Bettina Bader

The book is devoted to a thorough theoretical discussion of the connection between identity and material culture which forms the backbone of archaeology. The assumed direct relationship between the ‘things’ used in daily life, and aspects of identity such as gender, age or ethnicity to name but a few, is challenged under consideration of post-colonial theories and critically applied to a case study in ancient Egypt. Tell el-Dabca provides exclusively material culture for interpretation including architectural remains, pottery, stone tools, a few stone vessel fragments and other rare items made of stone or shell. The only organic remains which survive in the wet soil conditions are animal bones, whilst materials such as textiles, papyrus, basketry, leather and wood were not preserved. Beside a detailed introduction to the formation and current use of aspects of identity and cultural paradigms, with special regard to archaeology, concepts such as 'entanglement' and 'appropriation', and placement of fusions of material culture of various areas in the theoretical framework are introduced and discussed. It is the aim of this book to open the mind to the creativity manifest in material culture and to the human ingenuity which produced it.

The book examines the connection between identity and material culture, which forms the backbone of archaeology. The assumed direct relationship between the things of daily life and the aspects of identity such as gender, age or ethnicity to name but a few is challenged under consideration of post-colonial theories and critically applied to a case study in ancient Egypt (Tell el-Dab'a), which provides exclusively material culture for interpretation. Besides a detailed introduction to the formation and current use of aspects of identity and culture concepts with special regard to archaeology, definitions (such as 'entanglement' and 'appropriation') and a placement of fusions of material culture from various areas in the theoretical framework are proposed.

This volume is available open access at https://austriaca.at/8224-5
This volume comprises the final archaeological report of three settlement layers of the late Middle Kingdom (ca 1830-1700 BC) at the site of Tell el-Dab’a in the north-eastern Nile delta. Area A/II was excavated to the expanse of 3800 square metres. The western part (1600 square metres) is the subject of this publication, while the eastern part will be presented in the second volume.
The settlement entails three phases, where the latest one, Phase G/3-1, is described and analysed first, because it was excavated in all squares and provides therefore a continuous overview of life. Five medium to small compounds were laid-out in a self-organised manner, which are not uniform in size or in plan. This suggests a certain element of social stratification. Beside simple dwellings the architectural remains yielded evidence for a number of round silos, several irregular alleyways, courtyards and installations such as hearths and fire places. Each of these features was numbered, described and the associated finds presented. The finds included pottery and stone vessels, chipped stone tools, stone objects such as querns, rubbing stones, animal bones, but also a few faience objects and stone palettes. The majority of the finds reflects domestic activities but some industrial remains with two horse-shoe shaped ovens and two limestone moulds for tools. The large amount of imported transport amphorae from Syria-Palestine is remarkable, hinting at the reception of commodities from there. Noteworthy are the burials of three individuals in houses and courtyards (two women and one child). While the number of the burials obviously does not correspond with the number of inhabitants in this neighbourhood, it is difficult to ascertain, whether there was a separate cemetery elsewhere or if the dead were buried in another neighbourhood.
The earlier archaeological Phases H and G/4 were excavated in a more restricted area as the later phase, often due to the high water table. While Phase H consisted mostly of thin dividing walls forming irregular areas with small huts and very few finds, the lay-out of Phase G/4 represents a precursor of phase G/3-1. Several alleyways and dwellings were in place then, with walls renewing this erstwhile lay-out. Remarkable for Phase H is a number of relatively large and well-built silos in the northern part of the excavation area, while thin dividing walls with regular pilasters presumably for strengthening them and small dwellings are typical for Phase G/4.
While comparative settlements in the Levant and Egypt are scarce, the full publication of this self-organised settlement provides primary evidence for daily life in the delta marches and a valuable source for Egyptian settlement archaeology.

