Table of ContentsList of Contributors iiList of Figures ivList of Tables viiiAcknowledgements xi

1 Characterizing the World Archaeology Collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum. Dan Hicks 1

I AFRICA2 Stone Age Sub-Saharan Africa. Peter Mitchell 163 Kenyan Stone Age: the Louis Leakey Collection. Ceri Shipton 354 Stone Age North Africa. Nick Barton 525 Egypt and Sudan: Mesolithic to Early Dynastic Period. Alice Stevenson 606 Egypt and Sudan: Old Kingdom to Late Period. Elizabeth Frood 907 Greco-Roman Egypt. Christina Riggs 1158 Later Holocene Africa. Paul Lane 122

II EUROPE9 Palaeolithic Britain. Alison Roberts 16710 Palaeolithic Continental Europe. Alison Roberts and Nick Barton 21611 Later Prehistoric and Roman Europe. Joshua Pollard and Dan Hicks 24012 Post-Roman Europe. Eleanor Standley, Dan Hicks and Alice Forward 26213 Oxfordshire. Matthew Nicholas and Dan Hicks 27914 Neolithic and Bronze Age Malta and Italy. Simon Stoddart 30215 The Aegean and Cyprus. Yannis Galanakis and Dan Hicks 31216 Iron Age and Roman Italy. Zena Kamash, Lucy Shipley, Yannis Galanakis and Stella Skaltsa 336

III THE AMERICAS17 South America. Bill Sillar and Dan Hicks 35818 Central America. Elizabeth Graham, Dan Hicks and Alice Stevenson 38319 The Caribbean. Dan Hicks and Jago Cooper 40120 North America. Dan Hicks and Michael Petraglia 409

IV ASIA21 Asia and the Middle East. Dan Hicks 45522 The Levant: Palestine, Israel and Jordan. Bill Finlayson 47123 India and Sri Lanka. Dan Hicks, Michael Petraglia and Nicole Boivin 48224 Japan. Alice Stevenson, Fumiko Ohinta and Simon Kaner 50425 China. Lukas Nickel 51126 Myanmar and Malaysia. Huw Barton 517

V OCEANIA27 Australia Oceania. Dan Hicks 52528 New Zealand. Yvonne Marshall 55429 Easter Island and Pitcairn Island. Dan Hicks, Sue Hamilton, Mike Seager Thomas and Ruth Whitehouse 564

List of Contributors

Huw Barton is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Leicester.Nick Barton is Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor in Palaeolithic Archaeology at Hertford College, Oxford.Nicole Boivin is Senior Research Fellow at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and Art History, University of Oxford.Jago Cooper is Curator of the Americas at the British Museum.Alice Forward is a doctoral student at the University of Cardiff.Bill Finlayson is Regional Director for the Council for British Research in the Levant.Elizabeth Frood is University Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Oxford.Yannis Galanakis is University Lecturer in Greek Prehistory at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.Elizabeth Graham is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at University College London.Sue Hamilton is Professor of Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.Dan Hicks is University Lecturer and Curator, Pitt Rivers Museum and the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford.Zena Kamash is a Research Assistant at the School of Archaeology, University of Oxford.Simon Kaner is Assistant Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures at the University of East Anglia.Yvonne Marshall is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Southampton.Matthew Nicholas is a doctoral student at the University of Cardiff.Peter Mitchell is University Lecturer in African Prehistory at the University of Oxford.Lukas Nickel is a Lecturer in Chinese Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.Mike Petraglia is Senior Research Fellow at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art and Co-Director for the Centre for Asian Archaeology, Art and Culture at the University of Oxford.Joshua Pollard is Reader in Archaeology at the University of Southampton.Christina Riggs is Lecturer in Art History at the University of East Anglia.Mike Seager Thomas is Honorary Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL and Accordia Research Fellow.Lucy Shipley is a doctoral student at the University of Southampton.Ceri Shipton is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Social Science, University of Queensland.Bill Sillar is Lecturer in Archaeology at University College London.Stella Skaltsa is Part-Time Lecturer in Ancient History, Open University of Cyprus.

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Eleanor Standley is Curator and University Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at the School of Archaeology and Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.Alice Stevenson is Postdoctoral Researcher in World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford.Simon Stoddart is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Cambridge.Ruth Whitehouse is Emeritus Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL.

List of Figures

Cover Front and back of carved stone human figure known as Titahanga-o-te-Henua, or ‘the Boundary of the Land’, recovered from the islet of Motu Nui, Easter Island (PRM Accession Number 1916.36.319).

Figure 2.1 Map showing the relative sizes of the Sub Saharan African archaeological collection by country.

Figure 2.2 Copy on paper of a Khoisan rock painting in Ncibidwane, South Africa.Figure 2.3 Stone implements from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.Figure 2.4 Ground stone axe from Bamenda, Cameroon.Figure 3.1 Map of Kenya showing the main Stone Age archaeological sites referred to in

