IFAO

In Dra Abu el-Naga North, the area southwest of the open courtyard of the tomb-chapel of Djehuty (TT 11) was densely occupied by 11th/early 12th Dynasty rock-cut tombs and Second Intermediate Period mud-brick chapels and funerary shafts built for members of the royal family and high officials of the Theban court, which were pillaged and reused in the Third Intermediate Period. The funerary equipment and human bodies placed inside the burial chambers were then broken into pieces and scattered around among the sand and stones that filled the shafts. Hence, today it is difficult to ascertain who the original owner of each shaft was and to deduce which objects were deposited with him/her. The larger and most elaborate funerary shaft was reused in the 22nd Dynasty by several individuals, but various fragments of a 17th or early 18th Dynasty shroud inscribed with Book of the Dead spells were found, which could have belonged to the first individual buried here and honoured in the mud-brick chapel aligned with it. The shroud (L. SMDAN 1344) and its early version of the Book of the Dead are analysed in the present study.

Le rituel de l’Ouverture de la Bouche noté dans la tombe du prêtre-lecteur en chef Padiaménopé (TT 33) est connu de longue date et a été publié par Eberhard Otto en 1960. Avec les copies de Harwa (TT 37) et de Montouemhat (TT 34), celle de Padiaménopé ­constitue l’une des versions les mieux préservées dans les tombes thébaines tardives. Des études récentes (2015, 2016) ont montré que le texte du rituel inscrit dans la tombe TT 33 est bien plus long et détaillé que ce que l’on croyait à l’origine et, de fait, qu’il développe de manière considérable le contenu des rituels connus dans les tombes des XVIIIe et XIXe dynasties à Thèbes. Des ­parallèles dans la sélection et la séquence des scènes peuvent être mis en lumière, particulièrement dans la reproduction du rituel sur les papyri, et par-dessus tout celui de Saïs.

The ritual of Opening the Mouth from the tomb of the chief lector priest Padiamenope (TT 33) has long been known and was most recently published by Eberhard Otto in 1960. Together with the rituals of TT 37 (Harwa) and TT 34 (Montuemhat), it belongs to the most well-preserved versions in the Late Period Theban tombs. Previous studies by this author in the years 2015 and 2016 have shown that the ritual version in TT 33 is far more detailed than previously thought. It therefore goes far beyond the content of the rituals in the tombs of the 18th and 19th Dynasty in Thebes. Parallels in the selection and sequence of the scenes can especially be recognized in the reproduction of the ritual on papyri and above all in that of Sais. This contribution gives a first overview of all scenes, including newly identified scenes, documented in TT 33, their order, design and context in the tomb’s iconographic and textual program. Finally, this article analyses the structure of the ritual in the tomb of the chief lector priest.

Tell el-Neshed is located in the Sharqiya governorate, not far from the eastern edge of the Nile delta. Excavations led by the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) in 2015 and 2016 uncovered extensive remains of an early Old Kingdom settlement. Fieldwork brought to light several superimposed mud-brick buildings and silos dated to the early 4th Dynasty. A test trench revealed more than 3 m of 3rd – early 4th Dynasty deposits above the water table. Tell el-Neshed is one of the very few early Old Kingdom settlements known so far in the Nile Delta. As such, it should provide us with new insights into the economic and social life of the rural communities in this time frame. By supplementing the textual evidence about how the territory was run in the early Old Kingdom, excavations at Tell el-Neshed aim at making a meaningful contribution towards a better understanding of the implementation of the territorial reforms undertaken by the 3rd and 4th Dynasty monarchs and the involvement of royal power in rural zones.

Essentially known by his traditional title attested in Edfu, Philae and in the great ­hypostyle hall of Kom Ombo, Ptolemy XII Auletes also used a second title in which he reused the Golden Horus name of Ptolemy X Alexander I. This second title is only attested in two crypts of Dendara Temple and a chamber of Kom Ombo. This study attempts to date these two royal protocols and concludes that they respectively date back to the first (80/76-58 BC) and the second reign (55-51 BC) of the king. These conclusions thus enable the author to propose more precise dates for the construction program of the places where this title appears.

