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The Epigraphic Survey
2001-2002 Annual Report
W. Raymond Johnson
On 15 April 2002, the Epigraphic Survey completed its seventy-eighth, six-month field season in Luxor, Egypt. At Medinet Habu the epigraphic work carried on at the small Amun temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, where the drawing and collating continued in the bark sanctuary and ambulatory of Thutmose III, and the drawings of the screen walls of the Saite portico of the Kushite Pylon were finished. Paint collation was started and finished in the two southernmost sanctuaries after cleaning. Large-format photography of the west doorjambs of the Ptolemaic Pylon was accomplished. Restoration work continued on the rooftop of the Eighteenth Dynasty temple, as well as cleaning and conservation of the painted reliefs in the southwesternmost chamber of the sanctuary below, and the central sanctuary. New sandstone flooring was laid in the central room. At Luxor Temple, 310 meters of new storage and treatment mastaba/platforms were constructed for the decorated sandstone wall fragments presently on the ground, and 5,000 decorated wall fragments were raised from the ground onto the new mastabas. Conservation continued on deteriorating block fragments in the Epigraphic Survey blockyard, several fragment groups were prepared for reassembly on display platforms, and consolidation of the northern end of the eastern wall of the Amenhotep III sun court was continued in preparation for the in situ restoration of a large fragment group featuring the bark of Amun.
Small Amun Temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III at Medinet Habu
From 16 October 2001 to 15 April 2002 the epigraphic team continued documentation work in the Medinet Habu small Amun temple of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. Two new Egyptologist/epigraphers, Steven Shubert (who also supervised the Chicago House library) and Randy Shonkwiler, were trained on site this season. The artists and epigraphers penciled, inked, and collated/corrected facsimile drawings of the bark sanctuary and ambulatory reliefs that will be published in volume 2 of the small Amun temple series. This season the team began and finished the paint collation of the two southern sanctuaries, adding newly exposed painted details to drawings of reliefs whose cleaning was completed in mid-season, for publication in volume 1 (fig. 1). In all, twenty-four drawings from these two rooms were paint collated by the artists and epigraphers and reviewed by the director, while an additional two enlargements from the central sanctuary were also collated and await the directors' review next season after the cleaning of the room has been finished (fig. 2).
A total of thirteen new drawings for volume 2 of the small Amun temple series were penciled at the wall by the artists, ten new drawings were inked, and twenty additional drawings (some penciled last year) are being inked over the summer for collation next season. Eleven new drawings were collated by the epigraphers at the wall, while the artists transferred corrections to nine additional drawings which were checked and approved by the epigraphers. Director's checks were completed on seven drawings, four of which will appear in volume 1, with more ready for review next year.
This season, in light of the sobering events of 11 September, we also initiated the publication quality, large-format photography of all of our drawings-in-progress as emergency backup (more than two hundred total) for volumes 1 and 2 of the small Amun temple series. These interim negatives are now stored in Chicago.
This winter staff photographer Yarko Kobylecky, assisted by photo archives assistant Ellie Smith and photo archivist Sue Lezon, photographed pre- and post-conservation sanctuary walls with 4 ≈ 5 color transparency film for the two southernmost sanctuary rooms and part of the central sanctuary. Yarko and Ellie also photographed the entire exterior western doorjamb and lintel of the Ptolemaic Pylon of the small Amun temple, over forty feet high, with 8 ≈ 10 film in ten sections (fig. 3). These will be used for publication and drawing enlargement production for volume 4 of the small Amun temple. Yarko also printed drawing enlargements of the Kushite Pylon eastern doorjambs and lintel which now completes the drawing enlargement production of that pylon face for volume 3. He also photographed and printed a detail drawing enlargement of a newly cleaned rebus writing of Hatshepsut's prenomen Maatkare from the upper name frieze in the southeasternmost sanctuary, which Will Schenck penciled this season for inking this summer, and which will appear in volume 1.