Die Arbeit behandelt den Zusammenhang von Identität und materieller Kultur, die bis heute in der Archäologie grundlegender Gegenstand der Forschung ist. Anfangs ging man von einem direkten Zusammenhang zwischen materieller Kultur, also allen verwendeten Dingen des menschlichen Lebens, und den Identitätsaspekten der Menschen (Geschlecht, Alter, Ethnie, u.a.), die sie verwendeten, aus. Dadurch wurden die Identitäten der historischen Menschen für eindeutig bestimmt gehalten (z.B. Spiegel werden von Frauen verwendet, Waffen von Männern; nicht-lokale Keramik beweist die Anwesenheit von Zuwanderern, etc.). Postkoloniale theoretische Kritik und Diskussionen führten dazu, diesen Ansatz massiv zu hinterfragen, da Identität einerseits selbstgewählt ist, und andererseits multiple Identitäten situationsabhängig zum Einsatz kommen. Darüber hinaus wird Identität erst sichtbar, wenn sie auch von einem abgegrenzten Gegenüber wahrgenommen und rezipiert wird. Diese Sicht ist weder immer bewusst noch hat sie sich überall durchgesetzt. Seit den 1990er Jahren bilden ethnische Identität und Migrationen wichtige Forschungsfragen. Diskutiert wird, wie sich beides im archäologischen Befund auswirkt und welche Veränderungen der materiellen Kultur im archäologischen Fundgut auf Migrationen hinweisen. Dieses Thema hat auch in der Ägyptologie Raum gewonnen. Dort wurden archäologische Methoden aus der prähistorischen Tradition übernommen, die auf keine Schrift-und Bildquellen zurückgreifen kann. Die Ägyptologie hat aber den Anschluss an die laufende, kritische, theoretische Diskussion der Vor-und Frühgeschichte noch nicht gefunden, wo man von einer Vielfalt von Identitäten und einer indirekten Verbindung zwischen Dingen und Menschen ausgeht. Daher ist in der ägyptischen Archäologie eine Gleichsetzung von Menschen mit bestimmten Gegenständen (z.B. Grabbeigaben) und der daraus resultierenden kulturhistorischen Deutung nach wie vor häufig. Trotz hoher Erwartung an neue Methoden wie aDNA und Isotopenanalysen stellt sich bei zunehmender Publikation von Ergebnissen heraus, dass Gegenstände, die als ethnisch identifizierend betrachtet wurden, nicht immer bei Personen mit einheitlicher DNS gefunden wurden. Kurz gesagt, die Komposition der DNS gibt keine Auskunft darüber, in welcher (ethnischen) Gruppe die Sozialisierung von Menschen stattgefunden hat. Wie in der theoretischen Diskussion zeigt sich, dass die Gegenstände nur indirekt über die Identitäten von antiken Personen Auskunft geben können und sich keine Regel ableiten lässt. Die moderne Forschung ist sich zunehmend dieser Beschränkung bewusst und folgt vielfach der Praxistheorie von Bourdieu, um Einblick in die Identität von Menschen zu erlangen. Im Zusammenhang mit interkulturellen Kontakten wurden Regeln für Akkulturationsmechanismen festgelegt, die auch für archäologische Befunde herangezogen wurden. Dabei hielt man häufig an einer Zuweisung von bestimmten Gegenständen an bestimmte ethnische Identitäten fest (z.B. Schmuck), ohne kreativen Eigenheiten Raum zu geben. Dies ist problematisch und dem kulturhistorischen Paradigma geschuldet, das eine strikte Abgrenzung der einzelnen Kulturen voneinander propagiert. Diese Sichtweise wird ebenfalls mit Blick auf die materielle Kultur Altägyptens kritisiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit versammelt Einzelschriften, die einerseits Aspekte für das Fach Ägyptologie diskutieren, wobei zu bemerken ist, dass das Fach in mancher Hinsicht theoretischen Diskussionen abgeneigt erscheint. Andererseits wird anhand einer Fallstudie aufgezeigt, dass die vorhandenen Quellen oftmals keine eindeutigen Hinweise auf eine (ethnische) Identifikation bieten, besonders wenn die Quellenlage ohne zusätzliche schriftliche oder bildliche Quellen allein auf materieller Kultur beruht. Die Präsenz von Textquellen bringt jedoch häufig auch keine eindeutige Lösung. Die Einleitung widmet sich der Formation der menschlichen Identitätsaspekte und thematisiert sie in Zusammenhang mit verschiedenen Kulturkonzepten. Dann leitet sie zur Praxistheorie über, die ein wichtiges Instrument für das Verständnis der indirekten Verbindung von Dingen zur Identität von Menschen ist. Da in der Archäologie die Identitätsdiskussion häufig mit antiken Migrationen verbunden wird, wird auch dieses Thema berührt. Schließlich wird die Fallstudie-ein Siedlungsteil des späten Mittleren Reiches im Areal A/II in Tell el-Daba (ca. 1800-1700 v. Chr.)-vorgestellt und der historische Rahmen, der immer als Hintergrund für die Interpretation der Funde dieses rein archäologischen Befundes (ohne Schrift-oder Bildzeugnisse) herangezogen wird. Die Besonderheit dieser Siedlung liegt in ihrer geographischen Position im ägyptischen Nordostdelta, in einer Region, wo sich Einflüsse aus Ägypten und Syrien-Palästina aufgrund der räumlichen Nähe begegnen und auf einander einwirken, sodass geschlossen werden kann, dass Menschen aus dem