Publication of a Graeco-Roman relief, which shows the goddess Nut pouring out a libation for the ba-bird (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung Inv. 5092). As is demonstrated in this short article, the scene was part of the frieze inside the “naos” of the famous tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel. The significance of the frieze is briefly discussed and parallels for the motive in funerary art and temple decoration are pointed out.

Les deux fragments de papyrus du sous-verre H 40 de l’Ifao sont en fait ce qui reste d’un décret amulettique oraculaire semblable à ceux publiés par I.E.S. Edwards dans la série des HPBM. Le texte est centré sur la protection d’une femme enceinte, et l’onomastique pourrait faire référence à la famille de Pinedjem II. Notre texte serait alors le plus ancien du genre (XXIe dynastie).

The fragmentary Papyrus H 40 of the IFAO is in fact an Oracular Amuletic Decree similar to those published by I.E.S. Edwards in the HPBM. The main purpose of the text is the protection of a pregnant woman and the onomastic might refer to the family of the High Priest Pinedjem II. It could be the most ancient of the OAD (21st Dynasty).

This article is a lexicographical study on small to middle-size mammals based on new photographs, mainly from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Among them is the ḥṯs-animal for which the identification as a gerbil jird (Meriones sp.) is proposed. Another one is ḥḏrt, a much debated animal in the egyptological literature. This should be a shrew (Crocidura or Suncus sp.).

Fouillée dans les années 1930 et 1970, la nécropole romaine de Kôm Abou Billou a livré des milliers de restes humains qui n’ont jamais été étudiés. En 2014, la reprise des fouilles sous la direction de Sylvain Dhennin a livré des vestiges d’une conservation exceptionnelle qui documentent les pratiques funéraires et les données biologiques d’une population encore méconnue du point de vue de l’anthropologie biologique dans la littérature archéologique.

The Roman necropolis of Kom Abou Billou was excavated in the 1930s and 1970s and rendered thousands of human remains that have never been studied. Since 2014 the excavation under the direction of Sylvain Dhennin delivered remnants of exceptional conservation that document funerary practices and biological data of a population still unknown in this field in archaeological literature.

Jaroslav Černý (1898-1970) was an Egyptologist of Czech origin, a Czechoslovak and later stateless citizen, active in Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany and the United States. He debuted a cosmopolitan and productive part of his career at the Institut français d’archéologie orientale in Cairo in 1925. Černý’s presence at the IFAO constituted a dual French-Czechoslovak connection—the dominant French position in the Antiquities Service and as a preferred ally of Czechoslovakia. An analysis of intellectual and political dynamics benefits from complementing by a biographical research. Černý’s collaboration with the IFAO also constituted a major move in his individual Egyptological career. First, it opened perspectives of teamwork within Egyptian and international Egyptology. Secondly, it was a decisive step in his research strategies concerned with the community of Deir el-Medina, therefore it had a rather more intricate significance than being solely an element of a stratagem of Western dominance in Egypt, this time ostensibly represented by a smaller European nation that appeared as trying to join the existing contestants in a larger game of appropriation of Egyptian cultural heritage.

This article presents 33 unpublished limestone blocks dated to the reign of Nectanebo II and found in Awlad Musa, north of Suez, by the Supreme Council of Antiquities between 1995 and 2006. An assemblage of a few of them is now on display in the Suez Museum. These inscribed blocks were reused material, as indicated by the fact that they were randomly included in the masonry of a latter building. It is extremely likely, given the identity of the gods they feature, that these blocks came from Tell el-Maskhuta in Wadi Tumilat. Most of the scenes are fragmentary and represent the king offering to different gods, the majority of which are linked to the Heliopolitan sphere. A geographic procession is carved on the basement featuring the most ancient occurrence of Osiris “lord of the Eastern Gate,” an epithet known up until now only on two Ptolemaic steles found at Maskhuta.