Joanna D

PROVINCIAL SUBSIDIARY BURIALS

IN NORTHERN EGYPT

TWO CASES OF TELL EL-FARKHA

CEMETERIES IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL VIEW

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Introduction

Archaeology nowadays is one of the disciplines which, by combining achievements from dif-ferent branches of science, makes itself not only inter- but also multidisciplinary. One advantage of such an approach is the possibil-ity of new interpretation and, what is equally important, new ways to share the results of

-temporary archaeological descriptive reports which are devoid of rich illustrative material are more often than not rejected by readers,

-cialized descriptions must be supplemented with drawings, plans, photographs or pho-torealistic visualizations. This last example provides the opportunity to not only show an existing archaeological feature but also its hy-pothetical reconstruction. Data recently col-lected at the site of Tell el-Farkha illustrates the situation. That is why two unique burial structures with subsidiary burials were chosen to discuss the potential of traditional archaeo-logical presentations supported by digitally generated photorealistic reconstructions.

The background

Tell el-Farkha is located in Egypt, in the Eastern Nile Delta, ca. 120 km north-east

from Cairo and its southern edge borders with the modern village of Ghazala. Polish archaeological research at the site has been performed under the direction of Krzysztof

Jagiellonian University in Cracow and Marek -

et al. 2012). The history of the Tell el-Farkha settlement, which is over a thousand years old, has been divided into seven phases with a relative chronology between Naqada IIB and 4th Dy-nasty (ca. 3700 BC to 2600 BC). This period covers the activity of representatives of the Lower Egyptian culture, the so-called expan-sion of the Naqadans, the Proto- and Early Dynastic periods and the beginning of the Old

-search has allowed researchers to precisely describe the function of each of the three koms (tells or mounds) which together form the site. The Eastern Kom used to play a burial ground role (Fig. 1). Three or even four (when large mastaba no. 10 is taken into considera-

bowska-Ludwin 2013) overlapping necropoles, were placed there and alternated with episodes of settle-ments. The largest tell at the site, the Central Kom, was a centre for the earliest settlement linked with the Lower Egyptian culture. It includes the only known large-sized resi-

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dential building of this period, the so-called Lower Egyptian Residence. Later on, this area served as a habitation and production zone of Tell el-Farkha. In the earliest period of the site, industrial production was con-centrated at the smallest Western Kom. At least four overlapping brewery devices were recognized there. The oldest and the largest ones were connected with the Lower Egyp-tian Residence from the Central Kom. The

latest were probably linked with another large Residence existing at this time which was undoubtedly related to the Naqadans. Together with this administrative centre, at least two shrines were in use at the spot. Be-sides a number of sometimes spectacular ex-amples of architectural remains unearthed

level of craftsmanship are worthy of merit. Especially important are two golden-foiled

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his or the votive deposit found in one of the shrines which consisted of over 60 min-

many types, miniature vessels and models

are counters, seals and seals’ impressions which put Tell el-Farkha in the position of a very important stop on the trade route con-necting Egypt with the Near East. Also stone vessels, metal objects, cosmetic palettes, ob-jects made of bone and jewellery belong to those frequently registered at the site.

The phenomenon of subsidiary burials

Subsidiary burials are a rather drastic but characteristic element of sepulchral cus-toms typical of the 1st Dynasty period and always related to elite graves. They were registered only at a few early Egyptian sites (such as the most renowned Abydos, and Abu Roash M, Saqqara North, Tarkhan or Tell el-Farkha in the North) invariably close to the largest structures in the mastaba type in number from one up to 318 in the tomb of Djer (Petrie 1901: 8-9; Dreyer 1990: 71-72).

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publication of some, mainly northern, sites. In their straight majority subsidiary burials are represented by human graves, neverthe-less, there are among them also animal inhu-mations, most often represented by various species (such as lions, elephants, baboons, donkeys, dogs), accompanying early Egyp-tian rulers.

Except for Tell el-Farkha, which brought examples of very early (for Lower Egypt) and very late dates and thus of much atypical features, the remaining burials of this cate-gory registered in Northern Egypt are rather similar in their form. In general these graves were simple (usually single-chambered and lined with mud bricks), rectangular in their

2.55 m of length and from 0.63 to 1.3 m width – the largest found in Giza), commonly cov-ered with wooden roofs and bricked super-structures in the form of a little mound with a rounded top surface which was often plas-tered and painted in colour. Also similar was their position along the sides of a mastaba main body and, if numerous, they were ar-ranged in long rows composed of individ-

ual grave pits or long furrows cut into the ground and divided into particular burial chambers with small and bricked partition walls. In the case of tomb 2 from Giza, both solutions were used where, in the western row, small rooms were allotted within a long furrow, while in the remaining rows sepa-rate pits were dug for each burial (Petrie 1907: 3-5).