Die Synchronisierung der Grabungsplätze von Tell el-Daba (vgl. Kap. 3.1.) im nordöstlichen Nildelta und Kom Rabia (vgl. Kap. 3.2.) auf dem Gebiet der antiken Reichshauptstadt Memphis in der Memphis-Fayum Region wurde durch die Analyse des keramischen Siedlungsmaterials durchgeführt. Dabei kam eine Zufallsstichprobentechnik zur Anwendung. Die relevante Zeitspanne reicht vom späten MR (ca. 1770 v. Chr.) bis zum Ende der 2. Zw.zt. (ca. 1550/40. v. Chr.). Es handelt sich dabei um jene Zeit in der ägyptischen Geschichte, in der die Einheit der " bei-den Länder " keineswegs gegeben war, und diese Stu-die machte es sich auch zu einem Ziel, festzustellen, ob die Hyksos, wie Manetho berichtete, in Memphis herrschten. D.h. es sollte auch untersucht werden, ob es Hinweise gibt, die auf eine physische Anwesen-heit der Hyksos und ihrer spezifischen materiellen Kultur in Memphis schließen lassen. Dabei muß jedoch im Gedächtnis behalten werden, daß die Gra-bungsfläche RAT in Kom Rabia nur eine sehr beschränkte Ausdehnung hatte, und daher wohl keine universellen Schlußfolgerungen über das gesamte antike Memphis erlaubt, wohl aber Anhaltspunkte geben kann. Aber in Ermangelung ausge-dehnterer Ausgrabungsflächen und der fortschreitenden Zerstörung des antiken Ruinengeländes durch die moderne Siedlungstätigkeit scheint es bis auf weiteres das einzige kleine Fenster zur Vergangenheit in diesem Gebiet zu bleiben, das uns zur Analyse zur Verfügung steht. Es besteht vielmehr leider durchaus die Möglichkeit, daß dieser kleine Ausschnitt der einzige Blick auf Memphis bleibt, der uns erlaubt ist. Es sei hier nochmals erwähnt, daß die Entfernung der beiden Plätze von einander nicht mehr als 130 km in der Luftlinie ausmacht. Die Verbindung der beiden Plätze wird sich vermutlich v.a. der Nilarme und deren Kanälen bedient haben. Diese Studie verwendet die spezielle Methodologie, die eigens für das Memphis Pottery Team entwickelt wurde (s.o), als eines der ersten Projekte in der ägyptischen Archäologie und findet ausführliche Erwähnung und Beweis-führung in Kap. 4. Im Folgenden sollen die wichtigsten Punkte und Thesen in präziser Weise noch einmal rekapituliert werden.

This volume presents the data used for the synchronisation of the stratigraphic levels of two Egyptian settlement sites, one of the late Middle Kingdom and the other, the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1770 – 1550/40 BC). The analysis is based on the ceramic finds from the settlement layers of the ancient capitals of Tell el-Dab´a (Avaris) in the eastern Delta and of Kom Rabica (Memphis) just south of modern Cairo. Whilst the main focus of the research project was synchronising the relative chronologies of these two sites, another activity was an investigation of the possibility of archaeologically tracing the physical presence of the Hyksos, who allegedly conquered and ruled all of Egypt, in Memphis. The methods applied include random sampling, presence/absence analysis and quantitative analysis, the levels in question being phases G/4 to D/2 at Tell el-Dab´a and levels VIII to V at Kom Rabica. Whereas the material from the beginning of these sequences is quite comparable, in the course of analysis it emerged that the development of the material cultures of these two sites took different routes, particularly from level VId and phase E/1 onwards. Under the rule of the Hyksos, in the delta area a hybrid material culture developed that contained traits of Levantine Middle Bronze Age culture as well as the native Egyptian culture, as is most clearly expressed in the ceramic corpus. In contrast, the ceramic corpus at Kom Rabica developed out of the later Middle Kingdom corpus. This suggests that Memphis was not subjected to colonisation by the Hyksos.

