Note on the hieroglyphic inscription mentioning the New Kingdom scribe User-hat, found by the North Kharga Oasis Survey along the ancient caravan route connecting the oases of Kharga and Dakhla

Ikram, Salima

Rossi, Corinna

ROSSI, CORINNA

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8 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS JEA 100but not rare,37 diagnosis of  a biparietal thinning could be confirmed in the CT scans. While this pathology of  the skull is not mentioned in the description of  1824, a hole in the right parietal bone was discovered at this time and interpreted as a means of  brain removal. This (most likely intentional) perforation carried out during the mummification procedure is an atypical observation. Perforation of  the skull – additional to a trans-nasal excerebration – is found in only a few cases. Furthermore, several teeth were lost post-mortem, as stated in the 1824 record. As could be seen in the CT scans, some of  these were displaced in the pharynx and larynx and others in the rear of  the cranial cavity – also a rare finding. The teeth in the cranium were possibly placed there through the hole in the parietal thinning. The documentation of  the unwrapping of  the mummy in the early nineteenth century and the modern re-assessments complement each other in the description of  this most interesting case and shed new light into funeral practices in Ancient Egyptian times.Roger seiler and Frank RühliNew Kingdom activities in the Kharga Oasis:The scribe Userhat travels westwardsNotes on a New Kingdom graffito of  a scribe, found along the Darb Ain Amur, an area between Kharga and Dakhla Oases.وحن تاحرسو بتاكلا تلاحر :ةجراخلا ةحاولا ىف ةثيدحلا ةلودلا ةطشنأ : ماركإ ةميلس و ىسور انيروك برغلا ةلخادلا ىتحاو نيب ةقطنم ىهو ”رومع نيع برد“ لوط ىلع دجو ةثيدحلا ةلودلا نم بتاكل شبرخم ىلع تاظحلام ةجراخلاو.The North Kharga Oasis Survey (NKOS) has been systematically exploring the northern portion of  the Kharga Oasis since 2001.1 NKOS carried out surveys of  the major late-Roman sites located in the main depression,2 and thereafter started the on-going exploration of  the Darb Ain Amur, the ancient caravan route that links Kharga and Dakhla Oases via the spring of  Ain Amur3 (fig. 1). Along the various branches of  this route, NKOS located and studied   1 S. Ikram and C. Rossi, ‘Surveying the North Kharga Oasis’, KMT 13.4 (2002), 72-9; S. Ikram, ‘The North Kharga Oasis Survey: A Brief  Overview’, in J.-C. Goyon and C. Cardin (eds), Proceedings of  the Ninth International Congress of  Egyptologists (Leuven, 2007), 953-9; S. Ikram, ‘Egypt’s Frontier Oasis: A Visual Journey’, Archaeology 61.6 (2008), 36-41; S. Ikram, ‘The North Kharga Oasis Survey’, Bulletin of  the American Research Center in Egypt 193 (2008), 28-31.  2 S. Ikram and C. Rossi, ‘North Kharga Oasis Survey 2001-2002 Preliminary Report: Ain Gib and Qasr el-Sumayra’, MDAIK 60 (2004), 69-92; C. Rossi and S. Ikram, ‘North Kharga Oasis Survey 2003 Preliminary Report: Umm El-Dabadib’, MDAIK 62 (2006), 279-306; S. Ikram and C. Rossi, ‘North Kharga Oasis Survey 2004 Preliminary Report: Ain El-Tarakwa, Ain El-Dabashiya and the Darb Ain Amur’, MDAIK 63 (2007), 167-84; C. Rossi and S. Ikram, ‘North Kharga Oasis Survey 2007 Preliminary Report: Ain Lebekha and Ain Amur’, MDAIK 66 (2010): 235-42.  3 C. Rossi and S. Ikram, ‘Petroglyphs and Inscriptions along the Darb Ayn Amur, Kharga Oasis’, ZÄS 129 (2002), 142-51; S. Ikram, ‘Brief  Report of  the North Kharga Oasis Survey’s 2005 Season’, Bulletin of  the American Research Center in Egypt 187 (2005), 8-11; S. Ikram, ‘Paths, Petroglyphs, and Piety: The North Kharga Oasis Survey 2006 Season’, Bulletin of  the American Research Center in Egypt 190 (2006), 18-23; S. Ikram, ‘Drawing the World: Petroglyphs from Kharga Oasis’, ArchéoNil 19 (2009): 67-82; S. Ikram, ‘A Desert Zoo: An Exploration of  Meaning and Reality of  Animals in the Rock Art of  Kharga Oasis’, in H. Riemer, F. Förster, M. Herb, and N. Pöllath (eds), Desert Animals in the Eastern Sahara: Status, Economic Significance, and Cultural Reflection in Antiquity. Proceedings of  an Interdisciplinary ACACIA Workshop held at the University of  Cologne, December 14-15, 2007 (Colloquium Africanum 4; Köln, 2009), 263-91; C. Rossi and S. Ikram, ‘Evidence of  Desert Routes across Northern Kharga (Egypt’s Western Desert)’, in H. Riemer and F. Förster (eds), Desert Road Archaeology (Köln, 2013).  