Executive Board

This paper reports on the excavation of several units containing stratified material from the end of the Old Kingdom into the Early Dynastic levels. This work has been conducted under the auspices of the Pennsylvania State University and under the direction of the project leader, Donald B. Redford. In 1999 the decision was made to begin work in unit AJ-A with the intent of excavating as deep as possible to expose a significant stratigraphic section of the tell. The location of the unit was strategically chosen by Professor Redford on the edge of the mounded succession of remains of the provincial temple dating back at least as early as the end of the Old Kingdom. Work on the temple mound had exposed a destruction of the Old Kingdom temple and indicated the opportunity to be had in excavating on the slope of the temple mound. (the details of the temple excavations will be presented by Donald B. Redford in another paper)

To date, our excavations have yielded 7 major building phases from the 6th Dynasty to the 2nd/1st Dynasty and enough pottery to begin work on an Old Kingdom/Early Dynastic typology and serration for the Mendes. We have expanded out of our original unit, AJ-A into 4 additional units and plan to open 2 more this summer season (2004). This paper will report on the stratigraphy, architecture, pottery, and small finds that have been exposed in these excavations.

At the ARCE Annual Meeting in 2004 I presented preliminary results on the Old Kingdom – Early Dynastic strata of Tell er-Ruba, Mendes. At that time I discussed the stratagraphic and ceramic material associated with the 6 major building phases excavated in the 1999-2003 seasons and the possibility of future excavation into the Predynastic strata because of a low water table. In 2004 we were able to expand our excavation by another 60 square meters. This allowed us to verify our stratagraphic sequence and phasing. We are now able to date Phase 2 (numbered from the top) to the 5th Dynasty based on a seal impression of Neferirkare. Additionally, we have expanded our exposure of the Phase 6 structure and clarified its walls. Seal impressions from this structure allow us to date it to the early 1st Dynasty. It is clear based on ceramic evidence that we are on the cusp of the period of state formation; a few fragments of Naqqada IIIb pottery were found in this building. This paper reports on the 2004 season and discusses the stratigraphy and finds in relation to the material that I reported on last year.

Although the memory of the 23rd Dynasty as preserved in Manetho may be imperfect, that imperfectness must have been present in the king-list tradition since the 25th Dynasty and must represent the 23rd Dynasty as the 25th Dynasty intended it to be seen. It is illogical to assume that Manetho had the king-list as a source and still made an egregious error. Having been unsuccessful at matching them up with the names of other 23rd Dynasty kings, many scholars have tried to explain the presence of Psammus and Zet as mistakes or misunderstandings on the part of Manetho, his epitomizers, or in the transmission of the epitomes. Rather than throwing out Manetho as many scholars have done, we must ask the question: How did this get into the king list tradition? For the 23rd Dynasty, D.B. Redford has argued convincingly that the 25th Dynasty caused the preservation of its predecessor in the king-list based on the fact that the 25th Dynasty had a particularly cordial relationship with the 23rd (Redford, D.B. Pharaonic King-Lists, Annals and Day-Books. Mississauga, 1986. p.310ff.). Principally, Redford is correct. By using this as a starting point, and working logically through Manetho and the historical evidence, it becomes increasingly clear that Manetho has preserved quite accurately the king-list as it must have come down to him. That king-list, at least in how it has dealt with the 23rd Dynasty, makes perfect sense if viewed as the result of the 25th Dynasty’s tampering and need to legitimize itself, not just its desire to do the 23rd Dynasty a favor. This paper will present an argument for the authenticity of the sequence of the 23rd Dynasty kings preserved in Manetho, including the entries Psammus and Zet, and offer a reconstruction of the historical reasons for why the king-list look the way it looks.

