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http://www.aeraweb.org/gop/gop.pd

Giza Occasional Papers 2

Giza Plateau Mapping Project

Season 2005

Preliminary Report

Mark Lehner, Mohsen Kamel, and Ana Tavares

Ancient Egypt Research Associates, Inc.

With contributions by

Ashra abd el-Aziz, Banu Aydinoglugil, Tove Bjrk, Lauren Bruning,

Justine Gesell, Anies M. Hassan, Gnter Heindl, Dan Hounsell, Ed

Johnson, Yukinori Kawae, Jessica Kaiser, Freya Sadarangani, Tim

Stevens, James Taylor, Derek Watson, Tom Westlin, and Ali Witsell

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26 by ncient gypt esearch ssociates

Printed in airo, gypt, by Virgin raphics

ll rights reserved. o part o this publication may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmittedin any orm or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise without theprior consent o the publisher.

IB: 0-0-0-

Published by ncient gypt esearch ssociates, Inc.26 Lincoln treet uite 5, Boston, MA 2135 USA

Cover photo: Field School Unit excavating Enclosure . From right

to let: Rabea Eissa Mohammed, Mohammed Hatem Aly, James

Taylor, Ahmed Mohammed el-Lathiy, Amira Fawzy Ahmed.

ncient gypt esearch ssociates (AERA) is a 51(c)(3), tax-exempt, nonproft organization dedicated toresearch on ancient gypt at the iza Plateau.

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Giza Occasional Papers 2 3


Contents

Acknowledgements 7

1. Introduction 9

2. Area Clearing and Mapping 11

e hentkawes own (KKT) 11

eneral escription o the KKT own 11

e enkaure Valley emple own and nte-town 11

oads unning ast 11

Period o ccupation o the KKT 12

e nvironmental etting o KKT 12

ims o the ieldwork in the KKT 13

ieldwork in the KKT 13

rea learing and apping in SFW (e estern own) 16

pper own? 17

ieldstone all o the Pedestal Building 17

rea learing and apping at all o the row orth (WCN) 17

wo ld ingdom Horizons 17rench (DDT) learing in 25 19

e and andwich: n Interruption in row all Building? 2

3. Excavations in 2005 21

xcavations orth o the all o the row (WCN) 21

rench 2 xcavations 21

BP xcavation 24

ummary and omments on the WCN equence 25

e easons or asons ound and the all o the row 3

est ump (WD) steo ield chool raining 32Burial 398 32

Burial 399 32

Burial 41 32

Burial 42 32

Burial 45 33

Burial 44 34

Burial 46 34

Burial 47 34

Burial 48 34

Burial 49 34Burial 41 34

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4 Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2005 Preliminar y Repor t


Burials in the ettlement rea 35

ast o the alleries (EOG) 35

Bread old ravel, Pits, roughs and Pedestals 36

Pink tu, aience, and ther lder Phase eposits 37

orth o the oyal dministrative Building (N) and ield chool nit 4 4

RA treet xcavations 4

Big Pits in N 4

Pedestal Installations: FS4 42

oyal dministrative Building (RA) northwest corner (rea ) 43

History o GM xcavations and ames o the RA 43

ismantling and ecording alls o tructural omplex 1 44

ummary o 15 Phases 44

tructural omplex 1 44

tructural omplex 2 54

e nclosures E1 and E5 (ield chool nits 2 and 3) 61

FS3 xcavations in nclosure 1 61FS2 xcavations in nclosure 5 62

ransect and the estern oadway (WRW) 63

estern own tructures in ransect 63

tratigraphic equence in ransect 67

eparations and ontrol 68

ast o the Pedestal Building (rea AA) ield chool nit 1 69

Pottery ound (M) in the estern own (SFW) 69

Hints o oos and ecorated alls: e orridor and House nit 1 7

ore Pedestals: M Quadrant in quare 6.G2 71e tu o the Pottery ound: aterial ulture 71

Jars and Pedestals 72

ealings rom Pottery ound 25 72

House nit 3 in the estern own (SFW) 74

4. Mapping Late Period Burials 77

e 25 Burial urvey by Jessica aiser 77

Burial urvey ethods 77

Burial ensity and urvey Limitations 78

Burial urvey: bservations 78

5. Conservation 81

astern own House Pilot tudy, 25 81

round ater ise and eparation Layer 82

e econstructed ET 82

hat e id and hat e Proposed 82

onservation Pilot eason: onclusion 82

Reerences 85

The 2005 Team 88

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List o Figures

1. ap o the site, showing areas worked during the 25 feld season 8

2. ap o the iza Plateau showing the hentkawes own, ain adi, and rea orkers

ettlement 1

3. e WCN 25 and related all o the row operations 18

4. ud/rubble in-flled and dry stone walls in rench 2, schematic 22

5. e all o the row schematic composite section. WCN 25 rench 2 and WCS 21 eep

ondage 23

6. chematic map o asons ound, rench 2, and the all o the row 317. Location o 25 ield chool burial excavations 33

