RICERCA ITALIANA     

From Archaeological Researches to Archives. Survey and study of Theban tombs of the Egyptian XVIIIth Dynasty documented in the Archives Loret - Varille (1881-1951) of the University of Milano and in other egyptological Archives

Università degli Studi di Milano

Abstract

Starting point of the project has been the search of documents concerning a choice of Theban tombs of the first half of the XVIII dynasty, down to the reign of Amenhotep III, kept in the Egyptological Archives of the Milan University, which can be considered among the most important Egyptological Archives in Europe. Here are preserved over 50000 images, coming especially from the archives of Alexandre Varille (1909-1951) and Victor Loret (1859-1946), together with sketches, watercolours, fac-similar of texts, notes, etc. made in Egypt between 1881 and 1951. In 2004, their systematic ordering began, together with their cataloguing and digitalisation, in view of the creation of an electronic archive.
Among the around 350 Theban tombs of the XVIII dynasty, a group of 45 tombs to analyze has been selected, on the basis of a first survey of their present state, and the check in the Milan Archives of the presence of graphic and photographic documentation related to them.
This material, that at a first inventory result to include more than 1000 photos and hundreds of other documents, is related to tombs both well known, as for instance TT48, and unpublished or nearly unknown, as for instance TT248. There are some particular remarkable cases, such as the complete photographic mapping of TT57, of Khaemhat, or the numerous photos of TT192, of Kheruef.
For each tomb, we are carrying on an extensive bibliographical research, from the first excavations to the actual studies, to determine what has been published or not. A search in the Egyptological collections and in their catalogues will also be peformed, to discover the presence of fragments or other materials related to these tombs.
On the basis of an accord with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, the survey of the present situation of each tomb of the group will be carried on (concentrating the work on the most documented tombs, in the aim of better coordinate the activities in Egypt with those in the archives), to verify the possible degradation and the possibility of integration of texts and decorations through the photos and the squeezes realized in the XIX and XX century. A further step will be the the search of documentation on the selected tombs in other Egyptological Archives.
The integrations made possible by the archival documents will bring new informations on the decorations and texts of the selected tombs. At this point, the preliminary study of their decorative and textual program will be carried out, as well as their virtual reconstruction.
Indeed, study of funerary ideology is one of the most interesting trends of current Egyptological research. Although a high number of tombs have been published since the beginning of the last century, the remarkable advancements of the last few decades in our knowledge of Egyptian culture and its means of expression calls for a reconsideration of the Egyptians’ choices of images and texts for their “houses of eternity”. And the chosen time span, the first half of the XVIII dynasty, is marked by deep changes in Egyptian society, as the figurative and textual programs of the tombs of high state officials clearly show. These programs are characterized by the introduction of a series of significant new repertories of images.
In conclusion, the present project will combine the most recent results of philological, iconological and sociological research with a complete survey of the unpublished materials from the Archives of the Milan University and other Egyptological Archives, as well as a survey of the tombs themselves, to arrive to a better knowledge of the Theban necropolis in the first half of the XVIII dynasty. <<<

Principal Investigator

Patrizia Piacentini Università degli Studi di MILANO

Research Objectives

1. Search of documents concerning a choice of Theban tombs of the first half of the XVIII dynasty, down to the reign of Amenhotep III, kept in the Egyptological Archives of the Milan University, which can be considered among the most important Egyptological Archives in Europe. In 2004, their systematic ordering began, together with their cataloguing and digitalisation, in view of the creation of an electronic archive which will be the first objectif of the present research.
The following are the Theban tombs on which we will work. Their number could be reduced according to the financing and the time requested for a full examination of the documentation:
TT 66 (Hepu); TT 69 (Menna); TT76 (Tjenuna); TT77 (Ptahemhat); TT 108 (Nebseny); TT258 (Menkheper); TT 54 (Huy); TT 78 (Horemheb); TT90 (Nebamon); TT91 (anonymous); TT295 (Djehutymes Pary); TT 46 (Rames); TT 47 (Userhat); TT48 (Amenemhat); TT 57 (Khaemhat); TT89 (Amenmes); TT107 (Nefersekheru); TT120 (Anen); TT139 (Pairy); TT161 (Nakht); TT253 (Khnummes); TT294 (Amenhotep); TT 192 (Kheruef).
On these tombs we already found more than 1000 photos and hundreds of documents in the Archive of the Milan University.
In an advanced phase of the research, all the documents related to the Theban tombs have to be stored in a correct archival way, in specific containers for the conservation. All of them have to be digitalized and available on the data base.

