Beer jars from Tell el-Murra graves. Seasons 2011–2015

• Authors: Kazimierczak Magdalena
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Over the five excavation seasons conducted between 2011 and 2015 at the Early Dynastic Tell el-Murra cemetery, 17 graves were discovered along with their pottery assemblages. Nine of them contained vessels which are generally considered to be beer jars. Amongst the 18 examples of this kind of jar, a few types can be distinguished that show an affinity to similar vessels from the other Early Dynastic sites of Tell el-Farkha, Minshat Abu Omar, Buto, Helwan, Abydos, and Kafr Hassan Dawood. These analogies indicate that the Tell el-Murra graves should be dated to the Naqada IIIC2/D period and in some cases an even more precise date can be obtained. In addition, the presence of beer jars within the pottery assemblages of the graves also provides us with information concerning the funerary customs of the inhabitants of the Tell el-Murra site.

Keywords

EN

Beer jars; graves; cemetery; Tell el-Murra; Early Dynastic

• Publisher: Księgarnia Akademicka
• Journal: Studies in Ancient Art and Civilization
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 19
• Pages: 7-21

Contributors

author

Kazimierczak Magdalena

References

• Arnold D. 1993. Techniques and traditions of manufacture in the pottery of ancient Egypt. In D. Arnold and J. Bourriau (eds.), An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Pottery, 5–141. Mainz.
• B alcz H. 1934. Die Gefȧβaustellungen des Alten Reich. MDAIK 5, 45–94.
• Bourriau J. 1981. Umm el-Qa’ab: Pottery from the Nile Valley before the Arab Conquest. Cambridge.
• Brink E. C. M. van den 1988. The Amsterdam University survey expedition to the northeastern Nile Delta (1984–1986). In E. C. M. van den Brink (ed.), 65–114.
• Brink E. C. M. van den (ed.) 1988. The Archaeology of the Nile Delta. Problems and Priorities. Amsterdam.
• Eggebrecht A. 1974. Frühe Keramik aus El-Târif. MDAIK 30/2, 171–188.
• Engel E. M. 1993. Abydos. Umm el Qaab. Grab des Qa’a. Bulletin de Liasion du Groupe International d’Étude de la Céramique Égyptienne 12, 24–31.
• Engel E. M. 1996. Grabkomplex des Qa’a. In G. Dreyer, E. M. Engel, U. Hartung, T. Hikade, E. Ch. Köhler and F. Pumpenmeier (eds.), Umm el-Qaab. Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof 7./8. Vorbericht. MDAIK 52, 57–71.
• Faltings D. 1991. Die Bierbrauerei im AR. ZÄS 118, 104–115.
• Faltings D. 1998. Die Keramik der Lebensmittelproduktion im Alten Reich. Heidelberg.
• Haarlem W. M. van 1993. Additions and corrections to the publication of a First Dynasty tomb from Tell Ibrahim Awad (eastern Nile Delta). GM 133, 37–52.
• Hartmann R. 2007. Keramik der 1.–3. Dynastie auf en Grabungsfläschen E0–E14. In U. Hartung, P. Ballet, F. Béguin, J. Bourriau, D. Dixneuf, A. von den Driesch, P. French, T. Hartmann, T. Herbich, C. Kitagawa, P. Kopp, G. Lecuyot, M. D. Nenna, A. Shmitt, G. Şenol and A. Şenol (eds.), Tell el-Fara’in – Buto 9. Vorbericht. MDAIK 63, 69–166.
• Hassan F. A., Tassie G., Senussi A., Wetering J. van, Sharp D. and Calcoen B. 2008. A preliminary report on the pottery from the Predynastic and Early Dynastic cemetery at Kafr Hassan Dawood, Wadi Tumilat, East Delta, Egypt. In B. Midant-Reynes and Y. Tristant in collaboration with J. Rowland and S. Hendrickx (eds.), Egypt at its Origins 2. Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt’, Toulouse (France), 5th–8th September 2005, 41–61. (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 172). Leuven.
• Hawass Z. and el-Senussi A. 2008. Old Kingdom Pottery from Giza. Cairo.
• Hendrickx S. 1994. Elkab 5. The Naqada III Cemetery. Bruxelles.
• Hendrickx S. 1996. The relative chronology of the Naqada culture. Problems and possibilities. In A. J. Spencer (ed.), Aspects of Early Egypt, 36–69. London.
• Jucha M. A. 2005. Tell el-Farkha 2. The Pottery of the Predynastic Settlement (Phases 2–5). Krakow, Poznań.
• Jucha M. A. 2008. Pottery from the graves. In M. Chłodnicki and K. M. Ciałowicz with contributions by R. Abłamowicz, J. Dębowska-Ludwin, M. A. Jucha, A. Mączyńska, G. Pryc, M. Rozwadowski and M. Sobas, Polish excavations at Tell el-Farkha (Ghazala) in the Nile Delta. Preliminary report 2006–2007. Archeologia 59, 132–134.