There were three possibilities when choosing the typical distance of subsidiary burials from the main tomb. And thus, ad-ditional burials were located outside a mas-taba perimeter wall (e.g., tomb 2 at Giza, and discussed below graves nos 62 and 64 at Tell el-Farkha), in the passage between the main mastaba body and the wall surrounding it (e.g., tomb VII in Abu Roash M) or in between layers of bricks a tomb was built (a very ear-ly example from Tell el-Farkha – grave no. 100, which is also discussed below).

Also, the issue of the orientation of the deceased in particular grave pits appears to be coherent. It seems that the strongly pref-erable position was the one characteristic of the whole period, that is the contracted, left side, with heads northwards, and when such orientation was impossible – mostly in rows following the east-west axis – we can see at-tempts which were meant to bring the situ-ation closer to the ideal one and bodies were arranged with their faces northwards.

In the context of all the quoted similari-ties, it is also worth mentioning that there were some exceptional cases. One of them is represented by a relatively large burial sub-sidiary to mastaba 3505 from Saqqara North (Emery 1954: 10), lined with stone, located within the passage around the tomb’s main body and topped with a stele which could have belonged to the grave owner. As a mat-ter of fact, stelae – although they were rarely popular in burials of this type from Northern Egypt – are also known from graves subsidi-ary to mastaba VII in Abu Roash M (Montet 1938: 64). An atypical solution were also two structures from Bashkatib n. Lahun, where at the bottom of their shafts human remains were registered and W.M.F. Petrie recog-nized them as subsidiary inhumations (Petrie et al. 1923: 23). Also grave no. 100 from Tell el-Farkha revealed an outstanding localization of four child burials put in between the layers of bricks from which the southern mastaba wall was constructed (see below).

As far as the situation may be presently assessed, it seems that all subsidiary burials

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(except for the early examples from grave no. 100 in Tell el-Farkha) were furnished with grave goods, what is more, they were usually arranged in interesting and diversi-

-jects which were discovered in such burials are, most commonly, pottery and stone ves-sels, as well as other, more luxurious objects:

vessels, sticks, hair pins, boxes, combs, so-called castanets etc.), of copper (tools and vessels), cosmetic palettes, golden needles, bracelets and beads from decomposed neck-laces, gaming sets (some items usually count-ed among them are probably tokens – see

-able objects. Along with the popular practice

such offerings indicate a relatively high sta-tus – at least the economic one – of their own-

those deceased as members of the elite mas-taba owner’s retinue or his/her closest serv-ants. In addition, it should be stressed that the homogenous character of the categories of offerings and the coherence in terms of the applied structural solutions, which give the impression of sets with almost identical features, suggest these were burials contem-porary to the main mastabas. Regrettably, we do not possess any data which would enable us to reconstruct the funeral circumstances and end the discussion with regards the hu-

the elites.

The beginning of the practice of subsidiary burials in the North

The site of Tell el-Farkha provides data which can illustrate the early evolutional stage of the custom of subsidiary buri-als. Grave no. 100 (for more details see D bowska-Ludwin et al. 2010) from the site belongs to the beginnings of the practice. It should be stressed that the case is excep-tional. Firstly, the location of the burials in between the bricks of the main structure wall is highly unusual. Secondly, the very early date of the small complex makes the examples in question the oldest known sub-sidiary burials from Lower Egypt. Moreover, burials subsidiary to grave no. 100 extend the whole tradition to representatives of lo-cal, and not only state, elites.

The quoted burial (Fig. 2) is the largest (6.2×4.1 m) mastaba tomb from the Proto-dynastic cemetery at Tell el-Farkha, which is dated to Naqada IIIB-IIIC1/2 (basically Dynasty 0 and the beginning of 1st Dynasty). The tomb was located in the very centre of the burial ground and belongs to its oldest “core” with the date of Naqada IIIB. This massive construction was composed of a single burial chamber (2.7×1.6 m) surround-ed by thick walls (up to 2 m wide) built of numerous layers of standard shaped bricks interleaved with mats. The surface of the outer walls was slightly sloping, plastered and decorated with niche façades from north, east and south. Four small niches were modeled in the northern wall, prob-

a younger grave) in the eastern and three in the southern one. From the south and east, the niches were more elaborate, although badly preserved, and were composed of two steps. Moreover, two postholes were found close to the northeastern corner of the structure, which was preserved to the

of the cemetery. The construction was ori-ented along the north-south axis with a small declination to east, which is typical for neighbouring graves from the Protody-nastic cemetery.

