Fayum

This study concerns the mummy of a Greco-Roman adult male aged 45-55 years from the Fayum region of Egypt. It was acquired by Charles E. Ficke in 1896. The Putnam Museum and Science Center had the mummy CT scanned on August 21, 2007.  Data from that scan were sent to the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium for analysis. Details of possible provenience, mummification techniques and paleopathology are discussed.

As a result of several years of research started during a one-year work at the Catholic University of Leuven (as a fellow of the Institute of Classical Studies from October 2000 to September 2001), my book presents the˜ functioning of Roman administration in the Arsinoite nome (today – Fayum Oasis) in the period from Augustus’s (Octavian) reign to the transformation of the Empire in the times of Diocletian and Constantine the Great. The choice of the topic for the monograph was not accidental – there is no other region of the Roman Empire so well represented by original documents. Approximately 40 percent of the whole papyrus documentation available to historians comes from the Fayum, with the vast majority dating to the times of Roman Empire, especially the second and third century AD. A great part of these thousands of documents relates, in one way or another, to administration as documents created by it, addressed to its representatives, issued by them to serve the inhabitants. Despite this abundance of sources, or maybe because of it, there were no previous attempts at comprehensive description of the administration system employed by the Roman government in the discussed region. In my book, I analysed the territorial structures and the administrative hierarchy of the nome. As the biggest and the most populated nome with the largest area of arable land, the Fayum created, and partially maintained, unique structures, which could not be observed in other Egyptian nomes, such as merides – the units named, until the times of Diocletian, after the names of their first administrators in the third century BC (merides of Herakleides, Themistos, and Polemon). In the second century AD, this led to the creation of two quasi-nomes (meris of Herakleides separately and merides of Themistos and Polemon combined) headed by two separate strategoi and their deputies known traditionally as royal scribes (basilikoi grammateis). However, my most important conclusions referred to the units of a lower hierarchy, toparchies, which in the Arsinoite nome in the Roman period were not considered as separate administrative units and are mentioned in documents only in the context of sitologia – a highly centralised system of grain collection (as taxes in kind and rent for the land owned by the state). Toparchies, a distinction of the Fayum, were numbered and from a certain moment paired off according to the key I succeeded to establish. Prosopographical studies on local lower-rank officials are a separate and an important part of my monograph. Fayum documents allowed for description of previously unknown phenomenon of officials’ selection (e.g. ’heads’ of villages, the so-called village scribes, komogrammateis) from outside the region they governed. Although it was never directly expressed, the aim of this procedure seems to be clear: a foreign person, from outside the local society was naturally more independent and less influenced by local elite, which had to contribute to mitigating the negative effect the elite could have on the functioning of state government, especially in the scope of appointing candidates for officials of lower rank as this position was not paid for and required devotion of time and, quite often, considerable finances.
My work is based on source material, which mainly consists of documents from the second and the third century AD. For various reasons, historians have access only to a limited number of documents from the first century BC and the first century AD, when Roman administration in Egypt was being introduced. A detailed analysis of these documents allowed for a recreation of how the Romans might have incorporated the most valuable and the most densely populated province into the Empire. Octavian, of course, changed the functioning of central administration in Alexandria replacing the old structures of the Ptolemaic monarchy with the new ones, created on the basis of equites and military officers. The head of the new government was the Prefect of Egypt who, at the same time, was the commander of a large military force – three legions stationing along the banks of the Nile. We learnt about these changes mainly from literary and epigraphic sources, also those from outside Egypt (with particular emphasis on Augustus’s self-presentation of his achievements inscribed in the so-called Monumentum Ancyranum). It seems that these fundamental changes in Alexandria must have also brought significant changes in the administration system of Egyptian provinces. Nevertheless, my research did not confirm that; during the first hundred years of the Roman rule (until c. AD 70), the changes were insignificant, if any at all. In the Fayum, the merides were transformed into three separate quasi-nomes only at the end of the firstt century AD; until the same time, there existed also the system of toparchies inherited from Ptolemaic times. What is more, it was not until the last quarter of the first century AD when new administration offices (e.g. related to the administration of lands owned by the princeps, members of his immediate family or friends) and units (large municipalities consisting of several villages, i.e. komogrammateis), characteristic for the Roman period, were created.

In the past the settlement pattern of middle Holocene Egypt was based on the presence or absence of material correlates including structures, stone tools, pottery, and domesticated plants and animals. Together these formed the traits of a Neolithic package that were thought to spread from southwest Asia to Egypt during the middle Holocene. Modern research now shows that the traits attributed to the Neolithic package did not develop uniformly over time and space, so the package concept is less useful. Contemporary approaches focus on processes such as mobility, occupation duration, and use-of-place to draw inferences about settlement pattern. These are measured through analysis of material culture such as stone artefacts and the placement of features on a landscape. However, more examples are required that use material culture types that are abundant and preserve well, such as pottery. Past research has focused on the analysis of a small proportion of pottery assemblages, typically whole vessels and decorated sherds, both used to form typologies and identify cultural groupings. Similarities in decorative styles or vessel forms are used to infer movement between different cultural groups. However, these culture-historical interpretations mean that large volumes of un-diagnostic sherds are often disregarded. This research uses non-destructive methods, such as x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and fragmentation ratios, to analyse all artefacts in pottery assemblages to understand the impact of the previously noted processes. XRF analysis is used to identify the geochemical signatures of the materials used in pottery manufacture. This analysis enables the identification of pottery that is not likely made locally and so provides a proxy for movement. The differential fragmentation of pottery is used in estimates of how many vessels the sherds in an assemblage represent and so provides a means for assessing occupation duration. Pottery from several places in Egypt that date to the middle Holocene are compared. Results suggest movement between locations beyond what was previously inferred based on culture-historical interpretations. These results are interpreted in the wider North African context.