2. Researches in other Egyptological Archives will be carried on, with the aim of gathering together most of the documents (photos, fac-similar, watercolours, etc.) related to each tomb. For each tomb, an extensive bibliographical research is already in progress, from the first excavations to the actual studies, to determine what has been published and what has still to be done. Researches in the Egyptological collections and in their catalogues could also be carried on, to discover the presence of fragments or other materials related to these tombs. Through the archival material kept in Egyptological Archives and objects in the Collections (such as, for instance, fragments of wall decorations, etc.), it will be possible to add new data to those already known, and recostruct part of the texts or representations that in some cases have been destroyed in the last 150 years.
After the first year of research, a file has to be prepared for each tomb, containing the complete bibliography and all the archival data, as well as the data on the present situation of the tomb itself (see the next point).

3. On the basis of an accord with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, the control of the present situation of each tomb of the group will be carried on (especially in the most important of them), to verify the possible degradation and the possibility of integration of texts and decorations through the photos and the squeezes realized in the XIX and XX century. These integrations could bring new informations on the decorations and texts of the selected tombs.

4. A detailed study of the decorative and textual program of the selected tombs will be carried on, as well as the virtual reconstruction of some of them. Particular attention will be reserved to the TT 57, of Khaemhat (on which a very large documentation exists in the Milanese Archives and in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as well as in other Egyptological Archives), and to unpublished tombs.
This research fits into an overall plan for the study of the Egyptian funerary ideology, which is one of the most interesting trends of current Egyptological research. Although a high number of tombs have been studied and published since the beginning of the last century, the remarkable advancements of the last few decades in our knowledge of Egyptian culture and its means of expression calls for a reconsideration of the Egyptians’ choices of images and texts for their “houses of eternity”. And the the first half of the XVIII dynasty, that is the time span chosen for the research, is marked by deep changes in Egyptian society, reflected in the figurative and textual programs of the tombs of high officials with the introduction of a series of significant new repertories of images.

5. The gathered data will be inserted in a data base: the Research Unity will take care of the archivial and will insert the data on the iconographic and textual program of the tombs. Objective of the work of the Unities will be the creation of a complete data base on the selected tombs, containing all kind of informations on them. In future, these data will be made available to scholars and general public thanks to the portal of the Library and Archives of Egyptology of the Milan University (currently under elaboration).

6. At the end of the project, a Conference will be organised. The members of the Research Unity will present their specific researches and the objectives reached, while other scholars working on the Theban necropolis will be invited to present their works, with the aim of exchanging new informations and data on the subject.

General objective of the project will be combining the most recent results of philological, iconological and sociological research with a complete survey of the unpublished materials from the Archives of the Milan University and other Egyptological Archives, as well as a survey of the tombs themselves, to arrive to a better knowledge of the Theban necropolis in the first half of the XVIII dynasty. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