Chapter 3.Figure 3.2 Location of sites found by the East African Archaeological Expedition.Figure 3.3 Obsidian blade from Gamble’s Cave, Kenya.Figure 3.4 Seven backed obsidian artefacts from Gamble’s Cave, Kenya.Figure 3.5 Photograph of Gamble’s Cave II, Kenya taken by Henry Balfour in 1928.Figure 3.6 Drawing of fine Lupemban lanceolate stone implement from Yala Alego, Kenya. Figure 4.1 Map of North Africa, showing the main Stone Age sites referred to Chapter 4.Figure 4.2 Photograph of Christopher Musgrave in the Western Desert, 1942.Figure 5.1 The Oxford Bowl: an Egyptian ‘letter to the dead’.Figure 5.2 Ancient Egyptian bronze figure of a seated cat, representing the goddess Bast.Figure 5.3 Map of Sudan showing the main archaeological sites discussed in Chapters 5, 6 and 7.Figure 5.4 Map of Egypt showing Predynastic and Early Dynastic archaeological sites

referred to in Chapter 5.Figure 5.5 Drawing of a Predynastic burial from el-Amrah, Upper Egypt.Figure 5.6 Painted Predynastic Egyptian pottery vessel. Figure 5.7 Painted Predynastic pottery bowl.Figure 5.8 Model ivory flake from the tomb of the First Dynasty Egyptian king Aha at

Abydos.Figure 5.9 Fragments of a horn bow from the tomb of the First Dynasty Egyptian king Djer.Figure 6.1 Map of Egypt showing the main archaeological sites referred to in Chapters 6 and 7.Figure 6.2 Ancient Egypt shabti from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 6.3 Mummified cat from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 6.4 Ancient Egyptian round-topped limestone stela.Figure 6.5 Ancient Egyptian round-topped limestone stela.Figure 6.6 Middle Kingdom boat model from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 6.7 Detail from the inner lid of an Ancient Egyptian coffin.Figure 6.8 Leather pilgrim flask found during Petrie’s excavations at the Ramesseum, near

Luxor, Egypt.Figure 6.9 New Kingdom Egyptian necklace.Figure 6.10 Sketch of a large New Kingdom bag tunic excavated during Flinders Petrie’s

1890 season at Lahun, Egypt.Figure 7.1 Wooden mummy label from Akhmin, Egypt.Figure 8.1 Map of Africa showing the proportion of later archaeological material in the Pitt

Rivers Museum.Figure 8.2 Photographic portrait of Robert Powley Wild.Figure 8.3 Photograph of pottery fragments from Monkey Hill, Ghana.Figure 8.4 Photograph of pottery fragments from Monkey Hill, Ghana.Figure 8.5 Photograph of ceramic vessel from Abomposu, Ghana.Figure 8.6 Photograph of stone beads from Akwatia, Ghana.Figure 8.7 Photograph of a midden site on the island of São Vicente (Saint Vincent), Cape

Verde Islands taken by O.G.S. Crawford 1913.

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Figure 8.8 Photograph of a midden with exposed sherds on the island of São Vicente (Saint Vincent), Cape Verde Islands taken by O.G.S. Crawford 1913.

Figure 8.9 A soapstone nomoli from Sierra Leone.Figure 8.10 View of the Khami ruins, Zimbabwe in August 1929.Figure 8.11 Soapstone carving of a crocodile found at the Khami ruins, Zimbabwe by Henry

Balfour in 1905.Figure 8.12 Drawings of ceramics from the Webster Ruins, Zimbabwe.Figure 8.13 Coptic double clarinet, dating from around the 8th century CE, excavated in

Egypt by W. Flinders Petrie.Figure 8.14 Photograph of ostrich eggshell beads at the Wadi Howar, Sudan.Figure 9.1 Photograph of an excavated section at Wolvercote Brick Pit, Oxfordshire.Figure 9.2 Photographic portrait of Francis H.S. Knowles, taken in 1915.Figure 9.3 Photograph of sifting for archaeological finds at Biddenham gravel quarry,

Bedfordshire.Figure 9.4 Photographic portrait of Worthington G. Smith.Figure 9.5 Photograph of Robert Ranulph Marett at La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey.Figure 10.1 Map of the main sites in France from which the PRM holds Palaeolithic material. Figure 10.2 Lower Palaeolithic hand-axe, collected from St Acheul, France by John Evans in

1862.Figure 10.3 Magdalenian-Period whistle made from reindeer phalanx bone, found at Laugerie

Basse, Dordogne, France.Figure 11.1 Fragment of a Late Bronze Age bronze end-blast trumpet, from the From the

Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 11.2 Late Bronze Age leaf-shaped socketed bronze spearhead with gold inlay on the

socket, from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 11.3 Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age carved stone ball from Kemnay, Aberdeenshire,

Scotland.Figure 11.4 Early Neolithic green jadeite axe found at Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Figure 11.5 Bronze Age gold funicular torque from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding

collection, from a hoard discovered in 1857 on Law Farm in Moray, Scotland. Figure 11.6 Ceramic vessel excavated by James Medhurst at the Romano-British temple site

at Lancing Down, West Sussex.Figure 11.7 Late Iron Age bead-rimmed ceramic jar excavated by James Medhurst at Lancing

Down, West Sussex.Figure 11.8 Neolithic stone axe from St Martin’s, Jersey, collected in June 1870, from the Pitt

Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 11.9 Photograph of excavations at the Stone Circle at Avebury, Wiltshire conducted

by Harold St George Gray, April 1922.Figure 11.10 Photograph of prehistoric lake dwellings Lake Biel at Lattrigen, 1874, from the

Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 11.11 Chape-shaped decorated stone object from Onnens, Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland.Figure 11.12 Unused example of General Pitt-Rivers’ ‘medalets’.Figure 11.13 Scale model of the Neolithic chambered tomb at Wayland’s Smithy, Oxfordshire, made by Alfred Lionel Lewis in the late 1860s; from the Pitt Rivers Museum

founding collection.Figure 12.1 Medieval handbuilt jar or cooking pot from General Pitt-Rivers’ 1878 excavations at

Castle Hill (Caesar’s Camp), Kent; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 12.2 Medieval handbuilt jar or cooking pot from General Pitt-Rivers’ 1878 excavations at

Castle Hill (Caesar’s Camp), Kent; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 12.3 A Viking Age sword, known as ‘The Battersea Sword’ from the Pitt Rivers

Museum founding collection.Figure 12.4 Early medieval tanged iron knife recovered during General Pitt-Rivers’

excavations at Merrow Down, Surrey in May 1877; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.

