South Area

Foreign Pottery

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Published for
PRELIMINARY REPORTAKORIS
2009
Edited by
Kawanishi, Hiroyuki
Tsujimura, Sumiyo
Hanasaka, Tetsu
Doctoral Program in History and Anthropology, University of Tsukuba
1–1–1 Tenno-dai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305–8571, Japan
Printed by NAKANISHI PRINTING CO., LTD. Japan
Copyright ©2010 by KAWANISHI, Hiroyuki

CONTENTS
1 GENERAL VIEW................................................................................................................Kawanishi, H.
2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONSSouth Area................................................................................................................ Tsujimura, S.
Finds from the South Area........................................................................................Hanasaka, T.
Leather Workshop....................................................................................................Hanasaka, T.
Leather Footwear......................................................................................................Hanasaka, T.
3 SOUTH QUARRY
Epigraphical investigation................................................................. Suto, Y. and R. Takahashi
Architectural investigation................................................................................................Endo, T.

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

1 GENERAL VIEW
Through this season’s excavation, one block of the South Area composed of five houses andbordered by a northern thoroughfare and an eastern side street, was completed. As a consequence
the following has been clarified:First the houses show a great difference in size, the minimum 25m2 and the maximum morethan 150m2. It connotes the social stratum gap among the people living there. Second an almost
perfect ‘Phoenician’ amphora transported from the Levant was retrieved in a middle-size house.
Some foreign pottery, almost all shards, had already been unearthed in the South Area, andconsisted of the same type amphorae, lentoid flasks and table-ware, which seem to have been fromnot only the Levant but also from Palestine comparing them with contemporary Israeli pottery. The
trade with these districts, whether direct or not, proceeded even at such a local middle Egypt city as
Akoris in the Third Intermediate Period (TIP) when the dynastic control over foreign trading
weakened, and these foreign products were commonly shared across the stratum gap. Discoveredbullas may have been used in this trade (Fig. 2).
The third notable matter is the arrangement of entrances. No entrances to the houses face thethoroughfare or the side street. One faces the western Nile valley, another probably to the same
direction though its exact position was undetectable because of previous destruction, and the otherthree to the alleyway forking from the side street as mentioned below. Such restriction of openness
to the outdoors is appropriate for the trading
and manufacturing area where the harmful,unacquainted might enter. The last intriguing
matteristhedistinction

betweentheaccumulations in the streets and the houses. In
thestreets

forageandminutesoil

arehorizontally accumulated without prominent
relics, which is in vivid contrast to the houses
where various kinds of remains are heaped indisorder.

Considering its condition, somepublic control on the streets must have beenpracticed.

Fig. 1 Map of Egypt.

(Kawanishi)

Fig. 2 Excavated Bulla in 2009.
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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

2 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONSSouth Area (Cover, Figs. 3–6)   A settlement, which dates mainly from the TIP, extends down thesouth slope of the crag and stretches across the southern lowland to the next crag. In this season,
we continued to excavate in the southeast area divided by the east-west main street of 2.1m in width,
and the east side by the north-south street of 1.8m in width diverging southward in a T-shape, andby bedrock on both the west and south sides (see Preliminary Reports 2006 and 2008). The excavatedarea measures 30m east-west × 30m north-south in total.
As for the common houses, House II , where last season our work had to be suspended becauseof a deficiency of time was completely exposed and its whole plan shows that at least four smaller
rooms (Rooms 4–7) are located around a larger one (Room 3) measuring 7.5m east-west × 6.0m
north-south.
Room 3 is too wide to have been roofed and has no traces of columns on the firmly mudplastered floor, which leads us to surmise it to have been roofless. Had the room been roofed, long,thick timbers would have been required to support the weight. Regarding the 60cm thickness ofthe surrounding mud brick wall, the existence of a roof is doubted though a sunshade is possible.
Two hearths were unearthed near the center of the floor, and traces of two fireplaces remain on thesouth wall. Many twigs possibly to provide fuel are scattered around them. Taking a lot of domestic
animal bones scattered into consideration, Room 3 is
supposed to have been a courtyard.
Two small rooms, Rooms 6 and 7, were uncoveredat the east end of Room 3. They were probably built as
partitioned space and then lost their original functions.
While two rooms (Rooms 4 and 5) at the south end,
measuring 4.5m east-west × 2.5m north-south, 5.1m
east-west × 2.5m north-south respectively and open to
Room 3. A large jar, of which the upper part had been
lost, remained at the southwest corner surrounded by a
mud brick enclosure, and the skull of a young pig wasdeliberately buried under the threshold of Room 5,
which makes us suppose it was done as a meaningful,religious custom.
An east-west alley of 2m in width diverges to thewest from the north-south street, along the south wall ofHouse II . Three houses, labeled House III , IV and V  respectively, have an entrance to the alley.

While

House III extends westward from the alley, Houses IV
and V , newly excavated, extend to the south. The south
side of the alley was rebuilt 50cm inward at 65cm higher
than the bottom of the old wall, however a new wall
remains only a height of two mud bricks.
Fig. 3 Map of Akoris.

seems to be a part of a lost building.