P. Enteux. 79 and 82 are two petitions to the Ptolemaic king, written in Greek during the 3rd c. BCE, and originating from the Fayum. Commentaries on these texts have often been focused on the gender of their protagonists: in the first document, a Greek man reports an Egyptian woman, while in the second, a Greek woman reports an Egyptian man. The relevance of this gendered approach will be questioned by returning to the content of the texts. The analysis of women’s actions in both petitions will allow the author to highlight their contribution to the understanding of Greek and Egyptian women’s status during the 3rd c. BCE in the chôra.

ABSTRACT: This lecture deals mainly with Dynasty 12, proceeding through the reigns of (1) Amenemhet I; (2) Senwosret I; (3) Amenemhet II; (4) Senwosret II; (5) Senwosret III; (6) Amenemhet III; (7) Amenemhet IV; and (8) Queen Sobekneferu (who assumed the throne as a "king" and daughter of Re), then highlights some Dynasty 13 rulers, their pyramids, and the traces of pyramids and capstones from unidentified royal owners, and finishes up with coverage of the Story of Sinuhe (using M. Lichtheim's translation).  At the beginning of the lecture, and throughout the lecture, various questions are addressed: (a) Under what circumstances did Amenemhet I found Dyn.12?  (i.e., was he an opportunist? or usurper?); (b) Why did Amenemhet I move the capital from Thebes to the north? (i.e., to Itj-towy); (c) Do the classic Middle Kingdom series of tales promoted by Amenemhet I and Senwosret I have any basis in reality? (i.e., Prophecy of Neferti; Admonitions of Ipuwer; Story of Sinuhe); (d) What purposes might these entertaining tales have served the early Dyn.12 kings? (i.e., Legitimizing the new dynasty? Promoting a good image of the kings? Etc.); (e) What other programs did the Dynasty 12 rulers pursue to forge a link with the Old Kingdom? (i.e., Resumption of royal pyramid construction; establishing northern capital, albeit new); (f) How were Middle Kingdom pyramids similar to and different from Old Kingdom pyramids? (this will be addressed more extensively in a later lecture); (g) How and why did the Middle Kingdom rulers alter their approach to Lower Nubia?; (h) How and why did Middle Kingdom rulers alter  their approach to Sinai /Syria-Palestine?; (i) Does The Story of Sinuhe reflect the known socio-political situation in Syria-Palestine? (i.e., Is the tale true to its period of composition? Is it reliable for general historical data?); (j) How did the powerful 12th Dynasty end? (i.e., A sudden collapse? Gradual decline? Other?: i.e., What were the agents of change and decline? Is it clear? Uncertain?); (k) What other differences & similarities exist between the Old and Middle Kingdoms? (i.e., What dramatic changes  do we see in Ancient Egyptian society, religion, art, architecture, etc?); (l) What do we know of the elusive Dynasty 13 rulers, their pyramids, burial furnishings, and regional through international activities? (i.e., especially the first 27 rulers until the last known ruler [Ay] of a unified Egypt); and (m) What can we glean from the Story of Sinuhe regarding political events?; Ancient Egyptian interrelations with its neighbours?; Life in Canaan (particularly along the fringes of urban Canaan)?; Travel across borders?;  The court of the pharaoh? Typical aspects of housing, life, and burials for elite Egyptians?  At the end of the lecture there is a summary for each Dynasty 12 ruler plus a brief statement on Dynasty 13. UPDATE: April 7, 2023, adding new formatting, revising text, new images, and adding in selected bibliography at end.

New edition of P.Sorb.inv. 539a recto = P.LilleDem. 121, fragment of a register of payments of a sitologus, and edition of P.Sorb.inv. 539a verso, a fragment of land register identified by Andrew Monson, Associate Professor of Classics at New York University.

Kom W, a Neolithic site in the Fayum, Egypt, was excavated in 1924-26 by Caton-Thompson and Gardner (1934). Limited surviving records of their work have reduced the extent to which contemporary archaeologists can interpret the structure and formation of the site. In order to better understand Kom W and the material found there, the past excavation records need to be reimagined.

