Amelia B Edwards Projects
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 heading up 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. A sample can be viewed below. An article on the project's work to date was published in Egyptian Archaeology 36 (2010) and is available for download, here.