Grave 4

Grave 10

1

2

3

4

5

Footwear from G4

AKORIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

Published for
PRELIMINARY REPORTAKORIS
2016
Edited by
K awanishi, Hiroyuki
Tsujimura, Sumiyo
Hanasaka, Tetsu
Published by the Research Center for Cultural Heritage and Texts,
Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8601, Japan

Represented by
Suto, Yoshiyuki
Printed by NAKANISHI PRINTING CO., LTD. Japan
Copyright ©2017 by individual authors

CONTENTS
1 PREFACE ............................................................................................................................Kawanishi, H.
2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
2-1 Excavations in the Southwest Area of the Ancient City Zone of Akoris....................Kawanishi, H.
2-2 Finds from the Excavated Area..................................................................................Kawanishi, H.
2-3 Intermediary Leather Footwear between Sandals and Shoes.....................................Hanasaka, T.
3 INVESTIGATIONS IN THE PTOLEMAIC QUARRY
3-1 Newly Found Obelisk at New Minya............................................ Nishimoto, S. and Yasuoka, Y.
3-2 Unfinished Obelisk at the Southern Quarry Area of Akoris........ Nishimoto, S. and Yasuoka, Y.
4 STRIDING DRAPED MALE FIGURE OF CHAPEL F................................................................ Suto, Y.
5 EL-SHOURAFA: The Site of ‘The Crag Great-Of-Victories’?.........................................Shenouda, R. F.

You can download the previous preliminary reports from The Official Website of Akoris Archive(www.akoris.jp).

1 PREFACE
According to the CORONA photographs and senior villagers, various types of trees wereplanted in the narrow vacant space of many houses in Tihna el-Gebel bordering the site of Akorishalf a century ago. The representative species were Nile acacia (sont in Arabic) and Date palm
(nakhla in Arabic).

These trees provided not only cool shade but also useful products for the

inhabitants. The Nile acacia seeds were used as tanning agents and a folk medicine for the stomach,the bark for dyestuffs, the resin as an adhesive, the branches for implements handles and stakes,
and the trunks for beams. In addition, the fruit of the date palm is popular still now and the young
leaves were used for basketry and the bark for rope.
Later, electricity and waterworks came to the village in the first half of the 1980s, and building
materials such as mud bricks were rapidly exchanged for limestone blocks and cement after theserious flood disaster in 1995.

Thus the former external appearance of the village changed

dramatically and the self-sufficient rural community containing a population of ca. 4000 has
increasingly shifted to a capitalized, digitalized and populous stratified society.

And yet, thesestaggering changes have posed material challenges to many villagers, and they are tired andapprehensive.

Public order has deteriorated since the changes.

Eventually the society lost its

sustainability and has become vulnerable.
Future archaeologists may excavate the buildings of ordinary people at the site of Tihna
el-Gebel. They will find various electrical products in the upper layers and compare these withpoor utensils in the lower layers. The question remains as to whether future archaeologists willconclude this trajectory was a result of social evolution. While we have been engaged in shedding

Fig. 1

Map of Egypt.

Fig. 2Sites and villages near Akoris.

Fig. 3 Map of Akoris.
3light on the actual life and subsistence strategies of ordinary people at the habitation site, the change
in the present village constantly reminds archaeologists engaged at the site of the skepticism
surrounding social evolutionism.

(Kawanishi)

2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
2-1 Excavations in the Southern Area of the Ancient City Zone of Akoris
Based on our findings, the excavated settlement area is attributed to the 20th to 22nd Dynasty
when the pharaonic power of the 19th Dynasty began to decline. Our main purpose is to probe
how the ordinary people refined their socioeconomic subsistence strategies under such conditions.
The settlement covers the south side of the north crag and stretches through the flat area to thenorth skirt of the next south crag (Fig. 3 and 4). According to the surface survey, it seems to havebeen rather isolated from the main city zone comprising the Third Intermediate Period (TIP) to the
Coptic Era buildings. During the 2016 season two zones were excavated in the settlement. The firstis the central part of the settlement in the bottom flat (Fig. 4-4 and 5). Our excavation from 2002
yielded a main street aligned east and west, and a sub-street diverted southward. The excavatedarea is east of the sub-street and west of the area excavated in 2015, across a balk left for later
investigation (Preliminary Report 2015). The second is the north skirt of the south next crag(Fig. 9-1). It is in the southern end of the settlement and is south and west of the 2015 excavatedarea.
Central part of the settlement (Fig. 6)

As shown in Fig. 6, interconnected rooms built of mud

bricks and a sub-street were uncovered. Because the limestone bedrock dips gradually north andeast, the accumulated soil is shallow in the south half of the excavated area and bedrock outcrops
here and there on the floors. Each room is subdivided by walls referred as to N1-P5 respectively,
mainly confined to part of the room (Fig. 5-1 and 2). Traces of pisé floor were confirmed in N2, N3,
O1, O2, P1 and P2. They belong to the latest phase in the temporal sequence of the residential
quarter. N1 is the west end of Section 4 excavated in 2015 therefore Section 4 forms a room, 6.5m
east-west by 2.8m north-south. N2, N3 and O1 comprise several sections of rooms, and the northsouth internal dimensions are 2.8m in N2, 3.7m in N3 and 3.9m in O1. Division walls extending
eastward between N2 and N3, as well as between N3 and O1, were not present in the area excavatedin 2015. Eastern sections of both division walls were lost by the later digging of a large pit. The
floors of O1, O2 and N1-3 contained many ceiling fragments made of mud with tamarisk sprigs andtraces. Given no finds on the ceiling, the housetop appears not to have been used for daily life. O6,
P1 and P2 are small rooms. The north-south internal dimensions in P1 are ca. 3.9m, while P2 could
not be measured because its south wall had disappeared as a result of raised bedrock. In O3 andO6 and P3-5, the walls are complex in position and formation, and were poorly preserved. The
temporal sequence here awaits further research. According to stratigraphic and typological analysis,
pottery of the 20th–22nd Dynasties can be divided into three phases, early, middle and late (Fig. 7).
Based on our chronology, these rooms belong to the early/middle phase and the large pit belongs to
the late phase.
Three test pits were dug in the sub-street to inspect the accumulated soil and dateable pottery.
4

Fig. 4 Southwest area of Akoris. No. 1: Panoramic view of the excavated area, from north; No. 2: Panoramic viewof the crag, from south; No. 3: Panoramic view of the next south crag, from north; No. 4: Central part of thesettlement, from north; No. 5: The same part as No. 4, from south.

5

Fig. 5Central part of the settlement. No. 1: Areas N2, N3 and O plus the sub-street; No. 2: Areas O and P.

