Focus on Collections: The 'Maadi rope'

WAMCAES NEWS 45ISSUE 10, 2014WAMCAES NEWS

Dr Moya Smith is Head of the Western Australian Museum’s Department of Anthropology & Archaeology. She is an archaeologist whose research interests have also included ethno-archaeology and ethno-botany.

Xavier Leenders, is the database officer in the Western Australian Museum’s Department of Anthropology & Archaeology. He is currently completing his Honours thesis in Anthropology. One of his research interests is the interplay between science and humanities.

INTRODUCTION

Nearly 40 years ago, in 1976, the family of the late Mr H.W. Rumbold, Mrs I. Rumbold and her son Mr Eric Rumbold, donated a 28cm long section of rope. Family tradition maintained that the rope had been acquired in 1944 during World War II from a location near Maadi in Egypt.

Specimen notes stated that the rope was: Collected by the late Mr

FOCUS ON THE COLLECTIONS: ‘THE MAADI ROPE’

BY MOYA SMITH & XAVIER LEENDERS

H.W. Rumbold near Maadi, Egypt in 1944. Specimen lay atop large limestone block sitting on ‘rollers’ [of unspecified material] in quarried cavern buried under scree. South African army engineers had dynamited the scree slope (while searching for caves to serve as munitions dumps), and the explosion revealed the ‘quarried cavern.’ A 12 foot [3.5m] length of rope lay atop the block and hung down the sides. Where the rope had lain on the ground it had rotted away.

It seemed that the rope was cut into chunks and distributed amongst colleagues and friends of the engineering group. It is unclear exactly what Rumbold’s connection with the South African engineers was, but it may have derived from his South African wife’s connections or his years living there. One section of the rope was displayed in Johannesburg. A South African newspaper clipping donated with the WA Museum specimen, suggested the Johannesburg fragment might have been c. 4,000 years old.

The Western Australian Museum’s section of rope has been a popular item in the World Cultures collection, but one which has lacked information. We wondered whether it really was ancient, and if so, how old. We wondered where exactly it might have come from, whether it did relate to quarrying as the

donor had thought, and if we were absolutely sure of the plant genus and/or species. In the last six months, we have finally resolved most of these questions, through a range of what seem quite serendipitous moments.

RIGHT: Section of Ancient Egyptian rope, collected by Mr H.W Rumbold ‘near Maadi’ in 1944. F828 Western Australian Museum collection. (Length 28cm; diameter 6.75cm). PHOTO: XAVIER LEENDERS.

46 WAMCAES NEWSWAMCAES NEWS

DATING THE ROPE

Discoveries of rope at Mersa / Wadi Gawasis on the Red Sea included specimens that closely resembled the WA Museum specimen (Veldmeijer 2008). The suggested Middle Kingdom age of some of the Red Sea specimens acted as a catalyst for our desire to confirm the age of our rope, and with the financial assistance of the Friends of the WA Museum, a sample was submitted for AMS dating earlier this year. The WAM [F828] sample yielded a conventional radiocarbon age of 2,220 +/- 30 BP, calibrated to 2,330–2,150, i.e. 380–200 BC (Beta – 373594). This is consistent with the end of the Achaemenid Period and beginning of the Ptolemaic Period.

WHAT PLANT IS THAT?

While we had long referred to the rope fibre as papyrus, having received the AMS date, we realised we should perhaps be more scientific in our approach to attribution of genus and species! There has been debate in academic circles about the identification of the specific plant used to make what appears to be very similar thick rope in the caves at Wadi Mersa / Wadi Gawasis. The contenders include Cyperus papyrus, the common reed Phragmites australis, or the giant reed Arundo donax.

Like the large ropes from Mersa / Wadi Gawasis (Borojevic and Mountain 2011:133), the WA Museum sample is made of three plied strands, each of which comprises multiple yarns. Each yarn was made of a series of fibres. The WAM cable is 20.5 cm in circumference, or 6.75 cm diameter.

LEFT (FROM TOP): Xavier Leenders and Moya Smith extracting a fragment of fibre for AMS dating. PHOTO: ANNELIESE CARSON.