Marl C pottery is found at a large number of sites in Egypt, particularly in the Memphis-Fayoum region from which such pottery is presumed to originate. It is as is well-known, a good indicator of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, but in this analysis of shapes, find places and chronological discussion it becomes obvious that Marl C was also utilised both in earlier and later periods, and for a wider variety of vessel types than previously realised. Beginning with the description  of Marl C clays and a discussion of their geographical origins, this monograph continues with a catalogue of all known Marl C pottery types. The majority of the vessels illustrated derive from graves, temple precincts and settlement areas at Tell el-Dab‛a, with further examples drawn from Memphis/Kom Rabi‛a, Lisht and Dahschur.
That such pottery is also found in Sinai, other parts of Egypt and Nubia points to a complex system of internal trade which is also touched upon in this study.

https://www.ifao.egnet.net/publications/catalogue/9782724709537/
In 2015 the project Beyond Politics: Material Culture in Second Intermediate Period Egypt and Nubia1 was initiated to assess archaeological finds in their own right, independently from
the historical, written sources. This approach was born out of necessity because the majority of archaeological finds do not bear dynastic affiliations. This is particularly true of the non-élite strata of ancient society.
The difficulties would not be alleviated even if such data were more frequent, because in the Second Intermediate Period (SIP) a) the sequence of pharaohs is not completely preserved2 b) the
reconstruction is not agreed upon3 and c) numerous archaeological SIP sites do not include any king’s names.
Most objects discussed here lack inscriptions or names, to demonstrate the complications and the need to add archaeological interpretations to obtain greater insight into the reconstruction of the lives of past people in the SIP. This is not to say that texts should be ignored, but the full value
of archaeological finds should be used to add knowledge of the past.

This article discusses cooking pottery as expression of group identity in the Egyptian context in the late Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period. While evidence is not abundant in all regions and periods, the data available from Tell el-Dab‘a, Memphis and more limited Elephantine are gathered to identify which cooking pots are used in the Delta and/or further south. Thus, five cooking pottery types are  presented, three of which are influenced by Syro-Palestinian and two by Egyptian traditions. The restricted bowl with folded rim used as cooking pottery (‘hole-mouth’ vessels) derived from Egyptian tradition is overwhelmingly more frequent and longer in use than the others. This cooking pot type is the only one in the mixed/entangled pottery repertoire of the late Second Intermediate Period at Tell el-Dab‘a. The article outlines the research history and quantity of these pottery types, discusses parallels in Syria-Palestine and Egypt, and traces possible precursors in both traditions. In Middle Bronze Age IIA Syria-Palestine no hole-mouth vessel shape was used for cooking, but rather a different type with upright or gutter rim. Thus, the entangled/mixed community
at Tell el-Dab‘a knew and used a small proportion of non-Egyptian cooking pots, but the majority belonged to the Egyptian tradition, demonstrating the material and/or relational entanglement at the site.

The ancient Egyptian city of al-Ashmūnayn (Minyā Governorate, Egypt) has been an important regional centre since at least the Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2160 BC). It is assumed to have been founded on the banks of the Nile, although no scientific evidence was hitherto available to support this claim. In this multidisciplinary study, the results of a geoarchaeological survey were combined with the study of pottery fragments. Boreholes Geoarchaeology.

Pottery represents the largest find group in almost all excavations in Egypt. Whilst not every context type can, or should, be treated in the same way, each of these provides data and insights into the history of the site under scrutiny. Besides dating, typology and functional issues can also be highlighted as well as raw material distribution, history of technology and units of measurement. Even very broken material in surface contexts informs us about the periods in which activities took place, because the general sequence of pottery development is well researched, so that, at the very least, a general date can usually be proposed. This is not to say that no more progress and refinement can be achieved or that new research is superfluous in the light of advances in research method and technology. The practice of dating by parallels from other sites is to a certain extent problematic especially in transitional periods because an absolutely uniform time horizon for certain pottery types seems to be the exception rather than the rule as well as total conformity in technology as well as in typology across Egypt and Nubia. Methodology in processing, data collection and ways to tease out information from the smallest pieces of pottery including material from drill cores is also discussed. Last but not least the controversial topic of discarding ceramic material will also be debated.

Regional differences in pottery production occur in terms of raw materials used, manufacturing technologies employed, and the range of vessel shapes created. The shapes were not only determined by the intended use contexts-for example in a settlement/funerary/cultic activity/industrial location- but also depend on the chronological period in which the vessels were made. lt is, however, often difficult to date material culture precisely within dynasties unless an undisturbed context can be connected with a well dated monument. A separate analysis is required for each case study in order to find explanatory models for the observed differences. In Egypt, except during the Middle Kingdom, differences in pottery repertoires over time have often been explained by the strengthening or weakening of the central administration, which is thought to have governed pottery production to a significant extent. This holds true for some of the material recovered, but an inadequate number of pottery workshops have been found to clearly support the hypothesis. Pictorial evidence and three-dimensional models of vessels, workers, and industrial buildings indicate that larger estates may also have included pottery workshops. This paper argues that estate production may explain some of the differences seen in the material assemblages. Two case studies are used to illustrate this, as well as the challenges and questions that arise when studying regional variations in pottery production. The first focuses on the early Middle Kingdom period at the sites of Ihnasya el-Madina/Herakleopolis Magna and Dayr al-Barsha, and the second focuses on the late Middle Kingdom at the sites of Tell el-Dab'a/Avaris and Kom Rabia/Memphis.