The first studies and excavations in the Theban necropolis date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and most of the around 650 royal and private tombs have already been published. Especially during the last decades, studies, excavations and recovery and restauration works in the tombs of the Theban necropolis have been carried out with great intensity, although a lot still remains to do. Many tombs have been re-studied, or are presently under investigation. However, a smaller, but still significant number is still waiting to be investigated. These are often unfinished hypogea, or badly preserved ones. Our information about them is often derived from old surveys which could turn out to be partial or misleading, as recent rediscoveries of tombs bear out.
If the permission for new excavations is not granted by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities anymore, there are many projects of restauration and publication of these tombs, such as, for instance, the Royal Ontario Museum Theban Tombs Project, that includes, inter al., the tombs of Amenmose (TT 89) and of Anen (TT 120) (see Pinch-Brock, 2005; for the bibliographical abbreviations, see the paragraph Riferimenti bibliografici); the works of Susan Redford of the University of Toronto, in the tomb of Ramose (TT46) (see Or. 72, 2003, p. 88); those of Roland Tefnin of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in the tomb of Sennufer (TT96) (see Or. 72, 2003, p. 86), the works and publications of N. Strudwick, on the tombs of Amenhotep, Khnummose and Amenmose (TT 294, 253, 254), dating back to 1996, or those on the tomb of Senneferi (TT 99) or on the TT 297, of Amenemopet Tjanefer (cf. Strudwick, 2003). We have also to mention other Egyptian and foreign missions working on interdependent projects, such as the photographic survey and comparative studies of the Waseda University, Tokio; the Theban Mapping Project, presently focussing on royal tombs, and the researches of Budapest University, the Chicago House, and the French Archaeological Institute. Furthermore, the works of the Germanic Archaeological Institute in Cairo are of fundamental importance, with the publication of the series Archäologische Veröffentlichungen, as well as those of the Heidelberg Ramesside Tomb Project, with the publication of the series Theben.
In the latter, studies of great interest have been published. Besides the publication of numerous tombs, there is the study by Assmann, Sonnenhymnen in Thebanischen Gräbern (1983 ) or the one by Kampp, Die thebanische Nekropole. Zum Wandel des Grabgedankens von der XVIII. bis zur XX. Dynastie (1996), very useful for the typology of the tombs, their dating and the principal data on each of them.
In addition, there are specific studies devoted to the art and the decoration of the Theban tombs, such as the one by Hofmann, Bilder im Wandel. Die Kunst der ramessidischen Privargräber (2003) or that of Hartwig, Tomb Painting and Identity in Ancient Thebes (2004).
Indeed, the study of funerary ideology is one of the most interesting trends of current Egyptological research. Although a high number of necropoleis have been studied and published since the beginning of the last century, the remarkable advancements of the last few decades in our knowledge of Egyptian culture and its means of expression calls for a reconsideration of the Egyptians’ choices of images and texts for their “houses of eternity”.
In the last decades, several Egyptologists have been working on similar analyses, sometimes focussing on a particular aspect of funerary ideology within a limited time span (e.g. Lustig, 1997), sometimes on the global interpretation of a single monument (e.g. Louant, 2000). Fundamental contributions are coming from the recent investigations of the New Kingdom private tombs already mentioned, but theoretical iconological studies have been increasing too. Their specific aim is to find keys to the interpretation of an Egyptian monument as a whole (see e.g. Tefnin, 1979; Tefnin, 1991; Hartwig, 2003); of recognizing a tomb’s structure and defining its paradigms (see A. and A. Brack, 1977; Guksch, 1995). We must accept, however, that it has not yet been possible to define a general model (if it exists) for each different social category and each different period. Moreover, no compendia exist on the different levels (often interrelated) of interpretation of a complete set of texts and images: the personal level, where one expresses eroticism and fecundity; the social level, which bears witness to kinship relations and patronage; the institutional level, where one identifies the function of a man inside the “Egypt” system and, more widely, in the whole Cosmos; last but not least, relations with the underworld and eschatological questions, which are probably better known because they are documented in funerary texts. Still, some recent papers have been published on specific aspects of these issues: on eroticism, e.g. Ph. Derchain, “La perruque et le cristal”, SAK 2, 1975, 55-74; on the relation between kinship and Cosmos, Lustig, 1997; on divine aspects, D. Raue, “Zur memphitischen Privatgrab im Neuen Reich”, MDAIK 51, 1995, 255-268; on social aspects, R. Pirelli “The Monument of Imeneminet as a Document of Social Changes in the Egyptian New Kingdom”, in Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists (Cambridge, 3-9 September 1995), Acta Lovaniensa Analecta 82, Louvain, 871-884; ead., “L’alimentazione nell’Egitto faraonico: usi quotidiani e tavole d’offerta” in Atti del Convegno Internazionale Saperi e sapori mediterranei. La cultura dell’alimentazione e i suoi riflessi linguistici, III, Naples 2002, 847-875; ead. "Towards an anthropology of myths and rituals on offering and sacrifice in Ancient Egypt: a Proposal", in R. Pirelli (ed.), Egyptological Essays on State and Society, "Serie Egittologica" 2, DSRAPA, Napoli 2002, 111-136) and more recently a paper on banquet scenes presented by the same author at the last International Congress of Egyptologists (2004).
At the International Congresses of Egyptology, e.g. in Cambridge in 1995, in Cairo in 2000 or in Grenoble in 2004, many lectures have been devoted to the problems and the researches in the Theban necropolis. The necessity to continue the collation of the texts and the verification of the actual situation of the decoration in the tombs already excavated has been underlined, as well as the duty to protect and restore them.
In addition, many specific conferences have been devoted to the Theban necropolis, such as La peinture égyptienne. Un monde de signes à préserver, in 1994 (Tefnin, 1997); Deir el-Médineh et la Vallée des Rois, in 2002, in which Mohammed el-Bialy made the point of the situation with his talk Egyptologie et mise en valeur des sites de Thèbes-Ouest (Mohammed el-Bialy, 2003), or Thebanische Beamtennekropolen. Neue Perspektiven archäologischer Forschung, in 1993, and The Theban Necropolis. Past, Present Future, in 2000. The proceedings of the latter conferences (Assmann et al., 1995; Strudwick - Taylor, 2003) constitute an essential reference for the activities in the private tombs of the Theban necropolis and for the state of the matter.