Figure 12.5 Forged Ogham stone from Aghabulloge, County Cork, Ireland; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.

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Figure 12.6 Stone with inscribed medieval ogham script from Aghabulloge, County Cork, Ireland; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.

Figure 12.7 Undated fragment of painted wall plaster from Farnese Palace, Rome from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.

Figure 12.8 Post-medieval glass bottle from late 19th-century excavations at 5–6 Threadbare Street, London.

Figure 12.9 Medieval bird bone flute from Pitt-Rivers’ 1878 excavations at Castle Hill (Caesar’s Camp), Kent; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.

Figure 12.10 Two post-medieval bone apple-corers, excavated at Fenchurch Street, London.Figure 13.1 Map of the main archaeological sites in Oxfordshire referred to in Chapter 13.Figure 13.2 Illustration of flints found in Oxfordshire by General Pitt-Rivers.Figure 13.3 Map and section plans for Dorchester Dykes and Sinodun Camp.Figure 13.4 Photograph of Alexander Montgomerie Bell.Figure 14.1 Map of Maltese sites mentioned in Chapter 14.Figure 14.2 Examples of pottery sherds from Maltese temple sites in the Pitt Rivers Museum

(no accession numbers, as these artefacts have not yet been physically numbered).Figure 15.1 Map of Greece, Cyprus and Western Turkey showing the main sites referred to

in Chapter 15. Figure 15.2 An interior view of the Court of the Pitt Rivers Museum, taken between 1887

and 1895.Figure 15.3 Detail of photograph reproduced as Figure 15.2, showing Cypriote pottery.Figure 15.4 Cypro-Archaic ceramic jug with painted decoration showing a human figure

seizing a bull by its horns; from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 15.5 (a and b) Bronze mirror disc, dating from the 4th century BCE, probably

excavated from a tomb at Vari, Attica in 1866. Figure 15.6 Rare, intact Bronze Age jug, possibly from Melos.Figure 15.7 Mycenaean stirrup jar (a), with detail of the base (b), obtained by George

Rolleston from A.S. Rhousopoulos.Figure 15.8 Small ceramic bowl of Middle Cypriot I date.Figure 15.9 Late Bronze Age bull-shaped rhyton Figure 15.10 Late Bronze Age handmade female figurine from Cyprus.Figure 15.11 Late Bronze Age handmade female figurine from Cyprus.Figure 15.12 Late Bronze Age handmade female figurine from Cyprus.Figure 15.13 Cypro-Archaic I ceramic jug (750–600 BCE).Figure 16.1 Etruscan bronze belt.Figure 16.2 Etruscan caryatid chalice with frieze showing human images (PRM Accession

Number 1884.37.83), from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 16.3 Etruscan caryatid supports for bowl (PRM Accession Number 1884.37.83)Figure 16.4 Southern Italian kylix (cup) of the 4th century BCE from the Pitt Rivers Museum

founding collection.Figure 16.5 Ancient Greek clay loom-weight.Figure 16.6 Iron Age (Classical Greek) ceramic black-glazed lamp.Figure 16.7 Roman period bronze helmet from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 16.8 Four Roman terracotta votive offerings.Figure 16.9 Roman oboe from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection.Figure 17.1 Inca work-basket from Arica, Chile.Figure 17.2 Possible forgery of a Peruvian Chimu-style pottery vessel from the Pitt Rivers

Museum founding collectionFigure 17.3 Forgery of a Peruvian Chimu-style pottery vessel from the Pitt Rivers Museum

founding collection.Figure 17.4 Illustration published by General Pitt-Rivers in 1875, comparing arrow-heads

from USA and Patagonia.Figure 17.5 Unfinished Inca-style cap from Arica, Chile.Figure 17.6 Ancient Peruvian work-basket, from the Wellcome collection. Figure 17.7 Peruvian Chimu-Inca pottery vessel.Figure 17.8 Peruvian Chimu-Inca vessel from the Pitt Rivers Museum founding collection

(PRM Accession Number 1884.41.191).

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Figure 17.9 Ceramic12-tube pan-pipe from Nazca, Peru.Figure 18.1 View of a carved stone stele at the Maya site of Quiriguá, taken by Alfred

Percival Maudslay in 1883.Figure 18.2 Ten examples of Teotihuacan figures, donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1943.Figure 18.3 Fragment of a carved stone female figurine collected from eastern coast of

Mexico before 1825.Figure 18.4 Figurine from Cholula, Mexico.Figure 18.5 Olmecoid-style jade pendant from the Wellcome collection.Figure 18.6 Fifteen Postclassic ceramic spindle whorls from the Wellcome collection.Figure 18.7 Figurine head with elaborate tasseled headdress and ear ornaments.Figure 18.8 Cache vessel from Belize dating from the 16th century CE.Figure 18.9 “Eccentric’ flints from Barton Raimie Estate, Belize.Figure 19.1 Illustration of ‘Carib implements of shell and stone found in Barbados’,

published in 1868.Figure 19.2 Glass bottle, from the base of which flakes have been struck (a), and six of these

glass flakes (b) from Antigua.Figure 20.1 Undated fragment of rush matting from Bee Cave, Texas.Figure 20.2 Photograph taken in 1879 at San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico, showing James