This chapter sketches the nature of evidence to be gained from careful analysis of the ceramic remains in ancient Egypt, and the ways to achieve it, explaining some of the advances made in recent years. Pottery provides the most ubiquitous archaeological source material derived from ancient Egypt. Early archaeologists only tended to show interest in pottery when it was intact and/or of aesthetically pleasing shape or decoration, but this important source material has turned into primary evidence when dating a site. It provides information on the history of use of a site as well as on socio-economic issues, such as importations from other sites or even abroad, and glimpses into possible functions of sites.

Numerous examples of simple house ground plans of the late Middle Kingdom are discussed in this article and the line of development is traced as far as possible.
This type of domestic architecture consists exclusively of mud brick. Measurements as well as proportions are given as possible means for dating such dwellings. The point of departure is the late Middle Kingdom settlement in Area A/II at Tell el-Daba, where a number of one and two room houses were excavated. While some of these houses are free standing, it is possible to find bipartite core-units, with one wide and one narrow room, embedded in other architectural assemblages in Egypt. These are known from at least the early Middle Kingdom onwards with a possible earlier tradition. At Tell el-Daba itself, the bipartite ground plan exists from the Middle Kingdom onwards with a possible earlier tradition. House models and other comparanda were also used to learn more about the distribution of this very simple architectural type used by non-elite individuals. In an overall cultural comparison various other socio-economic topics such as subsistence strategies, placement and capacity of storage facilities and various other influences on the assemblage found in Area A/II of the late Middle Kingdom are also discussed.

espanolLa campana de 2016 en el Templo de Heryshef ha tenido como uno de sus objetivos la excavacion de varias zonas para establecer su planta y conocer las diferentes estancias del mismo. Los trabajos de los espanoles han estado muy condicionados por las excavaciones anteriores de Naville (finales del siglo xix) y Petrie (inicios del xx), que removieron muchas zonas que hoy son dificiles de delimitar. EnglishThe 2016 campaign in the Temple of Heryshef has had several objectives, among them the excavation of several areas to determine the building’s floor plan and to confirm the number of rooms within it. The works of the Spanish team have been conditioned in many ways by the previous excavations of Naville (late nineteenth century) and Petrie (early twentieth century): in both cases, the soil had been removed in many areas that today are difficult to delimit.

This article discusses some of the
ceramic finds from the Temple of Millions of Years
of Thutmosis III in Thebes/West recorded from
2011 to 2015. Whilst the finds presented in this
article mostly date from the late Middle Kingdom
and Second Intermediate Period, tombs created
before the temple was built, are discussed in full,
selected New Kingdom pottery types are also
shown, e. g. from a foundation deposit. An interesting
cluster of tombs from approximately the 11th
Dynasty was situated to the north of the temple,
some pottery of which is also published.

This chapter sketches the nature of evidence to be gained from careful analysis of the ceramic remains in ancient Egypt, and the ways to achieve it, explaining some of the advances made in recent years. Pottery provides the most ubiquitous archaeological source material derived from ancient Egypt. Early archaeologists only tended to show interest in pottery when it was intact and/or of aesthetically pleasing shape or decoration, but this important source material has turned into primary evidence when dating a site. It provides information on the history of use of a site as well as on socio-economic issues, such as importations from other sites or even abroad, and glimpses into possible functions of sites.

This study addresses problems in the conceptualization of cultural contacts which result from the combination of textual and visual sources with archaeological sources. In this context, fundamental perceptions of cultures will be discussed either as entities which are generally clearly delimited and distinguishable from one another or as fluent constructs that cannot exist by themselves. A case study from the Middle Kingdom illustrates these differences.

This short bibliography is provided as a guide to some of the more recent ceramic studies that provided important information on Egyptian interconnections. It does not aim to be exhaustive, but to highlight some of the trends in the field and where advances have been made. The compilers hope this bibliography will be a starting place for those interested in recent work on pottery and Egyptian contact with the Near East.

