IFAO

In this paper, we will present the latest results of the excavations conducted in Buto (2016-2018) by the French Mission, in the frame of the collaboration with the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Cairo (DAIK), holder of the concession, showing evidence of a large storage building of the Early Roman period on the top of the kom A (sector P18), a very rare kind of economic structure in the Delta in Graeco-Roman times. Some contributions, based on the different sources provided in this sector, and in relation with the food economy (macro-remains of cereals, wine and oil and maybe fish, amphoras and an ostracon mentioning the transport system), present the current state of the research in this area, in some pluridisciplinary approachs, integrating the textual economical references, and, in the light of this case, suggesting the role of Egypt in the Roman economy.

Excavated since 2009, the thermal baths of Taposiris Magna were built in the second half of the 5th century and were in use until the end of the 7th-beginning of the 8th century. This building, remarkably well preserved, is part of a thermal baths complex in the Mareotis area with which it shares most of the characteristic features. Its interest lies in two main points: it is one of the few facilities of the Mareotis area that is well documented and dated. More importantly, it underwent some huge renovation works during the Byzantine-Arabic transition period. As such, it is a valuable testimony of the strong vitality of the Roman-Byzantine thermal traditions despite the political change. The study of the last stage, dated back to the middle of the 7th century, shows that the changes in the techniques and arrangements which can be observed are connected to the internal changes in the Byzantine societies, that is to say before the Arab and Muslim Conquest.

This article focuses on the study of an unpublished 21st Dynasty shabti box kept in the Ismaïlia museum under the registration number 2560. This box, which was probably discovered in the Bab el-Gasus cache, belonged to a Theban elite member called Imen-niut-nakht. His functions were essentially clerical and curial in the Amun temple of Karnak and for the Master of the Two Lands. This shabti box is decorated with a long inscription which combines a funerary formula, an offering formula and an extract of the Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. The analysis of this shabti box is completed by a prosopographical study. Furthermore, the historical question of the existence of a court around the High Priests of Amun is discussed based on the only known mention of the title [...] ỉmy-ḫnt in Thebes during this Period, inscribed on our shabti box.

Publication and translation of the unpublished set of inscriptions on the south side of the pylon door of Khonsu temple in the south-western area of Karnak. The so-called “offering” scenes engraved on its surface show two differentiated phases of the decorative program: first, under the pontificate of the high priest of Amon Pinedjem I, and then a restoration by Alexander the Great.

The mummies of three men, each missing their left thumb, were discovered in the West cemetery at El-Deir (Kharga oasis). From the archaeologists’ point of view, the sole interpretation possible is self-mutilation. We now know that young men who wanted to escape from being enlisted in the Roman army used to cut off one finger, commonly their left thumb but, until now, only texts spoke of that. Now we have proof.

Idenou is an attested title since the Middle Kingdom. Heinrich Brugsch, who was followed by many Egyptologists, determined early on its signification. According to this scholar, the jdnw is a person acting as a substitute to another. Moreover, it was established that the importance of that person depended on the administration employing him and the hierarchical level occupied. In this study, the author establishes that this title can be employed according to two schemes. In the first, the title refers to a person, while in the second it refers to a group of people or an institution. Relying on many examples, the author proves the ambivalence of the jdnw, both substitute and leader, and proposes to translate the term by “régisseur”/“manager” in the cases corresponding to the second scheme. His hypotheses are confirmed by the study of several particular cases.

This study on the mammisi of Nectanébo in Dendara reconsiders the initial arrangement of its Propylates and their coverage, as proposed by F. Daumas in 1950 (BIFAO 50): it proves that the palmiform columns were surmounted by a Bes god, and supported a stone cover.

Publication of ten Coptic ostraca by a group of Egyptian students under the direction of the authors. They include three devotional exercises, four letters, two legal texts and one ­accounting document. They originate, except for one or two, from the Theban region.

After 50 years of research on the historical record and archaeology of the site of Kerma (Sudan) which go back to the origins of African history, we are now able to evaluate the discoveries. The two ancient cities of Kerma and Dukki Gel supply rich documentation, suggesting influences associated mainly with Egypt, but also with « Central Sudan ». From the Old Kingdom onward, the Nubian populations, along with inhabitants of several southern countries, tried to repel the pharaonic armies. Monumental constructions show the remarkable development of the indigenous architecture and, during the Egyptian conquest of the building techniques of the Empire, adapted it to an African environment. The main chronological phases presented here were identified thanks to the pottery of the early New Kingdom and of the Kerma cultures.

This text presents current research on the western facade of the Second Pylon of the Temple of Amon in Karnak. Indeed, as of 2017, an on-going epigraphic study is being conducted on the hundreds of sandstone blocks that originally formed the west facade of the building and which are now stored on the northern and southern benches. The present investigation sets out all the data (historiographical and field data) collected on this monument as well as the first results relating to its decorative program and its construction/decoration chronology.