8. Burials excavated during the 25 ield chool 33

9. econstruction o compartments over slots ormed by pedestals 43

1. tructural omplex 1 in northwest corner o RA. aps o Phase 8 and Phases 1-11 46

11. tructural omplex 2 in rea (RA) 56

12. ransect 1, with north-south rench 1, east-west renches 2 and 3, 2 excavations 64

13. SFW House nit 3 aer 25 excavations. Lehner feld drawing, reduced rom 1:1 74

14. igitized map o the surveyed burials north o ain treet 78

List o Tables

1. WCN 25 excavation units 21

2. ummary o stratigraphic phases identifed in rea WCN 25 27

3. List o phases or rea 25 45

4. bjects and materials on or near tructural omplex 2 oors 58

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6 Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2005 Preliminary Report


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Acknowledgements

or a very successul 25 season we are grateul to r. Zahi Hawass, ndersecretary o tate

and ecretary eneral o the upreme ouncil o ntiquities (SCA). e thank abry bd al-ziz,

eneral irector o Pharaonic onuments; te bu ahab, irector o iza and aqqara; and

del Hussein, irector o iza. e enjoyed working in close collaboration with ansour Bureik,

hie Inspector o iza, and Inspector ohammed hiha. e thank agdi handour, irector

o the oreign issions epartment, and haaban bdel aad or their help and assistance.

e thank sama Hamid or being our SCA inspector during the inter and pring 25, s-

mat bd l-hani or acting as the SCA inspector during the last part o the pring 25 season.

e thank beer bdallah Bakri or being the inspector or the ield chool. e thank aberbd l-ayem li mar who was our main inspector during the all 25 season, assisted by

heri ohammed bd al-oneem and hmed iz in the storeroom. In the last hal o the sea-

son, Hanan ahmoud oliman took over as our main inspector.

e are especial ly grateul to ng. bd al-Hamid otb or assistance with mechanized equip-

ment or clearing modern overburden rom our site so that we could carry out the archaeology.

nce again this season we are grateul or the services o loader operator, ohammed usilhi,

who perormed this task with skill and determination. ithout this help we could not have done

the work summarized above. eis hmed bd al-Basat did a remarkable job supervising our

specialist workers and skilled excavators rom Luxor.

eep gratitude goes to all o our beneactors or supporting our excavations, feld school, and

other programs. or major support o our 25 season we thank nn Lurie, harles imonyi, a-

vid och, Peter orton, athan yrhvold, and ed aitt.ur work would not have been possible without the support o Jon Jerde, Bruce Ludwig, ob-

ert Lowdermilk, len ash, atthew cauley, nn ompson, ichael ourticq, red and

uzanne heinstein, andord and Betty igolo, Victor and ancy oss, avid oodman,

arjorie isher, lice Hyman, eorge herman, on unz, Bonnie ampsell, Lora Lehner, raig

mith, ichael . aconald, onna L. inardo, obin Young, nn Jan, Bonnie clure,

harles igano, eorge Bunn, Bill and athy ahlman, d and athy ries, ay and ary rce,

ennis Pinion, Barbara add, and ick and andy Holley.

inancial support or the feld school was provided by a USAD gyptian ntiquities onser-

vation grant, the merican esearch enter in gypt (ARCE), and the harles imonyi und or

rts and ciences. e are grateul to r. erry cott, ARCE irector; ichael Jones, gyptian

ntiquities onservation und irector; r. hari aunders, ssistant to the irector; hip Vin-cent, gyptian ntiquities Project irector; me mira atub; Janie bd al-ziz; and Hussein

aou or ARCEs fnancial and institutional sponsorship o the feld school. e would like to

thank harles imonyi and usan Hutchison, xecutive irector o the harles imonyi und or

rts and ciences, or their support o AERAs portion o the feld school budget.

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A

B

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 3633 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

P

0 25 50 m Standing WallIsland

Eastern

Town

Enclosure

Wallofthe Cro

w

Gallery Complex

Abu el-Hol Sports ClubSoccer Field

Lagoon 1

Lagoon 2

SFW

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Wall

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(WD)

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FS Unit 2FS Unit 3

FS Unit 4

BHT/EOG

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House Unit 3House Unit 1

Pottery Mound

EasternTownHouse

WesternCompound

EasternCompound

WesternExtension

BBHT

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WorkersCemetery

RoyalAdministrative

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West Gate

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South

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Main StreetGate House

Bakery

Flood Layers

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Enclosures

House Unit 2

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GalleryIV.1

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Magazines

South Street

Silos

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E500,6

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E500,6

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N99,090

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N99,050

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N99,110

N99,170

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N99,190

N98,990

N98,970

N98,950

N98,930

N98,910

N98,890

N98,870

N99,210

N99,230

N99,250

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1. Introduction

e 25 season o the iza Plateau apping Project at iza, gypt, took place over two periods:

January 8 to ay 31 and eptember 13 to ecember 13. uring the frst period we carried

out major clearing, mapping, and excavation. e worked on two Pyramid ge settlements, the

extensive orkers ettlement in ebel Qibli, designated as rea (the main ocus o our work

since 1988) and the hentkawes own. Between January 21 and arch 17 , we conducted the

iza ield chool or upreme ouncil o ntiquities inspectors. e reopened the season in

eptember and devoted this period to analysis and study o collections in our storeroom and to

work on two areas o the orkers ettlement: the conservation pilot work on the astern ownHouse (ET) and limited excavations o House 3 in area occer ield est (SFW) (fg. 1).

ur work ocused on our arenas: clearing and mapping, intensive excavation, mapping Late

Period burials, and conservation. ince 1999 our excavation seasons in rea have included

large scale clearing o sandy overburden and mapping the ruins o an underlying ancient settle-

ment over broad areas, as well as intensive, detailed excavations o selected, specifc parts o the

site. e carried out large-scale clearing in three major areas, which are shown in fgures 1 and 2:

1. hentkawes own (KKT)

2. est o the soccer feld (SFW)

3. orth o the all o the row (WCN)

e conducted detailed excavations in the ollowing locations (fg. 1):

1. orth o the all o the row (WCN)

2. est ump (WD), steo ield chool raining

3. ast o the alleries (EOG)

4. orth o the oyal dministrative Building (N), ield chool nit 4

5. oyal dministrative Building northwest corner (rea )

6. e nclosures, E1 and E5, ield chool nits 2 and 3

7. ransect A and the estern oadway (WRW)

8. ast o the Pedestal Building (rea AA), ield chool nit 1

9. Pottery ound (M) in the estern own (SFW)

1. House nit 3 in the estern own (SFW)

e cleared our own back fll sand rom previous seasons in order to map Late Period burial

pits in every other 5-meter range north o ain treet and west o the alley ets and .

In the all extension o our 25 feld season we worked on the conservation o astern own

House (fg. 1) as a pilot project to conserve the site by backflling and to reconstruct select struc-

tures or presentation.

Figure 1. Facing page, plan o the GPMP site showing 2005 operations.

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99,0

00N

99,2

00N

99,3

00N

99,4

00N

500,500E

500,600E

500700E

500,400E

500,300E

500,200E

500,000E

Figure2.

MapotheGizaPlateaushowingth

eKhentkawesTown,MainWadi,andAreaAWorkersSettlement.(Topomapby

PeggySanders,

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aeologicalGraphicServices.)

Wallofthe

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pperTerrace

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amp

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ntkawes

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ai

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MaadiFormation

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2. Area Clearing and MappingIn our broad area clearing and mapping we removed an overburden o mostly modern sand and

other modern material to map ancient structures that show on the surace o the ruins without

detailed, deep excavation. In the case o the hentkawes own, the overburden was a mixture o

sand and deteriorated mudbrick that had accumulated in the 73 years since elim Hassan exca-

vated the site.

The Khentkawes Town (KKT)e expansive settlement that we have been mapping and excavating south o the all o the

row did not exist in isolation. n the other side o the wall, across the wadi now covered by the

uslim cemetery, lay the urban conglomerate o the hentkawes own and, 3 m southwest, a

dense little settlement in ront o the valley temple o enkaures pyramid (fg. 2).

hentkawes, a 4th dynasty queen, ruled or a short time aer enkaure. Her tomb looks like

a giant mastaba or unfnished pyramid. everal courses o large masonry blocks sit atop a giant

block o bedrock le over rom the quarries where the 4th dynasty builders took most o the stone

or the inner core, and major bulk, o the iza Pyramids. tripped o most o its fnish masonry,

the chapel opens wide like a garage door in the lower southern corner o the eastern aade. Lo-

cals call the monument e phinxs Bread ven because the angular sides and the wide open-

ing look like the ovens in traditional vil lage houses.

t the beginning o his third excavation season in mid-ovember 1931, elim Hassan dug testtrenches in search o a place or his dumps rom excavations in the entral ield cemeteries. ast

o the hentkawes onument, his workers ound the remains o brick buildings lying at a depth

o three or our m below the surace o the ground (Hassan 1943:1). He began to excavate around

the hentkawes complex on January 2, 1932. e mudbrick buildings turned out to be a town o

modular houses arrayed east-west along a causeway leading to the hentkawes onument.

General Description o the KKT TownKKT is an -shaped mudbrick settlement. e oot o the , the priority area o our 25 season,

points southward. e leg o the town extends about 15 m west to east along the southern side

o the causeway leading to the entrance o the hentkawes onument. e western part o the

leg is about 26.44 m wide, while, due to a southward jog o the northern wall, the eastern endis about 23.37 m wide. rom the southern side o the leg, the oot o the town extends about 61.5

m south and is about 43 m wide. e town covers an area 6,42 m2 (measurements rom elim

Hassans [1943: :35-61, fg. 1] published map and text).

e leg o the hentkawes own extends along a narrow causeway, 1.7 m wide, leading east-

ward rom the chapel. en modular houses line the causeway. is planned community is set

between thick enclosure walls. n the south an additional thinner wall orms the causeway to the

queen's tomb. e southern extension (the oot) contains two, possibly three, much larger houses

that might be comparable to the large houses we discovered in 24 in the estern own.