The tomb was built for a 30-35 year-old male, who was buried in the contracted, left-side position with his head turned to north (Fig. 3). The body had been left on a mat, surrounded and partially pressed with numerous grave goods. All of these were then covered with another mat. Traces of a sort of burial ritual were preserved as some orange ochre and pure sand was found spread over the grave. The deceased had been offered 35 pottery and six stone ves-sels, one pottery ladle (decorated with a

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grinder and one bead of carnelian. The dis-covery of some animal bones also suggests a kind of food offering. Compared to the

space offered by the chamber, the set of ob-jects seems rather disappointing. However, the grave goods had been carefully secured by the depth of the chamber (1.2 m) and a layer of greasy silt which had been poured inside the grave. The operation appears to have been fully successful as robbers did not manage to break into the chamber but,

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on the other hand, all of the contents of the structure were exposed to higher groundwa-ter penetration and thus badly broken and eroded.

the perspective of the discussed subject – el-ement of the tomb are four subsidiary buri-als (Fig. 4). These are small and very sim-ple graves devoid of any objects that were placed in between the layers of bricks, which the southern wall of the mastaba was built of. The burials have been labeled 100A, 100B, 100C and 100D. All of them belonged to chil-dren of various ages: six, six, undetermined (because of burnt bones) and an older child left in an almost rectangular pit carefully inlaid and covered with mats, respectively. In general, the deceased were placed in the tightly contracted side position and wrapped in mats. The bodies were oriented along the main axis of the structure with their heads turned to north or south.

Late example of subsidiary burials in the North

Tell el-Farkha has also brought an illustration -

tuary complex no. 55 with two related small tombs (Fig. 5). Taking into consideration the relatively late date of the structure (that is the very end of 1st Dynasty/very beginning of 2nd Dynasty, which was established on the ba-sis of detailed analyses of pottery and stone materials supplemented by stratigraphy data), we are dealing here with a late example of the subsidiary burial tradition. Moreover, in this case the tradition is observed at a pro-vincial cemetery, which Tell el-Farkha was at that time. The construction is currently the only fully excavated burial complex at Tell el-Farkha. It comprised a four-chambered tomb with a brick superstructure surrounded by a perimeter wall and most probably two

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subsidiary burials. This large – as for the lo-cal scale – complex measured 9.16×6.77 m, and the superstructure was preserved to the height of over 1.5 m. It was constructed of dark-coloured mud bricks arranged in regu-lar layers for the core of the structure, which were then covered with an extra adjusting wall of bricks made of a sand and mud mixture of light colour. In the core, spaces between the

with mud mortar. Matting was interleaved af-ter every third layer of bricks, to strengthen the construction. It is probably for the same reason that the walls were built with a com-bination of two different types of bricks. The eastern façade of the superstructure was deco-rated with two niches, one close to the north-ern corner, the second close to the southern one. An extremely large amount of rough pot-tery (mostly bread moulds) was concentrated by the niches, but within the perimeter wall,

-cance in the cult of the dead, practiced even long after the structure was built. The perim-eter wall was ca. 0.3 m thick and thus, much lower than the height of the main structure. Its corners were clearly rounded, and an entrance leading into the enclosure was visible in the southern part of the wall. The space between the perimeter wall and the main façade was about 0.3 m, but on the eastern side it was en-larged to ca. 0.4 m. The main body of the super-structure (7.96×5.44 m) and the perimeter wall were built with visible care and a high level of craftsmanship. Beneath the superstructure, after a separation layer of plain earth ca. 0.4 m thick, was located a four-chamber substruc-ture (Fig. 6). The rooms contained the body of the deceased and over 70 offertory objects such as about 50 items of pottery (their exact

fragmented state of the jars’ preservation) and 21 stone vessels (Pryc 2009), and two copper harpoons (Czarnowicz 2012: 350-351). Most of the stone objects were made of travertine, all of which were full-size items in forms typical of the period: cylinders, jugs, bowls and a vase. Only two vessels were miniature in size and one of them was a unique bowl of agate.

