The Eighth Season of Excavations in the Early Dynastic
Cemetery at Helwan
The Helwan team has
enjoyed a very successful season of excavations between November 2004 and
February 2005. The team included the following people: Jane Smythe,
Christian Knoblauch, Anna Leffers,
Sharan Bradley, Christine Marshall, Roxie Walker, Arron MacDonald, Ronika Power, Katherine Williams, Thomas Hikade, Jana Jones, Joanna Quinn, Erin Kuch,
Natalie Barlow, Warrick Pearson, Janice Brownette and Emily Howard; the inspectors of antiquities, Moafaq Mahmoud Maher, Girgis Mounir Amin
and Mohammed Badr Eldin
Hassan; conservator, Sherif Kobiesy
el-Asiuty and trainees, Marwa
Ragab Mohammed and Atef
Said Hashem; and the writer.
During the
course of the season another 21 tomb structures were uncovered, recorded and
added to the ever growing number of tombs in Operation 4 that have been
scientifically excavated since 1998. These tombs date between Dynasty 1 and
Dynasty 4 and range in size and architecture. Most of them are simple pit
burials of presumably relatively poor individuals, which were nevertheless very
well preserved and thus allowed for detailed and valuable insights into the
burial customs of the lower classes of early Memphite society. One such simple
burial (Op.4/78) was that of a teenager in a contracted position inside a
wooden coffin. The grave pit also contained a number of pottery vessels, dating
this burial from early to mid Dynasty 2, as well as what we cautiously
interpret as a scribal kit, consisting of a siltstone palette with remains of
red and black paint, and a flint scraper.
Only a small
number of tomb structures belonged to wealthier individuals and displayed more
complex architectural features. Of particular interest was tomb Op.4/83 which
was a very well preserved subterranean chamber tomb with a bent staircase
descending from the north. The entrance, blocked by a substantial portcullis
stone, appears to have been broken into soon after the burial. Upon entering
the substructure via a large rectangular antechamber, a small storage chamber
was identified on the west side which contained 13 intact and sealed pottery
wine jars. The antechamber itself had a deposit of 13 ovoid pottery jars, many
of which were sealed, a ceramic plate and fragments of a flint knife in its
southern extension. Following a short corridor to the east one could enter the
main chamber which had a niche-like extension in the south-western corner that
contained the burial of an adult male individual. Due to the great depth of the
substructure and its proximity to the water table, there was a high degree of
moisture in the ground that caused the wooden coffin, where the occupant was
placed, and any other organic materials, except the human remains, to almost
entirely decay. The south-eastern corner of the main chamber and the burial
niche contained another deposit of numerous complete and fragmentary pottery
and stone vessels of different types. On the basis of these and the
architecture of the tomb, Op.4/83 can be dated to the middle of Dynasty 2.
A lot of work
was accomplished at the Facility for Archaeological Research at Helwan (FARAH) which received an additional wing for
storage and a specifically dedicated laboratory for conservation. Thanks to the
assistance of the conservator, Mr. Sherif Kobiesy, we were able to restore and reconstruct many of
the artefacts uncovered. Anna Leffers capably oversaw
the cataloguing and archiving of small finds uncovered over the past several
years. The study of the human remains was conducted by Christine Marshall,
Roxie Walker, Sharan Bradley and Ronika Power.
After the
completion of the fieldwork on site, the Helwan team
had again the opportunity to study the Saad
collection of artefacts housed in the
Christiana Köhler