Amelia Edwards Projects 2010-11
As a small organization we have always relied on the generosity of our members and supporters to assist our work in the field. We know that people like to donate directly towards exploration and excavation in Egypt and we know that every penny counts in the race against time to explore and record the many sites throughout the Nile Delta.
In response to this we launched the Amelia Edwards Projects in 2008. Each project chosen has a clearly defined goal; something that can be achieved within a short space of time and for a relatively small amount of money. The funding for every Amelia Project comes entirely from people like you and we choose each project with extreme care, making every effort to ensure that you see the impact and difference that your donation makes to our teams on the ground - where it matters most.
This year all of the money raised by our supporters will go directly towards our explorations of Tell Basta and Tell Mutubis, both fascinating sites in the Nile Delta, both desperately in need if your support to ensure that the projects can take place. Our teams need to raise £15,000 before the Spring 2011 or the work simply will not happen.
Why not read more about the sites below and learn how to get involved?
Tell Mutubis
Field Director: Penny Wilson
Background
The size of Tell Mutubis in the north-west Delta, and the mass of fired bricks and other deposits visible on the surface show clearly that this was a large and important settlement, yet very little investigative work has ever been undertaken at the site. Dr Wilson will lead the new project which aims to establish how the settlement developed over time and how environmental factors may have contributed to its significance.
Aim of the project
To study the development of the settlement over time from its foundation, through its main phases of occupation and to its abandonment and partial destruction. The programme will enable a fuller site biography to be written, including functions of parts of the mound and the dates of significant periods of development.
Objectives
1) To identify and describe standing or buried remains on the mound and its ‘shadow’ and the different zones of occupation and use;
2) To provide a dated stratigraphic profile of the site zones;
3) To examine the palaeotopography of the site in order to locate it within its landscape and ascertain its relationship to Nile channels, distributaries and marshy wetlands.
How much will this cost?
£8,970
Tell Basta
Field Director: Eva Lange
Background
The Society has a long-standing connection with the site of Tell Basta which, though well-known in general, has received surprisingly little attention. Eva Lange will explain how the team intend to study thoroughly the decoration inside, and areas surrounding the temple of Bastet to improve our understanding of one of the largest and most important cult centres in Egypt.
Aim of the project
The investigation of temple and town in terms of a contextual approach. Previously the Temple of Bastet, like so many Egyptian temples, was investigated as an isolated element of architecture, and not as an active and core part of the ancient city of Bubastis. This project will ensure that it is investigated in its topographical and archaeological context.
Objectives
1) To enlarge the area under investigation to the whole front of the temple;
2) To combine the archaeological work with an epigraphic survey of the entrance hall of the temple, erected by Osorkon I. The reliefs here were documented and published by Edouard Naville in 1891, but a lot of reliefs of Osorkon I were never documented - new reliefs came to light very recently, while the drawings of the already published reliefs need corrections. The documentation of the reliefs will form a major part of a future publication of the complete Temple of Bastet at Bubastis.
How much will this cost?
£5,983
Supporting the Amelia Edwards Projects 2010-11
It is truly remarkable how much work is achieved by the teams on such a modest budget so please get involved today and help us to make the Spring 2011 season a success.
As always donations of any size are warmly welcomed, but anyone contributing £250 or more will become a member of the ‘Amelia Edwards Group’. Group members will be invited to a special event in the Summer of 2011, where they will have a chance to meet Trustees and staff and to see at first hand the results that have been achieved thanks to their contributions.
Why have people like you donated to the Amelia projects in the past?
“The Amelia Edwards projects show what can actually be achieved quickly and with limited funding. The added bonus is that donors to such projects are able to feel a direct and immediate connection to the project.”
One member explains their reason for getting involved:
“Amelia Edwards is one of my personal heroines so the chance to build on her legacy was very appealing. I really valued the sense of connection with the chosen projects, the chance to understand how my gift was helping to further knowledge about Egypt and to support the work of the younger generation of scholars and excavators. I think Amelia would have approved!”
Support the Amelia Edwards Projects 2010 via the Big Give and your donation could be worth twice as much to us! Get involved today!
Why are the Big Give helping the EES?
Because we have been successful with an application to join the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2010. This means that this online philanthropic organization will help to match fund donations to Tell Basta and Tell Mutubis in the run up to Christmas. There has literally never been a better time to donate to the EES!
Should you wish to discussing any aspect of your support to us with the Development Director, please contact Vicky on 07583 113756 or by email victoria.perry@ees.ac.uk.
Thank you for your support.
Amelia Edwards Projects 2008-9
Egypt remains as threatened today as it was in Miss Edwards’ time and in the spirit of her appeal to subscribers over a century ago the Society in 2008 invited members to become personal supporters and patrons of individual projects which will help preserve Egypt’s heritage and maintain Miss Edwards’ legacy. As this is a new way of funding our work, and to emphasise the fact that the Society has always relied on the generosity of its members to support its endeavours, these projects are collectively known as the ‘Amelia Edwards Projects’. Each has a clearly defined goal; something that can be achieved within a short space of time and for a relatively small amount of money. The projects are distinct from the Society’s major ventures, but nonetheless in line with its mission statement, established research identity and strategy for the future. They do not receive funding from the Society’s Excavation, Centenary or Lucy Gura Funds; the funding for each is drawn entirely from members’ contributions.