Stevenson.Figure 20.3 Carved ivory figure of a pregnant woman, collected from a grave on Southampton

Island, Hudson Bay, Canada.Figure 21.1 Neo-Babylonian ceramic cuneiform tablet from Iraq, from the Pitt Rivers

Museum founding collection.Figure 21.2 Cuneiform school exercise or model account dating from the Ur III period

(c.2100–2000 BCE), probably from the site of Telloh, Iraq.Figure 21.3 Photograph of excavations at Hursag-Kalama taken by T.K. Penniman during

his involvement in the excavations at Kish, Iraq 1928–1929.Figure 21.4 Hand-drawn card from T.K. Penniman’s notes on his involvement in the 1928–

1929 season of excavations at the site of Kish, Iraq. Figure 22.1 Map of Israel, Palestine and Jordan showing sites referred to in Chapter 22.Figure 22.2 Photograph of the ‘Wady Mughara Group’ that oversaw excavations at Mount Carmel,

Israel in 1931: Theodore McCown, Dorothy Garrod and Francis Turville-Petre.Figure 22.3 Photograph of stratigraphy at Dorothy Garrod’s excavations at et-Tabun, Israel,

taken in 1930.Figure 22.4 Photograph of excavations at Et-Tabun, Israel taken in 1934.Figure 23.1 Map of India showing sites referred to in Chapter 23.Figure 23.2 Photograph by Frederick R. Richards of a mound at Peacock Hill, Bellary, India.Figure 23.3 Photograph by Frederick R. Richards of rock art at Peacock Hill, Bellary, India.Figure 23.4 Photograph by Frederick R. Richards of a group of ‘placed’ rocks at Bellary, India.Figure 24.1 Map of Japanese Islands.Figure 25.1 Examples of Chinese money from the PRM collections.Figure 26.1 Illustrations of examples of axes/adzes from Perak, Malaysia.Figure 27.1 Map of the countries referred to in Chapter 27.Figure 27.2 Stone figure, named Arununa, from the ceremonial enclosure (marae) in the

Mateaina district of Raivavaé Island.Figure 27.3 Photograph of a beach ‘composed almost entirely of flakes’ at Suloga Village,

Papua New Guinea.Figure 28.1 Eight stone adzes said to have been ‘dug up on D. MacFarlane’s sheep-run near

Hamilton, Waikato District, New Zealand’.Figure 28.2: Slate mata from Chatham Island, New Zealand.Figure 28.3 Six nephrite tikis from New Zealand.Figure 29.1 Carved wooden figure, possibly of Captain Cook, from Easter Island.Figure 29.2 Stone moai (figurine) from Easter Island.Figure 29.3 Carved stone human figure, known as Titahanga-o-te-Henua, from Easter Island.Figure 29.4 Stone toki (implement) from Easter Island.

List of TablesTable 1.1 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects held in the Pitt Rivers Museum, by continentTable 1.2 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from the Pitt Rivers Museum, by countryTable 1.3 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from Africa, by countryTable 1.4 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from Europe, by countryTable 1.5 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from the Americas, by countryTable 1.6 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from Asia, by countryTable 1.7 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from Australia and Oceania, by countryTable 1.8 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects associated with the main 25 archaeological

collectors, donors, previous owners and dealers represented in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Table 2.1 Number of Stone Age artefacts from sub-Saharan Africa in the archaeological collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, by country (excluding casts)

Table 2.2 Chronological framework of cultural-historical terms used in Chapter 2.Table 3.1 Kenyan sites from which stone artefact assemblages are held in the archaeological

collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, showing number of artefacts.Table 3.2 Chronology of the Kenyan Stone Age, showing dates and key features.Table 4.1 Number of Palaeolithic artefacts from North Africa in the Pitt Rivers Museum,

by countryTable 5.1 Principal excavated assemblages from Egypt in the Pitt Rivers MuseumTable 5.2 Principal excavated assemblages from Sudan in the collections of the Pitt Rivers

Museum.Table 5.3 Archaeological periods for Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt, with calibrated

dates BCE.Table 6.1 Chronology of Dynastic EgyptTable 8.1 Estimated numbers of post-Stone Age/later Holocene ‘archaeological’ objects

in from Africa in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, by country.Table 8.2 Number of later archaeological objects from Africa in the collections of the Pitt

Rivers Museum, by region.Table 8.3 Principal collectors, sites and objects from the Later Holocene archaeological

collections from Zimbabwe in the Pitt Rivers Museum.Table 9.1 List of Palaeolithic artefacts from Biddenham Gravel Pit, Bedfordshire held in

the archaeological collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum.Table 9.2 Groups of naturally perforated Porosphaera fossils from Britain in the

archaeological collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, listed in order of date of donation.

Table 11.1 List of scale models of archaeological sites and monuments in the UK, Ireland and Norway from the Pitt Rivers Museum Founding Collection.

Table 14.1 Chronological representation of the Maltese archaeological collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Table 14.2. Principal Maltese archaeological sites represented in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Table 17.1 Chronological overview of South American archaeological cultures and periodsTable 18.1 Chronological overview of Mesoamerican archaeological periods.Table 20.1 Number of ‘archaeological’ objects from the USA in the Pitt Rivers Museum, by

State.Table 20.2 Number of archaeological objects from Canada by Province or Territory.Table 20.3 Glass beads from Pennsylvania, New York and California donated to the Pitt

Rivers Museum in 1955 by John G. Witthoft.Table 24.1 Number of prehistoric Japanese objects in the PRM by chronological phase

(excluding objects from Hokkaido).Table 26.1 Main stone artefact types in the ‘archaeological’ collections from Malaysia and

Myanmar in the Pitt Rivers Museum.