Extracting a fragment of fibre from the interior of the plied yarns, ensuring that the visual integrity of the sample was not impacted. PHOTO: ANNELIESE CARSON.


Digital images of a fragment of fibre were made using a Leica MZ 16A stereo microscope, with attached camera and using Leica Application Suite V3.8.0 from Leica Microsystems Ltd. The intent was to compare imagery with those published by Borojevic and Mountain (2012). Superficial examination suggested that the plant fibre was a sedge, and specifically Cyperus papyrus. Examination of the longitudinal section has identified features of the plant structure that are more consistent with Cyperus papyrus than either the Phragmites australis or Arundo donax (cp. with Borojevic and Mountain Figure 7). Inspection under a high magnification microscope reveals the section as a culm (or vertical stem). A clear substructure of Parenchyma cell walls and Aerenchyma spaces is also visible. While the vascular bundles are not identifiable from the angle in which these photomicrographs are taken, the striation of the outer and inner tangential surfaces reflects the typical structure of a Cyperus papyrus stem.

A) Detail of the strands and twisted multiple yarns. PHOTO: ANNELIESE CARSON.B) The cut end of the rope cable, revealing the strands and their multiple yarns. PHOTO: ANNELIESE CARSON.C) Section of the rope examined under microscope. PHOTO: XAVIER LEENDERS.D) A closer image of the right side of the rope fragments, revealing inner tangential surface of the culm wall. PHOTO: XAVIER LEENDERS.E) A high magnification image of the right side of the rope fragment, revealing inner tangential surface of the culm wall. PHOTO: XAVIER LEENDERS.F) Photomicrograph of the outer part of the ropes section revealing the outer tangential surface of the culm wall. PHOTO: XAVIER LEENDERS.

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Cyperus papyrus, a ‘robust perennial plant’, was once wide spread in Egypt, and grew up to 6 metres high. Topped by a fountain-like umbel its tall stalks or culms, are triangular in cross section with a thin, green exterior and a spongy, whitish, pithy interior (Ryan 1988:132). Its history as a source of fibre for rope is well attested in Egypt.

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Documentation of the Museum’s specimen was fairly limited, with an attribution of Maadi as provenance. While it was clear that limestone quarries occurred south of Cairo, Maadi was a fairly imprecise attribution. Conversations with Dr Sven Ouzman from the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Rock Art Research and Management led to his enquiries of colleagues in South Africa, and a serendipitous discovery of the rope fragment illustrated in the newspaper clipping lodged with our specimen. Lodged in the Social History Collections of the Iziko Museums of South Africa in Cape Town is the specimen donated in 1971 by Major H.A. Herbert of Pietermaritzburg. His description of provenance coincided with that of ours: SA Military engineers were looking for a safe shelter for arms and came upon underground caves which had been stone quarries: stones,

dead slaves and rope were found. After the war a length of rope was tested and broke at a strain of 12 tons. While Major Herbert recalled the provenance as Tara Hills, when asked if this might have been Tura Caves his response was affirmative.

Finally, the WA Museum’s rope is provenanced, if not yet to the precise ‘cave’ or specific

RIGHT (FROM TOP): Cyperus papyrus, Sicily. PHOTO: COURTESY PJT. Colour image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons June 2014: <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyperus_papyrus-pjt2.jpg>.

Tura caves from above, Egypt. PHOTO: GEORGE FREDERICK KAYE, 18 JULY 1943. Reference Number DA-04264-F. COURTESY ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND. Image retrieved June 2014: <http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE1173432&dps_custom_att_1=tapuhi>.

RIGHT: An ‘unopened’ cave in the Tura area, Egypt. PHOTO: NEVILLE BARKER, 7 JULY 1943. Reference Number : DA-04214-F. COURTESY ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND. Image retrieved June 2014: <http://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE1172908&dps_custom_att_1=tapuhi>.


quarry, at least to one of the most well-known of the 89 limestone quarries of ancient Egypt (Harrell 2012). The Tura caves were well known for their World War II discoveries of limestone blocks with rope and rollers.