The 2001/2002 season marked the sixth year of a five-year grant, extended to six years, from the Egyptian Antiquities Project (EAP) of the American Research Center (ARCE), approved by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), for documentation and conservation of the small Amun temple at Medinet Habu. This season the conservation work continued to focus on the rooftop over the Thutmoside bark sanctuary and inside the painted chapels. Senior conservator Lotfi Hassan, assisted by conservators Adel Aziz Andraws and Nahed Samir, completed the cleaning of the painted reliefs in the two southeastern chambers, and cleaned two and a half walls in the front central chamber, including the western wall and inscribed doorway with flanking reliefs of Hatshepsut (changed to Thutmose III) embracing Amun (fig. 4). Adel and Nahed replaced deteriorated mortar between the wall courses with hydraulic lime and sandstone powder, and assisted in the cleaning. The cleaning program of the painted reliefs continued to include mechanical cleaning by soft brush, scalpel, and gum wishab, while sepiolite and distilled water poultices were applied to wall surfaces for cleaning and desalination. As in seasons past, chemical cleaning of the soot and grime included 5% butilamyne in distilled water and dimethyle formamide (DMF) in more sensitive areas. Pigment consolidation utilized acrylic resin acryloid B72 in acetone (3-4%).
Stonecutter Dany Roy continued to supervise the restoration and stabilization of the small Amun temple roof (fig. 5). He completed the grouting with liquid mortar of the sanctuary roof area, and continued the patching - with new sandstone - of missing roof blocks over the bark sanctuary and ambulatory, replacing ancient Ptolemaic blocks removed since antiquity. In all, seventy-eight new sandstone slabs (covering twelve square meters in total surface) were laid on the northern section over the bark sanctuary. In the front central sanctuary below Dany laid three additional floor slabs, roughly a meter square each and ten centimeters thick. In the northwesternmost sanctuary, the "naos room," Dany raised two subsided floor blocks to the level of the other surviving floor blocks in the room (fig. 6). While the floor blocks were up, he extracted a Twenty-fifth Dynasty black granite offering table inscribed for God's Wife of Amun Shepenwepet II, which had been deposited in the foundation pit of the granite Ptolemaic naos, but which was no longer supporting it. The table's dimensions are 103 cm wide ≈ 87 cm deep (with spout), 63 cm wide (without spout), and ca. 80 cm in height. Conservators Lotfi, Adel, and Nahed cleaned and consolidated the surface of the offering table (fig. 7), and at present it is stored in the bark sanctuary. The beautifully carved granite table is a major monument from this enigmatic period, and was totally unknown before this season. Epigrapher Harold Hays is currently doing a study of the offering table text, which is a late version of Pyramid Texts utterance 44, and it is probable that the monument was set up in the offering chapel of Shepenwepet II across the way. After discussions with local SCA officials, it has been decided that once totally consolidated, the offering table will be placed in the courtyard of that chapel for public view.
Egyptologist Christina Di Cerbo recorded the exposed sections of flooring in the naos room while Dany was raising the paving stones and extracting the offering table. Tina also coordinated the sorting, cleaning, identification, labeling, photography, storage, and catalog of the 196 objects found during cleaning and restoration work in the sanctuary area of the small Amun temple since 1984 (fig. 8). This group of objects includes beads; copper fragments; glass; ostraca; ushebties; a small, inlaid eye with copper rim; and stone fragments, including 111 sandstone relief fragments, eight of which Tina was able to place in four of the back sanctuary rooms and the bark sanctuary ambulatory. Reference photographs of all of this material were produced by Yarko as well. In addition, during the latter part of the season Tina created an illustrated database of 204 graffiti at the small Amun temple (including forty additional unpublished graffiti from the sanctuary rooms, the roof, and the facade) and 263 graffiti in the Ramesses III mortuary temple which will help us track old and new examples.
Luxor Temple
This season marked the seventh year of an extended, five-year grant approved by the SCA and the EAP/ARCE, for the consolidation of deteriorating decorated sandstone wall fragments at Luxor Temple.
