Reuniting Sandstone Blocks from Garstang's Excavations at Meroe

The blog post for this week was intended to be a continuation of my Amarna course, which still has three weeks remaining. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swansea University has now cancelled all face-to-face teaching. It is hoped that the final weeks of the course can continue at a later date, with the relevant blog entries posted.

Instead, the entry for this week will present a number of sandstone blocks from the excavations conducted by Professor John Garstang (1876–1956) at Meroe between 1909 and 1914. Since Sir Henry Wellcome was sponsor of the excavation, he received a share of the finds brought back to England. In 1959, David Marshall Dixon (1930–2005) was appointed Research Fellow at the Wellcome Institute to classify the Egyptian collection. In a report dated December 1959, he noted that “the most important items so far examined are the 11 cases of Sudan material. Fortunately the lists of items made at the time the cases were received have survived and the contents of the cases have been checked against these and found to be intact.” Later, in April 1960, he noted that “these [cases], like the remainder of finds from the site, had never been touched, having apparently been sent to store almost immediately after arrival in the [Wellcome] Museum. In consequence some of the material, in particular the inscribed architectural blocks, had suffered some damage during the past half a century.”

Fig. 1: Offering table excavated in tomb 307.

A few weeks ago, I decided to photograph several architectural elements in the Egypt Centre collection, which can be traced back to Garstang’s excavations at Meroe. This included offering tables from the necropolis, which were excavated during the 1910 season (fig. 1). Recently, Jochen Hallof reidentified and published one block (EC1295) bearing an inscription of the Meroitic king Teqorideamani (fig. 2). The text (REM 1261) includes a reference to the god “Aqedise in Meroe”, to whom the king obviously delivers a donation. This is the first evidence of a cult of this god in the city of Meroe so far. The block, found by Garstang during his excavations in 1911, was published for the first time by Török (1997, I, 145, fig. N), although he was unaware of its current location.

Fig. 2: Sandstone block with Merotic inscription (EC1295)

 Several other blocks in the Egypt Centre were long thought to have come from Meroe based on the type of sandstone. One particular block (EC1304) contains what looks like a crudely carved graffito depicting the heads of a lion and a man (fig. 3). While looking through Garstang’s publication of his first season of work in Meroe, I noticed that one of the plates contained the same block, albeit in its complete form. According to Garstang’s report, the block was excavated from the steps in the Temple of Amun (Garstang 1911, pp. 70–71, pls. XIX.2, LXVIII [13]). The Garstang Museum kindly provided a scan of the original archival photo (fig. 4). The missing section includes the remainder of the “graffito” and four horizontal lines of a Merotic inscription. Therefore, the hunt was on to find the connecting fragment! After searching the online catalogue of the Petrie Museum, the block was quickly located (UC44568). It seems that the fragments, which were housed in the Petrie Museum for several years between 1964–1971, became separated during the distribution of the Wellcome collection. Incidentally, if any reader to this blog knows the REM number for this block, I would greatly appreciate it!

Fig. 3: Sandstone block (EC1304)

Fig. 4: Archival photo of complete block, courtesy of the Garstang Museum

Two weeks ago the personal archive of David Dixon was transferred from the Department of Classics, Ancient History, and Egyptology at Swansea University, where it had resided for the past 15 years, into the care of the Egypt Centre. Amongst the material was a box of photos of objects and reliefs from Meroe photographed in the Wellcome Collection by Dixon in the 1960s. While scanning through these photos, two in particular grabbed my attention. The first contained the upper half of the double plumes of Amun(?), with the feathers of a winged figure to the left. Just a few days beforehand, I had photographed EC1292, a block decorated with the outstretched wings of a figure (Behdet?). Comparing measurements and the break, it is clear that both fragments belong together (fig. 5). As with the block discussed previously, the adjoining fragment was later traced to the Petrie Museum (UC44567).

Fig. 5: Reconstruction of EC1292 and UC44567 (Dixon archival photo on the right)

 The other photo of interest depicted a doorjamb inscribed with the titles of an official. This fragment was particularly exciting to me since it closely resembled another block housed in the Egypt Centre (EC470), which I had recently published in the Festschrift for Prof. Erhart Graefe (Griffin 2018). Once again, comparing the measurements and break confirmed that both fragments belonged together (fig. 6). The full text can now be read as “for the ka of the Nobleman, Governor, Seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, beloved sole companion, the truly beloved king’s acquaintance, Chief Steward of the Divine Adoratrice …”. Clearly the jamb dates to the Twenty-fifth–Twenty-sixth Dynasty. However, does this doorjamb really originate from Meroe or is this just a mix-up with the archival photo? So far, it has not been possible to trace the current whereabouts of the upper fragment, also likely separated during the distribution of objects. If it did originate from Meroe, which seems unlikely to me, then it likely has an excavation mark. If any readers are aware of its current location, I would be delighted to hear!

Fig. 6: Reconstruction of doorjamb (Dixon archival photo at the top)

Bibliography:

Bierbrier, M. L. (2019) Who was who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration Society. 5th edition.

Garstang, J. (1911) Meroë, the city of the Ethiopians: being an account of a first season’s excavations on the site, 1909–1910. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Griffin, K. (2018) ‘A doorjamb of a chief steward of the Divine Adoratrice in Swansea’. In A. I. Blöbaum, M. Eaton-Krauss & A. Wüthrich (Eds.), Pérégrinations avec Erhart Graefe. Festschrift zu seinem 75. Geburtstag (pp. 203–208). Ägypten und Altes Testament 87. Münster: Zaphon.

Hallof, J. (2017) ‘Eine wiederentdeckte Inschrift des Königs Teqorideamani (REM 1261)’. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 12: 111–117.

Leclant, J., A. Heyler, C. Berger el-Naggar, C. Carrier, and C. Rilly (2000) Répertoire d’épigraphie méroitique: corpus des inscriptions publiées, 3 vols. Paris: Boccard.

Török, L. (1997) Meroe City, an ancient African capital: John Garstang’s excavations in the Sudan. Egypt Exploration Society, Occasional Publications 12, 2 vols. London: Egypt Exploration Society.