Assuan, Ägypten. Felsinschriften und Felsbilder der Region von Assuan. Die Arbeiten der Jahre 2017 und 2018

Rock Art and Rock Inscriptions constitute a significant component of the archaeological record in the area of the First Cataract of the Nile. Inscribed onto the natural landscape itself these epigraphic markings offer a unique chance to reconstruct the social and cultural uses of space within a complex historical setting. During the last few years the focus of the project’s work temporarily shifted from recording inscriptions in the field to working out final publications, both digital and in print. In this project phase important progress in the contextual analysis of the data could be achieved

Analysis of Past and Present Landscapes Surrounding the Necropolis of Dahshur

The landscape evolution of the area surrounding the necropolis of Dahshur (Egypt) is analysed on the basis of geomorphological investigations and the integration of late Holocene sediment characteristics. Knowledge of the ancient landscape and palaeoenvironmental conditions allows a better understanding of spatial relationships between monuments and landscape. From altogether 41 sondages conducted mainly by archaeologists of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), we selected eight sondages along three transects and one single sondage. Furthermore, the results of geomorphometrical analysis will be presented. The chosen sondages are characteristic of the typical landscape units of the study area: floodplain of the river Nile, limestone escarpment of the Western Desert and the desert margins east of the escarpment scarp. The geomorphology and channel geometry were also analysed. The results show that different processes influenced the relief of the study area. From the late Old Kingdom onwards, aeolian dynamics levelled the landscape mainly in the channel beds and in the desert margin east of the escarpment scarp. Human activities such asmining in the period of the Old Kingdom also shaped the relief. Depressions situated in a semicircularform around the Bent Pyramid are interpreted as quarries and give evidence of this activity

Regionale und chronologische Charakteristika der Beigabenkeramik des Friedhofs von Elephantine

The author studied the ceramic material from a cemetery of modest tombs, established in the southwest of the island of Elephantine and occupied from the sixth to the Twelfth Dynasty. This pottery, whose stratification provides a definite relative chronology, always associates one or several open recipient(s) and one or more closed ovoid vessels. At Elephantine, as on other sites in Egypt, the morphological development of these ovoid vases is databl ; but the corpus is nevertheless distinguished, during the Herakleopolitan period, by noticeable regional particularities. Besides the shapes, the variations in time and space also concern the ceramic pastes, dimensions and proportions of the vessels. It is thus advisable to take all these elements into account in the chronological evaluation of provincial pottery.L’auteur étudie le matériel céramique d’un cimetière de tombes modestes, implanté au SO de l’île d’Éléphantine et occupé de la VIe à la XIIe dynastie. Ce mobilier, dont la stratification fournit une chronologie relative sûre, associe toujours un ou plusieurs récipient(s) ouverts et un ou des vases fermés, ovoïdes. À Éléphantine, comme sur d’autres sites d’Égypte, l’évolution morphologique de ces vases ovoïdes est bien datable ; mais le corpus se distingue néanmoins, durant la période héracléopolitaine, par des particularités régionales sensibles. Outre les formes, les variations dans le temps et l’espace concernent aussi les pâtes céramiques, les dimensions et les proportions des vases. Il convient donc de tenir compte de tous ces éléments dans l’évaluation chronologique de la céramique provinciale.Seidlmayer Stephan Johannes. Regionale und chronologische Charakteristika der Beigabenkeramik des Friedhofs von Elephantine. In: Des Néferkarê aux Montouhotep. Travaux archéologiques en cours sur la fin de la VIe dynastie et la Première Période Intermédiaire. Actes du colloque CNRS – université Lumière Lyon 2, tenu le 5-7 juillet 2001. Lyon : Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, 2005. pp. 279-299. (Travaux de la Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 40