Field conservator Hiroko Kariya coordinated the Luxor Temple Fragment Project on site from 23 January through 30 March, and was assisted by project supervisor John Stewart from 7 to 18 February. Hiroko continued the monitoring and treatment of the 1,540 fragments in the Epigraphic Survey blockyard, and registered all treatments on our Luxor fragment database. Eighty-five fragments were treated with Wacker OH (fig. 9); all treated fragments and fragments requiring future treatment were placed in covered areas for protection. This season Hiroko and John continued the consolidation of the northern end of the eastern wall of the Amenhotep III sun court, on which a group of over a hundred joined fragments will be restored which preserve a bark of Amun scene. Several other fragment groups from the Colonnade Hall currently receiving treatment will be restored on special damp-coursed display platforms along the front of the Epigraphic Survey blockyard for public view and study. One group, preserving the divine barge of Khonsu and its towboats, from the Opet river procession, will be restored to its original position on the Colonnade Hall eastern wall, south end.
Thanks to a Robert Wilson matching grant and the World Monuments Fund (WMF), this season the Epigraphic Survey inaugurated a two-year program to raise all of the decorated stone wall fragments around Luxor Temple off the ground, away from corrosive groundwater, up onto protective, damp-coursed baked-brick mastaba platforms. This season 310 meters of damp-coursed storage and treatment mastabas (thirty-five mastabas total of varying lengths, all one meter wide) were constructed east of the temple precinct, to the north and south of the Epigraphic Survey's present blockyard, and 5,000 decorated wall fragments were raised from the ground onto the new platforms for storage and conservation (fig. 10). Sincerest thanks to volunteers Nan and David Ray (fig. 11), who in January and February coordinated the actual moving while I designated what fragments went where, and to Jamie Riley, who continued that work until the end of the season. In the north area, ninety-two severely decaying fragments (unaccessioned) were rescued from the ground and placed on two platforms by Hiroko. These mastabas were then covered with a framework over which was stretched Tyvek (spun-bonded olefin made of high-density polyethylene) and plastic-lined fabric, for protection against the wind and rain. One fifteen meter mastaba was constructed west of the Ramesses II court for the storage of fragment material coming from the corniche retaining wall, built at the turn of the last century, which was dismantled and replaced by the SCA this year. Approximately 1,000 ancient wall fragments were recovered from this old wall during the course of our season, and at the request of the local SCA officials, were happily incorporated into the Epigraphic Survey's fragment storage program.
Last season the Epigraphic Survey initiated a structural condition study of Luxor Temple to study the structural stability of the temple complex, and the process continued this season. In early December structural engineer Conor Power spent ten days continuing his survey of the temple, and consulted with us on the monitoring of the Ramesses II pylons, using crack monitors and plumb bobs, to check against any future movement. In April conservator Hiroko attached two crack monitors and an additional plumb bob monitoring device against the east pylon of Luxor Temple in an effort to assist the SCA in this crucial task (fig. 12). Conor also consulted with us on plans for the future stabilization and partial restoration of a section of the east wall of the Colonnade Hall. On 4 January the Swedish groundwater engineers (SWECO) returned to resume their groundwater study of the Karnak and Luxor Temple areas, which is of vital importance to us all. Chicago House was pleased to facilitate important dialogs between SWECO, the WMF, the Karnak USAID waste water project headed by old friend Bob Kachinsky, and the SCA. As a result, SWECO, USAID, and the SCA are now coordinating their work in an effort to minimize any new trenching of antiquities land. Next year Chicago House is planning to host a Luxor briefing on the implementation of water-lowering measures proposed by the SCA, SWECO, and USAID.
Chicago House
This season marked excellent progress in the maintenance and upgrading of the Chicago House Photo Archives, which, as environmental conditions continue to change in Egypt, becomes a more precious commodity with every passing year. Photo archivist Sue Lezon continued to coordinate the digital scanning onto CD-ROM of the 18,000 large-format negatives in our collection, and we should hit the 17,000 mark this summer (fig. 13). Further, a copy of everything that has been scanned is now back in the USA as backup, which, in these troubled times is just good sense. This summer Sue is continuing the process of painstakingly adding those images to our new large-format-negative Filemaker Pro database, while a similar database for the 35 mm collection was put together last year, into which photo archives assistant Ellie Smith has already entered 21,866 data entries. It, too, will have images added to it in time. So far approximately 40% of our 35 mm collection has been scanned onto CD-ROM. Among many other tasks Ellie also numbered, identified, and labeled 822 large format negatives and ninety-one rolls of 35 mm negatives generated this season, as well as 539 negatives and archival envelopes for Medinet Habu and Karnak graffiti photographed in the 1920s.