Consequently, it was determined that both side walls of the sub-street were rebuilt and theircomposition is different. That is, while the west wall still keeps its original position after rebuilding,the east wall is aligned in different directions between the north and south sections. The northsection follows the original direction, though the original position was unidentified. In contrast, thesouth section was altered to slant eastwards and aligned to join to the north section rebuilt. The
above-mentioned rooms with pisé floors belong to the middle phase contemporaneous with therevived wall.
Comparing the architectural formation of buildings between the east and west areas extending
from the sub-street, the east area is complex and the west area is simple. The west buildings remainclose to their original position, whereas the east ones were often altered as shown in the eastern sideof the sub-street. These differences need to be explained. Possibly the bedrock dipping to the east
provided multiple construction layers. However, the existence of the upper layer suggests that the
bedrock did not affect reconstruction and this was not a critical cause of the difference. Perhaps thisreflects the characteristics of the inhabitants and the different functions of the east and west areas.
North skirt of the south next crag (Fig. 13)

The house excavated in 2015 was cleaned again

and its southern room unexamined previously due to the shortage of time was revealed (hereafter
the House). Additionally, the western section adjacent to the last season’s area was also uncovered(hereafter the West Section).
The southern room is aligned in an east-west direction. Each north and west side is delimited
by a mud brick wall, and the south and east sides are bounded by bedrock (Fig. 9-2). It was divided
into two sections by a mud brick wall. In the east section, a complete round structure with an inside
diameter of 2.2–1.9m was discovered. Two, large and small, half-round structures attached to thelow bedrock cliff were also uncovered. A thin mud arc-shaped wall with a narrow rectangularopening in its center joined these structures. The large half-round structure, located to the west,
had a small anthropoid wooden coffin inside, referred to as Grave 10 (Cover-3). Its lid was plasteredand shows characteristics of the 21st Dynasty. The buried corpse is of a 5–6 year-old child. These
structures including the grave were situated on the bedrock. In the west section a burial mat rolled
up with reed, Grave 9, was retrieved from the soil where the buried corpse of a child aged 5–6
months old was recovered (Fig. 11-3). A huge rock fall precluded us from exposing all of the west
section, however, including the 2015 excavation extent, it measures 3.5m east-west by ca. 2.5m
6

Fig. 6 Plan of the central part of the settlement excavated in 2016: The joints of walls uncovered before 2015 are
not illustrated. TP: Test pit.

7

15-11415-10
15-107
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 ⑦ 東円形遺構
出土状況写真・図面あり※外面下半部ケズリ、
他はナデ

14-112
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1※色調：内面2.5YR5/6明 14-117
赤褐色※色調：外面5YR5/6明赤褐色※胎土：白色粒を少し含む
14-117
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1※色調：外面5YR7/6に
14-116
ぶい橙色
内面2.5YR6/8橙色※胎土：白色粒を少し含む※内面肩部以上にスス付着※口縁部が歪んでいる

14-3
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 N区 円形遺構1（RS1）
色調：7.5YR7/6橙色
胎土：2mm以下の白色砂粒を含む、やや粗14-109
焼成：良
14-109
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1
ミトベ図②※色調：内面10YR5/6※外面にイエロースリッ
プ：10YR8/2灰白色

07-14207-142AKORIS
南区
C区
Room2
床直上
口径：13.0cm
内面：5YR5/4にぶい赤褐
スリップ：5YR7/6橙
33.3%

1/5

07-45
07-30
AKORIS
南区
C区
Room2
下層
内面：5YR5/4にぶい赤褐
外面：2.5YR5/4にぶい赤褐
スリップ：10R5/4赤褐
33.3%

07-30
20㎝
AKORIS
南区
C区
Room2
下層
内面：2.5YR5/6橙
スリップ：5YR6/6橙
33.3%

14-105

14-115
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1※色調：外面2.5YR4/6赤褐色※胎土：白色粒を極少なく含む※内面全面スス付着

14-4

14-10714-4
S=1/4
14-107AKORIS 2014
S=1/4
南区 N区 円形遺構1（RS1）AKORIS 2014
色調：7.5YR5/6明褐色
南区 円形遺構1
胎土：3mm以下の白色砂粒を含む、やや密※色調：内面7.5YR6/3
焼成：良：外面7.5YR6/4※全体に大きく歪む※胎土：白色粒を含む※内面底部にススが濃く付着※口縁部内外面にスス※外面体部上半にスス付着
付着

14-12307-46 S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1
ミトベ図③㉒※色調：内面5YR7/4
にぶい橙色 07-37
AKORIS
外面10YR5/2灰黄褐
南区
C区
色
Room2
※白色粒を多く含む
下層※粗製土器 椀口径：12.0cm※底面に孔多数あり

Middle

07-37
08-13

内面：7.5YR6/4にぶい橙
09-55
外面：7.5YR6/3にぶい褐
スリップ：10R6/6赤褐09-55
スス：体部内面AKORIS
33.3％
南区
Room3
下層
口径：12.1cm
器高：76.3cm
胎土：赤褐色
08-1
33.3%
08-1
AKORIS 2007
南区
C区
Room1
床直
口径：12.3cm
器高：6.4cm
スリップ：赤系
33.3%

07-15907-159AKORIS
南区
C区
Room2
床直上
口径：10.0cm
内面：5YR5/4にぶい赤褐
外面：5YR7/6橙スリップ10R5/4赤褐
33.3%
09-84
AKORIS
南区
Room3
下層
口径：11.5cm
スリップ：赤系
Wash：淡橙褐色
33.3%

Late

14-11514-123

07-46
AKORIS
南区
C区
07-45
Room2
下層
口径：12.0cm
内面：5YR5/4にぶい赤褐
外面：5YR4/5にぶい赤褐
スリップ：10R8/4浅黄橙
スス：全体
33.3%

09-73

15-119
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 東円形遺構※口縁部内外面丹塗り※色調：明赤褐色※胎土：微粒の石灰岩、石英？を含む15-118※焼成：良好15-118
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 東円形遺構※外面上半部回転ナデ※外面下半部回転ヘラケズリ※内面平滑ナデ仕上げ※口縁部内外面丹塗り※色調：赤褐色15-117※焼成：良好※ナイルシルト
TT20160910

15-8
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 ⑦ 東円形遺構
出土状況写真・図面あり※外面下半部ケズリ、
他はナデ

15-117
S=1/4
14-3 AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 東円形遺構※外面カーボン付着※砂粒等含まない※色調：赤褐色※焼成：良好TT20160910
14-105
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1
ミトベ図①※色調：内外面
2.5YR5/6

14-116
S=1/4
AKORIS 2014
南区 円形遺構1※色調：外面5YR5/4に
ぶい赤褐色
08-9
内面2.5YR5/6明赤褐色
08-9
※胎土：
白色粒を少し含AKORIS2007
南区
む
C区※外面肩部以外にスス
Room1
付着 床直

0

15-8

15-115
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 東円形遺構※口縁部内外面に丹塗り※内外面回転ナデ調整※口唇部尖り気味※色調：赤褐色※胎土：微粒子含む※焼成：良好TT20160910

15-107
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 東円形遺構 14-112※内外面回転ナデ※色調：赤褐色※胎土：微粒子含む※焼成：良好口径：11.8cm
33.3%

15-9
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 ⑦ 東円形遺構
出土状況写真・図面あり※外面下半部ケズリ、
他はナデ

15-115

15-10

09-73
AKORIS
南区
Room3
下層
口径：10.1cm
胎土：暗赤褐色33.3%

15-11915-915-114
S=1/4
AKORIS 2015
南区 M区 東円形遺構※口縁部内外面に丹塗り※頸部外面明橙白色スリップ※色調：赤褐色※胎土：微粒子含む※焼成：良好08-13
AKORIS 2007
南区
C区
Room1
床直
口径：18cm
スリップ：赤系
33.3%

08-4
08-4
AKORIS 2007
南区
C区
Room1
床直
口径：19.5cm
33.3%

Early
08-19

09-84
08-19

AKORIS 2007
Fig. 7 Chronology of pottery: From the end of the New Kingdom to the Third
南区Intermediate Period. Completed
C区
by H. Mitobe thorough T. Takahashi’s aid.
Room1

9

8

床直
口径：36.1cm
底径：9.5cm
器高：16.9cm
スリップ：7.5YR7/4にぶい橙
33.3%

north-south, and was probably used as living quarters with an entrance. Analysis of the sequence inthe southern room suggests the elongated southern room with a west-end entrance was completed
and later abolished, and the dividing wall was placed so as to use the east space for silos. Later thedestruction of the north wall ensued. The west section remained living quarters. Eventually eachspace changed in its function and was used for the two burials (G 9 and 10).