The Menkaure Valley Temple Town and Ante-towne Valley emple o the ird Pyramid o enkaure (G.T) lies just 3 m southwest o the end

o the oot o the KKT. e G.T is mostly buried. eorge eisner (1931) excavated and back flled

most o the Valley emple more than a decade beore elim Hassans work. eisner and elim

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Hassan excavated houses and small bins and granaries that occupied the court o the Valley

emple and flled an ante-town that grew onto the eastern ront o the G.T. eisner (1931:34-54)

saw only a small part o the ante-town. elim Hassan (1943:35-62) excavated the rest, an 18.45-

meter-wide extension on the eastern ront contained by a thick mudbrick wall with reinorcing

accretions. He called this the Valley emple o the hentkawes onument, but it is probably

really an extension o the enkaure Valley emple town. e north end o the ante-town had

its own columned vestibule and is separate rom the KKT, but lies only 18 m rom the southwest

corner o the oot o the KKT. People occupied this temple town aer the 4 dynasty or most othe rest o the ld ingdom, a period o more than 3 years.

Roads Running Eastltogether our roads may have led east rom the hentkawes and enkaure owns, heading in

the direction o our area WCN, north o the all o the row:

1. ne road might have continued rom the end o the hentkawes causeway.

2. nother path might have run east rom a stairway leading up to a terrace with granaries

in the southern extension o the .

3. e third road was a brick paved path up to the area between the southern oot o the

hentkawes town and the separate walled eastern additionthe ante-townto the en-kaure Valley emple own.

4. e ourth road was the extension o the enkaure causeway corridor south o the en-

kaure Valley emple. ese roads might begin somewhere north o the all o the row,

within range o our clearing in .

Period o Occupation o the KKTIn spite o the close proximity to the G.T town, which lasted through the ld ingdom, we

know little about the lie span o the KKT. hen elim Hassan excavated the hentkawes own

in 1932 he ound the walls standing waist-high. e town was never backflled nor in any way

protected ollowing excavation. rodden by horse, camel, and cart riders, the walls have eroded

down to the last ew brick courses.elim Hassan (1943:49-5) thought that the KKT was inhabited through the ld ingdom. He

mentions that houses in the eastern part o the settlement show evidence o rebuilding, possibly

in two phases, but there was little indication o a second level o building elsewhere. ince he

did not systematically publish the pottery or other material culture rom hentkawes own, we

do not know much about lie in this town, how long it lasted, or even when it was built.

The Environmental Setting o KKTe are not certain how ar the KKT or the G.T settlements extended eastward. e have

hypothesized that a harbor flled the wide mouth o the wadi, but with more insight rom

sedimentary geology, and the results o our work north o the all o the row, we are now

aware that the wadi might have ushed out sandy and gravelly material that could have flledany depression and built up a an o deposits. e hentkawes own ronts directly onto the

broad area between the all o the row on the south, and the hare Valley emple and phinx

on the northeast. is area takes in the mouth o the wadi, more than 25 m wide, between the

okkatam and aadi limestone ormations.

e KKT is on the opposite side o the wadi rom our rea A, between the ebel Qibli (the

aadi ormation knoll above our site on the northwest) and the entral ield quarries and cem-

eteries cut into the low southeastern slope o the okkatam ormation, the Pyramid Plateau

proper. e modern uslim cemetery has flled the wadi and expanded to the southeastern cor-

ner o the KKT. In aerial views and the 1:5, contour map o iza, the KKT appears to fll the

deep part o the wadi channel, about 125 m wide, where the cemetery clips its southeast corner.

ur WCN operations in 24 and in the contractors trench north o the all o the row in

25 (see pages 17-2) are about 3 m due east o the G.T. e contractors trench, 9 m long

x 5 m wide, shows sand, gravel, and clay layers that might have been washed out by wadi ooding.

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ese layers occur mostly underneath two compact ld ingdom suraces.

e have to wonder about the eect the active wadi had on KKT. hy does it turn 9 south-

ward in the oot o the settlement? id wadi ooding clip the southeast corners o both settle-

ments? here did the roads rom the G.T and KKT settlements end on the east?

Aims o the Fieldwork in the KKTe principal aims or our 25 feldwork in the KKT were to

1. examine the state o preservation o the town;

2. gather inormation about the deposits on which the town is ounded and the relationship

o the settlement to the wadi channel between the okkatam and aadi ormations;

3. learn about the period that people occupied the town;

4. compare architectural orms, particularly domestic structures, with structures in

rea A (the allery omplex and the astern and estern owns).

Fieldwork in KKTt the beginning o the season, a wide horse and camel trail cut northeast to southwest across

the oot o the KKT. veryday innumerable tourists and their guides would cross upon loose sand,

cha, and modern material that barely covered what remained o the ancient town walls. In 24-25, the contractors who were building the new high security wall around the uslim cemetery

laid down a red tafa-gravel road, which covers more than 5 m o the southeast corner o the KKToot. uch o this part o the town was already lost 73 years ago to the modern cemetery plots.