In this article a group of hard stone objects will be presented. They were found in various parts and phases of a late Middle Kingdom settlement quarter at the Delta site of Tell el-Daba. The relevant local Phases are G/4 and G/3-1 (c. 1770-1710 BC), about two generations before the onset of the so-called ‘Hyksos’ period in the Egyptian Nile Delta. The macroscopic appearance of the objects seems reasonably similar to warrant the presentation as a group. As these objects were found in the stoneless Delta they had been brought to the site from the Nile valley either in the form of raw material or as finished products. Frequently such objects remain without known provenance. Partly this is the reason why they are in general rarely published and discussed, especially from settlements. Thus, almost no comparative corpus exists for the late Middle Kingdom.

This chapter provides an overview of possible types of cultural contact between Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean and of the available sources, both archaeological and textual, and their interpretational values and problems. The focus is on the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, corresponding to the Early Dynastic period, the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, and the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt. Using sources that have recently come to light, especially pottery, the article stresses the contextual information of such finds and considers changes in paradigms of interpretation. Analyzing and interpreting imported and “imitation” wares and objects is a relatively new and very difficult field, one that has initiated a re-evaluation of both textual and archaeological evidence.

This article is about two Egyptian vessels from the excavations at Toshka by Hermann Junker, which are kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It is a re-analysis of the fabric (Marl C) with new recording and drawing of two vessels, which date to the early 12th Dynasty according to stratified parallels.

Pottery and small finds from Area XXXVI of the Second Intermediate Period
in the Report of the German Archaeological Institute and the Swiss Institute in Cairo by Johanna Sigl, Bettina Bader, Michael Fielauf, Clara Jeuthe, Ewa Laskowska-Kusztal, Peter Kopp, Claire Malleson, Marie-Kristin Schröder, Cornelius von Pilgrim

Since Flinders Petrie’s work in Egypt, pottery has been utilised for dating archaeological contexts above all other possibilities for interpretation. He concentrated on creating pottery typologies as dating tool and used the Egyptian Dynasties and king’s reigns as major chronological reference points rather than archaeological phasing.

Recovery and recording of high density accumulations of discarded materials, probably domestic waste deposits, provide vital information about the lives of people and their societies, modern and ancient. While still rare in Egyptian archaeology, the domestic sphere holds information about people, their households and cultural processes, such as socioeconomic circumstances, subsistence, production, use of manufacturing technologies, procurement and recycling procedures, and waste management.

This talk will raise awareness of somewhat hidden prejudices and preconceived ideas about the identities of ancient people, based on material culture in various forms. Often such ideas cannot really be substantiated from current knowledge of objects, and textual references, if they exist, are also not as straight forward as we would wish. Firstly, individuals may have had more identities than immediately apparent and not each one is easily recognisable in the archaeological record. Further, research shows that some ideas about ancient Egypt and its inhabitants are rooted in antiquated culture-historical paradigms, which go back to ideological narratives. It is time to highlight those problems and avoid simplistic historical narratives in favour of more complex reconstructions. The lecture will provide some theoretical background of archaeological thinking with a proposal to reconstruct ancient life’s circumstances and realities, with a case study set in the late Middle Kingdom (c. 1800-1700 BC).

This lecture, which launches the new lecture series of the Cairo Branch on »Austrian Studies in Egyptian Archaeology« (ASEA), gives an overview of recent research into the material culture from the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1750 to 1550 BC) in Egypt. The chronological problems in synchronising sites during this time period complicate the comparison of contemporary material from different areas, which is known to be regionally different in several respects. This regional variation is particularly noticeable in terms of pottery since ceramic material occurs more frequently than other types of objects. Possible regional variations for objects other than pottery are difficult to distinguish, and such differences, if they exist, may not only be regional, but may also depend on the opportunities of object procurement, the continued use of heirlooms, and potential reuse of older items. Nevertheless several examples will be discussed as well as some results from cooperations with international teams.

Material culture tends to be interpreted as a direct reflection and manifestation of the ancient people within the field of Egyptology. The objects, in the widest sense, made and used by the people imply intricate patterns of technology and organisation of manufacture and often networks of exchange within and outside of Egypt, which complicate interpretational frameworks. Assumptions seem to oversimplify the available data and need scrutiny.

In periods or at sites, when and where material culture is the only preserved remnant of activity, particular care needs to be employed to not impose pre-conceived ideas, historiographic and modern, on the finds before the data set has been analysed in depth and thus provides a valuable source type, which can then be compared to other sources.

Differences in interpretation of relations by means of material culture can be observed when the material culture of the First Intermediate Period with all its regional developments and variation are contrasted with that of the Second Intermediate Period.

Various definitions and concepts will be discussed, especially where cultural contacts are perceived to go beyond Egypt.