The jar burial

uncovered in 2015 damaged the north wall of the west space during its construction.
After the cleaning of the 2015 excavated part of the House, two facts were clear. One is inreference to the temporal sequence of the round structure in the middle room, where, judging fromits stratigraphical context, it predates the construction of the House, therefore the sequence in the2015 report should be corrected. Additionally, the top of a mud brick pavement or thick wall
appeared just under the pisé floor at the northwest corner of the middle room. This indicates theexistence of lower layer constructions. The other is the appearance of a floor in the room of anotherhouse at the north section excavated in 2015. A pisé floor was revealed and covers the full extent of
the room measuring 3.5m north-south by more than 3.5m.
Thick limestone debris accumulated over the southern room.

Though the 2015 report

indicated that overhanging bedrock was used as the ceiling, this perception should be also corrected.
The debris contained many wooden coffin and linen fragments, and numerous animal bones
together with human bones. A small wooden mask, whose plaster had peeled off, attached to a
missing coffin lid (Fig. 14-4), and several fragments of cartonnage were also found (Fig. 8). The
wooden mask dates from the Late or Ptolemaic Period and the cartonnage is from the Ptolemaic
Period. These dateable finds including pottery shards, suggest thatthey were removed from higher, nearby rock-cut tombs at the timeof looting. Animal bones consisting of cows, pigs and dogs suggestthat the south end was used as a cult place after the Pharaonic
Period. It must be stressed that animal sacrifice was popular infuneral ceremonies during the Greco-Roman Period until
Christianity forbade it in the 4th century C.E. As no Roman finds
were retrieved here, it follows that the animal bones belong to the
Ptolemaic Period and therefore deserve attention.
The West Section neighboring the 2015 excavated area,

Fig. 9Fig. 8

Fragment of cartonnage.

North skirt of the next crag. No. 1: Panoramic view, from south; No. 2: South end, from east.
9

Fig. 10 North skirt of the next crag. No. 1: Central section, from east; No. 2: Round structures, from south; No. 3:
G1 and JB1-3; No. 4: G2; No. 5: G3; No. 6: G5; No. 7: G6A; No. 8: G6B. G: Grave; JB: Jar burial.

10Fig. 11 North skirt of the next crag. No. 1: G7; No. 2: G8; No. 3: G9; No. 4: G11.

partitioned off by the long west wall of a house (hereafter W1), falls to the north. Overburden
deposits in this section consisting of limestone debris had already been removed by the exploratory
trench dug in 2010, and three jar burials, a mat burial and a grave with the wooden coffin of an
infant had been retrieved from the top of the soil layer (Preliminary Report 2010). In the 2016season this trench was extended to the west and dug down to 80cm. Though the real depth of thelayer cannot be clarified without further excavation, the sediments contain rich straw especially inthe upper soil, and many cloth fragments and pottery shards in the middle to lower soil layers.
Three graves with wooden coffins, a grave with reed-made coffin, a basket burial, two mat burials
and three jar burials were revealed and no new walls appeared in this section (Table 1).
The jar burials were exclusively situated against the overhanging bedrock cliff of the southernedge (Fig. 10-3). Judging from the finds in each jar, the east one, Jar Burial (hereafter JB) 1, was aneonate, the middle one, JB 2, is for a fetus and the west one contained no finds. Graves (hereafterG) 1 and 3 are mat burials (Fig. 10-3 to 5), G 2 is a basket burial (Fig. 10-4), and G 4, 5, 6A and 6B
have a coffin (Cover-1 and 2; Fig. 10-6 to 8). Of the mat and basket burials, G 1 is next to the jar
burials, and G 2 and 3 are against W1. Intriguingly the position of these simplified burials using jar,
mat and basket are against the rock face or the wall.
independently sited.

In contrast, the coffin burials were

Still, according to the 2010 excavation, the simplified burials wereindependently sited and a grave with a wooden coffin was against the arc-shaped wall mentioned
below. It is unknown whether such differences, especially in the simplified burials, between the two
season’s finds were incidental.

It is supposed that at least W1 was out of sight under the11

accumulated soil at the time of later burials. If so,soil accumulation and burials in the West Section
follows disuse of the House.

G 6A, with a small

reed-made coffin, was situated above the G 6B
wooden coffin. The buried corpse is of a two-year
old child. Of three wooden coffins G 4 and 6B are
anthropoid and G 5 is rectangular. Regardless ofsuch differences, each buried corpse in theseFig. 12 Fiber and Leather Footwear beneath thebottom of G4.

wooden coffins lies with its head in a westward
direction, however the other burials do not havea specific head direction. Referring to Tab. 1, it

seems to stem from age. The lid of G 6B was overspread with sheaves of reed. The two anthropoid
coffins accommodating an adult belong to the yellow coffin type popular in the 21st Dynasty.
As for G 4, both coffin and mummified body are exceptionally well preserved although thereason for this is unknown (Cover-1 and 2). Though the sex of the mummified remains cannot bedirectly identified due to the linen wrapping, the disposal of hands on the coffin lid suggest theremains may be of a female. Two pairs of footwear were confirmed just under the west end of thebottom plates of the coffin, which is aligned with the head (Cover-4 and 5; Fig. 12). Another pair ofshoes unearthed inside the coffin of G 6B were contiguous with the shoulders. The right shoealigned horizontally with the right shoulder and its toe pointed toward the head, while the left shoealigned with the left shoulder and its toe pointed toward the foot.
The north end of the graveyard containing these burials was intersected by an arc-shaped walland L-shaped walls. An elongated, curved space between the two walls is likely to have been used asa track. Nine round structures were constructed inside the L-shaped wall (Fig. 10-2). They can bedivided into east and west groups by disposition, the west one comprises Nos. 1–5 and the east one,Nos. 7–9. The inside diameter of each round structure (hereafter RS) are as follows:West group: RS 1: 2.0–2.7m; RS 2: 2.4m; RS 3: 2.2–2.4m, RS 4: 1.0m; RS 5: 1.9m; RS 6:
immeasurable.
East group: RS 7: 1.9–2.1m; RS 8: 1.9m; RS 9: 2.1m
Additionally, a small round structure, 1.0m in inside diameter, was equipped at the corner ofthe L-shaped wall. While RS 1–9 was made of mud brick and used as silo, this structure was madeof both mud and brick, and was used as oven.
Observing the stratigraphical context in each group, the construction sequence can be deduced.
In the east group, RS 8 and RS 9 are coeval with each other, and are earlier than RS 7. In the west
group, RS 1–3 and RS 5 were made in the numbered order, and RS 1 is later than the L-shaped
wall. RS 6 is later than RS 1, and RS 4 is possibly earlier than the other five.
Three graves with a wooden coffin and a mat burial were confirmed north of the arc-shaped wall.
G 7 had an anthropoid wooden coffin surrounded by upright mud bricks (Fig. 11-1). An unwoven
reed mat was laid over the cover. The coffin style dates from the 21st Dynasty, and the construction
is later than RS 1 and RS 6. A pair of shoes were uncovered in a horizontal position at the southwest
part of the burial pit outside the coffin, which is aligned with the head. Possibly this was not their
12Fig. 13 Plan of the north skirt of the next crag.
13

original position. G 8 was preserved in a fragmentary condition and parts of the rotten bottom
plates barely remained on the floor of RS 9 (Fig. 11-2), thus it is later than RS 9. Another grave,
G 11, is situated north of the round structure groups (Fig. 11-4). It had already been looted andwas poorly preserved, however, the bottom plates of an anthropoid coffin from the 21st Dynasty waspresent. The fragments of a mat burial were set above this grave. Of these three wooden coffins theburials from G 7 and 11 were aligned with their heads towards the west except G 8, which wasaligned along the north-south axis. Thus these coffin burials lack unity in their head alignment.
As Tab. 1 indicates, at least two male burials were confirmed.