At previous ARCE Annual Meetings I have presented preliminary results on the ongoing excavations of the Old Kingdom – Early Dynastic strata of Tell er-Ruba, Mendes. In those reports, I discussed the stratagraphic and ceramic material associated with the six major building phases excavated in the 1999-2004 seasons and the possibility of future excavation into the Predynastic strata. This paper will present new material from the 2005 season in which we opened additional units, allowing us to verify our stratagraphic sequence and phasing. The now, greater exposure of Phases 3 and 4 (4th-3rd Dynasty) has revealed portions of two buildings separated by a trash-filled street. Excavations from this area have now yielded a continuous pottery sequence from the 6th Dynasty to the 1st Dynasty and our pottery sample is now twice the size it was two years ago, making it a crucial sequence for the understanding of early ceramics in the Delta.

In addition to the continued pottery analysis, 2005 saw focused work on the Phase 6 domestic structure, which has itself revealed three major rebuilds. In 2005, I reported a confidant mid-1st Dynasty date (based on seal impressions) for this building, and pottery and artifacts from the 2005 season supporting this assessment will be detailed. This paper will also address the preliminary ceramic analysis of this building which has allowed us to lay the groundwork for a typology of 1st Dynasty pottery at Mendes.

The ceramic evidence—fragments of Naqqada IIIb pottery—makes plain that we are on the cusp of the period of state formation. The uniqueness of this site’s low water table will allow for continued excavation into the strata of the state formation period, thus producing critical information about this important transition, and methodology for the upcoming season will be outlined.

The 2004 and 2006 Tel Aviv University excavations of the Early Bronze at Megiddo were conducted with two specific goals in mind: to expose the plan of the EBIb (J-4) temple and to elucidate the EBIII (J-5-7) rehabitation of the area. These goals, as put forth by the directors of the expedition, are the culmination of several seasons work in Area J during which large areas of the Early Bronze cult center were exposed and the massive J-4 broad-room temple was discovered. The six new units opened in 2004 were the last from the Area J grid accessible for excavation. Therefore, they offered the last chance to expose the J-4 temple remains and to more comprehensively expose the J-5 and J-6 strata. Prior to these excavations, the plan and nature of the J-5 and J-6 levels were poorly understood as their exposures were scattered throughout the area and, in only a few places, were there adjacent in-phase units. These six units have almost tripled the contiguous exposure of J-6.

This presentation will convey the results of this work: 1. A new understanding of the EBIII level that predates the construction of the ‘Megara’ complex which shows evidence not of domestic use, but of administrative (perhaps palatial) activity; 2. The presentation of a more complete plan of the J-4 monumental temple and its massive broad-room sanctuary; and 3. A brief revival of the discussion of the stratigraphic attribution of the Egyptianized Pottery discovered in 1996.

The 2004 and 2006 Tel Aviv University excavations of the Early Bronze at Megiddo were conducted with two specific goals in mind: to expose the plan of the EB Ib (J-4) temple and to elucidate the EB III (J-5-7) rehabitation of the area. The results of excavation in Area J at Megiddo were presented at last year’s ASOR meeting. This summer’s 2008 season was dedicated to completing work on the massive EB Ib temple and to excavating the remaining corner of Building 5269. Building 5269 is the western most of the three ‘megaron’-style temples excavated by the University of Chicago as Stratum XV (Tel Aviv Stratum J-7; EB III). So thoroughly had Chicago excavated these temples that renewed work within the structures was unable to answer lingering questions of the chronology of these temples. Fortunately, one corner of Building 5269 escaped Chicago’s work crews unscathed, and this season we took the opportunity to dedicate resources to working within the structure. This effort has provided a stratigraphic link between the Early Bronze Age
strata and those of the Middle and Iron Ages.

This presentation will convey the results of the 2008 season, concentrating on three topics: 1. The new stratification of the Early Bronze cultic complex and its synchronization with later strata at the site; 2. The presentation of the complete plan of the EB Ib (J-4) monumental temple and its massive broad-room sanctuary; and 3. The excavation of Building 5269 and a new ‘megara’ temple chronology.