4名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

The wallFig. 4 South Area.
Nos. 1, 2: General view; No. 3: House II R3; No. 4: Pig skull; Nos. 5–8: House IV.

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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 5

Plan of the South Area excavated in 2009.

6名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 6 South Area. Nos. 1–3: House V ; No. 4: Silo 3.

House IV has a trapezoidal plan. The north wall measures 4.4m in length, the south one 8.0m
and the north-south one 9.9m. There is no doubt that the entrance of this house, though lostpresumably due to looters, was located in the north wall, because all the inner doors of the rooms
open southward. Room 1 bears a trapezoidal plan, of which dimensions are 4.9m east-west × 1.7m
and 2.6m north-south. A thick wall-like structure of mud brick, 0.6m in thickness and 1.8m in
length extends to the west inside of the north wall. There is a possibility that it consisted of thelower part of stairs, considering that a limestone set at the east end of the structure bear abrasions
like those on stepping stones. A pottery-made hearth, 1.0m in diameter, remains in the southeast
corner, while an entrance to a south room remains in the west part of the south wall.
Room 2 also shows a trapezoidal plan, and measures 5.0m and 6.5m east-west × 4.0m northsouth. An L-shaped wall, which has a different direction from other walls of this house, was built onan accumulation of soil measuring 63cm thick. The direction of this wall is coincident with House II
and V and the foundation is almost the same as the new wall in the alley.
A hearth is provided at the center under the L-shaped wall and a fireplace made of mud bricks
is fixed on the west wall. Regarding the volume of accumulated ash, the hearth seems to have been
availed in daily use. A silo, 1.5m in diameter, remains at the southwest corner, and two simple
structures composed of natural stones, one at the northeast corner and another near the southeast
corner, remain although their usage is indistinct.
The south space was partitioned into three parts by two thin walls. They are labeled Rooms
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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

3–5 from the west and each room has a doorway, however, strangely, the doorway of Room 3 isobstructed by the silo of Room 2. This room is equipped with a narrow mastaba (a built-in bench),
and located far from the main entrance as well as Room 5 of House I which has a mastaba. Room 3
is supposed to have been a living room.
Room 4 has two round enclosures in the northeast corner, and Room 5 bears a similar
enclosure in the northwest corner. Because of the existence of ash, these enclosures seem to havebeen used as fireplaces. Many pottery shards and many lumps of clay with traces of wood orbranches were exposed in situ when a roof collapsed on the floor of Room 5. It is noteworthy that a
Phoenician type amphora was included among them. According to the chronology of this type, it
dates from the end of the12th century – the 11 century B.C. (see Ptricia M.Bikai The Pottery of Tyre,
1978).
House V , which is contiguous eastward to House IV, has a nearly rectangular plan and its
dimensions are 6.3m east-west × 11.3m north-south though the south wall has been mostly
destroyed by the construction of silos and tombs. The entrance of this house was confirmed on thenorth wall in a heavily damaged condition.
Many dividing walls were uncovered in this house. A northern east-west wall extends from end
to end, however, other walls were too damaged to reconstruct them to what they had originallybeen. There is no trace of a door in each wall. Yet, the detected walls can be differentiated by twotransitional phases, earlier and later, through where two walls cross and the foundation height of
mud brick walls.
Speaking simply, except for the above-mentioned northern wall, the east-west walls arepreceded by the north-south walls. Five hearths were revealed, and labeled as Nos. 1–5 respectively.
No. 1 was set almost at the north wall of Room 1 and made of mud, and No. 2 in Room 2 was madeby pottery. Including No. 5 in Room 4, these hearths belong to the earlier phase. In Room 3, No. 3
is a mud-made hearth and No. 4 made of mud bricks has an unknown use. These two belong to thelatter phase.
Room 5 is enclosed with walls without an entrance. In the northeast corner, one quarter ofcylindrical wall measuring 1.5m in diameter with an entrance was discovered. A hollow made by asmaller one of two arc-shaped walls in it is full of round stones used for grind meal. Consideringthat many grain of barley were found around the southwest corner, Room 5 is supposed to havebeen an interior silo and could have been entered by a ladder. A fragile wooden coffin with humanbones of a young female was placed perpendicular to the west wall of Room 6.
Silos and tombs were built over the south walls of Rooms 7 and 8. Silo 1 was reused as a tomb,and Silos 5 and 6 were partially destroyed by a rectangular tomb made of mud brick. Judging fromthese facts, the tombs obviously postdate the silos. In addition where two walls cross also indicatesthe chronological sequence of silos, beginning with the oldest, Silo 7 → 5 → 4 → 3, Silo 2 →3, Silo
9 → 6 and Silo 9 → 8. On the floors of Silos 3, 4 and 8, many pottery shards and animal bones were
found. The tombs were too disturbed due to looters to restore to their original appearances. Even
if they had at one time born mortuary goods, they were most of completely lost. Yet some humanbones of a mature male in Silo 1 and female hair in Silo 5 were scattered about.