As the nearly sixty burials

unearthed from 2002 to 2015 were overwhelmingly females and children, these two examples
provide irreplaceable data to reconsider funeral characteristics in the settlement. In addition, one
adult and one teenage burial were uncovered in the graveyard south of the arc-shaped wall. The
2015 excavation and preliminary report suggested that the graveyard south of the arc-shaped wall
was only for children, however this view should be reconsidered.
Other Analyses

Adding the stratigraphical context to the foregoing pottery chronology, thetemporal sequence of many archaeological figures in this season can be determined as follows.
First stage: The soil in the West Section of the south end accumulated during the early/middle
phases. The soil extended eastward prior to the construction of the house. The rooms in the centerof the bottom flat also belong to the same phases as the accumulated soil in the West Section.
Second stage: The accumulated soil was removed to construct the house. The House continued
to be used during the middle to late phase. The round structures in the southern end belong to the
middle/late phase.
Third stage: All the burials belong to the late phase and interment continued after the House
was abandoned. The large pit in the center of the bottom flat also belonged to the late phase. Thus,
use of the bottom flat had passed the extent of its associated socioeconomic activity and wasincreasingly diverted to graveyard/pasture during this stage.
Among the substantial finds from this season are forty wooden spindles recovered the southedge. In comparison with the relative scarcity and low density in the preceding excavations, its
number and density were surprising. Numerous linen fragments, a large bundle of linen thread
and some loom weights made of mud accompanied them, and sediments with those finds ascend to
the west. This suggests that a textile workshop operated at a raised location further west.
(Kawanishi)
2-2 Finds from the Excavated Area (Fig. 14)
No. 1: Faience amulet.

Unearthed in the limestone debris at the south end of the house(hereafter the House) in the north skirt of the next south crag. The goddess Isis holding her childHorus on her knees. The upper part is lacking. The extant dimensions are h. 4.8, w. 1.6 andthickness (hereafter t.) 2.5cm. There are two hieroglyphic signs inscribed lengthwise on its back, ofwhich the upper sign, lacking its upper part, can read sꜣ while the lower one reads ʿnḫ.
No. 2: Faience amulet. The Bes figure. Unearthed in the fill accumulated in the northernravaged grave. H. 1.7, w. 0.8 and t. 0.4cm. The head part is laterally pierced.
No. 3: Papyrus fragment. Unearthed in the fill of the west section (hereafter the West Section)
14

Tab. 1

Burials from the north skirt of the next south crag excavated in 2016. Drawn up by S. Tsujimura.

Structure

Burial Type

Size (cm)Age, Sex, Direction of
the HeadJar burial 1

Jar burial

40.7 × 25.0

Neonate, WestJar burial 2

Jar burial

29.0 × 43.2

Fetus, WestJar burial 3

Jar burial

29.0 × 45.0

Grave 1Mat burial

No bonesGrave 2

Basket burial

3–6 months, West

Grave 3Mat burial

2.5–3 years, North

Grave 4

Anthropoid coffin

189.0 × 55.2 × 28.5

Adult, Female?, West

Grave 5

Rectangular coffin

105.0 × 25.0 × 55.0

4–5 years, West

Grave 6A

Reed-made coffer

85.0 × 23.0–16.5 × 18.0–14.0

1.5–2 years, North

Reed

Grave 6B

Rectangular coffin covered
with unwoven mat

169.0 × 40.0–29.0 × 23.0+

Male, 14–15 years,
West

Sycamore fig/Fig(bottom), Nile acacia(side)

Grave 7

Anthropoid coffin covered
with unwoven mat

180.0 × 40.0 × 25.0

Male, early twenties,
West

Sycamore fig

Grave 8(in RS 9)

Anthropoid coffin?

Female, around 20
years, and 4–5 years

Grave 9Mat burial

4–5 months, West

Grave 10

Anthropoid coffin

101.0 × 26.0–23.0 × 24.0

5–6 years, West

Sycamore fig

Grave 11

Anthropoid coffin (painting)

182 × 46.5 × ?

Female, around 20
years, West

Fig/Sycamore fig(bottom), Dome palm(side)

Species of WoodFig, Tamarisk (nail)adjacent to the area excavated in 2015 season, across a long west wall of the House (cited below as‘the West Part’). W. 4.5 and l. 3.6cm. There are a few hieratic signs on the recto and verso written
in black. They are too fragmentary to translate.
No. 4: Mask of a wooden anthropoid coffin. Unearthed in the limestone debris at the south
end of the House. L. 22.5, w. 9.5 and t. 5.5cm. The top corners, both sides of cheek and the lower
jaw are pierced for driving pegs into the coffin. The face and crown are thinly covered with refinedsoil, which was used as foundation of coloring. There are traces of black paint in places on the eyes,
eyebrows and crown.
No. 5: Mud pottery cap. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. L. 9.0, w. 8.6 andh. 4.8cm. There are four stamps of a scarab seal remaining on the surface, while another one seems
to have been flattened. The diameter (hereafter d.) of pottery rim is ca. 8.0cm.
No. 6: Detail of a stamp of No. 5. L. 1.9 and w. 1.3cm. It represents a cartouche of mn-ḫpr-rʿ inthe center with an unidentified figure on each side of it.
No. 7: Cray cobra figure. Unearthed from the subsurface deposit of the central part. The head
dress and lower body are lacking. Extant dimensions are h. 7.7, w. 5.1 and t. 3.8 (head) and 1.9(body) cm.
No. 8: Cray human figure. Unearthed from the subsurface deposit of the central part. The
head part is lacking. Extant dimensions are h. 8.4, w. 4.6 and t. 2.7 (head) and 1.7 (body) cm.
There are two small button-like protuberances vertically attached to the central line of the body
front.
15

Fig. 14 Finds from the excavated areas. Nos. 1 and 2: Faience amulets; No. 3: Papyrus; No. 4: Wooden mask;
Nos. 5 and 6: Mud caps: No. 7: Cobra figure; No. 8: Human figure; Nos. 9 and 10: Bronze/copper alloy
products; No. 11: Flint sickle blade; Nos. 12–15: Wooden spindles; No. 16: Wooden axis of spindle Nos. 17
and 18: Mud loom weights; Nos. 19–21: Thread bundles; No. 22: Braided flax string; No. 23: Vegetable mat;
No. 24: Wooden comb.

No. 9: Bronze or copper alloy implement. Unearthed in the southwestern fill in the West
Section. L. 14.2cm. The triangular blade measures w. 1.8 and t. 0.7cm. The stick is 0.2–0.3cm indiameter. Considering that the vertical section of blade is inclined, this implement could be one
broken half of a pair of tweezers. But the end of the axis does not show any trace of supposed
fracture. If it’s not the result of abrasion, the use of this implement is unknown.
No. 10: Bronze or copper alloy implement. Unearthed in the subsurface of the central part.
The upper part is lacking. Extant dimensions are l. 8.0, w. 4.3 and t. 0.1–0.4cm. Possibly an axe
with lugs or an adze.
No. 11: Flint sickle blade. Unearthed in the fill of the east end of the West Section. L. 6.5,
w. 4.0 and t. 1.5cm. The saw-teeth show corn gloss. There is some bitumen adhered to the surface,
and traces of wood on one side, indicating that the sickle handle was wooden.
No. 12: Wooden spindle. Unearthed in the fill of the south end of the House. D. 5.1 andh. 1.5cm. The wood is Christ’s thorn (Nabaq in Arabic).
No. 13: Wooden spindle. Unearthed in the fill of Grave 6B in the West Section. D. 4.0-4.1(top), d. 4.4–4.6 (base) and h. 1.7cm. The wood is tamarisk (Abal and Athel in Arabic). There areflax strings remaining at the end of axis.
No. 14: Wooden spindle. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. D. 2.6–2.7 (top),
D. 4.7 (base), and h. 1.7cm. The wood is Christ’s thorn.
No. 15: Wooden spindle. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. It is almost
complete in preservation. D. 3.9–4.2 (top), D. 5.2 (base) and h. 1.7cm. The axis is 21.3cm in length.
The end of axis is obliquely grooved for twisting thread. The wood is tamarisk.
No. 16: Wooden axis of spindle. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. One end islacking. Extant l. 17.0 and d. 0.7cm. There is an oblique groove for twisting thread remaining at
16

