Oxbow Classics in Egyptology

Flinders Petrie undertook excavation and survey of ancient Egyptian towns in the Faiyum oasis, south-west of Cairo, in 1888—90. The work included opening of a pyramid at Illahun and excavation of a nearby cemetery, excavation and planning of over 2000 chambers of the city of Kahun, excavation of a Ptolemaic cemetery at Gurob, and work at the temple site at Medinet Gurob. This facsimile volume presents brief descriptions of the work with a focus on the artifacts and inscriptions recovered and recorded with an attempt to establish a chronology of occupation in the oasis. The entrance to the pyramid at Illahun, its peculiar structure and exploration of its various internal passages and chambers are described, including the sepulchre containing the red granite sarcophagus of Usertesen II, accompanied by a table of offerings. A series of nearby tombs produced a wealth of artifacts associated with burials, wooden coffins and cartonnages, including glazed objects, amulets, scarabs, beads, silver cowries, carved and inscribed wooden objects and statuettes. At Kahun the complete surviving plan of the ancient town revealed a regular layout thought by Petrie to be the work of a single architect. He identified the acropolis, at least eight great houses, dwelling houses, rubbish heaps, and storerooms arranged along numerous narrow 'workmen's' streets with drainage channels. Much evidence for construction materials and techniques and house fittings, wall plaster and paint was recovered. Portable objects included decorated pottery, some of it imported; pottery trays of offerings; stonework; wooden carvings; flint sickles and knives; inscribed stelae; a variety of copper tools; scarabs and clay seals; stone weights and many tools, including several workshop groups. A family tomb in the cellar beneath one house contained 12 coffins, each containing several bodies with grave offerings buried in succession, two baby boxes and a heap of offerings. At Gurob, the plan of the main temple and surrounding enclosures, within which were contained most of the houses, was established and an outline of its history determined. An unusual practice of burning personal belongings in pits beneath the houses was identified and the groups of objects and inscriptions discussed. The nearby cemetery was also investigated with pit-like tombs producing undecorated coffins but finely painted cartonnages, badly decomposed papyri and a few funerary objects. A discussion of the wider urban landscape concludes the narrative. There are specialist reports on the papyri and stone implements.

Provides a detailed description and interpretation of a lesser-known tomb forming part of the major pyramid and temple complex of Teti at Thebes. The tomb of Re'-wer lies in the south-eastern corner of the mortuary temple of King Teti, first King of the 6th Dynasty, beside the pyramid of Teti, in the Old Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara. Excavations in 1906–7 and in the early 1920s were not published and the tomb was re-excavated and partly restored in 1975–7. It comprised a paved courtyard within a temenos containing the rectangular chapel tomb, with surviving structure built of fine quality limestone blocks in inner and outer walls. It is unusual in having two false doors in the west wall. The roof was missing. Nothing was recovered from a burial shaft that lies close to the tomb. The walls and false doors are adorned with inscriptions and reliefs. This facsimile reissue of Said el-Fikey's detailed description of the surviving structure, decoration and transcription of the inscriptions is accompanied by a full set of photographs and illustrations. No biographical text survived and the author considers the possible date of the tomb in relation to the adjacent architecture and the style of the reliefs, concluding that it most likely dates to the reign of Pepi I. He discusses indications for the personality, family situation and official position of Re'-wer, which may suggest that he was father to a wife of King Pepi and that both were disgraced for some reason.

Amin Amer's 1999 study of the Gateway of Ramesses IX at Karnak, Egypt, is presented here in a facsimile reissue. The Gateway is a little-known major work, part of the great temple at Karnak, built by one of the last kings of the Egyptian empire after a long period that saw little building work in the temple complex. The rather modest, by Karnak's standards, construct lies at the northern end of the court 'of the Cachette', north of Pylon VII, and leads into the southern end of the narrow court of Pylons III and IV, presenting an impressive entrance to the main temple of Amun. A prominent stela of Ramesses IX and Amun lies beyond it. The Gateway was part of a building programme, decorated with statues and building-texts, undertaken by the high priest Amenhotep who clearly sought to emphasise the importance of the contributions of the king and himself to the temple and worship of Amun. A brief introduction to the works of Ramasses IX at Karnak is followed by a detailed description of the scenes adorning the Gateway with a translation of the inscriptions and a discussion of the role of the Gateway and its decoration. The descriptions are accompanied by drawings of the hieroglyphic texts and photographs and line drawings of the entire gateway and its facade.