A woodenwinnowing scoop for collecting the grain was found near Silo 9 (Fig. 7 No. 27).
Some thin walls which do not seem to have formed houses extend southward from House IV
and V , and a small burned down room is adjacent to the southwest of House IV. Because there is a8

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

hump of bedrock around the south walls of Houses IV and V , it is difficult to extend these houses
to the south. Such poor divisions must have been attached to the main houses for some use.
Through the excavations of 2006, 2008 and 2009, a city plot, which consists of five main houses,
has been completely exposed. Trying to compare the houses with each other, while the roomarrangement is not uniform, House I measures 55m2 House II more than 150m2 and House III
25m2, House IV 61m2 and House V 71m2 in dimensions. House II , the largest one, is situated at
the corner of the T-shaped intersection which is the most conspicuous, and a western room labeled
Room 1 in 2008 was decorated with mural paintings. Furthermore, walls of House II measure one
and a half times as thick as other houses. Considering not merely the dimensions but all these facts,
evidently the inhabitants of House II belonged to the higher class than the others. And probably
Houses I, IV and V of which dimensions are equivalent, belonged to middle class inhabitants, while
House III , the smallest one, belonged to the lower class. If this social estimation is not seriously
flowed, the finding of a prestige item such as a large imported pilgrim flask probably from Levant
even in House III of the lower class attracts attention as an approach to the reconstruction ofsocio-economic aspects of the inhabitants (see Preliminary Report 2008).
The layout of the entrances is also interesting. Houses I and II open to the western bedrock,and Houses III , IV and V to the above-mentioned alley. In short, no entrances of the houses open
to the north-south street. In addition, there is a definite difference in accumulated remains andconditions between the houses and the streets plus the alley, that is, many mud brick fragments,
stones and various kinds of household waste fill up the inside of the houses, and the accumulating
layers are inclined and confused, whereas animal fodder, dung and minute soil are neatly stratified
in the streets and the alley. These facts suggest to us that the streets and the alley were under somepublic control and the busy streets were too risky for the inhabitants to provide entrances.
(Tsujimura)Finds from the South Area (Fig. 7)   Faience objects (Nos. 1–11)   No. 1: Faience lion-headed
goddess, Sekhmet, with a scarab on the head and a scepter in left hand, House II Room 3, fragment,l. 2.70 × w. 1.25 × t. 0.75cm.

No. 2: Faience lion-headed goddess, Sekhmet, Area 09D (leather

workshop), fragment, l. 2.05 × w. 1.26 × t. 1.16cm. No. 3: Faience human god, Bes, House V Room 6,
l. 1.57 × w. 0.70 × t. 0.41cm. No. 4: Faience lion-headed goddess?, Sekhmet?, south of House IV,l. 1.39 × w. 0.65 × t. 0.56cm. No. 5: Faience human god, Pataikos?, south-eastern excavated area,
fragment, l. 1.30 × w. 0.79 × t. 0.58cm.

No. 6: Faience amulet, Udjat-eye, House IV Room 2,

l. 1.55 × w. 1.28 × t. 0.60cm. No. 7: Faience goddess, aegis of Hathor, House V Room 3–4, l. 2.23 × w. 1.57
× t. 0.50cm. No. 8: Faience scarab, with hieroglyph read as nbt pr(?) M[kt-…] dı’ [‘n h] (The lady of˘
the house(?), Me[ket-…], given [life]) (according to Mr. Uchida), Area 09D (leather workshop),fragment, l. 1.42 × w. 1.07 × t. 0.74cm.

No. 9: Faience ring, with engraving a human or god,

House V Room 5, fragment, l. 2.53 × w. 0.94 × h. 1.88cm. No. 10: Faience ring, with an end of
cartouche sign, side street, fragment, l. 1.05 × w. 0.98 × h. 1.19cm. No. 11: Faience chalice, lotus
shape, Area 09D (leather workshop), fragment, l. 4.14 × w. 3.63 × t. 0.47cm.
Baked clay objects (Nos. 12–18)   No. 12: Clay human figurine, fertility figurine (?), fired,with a naval-like projection and four light red slip lines, Area 09D, fragment, l. 6.76 × w. 4.16 ×
t. 1.63cm, there were 8 human figurines found in this season. No. 13: Clay cobra figurine, fired,House V Room 2, fragment, l. 12.43 × w. 5.58 × t. 4.33cm, there were 38 cobra figurines foundin this season. No. 14: Clay cobra figurine, fired, with two red slip lines, House IV Room 3–5,
9名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

fragment, l. 8.75 × w. 4.89 × t. 2.78cm. No. 15: Clay weights, fired, with a hole, House V Room 7,
l. 3.65–4.51 × d. 1.66–2.18cm, there were 33 similar clay weights found in this season. No. 16: Clayweights?, fired, with threads on the both ends, Area 09D (leather workshop), l. 4.28 × d. 1.73cm.
No. 17: Clay spindle whorl, fired, converted from pottery shards, House IV Room 4–5,
d. 3.78 × t. 0.81cm, there were 6 similar clay spindle whorls found in this season.

