Realities of Life

From fall 2013 to fall 2018, settlement remains, dating as early as the late Old Kingdom (ca. 6th Dynasty) through to the end of the 13th Dynasty, were exposed in two contiguous trenches, each measuring 10 x 10 meters. Final clarification and consolidation work in the field was carried out around the northeastern of the two trenches in spring 2019. The oldest strata were reached in the northeastern of the two trenches. In contrast to that, work was stopped in the southwestern trench after exploring the earliest traces of House 169. In the northeastern of the two excavation trenches, only features heavily disturbed by previous excavation activity were uncovered. In comparison, the remains of House 169 and the southwestern half of Room 2 in House 166 were preserved archaeologically intact. Parallel to the excavation work, the processing of the finds and the scientific examination of the find material were started. These are still in progress. First results of the research work are described in detail in the publications mentioned below, some of which are available for download.

Summary of preliminary results

Within the framework of the 'Realities of Life' project, the work concentrated on the settlement layers of the Middle Kingdom. The burial structures of the Old Kingdom, which were discovered in the northwestern of the two excavation sections, were not excavated but covered with sieved soil and are thus protected and available for future investigations. The oldest building structures in this area were remains of three 11th Dynasty houses (H170-H172, Phase H). The individual buildings stood about one meter apart, leaving narrow alleys between them. After these houses were abandoned, the area was not used as a building site for some time. Parts of fin rays, fish heads and tails, mainly of large fish (especially Nile perch and large catfish more than 120 cm long) indicate that several of these animals were dismembered here at one time and the fleshless waste left behind. The walls of the abandoned houses probably served as a raw material resource for new bricks that were made on site. In one of the hardend clay layers left over of a mud pit for brick production some impressions of a 17.6 cm long child's foot in two different places were discovered: a snapshot of daily life on Elephantine many millennia ago.

The Houses 167 and 168 built above the mud layers have been mostly destroyed by earlier excavations in this area (Phase G). From the advanced 12th Dynasty on a town quarter developed, which kept its outer appearance right into the 2nd Intermediate Period. On the sloping hillside of the island ridge, three adjoining houses stood in the excavated area, of which the middle one was squeezed in a narrow space between two spacious buildings. The entrances were located in each case in the southeastern alley. From the early settlement layers of the 12th Dynasty (Houses 174, 175 and 182; Phase F) only a few wall and building remains have been preserved and excavated. House 73 belonging to the next younger construction phase (from the late 12th Dynasty; Phase E) has the shape of a so-called courtyard house, the rooms of which are arranged on three sides around an open courtyard. House 73 shares a wall (M567) with House 166 to the west. These two buildings date to the late 12th Dynasty according to the pottery and stratigraphic sequencing. Several small carnelian chips and some amethyst beads were found in the layers on top of floors of House 166. They may point to the production of beads from semi-precious stones in this house. Adjacent to House 166 to the southwest, House 169 is one of the largest Middle Kingdom houses excavated on Elephantine to date. Its oldest phase was poorly preserved due to later alterations. The interior structures of the house, present since the late 12th Dynasty, experienced only one major remodeling step until its abandonment.

Among the most important elements of House 169 through the entire 13th Dynasty is the first courtyard (R04), which contained a hearth or so-called oven room R07 and which, based on various features and finds, is interpreted as a working courtyard. Here, people cooked and engaged in craft activities, which included the production of jewelry made of amethyst and ostrich eggshell, as well as red pigments made of local hematite. In the rear courtyard, from which a staircase led to the roof or to a second floor, a ceiling supported by columns provided shade and protection from the elements. The area was used for domestic activities, too, but there is little evidence as to the nature of these. It was probably used for opening goods or raw materials sent and sealed by, among other, government institutions. Other smaller rooms are identifizeirt as storage areas. How the first floor or the roof area looked like can no longer be determined. The various firings in the furnace room, as well as in the other fireplaces identified in Room 04, must have had an effect on the living atmosphere in House 169. Not only the great heat, which could only escape through the presumably open or only partially covered roof, must be taken into consideration. The fires certainly also whirled up fine ash particles, which, when there was no wind, settled in larger parts of the house as well as on the surrounding houses. Since north winds probably prevailed most days of the year, as they still do today, these particles were carried away to the south. As a result, the rear portion of the house (R08), which had already been identified as a relatively clean yard, was spared from this contamination. Initial studies of the insect remains revealed an almost exclusively anthropogenic faunal assemblage. Thus, only insects that reside in human and animal habitats were identified. House flies, which preferentially breed in manure and food waste, are predominant. Food pests that target grains, fruits, and vegetables represent the second largest group. Several omnivorous insect species were also found, including those that feed on dry human feces, such as Gibbium psylloides. However, an area identifiable as a toilet was not found in the house.

After the abandonment of House 169 (and probably also Houses 166 and 73, above which, however, no stratigraphic remains were preserved), the area was again used as a clay brick production site. Overlapping trampled surfaces testify to this activity. The preserved walls probably served again as a resource for the raw material. The younger buildings of the 2nd Intermediate Period and the New Kingdom were already examined and removed some years ago by the DAI's cooperation partner on Elephantine, the Swiss Institute in Cairo.