In these Proceedings, there are two articles by Jaromir Malek, The Archivist as a Researcher (Malek, 1995) and We have the tombs. Who needs the archives? (Malek, 2003), whose content is particularly enlightening for the research that we intend to carry on.
The different sources of information at our disposal to increase our knowledge of ancient Egypt in general and of the Theban necropolis in particular are: 1) those already evaluated where the results have been published according to contemporary standards in books, articles, electronic forms, etc.; 2) those already evaluated but not published and therefore not yet made universally available; 3) those still in situ, but not yet investigated or studied; 4) those preserved in museums or in archives but not yet studied. In view of the conservation of the monuments, Egyptology cannot afford to lose any information, however small or insignificant it may seem at present. For this reason, it is necessary to preserve, to make available and to use the material that has never reached the publication stage, and particularly the material preserved in the Egyptological archives. The latter can be divided in three groups of documents: 1) drawings, sketches, water-colours, and accounts of early travellers in Egypt. This material has historical but also antiquarian and artistic value; 2) personal papers of the Egyptologists of the past, including the photos they took; 3) records producted during excavations or researches, but not included in the final publications, for lack of space or for a logical selection. For instance, many more photos are being taken than those which appear in publication, but they can be of fundamental importance for Egyptologists who deal with a particular matter (details of scenes, of texts etc.).
It is therefore necessary to establish or to increase the Egyptological archives, to organize and computerize them in order to make them available to all researchers. Such archives must become centers which quickly and efficiently provide information not included in publications and often no longer available in the field, in consequence of the deterioration of a site or a tomb, a phenomenon that concerns more and more the Theban necropolis, under the pressure of human presence, tourism and climatic factors. Already after the Second world war, many dramatic cases of deterioration had been recorded, due to the theft of part of the paintings of the Theban tombs. Fragments of them had afterwards been recovered, thanks to a patient search in Museums and in Archives (cf. Mekhitarian, 1985).
Modern technology, in particular electronic forms of storage and retrieval, will fundamentally influence the way in which the concept of Egyptological archives develops.
What has already been carried out in the archives of the Griffith Institute, Oxford, with electronic storage of photos and documents related to the Theban necropolis (cf. Murray - Malek, 1980; Malek - Magee, 1983; Malek, 1995), or in the archives of the Oriental Institute in Chicago (cf. The Epigraphic Survey, 1995), can be set as an example.
The importance of using the documents kept in the archives for a more complete publication of the Theban tombs has naturally been understood by the Egyptologists, who have used, if possible, the data at their disposal. It is the case, for instance, of Manniche, 1988, was has made use of documents kept in different archives to study some Theban tombs of the XVIII dynasty (A4, A6, A13, A24, C4, C6 etc.). In this way, she succeeded in recognizing fragments of walls preserved in different museums and virtually replaced them in the tomb of origin. Archival records are regularly used in good publications of Theban tombs, such as, for instance, those of Strudwick, 2003 or of Hartwig, 2004. They have used sketches, photos and copies of texts preserved in the archives of the Chicago House in Luxor, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the University of Trier and that of Heidelberg, the Griffith Institute in Oxford, etc.
In this general picture, Egyptology can now rely also on the important archives bought by the University of Milan. We mention hereafter the principal records in order of acquisition:
1999: Archives of Elmar Edel: letters, philological notes, ancient and modern photos, copies of hieroglyphic inscriptions, etc.
2002: Archives of Varille – Loret: more than 50.000 photos, realized from the half of the XIXth to the half the XXth century, of Egyptian sites, monuments and objects belonging to public and private collections; excavation journals; philological notes; copies of hieroglyphic inscriptions; sketches; watercolours; more than 3000 letters; travel journals; manuscripts containing studies of history, philology, archaeology, particularly related to excavations left unpublished in Saqqara or in the Valley of the Kings (the latter now published by Piacentini - Orsenigo, 2004).
2004: Archives of Mariette – Brugsch: 135 unpublished letters sent to Heinrich Brugsch (1827-1894) by August Mariette (1821-1881), and hundreds of letters of Erman, Minutoli, Dümichen Schweinfurth, Wiedemann, and Spiegelberg.
The arrangement of these records, currently in progress, has put in evidence the presence of a meaningful quantity of material related to the Theban necropolis (photos, sketches, watercolours, letters, copies of texts etc.), that brings new data on already excavated and published tombs and on unpublished ones.
Their computerization and study will allow the exchange of informations with other Egyptological archives and with the researchers dealing with the Theban Necropolis, as well as the retrieval of complementary data on specific tombs, which is the object of the research that we intend to carry on.

In this general perspective, the present project will combine the most recent results of philological, iconological and sociological research with a complete survey of the unpublished materials from the archives of Varille and Loret (1881-1951), recently acquired by the Milan University. These two archives constitute a group of documents of great interest because they go back to a period when most Theban monuments, nowadays badly preserved, were still easily accessible and likely to be copied and studied. A comparison of contemporary data (modern publication and pictures) with the documents in the aforementioned archives, as well as in other Egyptological Archives, will allow our team to verify and fill lacunae in our knowledge of the figurative and textual programs of many presently inaccessible tombs. <<<