7

Greco-Roman Egypt

Christina Riggs

7.1 Introduction

Egypt enjoyed close trade links with the Greek-speaking Mediterranean from the 7th century BCE, cemented by the foundation of a Greek colony at Naukratis in the Delta and the widespread use of Greek mercenaries in the Egyptian army. Egypt formally became part of the Greek world in 332 BCE, when Alexander the Great took the country from Persian hands, and this date marks the start of the Greco-Roman Period of Egyptian history. Egypt subsequently became a Hellenistic kingdom ruled by Alexander’s former general Ptolemy son of Lagos, founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Cleopatra VII was the last ruler of the Dynasty, and her defeat at the hands of the Roman Octavian, later Augustus, in 30 BCE made Egypt a province of the nascent Roman Empire, which it remained until the 640s.

This Chapter considers the c. 252 Greco-Roman (332 BCE–650 CE) objects from Egypt in the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM), which form only a small part of its c. 11,639-strong Egyptian archaeological collections. The Greco-Roman Period in Egypt witnessed a number of political, social, cultural developments. In the early part of the Ptolemaic period, Greek immigrants, and in particular military veterans, settled in the Delta, the Fayum, and in smaller concentrations throughout the Nile Valley, and frequently married into Egyptian families. The ensuing hellenization of the upper and middle strata of Egyptian society was well advanced by the start of the new Roman regime, which recognized and encouraged it, and favoured the use of Greek over Egyptian language. The material culture of Greco-Roman Egypt helped shape these broader cultural changes, as artists and craft workers adopted new formal languages and working techniques. These included naturalistic painting and sculpture (in stone, metals, and plaster), mould-made terracotta figures, mouth-blown glass, and mosaic floors, while classical architecture featured to some extent in all the major towns and cities, especially in the Roman period. These new art forms co-existed with more traditional Egyptian workmanship, although the latter became increasingly identified with the temple and mortuary spheres. The PRM collections range from tools and implements to clothing, baskets and other containers, and also include funerary items typical of the time. This chapter outlines the history of the collection (7.2) and provides an overview of the objects from Egypt (7.3) and Sudan (7.4), before drawing conclusions about the significance and research potential of the collection (7.5).

7.2 History of the Collection

Nine objects in the museum that were originally listed as ‘Greco-Roman Egyptian’ formed part of the PRM founding collection, and were presumably collected by Pitt-

WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY AT THE PITT RIVERS MUSEUM116

Rivers on his trip to Egypt in 1881, or obtained through his personal and professional contacts (1884.57.2, 1884.57.3, 1884.58.51, 1884.63.77 .1–3, 1884.67.20, 1884.67.25, 1884.67.27). Of these, two are not, in fact, ancient as originally catalogued: one, a painted wooden panel (1884.57.3), appears to be a 19th- or 20th-century Islamic-inspired piece, and another is most likely a 19th-century decorative item in ‘Egyptomanic’ style, acquired as if ancient (1884.67.25). This small, solid bronze of a nude male has an incomplete depiction of the Egyptian nemes headdress, which is unlikely to have been the case for a genuine ancient object, including a Roman version of an Egyptian statue. Amongst the rest of the PRM founding collection Greco-Roman objects are 3 faience inlays in the form of rosettes (1884.63.77 .1–3), dating to the Ptolemaic Period, and said to have been collected by W.M. Flinders Petrie from Tell el-Yahudiya in the Eastern Delta (although the collection date predates the Egypt Exploration Fund’s 1886 excavations at the site, supervised by Edouard Naville).

As is the case with the Predynastic and Dynastic Egyptian collections (see Chapters 5 and 6), the main field collector represented is W.M. Flinders Petrie, who excavated in Egypt between the late 1880s and the 1920s, distributing finds to museums and individuals who supported his work. Important sites that are represented in the Petrie-donated material include Lahun in the Fayum (11 Roman objects), which includes both cemeteries and a settlement area (the latter known as Kahun), and the Roman-period cemetery at Hawara in the Fayum (3 Roman objects).

The site of Oxyrhynchus (Bahnasa) was a provincial capital in Middle Egypt in the Roman Period, and the source of 36 objects in the PRM collected by Petrie, Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt, including reed pens (1897.49.7–12) and a number of wood, metal, basketry, and textile implements (1903.22.1–2, 1904.35.38–71). Archaeological material was of secondary concern to Grenfell and Hunt, who collected thousands of Greek (and some Demotic Egyptian) papyri at the site in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, a large proportion of the papyri are held in the Papyrology Room at the University of Oxford’s Sackler Library.1 Grenfell was a student and fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford, appointed Professor of Papyrology in 1916; Hunt was also a student at Queen’s, and was Professor of Papyrology from 1913 until his death in 1934 (Bowman et al. 2007).

7.3 The Objects 7.3.1 Overview

The majority of the objects from Greco-Roman Egypt are tools and everyday objects. An overview of these is presented below, outlining the writing implements (7.3.2 below), objects used in clothing and textile production (7.3.3), basketry and cordage (7.3.4), knives and keys (7.3.5), ceramic and glass containers, sealing and stamps (7.3.6), coins (7.3.7), and lamps (7.3.8). As well as these everyday objects, the collection includes objects with religious imagery (7.3.9), and material from mortuary contexts (7.3.10).