In collaboration with the iza Inspectorate, we restricted the horse and camel trac to this

road by enclosing a wide area around the KKT and the G.T with barbed wire encing.

na avares surveyed in a grid o stakes at 1-meter intervals that Pieter ollet and ark

Lehner used or mapping the KKT remains at scale 1:2. athryn Piquette recorded eatures and

surace fnds. he excavated one shallow probe along the southern wall o the causeway just west

o the corner between the leg and oot o the town.

The Upper Terrace

n January 15 the workmen began to clear the KKT oot, working in swaths about 2 m wide romwest to east, across the western enclosure wall. ey peeled o a thin layer o fne, dusty sand

mixed with l iving and dead plants, mostly obnoxious camel thorn.

is material, laid down in the last 73 years, covered crushed limestone debris that orms a

broad terrace along the western edge o the KKT oot. e crushed, marly, limestone debris is very

similar to the masons debris banked against the south side o the all o the row (WCS) that

we exposed and mapped in 21.

Pieter ollet and ark Lehner mapped a series o 1 x 1 m squares rom the causeway south-

ward, taking in the upper terrace. ese squares included the western enclosure wall. ur aim

was to provide a detailed large-scale mapping at 1:2 to augment the only published map o the

whole town at scale 1:2.

Wester Eclosure Walle western enclosure wall o the town showed almost immediately as a wide, dark band o

alluvial mudbrick that contrasted with the yellowish-white limestone debris. e enclosure wall,

2.4 m wide, runs north-south.

hat remains o the wall is nearly ush with the surace o the terrace. or much o the wall,

only millimeters remained o the bottom course o bricks. e had to re-clean and re-articulate

the brickwork several times because o the windy, sand-blowing days. ith every cleaning we lost

more o the worn edges o the walls.

e bricks dier signifcantly rom most o the brick types in the rea sett lement, south o

the all o the row. ey are much larger, 4 cm long and more. e mud is dark and crumbly.

e workers call it canal mud. e closest bricks in the rea A are what we loosely call, bubble

gum brick, dense, black, UTA (untempered alluvial) clay bricks used or the oundations o some,

but not all, walls. e brickwork o the western enclosure wall o the KKT is very similar to that

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in the oundations o the enkaure causeway walls, allegedly fnished by enkaures successor,

hepseska, that we saw when the iza Inspectorate cleared parts o the causeway up the slope

toward the third pyramid in 24. Like the western KKT enclosure wall, the enkaure causeway

walls are also ounded or anked by a layer o compact limestone debris.

Water ak Courtn open court immediately south o the corner between the KKT leg and oot contains a long,

rectangular trench that elim Hassan called the ater ank. uring this season we cleared thetank down to sand and mud that probably accumulated since elim Hassans excavations. e

tank is oriented slightly west o north like most o the mudbrick walls o the KKT. It is 2.4 m wide

east-west and 7.8 m north-south.

e tank sinks a total o 1.89 m at the northern end rom the top o the upper terrace to the

bedrock bottom (measured at middle o tank oor). e thickness o the limestone debris layer

orming the terrace is 96 cm here, so the tank drops 93 cm rom its bedrock upper rim to the

bottom (middle o oor). t the southern end the tank sinks a total o 2.6 m, 66 cm through the

limestone debris and 1.94 m through bedrock.

It is interesting that the upper bedrock rim slopes down 84 cm rom south, elevation 18.82

m above sea level (asl), to the north, elevation 17.98 m asl. is slope runs counter to the general

slope o the surace and the okkatam limestone ormation, which declines rom north down tosouth (or northwest-southeast). e only cleared a little more than the southern hal o the bot-

tom o the tank down to the bedrock oor, which shows a slight slope in the opposite direction

rom the upper rim, rom north (elevation 17.7 m asl) down to south (elevation 16.88 m asl).

e tank is situated in the open court to catch water running down the corridor parallel to,

and south o, the hentkawes causeway, and around the corner into the KKT oot where the court

slopes markedly to the south-southeast, ollowing the general slope o the limestone ormation.

ere remain scant traces o an east-west mudbrick wall to the south, separating the ater

ank ourt rom another court that once contained the bases o three round silos, probably gra-

naries. elim Hassan mapped this wall as solid, so it must have eroded badly since his time.

e mapped the remains o two round, brick-lined hearths or the bases o ovens between the

southern end o the western side o the ater ank and the nclosure all. elim Hassan men-

tioned the ovens, but does not show them on his map.

Court of Silos ad agaziese bases o three round silos, probably granaries, which elim Hassan ound in a court against

the western nclosure all, have completely eroded away. In this area, erosion scoured the

terrace down to the crushed limestone surace, except or dark patches here and there that remain

rom walls or other settlement deposits. ast o the silos all that remains o two long rooms

(possibly magazines) that elim Hassan mapped and numbered 165 and 166 is the prominent ura

limestone slab marking the threshold to the northern room and traces o the mudbricks o the

walls against the threshold slab and the southern wall o the southern chamber.

arther south on the upper terrace more traces o the walls remain. e mapped the walls as

ar south as our square 11.28, taking in the rooms that elim Hassan numbered 175 and 184 andthe northern edges o rooms 174 and 183.