37 H. Isherwood, H. Jarvis, and R. A. Fawcitt, ‘Radiology of  the Manchester Mummies’, in R. David (ed.), Manchester Museum Mummy Project: Multidisciplinary Research on Ancient Egyptian Mummified Remains (Manchester, 1979), 38.2014 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS 9several sites, dating virtually to all eras of  Egyptian history, including prehistoric, Early Dynastic, Dynastic, Demotic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Coptic, Bedouin and Arab petroglyphs, plus large amounts of  ceramics and small objects found in the vicinity of  natural shelters that have been used by travellers of  all periods. Among the mass of  material that has been so far located and studied, two inscriptions appear to be of  particular importance, both for their intrinsic value and for the implications they entail. One is the serekh of  a previously unknown king, dating to Dynasty Zero or the First Dynasty: its presence, halfway between the green centres of  Kharga and Dakhla, suggests that the range of  action of  the earliest kings extended as far as these two oases, and probably beyond.4 The second inscription, the ‘Userhat Inscription’, thus designated after the name of  its author and the focus of  this article, was found along the section of  the ancient route that skirts the Abu Tartur plateau, on a small sandstone knoll. It is incised on the southern side, protected from the gusting north wind. There are some shallow overhangs and protected spaces on this side of  the rock that still provide shelter from the elements. Someone with a confident hand cut the inscription into a relatively flat, slightly sloping part of  the knoll. Although the majority of  the ceramics scattered around the rock were of  Roman date (third to fifth century AD), together with Ottoman remains in the form of  a pipe bowl, a few sherds come from New Kingdom amphorae of  a type regularly found along the Darb Ain Amur,5   4 S. Ikram and C. Rossi, ‘An Early Dynastic Serekh from the Kharga Oasis’, JEA 90 (2004), 211-15.  5 An identification confirmed by NKOS ceramicists L. Warden and P. J. Rose.Fig. 1. Schematic map of  Kharga Oasis showing the Darb Ain Amur and Userhat’s inscription(drawing by N. Warner).10 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS JEA 100tying in nicely with the inscription. Above the inscription, at the upper left proper corner, are a few incised signs that, based on their position and patina, are not an original part of  it. The inscription consists of  two slightly unequal columns of  hieroglyphs read from right to left, with the right column being slightly longer (figs 2 and 3). The right column reads: imn wsr hAta, while the left column reads: zS Hzb kA(.w).6 A few faint, illegible signs of  a different size from the inscriptions barely show above the upper right corner of  the Userhat inscription, and might be the remains of  an earlier text. The text can be read in three ways: first, the cattle-reckoning scribe of  Amun-userhat; second, Amun-userhat, the cattle-reckoning scribe; third, if  read in retrograde: the cattle-reckoning scribe of  Amun, Userhat.7   6 It is not easy, for the most part, to use palaeography to date rock inscriptions, as often the way of  writing and the choice of  signs are due to the exigencies of  writing on rock.  7 The authors wish to thank Brett McClain of  Chicago House for fruitful discussions on this inscription.Fig. 2. Photograph of  the Userhat inscription, in situ (photograph by S. Ikram). Fig. 3. Drawing of  the inscription (C. Rossi).2014 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS 11  8 The authors are indebted to Brett McClain for pointing out the divine barque interpretation.  9 H. Ranke, Die Ägyptischen Personennamen I (Glückstadt, 1935), 27.  10 Ranke, Personennamen, 85.  11 A. Erman and H. Grapow, Wb. III, 167.  12 Ranke, Personennamen, 85; B. Porter and R. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of  the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings, The Theban Necropolis, I: Private Tombs (Oxford, 1960), 18, 48, 87, 97, 323, 329, 381, 417, 452; B. Porter and R. Moss, The Theban Necropolis I.2: Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries (Oxford, 1964), 562, 700–1, 782, 789, 792, 801–2, 805, 816. See also R. Mond, ‘Report of  Work in the Necropolis of  Thebes’, ASAE 6 (1906), 69–70; H. Gauthier, ‘Rapport sur une campagne de fouilles à Drah Abou’l Neggah en 1906’, BIFAO 6 (1908), 131–2 and E. Naville, The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir el-Bahari I, (London, 1907), 24, 51. For Middle Kingdom Userhats, see Porter and Moss, Topographical Bibliography, Theban Necropolis, I, 657.  