7.3.2 Writing implements

The collections include 6 reed pens (1897.49.7–12) and 4 wooden tablets with a wax writing surfaces (1891.33.9–12, which may be earlier than the 3rd–5th century CE dates assigned to them in the catalogue), and Balfour’s recreation of a codex formed from such tablets (on display, case 107A). Wooden styluses like 1897.49.6 – with tips like modern fountain pens – were for use on a soft material, like wax, rather than an ink pen. Such styluses are associated with writing Greek, although scribes did adapt to writing Demotic using these implements rather than using brushes.

1 http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/lists/lists.html

GRECO-ROMAN EGYPT 117

7.3.3 Clothing and textile production

The collections include some six items of clothing, including a beautifully made leather shoe (1889.27.94 .1–2) for a small adult left foot, with triangular details cut out of the leather around the foot opening. Its original provenance may be Gurob, next to Lahun, which Petrie excavated around this time. A more uncommon rare item of clothing is a pair of socks (1889.27.95 .1–2), one of which is intact. Both socks have a split toe design. A small sandal identified as a model (1898.37.14) may be a child’s sandal, since it is made of leather like normal footwear. It consists of a leather sole with incised decoration inside, a strap that passes around the ankle, a plaited or twisted strap across the foot upper, and a toe thong (broken). Object 1904.35.71, which is catalogued as a girdle or belt, seems somewhat rough in terms of material and construction for use as clothing, and may be a handle or carrying strap.

The wooden implement 1903.22.1 is catalogued as a papyrus beater, but another possible interpretation is that it is a flax beater, and thus relates to the production of linen textiles. A second textile-related implement in this part of the collection is 1915.41.41, which is catalogued as a spindle whorl, although its small size may argue against this identification.

7.3.4 Basketry and cordage

The collection includes 14 well-preserved items of basketry and cordage. A very finely worked basketry object (1902.31.22) has been identified as a hat but is more likely to be a bowl-like container. A large basket (1889.27.68 .1–2) was described on an accompanying card as a carpenter’s basket and contained a length of rope. According to the card with the object, both came from Petrie’s excavation at Lahun (Illahun, el-Lahun).

Nine examples of baskets are recorded as coming from Grenfell and Hunt’s work at Oxyrhynchus, including: an unusual, openwork basket made of narrow reeds (1904.35.64), twisted to form a flat bottom, and supported at the middle and top by plaited reeds; a basket (1904.35.68) which, though damaged, is of very fine work, with a double twisted rim; and a well-preserved basket (1904.35.69). Other basket-related objects from the site include a length of rope (1904.35.63), probably of palm fibre.

One unusual object (1902.31.23 .1–2) consists of multiple strands of twisted rope, in two colours, with a wooden peg, and is identified in the catalogue as a horse harness. The source is Petrie/Egypt Exploration Fund from the years 1901–1902, but it is unclear whether this indicates that it comes from an excavation or was purchased by Petrie.

7.3.5 Knives and Keys

Iron objects in the collection include 7 keys (1898.37.13, 1904.35.42–47), 12 knives (1904.35.48–59), a saw blade (1904.35.60) and 3 blades (1904.35.60 .1–3) from Grenfell and Hunt’s work at Oxyrhynchus. One knife (1904.35.59) has a fine bone handle, suggesting a possible domestic, use. Similarly, knives 1904.35.50, 1904.35.52, and 1904.35.54 have slender, twisted handles. Another iron object is a sickle blade (1903.22.3); its source is Petrie/Egypt Exploration Fund, with a findspot attributed to the Shunet el-Zebib (Shuneh) area at Abydos in 1902–1903, which correlates with Petrie’s 1900–1904 excavations at the site.

The iron keys from Oxyrhynchus (1904.35.42–47) and 3 bronze keys (1904.35.47, 1951.13.546–547) are examples of ‘skeleton’-type keys from the Roman Period, which are sometimes depicted in the hand of the god Anubis at this time, or around the necks of his associated animal, the jackal. The keys refer to his role as a guide to the underworld (Riggs 2005: 290). Related to the keys is an impressive bronze door fitting from Lahun (1889.27.93), which includes the iron keyhole plate.

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7.3.6 Containers, Jar Sealings and Stamps

The collection of 38 wood and pottery jar stamps (1915.41.29–38) and related jar sealings (1915.41.1–28), all from Antinoe (Johnson 1914), dates from the Late Roman or Byzantine periods, and includes a number of inscriptions which could be translated by a specialist in late Greek or Coptic. These inscriptions may identify the products or producer. Several stamps also bear a cross motif, since Egypt was predominantly Christian at this time. Stamps like these were impressed in mud jar sealings, several examples of which are among the Antinoe objects. Some of the Antinoe sealings also include the necks of the pottery vessels, two of which have Greek inscriptions inked on them. The largest sealing incorporates the neck, shoulder, and two handles of a pottery jar, which is sealed inside with resin or pitch.

Other pottery vessels or containers include a large, circular platter with incised palm or tree decoration (1889.27.90), probably for serving food in a domestic context or for food offerings; it comes from Petrie’s excavations at Lahun. Object 1902.31.1 is a pottery flask which is unusual in that it is extremely heavy from whatever contents are inside it; there are grains of sand at the neck, perhaps stuck in the sealing material (or escaped contents?), two small handles on either side of neck, and a spout at same level of the handles; the mouth and neck of the vessel are covered by a piece of leather and an intricately wrapped cord. The donor is Petrie/Egypt Exploration Fund, but with no specific site mentioned other than the Fayum region.