The Lower Terracee limestone debris terrace slopes slightly to the east, and then drops suddenly along a north-

south line to the lower level on which the walls o the large houses o the eastern part o the KKT

oot are much better preserved, especially to the south southeast.

ur workers had to move limestone debris that tomb builders rom the uslim cemetery had

dumped onto the lower terrace. e new high security wall has arrested the advance o modern

tomb building, but the wall was unfnished along the KKT site during our work, existing only as a

oundation and rebar ramework. s o ecember 25 the lower part o the wall was fnished.

e same layer o fne, silty, dusty sand with dried camel thorn flled and covered what re-

mains o the lower town. o the southeast, the workers took out concentrated modern trash, dead

wood, and twisted branches o live evergreens. e exposed the top o the ancient mudbrick walls

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o a large house at the southeastern limit o elim Hassans clearing and mapping. e walls on

the lower level, a denser room structure, held up against erosion better than the walls that were

isolated on the windswept and horse-trodden upper terrace. e exposed one o the long east-west

walls orming the sides o the corridor and stairway leading rom the wadi up to the upper terrace

with the granaries and magazines.

Khentkawes Town - Menkaure Valley Temple Town Interace

elim Hassans map leaves blank the area between the southern end o the KKT oot and thente-town o the G.T. In his report elim Hassan called the nte-town the Valley emple o

hentkawes, which he described as lying at the south-eastern corner o a vast open area bounded

on the north and east by the girdle-wall o the city. ccess to this courtyard is gained by means

o a broad causeway running westwards rom the valley and lying between a thick mudbrick wall

attached to the Valley-emple and the girdle-wall o the city (Hassan 1943:53).

elim Hassan (1943:54-55) mentions this causeway again in reerence to the temples entrance:

e main entrance is approached by means o a wide brick-paved causeway which runs up rom

the valley in a westerly direction. t some time aer its original construction, this causeway had

been repaved, and a thick layer o limestone rubble was laid down or the new paving.

uring our eason 25 the place in question was mostly covered by the new road used in

constructing the high security wall. e road covers the little stretch o the southern wall o thehentkawes oot that elim Hassan mapped. e area in ront o the east wall o the nte-town,

rom its north end to the western wall o the KKT oot, has long been a depression choked with

thick stands o reeds and modern trash.

In order to check the condition o this important interace between the two settlements we

cleared a strip 5 m long, narrowing rom 19 (north) to 3.5 (south) m running northeast to south-

west along the curving embankment o the new road.

ieldstoe Housen the north o the cleared strip we exposed the southern end o the western wall o the KKT oot

on the east, and to the west we exposed the feldstone walls o a small building, possibly a house,

in which elim Hassan numbered the rooms 186-19. corridor 2.6 m wide runs between the

KKT enclosure wall and this house.e house has been cut across east to west. e section appears to show that the house is

ounded upon layers o concentrated limestone gravelthe end o the upper, western terrace

o the KKT ootand gravely sand. ese layers combined are nearly a meter thick. e section

drops rom 17.97 m to 16.97 m asl.

Ramp ramp paved with alluvial mud at the bottom o the cut section is elim Hassans causeway.

e exposed it or a width o only 9 m east-west. rom elim Hassans map, a line that might

represent the northern edge o the ramp extends to the limestone basin located o the northeast

corner o the G.T. In our exposure, the ramp is 8.2 m at its widest. It slopes markedly to the

east, dropping rom 17. 77 m asl to 16.97 m asl, 8 cm over the 9 m length o our exposure. enorth side o the ramp ends at the cut through the house.

t the base o the cut on the western side, a trench, flled with gravelly sand, angles southeast-

northwest, possibly le by a robber who pulled out the wall marking the northern shoulder o the

ramp. e trench trends in the direction o the line on elim Hassans map that might represent

the northern edge o the trench arther west near the basin. e stratigraphic relationships are

not clear. e limestone gravel appears to be the fll o the upper KKT terrace and to overlay the

gravelly sand. e ramp does not appear to extend north under the gravelly sand. ather, the

gravelly sand continues deeper and goes under the ramp. It is certain there was a drop between

the oor level o the KKT oot, the feldstone house, and the top o the ramp. e cut may have

removed a thick, mudbrick retaining wall that held back the limestone gravel and gravelly sand

on the north. uch terracing is indicated on the southern side o the ramp, a large mudbrick wall,

1.3 m wide, plastered on the northern ace. e exposed the wall or a length o 8 m. n the west,

the wall meets the northeast corner o the nte-town

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te-tow lacise southern side o the southern wall o the ramp drops precipitously rom elevation 17.75 to

16. m asl over a distance o 2 m. It orms a somewhat acute corner with the eastern ront wall o

the nte-town. In elim Hassans schematic map this wall appears to have been thickened in two

or more phases. e rounded end o an accretion on the eastern side gives it the appearance o a

ortifcation. e ound this ace o the wall eroded into a slope that drops rom 19.25 to 16. m asl,

3.25 m over 5 to 6 m. e slope is covered by many alluvial mud lenses or layers caused by erosion,

studded with the stumps o reeds that have long grown here. s indicated by the elevation at thetop o the wall, it rises much higher than the southern wall o the ramp. is dramatic slope gives

the wall the appearance o a glacis, a slope that runs down rom a ortifcation.

s or the nte-town interior, we ound the thick marl plaster line o the eastern side o its

our-columned vestibule embedded in the mud that had deteriorated rom the walls since elim

Hassans excavation. e also ound where the plaster line turns the northeast and southeast cor-

ners o the vestibuleat the limit o our clearing o the overburden.