The 2008-09 projects have been selected with great care to take into account the Society’s heritage, the current state of Egypt and the threats to its past.
Gebel Ramla
Up to now the important sacred site of Gebel Ramla has only been partially published and is little known outside Egypt. Since 2005, the team of the Minufiyeh Archaeological Survey (EES Delta Survey), directed by Dr Joanne Rowland (University of Oxford) has been committed to a program of cross-province ground survey and within this, to retaining a focus on the Quesna archaeological area, also known as Gebel Ramla. SCA excavations in the 1990s established that Late Period and Ptolemaic rulers from nearby Tell Atrib (ancient Athribis) had been buried in the mausolea, however, nothing further had been postulated as to how wide a community used the site of Gebel Ramla, where these people lived and the date of the earliest settlement in the area and/or use of the site.
Work already undertaken has revealed a great deal and enhanced our understanding of the nature and population of the site. However, a new and very real problem has emerged recently: earlier in 2008 the team became aware of a plan to construct, in 5 years’ time, a provincial prison both to the north and on top of the edge of the gezira. Surface survey has already confirmed the presence of mud-brick structures, ceramic coffins and human skeletal remains in these areas, and it is clear that much will be lost if further work cannot be undertaken very shortly. The team hopes to implement a program of urgent fieldwork to investigate fully the archaeology on the northern gezira edge (which would fall beneath the prison) and in the falcon necropolis and cemetery. For further background information on Dr Rowland’s work please see her articles in Egyptian Archaeology 28 (2006) and 30 (2007) respectively.
Karnak Survey
The Karnak Land- and Waterscapes Survey, directed by Angus Graham, has, over five short seasons since 2002, augered at 33 different locations in and around the complex of temples at Karnak, retrieving many thousands of ceramic fragments and other artefacts. This has significantly altered our understanding of the factors affecting the placement of major monuments at Karnak. The team’s work to date suggests that the temples of Amun-Re and Mut were founded on separate islands that subsequently joined together as the channel silted up. The northward and westward expansion of the Amun-Re complex is closely linked to the north-westward migration of the river. In the last two seasons (2007 and 2008) the team has extended its work to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the Opet Temple and the Amun-Re complex and also the huge revetment wall to west of the First Pylon which is currently being excavated by the SCA under the direction of Mr Mansour Boriak. The work has shown that the Middle Kingdom occupation lay on sand deposits and that the temple was founded on an island. The team has yet to study the pottery and small finds which they hope will help them to understand how the ‘Island of Opet’ developed, to establish the date at which the low-lying land between the island and the court of the 9th-10th pylon silted up, and to settle the debate as to whether the revetment wall was a construction of the 21st-22nd Dynasty or of the late 25th to early 26th Dynasty. The 2009 study season will allow for a clearer understanding of the chronology and development of the islands at Karnak and the movement of the river away from the site, and more generally of geomorphological processes and the rates at which channels silted up in the Nile Valley throughout history.
For further background information on Angus’ work please see his article (co-written with Judith Bunbury) in Egyptian Archaeology 27 (2005).
Oral History of Egyptology
The Society’s Deputy Director, Mr Christopher Naunton, is leading a project to record digitally the memories and experiences of Egyptologists. The personal history of the major players in Egyptology has had an important impact on the development of the subject, and in turn on our understanding of ancient Egypt. This has led to a growing appreciation of the importance of Egyptological archives and to public and media interest in the better known personalities in the field. However, most accounts of the history of Egyptology have concentrated on the earliest years of the subject. This project aims to create a new resource for the study of the more recent history of the discipline: an archive of recorded conversations capturing the thoughts and recollections of senior Egyptologists who have played a significant part in the development of our subject. The recordings will form part of the archives of the EES, and would represent an invaluable complement to the photographs, notes and correspondence already housed at Doughty Mews. In the first instance the team proposes to interview Miss Margaret Drower, Mr Harry James, Professor Kenneth Kitchen and Professor Harry Smith, all of whom have expressed their willingness to participate. The recordings will be made digitally, in audio and video (with the permission of the interviewees). Excerpts of the recordings themselves will be made available online, and it is intended that the material will also be used alongside the photographs and other related material in the EES archives to produce new written accounts of the EES’ history and its contribution to Egyptology. In addition Mrs Rosalind Janssen has kindly agreed to provide access to cassette recordings of interviews made during the 1990s so that they can be digitised, and copies of the recordings kept in digital form in the oral history archive.
Recordings of some of the first interviews are now available online here and also below. An article on the project's work to date was published in Egyptian Archaeology 36 (2010) and is available for download, here.