Object 1904.35.36 is a Janus (two-faced) jug of heavy pottery, with one handle. The faces are identified in ink on the side of the vessel as ‘Negro’. Given interest in racial classification in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – Petrie himself wrote on the topic (Petrie 1907) – the depiction of an African was probably a motivating factor in collecting the jug, which comes from the site of Ehnasya (Ahnas el-Medina).

Several small containers, in materials other than pottery, are interesting additions to the collection: 1968.22.2–3 are typical Roman-era products – slender, blown glass vessels for perfume oil; the iridescence forms when the glass is deposited in the ground. Object 1902.31.21 is an unusual cup made from the natural, tapering form of a shell, from Petrie’s 1901–1902 work for the Egypt Exploration Fund, said to be from the Fayum. Usually on display in Case 63A, with musical instruments, is a faience object depicting a man playing a lyre (1929.78.1). The concave shape suggests that it may be a fragment from the rounded body of a vase, jug, or bowl. The back is not decorated, and the figure is in raised relief, probably mould-made.7.3.7 Coins

There are 17 Ptolemaic coins in the collection (1933.51.16–32), in three sizes, donated in 1933 by Henry Balfour. These all bear the name ‘Ptolemy’, and numismatists would be able to provide more detailed information and identify the mint. 7.3.8 Lamps

The Greco-Roman material includes a relatively large collection of 65 pottery lamps2 most of which have been identified as Roman in date, and which are representative of the range of lamps from the period. Such lamps are extremely common in the archaeological record and afford the opportunity to examine the organization of industry and economy in the Greco-Roman world (e.g. Harris 1980). A total of 34 (1904.35.1–34) were excavated at Ehnasya by Petrie and formed part of his classification of Romano-Egyptian lamps (Petrie 1905: 5–7). Petrie also donated two

2 1904.35.1–34, 1911.59.7, 1915.41.39–40, 1932.88.319–327, 1932.88.396–401, 1932.88.429–430, 1932.88.505, 1932.88.515, 1932.88.518, 1932.88.574, 1932.88.582–583, 1932.88.585, 1932.88.587, 1932.88.676–677.

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lamps from Antinoe (1915.41.39 and 1915.41.40), both of which are inscribed in Greek (see Griffith 1916: 198; Bilabel 1926).3

7.3.9 Objects with religious imagery

This category includes four figures – three of terracotta and one of bronze. Terracotta figure 1884.58.51 is of Isis and the infant Horus, with a base depicting a lotus flower (or possibly a boat). Isis has the corkscrew curls typical of her imagery in the Roman Period, and she wears a small crown on top of her head: the sun disk between cow horns, topped by two feathers, which again is typical of her iconography in Greco-Roman Egypt. Terracotta figure 2004.60.1, moulded in two halves (smooth on the back), depicts a woman with incised pubic triangle, hands held up in the orans (prayer) posture, with palm branches arched over the top, pierced holes either side of her head, and traces of pink-red paint over gesso. The workmanship and general style suggest that this object is not ancient, but compare Bailey (2008) for examples of two similar female figures, from Shurafa, dated to the 4th to 5th centuries CE (British Museum EA 1912, 1019.15). A third terracotta object is from a figure of an Egyptian priest or cult celebrant (1884.67.29). The ‘grotesque’ facial features are for comic effect, giving the figure a pointy chin, close-set eyes, furrowed brow, large bulbous nose, and large ears. He wears a floral wreath and a veil (cf. Bailey 2008, 64 (no. 3176) and pl. 31 for a dwarf priest or cult celebrant with similar grotesque head and wreath, dated by Bailey to the Ptolemaic Period, 2nd–1st centuries BCE). Finally, a bronze head of an Egyptian priest (1884.67.27) is also depicted as a ‘grotesque’ type.

7.3.10 Human Remains and Funerary Objects

A mummy of a very young child (1945.6.1 .1–2), is likely to date to the Greco-Roman Period. The gilded plaster or cartonnage (plaster-and-linen layers) face-mask dates to the late Ptolemaic or early Roman Period, but since it is an adult mask, and only the fragment of a mummy mask, it is unclear whether it was originally intended for the mummy or was a later addition, either in antiquity or in more recent times. The most likely explanation may be that the mask was reused on the mummy in antiquity, indicating that the mummy dates from later in the Roman Period. There is evidence for similar re-use of earlier mummy in the 3rd century CE (Riggs 2005: 170).

A painted cartonnage footcase (1889.27.75) was donated by Petrie in 1889. Although the accession records indicate Lahun as the provenance of this object, it is worth noting that Petrie also excavated the nearby site of Hawara for the first time in 1888. At Hawara Petrie discovered Roman Period mummies decorated with a variety of objects, such as encaustic panel portraits, painted shrouds, cartonnage masks, and footcases. The footcase is typical in that it depicts bound prisoners on the bottom, which the deceased would ‘trample’ in the afterlife, symbolizing victory over harmful forces. On top, the pink feet wear sandals; there is water damage in the middle portion of the case here. Around the sides of the case are painted rosettes (similar to the faience inlays collected by Pitt-Rivers mentioned above (1884.63.77 .1–3)), and on either side of the feet is a chequer-board pattern imitating basketwork, with the colours pink, blue, and white predominating. On the inside of the footcase, swirls of plaster can be seen, along with a dark patch of resin from the linen-wrapped surface of the mummy. The case dates to the very end of the Ptolemaic Period or the early Roman Period, in the 1st century CE: not from the Twenty-second Dynasty, as

