Objects from Grave 993 at Tarkhan

Last week my new course on the History of Ancient Egypt through the Egypt Centre Collection commenced. This is a ten-week course that will not simply explore the history of Egypt, but will also look at a selection of objects in the Egypt Centre collection from each era under discussion. The first week examined the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods, which are well represented by objects in the Egypt Centre. This includes pottery, jewellery, weapons, flint tool, palettes, and stone vessels. Some of these objects are currently on display in our Predynastic case in the House of Life (fig. 1). For this week’s blog, I would like to present three objects from Tarkhan, which were featured in the first session.

Fig. 1: The Predynastic case in 2019

Tarkhan is an ancient Egyptian necropolis, located around 50 km south of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile. The cemetery was excavated in two seasons by Flinders Petrie, with the results published in two volumes shortly after. While tombs of almost all periods of Egyptian history were found, the most important ones belong to the time of Egyptian state formation, the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100 BC). Petrie found more than 2,000 tombs, most of them simple holes in the ground belonging to common people. As was typical for Petrie excavations, finds for the season were dispersed to institutions and private individuals who supported his archaeological mission, The British School of Archaeology in Egypt (BSAE). Thus, in 1913 a group of objects from the site were sent to John Bancroft Willans (1881–1957), a subscriber of the BSAE, who later gifted them to Aberystwyth University (fig. 2). Later, in 1997, the majority of the Egyptian objects housed in Aberystwyth were kindly gifted to the Egypt Centre before the official opening of the museum in 1998.

List of objects gifted to John Bancroft Willans

At least three of the objects in Swansea can be traced back to tomb 993 (erroneously listed as tomb 793 in fig. 2). Tomb 993 was a small oval-shaped grave containing the body of a female. The tomb register record three pottery vessels, beads, two alabaster vessels, and a slate palette (fig. 3). We are quite fortunate that the two stone vessels and palette were kept together and can now be found in the Egypt Centre.

Fig. 3: Tomb 993 excavation records

 

AB24 is a shield-shaped (or scutiform) stone palette, featuring a drilled hole in the centre of the top edge (presumably for suspension, either in the dwelling, on one’s person, or possibly as part of ritualistic use), manufactured from fine-grained greywacke sandstone found in the Wadi Hammamat in Egypt’s Eastern Desert (fig. 4). Scutiform palettes were typically seen between Naqada II and Naqada III Periods. Predynastic palettes have long been associated with pigment processing, particularly malachite and ochre. However, a 2020 study of almost 1200 extant palettes by Matt Szafran has shown that only 4.7% feature any pigment staining—this example does not show any pigment traces. Different scholars have differing ideas on what exactly the use of this pigment application could be. Some have suggested a strictly utilitarian use, with application around the eyes acting as a defence against the sun, for medicinal benefit, or even to ward off flies. Others suggest much more ritualistic uses, with the application of pigments having a tegumentary use and essentially acting as a form of mask. Palettes were not a common item and were likely only owned by the elite members of society, something that would support a more ritualistic use over a purely utilitarian one.

Fig. 4: Shield-shaped palette

AB102 is a straight-sided, tapering travertine beaker with two small integral handles. It was previously broken and repaired at an unknown date. The bands of the travertine are particularly noticeable with this object (fig. 5). AB105 is a convex-sided, flat-bottomed travertine bowl with plain rim. The three objects were dated by Petrie to the end of Dynasty 0 to the very beginning of the First Dynasty (SD 77–81). It is possible that the three pottery vessels from the tomb are also housed in Swansea, although these are harder to identify since the tomb numbers are not usually written on the objects. 

Fig. 5: Travertine vessel

 

While the palette is the only object of the three which is currently on display in the museum, in the coming months I hope to add the stone vessels to the Predynastic case so that this tomb group can be displayed together (fig. 6)!

Fig. 6: Objects from grave 993

Bibliography:

Grajetzki, Wolfram 2004. Tarkhan: a cemetery at the time of Egyptian state formation. London: Golden House.

Mawdsley, Lisa 2012. The foundation and development of Tarkhan during the Naqada IIIA2 Period. In Evans, Linda (ed.), Ancient Memphis: ‘Enduring is the Perfection’. Proceedings of the international conference held at Macquarie University, Sydney on August 14–15, 2008, 331–347. Leuven: Peeters; Departement Oosterse Studies.

Petrie, W. M. Flinders, G. A. Wainwright, and A. H. Gardiner 1913. Tarkhan I and Memphis V. British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account [23] (19th year). London, Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson and Viney, Ld.

Petrie, W. M. Flinders 1914. Tarkhan II. British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account [26] (19th year). London: School of Archaeology in Egypt; Bernard Quaritch.