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Pit L 81
by Irene Forstner-Müller |
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This huge round pit can be connected to the abandonment of the palatial complex. Its diameter and depth has not been determined so far, however, it seems to be the largest pit of this type found at the site. The filling consists mainly of pottery; some seal impressions, and animal bones, especially those deriving from cattle. More than 1000 complete vessels and over 300 baskets of potsherds have been recovered. As well as previously known types of the Second Intermediate Period (bowls, footed bowls, cups, ringstands, beer jars, amphorae), new ones, which allow us to enlarge the hitherto known corpus of this period, were also found (fig. 1). |
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Among the previously known types, a number of so-called fish dishes made from Marl C decorated with unusual decoration are especially remarkable (fig. 2). |
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From this pit also comes the earliest, for Tell el-Dabca, attested Nubian pottery (fig. 3). This complements the previously known, but slightly later, Nubian pottery and arrowheads recovered from late Hyksos and early 18th Dynasty layers at cEzbet Helmi. Whether this material reached Avaris by trade, or was brought here by Nubian mercenaries, remains unclear, as is also the case for another most interesting find, a jar made of Oasis clayr (fig. 4).
This is one of the few pieces of archaeological evidence for a connection between Avaris and the oases at this time. It is well known that during this period the route through the Nile valley was blocked by the Thebans from time to time and contact to Kerma was thus probably established via the oases. However, imports from the oases are very rarely attested at Tell el-Dabca.
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Function of the pit
L81 is clearly connected with the abandonment of the palatial district. Similar pits, though on a much smaller scale, have previously been found at Tell el-Dabca within temple precincts and are there recognized as the interred remains of ritual meals (Müller 2002; in print). 81, however, indicates, for the first time, that such a pit can also be associated with a domestic context, in this case a palace. Its function and meaning is, at present, unclear. Either the old tableware from the abandoned palace was very carefully put into the pit or we find here the remains of a ritual (funerary?) meal, albeit on a large scale. Further work on the material found in this pit may, perhaps, provide some more definitive answers.
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Bibliography:
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Aston D. und Bader B.
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L81. A Preliminary Report, Ä&L 18 - in print |
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Bietak M., Forstner-Müller I.
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| 2006 |
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Eine palatiale Anlage der frühen Hyksoszeit (Areal F/II). Vorläufige Ergebnisse der Grabungskampagne 2006 in Tell el-Dabca, Ä&L 16, 61-76 |
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| 2007 |
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Ein rituelles Mahl und die Aufgabe eines Palastes, Festschrift Hermann Hunger, WZKM, Wien, 211-34 |
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Bietak M., Forstner-Müller I., Herbich T.
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2006 |
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Geophysical Survey and its Archaeological Verification. Discovery of a new palatial complex in Tell el-Dabca in the Delta, in: Z. Hawas, J. Richards (Hg.), The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt, essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor, Cairo, 119-126 |
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Müller V.
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2002 |
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Offering Practices in the Temple Courts of Tell el-Dabca and the Levant, in: Bietak, M. (Hg.), The Middle Bronze Age in the Levant. Proceedings of an International Conference on MB IIA Ceramic Material in Vienna, 24th–26th
of January 2001, Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean 3, Denkschriften der Gesamt-akademie 26, Wien, 269-296
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Tell el-Dabca XVIII. Opferdeponierungen in der Hyksoshauptstadt Auaris (Tell el-Dabca) vom späten Mittleren Reich bis zum Frühen Neuen Reich. Teil I: Katalog der Befunde und Funde; Teil II: Auswertung und Deutung der Befunde und Funde, Untersuchungen der Zweigstelle Kairo des Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts, Wien - in print
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