No. 18:

Unidentified clay object, toy?, fired, with two holes and notch, House V Room6, l. 5.00 × w. 2.05 ×
t. 1.46cm.
Copper/Bronze object (No. 19)   No. 19: Copper/Bronze fish hook, House V Room 5, l. 3.01
× w. 1.75 × d. 0.25cm.
Stone objects (Nos. 20–24)   No. 20: Unidentified stone object, weight or axe?, limestone,
with two holes, House V Room 1, l. 10.66 × w. 8.30 × t. 4.46cm. No. 21: Stone weight, sandstone?,with groove line, Silo 5, l. 7.87 × w. 6.80 × t. 4.27cm. No. 22: Flint sickle blade, House V Room 5,
l. 8.88 × w. 4.47 × t. 0.97cm. No. 23: Stone step?, red granite, House V Room 3, l. 36.0 × w. 21.0 ×
t. 6.0cm. No. 24: Stone Bowl, limestone, Silo 2, fragment, d. 23.0 × h. 12.0 × t. 2.4cm.
Wooden objects (Nos. 25–31)   No. 25: Wooden comb, with twenty teeth, House V Room 3,
l. 5.75 × w. 4.76 × t. 0.71cm.

No. 26: Wooden spindle whorl with a shaft, House V Room 3,

fragment, whorl; d. 4.76 × t. 2.36cm, shaft; l. 7.82 cm. No. 27: Wooden farm implement, winnowing
scoop for left hand, north of Silo 9, l. 39.9 × w. 10.8cm.

No. 28: Unidentified wooden object,weaving tool?, with a hole, the western side of House IV, l. 19.5 × w. 4.67 × t. 2.23cm. No. 29:
Wooden handle for basket, with vegetable thread on both ends, the southern side of House IV,l. 12.50 × w. 7.75cm. No. 30: Wooden bowl, with holes and flat base, House V Room 2, fragment,
12.63 × 15.43 × h. 8.10 × t. 1.17cm.

No. 31: Unidentified wooden object, the western side ofHouse IV, l. 23.80 × w. 4.31 × t. 3.59cm.
Bone object (No. 32)   No. 32: Unidentified bone object, weaving tool?, Area 09D (leather
workshop), l. 8.42 × w. 1.06 × t. 0.48cm.
Pottery (Nos. 33–36, cover)   No. 33: Pottery, rounded bottomed dish, House V Room 6,
h. 6.6 × rim diam.26.1cm.

No. 34: Pottery, bowl with flat collared base, Silo 3, h. 6.4 × rim

diam. 10.4cm. No. 35: Pottery, deep bowl, House II Room 3, h. 6.4 × rim diam. 14.3cm. No. 36:
Pottery, pilgrim flask, Silo 3, h. 13.8 × body diam. 12.3cm. Cover right top: Pottery, jar with two
handles, decorated with black circle, foreign pottery?, House V Room G, h. 13.8 × rim diam. 7.0
× body diam. 12.3cm. Cover right bottom: Pottery, Phoenician amphora, with two handles, House IV
Room 5, h. 64.0 × rim diam. 11.0 × body diam. 44.0cm.

(Hanasaka)

Leather Workshop (Figs. 8–10)   The leather workshop situated halfway up the slope of theSouth Area, just to the south of the huge east-west wall (EW wall) measures 2.3m in height, 1.5m inthickness and at least 23.0m in total existing length. We investigated the workshop in the 2002–
2004 and 2007–2009 seasons, and confirmed its western edge in 2003 and eastern edge in 2007.
The whole area of the workshop measured approximately 17.5m east-west and 5.9m north-south.
There is a possibility of locating the southern edge further south down the slope, unfortunately
however, it has not been confirmed yet. There were accumulated layers consisting of debris, animal
hair, vegetable remains, and so on. In addition, a large quantity of leather products including bothwhole and pieces, especially sandals and shoes were excavated in each season. Almost all the sandals
and leather pieces were a dark brownish color, which showed that the leather had been tanned byvegetable materials, namely Suntwood, one of the many varieties of ‘Acacia nilotica’. Judging from10

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 7 Finds from the South Area.
Nos. 1–11: Faience objects; Nos. 12–18: Baked clay objects; Nos. 19: Copper/bronze object; Nos. 20–24: Stoneobjects; Nos. 25–31: Wooden objects; Nos. 32: Bone object; Nos. 33–36: Pottery.

the archaeological remains, the leather workshop was in use in the TIP, which was a little later thanthat of other parts of the South Area.
We divided the leather workshop into several sections and named them LW (Leather
Workshop) 1-LW10, from the west to the east. In the present report, we want to digest features ofeach section, LW1-LW10, with reference to the investigation of this season at LW1-LW7.
Basically, the north-south walls of each section were set at right angles to the EW wall, while theeast-west walls run parallel to the EW wall. Almost all the walls consisted of mud bricks which were
irregular in size and shape. In addition, the walls did not form a straight line and only a few tiers of
the wall remained. It is inferred that the walls might have been low without any upper structures orceilings, using recycled mud bricks.
11

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 8 South Area: Leather Workshop.
No. 1: General view; No. 2: LW8–10; No. 3: LW6; No. 4: LW4–5, 7.

