Water supply of ancient Egyptian settlements: the role of the state. Overview of a relatively equitable scheme from the Old to New Kingdom (ca. 2543-1077 BC).

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12685-015-0150-xThe study of the textual and archaeological evidence shows that the water supply of the settlements of ancient Egypt seems to have worked on a simple and a relatively equitable scheme, at least from the Old Kingdom until the New Kingdom (ca. 2543-1077). The water supply of the inhabitants was completely managed by the state, through the local administration which was charged to bring the water, in general from a rural area, into towns and cities and to redistribute it to the inhabitants. The method of supply is illustrated by several sources of evidence, in particular by the well known case of the "water-carriers" of the village of Deir el-Medina. Thus, drawing together text and archaeology, this paper will demonstrate that over an extended period, even when the city was far from a water source, the state did not set up complex installations such as pipe networks or wells to bring water, but preferred a simpler system using the manpower available

Overview of six years (2016-2022) of archaeological work in the necropolis of el-Sheikh Fadl.

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Bouriant at Amarna: an almost forgotten French mission

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Toward a Study of Poor and Poverty in Ancient Egypt – Preliminary Thoughts

International audiencePoverty in ancient Egypt remains a rarely-studied subject. For decades Egyptologists have focused their attention mainly on the so-called ‘elite’, while the poor, their housing, their possessions, their diet, or their cultural values, remain largely in the shadows. Although they are much less visible archaeologically, they were much more numerous than the wealthy. Despite these circumstances, ancient Egypt provides a good starting point for discussing how to approach poverty during antiquity, as there are archaeological and textual records that can shed light on this complex issue. This article aims to stimulate reflection on the issue of poverty in the Nile valley and how it can be explored. It seeks also to add nuance to the idea of a strict dichotomy opposing the poor to the elite. In so doing, this paper will present discussion of the definition of poverty

Les aménagements hydrauliques en contexte urbain dans l’Égypte ancienne

Essentielle au développement de la civilisation pharaonique, l’eau a surtout été étudiée au travers de la place qu’elle occupe dans la religion mais rarement au travers de ses usages dans la vie quotidienne. Ainsi les aménagements hydrauliques ne sont-ils généralement que très brièvement mentionnés dans la littérature égyptologique.À partir des données fournies par l’archéologie (matériaux, modes de construction, etc.), cette thèse a donc pour premier objectif d’étudier dans le détail ces installations en s’appuyant sur un corpus qui recense, pour toute la période pharaonique, près de 400 structures, classées en quatre grandes catégories : puits, canalisations, bassins et aménagements sanitaires.Dans un second temps, cette analyse approfondie complétée d’un travail de synthèse, qui replace chacune de ces installations dans son contexte tout en les confrontant simultanément aux sources écrites et iconographiques, permet plus largement de comprendre comment l’eau s’intégrait dans la vie des Égyptiens. La présence ou l’absence de ces structures dans les maisons et plus largement dans l’agglomération reflète ainsi les besoins des habitants et les difficultés auxquelles il fallait faire face. Les installations hydrauliques se révèlent donc être une source d’informations à ne pas négliger puisqu’elles permettent d’appréhender sous un jour nouveau la ville pharaonique et la façon dont on y vit tout en dévoilant certains aspects de la société égyptienne.Essential in the development of Pharaonic civilization, water was especially studied through the place it occupies in the religion but rarely through its everyday use. Generally, hydraulic layouts are thus only briefly mentioned in Egyptological literature.From the data supplied by archaeology (materials, construction methods, etc.), this thesis thus has for first objective to study these installations in detail by relying on a corpus which lists, for the whole Pharaonic period, more than 400 structures, classified in four categories: wells, pipes, basins and sanitary layouts.In a second hand, this detailed analysis, completed by a synthesis work replacing each of these installations in its context while confronting them simultaneously with written and iconographic sources, allows more widely to understand how water became integrated into Egyptians life. The presence or absence of these structures in houses and more widely in town thus reflects the inhabitant’s needs and the difficulties they were facing. Hydraulic layouts therefore appear to be a source of information not to be neglected for they cast new light on the Pharaonic city and its way of life while revealing certain aspects of the Egyptian society

