IFAO

The disc of Hemaka (Cairo Museum) is, to the best of my knowledge, the first representation of the hexagonal net. Inside the net two wading birds (storks, cranes or egrets) are depicted; in any case, they are waders.

My study on the present-day hunting techniques on the Manzala Lake showed that there are two types of hexagonal nets: one with a bottom and another without. The first is used in the hunting of waterbirds and divers (ducks, coots, etc.). The nets are stretched out in shallow water, and the bottom prevents the birds from escaping by diving under the net which, once closed, forms a prismatic bag.

In the case of crane and gull hunting, the nets could also be stretched out on the ground.

The second type of net, without bottom, is used for the hunting of waders walking in shallow water or on sludge, such as Ġamingos. It is conceived in such a way that the birds do not catch their feet in the stitches.

Contraception and abortion were practised in ancient Egypt. Contraception was essentially a feminine concern. The medical preparations used for this were usually given per vaginam. The possible reason for these practises was the wish to avoid the complications of risky pregnancies and childbirths.

Edition of the stela BM EA 616 dated to year 29 (256) of Ptolemy Philadelphus coming from Xois. The only part of the text which is preserved contains a royal eulogy, dwelling on the relationship between the king and the gods of the xoite area. The learned priest who drafted this text shows his high degree of knowledge in qualifying the king, using a lexicon of childhood and divine images, and striving to mention the gods by rare epithets.

The inventory number 2116 of the Berlin Museum, a sandstone piece dating from the reign of Ptolemy VIII and representing an offering scene in relief, has always been regarded, for lack of anything better, as a block coming from Qasr el-Agouz temple. This origin can be set aside. A distinctive iconographical detail permits us to restore this block to the Eastern Temple of Karnak, on the top of the northern jamb of a door decorated during the ptolemaic period. It was a part of the lintel cut in several pieces during the XIXth century. The scene depicting a shedeh offering was probably associated with an another symmetrical scene of wine offering, as a frequent scheme requires it on both sides of a gift of maat.

Publication of unedited school texts (papyri, ostraca and wooden tablets) belonging to various collections.

A graffito incised on a brick from the hypocaust at Didymoi, found in 2000, has turned out to be a very close parallel to I.Kanais 59bis. It has thus become possible to supplement the name of the soldier, Vettius Crispinus, who wrote both inscriptions and to be certain of the provenance. I.Kanais 59bis has successively been thought to come from Contrapollinopolis Magna and from Al-Kanayis. Now we know that it, too, came from Didymoi.

Publication of a statue from the Karnak Cache kept in the Cairo Museum (JE 37134). The owner named Wesirwer was a «servant of the Sanctuary of Shentayt», a title related to the making of the Osirid figurines during the festivities of KhoĪak. The monument dates to the XXXth dynasty or the early ptolemaic period. His possible link with another statue from Karnak (Cairo JE 37343), also published here, is examined.

In 1973, a posthumous article appeared, written by A. Fakhry, where he speaks of three inscriptions of the Middle Kingdom which he had discovered at El-Harra, at the oasis of Bahareya, and which he thought had a connection with the presence of ancient miners. In 2001, this site was once again visited within the framework of a mission led by the IFAO to the oasis. Seven inscriptions near the entrance to the underground galleries were found there. Three of them referred to a local governor named Hebi, two others being offering stelae in the name of royal servants, mentioning the name of a divinity Opet. An examination of the area seems to eliminate the hypothesis of a mining development: the galleries found there are most certainly of a natural origin. On the other hand, the very presence of these caves could have given the place a remarkable aspect in ancient times. The place itself, situated on a knoll at the approach to the oasis takes on an undeniable strategic interest, as it allows surveillance of the roads coming from the Nile valley. If the inscriptions found at El-Harra are modest, they are, for the moment, the only written sources of the Middle Kingdom found at the oasis of Bahareya. Some of them could date from the beginning of XIIth dynasty, and constitute, for this reason, an important milestone in the hystory of this region.

Publication of a late cursive hieratic ostracon of unknown provenance. The text seems to deal with the offering of commodities by several individuals. Although the purpose of this document remains obscure, the main interest of the text is palaeographical, as some of the signs belong to a late evolution of the hieratic script which is connected with early demotic.

A thousand terracottas were found during excavations at Ayn Asil between 1985 and 2000. Coming from the Governor’s palace dated from the reign of Pepy II, most of them represent animals but a series of pieces comprise persons (head of man, bust, woman perhaps pregnant). The number of pieces and the well known context allow us to propose an explanation for their function. If some terracottas certainly had a utilitarian role (vessel?), some of them were found with offerings. These seem to confirm that some sectors of the palace played a particular role and that some cults near Medou-nefer’s sanctuary continued even when this sanctuary was buried.