Here are the details of each section of the leather workshop.
LW1, measuring 1.8m east-west × 2.7m north-south, was situated at the west end of the leather
workshop. There were three partition walls at the east, south and west ends of LW1. The fact ofthe matter is that the western wall was not the actually limit of the leather workshop, since thefoundation of the wall was placed higher than the accumulated layers of the workshop and leather
products could be found below the wall. However, we could not find any objects relating to theleather workshop beyond the western wall. In LW1, there was a hearth, measuring 85 × 125cm,
beside the eastern wall to LW2. We found many leather objects including sandals, thongs, triangular
offcut pieces and colored leather pieces to the southwest of the hearth in the 2009 season.
LW2, measuring 1.7m east-west × 2.8m north-south, was situated to the east of LW1. There
was a line of mud bricks and limestone, possibly a pseudo-partition wall, placed as a border from
LW3 on the east side. Beside the eastern wall, there was a hearth without a surrounding mud brickwall or pounded earth (pisé) as in LW1. In the north-east corner of LW2, there was an arched
partition of pisé, however, we could not find any special objects inside. It is possible that the partition
wall between LW1 and LW2 was set in course of the operation of the leather workshop, because thesame accumulation of the layer could be confirmed beneath the wall.
LW3 measured 1.9m east-west × 1.8m north-south. The curved mud brick wall, stretchingsouthward, touched the eastern partition wall of LW4. It was hard to decide whether the wall was
12名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

set there originally or attached later. The condition of the southern part of LW3 was obscure,because there is a huge hole dug by robbers, 2.3m in diameter, to the south of LW2 and LW3. On
the other hand, we found many leather objects from the investigation area in this season at thenorth end of LW3 where the natural limestone bedrock was exposed.
LW4 measured 3.3m east-west × 2.8m north-south, and the bedrock was exposed in thenorthwest corner. The narrow southern and western walls, which separated LW3 and LW5 from
LW4 respectively, were a series of walls forming an L-shaped line. It is quite likely that there were
gateways accessing LW3 and LW5 at both ends of the walls. There was a line of more than tenpieces of limestone, forming the border between LW6 on the east side. Those stones were unshaped
blocks about 30–40cm square in size. At the center of the northern part of LW4, there was a hearth
measuring 110 × 80cm surrounded by mud bricks and pisé.

In the 2009 season, the trace ofanother hearth from a lower accumulation was confirmed.
LW5 measured 2.0m east-west × 1.9m north-south which was situated next to the south of
LW4. There were two walls, east and south, which had three tiers of mud bricks. A rectangularlimestone block, measuring 50cm in length, was set at the north end of the eastern wall. It was the
only limestone block which was formed into a rectangular parallelepiped in the leather workshop.
In the corner of the eastern and southern walls, there was an arched partition, excavated in the2002 season. We found many leather pieces from the investigation area in the western part of LW5
in the 2009 season.
LW6 was the largest area in the leather workshop, measuring 4.3m east-west × 3.6m north-south.
The southern and western mud brick walls formed an L-shape. There was a hearth measuring
100cm square in size in the north-west area of LW6, surrounded by mud bricks. In the corner ofthe south and west walls, there was an arched partition of mud bricks. In the 2003 season, we founda lump of lime used as animal hair remover in a pot set inside the arched partition. In the 2009season, two parts like ‘deposits’ were investigated at the south and east end of LW6. They are theplaces where we found a huge quantity of objects: whole and parts of leather sandals and shoes,
leather thongs, triangular cut pieces, animal hair, seedpods of Suntwood, pottery sherds, and so on.
LW7 and LW8 were flat areas without partition walls and neither southern edges could be
confirmed. LW7, measuring 1.6m east-west × 3.0m north-south, was situated to the south of LW4
and the east of LW5. A cross section of LW7 showed that there were some accumulations containing
animal hair and seedpods of Suntwood. LW8 was the smallest area located to the south of LW6 andthe west of LW10, measuring 0.7m east-west × 2.0m north-south.

It was difficult to fix the

boundary between LW8 and LW10, however, there was a short north-south wall.
LW9, measuring 2.9m east-west × 3.5m north-south, was to the east of LW6 and was the eastend of the leather workshop. In previous investigations, we confirmed a hearth along the westernwall, measuring 90 × 60cm in size surrounded by mud bricks. And in addition, there was an arched
partition of mud bricks in the corner of the southern and western walls.
LW10 measured 2.8m east-west × 2.5m north-south, with a damaged hearth on the side of thenorthern wall between LW9. There was no wall at the east end of LW10, however we found leather
fragments at the eastern limits of the leather workshop. Under the circumstances, it is possible toassume that the leather workshop might extend eastward over the present limit which was decided
in 2007 by the eastern partition wall of LW9.
The main points of the organization of the leather workshop are summarized as follows:13

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 9 Plan of the leather workshop.

Fig. 10 Leather workshop
Upper: LW1–3, Upper middle: Leather products,
Lower middle; Schematic of footwear, Lower;
Footwear.

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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

In every case, each section of the leather workshop took a rectangle shape surrounded bypartition walls which were very thin and not in a straight line.