Hydraulic Installations in Urban Context in Ancient Egypt

Essentielle au développement de la civilisation pharaonique, l’eau a surtout été étudiée au travers de la place qu’elle occupe dans la religion mais rarement au travers de ses usages dans la vie quotidienne. Ainsi les aménagements hydrauliques ne sont-ils généralement que très brièvement mentionnés dans la littérature égyptologique. À partir des données fournies par l’archéologie (matériaux, modes de construction, etc.), cette thèse a donc pour premier objectif d’étudier dans le détail ces installations en s’appuyant sur un corpus qui recense, pour toute la période pharaonique, près de 400 structures, classées en quatre grandes catégories : puits, canalisations, bassins et aménagements sanitaires. Dans un second temps, cette analyse approfondie complétée d’un travail de synthèse, qui replace chacune de ces installations dans son contexte tout en les confrontant simultanément aux sources écrites et iconographiques, permet plus largement de comprendre comment l’eau s’intégrait dans la vie des Égyptiens. La présence ou l’absence de ces structures dans les maisons et plus largement dans l’agglomération reflète ainsi les besoins des habitants et les difficultés auxquelles il fallait faire face. Les installations hydrauliques se révèlent donc être une source d’informations à ne pas négliger puisqu’elles permettent d’appréhender sous un jour nouveau la ville pharaonique et la façon dont on y vit tout en dévoilant certains aspects de la société égyptienne.Essential in the development of Pharaonic civilization, water was especially studied through the place it occupies in the religion but rarely through its everyday use. Generally, hydraulic layouts are thus only briefly mentioned in Egyptological literature. From the data supplied by archaeology (materials, construction methods, etc.), this thesis thus has for first objective to study these installations in detail by relying on a corpus which lists, for the whole Pharaonic period, more than 400 structures, classified in four categories: wells, pipes, ponds and sanitary layouts. In a second hand, this detailed analysis, completed by a synthesis work replacing each of these installations in its context while confronting them simultaneously with written and iconographic sources, allows more widely to understand how water became integrated into Egyptians life. The presence or absence of these structures in houses and more widely in town thus reflects the inhabitant’s needs and the difficulties they were facing. Hydraulic layouts therefore appear to be a source of information not to be neglected for they cast new light on the Pharaonic city and its way of life while revealing certain aspects of the Egyptian society

Les aménagements sanitaires. Un "luxe" de la maison égyptienne

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H. Franzmeier – Ein Brunnen in der Ramses-Stadt. Zur Typologie und Funktion von Brunnen und Zisternen im pharaonischen Ägypten. (Forschungen in der Ramses-Stadt, 7). Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim, 2010

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The bathroom: A rather singular room in the Egyptian house

International audienceThe notion of being “pure”, as it relates to both moral and physical behaviour, was fundamental to ancient Egyptian society. As a result, the ancient Egyptians rejected anything that related to dirt, stains and impurity. This raises the question of the place occupied by personal hygiene, not only in terms of practices but also the facilities associated with it. Pharaonic Egypt did not know public baths as they appeared with the arrival of the Greeks, from the 3rd century B.C. Before this date, hygiene practices must therefore be considered as individual, belonging to the private sphere. Nevertheless, they remain relatively unknown. The ritual purification scenes on the temple walls give us a glimpse of how people might have washed themselves and indicate that it was not a matter of immersing the body in a bath but rather pouring water over it. The archaeological discoveries made in the houses confirm this idea. The bathroom facilities uncovered show simple but functional installations – kind of primitive versions of our modern showers. They are also perfectly adapted to meet the constraints of water in a domestic architecture built only with mud bricks.From its location in the house, to the materials used specifically for this space, as well as the characteristics of the installations, this paper will present the specificities that make the bathroom a singular room in ancient Egyptian domestic architecture

Le Grand Puits de Deir al-Medîna et la question de l’eau : nouvelles perspectives

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