It is important to work out the stratigraphic relations between the KKT oot, the feldstone

house, the terrace on which they sit, the ramp, the nte-town, and the G.T. e stratigraphy

would inorm us about the chronological relationships between the KKT and the G.T temple

town. e know rom historical sources, including inscriptions that eisner ound in G.T., that

people occupied the town over the course o the whole ld ingdom.s or the ramp and glacis, they seem to point to a dramatic drop in level between both the

KKT and the G.T and the wadi to the east. e ramp and glacis are approximately on line with

our next major sphere o operations in 25, the all o the row orth, 3 m arther east.

Backlling KKT

t the end o the season we placed clean sand over the area where we had removed the thin

overburden. Horseback riders and other trac remained restricted to the contractors road along

the new high security wall around the modern cemetery.

Area Clearing and Mapping in SFW (The Western Town)uring early ebruary, eis hmed bd al-Basat and the workers removed our backfll rom

the Pedestal Building, which we had excavated in 1988-89 and 1991 in our rea AA (see fg. 1).

ansour Bureik and ohsen amel supervised ohammed usilhi as he used the loader to

remove a series o long, linear, tall debris piles that ran north-south along the western limit o the

southern part our site west o the soccer feld (SFW). It is within the area o the ancient settlement

that we call the estern own.

e temporarily cut the road to our camp that crossed rom south to north between the ork-

ers emetery and our site below. e road ran over a corner o rea AA, which we had backflled

in 1991. e exposed the surace o the settlement ruins rom the Pedestal Building to the mastaba

tomb that we had partially excavated in the squares designated A5 and A6 in 1988-89 (Lehner

1992). e marl-lined walls o the settlement continue up to, under, and beyond the mastaba upthe slope to the west. e quickly backflled with a band o thick, clean sand to create a roadbed,

so that vehicles could once again cross rom the GM camp to the parking area below the Inspec-

tors rest house at the orkers emetery excavations. ement trucks had to come through here

or work on the high security wall around the modern uslim and optic cemeteries adjacent

to the site on the northwest. is work continued throughout most o our 25 winter-spring

excavation season.

o the east o the road, we exposed more o the ruins o the settlement over an area about 15 to

2 m east-west (E5,615 to 635), and extending about 5 m north o the Pedestal Building (N99,15

to N99,6), and 55 m south o the Pedestal Building (N99, to N98,95).

Upper Town?hen we removed the sandy overburden that remained between the estern own and rea AA,

we ound that the mud mass (the surace o the ancient settlement ruins) rises dramatically up

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to the west toward the Pedestal Building. e preservation o the settlement along this western

slope promises to be much better than in the rest o the estern own. e dramatic change in

elevation occurs almost exactly along our north-south grid line E5,63, between our rids 5

and 6. ere is much more o the estern own on the upper slope o the ruins which continue,

as I indicated above, west o the mastaba in our 1988 squares A5-6 (currently designated 5.K45-46).

e might think o an upper and lower town.

Fieldstone Wall o the Pedestal Buildinge western feldstone wall o the Pedestal Building appears to have been a common wall or

a much larger complex than just this structure. e wall, 75 cm thick, runs 3 m to the north

where it thickens to 82 cm and merges into a stony mass. is mass is the tumbled ruins o a

feldstone structure, the tony Building (see page 65), at the northwestern corner o the estern

own, below the frst bend o the thick nclosure all around the allery omplex. e major

feldstone walls o this complex are 65 cm wide and run east. e building is 15.2 m east-west by

2 m north-south. Lying just north o it, the rapezoid (see page 65) complex orms the south

wall o RA treet, which runs along the outside o the nclosure all. djacent to the rapezoid,

RA treet widens and opens to the northwest. e tony Building may be part o an entrance

into the estern own rom a pathway along the southern side o the nclosure all.

Area Clearing and Mapping atthe Wall o the Crow North (WCN)

uring our ctober 24 visit to airo to interview applicants or the feld school, we ound a

large, deep trench that the contractors or the new high security wall dug with a mechanized

excavator. e trench was intended or the cement and steel walls o a corridor running rom the

town to the modern cemeteries. ork was suspended. In collaboration with the iza Inspectorate

o the SCA, we examined the archaeological layers in the cut. ecording the inormation in this

trench became one o the main operations o the 25 season.

e trench, 4.5 to 7 m wide and 9.5 m long, ran roughly parallel to the all o the row (WOC)(fg. 3). Located 19 to 24 m north o the reat ate in the WOC it extended eastward to a point

about 14.8 m shy o the east end o the wall. e west end o the trench turned and ran south to

meet the east corner o the north side o the reat ate. Here the trench was shallow. But, 13.5

m east o where the trench turned to run parallel to the WOC, it drops rom 1.5 to more than 2

m below the ancient compact surace that we exposed in our 24 operations WCN and WCGN to

reveal layers below that surace.