Lucas(1948) mentions two separate World War II discoveries, the first in 1942 in which ‘seven very thick ropes were found’ and the second in 1944 when ‘a further rope of papyrus was

BELOW: Twisting rope, tomb of Ptahhotep. The two figures above are twisting rope, the man on the left leaning back and applying pressure, while the man on the right grasps the cord between his thumb and forefinger. Below, the man on the left is pulling back on the rope tying the bundled papyrus, his right foot holding the knot in place, and one end of the rope over his left shoulder. PHOTO: HEATHER TUNMORE, 2000.

found’ (Lucas 1948:161). The 1942 papyrus rope samples measuring 2½ inches (6.35cm) ‘consisted of three strands, each of which had about forty yarns and each yarn had about seven fibres’, while the piece found in 1944 ‘was about half the thickness of the previous one, with two strands, eight yarns per strand and three fibres per yarn’ (Lucas 1948:161). The description of the rope found in 1942 is consistent with the appearance of the WA Museum sample.

Subsequently a British Museum specimen discovered in the Tura caves region was radiocarbon dated to the Ptolemaic period. BM 79. Papyrus rope found in May 1952 in one of the Tura caves which are old stone quarries. Submitted by the Keeper, Department of Egyptian Antiquities. It consists of three strands each of which has about 40 yarns and each yarn about

seven fibres. The circumference is about 8 in. and the diameter about 2 ½ in. 2130 ±150 (Barker and Mackey 1961: 118). Since the Barker and Mackey article refers to Lucas (op. cit.) as the source of information, 1952 should be read as 1942. The British Museum on-line collection database lists two samples of papyrus rope acquired in 1947 from Tura EA64398, and EA64397, the first is 3.1cm in diameter, the second 8cm. It is not apparent whether either of these specimens were from the 1942 or 1944 discoveries.

It is also not clear whether different groups of Allied armed forces personnel made similar discoveries, or whether there were only the two events in 1942 and 1944. The South African engineers were not the only Allied forces using the limestone quarries as storage depots. Stunning photographs record their use by


the Royal Air Force (<http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205209122>) and by New Zealand forces as well.

While the Western Australian Museum rope was connected with Ptolemaic limestone quarrying, ancient Egyptian inscriptions depicting rope and rope production are frequently related to scenes of boat building (Tetter 1987:74). The beautiful scenes from Ptahhotep’s tomb pull together rope like ours with the first article in this newsletter, The Development of the Trading Vessel.

It is immensely gratifying as curators to pull threads of information together to add depth to the history and meaning of collection objects. Six months after extracting the small sample of our rope for dating, we not only know its age [Ptolemaic], its function [moving quarried limestone] but also its provenance [Tura quarries].

FURTHER READING

Barker, H. and Macket, C.J. 1961. British Museum Natural Radiocarbon Measurements, II. The British Museum Quarterly. 23 (4):118–123.

Borojevic, K. and Mountain, R. 2011. The Ropes of Pharaohs: The Source of the Cordage from “Rope Cave” at Mersa/ Wadi Gawasis Revisited. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 47: 131–141.

Harrell, J. A. 2002. Building Stones. 23pp. In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopaedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles. Accessed May 2014: < http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz002c10gb>

Lucas, A. 1948. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. 3rd ed. revised. London: Edward Arnold & Co.

Teeter, E. 1987. Techniques and Terminology of Rope-Making

in Ancient Egypt. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 73:71–77.

Veldmeijer, A. J. 2009. Cordage Production. In Willeke Wendrich (ed.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles. Accessed May 2014: <http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz001ndr4n>.

Veldmeijer, A.J., Zazzaro, C., Clapham, A.J., Cartwright, C.R. and Hagen, F. 2008. The "Rope Cave" at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 44: 9–39.

WEBSITES

http://www.osirisnet.net/mastabas/mererouka/ropes_discovery.htm

Further images of the Tura Quarries during World War II: http://tapuhi.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/spydus/NAV/GLOBAL/OPHDR/1430/1203802,14501

Focus on Collections: The 'Maadi rope'

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