the other end. The wood is probably Christ’s thorn.
As shown above, unearthed spindles are divided into two types, cylindrical and truncated conic
ones. Among the forty spindles unearthed in 2016, ten pieces are cylindrical, and thirty ones aretruncated conic. All the truncated conic spindles, apart from an unidentifiable piece, are made oftamarisk, while four of the cylindrical ones are made of Christ’s thorn, three of sycamore fig (Gimmeizin Arabic) and three of tamarisk. Considering that tamarisk is harder and heavier than Christ’s
thorn and sycamore fig, these two types of spindle seem to have born each proper use, though it
cannot be identified.
No. 17: Mud loom weight. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. H. 8.6, w. 8.8
and t. 5.7cm. Weight is 388g.
No. 18: Mud loom weight. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. The lower halfand one side of the upper part are lacking. Extant dimensions are h. 8.2, w. 7.6 and t. 3.7cm, andweight 200g. There are braided strings passed through a hole. Probably the strings were tied to abar of weaving machine.
No. 19: Bundled flax threads. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. 9.0, 5.8 and3.9cm. The bundled threads of d. 0.5cm complicatedly twisted.
No. 20: Wad of flax thread. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. Width max.
ca. 6.0cm. Thickness of string is uneven.
No. 21: Bundled threads. Unearthed in the southern fill of the West Section. 4.2, 4.1 and2.5cm. The identification of the material, flax or others, waits on further analysis.
No. 22: Braided flax string. Unearthed in the fill of the No. 2 test pit. L. 8.5 and w. 2.4cm.
There are two tips of animal sinew, each of which is coiled by flax threads, attached to the end of thestring.
No. 23: Vegetable mat or bottom part of a shallow basket. Unearthed in the southern fill of theWest Section. The periphery is lacking. Extant diameter max. 5.1 and thickness 1.0cm. A bundleof some cords, made of a rather hard material such as split palm frond, are wrapped by a thread. It
is coiled and fastened by a string girded radiately through the center.
No. 24: Wooden comb. Unearthed in the southern subsurface deposit of the central part. One
side is lacking. Extant dimensions are l. 5.8, h. 3.6 and t. 0.8cm. It is made of Christ’s thorn.
(Kawanishi)
2-3 The Intermediary Leather Footwear between Sandals and Shoes
Leather footwear excavated from the South Area during the 2002–2009 seasons was introduced
in a previous preliminary report1). The shoes in Akoris were derived from sandals which weretraditional pharaonic sandals with ‘ears’ and a strap complex consisting of toe, side (front) and heel(back) straps2). These shoes have an upper, which entirely covered the foot. The upper made froma single piece of leather was closed with linen threads (whip or running stitching) at the back of theheel. Our examples dating from the late New Kingdom to the early TIP, show that there are twophases of intermediary leather shoes (boots) between sandals and ordinary ‘true shoes’ (Tab. 2)3).
In the first phase, the intermediary shoes have the same components as the traditional
pharaonic sandals. One good example was unearthed from Grave 6B (Fig. 15-1). This pair of shoes
17has double ears cutting out from two layers of the sole and the sub-ear inserted into the sole at therear of the ears. The leather thongs remained at the ears and the back of the heel part could be
regarded as the side and heel straps of sandals. The toe strap which was made of a rolled-up leather
sheet and folded in half was pierced from the outsole and projected into the external face of theupper. The side and heel straps run over the surface of the upper through the holes pierced at theend of the toe straps.
A toe strap made of leather thong and double ears remained from another pair of theintermediary shoes unearthed from Grave 7 (Fig. 15-2). However, it is very difficult to distinguishthese intermediary shoes from sandals since the almost all of the upper part was lost.
In the next phase, only the toe strap disappeared from the components and other elements still
remained. The side and heel straps run over the surface of the upper and passed through theforefront of the opening slit of the upper instead of from a toe strap. The narrow leather thongs
tied at the edge of the upper might be to prevent the opening slit from being broadened. A good
example of this second intermediary footwear was found from under the head of the mummified
remains of Tomb 2 in 2007 (Fig. 15-3)4).
The final phase comprises the ‘true shoes’ without any strap complex and ears. The shoes
found from Grave 4 were made of pale red colored leather and have simple soles and uppers(Cover-4; Fig. 12).

They were stitched together with leather thongs (running stitch) and longnarrow thongs like ‘shoe laces’ tied up at the edge of the upper.
A pair of fiber footwear overlapped with the red colored shoes from Grave 4 was unearthed(Cover-5; Fig. 12). This fiber footwear consists of a sole plaited from palm leaf with the Y-shaped
strap complex and the upper made of the woven wicker reed. This was broken at the toe part ofthe sole but it would have comprised a large extended toe that curled backwards. The upper was a‘partial upper’ not covering an instep, but covering only a side and a heel. The footwear with thisupper is categorized as ‘open shoes’ by the Ancient Egyptian Footwear Project (AEFP)5). There area lot of examples of fiber open shoes from many sites, but there are a few example made of leather.
AEFP conjectured that it would have developed from open shoes with both features of sandals andshoes to true shoes (closed shoes)6).
The theories about the appearance of shoes in Egypt suggest introduction from abroad. Thisevidence at the moment reflects probably the first manufacturing of domestic shoes in Egypt during
the 18th Dynasty7). From the brief examination of our examples, the period during the late New
Kingdom to the early TIP corresponds to a technological transition before becoming popular of thetrue shoes.
All of the footwear mentioned above were unearthed from burials accompanied by footwear as
grave goods and among more than sixty burials found in the South Area. These burials only
possessed footwear as grave goods and in contrast most of the burials did not have grave goods. It
was probable that at least three pairs were not made as grave goods but made and used in daily life.
There were traces of repair or reinforcement with leather patches and signs of them having beenworn (Fig. 15-4). These are very interesting subjects for the investigation of the burial customs andthe daily life of the local common people in Akoris, however further discussion is needed.
(Hanasaka)
18

Tab. 2 Intermediary shoes from the South Area.
Type

Structure

Size (cm)Front strap

Ears

Intermediary shoes 1

Grave 6B

L

Sole l. 24.6, w. front 9.7, w. heel 7.7

Y, rolled sheet

Y

R

Sole l. 25.1, w. front 11.0, w. heel 7.6

Y, rolled sheet

Y

L

Sole l. 23.6, w. max 7.6

Y, thong

Y

R

Sole l. 16.7, w. max 8.5

Y, thong

Y

L

Sole l. 20.0, w. max 7.9

N

Y

R

Sole l. 19.5, w. max 8.2

N

Y

L

Sole l. 22.1, w. front 7.6, w. heel 5.3

N

N

R

Sole l. 22.3, w. front 8.3, w. heel 5.5

N

N

L

Sole l. 29.2, w. front 9.8, w. heel 8.5——

Intermediary shoes 1

Intermediary shoes 2

True shoes

Grave 7

Tomb 2 (2007)

Grave 4

Fiber open shoes

Grave 4

Fig. 15 Intermediary shoes. Nos. 1 and 2: 1st intermediary shoes; No. 3: 2nd intermediary shoes; No. 4: Leather
patches at the outsole for repair or reinforcement.