This paper explores the ceramic repertoire of Al-Qārah al-Ḥamrā, a small settlement in the Fayyūm, on the north shore of Lake Qārūn, dating from the Hellenistic to Early Roman period. A selection of significant typologies of local wares is discussed and contributes to the picture of what activities occurred at the site. The paper further contributes to the understanding of the infiltration of Greek ceramic shapes and influences, the impact this had on a local community, and the transition to Early Roman wares. The ceramics also evince the trade connections between the Fayyūm, and the rest of Egypt and the Mediterranean, indicating the extent of exchange and communication outside the Fayyūm. Such analysis is particularly relevant considering the paucity of archaeological data from small-scale Fayyūm settlements. Comparisons with Karanis, Tebtunis, and other larger sites point to a similarly diverse repertoire of materials and further stress the interconnectedness of this region.

In their book on the Fayum North shore, Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild reported on a site they designated E29G1, recording the presence of stone artefacts and fishbone and relating two radiocarbon determinations to the local lacustrine sediment stratigraphy. In 2009, we revisited the site and recorded the numbers and spatial distribution of material in two areas together with a survey to locate hearths and grinding stones. It was our intention to work in this area after the preliminary work was completed but political conditions have prevented our return. Since our visit, highway construction has modified areas of the desert surface in the vicinity of E29G1. While the Google Earth image accessed in November 2015 showed the site had escaped direct damage, a new highway is located only 1.5 km to the south west of E29G1 and a new track exists adjacent to the site that leads to an area of what appears to be industrial excavation to the northwest. The site is therefore potentially threatened and it is important that our observations, limited though they are, should be published. This report also provides a means to acknowledge the importance of the work Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild undertook in the Fayum. The significance of the Fayum north shore to our understanding of the prehistory of the eastern Sahara is due to the diligence of a small group of scholars, including Wendorf and Schild, who have built upon each other’s work. The results reported in this study continue this tradition.

This article focuses on the botanical remains obtained from sixteen mudbricks from Karanis, a Greek-Roman site in Egypt that was inhabited
between 300 BC and AD 600. The aim of the research was to analyse and determine the variation in the composition of the organic
temper in the mudbricks. The differences are expressed in terms of the plant assemblage, and the quantity, quality and degree of fragmentation
of threshing remains. The results contribute to our knowledge of how mudbricks were made and shed light on various social and economic factors in the production of mudbricks.

In the article the Stone Age materials obtained by the Russian archaeological expedition (CES RAS) in Fayum (Egypt) are published. Technical and typological analysis of the flint artefacts within the geomorphological context of surface scatters suggests attribution of the discussed collection to the long period from the Lower Palaeolithic to the boundary of Middle Stone Age and Upper Palaeolithic.

The paper uses the example of historical paper research in Vienna around 1900 in order to analyze the dynamics of scientific cooperation between the natural sciences and the humanities. It focuses on the Vienna-based plant physiologist Julius Wiesner (1838–1916), who from 1884 to 1911 studied medieval paper manuscripts under the microscope in productive cooperation with paleographers, archaeologists and orientalists (Josef Karabacek, Marc Aurel Stein, Rudolf Hoernle). The paper examines why these cooperations succeeded and how they developed over time. Here we distinguish between two forms of cooperation: while Wiesner initially worked only reactively, in a “closed cooperation”, he later entered into “open cooperations”, in which both parties defined research questions and methods. This form of cooperation proved particularly successful, but at the same time was especially demanding because, in addition to contributing one’s own skills, it required considerable “interlocking expertise” (Andersen 2016). This was favored because the historical auxiliary sciences were in a phase of upheaval. Wiesner contributed his knowledge of technical microscopy and developed a genuine interest in historical questions, while the humanists were prepared to open themselves to scientific processes and ultimately acknowledged Wiesner as a historian of paper in his own right.

In 2007–2008, Center for Egyptological Studies RAS excavated and investigated group of well-preserved cartonnage mummy masks at the necropolis of Deir al-Banat in the Fayum Oasis. In this brief article, the author reports on these recent discoveries and introduces a discussion of the group’s iconographic and stylistic characteristics.
Keywords: burial masks, funerary rite, archaeology of Roman Egypt.

Pottery from Kom W, a Neolithic stratified site on the Fayum north shore, includes intact vessels as well as sherd fragments, with fragmented pottery also found on adjacent deflated surfaces. In part because of this material, Kom W was previously interpreted as a village associated with the introduction of domestic plants and animals from southwest Asia. Here pottery recovered from Kom W by Caton Thompson and Gardner during their 1920s excavations is reviewed and compared to pottery from other north shore sites. Vessel size is reconstructed as well as placement of the vessels within Kom W. It is suggested that a number of vessels found at Kom W were used for storage, in line with similar evidence from the Fayum north shore and from northeast Africa more generally.

Brève étude d’un buste en calcaire du Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne (legs H.-A. Widmer, inv. Eg. 4). Le traitement particulier du collier indique que l’œuvre ne se rattache pas à la XVIIIe dynastie – comme admis jusqu’à présent –, mais plus probablement aux rondes-bosses réalisées sous le règne d’Amenemhat III pour le temple de Crocodilopolis dans le Fayoum. Il s’agit sans doute d’une statue momiforme du roi déifiée.