Time flies when having a great time, and indeed the two first
weeks of our survey work passed so quickly. We were told that we are late
during our meeting in Aswan, when there to fill in the last paperwork before
heading up to Silsila via the Kom Ombo office. “Late” one may then ask. Well, easily
understood due to the rising temperature we are late into the spring to start a
new season, and apparently there are only two foreign archaeological missions out
there in the field at this time, fighting back the sweat while appreciating the
sun’s illumination of inscribed details of the quarry walls or rocks. Funny enough,
both missions are headed by a Maria; alongside our work, Dr. Maria Gatto’s concession
continues deep into the Aswan wadis, exploring the telltale signs of the
ancients in the area. We very much look forward hearing about her and her team’s
work in the end of the season!
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| Sunrise over Silsila |
After last year’s somewhat dreadful choice of accommodation
in Aswan, forcing us to drive the 1-1.5 hours back and forwards from site every
single day, we are now more than happy about the choice for this season: we
currently call a small, but sufficient dahabeya our floating survey home for
the six weeks we are out there. This dahabeya made her first journey in 1906,
built to carry stone for Edfu, and was not made into a more serene function
until more recent years. Her name has brought us many smiles, and for sure will
continue to do, as she is called “Rehab”. For any fieldworking archaeologist or
surveyor, Rehab is of course a quite appropriate name as it offers a bit of
relaxation and recuperation after a long day out in the sun. However, this
British built boat, with a French description of her first day of setting sail,
has a name which in Arabic is a common female name and relates to the garden of
heaven, but which in common tongue also expresses a warm greeting. So, after
all, we are happy to call the Rehab our floating home for this time, and for
sure she enables us some more quality time away from the Aswan road and instead
we can enjoy a spectacular view of the entire site of Silsila with its
cenotaphs, stelai, shrines, quarries, and of course the Speos of Horemheb below
which we anchored.
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| Rehab |
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| Our much appreciated view from our floating survey home |
Moving on from last season’s work in the main quarry,
Adrienn and I carried on with our documentation in the smaller quarry that is
located directly to the south; a quarry which goes by the nickname “Situla
quarry” after its more common depiction, or Q35 in topographical terms. Since Adrienn
recorded almost all the inscriptions during our previous season, she stayed
with me for only a day to go through it once again and make sure there were no
details missing. Any epigrapher or rock art fantast will know too well the
importance of light as texts, images, and even the smallest details can be
fully visible in shade but not in sunlight, or more often, the other way around.
Q35 held my attention for several days, almost the entire first week, as each
quarry face was recorded separately with details of not only epigraphic
material, but also quarrying techniques including tool mark patterns, block
sizes, foot holes, rope holes, post holes, wedge marks, splitting marks, trench
preparation, etc. etc. Our inspector, bless him, quickly moved on from my
documentation to spend more interesting time with John who is responsible for
the topographical data recording, and became engaged in John’s vivid
description of the various transportation roads that had been in use during the
time of quarrying.
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| Documentation in Q35 |
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| Documentation in Q35 |
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| blocks in the "graveyard" |
After spending a lovely weekend strolling along the Nile,
viewing and admiring the (for many of you well known) cenotaphs and stelai, we
returned to our dahabeya where we were presented with a most action packed
scenery. The guardians of Silsila had caught looters not only on one side, but
both of Silsila’s banks. Due to the guardians’ fast actions, combined with the
arrival of the entire director’s office of Kom Ombo, followed by the police,
eleven men were arrested before our eyes, and we could not have felt any
prouder of Silsila’s protectors!
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| John with one of our guardians |
Encouraged by what we had seen during the weekend, we
returned for a new week’s work, ready to take on the challenges of Q36 and Q37.
Q36 received its nickname “the graveyard quarry” as it is embedded in an area
with large stone blocks that lay scattered in a fashion reminding of a cemetery.
These blocks had been extracted from the upper strata and consist of a rather
poor texture quality, obviously of little use for the Romans who demanded top
quality. Q37 is unofficially called the “Naos Quarry”, called so after a small
rectangular room on top of one of a quarry wall and partially sitting on a
large spoil heap. Although it is more likely that this room was used for
storage or a more practical function, its location (surrounded with various
adoration inscriptions) and its three megalithic roof blocks inspired to its
nickname. Similar to the main quarry, many of the textual inscriptions were
published in 1915 by Spiegelberg and Preisigke following the notes and drawings
of Legrain. For sure, also Caminos and his students must have been captivated
by the natural splendor that this large quarry presents, but as time moves
forward so does technology and we are so pleased to be able to use great camera
equipment that enables us to capture in detail every minor element of
inscriptions and images that are located on the uppermost levels of the quarry
walls. We very much look forward sharing some of these images with you
eventually!
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| Adrienn in Q37 |
Talking about photographs, we must share with you our
sunshine story of true modern heroes! If it was not for the great deeds of Dyan
Hilton and Peter Allingham our photographic work at Silsila would have been forced
to an end already before it really got started. One afternoon both our canon
battery chargers blew due to an electric problem on the dahabeya. Panic did not
wait to make its entry, emphasized even more by the fact that these chargers
were not to be found within Egypt (although Peter, Adrienn’s husband, managed
to locate a universal charger eventually). Searching for chargers online came
to a dead end too, as none of the international companies offered express
delivery. So, following John’s advice a cry for help was sent out on Facebook,
asking if anyone was coming in to Egypt from Europe or America. Dyan Hilton
kindly reposted and with her help Peter Allingham came to our rescue, having a
group arriving the day after as part of the Ancient World Tours! With pure persistency,
patience and the great will to help a fellow in need, Peter’s kindness resulted
in two brand new chargers arriving in Luxor, saving the continuation of our
work! So, thank you Dyan and Peter, and to the AWT group, for being true saviors!
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| still morning water |
Returning to work; while Adrienn and I were enjoying at
least partial shade in the naos quarry, John spent most of the first two weeks
up on the very top of Silsila, documenting the ancient pathways, huts, ramps,
transportation roads, and of course, the very informative spoil heaps. Of the
more interesting findings were included two causeways that presented valuable
information in terms of temporal work continuation and the change in work
structure from one period to another. Other findings include prehistoric rock
drawings and a pathway paved with carved feet; the latter soon received the
nickname “commemoration road” due to the significance of foot graffiti. On our
last day before breaking up camp for the weekend, we all joined up and walked
off in a northern direction to spend the day surveying different quarrying
techniques, aiding us in how to plan for our autumn season.
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| John in the "fallen monuments" area with his favorite piece: the naos of Amenhotep son of Hapu |
Before letting you go, I would like to continue on the note
of gratitude, this time directed to Barbara O’Neill and the Egyptological team
for giving me the honor of talking a bit about Silsila under “Egyptologically speaking”. Barbara interviewed me back in December, aiming to include her piece
in the December journal, but as many of you know, Egyptological was hacked and
forced to shut down temporarily. Thankfully Egyptological is now back up and
running, stronger and more interesting than ever, and we would be so happy to
support their great work!
With this been said, we thank you for your support in
following us and our survey work at Silsila!
Maria
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| Sunrise over the speos |