3 INVESTIGATIONS IN THE PTOLEMAIC QUARRY
3-1 Newly found obelisk at New Minya
The unfinished limestone obelisk identified during the last season at the New Minya quarry(GPS Data: 28,4.5279N, 30,48.5339E, 160m a.s.l.) was re-investigated8). By cleaning the surface ofthe obelisk and the surrounding grooves, the final state of the extraction work reached by theancient quarrymen became visible (Fig. 16-1). The depth of the trenches around the obelisk is not
deep, being less than 1 meter. The trench on three sides around the obelisk are wide and weremade simultaneously by extracting stones of a moderate size in the middle, which could be carriedout by 2–3 workmen (Fig. 16-2), whereas the narrow trench in east concentrates mostly to deepen
itself (Fig. 16-3). As a result the east trench reached as deep as 75cm, while the other trenches
remained 20–50cm deep. A simplified calculation gives an approximate value of the hitherto cut
stone volume to be 19m3.
Since the base of the obelisk is 2.4m (4 1/2 cubit), the workmen would have gone down to reachthe 2.4m depth for the width of the obelisk, and then further undercutting the obelisk9). The total
volume of stone to be removed is thus estimated to be c. 160m3, which indicate that the work wasabandoned at the phase of 1/8 of the total extraction work.
Observing the surface of the bedrock, it seems that the location of the obelisk was carefully
selected to fit inside the natural fissures that are visible throughout this quarry site. It is noteworthy
19

Fig. 16 Unfinished obelisks. Nos. 1–3: New Minya Quarry; Nos. 4–6: South Quarry of Akoris. No. 1: Bird’s-eyeview looking westward; No. 2: West trench with a row of quarried blocks; No. 3: Narrow trench on the eastside; No. 4: Bird’s-eye view looking eastward; No. 5: Broad opening on the west side with a row of quarried
blocks; No. 6: Heaps of chipped away rock along the trench.

that there are major fissures near the four sides of the obelisk, and that the dimensions of the obelisk
were presumably determined based on these restricted area.
The reason of the interruption of the quarry work of obelisk is not clear so far. Minor fissures
were found at the unfinished monument, but fatal fissure seems not to be observed on the shaft ofthe obelisk. R. Engelbach reported in his publication on the famous unfinished granite obelisk at
Aswan in 1922 that a few vertical holes for examining the nature of mother rock below weredetected10); however, at our site, such attempts were not seen. The revised plan and sections will bedelineated near future.

203-2 Unfinished obelisk at the southern quarry area of Akoris
In this season, we began with our documentation work of another unfinished obelisk at thesouthern quarry area of Akoris (GPS Data: 28,10.2131N, 30,46.8631E, 137m a.s.l.). This obelisk liesat the top and along the edge of the mountain (Fig. 16-4). Similar to the obelisk at the quarry site at
New Minya, the four sides of the obelisk is surrounded by two narrow trenches (in the east andsouth) and two broad openings, in which stone blocks have been already quarried. The stones of
two broad openings on the west and north side were quarried by making narrow trenches ofca. 30cm in a regular interval of ca. 130cm (Fig. 16-5). Thus the numerous large blocks lying in thevicinity of the unfinished obelisk, which, for instance, have the dimensions of 123 × 290 × 90cm,
145 × 260 × 88cm, or 132 × 188 × 81cm, can be regarded as the product from these openings.
The heaps of small stones that surround the edges of the obelisk and of these trenches would also
represent the remnants of the quarried stones (Fig. 16-6).
Four days were spent to clean the top surface of the monolithic block. We found a few small pottery
sherds, which were not helpful in dating the debris, and also rest of plants, which we hope to analyze itwith radiocarbon dating. There are also irregular cuts into the obelisk that are perhaps of later date.
Measured from the top surface, the obelisk is 32m long, 4.2m wide at the base, and 4.1m wideat the top. It seems that the obelisk is again laid out to avoid the existing fissures of the bedrock, asin the case of the other obelisk at New Minya quarry. The east trench measures c. 2.7m from the
top surface of the obelisk to that of the debris. It seems that about the half of the extraction work
had been done. The top surface of the obelisk is horizontal except for the northern part, where it
begins to incline sharply: it may indicate the pyramidion. Precise measurements will be undertaken
after the trenches of the obelisk are cleaned in the next season.

(Nishimoto and Yasuoka)

4 Striding Draped Male Figure of Chapel F
Chapel F is a rock-cut temple dug into the western flank of the prominent crag overlooking thesettlement area of Akoris (Fig. 17-1). Although this small cubic chamber (c. 3.5m × 3.6m) is namedin alphabetical order along with other larger chapels constituting the Western Temple (Chapels Ato E), it is actually situated on a different upper horizontal rock layer and should be set apart fromthe chapels below. Furthermore, Chapel F seems to have been designed as a temple right from the
beginning, while Chapels A to E were originally tombs of Middle Kingdom date with deep verticalshafts in the middle of their rooms, and converted into temples only later in Roman times. Various
traces of cutting on the steep cliff to the north of Chapel F suggest that there must have been othersimilar rock-cut chapels in the vicinity, though this temple is highly exceptional with the refined
relief and partly painted decoration on its façade, inside walls, and ceiling (Fig. 17-2).
This chapel was first investigated by Ahmed Kamal in 190311), and described briefly in themain excavation report of Akoris published in 1995 with the plans and engraved prints of reliefs on
both inside and outside walls12). The entrance, 157cm in height and 63cm in width, is crowned witha protective winged sun disc and another sun disc with two uraei, and flanked by columns withthree successive vertical panels, each representing seated or standing human or divine figures(Fig. 18). On both sides, a seated male figure is depicted on the uppermost panels. The second21Fig. 17 Chapel F. No. 1: Crag overlooking the Settlement area of Akoris; No. 2: Chapel F from the plain below;
No. 3: Reliefs on the north wall; No. 4: Reliefs on the south wall; No. 5: Central altar on the eastern wall; No. 6:
Reliefs on the walls flanking the entrance.

