REPORT ON THE SEVENTH SEASON OF EXCAVATIONS AT HELWAN

The Macquarie University Helwan team completed its seventh season of excavations between November 2003 and February 2004. The season was begun by moving into and setting up the project’s new Facility for Archaeological Research at Helwan (FARAH), which was much welcomed by the project’s staff after having worked in small tents for over 6 years. This season also saw the inauguration of a training program for Egyptian junior inspectors who were trained in modern scientific methods of archaeological excavation and recording.

The team had the opportunity to open and clear another of Zaki Saad’s storage tombs (Op.3/3), which contained more than 700 mostly complete pottery vessels. Although the majority of these date to the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3200 – 2700 BCE) there was a small group of vessels of a much later date, that is from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1650 BCE), which confirms previously made observations pertaining to the notion that the archaeological site of Helwan was in use well beyond the Early Dynastic.

Archaeological excavations continued in Operation 4, where 20 new tombs, dating between late Dynasty 1 (c. 2900 BCE) and Dynasty 4 (c. 2600-2500 BCE), were uncovered. The early tombs were mostly simple pit graves containing single contracted burials with few grave goods such as pottery and stone vessels. There were several tombs dating to Dynasty 2, a period which is still ill-understood for both its history and archaeology. Hence, the archaeological evidence that the Australian mission to Helwan has been uncovering over the last several years significantly contributes to filling the gaps in our knowledge about and assists in defining chronological sub-phases for this formative period prior to the Old Kingdom. One such Dynasty 2 tomb (Op.4/59) was quite substantial in size with a 5.5 meters deep descent staircase and a 6 meters long subterranean burial chamber with a sizable niche going west, in which yet another fragment of an Early Dynastic funerary stela was found. This fragment, which represents the bottom left corner of an offering scene, brings the total of such early limestone stelae from Helwan to 41. 

During the excavations in Operation 4 the team was able to identify several smaller and two large tombs of the Old Kingdom, especially Dynasty 4. The two large tombs comprise rectangular mud brick mastabas, measuring 7.65 x 4.65 and 9.64 x 7.38 meters respectively, which were already partially excavated during the previous season. The larger one (Op.4/50) has an elongated chapel with two niches along its east side and a 4.6 meters deep shaft with a small burial chamber leading south-west. The other mastaba (Op.4/49) has two vertical shafts but neither of them could be completely excavated as the water table was reached after 7 meters of depth. To the east of these large mastabas several contemporary small pit graves with single contracted burials were found. These later tombs provide a unique insight into the burial customs of the early Old Kingdom in the Memphite region and outside the better known sites of Giza and Saqqara and again support the idea of a continuous occupation of the necropolis of Helwan after the Early Dynastic period.

As the new excavations continued the project was assisted by Mr. Mohammed Salah, a conservator of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who capably looked after the conservation and reconstruction of artifacts. The human remains from this and previous seasons were expertly studied by a team of physical anthropologists headed by Chris Marshall of the Institute of Bioarchaeology in San Francisco.

In spite of the archaeological successes that the Helwan Project has again experienced during the seventh season, we were unfortunately reminded of the fact that our work is ultimately a rescue project as the archaeological site was literally invaded over night in February by local inhabitants who attempted to claim the land for future construction. It was only due to the swift reaction of the staff at Helwan Antiquities Inspectorate who alerted the police and in doing so they were able to avert the serious damage to the archaeological remains. In a recent article in the Al-Ahram newspaper the Egyptian Minister of Culture, Mr. Faruq Hosni and the Chair of the Supreme Council for Antiquities in Egypt, Dr. Zahi Hawass, declared that the archaeological site of Helwan was of great significance for the history of early Egypt and that it deserved utmost care and protection from further house construction.

Christiana Köhler