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TH JOURN L OFEgyptianArchaeologyVOLUME

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PU LISHE UY

THE EGYPT EXPLORAnON SOCIETY3 DOUGHTY MEWS LONDON W N 2PCPrice non.members 1000

ISSN 0307 5133

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TH JOURN L OFgyptian rch eology

VOLUME

PUBLISHED BYTHE EGYPT EXPLORATION SOCIETY DOUGHTY MEWS LONDON WCIN z

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PAGE

Geoffrey T. Martin. 5H. S. Smith and D. G. Jeffreys 10Barry J. Kemp 22Aly EI-Khouly 35Aly EI-Khouly 44Mordechai Gilula 45A. J. Spencer 52Alessandra Nibbi 56S. Allam 65Abdel Monem A. H. Sayed 69William H. Peck 72Pedro Costa 76Elizabeth Thomas 80Paule Posener-Krieger 84Carol A. R. Andrews 88Kate Bosse-Griffiths 99Alan B. Lloyd 107J. D. Ray 113F. Filce Leek. 121Edited by Janine Bourriau 123

ONT NTSEDITORIAL FOREWORDEXCAVATIONS AT THE MEMPHITE TOMB OF I I O R E M ~ E B1977: PRELIMINARY REPORTTHE NORTH SAQQARA TEMPLE TOWN SURVEY:

PRELIMINARY REPORT FOR 1976/77PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE EL- AMARNA SURVEY 1977EXCAVATIONS AT THE PYRAMID OF USERKAF 1976:

PRELIMINARY REPORT NOFFERING TABLE OF SESOSTRIS FROM EL-LISHTPYR 604c d AND WESTC R 7/17 19Two ENIGMATIC HIEROGLYPHS AND THEIR RELATION TO

THE SED FESTIVALTHE SrT SIGNUN DROIT PENAL EXISTAIT IL STRICTO SENSU EN EGYPTE

PHARAONIQUE?THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED PORT ON THE RED SEA SHORETwo SEATED SCRIBES OF DYNASTY EIGHTEENTHE FRONTAL SINUSES OF THE REMAINS PURPORTED TO BE

AKHENATEN .THE WELL IN KINGS TOMBS OF BIBAN EL-MoLUKA LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR OF ELEPHANTINEA FAMILY FOR ANHAI ?SOME EGYPTIAN BEAD WORK FACES IN THE WELLCOME

COLLECTION AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE SWANSEA.Two FIGURED OSTRACA FROM NORTH SAQQARAOBSERVATIONS ON THE ARCHIVE OF I:IOREUTROPIUS NILOTICUSEGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES ACQUIRED IN 1976 BY MUSEUMS IN

THE UNITED KINGDOMBRIEF COMMUNICATIONS: The Tura Caves, by Nial Charlton, p. 128; Liaison n between n and

wi by R O. Faulkner, p . 129; Peasant B 141-145, by M. Gilula, p. 129; Some remarks on nominalpatterns in Middle Egyptian, by A. M. Bakir, p. 130; Another example o f th e verb nh shelter ,by Henry G. Fischer, p. 131; A staff of the Princess s Butler, Tuthmosis, by J. Rume, p. 132; Oneof Tut

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IV CONTENTSREVIEWS PAGE

J. Ph. LAUER Saqqara, The Royal Cemetery of Memphis Reviewed by A. J. Spencer 150H. M. STEWART Egyptian Stelae, Reliefs and Paintingsfrom the Petrie Collection R. A. Caminos 151ALI HASSAN Stocke und Stiibe im Pharaonischen Agypten H. G . Fischer 158M. GITTON L Epouse u Dieu Ahmes Nefertary . C. Vandersleyen 162D. DOWNES The Excavations at Esna I905 I906 B. J. Kemp 165 A. KITCHEN Ramesside Inscriptions, Vol. i fasc. 7 8 M. L Bierbrier 168A. N IBBI The Sea Peoples and Egypt A. Kitchen 169P. J. FRANDSEN An Outline of the Late Egyptian Verbal

System S. 1. Groll 172A. PAGE Egyptian Sculpture, Archaic to Saite, from thePetrie Collection. C. Aldred 174