13 Porter and Moss, Topographical Bibliography I.1, 111–13, 261.  14 Gauthier, BIFAO 6, 131.  15 C. Beinlich-Seeber and A. G. Shedid, Das Grab des Userhat (TT56) (Archäologische Veröffentlichungen 50; Mainz, 1987), 103–6.  16 Mond, ASAE 6, 91 and 95.  17 A. Pellegrini, ‘I coni funerari del Museo Archeologico di Firenze’, Bessarione 7, Serie 2, vol. 3, fascicolo 67 (1902), 8. The cone is on display in the Museo Egizio of  Florence. We would like to thank Maria Cristina Guidotti for facilitating access to the object.In the first option – reading the columns according to their normal orientation – the divine name is read in honorific transposition, with Amun-userhat being the divine barge of  Amun at Karnak, which could itself  be deified. However, there is no evidence that it was provided with its own endowment of  cattle, complete with accompanying scribes to keep track of  them.8 Additionally, the author of  the graffito would thus remain unattested by name, which, surely defeats the purpose of  leaving such an inscription. Although the second option, ‘Amun-userhat, the cattle-reckoning scribe’, is certainly possible, it is less attractive and feasible than the third option. For one thing, although the personal name Amun-userhat is known from the New Kingdom,9 it is far less common than Userhat.10 Also, there are no known instances (to these authors) of  an Amun-userhat with a title of  scribe associated to cattle. Furthermore, ‘the cattle-reckoning scribe of  Amun’ is a standard reading for this title for the New Kingdom.11 Thus, the third reading of  the text is the most convincing. Userhat is a relatively common New Kingdom name (particularly of  the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Dynasties), as various finds from the Theban area attest.12 Among the individuals who bear this name, two also bear similar titles: one lived under Amenhotep II and was buried in TT56 at Sheikh ‘Abd el-Qurnah;13 the other lived in the late Eighteenth Dynasty and was buried in the small unfinished tomb TT150 at Dra‘ Abu el-Naga. Little is known about the Userhat for whom TT150 was cut. The T-shaped tomb was never finished, only parts of  the transverse hall (the south-east section) having been decorated with images of  the deceased and his wife. He bore the titles of  ‘Overseer of  the Cattle of  Amun’, as well as, possibly, ‘Royal Scribe and Counter’.14 In the inscriptions that decorate the walls of  his tomb, Userhat of  TT56 bears, amongst others, the titles of  ‘Scribe’, ‘Royal Scribe’ and ‘Scribe and Counter of  the Bread in Upper and Lower Egypt’, as well as ‘Superintendent of  the Cattle of  Amun’.15 In 1903 Robert Mond found a funerary cone inscribed with the title ‘Scribe of  Upper and Lower Egypt, Royal Scribe, Counter of  the Bread, Superintendent of  the Cattle of  Amun Userhat’,16 in the tomb. Another funerary cone purchased by Schiaparelli fifteen years earlier and said to come either from Dra’ Abu el-Naga or Assasif, bore the same inscription as the one found by Mond and also presumably originated from this tomb.17 Although the Kharga Userhat cannot be indisputably identified with either of  the Userhats buried in the Theban area, his name and titles point to the same basic historic period of  the owners of  TT56 and TT150, and more probably, given the string of  titles and the tomb decoration involving cattle, to the owner of  TT56. The Kharga Userhat, therefore, could well have been the owner of  TT56, who travelled westwards across the desert to Kharga, 12 BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS JEA 100  18 L. L. Giddy, Egyptian Oases (Warminster, 1987), 152-3, table VI; 47-8; E. M. Sakr, ‘The Economic and Administrative Situations of  Egyptian Oases from the Ancient Times till the First Intermediate Period’, in N.Bonacasa et al. (eds), The Culture of  the Oasis from the Antiquity to the Modern Age (Cairo, 1998), 33–42. It should be noted that thus far no faunal evidence to support a dense population of  cattle has been found here.  19 Giddy, Egyptian Oases, 68–75, esp. 71.  