Two small graves (nos 62 and 64) were added to the main structure (Fig. 7). These two subsidiary tombs were found outside the perimeter wall but adjoining it, close to its south-western corner. Grave no. 62, located just by the wall’s rounded corner, belonged to a young person who was buried in the con-tracted, left-side position with the head point-

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ed to the north-west. The body was deposited in a small (1.13×0.77 m) pit lined with mud brick, which from the above was secured by a relatively thin brick cover. The deceased was equipped with two miniature vessels of trav-ertine and a set of four pottery jars found in a simple pit neighbouring the southern edge of the burial chamber. The second subsidiary burial, that is no. 64, was located adjacent to the western façade of the perimeter wall. It also belonged to a young individual, having a similar shape of a brick lined pit and small size (0.95×0.7 m). The structure was covered with a few regularly arranged layers of bricks. The deceased in grave no. 64 was found to be devoid of offerings but for a single bead of ag-ate. The body was covered with a mat.

The unusual spatial relation of the three discussed structures and the striking differ-ences in their size suggest that the smaller burials should be regarded as subsidiary ones. And here digital technology came in support since the smaller graves were discovered in

the remains of the main construction were already dismantled. 3D visualization proved that the three tombs were in an exact rela-tion tightly adjoining the perimeter wall of the main structure and thus, it facilitated the recognition of a mortuary complex, not just a set of three closely located burials.

The reconstruction process

In order to begin work on the 3D visualiza-tions of the graves it is necessary to collect all possible drawings, plans and other documen-tation created during the exploration process, e.g., photographs showing the step-by-step stages of the uncovering of the structures. The

-tial plan in the form of a digital drawing using ZWCad computer software. The sketch pre-pared in this way is now the subject of further transformation. Separately created single el-ements such as superstructure, underground

equipment of the deceased and him/herself are, during the next stage, transformed into a three-dimensional representation. All the ele-ments in their 3D form are then arranged in such a way that they can be recreated – in the most realistic way possible – as if they were

-nal effect of photorealistic visualization it is necessary to ascribe its own texture imitating the original colour and fabric to each item. At this stage the 3D Studio Max software is used. The mentioned textures come from pictures of real materials from which the original fea-tures were made of, giving the models their

as possible. After this procedure, it is time to prepare the so-called scene. This phase is similar to the preparation of real photographs with the difference in self-controlling param-eters such as intensity and direction of the sunlight or setup of a shot from above the structure. The orthophotography is very dif-

even impossible, but it gives the opportunity to take a closer look at the inside arrangement

done by the computer. The software makes the calculations in order to produce a picture with a visualization of a three-dimensional reconstruction. A series of such images gives a complex view of the examined structures, their spatial organization and relation to oth-er features.

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Summary

Graves nos 100 and 55 from Tell el-Farkha il-lustrate the beginning and the end of the subsidiary burials practice in ancient Egypt. They are obviously unique for the site, but

also in a wider pan-Egyptian perspective they are important examples of the custom.

to our general knowledge is the fact that they show the provincial face of the prac-tice, which was previously seen as reserved

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for kings, their families and the highest rank

although we still do not understand the na-ture of this dramatic custom since we do not know its reasons, it was more widespread and local elites were also entitled to its per-formance. Another puzzling element is the question of why all the cases registered at Tell el-Farkha comprised the bodies of chil-dren or young individuals.

The evaluation of the two discussed cases is much easier when even a detailed descrip-tion of presented burials is supplemented by realistic reconstructions in the form of 3D visualizations. It is not rare that only after such virtual analyses it becomes possible to correctly estimate the monumentality of

a structure or its general reception. Such a type of overview and comparison is help-ful in the estimation of divisions in terms of external features such as size, arrange-ment and reciprocal layout, especially when particular objects are explored in different seasons. This was exactly the case with the two quoted sepulchral structures from Tell el-Farkha. Subsidiary burials in grave no. 100 were so badly preserved that only the 3D visualisation made them visible for a wider

situation around grave no. 55 its subsidiary burials were explored in a different season, and once again, it was the digital reconstruc-tion that helped to see all the elements to-gether.

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Department of Egyptian and Near Eastern Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Krakówjoanna.debowska-ludwin@uj.edu.pl

k.rosinska.balik@gmail.com

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