In addition, the walls wereconstructed with mud bricks and some limestone, however, they were irregular in size and shape. It
therefore seems that they were not piled higher and didn’t support an upper construction.
It was inferred that the order of constructing the leather workshop started from the easternpart, LW9. As mentioned above, the southern and western walls of LW4, LW6 and LW9 were set
consecutively making L-shaped lines respectively. The L-shaped wall of LW9 was built first, andthen the wall LW6 was added to it. And next, the wall LW4 was attached. It is quite reasonable tothink that the time difference between each part of construction was small and each section of theleather workshop existed almost at the same time.
Other characteristics of the leather workshop were hearths and arched partitions set at thecorners of the walls. The hearths were confirmed in six sections, LW1, LW2, LW4, LW6, LW9 and
LW10. They measured about 1.0m square and were surrounded by mud bricks and pisé. The later
arched partitions were found from LW2, LW5, LW6 and LW9.
It would be possible to establish two functions of the leather workshop: a factory for leather
products and a tannery. Though few tools have been found, there was enough evidence to showthat the factory was in operation since we could find related objects such as leather sandals andshoes, triangular cutoff pieces, leather thongs, pieces of red and green colored leather and so on.
As to a tannery, there was no conclusive proof of such a function. It is conceivable that thetannery was carried out on the spot of the investigation area on the ground that there were a large
quantity of animal hair, lumps of lime used as hair remover and acacia seedpods for vegetabletanning. Large jars for soaking skins, depicted in some private tombs, have not been found in theleather workshop in our investigations. This fact remains as a matter to be discussed. Furthermore,
the process of vegetable tanning probably required water in large quantities, however, it must havebeen too hard to bring water to the leather workshop located on the slope of the South Area. It is
plausible that the vegetable tanning was operated in other places near the source of water supply,
and then, the tanned leather with acacia seedpods perhaps was carried into the leather workshop.
(Hanasaka)
Leather Footwear (Figs. 8–10)   The purpose of this section is to introduce briefly the leather
products found in the South Area during the 2002–2009 seasons. Attention to leather products has
been growing for the last few years, and several studies have been made especially by the Ancient
Egyptian Footwear Project.

Those vigorous studies were based on leather footwear in museum

collections, but there is, nevertheless, a lack of the firsthand information about both leather products
and remnants of workshops confirmed from archaeological excavation. Due to space limitation, thissection will concentrate on the leather sandals and ankle shoes found in the South Area.
It seems highly possible that almost all of the areas in the South Area, including the leather
workshop, were occupied mainly in the TIP. We have found a few Hellenistic or Coptic relics,
however, from the surface of the layer.
We will take a close look at the footwear, excavated from the South Area, temporarily named‘Akoris footwear’. Most of the Akoris footwear was made of the brownish leather tanned by the vegetable‘Acacia nilotica’. It was different from the footwear in the museum collections in that the usage of
red and green colored leather was limited only for thongs and that there were few elaborate
decorative techniques in the Akoris footwear. It is possible that the leather is goatskin judging from15

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

the analysis of the animal hair and pore by microscope. The important point to be emphasized isthat much of the Akoris footwear was actually worn in daily life, as described below.
Several dozens of better preserved leather footwear and a huge quantity of parts, triangularcutoff pieces, thongs and other leather products were excavated from the leather workshop. In thissection, we will deal with forty pieces of the Akoris footwear excavated in good condition from boththe leather workshop and other areas of the South Area to observe the details. These forty include
twenty-four leather sandals and sixteen ankle shoes.
The size of complete sandals among the twenty-four objects was between 26.1cm inlength × 10.8 cm in width, and 13.8 cm in length × 6.0cm in width. It is difficult to estimate theoriginal size from broken parts of the sandals, but suffice it to say that the average would beapproximately 21.0cm in length × 8.0cm in width.
Most of the sandals had soles made of two or three layers. The soles were made stronger bystitching some leather layers together rather than using a single thick skin. The toe of the sole ismildly pointed and can be distinguished as to left or right foot. It gradually become narrower
toward the mid-part, and cut off the heel roundly.
It is said that the most characteristic feature of the Egyptian sandals was the ‘eared’ cutting
pattern of the soles, confirmed throughout the Pharaonic period. These ‘ears’ were projections at
the narrow mid-part cutting out along the edge of the heel back-part of the sole. Among our finds,
it could be verified that six eared-sandals out of twelve keep the mid- and back-parts. It was usualthat the ears were cut out on each layer of the sole, and that leather thongs were twined around thebunch of the ears.
The sandals had a Y-shaped strap, side straps knotted on the toe strap, holding the instep of
the foot and a back ankle-strap turning up to hold a heel and an ankle. These straps were tied tothe holes pierced at the end of the ears, or directly pierced the soles.
There was a variety of stitching along the edge of the soles. The first way was a simple seamalong the edge by a thread made of twisted animal hair and was found in seven of the sandals. The
second was stitching by leather thongs 0.2–0.3cm in width, and these totaled nine. There were six
sandals stitched using both animal hair thread and leather thongs. Two in our twenty-four sandals
didn’t have stitching because they were made with a single sole.
In addition, ten sandals among all our finds had leather strips, measuring less than 0.5cm inwidth, put between the sole and the thread/thong along the edge of the soles. It was quite probablethat the stitching was reinforced with the leather strip. Some sandals were stitched together not
only along the edge of the sole, but also in the middle part of the sole. There were also two ways of
stitching, using animal hair thread or leather thongs. The whole sole was sewn elaborately with theanimal hair thread, but on the other hand, it was roughly pierced with one or two leather thongs in
the center of the sole.
There was a pair of sandals which was the only example made of red colored leather in the
Akoris footwear. They had slender shape soles with ears and the insole was padded with animal hair,
perhaps that of a goat. The sandals with those features are thought to be from the 21st and 22nd
Dynasties.
We have mentioned the sixteen ankle shoes which were defined as footwear which has an
upper-cover over the foot; an instep and a heel. The height of the upper-cover would be on/overthe ankle. It was decided that a piece should be judged ‘shoe’ from the fragment of the upper part,16