Alle guten und schönen Dinge der Zweiten Zwischenzeit

Die Zweite Zwischenzeit (ca 1780 bis 1570/40 v. Chr) liegt zwischen dem Mittleren und Neuen Reich. Sie wird häufig immer noch als obskure Niedergangsphase beschrieben, obwohl eine Vielzahl von Quellen zur Auswertung und Interpretation zur Verfügung steht. Neben historische, schriftliche Quellen tritt die Archäologie mit der materiellen Kultur, um über verschiedene Aspekte der geschichtlichen Rekonstruktion Auskunft zu geben. Diese verschiedenen Quellentypen erlauben Erkenntnisse aus unterschiedlichen Blickwinkeln über Abläufe und Prozesse, die nicht durch schriftliche Quellen erfaßt sind, aber die Lebensrealität der antiken Menschen betreffen. Zusammen genommen ermöglichen sie ein weitaus differenzierteres Bild von Ägypten in der Zweiten Zwischenzeit als bisher. Vor allem Tendenzen der Regionalisierung der materiellen Kultur Ägyptens, die die chronologische Synchronisierung verschiedener Grabungsplätze nach dem Ende des Mittleren Reiches erschweren und die weitgehend politischer Einflußnahme zugeschrieben wurden, können deutlicher gemacht werden. Die vergleichende Zusammenschau von materieller Kultur aus mehreren Regionen Ägyptens ermöglicht einen Überblick über Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten, und öffnet den Blick für Schwierigkeiten in einigen Aspekten der Erforschung des Wandels der materiellen Kultur in Übergangsphasen und ihrer Verbindung zur historischen Chronologie Ägyptens.

Principal Investigator of the START-project Beyond Politics, FWF project no Y754-G19  The Second Intermediate Period, lasting ca 250 years, sees much research recently, which clarifies historical developments in various regions. It remains difficult to classify archaeological finds. The project assesses chronological sequences between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the New Kingdom in the regions of Egypt and at some sites in Nubia. To achieve this goal, intact contexts, tomb groups and settlement finds, are recorded and arranged in a chronological sequence by means of internal dating criteria rather than using external comparanda to avoid circular argumentation. While settlement sites, such as Tell el-Daba, Memphis, and Thebes provide modern stratigraphic sequences the types of objects derived from them cater for certain purposes and therefore differ from tombs. The same holds true for the state of preservation. While tombs provide better preserved and a wider range of object types the sequence is often more complicated to discern than in settlements. The combination of both and the inclusion of old and new excavations provide a wide field of basic research to establish independent chronological sequences at a great number of sites such as Tell el-Retaba, Tell el-Daba, Memphis, Sedment, Abydos, Thebes and Assuan (etc) and their increasingly regional development of material culture during the SIP. This lecture will highlight first results of the work on this important framework of material culture, which often defies dynastic classification.

Recording material culture is at the core of archaeological work, whether the material is pottery, stone tools, textiles, jewellery, or a myriad of other object classes. The main aim of this study day is to look behind our interpretational frameworks concerning the documentation of material culture and how our methods influence the information we hope to gain (and vice versa). The wide variety of research subjects in the Institute of Oriental and European Archaeology makes it an ideal place to look beyond the border of one's own discipline. This study day provides an opportunity to learn more about why and how objects in the widest sense are recorded in different archaeological fields, since these methods and motivations can differ widely (even for the same object type) in world archaeology. Participants are encouraged to engage in comparative discussion of recording methods, both traditional and digital, of objects and the intrinsic motivation behind our methodological choices. Additionally, we will look behind these methodologies and focus also on the types of questions we ask of material culture and the answers we expect to gain. In working with material culture the researcher faces various restrictions that make it impossible to give attention to all finds equally. In light of these limitations, speakers and participants are invited to highlight strategies for formulating research questions and choosing objects to be analysed, since these choices are crucial for obtaining reliable data against which our interpretational frameworks can be tested. The ultimate goal of this study day is to raise awareness to the importance of methods of documentation of material culture, as these methods are often overlooked in publications. The stories that these objects can tell are the ultimate building blocks for our interpretation of past societies.

Pottery represents the largest find group in almost all excavations in Egypt. Whilst not every context type can and should be treated in the same way, each of them provides data and insight into the history of the site under scrutiny. Besides dating also typology and functional issues can be highlighted.

Even very broken material in surface contexts informs about the periods in which activities took place, because the general sequence of pottery development is quite well researched, so that at the very least a general date can usually be proposed. This is not to say that no more advances and refinement can be achieved or that new research is superfluous in the light of advances in research method and technology. The practice of dating by parallels from other sites is to a certain extent problematic especially in transitional periods because an absolutely uniform time horizon for certain pottery types seems to be the exception rather than the rule as well as total conformity in technology as well as in typology.