This season epigrapher and librarian Steven Shubert supervised the Chicago House library from mid-November until 15 April. He was assisted by volunteer Debbie Doyle until late December, Harry Broadhead in December and January, and thereafter by Ellie Smith and Emily Napolitano. To accommodate his work schedule at the temple, we modified the Chicago House library hours, and the library is now open to our colleagues weekdays, afternoons only, from 2:00 to 5:00, and on Fridays all day, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. In March Steven and Tina supervised the rearrangement of the library holdings, and Steven continued the upgrading of the holdings, accessioning of new publications (244 this season), and the reclassification of the stacks books to the Library of Congress classification system.
Emily Napolitano, assistant to the director, energetically managed the front office and residence, helped Steven in the library, and gave twenty-five library briefings this season, among many other tasks. Finance manager Safinaz Ouri assisted by accountant Marlene Sarwat Nassim supervised the workmen and kept us all within our budget. Saleh Shahat assisted by Girgis Samwell and Jamie Riley (February-April) kept the facility well maintained. I am very pleased to report that the support staff of Chicago House, like the professional staff, is the strongest ever, and that includes our local workmen, without whom we would be hard-pressed to do even a fraction of our preservation work. My thanks are extended to all.
While the beginning of the season was marked by a drop in tourism in Luxor, by March levels were quite high, and things felt normal again. Although tourism was slow we had many visitors, including Emily Napolitano's mother Consuelo; Eric Nordgren, a former conservator at the Oriental Institute who now works for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Alexandria; Oriental Institute graduate students Josh Trampier and Tobin Hartnell; friends Ros and Jac Janssen, Jay Heidel, Jamie Humphrey, Harry Broadhead, and Mark Chickering who joined us for the Christmas holidays; Princess Jawaher of Saudi Arabia; and many, many colleagues. We were particularly pleased to host our dear friends ARCE Assistant Director Amira Khattab and her son ARCE office manager Amir Abdel Hamid over the Christmas holidays, a small way to thank them for their invaluable help over the years.
Chicago House also hosted several site reviews by various funding agencies that support the epigraphy and conservation work of the Epigraphic Survey. On 4-5 December there were ARCE/EAP reviews at both temples. On 1-2 January, and later on 7-9 January, two groups of British Petroleum (BP) representatives came by to see our work at both temple sites and to discuss additional support. And on 6-9 January the World Monuments Fund President, Technical Director, and Development Director came by for a review of our work and similar discussions. On 16 January Chicago House hosted a US congressional staff delegation to lunch, a library briefing, and site trips with me to Luxor and Karnak Temples, Medinet Habu, and the Valley of the Kings. On 2 February I had the pleasure of briefing Bill Stanton, Director of Egyptian and North African Affairs, US State Department, on the USAID-funded preservation projects in Luxor (mostly us), and showing him our facility and work on-site.
March saw a marked increase in tourists and visitors to Chicago House, including the annual tour sponsored by the Oriental Institute, led by Robert Ritner and accompanied this time by the Carole Krucoff (Head, Museum Education and Public Programming), making her first visit to Egypt. We had the pleasure of showing them our work at Luxor Temple and Medinet Habu, and hosting a library briefing and reception in the residence courtyard, and Robert later returned to spend a week with us after the tour. Other visitors at season's end included the Director of USAID Egypt, Bill Pearson and his wife Genie, with whom we were able to share our work and home; and British Petroleum Chairman Lord John Browne, who I had the pleasure of squiring around Luxor - including our work sites - on 11 April; he was also able to join us for a quick lunch and library briefing at Chicago House, between sites.