名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

the way of attaching the straps and so on. The size of complete ankle shoes of the sixteen found was
between 27.4cm in length × 12.2cm in width, and 13.2cm in length × 7.1cm in width.
As a matter of fact, it was very difficult to distinguish ‘ankle shoes’ from ‘sandals’ because they
had the exactly same shape of sole. The ears cut out the sole in ten ankle shoes out of sixteen cases
can be confirmed. In addition, there were five ankle shoes with holes for toe-straps. Based on theseobservations, it is likely that the ankle-shoes were derived from sandals, in other words, the ankleshoes were merely sandals with the upper-cover over a foot. It is possible to presume that theancient footwear maker prepared a sole with ears and a hole for toe-straps as a beginning of the
manufacturing process. Then, one was attached to the toe- and ankle-straps to make a sandal, andthe other, attached to the upper-cover to make a shoe.
The similar way of stitching to that of sandals was seen. The upper-cover was stitched together
with the soles. In many cases, the leather thongs with strips were used for reinforcing the stitching.
The upper-cover was made from a single sheet of leather, not from combine pieces. The
leather sheet had to be cut off into a semi-oval shape with one end similar to the toe-shape of thesole and the other end flat with a v-shaped slit. When it was folded at the center and stitched withthe flat ends together, the v-shaped slit would become the opening of the upper-cover. The edge ofthe opening was wrapped by a leather strip and attached to the leather shoe lace.
The ears were cut from the sole are lengthened and pierced on the side of the upper-cover. At
the end of the ears, they were tied up with narrow leather thongs to stiffen the sides and heel of theupper-cover.
These explanations above are based on the typical examples from our finds. It is worth notingthat they are very similar to the ankle-shoes in the British Museum, BM EA 4402/03, which areunprovenanced, but said to be ‘Ptolemaic’ red leather shoes.
One of interesting points of the Akoris footwear is that there are some recycled footwear madefrom small pieces of other products. Furthermore, it could be confirmed that some products had
been repaired and covered up by small pieces of leather. These facts lead us to the conclusion that
the Akoris footwear was made and used in daily life, not as funerary goods. It is highly likely that theordinary Egyptians in the TIP wore footwear, both sandals and ankle-shoes.

(Hanasaka)

3 South Quarry
Epigraphical investigation (Figs. 11–13)   A survey of several galleries at the quarry inZāwiyat al-Sultān was conducted in 2009. The ceilings of following four galleries were measured for3

making plans: section E on the eastern side of the valley, sections R, S, and U on the western side.
Legible Demotic and Greek graffiti of those sections and section H on the eastern side were traced
by life-sized scale, while these graffiti have been confirmed, read, and photographed in the previous
seasons.

In addition, we re-examined sections previously investigated, and identified a few

unexamined galleries with graffiti.
Few examples of Greek graffiti traced in this season are translated below:
U2
Year 39, Ep(ei)ph 10, Philippos, 41/2 × 22/3 × 1* month Epeiph is written by a monogram of three characters E, P and Ph.

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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 11 South Quarry.
Left: Zāwiyat al-Sultān and Akoris;
Upper: Geographical map of Zāwiyat al-Sultān.
3

3

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Fig. 12 Graffiti on the ceiling of section U.

U 12Year 39, Pha( ) 10, Aristodikos, 41/3 × 31/3
* month is written by a monogram of two characters of Ph and A. Thus the month can be
Phamenoth, Pharmouthi, or Phaophi.
Interesting observations made in this season are that, at least, some of red lines on the ceilings weredrawn in order to indicate clacks on floors; that some Greek graffiti in section R use prepositions
such as ‘apo’ (from) or ‘eis’ (to) in order to indicate the duration of successive months; that section R
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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 13 Details of South Quarry.
No. 1: Entrance of section U; No. 2: section Q; No. 3: Q29; No. 4: Q30.

has a few graffiti on vertical walls. The most significant observation is the rediscovery of a graffito
with the date of the 26th year of Ptolemy III , which has not been attested. This rediscovery merits
some detailed discussion.
A trial dig at the northeastern corner of section Q revealed a valuable clue as to thechronological sequence of the quarrying activities at this innermost area on the bottom of the valley.
After the removal of the accumulated sand, two graffiti, both written in Greek alone, appeared side
by side on the vertical quarry face. Both the graffiti are written with narrow brush in cursory style.
Q 29
Year 2, Tybi 7
Q 30
Year 26, Phaophi 7
Onnophris son of Horos
41/3 × 21/3 × 5/6
The shape of the monogram for Tybi on Q 29 is quite different from that of Q 17 and othernearby graffiti denoting the same month of the same year. Also the shape of B denoting the year 2,
as well as its relative position to the regnal sign, is rather anomalous, though the reading seems
certain. No corresponding numerals are written below the graffito. As for Q 30, the whole text
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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 14 General view of Section G.

