their help and collaboration. All illustrations are copyright Tell Edfu Project.

Notes

1. Chronological issues that arise from the sealings are beyond the scope of this article and are discussed elsewhere; see Moeller and Marouard 2012.2. This corpus of ostraca is currently being analyzed by K. Bandy (NELC, University of Chicago) for her PhD dissertation.

References

Ben-Tor, D. 2007. Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period. Orbis Biblicus Orien-talis 27. Fribourg: Academic Press.

Downes, D. 1974. The Excavations at Esna, 1905–1906. Warminster: Aris & Phillips.

Mlinar, C. 2004. The Scarab Workshops of Tell el-Dab‘a. Pp. 107–40 in Scarabs of the Second Millennium BC from Egypt, Nubia, Crete and the Levant: Chronological and Historical Implications, ed. M. Bietak. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wis-senschaften.

Moeller, N. 2007. Tell Edfu: Uncovering a Provincial Capital. Egyptian Archaeology 31:14–17.

———. 2009. A New Royal Name Sealing from Tell Edfu. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 136:150–54.

———. 2010. Tell Edfu: Preliminary Report on Seasons 2005–2009. Journal of American Research Center in Egypt 46:81–111.

Moeller, N., and G. Marouard. 2012. Discussion of Late Middle King-dom and Early Second Intermediate Period History and Chronol-

ogy in Relation to the Khayan Sealings Discovered at Tell Edfu. Ägypten und Levante 21.

Pilgrim, C. von. 2001. The Practice of Sealing in the Administration of the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom. Cahier de Recherches de l’Institut de Papyrologie et d’Égyptologie 22:161–72.

Smith, S. T. 2001. Sealing Practice, Literacy and Administration in the Middle Kingdom. Cahier de Recherches de l’Institut de Papyrologie et d’Égyptologie 22:173–94.

Wegner, J. W. 2001. Institutions and Officials at South Abydos: An Overview of the Sigillographic Evidence. Cahier de Recherches de l’Institut de Papyrologie et d’Égyptologie 22:77–106.

———. 2007. The Mortuary Temple of Senwosret III at Abydos. Publica-tions of the Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt 8. New Haven: Peabody Museum of Natural History; Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

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moeller. unsealing tell edfu, egypt

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