3 See also http://www.trismegistos.org/tm/detail_plus.php?tm=98643 and http://www.trismegistos.org/tm/detail_plus.php?tm=103774

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the accompanying label states. One of many comparable examples is this one in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.4

Accessioned in the same year and noted to also be from ‘Lahun, Gurob’ are a series of 11 crudely-carved wooden faces (1889.27.78–88), which would have been pegged/dowelled onto coffins or half-length covers for mummies. Very similar objects from the same excavation are now accessioned into the Petrie collection.5 Although often recorded to be of Ptolemaic date, an earlier Third Intermediate Period dating is also possible and there are similar flat examples from Thebes, taken from coffins dating to the Roman Period thus extending their possible date range.

A cartonnage wesekh (collar) (1884.57.2) is described as ‘Late Dynastic’ but may date to the Ptolemaic Period. Such collars were placed over the chest of a wrapped mummy, protecting and contributing to the rebirth of the dead. The shrine-shaped pectoral in the centre, with an outstretched ba-bird, supports a Ptolemaic rather than Late Period date.

Two gold tongue covers (1911.33.10 and 1911.33.11) are from the mouths of Roman Period mummies, discovered at Hawara in the Fayum during Petrie’s 1910–1911 season. Object 1911.33.10 has creases where it was folded twice over to fit into the mouth.

Also of note is a wooden mummy label from Akhmim (1994.4.179, Figure 7.1). Such labels would originally have been attached to mummies and usually identify the deceased by name, together with a formulaic prayer in Demotic or Greek. Dating to around 450 CE it is one of the latest of such mummy labels known (Rupprecht 1976; Mark Depauw pers. comm.).6 It was originally part of a private collection belonging to Rev. Bigg-Wither of Winchester County, before being transferred to the PRM from the Hampshire Museum Service.

7.4 Meroitc Sudan

The Meroitic period, named after the type-site of Meroë between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts of the River Nile in Sudan, follows the end of Napatan Period in the 4th

4 Brooklyn Museum Accession Number 73.89 See http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/38275 e.g. Petrie Collection Accession Number UC 55101 See http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/gurob/archive/uc55101.gif6 See also http://www.trismegistos.org/tm/detail.php?quick=16059

Figure 7.1 Wooden mummy label from Akhmin, Egypt (PRM Accession Number 1994.4.179). Such labels would usually identify the deceased by name along with a formulaic prayer written in Demotic or Greek. Dating to around 450 CE it is one of the latest labels known.

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century BCE (see Chapter 6) and runs until the 4th century CE. Apart from the move southwards, there is no real material distinction between the Napatan and Meroitic periods. There may be some 20 Meroitic objects in the PRM collection, and a box of several hundred beads (1945.11.182), although the material donated by F.Ll. Griffith from Faras represents several periods of activity (see Chapter 6) including a Meroitic cemetery (see Eisa 1999). As such, some collections management work is required to clarify the associated dates for specific objects. In addition to the Griffith donation are 5 sherds of pottery described on the catalogue as Meroitic (1940.12.849 .1–5) from Charles and Brenda Seligman’s collection. These sherds are all provenanced to the Wadi Howar. There is also a single, intact Meroitic large globular pottery vessel, with matt-impressed pattern, from the type-site of Meroë (1954.6.2), sent to the PRM by the Sudan Museum in 1954. It is noted as having been originally acquired during the excavations of John Garstang in 1910 (Török 1997).

7.5 Summary

Like the Egyptian archaeological material from other periods, the material from Greco-Roman Egypt offers scope for research on collectors and collecting histories, as well as studying the objects themselves and in comparison with objects from the same sites and material now in other museums. Many of the artifact types represented have been the subject of significant recent research in other collections, for example Wendrich’s (2000) work on Roman Egyptian basketry. The research potential of the inscribed material – the Antinoe jar sealings, the coins, and the mummy label from Akhmim – is particularly strong.

References

Bailey, D.M. 2008. Catalogue of the Terracottas in the British Museum. Vol. IV, Ptolemaic and Roman terracottas from Egypt. London: British Museum Press.Bilabel, F. 1926. Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten. Berlin: de Gruyter.Bowman, A.K., R.A. Coles, N. Gonis, D. Obbink, and P.J. Parsons (eds) 2007. Oxyrhynchus: a city and its texts. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Eisa, K.A. 1999. Le mobilier et les coutumes funéraires koushites à l’époque méroïtique. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz (Meroitica 16).Griffith, F.Ll. 1916. A tourist’s collection of fifty years ago. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 3(2/3): 193–198.Harris, W.V. 1980. Roman terracotta lamps: the organization of an industry. The Journal of Roman Studies 70: 126–145.Johnson, J. de M. 1914. Antinoe and its Papyri. London: Egypt Exploration Fund.Petrie, W.M.F. 1905. Roman Ehnasya (Herakleopolis Magna). London: Egypt Exploration Fund.Petrie, W.M.F. 1907. Janus in Modern Life. London: Archibald Constable. Riggs, C. 2005. The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Rupprecht, H-A. 1976. Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten, Zwölfter Band (Nr. 10764–11263). Wiesbaden: Harrassowicz.Török, L. 1997. Meroe City: an ancient African capital: Joh Garstang’s excavations in the Sudan. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Wendrich, W. 2000. Basketry. In P.T. Nicholson and I. Shaw (eds) Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 254–267.