In the 2006 and 2008 seasons at Megiddo, the Early Bronze Age excavations in Area J were expanded to two squares above the northwestern corner of the J-7 Temple 5269. This excavation allowed us to excavate down through the Middle and Late Bronze Age strata and connect them to the Early Bronze Age levels below. During the course of this project the contemporary University of Chicago strata were reassessed, shedding new light on the Middle Bronze Age sequence.
This paper will briefly review the new Middle Bronze Age data from the Tel Aviv University Megiddo Excavations and discuss their relevance to the excavations of G. Schumacher and the University of Chicago. A four-phase developmental sequence will be described for the MB I-II (MB IIA-B) tracing the changes in social organization at the site. New and old (but unnoticed) evidence will also be brought to bear on architectural features of the Stratum XII palace as well as the long-standing and contentious question of an MB temple.

The ancient town of Mendes is the largest surviving archaeological site in the Egyptian Delta. This one time capital of Egypt boasts an occupational history of some 5000 years from the beginnings of agriculture to the Middle Ages. For most of the history of the discipline of Egyptology, however, Mendes and other sites in the Delta have been overlooked in favor of the riches of the great cemeteries of Sakkara and Thebes in Upper Egypt. Consequently, the Delta has become an archaeological terra incognita. This has begun to change in the last 25 years and the Delta has become an exciting new frontier in Egyptian Archaeology, with the Penn State Excavations at Mendes among those leading the charge.

This presentation focuses on the discoveries relating to the first 1000 years of the Egyptian state (ca. 3000–2000 BCE). During that time, Mendes flourished as the state prospered, enjoying lavish donations from Pharaoh in the form of a monumental temple and lands to support it. As the Pyramid Age progressed, the priesthood of this temple grew wealthy and a vast cemetery grew up around the site. As the first millennium of the monarchy drew to a close, however, Pharaoh’s power waned, and Egypt descended into a period of anarchy known as the First Intermediate Period. At Mendes, poverty became rampant and food became scarce. The citizens perished at an alarming rate. Ultimately, Mendes suffered at the hands of an unknown enemy and was destroyed, its citizens murdered.

In 1996, a cache of sixteen ceramic vessels was discovered in the cultic compound at Tel Megiddo by the Tel Aviv University Megiddo Expedition. The vessels have clear Egyptian affinities in form and technology, but were certainly made in the Jezreel Valley. Unfortunately, the location of the cache relative to standing monuments and the circumstance of excavation boundaries have created a particularly difficult situation from which to interpret both the function of the cache and its stratigraphic attribution. Consequently, dates ranging from the EB Ib to the EB III have been proffered on the basis of stratigraphy and ceramic parallels. While the status quo has settled on an EB Ib date, the data upon which this attribution rests remains unsatisfactory.

Since the discovery of the cache, 5 new seasons of work have commenced in Area J, supervised by the author. On the basis of this work, which included new significant horizontal and vertical exposure, a revised and more solid stratigraphic sequence for the Early and Middle Bronze Ages at Megiddo has been established. In light of this recent excavation, this study reassesses the stratigraphy, ceramic date, and the function of the cache of Egyptianizing pottery, shedding new light on Egyptian and Leventine relations in the 3rd Millenium BCE.

The status of Memphis as the earliest capital of a unified Egyptian state has gone unquestioned in Egyptology. The basic modern reconstruction of the foundation of the city follows closely the reports of the Classical visitor, Herodotus, who transmits the native tradition of Memphis as being founded by the first king of Egypt, Min. The presence of the Early Dynastic cemeteries at Saqqara and Helwan, seemingly support the veracity of the basic story, and scholars have long sought to identify Min as one of the early archaeologically attested kings (such as Narmer or Hor-Aha). The rise of the pyramid fields and the development of the greater Saqqara necropolis is generally seen as support that the administrative center of the Old Kingdom state remained at Min's great city. This historical model provides the framework in which Egyptology generally reconstructs the evolution of the Egyptian state and its administrative apparatus.
The problem with this traditional view, however, is that no clear capital city matching this historical reconstruction has emerged from the archaeological record nor is it evident in the textual record. This paper seeks to establish a history of the city of Memphis rooted in contemporary texts and archaeology independent of the Classical sources. It will trace the development of the city through the Saite period. The author takes a historical revisionist approach to Memphis and provides a historiographical framework for the development and transmission of the myth of Memphis as presented in the Classical sources.