The paper focusses on methodology in processing, data collection and ways to tease out information of the smallest pieces of pottery including material from drill cores. Last but not least the controversial topic of discarding material will also be discussed.

The Second Intermediate Period is a fascinating time of change and innovation, which had great influence on the following New Kingdom. While the political history of the period is very complicated and subject  to frequent change derived from new research, the painstaking study of material culture is able to highlight some aspects of cultural and socio-economic processes such as specific regional developments and distribution patterns. It is often very difficult to connect historical facts or dynasties to the archaeology of the Second Intermediate Period and the current work in the field and in Museums is geared towards establishing regional sequences of material culture in order to connect these in a next step inspite of regional differences.

Technological and morphological differences in pottery production in Egypt in the Second Intermediate Period (1700-1550 BC): signs of changing regional connectivity? This paper discusses a process and its possible meaning increasingly observable in the pottery production of Second Intermediate Period (SIP) Egypt. In several regions such as the northeastern Nile Delta, the Memphis-Fayoum region, Middle Egypt, the Theban region and further south, pottery production developed in different ways. This observation includes the composition of raw materials, morphological details of the same vessel types, such as hemispherical cups and large storage vessels as well as technological features, such as the finishing of bases and rims or surface treatment although a common root is usually recognisable. Moreover in the various regions certain vessel types are favoured over others although some types were found in most places. This development contrasts the perceived uniformity of the earlier Middle Kingdom and makes relative synchronisation of sites in Egypt in the SIP complicated and requires the hitherto neglected contextual approach to archaeology, which include other object types such as stone vessels, scarabs, or tools and even molluscs. The most abundant contexts are represented by tomb groups although a few relevant settlements also exist. Pottery was chosen for illustrating this process of changing connectivity within Egypt because it is the most abundant artefact type in archaeology and shows subtle changes in relatively short time periods. The most common interpretation of these processes sought political explanations but these changes allow considerations about regionality, its reasons, development and appearance. Finally it will be possible to illustrate networks of technology and whether they are congruent across various artefact types or not.

The work of the Spanish mission at Herakleopolis Magna (direction M.C. Peréz-Die, Museo Arqueològico Nacional, Madrid) in the necropolis of the First Intermediate Period/early Middle Kingdom between 2002 and 2013 allows one to sketch a ceramic sequence of finds from the late Old Kingdom to the early Middle Kingdom. The pottery repertoire of the latest stage of development overlaps with that from nearby Sedment.
Of special importance are the sequences in Sector 15 as well as the material deposited close to an inscribed stela of Nenj in Sector 20. The lowest exposure of Sector 15, where the water table ended the excavations, yielded ceramic material resembling that from other nearby Old Kingdom sites. Whilst the nature and derivation of these depositions remains unclear due to limited exposure, it provides an opportunity to have better idea of pottery development in the Fayoum region in the period from the late Old Kingdom to the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. The connection with Sedment on the other hand, allows one to see the further development of the ceramic repertoire in this area.
Furthermore a contrasting juxtaposition of grave good types between Herakleopolis and Sedment also allows an estimate of how thorough the destruction of the necropolis at Herakleopolis must have been.

In several tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, workshop scenes of pottery manufacture and their products are depicted in two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional art. At the beginning of the New Kingdom the last of these scenes is known after which they are no longer found. This research will look at the available evidence in order to find out whether some assumptions can be made on the sequence of steps necessary to produce pottery, the arrangement of the workshops themselves as well as on the products themselves. Further, the assumption that the depictions cannot serve as evidence for the local and/or regional organisation of pottery manufacture will also be tested.

Regional differences in pottery production occur in terms of raw material, manufacturing technology and the range of vessel shapes in use. The latter does not only depend on the type of context of use (settlement/tomb/cult activity/industrial installations). Chronological differences may also play an important role, because it is often difficult to date material culture precisely within dynasties unless an undisturbed context is directly connected with a well dated monument. For each case a separate study is required in order to find explanatory models for such differences. In Egypt, especially before and after the Middle Kingdom, such differences in ceramics have been explained frequently with the breakdown of central administration which is supposed to also govern the production process of pottery. Whilst this is probably true for some types of material, we do not find many pottery workshops, and pictorial evidence and three dimensional models suggest that larger estates also encompassed pottery workshops sometimes. This may explain some of the differences we see in the material. I would like to present two case studies to illustrate problems and questions concerning pottery production, one for the early Middle Kingdom (Herakleopolis Magna and Deir el-Bersha) and one for the late Middle Kingdom (Tell el-Daba and Kom RAbia/Memphis).