Fig. 15 Large stone blocks abandoned.

Fig. 16 Tunnel beneath a stone block.

Fig. 17 Demotic graffito on the wall.

does not leave any doubt for reading. The last numeral is not ordinary 1 but smaller 5/6, but this is
not unparalleled. Q 30 is located a little bit higher than Q 29, but horizontally they are only about
60 cm apart.
The spatial proximity of these two graffiti strongly suggests that they were written within alimited period of time; the year 26 should be the last regnal year of a certain king and the year 2
must represent the second year of his successor.

This observation strengthens our previous

hypothesis that the activities at section Q should be dated to the last years of Ptolemy III and theearly years of Ptolemy IV. Although the precise date of the accession of Ptolemy IV is not known,
the earliest papyri of his reign indicates that Ptolemy III must have died in the November orDecember of 222 (Phaophi or Hatyr of the regnal year 26). Q 30, thus, belongs to one of the latest
documents of the reign of Ptolemy III , who was still alive or the news of his death had not reachedto this district on the seventh of Phaophi, Year 26 (23 November 222).

(Suto and Takahashi)

Architectural investigation (Figs. 14–19)  In summer 2009, the author and colleagues
undertook a limited survey in the eastern side of the quarry, which we called “Section G” (Fig. 11).
This survey aimed to reconstruct the working procedures used for quarrying stone blocks at thesite, as well as examining the relationship between many Demotic and Greek graffiti and the
distribution of innumerable red lines.
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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 18 Detailed drawings of Section G.

Detailed drawings of Section G were made in this season (Fig. 18). A few remains of large stone
blocks abandoned during the quarrying were observed in this area (Figs. 14–16). Large stone blocks
in most cases are about 1.5 to 2.5m in length and about 1 to 2m in width, and about 1.5 to 2.5m inheight. Vertical trenches about 40 to 50cm wide have been excavated around each block. Fig. 16
shows a situation where a workman excavated a tunnel about 60cm high to separate a stone blockfrom the bedrock. A great number of Demotic and Greek graffiti along with red lines were observed
on various parts of the quarry faces. These graffiti consist of a year of reign, a date, a personalname, and then three consecutive numbers (Fig. 18). Fig. 17 is a sample of Demotic numbers
translated as 4 + 5/6 × 5 + 1/3 × 1. The same three numbers are contained in a Greek text written
near a Demotic one. Precise measurement surveys proved that the three numbers corresponded, inorder, with the width of the region sectioned by vertical red lines, the height of the region sectionedby the horizontal red lines, and the width of the narrow separating trenches. The three numbers
are thus undoubtedly to denote the amount of excavation in the trenches surrounding a quarriedstone block rather than the size of the block itself. A measuring unit of ca. 54.0cm, which is close to
the royal cubit (1cubit = 52.5cm) of the dynastic period, was used continuously in this area of thequarry datable to the Ptolemaic period. It is almost the same length as was used in the undergroundtunnel beneath the unfinished colossus (Akoris Preliminary Report 2006, pp. 20–23).
This evidence allows us to describe the working procedures for quarrying stone blocks asfollows (Fig. 19). First, trenches were excavated along the outlines of the stone blocks (Figs. 19–1,
22名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ

Fig. 19
Suggested quarrying process.

19–2). At certain intervals during this process, the supervisor of the quarrying inspected the work
done. Vertical red lines were drawn on the wall surfaces along the ends of separating trenches, andhorizontal red lines were drawn along the bottoms of trenches. Demotic and Greek texts containing
the three measurements were written at the same time (Fig. 19–3). Finally, horizontal tunnels wereexcavated beneath the stone blocks to separate them from the bedrock (Figs. 19–4, 19–5).
Field surveys and analyses are in progress; further studies will be conducted on the issues
summarized here.

(Endo)

Members in 2009
Director: Kawanishi, H. University of Tsukuba;
Members: Tsujimura, S. Kokushikan University; Suto, Y., Takahashi, R. and Hirata, S. Nagoya
University; Hori, Y., Ajioka, O., Arasaki, T., and Nagasato, M., Kyushu University; Takahashi, T.
Oita Prefectural Office; Endo, T., T. Cyber University; Mitobe, H. Yamagata Prefectural Office;
Igarashi, S. Katsushika City Museum; Kato, C. Tokyo National Museum; Ueno, S. Meiji
University; Hanasaka T. University of Tsukuba.
Site Inspector: Osama Abd El Mawla.
Supporting Persons and Organizations
Dr. Zahi Hawas; Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled; Dr. Magdy el Ghandour; Mohamoud, H.; Adel, H.;
Dr. Seif el dim, Mervat; Kawatoko, M. Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan; Kajima Corporation;
JSPS Research Station Cairo; Iwaki, N. C.E.O. and President, E&M; Murata, Y. medical Dr.; Yakata,T.; Spencer, V.; Ozawa, A.; Uchida, S.; Endo, H.
This project is sponsored by the Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research, the Ministry of Education,
Science and Culture, Japan.

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名古屋大学/古代エジプトの情報伝達に関する調査アーカイヴ