L MOOREN The Aulic Titulature in Ptolemaic Egypt. J. D. Thomas. 176INGE HOFMANN ege und Moglichkeiten eines indischenEinflusses auf ie meroitische Kultur S. Wenig 177J. QUAEGEBEUR Le Dieu Egyptien Shai dans la religionet l onomastique . J. Gwyn Griffiths 178J. D. RAY The Archive of for M ark S mit h 179W. PEREMANS an d E VAN T DACK ProsopographiaPtolemaica, Vol. VII etc. T. C. Skeat 181G. NACHTERGAEL Papyri Bruxellenses Graecae, Vol. T. S. Pattie 183J. GWYN GRIFFITHS Apuleius of Madauros, The lsis-Book. R. E. Witt 184 CERNY Coptic Etymological Dictionary . J. Osing 186ERIK IVERSEN Canon and Proportions in Egyptian Art . J. Baines 189Other Books Received W. V. Davies. 191

LIST PL T SPLATES I IVPLATE VPLATES VI VIIPLATE VIIIPLATE IXPLATE XPLATE X IPLATES X II X IIIPLATES XIV XIVAPLATE XVPLATE XV IPLATE XVIIPLATE XVIIIPLATES XIX XXIPLATES XXII XXIIIPLATE XXIV

at end)The Memphite Tomb of I:Iorem1:leb 1977The North Saqqara Temple town Survey 1976/7The El Amarna Survey 1977Excavations at th e Pyramid of UserkafAn Offering Table of Sesostris I from El LishtA Limestone Relief with Agricultural SceneThe Recently Discovered Port on t he Red S ea ShoreTw o Seated Scribes of Dynasty EighteenA Letter to t he G ov erno r o f Ele ph an ti neBead work Faces i n t he Wellcome Collection at University College SwanseaEgyptian Bead work FacesTwo Figured Ostraca from North SaqqaraObservations on th e Archive of J:IorEutropius NiioticusMuseum Acquisitions 1976A Staff of th e Princess s Butler Tuthmosis

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BRIEF COMMUNICATIONSThe Tura Caves

THIS note is offered because of the possibility that many Egyptologists may not be aware of amost interesting survival of the practical work of the Fourth Dynasty.A few miles south of Cairo on the east bank begins that vast block of limestone which formsthe main mass of the Eastern Desert. The quarry at Tura, the accompanying cement works, and thesteel works are a large feature of the industrial life of Egypt to-day. But Tura was also the quarryfor the Pyramids, as was reported by Herodotus (2. 8):As one proceedsbeyond Heliopolisup the country, Egypt becomesnarrow,the Arabianrangeof hills,which has a direction from north to south, shuttingit in upon the one side, and the Libyan rangeon theother. The formerridge runs on without a break,and stretchesawayto the sea called the Erythrean; tcontainsthe Quarrieswhence the stone was cut for the pyramidsof Memphis . . . (Rawlinson stranslation

I858)In 1940 it was decided to clear out the Tura Caves (note the word, indicating the view that theywere a natural formation), with the object of storing the first portion of Middle East Forces reservesof ammunition. These caves were blocked with the accumulated bat dirt of thousands of years.The process, once started, continued and by 1942 Tura Caves were holding large quantities of am-munition, the Army s stores of signal and weapon equipment of high military value, bombs forthe R.A.F., signal and radar equipment for the Navy and R.A.F., a workshop, and a hospital.The order is roughly of time not of importance, and the object of the list is to give an indication ofthe size of the place.In spite of the name, Tura Caves were not a natural phenomenon, but a huge beautifully wroughtquarry, or stone mine, whence had come the limestone blocks for the pyramids. There can be nodisputing this, because in 1942 at one point at the end of the quarry a pyramid block was foundlying on wooden rollers, still after some five thousand years awaiting delivery. On the side wasa job code number in lamp black. To me that job code number was and is the most moving relic ofPharaonic Egypt. It indicates the presence of a working engineer, part of that huge team of engineersand managers who first designed the programme for building a pyramid, and then carried it out.For those without experience, the design and layout of a construction job code itself demands an un-usual combination of intelligence and industry.There are still problems. The normal explanation of the method of transporting the pyramidblocks from Ma adi to Giza is that it was done by barge on the flood. But the distances are suchthat it is easy to think that the current at the peak of the flood would have carried the loaded bargeswell past Giza before they could have got across the river. And indeed this must often have happened.The job must have been done on the waning flood, with the implication that the job of transportingthe output of a year s quarryipg and receiving the input for a year s construction must have beencrammed into a few weeks. And that involves calculations of the numbers of men and barges em-ployed which could indicate quite clearly that it was impossible to build the pyramids. But theywere built, and they deserve the more their title of a wonder of the world the more closely their con-struction is scrutinized.

NIAL CHARLTON