deity on the left column is Anubis and the third standing deity is identified with Hapy. On the rightcolumn, Horus is depicted on the second panel and the God of Nile is standing on the third panel.
The general configuration of the reliefs on the walls inside the chapel suggests that the man
depicted on the upper panels of the façade was a personage of special eminence. He seems now
represented twice on both western corners of the north and south walls, in the same size as the gods
standing in front of him (Fig. 17-3 and 4). Those gods who receive the offering from him and alittle boy on the north wall and following northern part of the east wall are Sobek, Tutu, a ramheaded god, Anubis, Osiris and Harsiese13). Similarly the six gods of Ammon-Re, Khnum, Hapy,
Nefertem, Tutu, and Thoth receive an offering from him on the south wall and southern part of theeast wall. The starting point of their processions is the central altar of typical Greco-Roman style on22the east wall (Fig. 17-5). On the opposite west wall Goddess Isis is giving the breast to a child at bothsides of the entrance (Fig. 17-6), and they are protected by Min on the northern side and by
Ammon-Re on the southern side respectively. This child is certainly the same boy who is standing
with the man on the north wall, and may be his own son rather than some deity such as
Harpocrates. The overall iconography of the reliefs on both outside and inside walls, thus, strongly
suggests that the chapel was a dedicatory monument consecrated by the man recurrently appearson the reliefs together with his little son.
But the most impressive iconographical feature of Chapel F is the huge relief of a standing
man, as tall as 183cm, represented in a free space to the left of the façade, who is certainly identified
with the personage shown on the reliefs inside the temple (Fig. 18). He is holding a bunch offlowers and slightly lifting up his draped garment with his left hand. The position of his right handindicates that he is burning incense on an elongated altar represented rather precariously in the air.
His posture is almost the same as that of the figure close to the western corner of the north wall,
while the altar there is set directly on the ground. The general context as well as his apparently
shaven head and his ceremonious gesture unambiguously demonstrate that he was a prestigious
priest of late Ptolemaic or early Roman Akoris. Then what was the function of this regal priest in
the rural society and what was the purpose of his consecrating this religious monument?
As Diodorus Siculus famously put it, the priests were one of the three main propertied bodies
of Ptolemaic Egypt, alongside the Crown and the warrior class (Diod. 1.73.2), and as such they musthave been actively involved in various social and economic enterprises beyond the confinement ofpurely cultic ceremonies14). But except for the powerful dynasties of High Priests of such majorreligious centers as Memphis or Thebes, details of their specific activities through local temples andtheir historical development are difficult to trace. What we know from the papyrologically wellinformed case of the Arsinoite nome is that the priestly functions as well as the religious titles ofminor priests were quite diversified15). A document of 229 BC from the Themistos meris of theArsinoite nome, shows that some 7 per cent of total adults formed the priestly sector in this tax-areawith such titles as Pastophoroi, Phoibetai, and Theagoi etc. But situation is far more obscure in otherregions. Although the family archive of Dionysios son of Kephalas provides valuable information on
the economic activities of the local military personnel at Akoris, it refers only to the fact that
Dionysios somehow held a priestly office in the cult of ibis-god16), and it is difficult to conjecture thesocial standing of being an insignificant priest in the local network.
For the moment, thus, the only clue for revealing the nature of the priest of Chapel F at Akoris
seems to be the iconographic composition of the relief itself. In this respect, the striking similarity
between the image of the priest of Chapel F and that of ‘the striding draped male figure’ isinescapable17). The striding draped male figure is an appellation for the specific statue type of thelate Ptolemaic period, the hallmark of which is its draped configuration around the body. The
striding posture with the left leg advanced reflects the standard Egyptian artistic tradition, though
the naturalistic modeling of the body and the treatment of folds of the drapery are often regarded
as the product of Greek influence. The characteristic dress is usually composed of a shirt, a skirt,
and a draped shawl with fringe. Even though the shaven head and the short draped shawl without
fringe may make the appearance of the priest of Chapel F rather conservative, it is fairly certain
23

Fig. 18 Entrance of Chapel F. No. 1: Relief of a striding male figure on
the northern wall of the entrance; No. 2: Engraved prints of thereliefs.

that the relief was a variant of this specific type of realistic portrait statue that become popular after
125 BC18).
It is well known that such realistic portrait statues were sometimes erected in the temple
courtyards, or even placed in chapels built in front of the temples in order to connect them withrituals19). The case of Panemerit, who got divine worship through his statues set up in the forecourtof Amon20), suggests that the priest of Chapel F might have been also a powerful elite, whose chapel
was consecrated in order to exhibit his prestige. It was natural that his chapel became one of theimportant religious foci of late Hellenistic and Roman Akoris and is still venerated today by local
people who visit this chapel to pray for pregnancy21).

(Suto)

5 El-Shourafa:
the site of ‘The Crag Great-Of-Victories’?
El Shourafa is located on the east bank of the Nile, 7km south of Akoris, and almost 2km northof el-Minya. There are two Old Kingdom tombs found in Sheikh Mubarak district there, and some
New Kingdom relics including a statue of Khaemwaset, a son of Ramesses II, were unearthed at
el-Shourafa22), attesting to some age-old importance of this site. Chaban, M. E. found a mud brickbearing the name of a High Priest of Amun-Re, Menkheperre at the ruins of a fortress there,
apparently dating back to the 21st Dynasty23). Such a fortress is mentioned in the Victory Stela ofPiye of the 25th Dynasty, as follows;‘Then they (i.e., Piye’s army) fought against ‘The Crag Great-of-Victories (tꜣ dhnt wr nḫtw)’. They
found it filled with troops, all kinds of fighters of Lower Egypt. A siege tower was made against
it; its wall was overthrown. A great slaughter was made of them, countless numbers, including
a son of the Chief of the Ma, Tefnakht24).”‘The Crag Great-of-Victories’ mentioned here apparently refers to some kind of fortification,
once assumed to be located at modern Tihna el-Gabal (Akoris)25). However, no evidence of fortress24

Fig. 19 East area in the site of El-shourafa. No. 1: South half of the ‘defensive wall’ from west; No. 2: North half ofthe ‘defensive wall’ from north.

or defensive wall which Piye’s army supposedly attacked has been found from Akoris so far26), whichmakes probable that this fortress was actually located somewhere else. Gauthier, H. identified thisplace not with Tihna el-Gabal but with the military base which was built by abovementioned
Menkheperre at el-Hibeh27).
However, el-Shourafa is certainly another candidate for ‘The Crag Great-of-Victories’, since thebrick above of Menkheperre attests to the existence of a 21st Dynasty fortress there, and since thesouthern part (27.25m in length × 3.20m in height and 60cm in thickness) of the defensive wall of
the fortification remains in the eastern side of this site (Fig. 19-1). The foundation of this wall has
been found, indicating that the original wall (c. 450m in length) crossed a wadi, which was probably
used as a passage between the Nile Valley and the Eastern Desert. This wall was extended on thehills on both sides of the wadi, probably to be a part of fortification.
French scholars of Napoleonic expedition once reported another defensive wall built in thesouth of el-Shourafa. According to their description28), this wall was built from mud brick and was
4m in height, 2.20m in thickness, extending from a height of the eastern mountain to the vicinity of
the Nile. They believed that this wall was constructed to protect the quarrying area behind themountain or to control the border of this area during the conflict times between the north and thesouth of Egypt29).
We surveyed this site, now beside the police camp called Tabet Darb el Naar (Shooting trainingcamp) to the south of Sawada village and found the foundation of this wall (320.65m in length) insome parts (Fig. 19-2), which were reused as monks’ houses in the Coptic period, similar to theabovementioned wall at el-Shourafa in style and materials.
There was probably once existed a network of military fortifications belonging to Menkheperreof Theban theocracy in the 21st Dynasty, which includes the main fortress30), the abovementioned
northern crossing wall, and this wall to the south of Sawada village. The geographical features suchas the mountain chain and the Nile would have given protection to this area against the attack fromthe east and the west. Such natural defenses must have been much strengthened by this network of
fortifications.
Several years ago, some Ptolemaic limestone quarries in the vicinity of Akoris, including the one
in el-Shourafa, were investigated by a Japanese archaeological mission31). There is another quarry
25site Om Selim in el-Shourafa area, which was an alabaster quarry of which date is unknown. Several
Roman coins found in this area attest to some economic activities there, and at least three of them
are dated to the reigns of Aurelian to Probus (A.D. 270–282), according to their obverse inscriptions,which are;
The first coin: Aurelian (A.D. 270–275):ΑΚΑ   ΔΟΜ   ΑΥΡΗΛΙΑΝΟC   CΕΒThe second coin: Tacitus (A.D. 275–276): Α   Κ   ΚΛ   ΤΑΚΙΤΟC   CΕΒThe third coin: Probus (A.D. 276–282):Α   Κ   ΑΥΡ   ΠΡΟ   ΒΟC   CΕΒIn the Coptic period, the fortress of el-Shourafa was reused as a gathering place for monks.
This gathering place dates back to the latter half of the 3rd century through the end of the 7th
century according to pottery fragments, and there are about twelve houses of monks to the north of
the fortress, together with traces of a church and tombs still visible on the surface32).
The archaeological importance of el-Shourafa area is thus attested through abovementioned
monuments and relics dating back to Pharaonic period. This area was also probably the site of theimportant fortress, ‘the Crag Great-of-Victories (tꜣ dhnt wr nḫtw)’, mentioned in the Victory Stela ofPiye. El-Shourafa maintained its importance after Pharaonic period, and was reused as a settlementof Coptic monks.