An important examination of Coptic monastery ruins producing many fragments of Coptic manuscripts. This is a facsimile reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1907 account of excavations at Gizeh and at Dier Rifeh in Upper Egypt, just south of Asyut. At Gizeh excavations focused on a cemetery lying on a ridge about 1 km south of the Great Pyramid while work at Rifeh extended from a well-known Coptic village for about 5 km southwards to beyond the village of Zowyeh, and mostly investigated several cemeteries in the plain of primarily XIth–XVIIth Dynasty date. The area contained numerous Coptic settlements and the ruins of Coptic monasteries at Balyzeh and Ganadleh were excavated, producing many fragments of Coptic manuscripts. A chronologically ordered account of the tombs excavated begins with those at Gizeh followed by Zaraby and Zowyeh and then Rifeh. Those at Rifeh produced around 150, previously rarely encountered, 'soul houses', being clay models of contemporary dwellings used as offering trays, which are discussed in detail. A classification of pottery is provided. Later burials were also excavated at the cemeteries close to Gizeh where three Demotic inscriptions and several cartonnages of papyri were recovered. The Demotic inscriptions and Coptic manuscripts are described with translations.

Reissue of first publication of a lesser known but important decorated tomb of the Ramesside Period at Thebes. This volume is a facsimile reissue of the full publication of the tomb identified as that of Amenemhab, a middle ranking priest of Amon. The tomb lies within the lower enclosure of the major cemetery of Elwet Sheikh-Abdel Qurnah in Thebes. It is cut into a perpendicular cliff of limestone and shale and is one of the private, so-called house-like chapel tombs of local dignitaries, mainly dating to the Ramesside Period. The plan is a common form for Theban tombs, comprising a short entranceway leading into a broad hall, an axial passage and a long hall or shrine with a niche and it is oriented north-east to south-west with a maximum length of c. 9.3 m. There are no side chambers or columns. The tomb decoration was first recorded by Sir Robert Mond but not published by him. Although richly furnished with brightly colored paintings and text, much of the decoration was badly degraded and damaged. The burial shaft was not discovered. In this volume Hassan El-Saady provides a summary description of the tomb itself with a panel by panel description of the inscriptions and paintings, accompanied by photographs and explanatory line drawings. He identifies the owner of the tomb and members of his family, and though close dating of the tomb is difficult as no ruling pharaoh is alluded to anywhere within it, scrutiny of the style, content and arrangement of both the actual tomb and the decoration points to the reign of Ramesses II.

This facsimile edition of Flinders Petrie's 1937 typo-chronological catalogue of Egyptian stone vessels and Egyptian and Greaco-Roman metal vessels has been long out of print. It was a first attempt by Petrie to take an overview of the vessels recovered from numerous locations housed in major collections of the time, principally his own in University College London and over 700 items in Cairo Museum. Dating was derived from a variety of sources, the most important being that of royal names either on the vessels themselves or on associated materials in tombs. Examination of large, closed groups of objects from major royal tombs, each fixed to one reign, enabled development of a robust chronology for quite detailed changes at least for earlier dynasties, which could be extended by careful analysis of key traits. Each part is therefore arranged by major typological form with a discussion on derivation, chronological development in form and decoration and modes of manufacture. Both catalogues are fully illustrated with comparative charts of key features, line drawings and photographs of nearly 1000 stone and over 100 metal objects.

The first comprehensive study of the range of plants and domestic animals exploited by the ancient Egyptians. This facsimile edition of a much acclaimed volume brings back into print a major study of the evidence for the domesticated plants and animals exploited by the ancient Egyptians. The rise of agriculture must be amongst the most important steps that humans have taken on their long road to the present day and marked the beginning of sedentary life from the Neolithic onwards and the development of civilization. Of the earliest civilizations, Ancient Egypt remains a particularly useful field of study: the physical remains are preserved by the dry desert environment and the Egyptians have left us with an abundance of written and pictorial records which go back over 5000 years. Grasses, legumes, vegetables, fruits, domestic animals and pets are all considered in this comprehensive study. It is profusely illustrated from Egyptian wall paintings and reliefs, which provide us with a vivid record of the Egyptian's use of plants and animals in their daily lives. Thirty years after its original publication, this groundbreaking volume remains an invaluable sourcebook for archaeologists in all fields and to anyone interested in zoology, botany and early agriculture.