At this time I would like to express my sincerest thanks once again to the many friends of the Oriental Institute whose support has allowed us to continue our vital documentation and conservation work. Special thanks must go to the American Ambassador to Egypt, the Honorable David Welch; the former Ambassador to Egypt, the Honorable Daniel Charles Kurtzer, and Sheila Kurtzer; Reno Harnish, Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Cairo, and Leslie Harnish; Haynes Mahoney, Cultural Affairs Officer of the US Embassy; Bill Pearson of the United States Agency for International Development and Genie Pearson; Exa Snow of Coopers and Lybrand, Cairo; Ahmed Ezz, EZZ Group, Cairo; David and Carlotta Maher; David and Nan Ray; Mark Rudkin; Dr. Barbara Mertz; Daniel Lindley and Lucia Woods Lindley; Dr. Marjorie M. Fisher; Eric and Andrea Colombel; Piers Litherland; Dr. Fred Giles; Marjorie B. Kiewit; Nancy LaSalle; Tom and Linda Heagy; Donald Oster; Dr. William Kelly Simpson; Kelly and Di Grodzins; Bob and Anne Hamada; Dr. Ben Harer; Dr. Roxie Walker; Louis Byron, Jr.; Dr. Bob Springborg, Ray Salamanca, Mary Sadek, Amir Abdel Hamid, and Amira Khattab of the American Research Center in Egypt; Dr. Chip Vincent, Dr. Jarek Dobrolowski, and Cynthia Schartzer of the Egyptian Antiquities Project; Dr. Michael Jones of the Antiquities Development Project; and all of our friends back home at the Oriental Institute. I must also express special gratitude to British Petroleum, the Getty Grant Program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, LaSalle National Bank, and the World Monuments Fund for their invaluable support. Thank you! The professional staff this season, besides the field director, consisted of J. Brett McClain, Harold Hays, and Randy Shonkwiler as epigraphers; Dr. Steven Shubert as epigrapher and librarian; Christina Di Cerbo, Margaret De Jong, Susan Osgood, and Will Schenck as artists; Yarko Kobylecky as staff photographer; Susan Lezon as photo archivist and photographer; Emily Napolitano as assistant to the director and office manager; Jill Carlotta Maher as assistant to the director; Safinaz Ouri as finance manager; Marlin Sarwat Nassim as accountant; Elinor Smith as photo archives and library assistant; Debbie Doyle as archives assistant; and Saleh Shehat Suleiman, Girgis Samwell, and Jamie Riley as chief engineers. Lotfi Hassan, Adel Aziz Andraws, Nahed Samir, John Stewart, and Hiroko Kariya worked with us as conservators; Nan and David Ray as conservation assistants; Dany Roy as stonecutter; and Conor Power, P.E., as structural engineer consultant. Special thanks go to Dr. Henri Riad, Egyptologist in residence and beloved friend, and to our dear Drs. Helen and Jean Jacquet. To our partners in preservation, the Supreme Council of Antiquities, we owe a great debt of thanks: especially to Dr. Zahi Hawass and Prof. Dr. G. A. Gaballa, present and former Secretary General; Dr. Sabry Abdel Aziz, General Director of Antiquities for Upper Egypt; Dr. Yahia El-Masry, General Director of Luxor Antiquities; Dr. Mohamed el-Bially, General Director for the West Bank of Luxor; Mr. Bakit, Director of Karnak and Luxor Temples; Mme Nawal, Chief Inspector of Luxor Temple, and Mme Sanaa, Director of the Luxor Museum. Special thanks must go to our inspector Mr. Ahmed Ezz. Sincerest thanks to all our friends and colleagues for helping make this field season so successful and productive.
Members of the Oriental Institute and other friends of Chicago House are, as always, welcome to stop by to see us. We suggest that you write or call in advance to schedule an appointment. Chicago House is open from 15 October until 15 April, and closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Our address in Egypt: Chicago House, Corniche el-Nil, Luxor, Egypt. The phone number is (from the USA) 011-20-95-37-2525; fax 011-20-95-38-1620.
The newly updated and lavishly illustrated Epigraphic Survey home page is located at:
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/epi/
Revised: February 7, 2007
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