(Shenouda)

NOTES
1) Akoris Preliminary Report 2009, pp. 10–17.
2) AEFP use ‘front strap’, ‘back strap’ and ‘heel strap’ to the words respectively in this section. see Veldmeijer, A. J.
2010 Tutankhamun’s Footwear: Studies of Ancient Egyptian Footwear, Norg.
3) The shoes in Akoris are corresponded to ‘Leather Stubbed-Toe Ankle Shoes’ by AEFP. Veldmeijer A. J. 2013
“Studies of ancient Egyptian footwear. Technological aspects. Part XVII. Leather Stubbed-Toe Ankle Shoes”,
Jaarberichten Ex Oriente Lux, vol. 44, pp. 61–77.
4) Akoris Preliminary Report 2007, Front cover (right column), p. 9 and 11, Fig. 7-53 and 54.
5) Veldmeijer, A. J. 2009a “Studies of ancient Egyptian footwear. Technological aspects. Part XII. Fibre shoes”,
British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan, no. 14, pp. 97–129.
6) Veldmeijer, A. J. 2009b “Studies of ancient Egyptian footwear. Technological aspects. Part XVI. Leather open
shoes”, British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan, no. 11, pp. 1–10; Id., 2009c “Studies of ancient
Egyptian footwear. Technological aspects. Part XVI. Additional pair of leather open shoes”, Journal of theAmerican Research Center in Egypt, vol. 45, pp. 233–245.
7) Ibid., 2009b p. 6; Driel-Murray, C. van “Leatherwork and skin products”, in Nicholson, P. T. and I. Shaw (eds.)
Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge, pp. 315–316.
8) For the general information of this obelisk, see Preliminary Report 2015, pp. 19–22.
9) It is likely that, the undercutting process of the obelisk was similar to that of the colossus lying nearby. The
workmen would have left a strip of bedrock of ca. 90cm in a regular distance, which in the case of colossus
varies from ca. 3.1 to 7m.
10) Engelbach, R. 1922 The Aswan Obelisk with Some Remarks on the Ancient Engineering, Cairo, pl. I.
11) Ahmed Bey Kamal, M. 1903 “Fouilles à Tehneh”, ASAE 4, pp. 232–241.
12) Kawanishi, H. and S. Tsujimura (eds.) 1995 Akoris: Report of the Excavations at Akoris in Middle Egypt 1981–1992,
Kyoto, pp. 41–43, Fig. 31–33.
13) For the identification of gods, see Kaper, O. E. 2003 The Egyptian God Tutu: A Study of the Sphinx-god and Master ofDemons with a Corpus of Monuments, Leuven 2003, 254–255.
14) Lloyd, A. B. 1983 “The Late Period, 664–323”, in Trigger, B. G. et al. Ancient Egypt: A Social History, Cambridge,
pp. 301–309.
15) Clarysse W. and D. J. Thompson 2006 Counting the People in Hellenistic Period, vol. 2: Historical Studies,
Cambridge, pp. 177–186.

2616) Lewis, N. 1986 Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt, Oxford, p. 126.
17) Bianchi, R. 1978 “The Striding Draped Male Figure of Ptolemaic Egypt”, in H. Maehler and V. M. Strocka (eds.)
Das Ptolemäische Ägypten: Akten des Internationalen Symposions 27–29 September 1976 in Berlin, Mainz, pp. 95–102.
18) Gorre, G. 2013 “A Religious Continuity Between the Dynastic and Ptolemaic Periods? Self-Representation and
Identity of Egyptian Priests in the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)”, in E. Stavrianopoulou (eds.) Shifting Social
Imageries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices, and Images, Leiden, pp. 99–114.
19) Goddio F. (ed.) 2006 Egypt’s Sunken Treasures, Munich, pp. 178–181.
20) Zivie-Coche, Ch. 2004 Tanis: Statues et autobiographies de dignitaires, Paris, pp. 235–291.
21) Tsujimura, S. 1995 “Primitive Beliefs in Tehneh Village”, Kawanishi, H. and S. Tsujimura (eds.) op. cit. Akoris:
Report of the Excavations at Akoris in Middle Egypt 1981–1992, Kyoto, p. 471.
22) PM-4, 133. Maspero, G. 1915 Le Musée Égyptien, vol. 3, p. 29 note 1, p. 30 note 1, pls. 24, 28 and 30. Also see;
Chabân, M. E. 1907 “Fouilles à Achmounéîn”, ASAE 8, p. 223; Daressy, G. 1916 “Fragment de la statue duprince Khâ-m-uas”, ASAE 16, pp. 255–256; Wainwright, G. A. 1927 “El Hibah and Esh Shurafa and theirconnection with Herakleopolis and Cusae”, ASAE 27, pp. 76–77; Kessler, D. 1981 Historische Topographie derRegion zwischen Mallawi und Samalut, pp. 225–252.
23) Chabân, ibid., p. 223. Also see Wainwright, ibid. However, Kessler doubts about the existence of such a preRoman fortress at el-Shourafa. See ibid. pp. 241–242.
24) Lichtheim, M. 1980 Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. III, p. 71. For the text, see Grimal, N.-C. 1981 La stèle
triomphale de Pi(cankh) y au Musée du Caire JE 48862 et 47086–47089, pp. 46–47 (16*).
25) e.g., Kawanishi, H. and S. Tsujimura (eds.) op. cit., pp. 3–4.
26) Editors’ note: Our investigations in Akoris confirmed large-scale multiple walls of the TIP surrounding theWestern Temple Area, and found two stelae donated by Pinudjem I and Osorkon III in the precinct. We hope
the author to take these findings into consideration.
27) Gauthier, H. 1924 Dictionnaire des noms géogrphiques contenus dans les textes hiéroglyphiques, Tome VI, pp. 97–98.
Kessler holds that ‘The Crag Great-of-Victories’ is some unlocated fortress, not Tihna el Gabal. Kessler, op. cit.,
pp. 269–270.
28) Description de l’Egypte, Tome. 23, p. 293.
29) ibid.
30) See Wainwright, op. cit.
31) AKORIS Preliminary Report 2012, pp. 17–20.
32) Darwish, Mahmoud 2006 “Monastery site at Nazlet El-Shourafa East bank, Archaeological and Historical study”,
Periodic Magazine of Faculty of Arts of Minia University 60, pp. 279–338 (in Arabic).

MEMBERS IN 2016
Director: Kawanishi, H., University of Tsukuba.
Members: Tsujimura, S., The Paleological Association of Japan; Takahashi, T.; Uchida, S., Meirin
College; Nishimoto, S., Nippon Institute of Technology; Wada, K., Kokugakuin University;
Mitobe, H., Yamagata Prefectural Center for Archaeological Research; Yasuoka, Y., The
University of Tokyo; Fukami, S., JSPS Cairo; and Hanasaka, T.
Site Inspector: Muhamad Fauzy and Muhamad Roshidy.
SUPPORTING PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Fukami N., JSPS Cairo Research Station; Iwaki, N., C.E.O. and President, E&M; Murata, Y., MedicalDr.; Yakata, T.; Spencer, V.; Ozawa, A.; Sharaf, E; Suto, Y., Nagoya University; Hori, Y., Kyushu
University; Takahashi, R., Tokyo Metropolitan University; Kawasaki, K., Mecc Miyazaki; Endo, H.;
Akita University; Devena Haggis.
This project is sponsored by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 24401031 and JP15H01888.
27