Facsimile reissue of detailed genealogy and chronology for the principal royal and priestly families of the 19th–25th Dynasties of the Late New Kingdom in Egypt. The period of Egypt's Ramesside empire is best known for its foreign wars and monumental buildings but the chronological history of many of its rulers and pre-eminent priests and their genealogies was poorly understood. While it was not possible to fi x the chronology exactly, a combination of known dates or date ranges, such as for the accession of Ramesses II, and the determination of family trees that extended over a large period, enabled Bierbrier to present a much closer definition of the span of individual dynasties and their key figures than had been possible previously. That volume is reissued here in facsimile. An important source of information is the genealogical references on funerary statues and tomb paintings, though vocabulary used is limited and often ambiguous. There are also several types of statuary, set up by individuals for different purposes, most frequently by sons or descendants to cause the name of the deceased to live on, many of which may have been created before the death of the individual commemorated. Taking into account these, and other difficulties, Bierbrier's painstaking research proved groundbreaking in elucidating the chronology, sequences of events and family connections of the period from the official families of the XIXth Dynasty through those of the XXVth.

Provides a much needed summary overview of the key elements of Egyptian tomb form, use and decoration over time. The tombs, with their scenes, inscriptions, objects and human remains, represent our richest source of information for the understanding of Egyptian beliefs and practices, art and architecture and of many aspects of daily life. Detailed, scholarly reports on individual cemeteries and tombs are abundant but in this fully illustrated, more general work, reproduced in this facsimile edition, Kanawati provides an invaluable introduction to, and overview of, the key elements of Egyptian tombs from Predynastic to the Late Period. The Egyptian dead enjoyed a continued existence in both the Netherworld and the land of the living – the individual possessing multiple entities that experienced different destinies after death. The tomb provided an everlasting earthly dwelling and consisted of a chapel above ground where the deceased's cult was maintained and offerings presented, and a burial chamber for the body. Either or both could be richly decorated with paintings, reliefs and inscriptions. Kanawati describes and illustrates the principal forms and features of architecture and nature and subject matter of decoration and demonstrates how tomb design and decoration changed through time.

Various attempts have been made to systematize the mammals depicted in Egyptian tomb paintings, inscriptions, carvings, figurines and other objects, and as mummies, but there are many discrepancies, variable spellings and names, including now obsolete Latin names, and mis-identifications. The Egyptian artists themselves sometimes used the wrong hieroglyph or drew some parts of animals incorrectly. Dale Osborn's comprehensive reassessment, presented here in a facsimile reissue, catalogues around 100 separate species, ranging from hedgehogs to hippopotami, Anubis Baboons to Zebu cattle, that can be identified in Egyptian art from prehistoric, through Pre-Dynastic to Late Kingdom times. Profusely illustrated, the catalogue is arranged by Order, then species, each entry providing the relevant hieroglyph, a brief description of the animal, its natural habitat and distribution, and a narrative on its depiction in Egyptian art through time, by location, types of illustration or object, and context (tomb etc). Known errors and discrepancies, either in original scripts or classical and/or modern literature, are listed. Mammals are abundantly depicted in tomb paintings and inscriptions. Common scenes include hunts, processions, wild animals being led on chains, domesticated animals in household and working environments, and satirical scenes. Such scenes provide many insights into the lives of Egyptians and their relationships with animals, that are further enhanced by many decorative figurines and statues and, often poignantly, by the mummies of mostly small animals including cats and dogs.

Facsimile edition of the 1972 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1914 pioneering typological catalog of Egyptian Shuabtis, one of a number of such catalogs to be reissued in this new series. Shuabtis, funeral statuettes made of stone or timber, were frequently encountered in early tomb and cemetery excavations. Petrie identified and describes a chronological sequence of development from simple statuettes emphasizing the head, which appear to be substitutes for real heads that were often removed from the body, through to later detailed forms that he recognized as substitutes for the mummy. He presents a discussion of the formula used in the inscriptions, their royal and sacred affinities, and identifies examples of additional texts. The examination of forms, formulaic inscriptions, materials and dating evidence is accompanied by transliteration of names, illustrated inscriptions, and over 650 photographed statuettes.

Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie's fully illustrated 1927 description and catalog of personal and everyday Egyptian and Roman objects in his collections. Jewelry items include necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings, many made from precious metals and/or incorporating gemstones or beads. Toilet items include mirrors, combs, kohl pots, and sticks. Magic wands, manufactured to provide protection and carved from bone and ivory are described, along with examples carved as hands and found in pairs. Board games are represented by playing pieces and gameboards relating to a number of known games. Toys, writing equipment, fragments of furniture, walking sticks and basketry are all cataloged.

This facsimile reissue of Flinders Petrie's extensive catalog of buttons and scarabs describes and illustrates over 1500 examples, along with an appendix on additions to the 'Scarabs and Cylinders' volume published earlier. In keeping with his other object catalogs, Petrie devises object classifications based on form with an attempt at dating their sequences. He describes the back of the objects, materials, their designs and inscriptions, and offers ideas on their meanings. Particular attention is paid to animal and human representations and those possibly of gods. He also identifies several local series.

Facsimile reissue of Anthea Page's 1983 catalog of 82 ostraca held in the Petrie Collection, London. Ostraca are flakes of limestone or broken sherds of pottery used essentially as 'notepads' for private letters; laundry lists; records of purchases; roughly inscribed images of people, birds, and animals; and copies of literary works. In Ancient Egypt they reveal the artist-craftsman at practice, leisure and play. Apprentices, for instance, copied scenes to improve techniques; artists drew pictures to amuse, perhaps with satirical images and caricatures, or made measured studies for finished works. A wide range of trivial examples survive, together with more serious devotional, votive and dedicatory pieces.

Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1896 account of the excavation, mainly, of tombs in the area around Ballas and Naqada on the edge of the Egyptian desert, 30 miles north of Thebes. Several areas of the ancient towns of Deir and Nubt, the latter identified as the center of Set worship, and more tombs were investigated. At each cemetery, traditionally furnished Old and Middle Kingdom tombs were examined and many proved to have been plundered and reused in antiquity. Petrie named these later burials as of a New Race and describes them in detail at Ballas and Naqada. A collection of mostly Palaeolithic flint artifacts is also described.

Facsimile of volume of detailed catalogs prepared by Flinders Petrie of ancient weights and measures based on examination of over 4000 Egyptian weights within his collections. Eight standards have been identified and are described. The text discusses forms, multiples and fractions of standard weights, materials, and evidence for the adoption of different standards. A much smaller collection of steelyards, measures of capacity, lineal measures, and balances is also described and illustrated.

Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1921 description and catalog of pre-dynastic, prehistoric artifacts from Egypt. Draws together evidence from various excavations and surveys undertaken by himself and others to present a fully illustrated, detailed catalog of recovered artifacts of flint, other stone, clay, pottery, ivory/tusk and bone, metalwork, wood, shell and glass. He attempts to establish relative dating sequence based on a combination of object typologies and grave associations, combined with the then-latest geological and sedimentological information, concluding that the material covered a period from around 10,000-5000 BC. Objects are described by material and form, set within his established chronological framework.

Hailed as a sumptuously produced and finely illustrated outstanding contribution to ancient Egyptian studies, this facsimile reprint of Patrick Houlihan's 1986 comprehensive study makes a welcome return in the Oxbow Classics in Egyptology series. Animals of all kinds are amply illustrated in Egyptian art, none more so than birds, in both secular and religious contexts and in hieroglyphic scripts. A great variety of bird species has for millennia made twice yearly migrations passing over Egypt, which is also an important overwintering area for many. These migrant birds, together with indigenous species were an abundant and easily exploited source of food for ancient Egyptians, for domestication and status display. Tomb scenes displaying birds provided as food for the deceased are abundant, as are procession scenes of offering with bearers bringing gifts of fowl. Many birds also had religious associations. Houlihan provides a systematic and unparalleled survey of all the bird life depicted by the ancient Egyptians in art and hieroglyphic writing, some 72 species (plus bats), with a list of known mummified species, and discussions on their religious and secular associations and many illustrations. Their present-day distributions are compared with that known from the time of the Pharoahs. A checklist of the birds of modern Egypt is provided by Steven Goodman.

Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1917 pioneering typological catalog of Egyptian metal, wooden and composite tools and weapons, one of a number of such catalogs to be reissued in this new series. The volume is arranged by category, first of general tools, including axes, chisels and knives, and then weapons, such as daggers and spears. This is followed by sections on woodworking (artisans') and builders' tools, personal items, agricultural equipment and a range of domestic items. Within each category, sub-categories are defined, described and discussed and the full range is illustrated as outline drawings and photographs across 79 plates. The catalog addresses questions of chronology, typological development, and distribution, and provides a limited discussion of comparable material from outside Egypt.

Facsimile edition of the 1972 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1914 pioneering typological catalogue of Egyptian amulets, one of a number of such catalogs to be reissued in this new series. Remarkably, though it can be criticized in points of detail emanating from more recent research, it remains unsurpassed in its comprehensive description, typological classification, and interpretation. While an absence of reasoned argument for the dating of his various groups is a weak point of Petrie's study from the point of view of modern scholarship, his attention to detail and careful consideration of typology and potential meaning, borne of decades of observation, means that this, and the other catalogs in the series, remain as invaluable reference books for Egyptologists. Based on examination of his own extensive collection of Egyptian artifacts, Petrie presents a typologically ordered catalog divided into seven main groups defined on the basis of interpretation rather than subject: amulets of 'similar,' i.e., relating to body parts; power; property; protection; human-headed; animal-headed; and animal gods. Each class of object is described along with its varieties: material, distribution, position within burials, its chronological position as defined by Petrie himself, and its meaning interpreted. Collections containing examples are listed and hundreds of objects are presented in photographs and a selection of burial associations illustrated by coffin plans.

First published in 1979 this facsimile edition of Jeffrey Spencer's comprehensive study provides a detailed account of the brick architecture of ancient Egypt. Part I provides introductory information on brick manufacture, early use of brick in Egypt and explains the corpus of brick bonding systems. Part II provides an account of the surviving brick buildings, discussed by type, with special reference to technical and structural matter. Part III presents an examination of the constructional techniques employed at different periods for various purposes. A discussion of the kinds of bricks used, their sizes, and bonding is included.

Tell el-Amarna is the modern name for the ancient Egyptian city of Akhenaten, situated in a bay of hills formed by the cliffs of the eastern desert about halfway between Cairo and Luxor. The city was founded in the 14th century BC by the Pharaoh Akhenaten to be a royal palace for himself and his wife Nefertiti, the capital of all Egypt and the center of the state cult of the Sun God in the form of Aten (sun disc), which became an obsession of the Pharoah. The city contained temples, palaces, state buildings and great private mansions, but was abandoned by Akhenaten's successor, his son Tutenkhamen, and the city was demolished, never to be re-inhabited. This volume presents a detailed, illustrated catalog of the many statues, statuettes, reliefs, inlays and inscriptions recorded and collected by Flinders Petrie, together with glass and faience objects and moulds. Part II provides a summary of developments in royal names and titles with a discussion on research into names and evidence of royal status.

Facsimile of volume of detailed catalog prepared by Flinders Petrie on artifacts largely collected from his Egyptian explorations of a series of glass stamps of Egyptian manufacture that were used from the Roman to Abbasid period variously as tokens, counters, weights, or attached to glass cups as indications of measure. Various categories are identified and described, makers' names discussed, and weight standards considered. Over 700 stamps are illustrated both as photographs and transcribed line drawings.

Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1921 corpus of prehistoric pottery and slate palettes from pre-dynastic, prehistoric Egypt. The pottery corpus was produced separately to accompany the catalog of Egyptian artifacts in the volume Prehistoric Egypt and comprises hundreds of line drawings illustrating the shapes, forms and types of decoration. It was intended to be a 'graveside' aid for use during excavation, with the intent that it be used with record cards to classify and date pottery that could then be returned to the grave. The corpus of palettes updated Petrie's original classification published Ballas and Naqada, to include many new finds and refine the typology and sequence.

Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie's 1917 pioneering typological catalog of Egyptian name-scarabs and cylinders, one of a number of such catalogs to be reissued in this new series. The beetle form of amulets are common finds on Egyptian sites but examples with engraved names represent a small proportion of the total. Over 240 different royal persons are named among the various major museum collections. Petrie here illustrates and discusses over 1600 examples in his own collection together with a selection of inscribed steatite cylinders. He discusses the religious aspects of scarabs and their magical use, their varieties, materials and manufacture, and presents a chronological discussion with fully illustrated catalog of both line drawings and photographs.