20 The ceramics have been identified by L. Warden and P. J. Rose; a publication is in preparation.  21 C. A. Hope, ‘Oases Amphorae of  the New Kingdom’, in R. Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of  the Desert (London, 2002), 95–131; Hope pers. comm.  22 Userhat could have taken a number of  routes between the Nile Valley and Kharga, in part depending on whether he left from Thebes or elsewhere. See: J. C. Darnell et al., The Theban Desert Road Survey I: The Rock Inscriptions of  Gebel Tjauti in the Theban Western Desert, Part 1, and the Rock Inscriptions of  the Wadi el Hôl, Part 1 (Chicago, 2002); D. Darnell, ‘Gravel of  the Desert and Broken Pots in the Road’, in Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia, 156–77; J. C. Darnell, ‘Opening the Narrow Doors of  the Desert: Discoveries of  the Theban Desert Road Survey’, in Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia, 132–55.   23 The textual sources provide abundant evidence that Kharga was inhabited, that its land was successfully exploited, and that it played an active role in the life of  the Nile Valle. See: Giddy, Egyptian Oases, 89 and 97-8.Dakhla, and even perhaps Farafra. The name of  the latter was generally written with a cow sign, perhaps indicating an abundance of  these animals here at one time.18 This picture agrees with the little information that we possess on the New Kingdom exploitation of  the Western Desert, in particular during the Eighteenth Dynasty. In this period, wHAt, the general name of  the Western Desert oases, occurs in the tombs of  a certain number of  Theban officials bearing titles relating to the administration of  the Amun temple. As Lisa Giddy pointed out, it appears that some of  the provisions for the Amun estate came from the oases, and it is even possible that a domain of  the god was actually located somewhere in the region of  wHAt.19 Certainly, ceramic finds between Kharga and Dakhla point to a regularly used track during this period.20 The location of  the inscription of  the Kharga Userhat, on a rock along the shorter route between Kharga and Dakhla, now known as the Darb Ain Amur, is logical for an official who travelled to the oases to check (or gather) the provisions that the region owed to the Amun estate of  Thebes (fig. 1). It is therefore possible to conclude that part of  the temple estate lay beyond Kharga, possibly in Dakhla (Ain Amur was probably too small to represent the final destination of  Userhat’s journey). Indeed, this is in keeping with the New Kingdom activity documented at Dakhla in recent years.21 The choice of  route suggests that Userhat was part of  a light-laden caravan that preferred to go from Kharga—probably near the area of  Hibis—west across the desert, possibly stopping at the spring at Umm el-Dabadib, before continuing on to the quick but steep ascent to the Gebel Abu Tartur plateau, rather than taking the longer and waterless journey on flat ground along the Darb el-Ghubbari, circumnavigating Gebel Abu Tartur along its southern border. Therefore, either Userhat was heading to Dakhla via Ain Amur and planning to return with a heavy load along the other route, or he was travelling light, accompanied by only a few people and donkeys, going only to inspect the temple estate.22 We hope that in either case, this graffito will add another detail to the picture of  New Kingdom exploitation of  the oases23 and the region of  the Western Desert. Perhaps future work in Dakhla will shed light on Userhat’s final destination and activities, thereby adding to his tale as well as to the history of  the oases.Corinna Rossi and Salima IkramFrom steering oar to embalmer’s tool: Re-identification of  an artefactThe re-identification of  a single steering oar from the Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm, and a pair of  oars in the British Museum.:طنحملا ةادا ىلإ هجوملا فادجملا نم :نوسكازا نيفس ،ملوهنروب اناوج ،ماركإ ةميلس ،نامجاه ايفوس ةيرثأ ةعطقب فيرعت ةداعإىف فيداجملا نم رخا جوز كلذكو ملوهكوتس ىف )تيسومفاهلديم( نم فادجمل )لكشل( ريسفت وأ فيرعت ةداعإ ىناطيربلا فحتملا.

New Kingdom Activities in the Kharga Oasis: the Scribe User-hat Travels Westwards

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New Kingdom Activities in the Kharga Oasis: the Scribe User-hat Travels Westwards

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