• Jucha M. A. 2009a. The north-eastern part of the Nile Delta – research perspectives. Polish archeological survey in the Ash-Sharqiyyah Governorate. In J. Popielska-Grzybowska and J. Iwaszczuk (eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists. Egypt 2009: Perspectives of Research, Pułtusk, 22–24 June 2009, 83–88, figs. 33–41. (Acta Archaeologica Pultuskiensia 2). Pułtusk.
• Jucha M. A. 2009b. Beer jars of Naqada III period. A view from Tell el-Farkha. In T. J. Rzeuska and A. Wodzińska (eds.), Studies on Old Kingdom Pottery, 49–60. Warsaw.
• Jucha M. A. 2010. Tell el-Murra. The Predynastic–Old Kingdom site in the north-eastern Nile Delta. FolOr 47, 379–390.
• Jucha M. A. 2012. Pottery from the cemetery. In M. Chłodnicki, K. M. Ciałowicz and A. Mączyńska (eds.), Tell el-Farkha 1. Excavations 1998–2011, 77–86. Poznań, Krakow.
• Kazimierczak M. 2014. Pottery from Tell el-Murra graves. Seasons 2011– 2012. In J. Dębowska-Ludwin, M. A. Jucha and P. Kołodziejczyk (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth Central European Conference of Egypto- logists. Egypt 2012: Perspectives of Research, Krakow, 5th–7th July 2012, 101–118. (SAAC 18). Krakow.
• Kazimierczak M. 2015. Meidum bowls from Tell el-Murra, Trench T 5 (season 2013). In M. A. Jucha, J. Dębowska-Ludwin and P. Kołodziejczyk (eds.), Aegyptus est imago caeli. Studies Presented to Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz on his 60th Birthday, 161–167. Krakow. Kazimierczak M. forthcoming. The pottery from the Early Dynastic cemetery at Tell el-Murra: seasons 2011–2014.
• Köhler E. Ch. 1998. Tell el-Fara‘în – Buto 3. Die Keramik von der späten Nagada-Kultur bis zum frühen alten Reich (Schichten III bis VI). (AV 94). Mainz.
• Köhler E. Ch. and Smythe J. C. 2004. Early Dynastic pottery from Helwan – establishing a ceramic corpus of the Nagada III period. Cahiers de la céramique égyptienne 7, 123–143.
• Kroeper K. 1986/1987. The ceramic of the Pre-/Early Dynastic cemetery of Minshat Abu Omar. Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 8, 73–94.
• Kroeper K. 1988. The excavations of the Munich East-Delta Expedition in Minshat Abu Omar. In E. C. M. van den Brink (ed.), 11–46.
• Kroeper K. and Wildung D. 2000. Minshat Abu Omar 2: Ein vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Friedhof im Nildelta. Gräber 115–204. Mainz.
• Leprohon R. J. 2001. Offering formulas and lists. In D. B. Redford (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 569–572. Oxford.
• Petrie W. M. F. 1900. The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty, part 1. London.
• Petrie W. M. F. 1902. Abydos 1. London.
• Petrie W. M. F. 1903. Abydos 2. London.
• Petrie W. M. F. 1953. Corpus of Proto-Dynastic Pottery. (BSAE/ERA 66B). London.
• Raue D. 1999. Agyptische und Nubische Keramik der 1.–4. Dynastie. In W. Kaiser, F. Arnold, M. Bommas, T. Hikade, F. Hoffmann, H. Jaritz,
• P. Kopp, W. Niederberger, J. P. Paetznick, C. von Pilgrim, D. Raue, T. Rzeuska, S. Schates, A. Seiler, L. Stalder and M. Ziermann, Stadt und Tempel von Elephantine. 25./26./27. Grabungsbericht. MDAIK 55, 173–189.
• Reisner G. A. 1931. Mycerinus. The Temple of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Cambridge.
• Reisner G. A. 1932. A Provincial Cemetery of the Pyramid Age. Naga-ed-Dêr, part 3. Oxford.
• Reisner G. A. 1955. A History of Giza Necropolis, vol. 2. Cambridge.
• el-Sensussi A. 2013. The function of the traditional offering, the so-called beer jar, in the Old Kingdom according to pictorial and written sources. In B. Bader and M. F. Ownby (eds.), Functional Aspects of Egyptian Ceramics in their Archaeological Context. Proceedings of a Conference Held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological
• Research, Cambridge, July 24th–25th 2009, 31–53. (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 21). Leuven, Paris, Walpol.
• Simpson W. K. 1961. Corpus of the Dahshur pottery. In A. Fakhry (ed.), The Monuments of Snefru at Dahshur. Vol. 2: The Valley Temple. Part 2: The Finds, 103–140. Cairo.
• Wodzińska A. 2007. Preliminary ceramic report. In M. Lehner and W. Watterstrom (eds.), Giza Reports. The Giza Plateau Mapping Project, vol. 1, 281–324. Hanson.

Identifiers

DOI

10.12797/SAAC.19.2015.19.01