Two Old Kingdom Horizonse sections in the long, east-west part o the trench showed a deeper and older compact layer o

the masons debris that we had ound in our previous operations. is older layer sloped down

toward the east. sand layer separated it rom the masons debris layer that orms the compactsurace we mapped in 24. e east end o the south side o the trench cut through, and nicely

sectioned, a brick-lined hearth associated with the lower horizon about 37.2 m west o the east end

o the WOC. e sketched and measured the hearth in ctober 24. e upper and lower layers o

compact stony debris merge together, due to the upward slope to the west o the lower layer, about

18 m west o the hearth. is is why del elany did not encounter the lower horizon in his WCGN

trenches in our spring 24 feld season.

In 25 we labeled the contractors trench DDT. erek atson supervised work in the DDT

trench with li itsell. en Lajoie investigated the layers rom his perspective as a geologist.

Peter ollet drew the entire north and south sections at 1:2. itsell and atson drew selected

patches o the sections at 1:1. ollets 1:2 drawing o the entire south section, a total length o 64

m that penetrated below the ld ingdom compact surace, is 3.2 m long. e team color-coded

some 2 eatures, each requiring description on our recording orms. ltogether the team re-

corded more than 5 stratigraphic eatures rom the contractors trench.

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18 Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2005 Preliminary Repor t


Figure3.T

heWCN2005andrelatedW

allotheCrowoperations.

North

Street

GreatGate

North

Street

GateHouse

N99,17

0

N99,180

N99,190

N99,200

N99,210

N99,22

0

N99,230

N99,24

0

E500,660

E500,650

E500,640

E500,630

E500,620

E500,610

E500,600

E500,670

E500,680

E500,590

E500,580

E500,570

E500,560

E500,550

N99,250

N99,260

HIJKL

HIJKL

QRSTUVWXYZABCDEFG

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

RSTUVWXYZABCDEFG

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

WCGN

2004

Mohsen

Kamel/

Adel

Kalenay

WCN/

E

2002

LaurenBru

ning

WCE-

Probe

2001

JessicaKaiser

WCEDrillCore

2002SerenaLove

WCG(2001FionaBaker)

WCS2001FB

/PS

WCN

Survey

2004

Ana

Tavares/

Mohsen

Kamel

DDT

Tre

nch

2

BP

0

25

50m

Mas

ons

Mound

W

allof

the

Crow

1

2

3

4

Gallery

S

et

I

WesternCo

mpound

EasternCompound

Bakery

C

arPark

Deep

Trench

EnclosureW

all

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Trench (DDT) Clearing in 2005By January 25, a huge chunk o the south section collapsed, taking the hearth into the soggy

bottom o the trench. e sides o the trench had sloped into the bottom, which was flled with

standing water and trash blown in rom the parking lot or tourist buses just above and to the

north o the ld ingdom surace we exposed north o the all.

e water table had risen markedly since the end o our previous season in ay 24. ur

Saidi (pper gyptian) workmen cleaned the trench. ey brought down the material that had

collapsed rom the sides o the trench and used it to fll the bottom and create a raised workingplatorm or ridge running the length o the trench.

e contractors le large spoil heaps along the southern side o their trench, between the

trench and the all o the row. e workmen cut the base o the spoil heaps back rom the

side o the trench to reduce the danger to those working in the bottom o the trench below. en

ohammed usilhi used the loader to remove the spoil heaps. He dumped the sandy material

on the higher level to the north, along the southern side o the tourist bus parking lot. He also

used the loader to clear a track down to the area o the eastern end o the all o the row and

to widen our clearing there.

Ancient Channels in the Trench Sections

e contractors trench cut through ancient pits or channels that we could see in the sections.and and fne gravel that might have been water-sorted flled the channels.

e north side o the trench cut through a prominent pit or channel, 4 m wide and 6 cm deep,

about 29 to 33 m west o the east end o the trench. udbrick clumps, potsherds, limestone debris,

coarse sand and other cultural material flled the channel, which is associated with the lower ho-

rizon o compact masons debris. layer o fne granite dust, 12 cm thick, caps the channel. is

layer indicates that people were working granite nearby. ranite would have been brought rom

swan, 5 miles south o iza. (e have ound much granite dust in the masons debris on the

south side o the wall o the row, and in similar debris flling the oor o the passage through

the ate. e ound a massive deposit o granite dust flling a deep cut through the remains o the

galleries o the east end o the all o the row in our WCE operation in 22.)

nother pit (, see below), which could be part o the same channel, shows in the southern

section o the trench much arther to the west, near where the bottom o the trench stepped upbeore it turned toward the ate, 6 m rom the east end o the trench. Here a dark layer o black

ash and/or alluvial mud, 18 cm thick, caps the channel, which is more than 4 m wide and 9 cm

deep. e pottery we saw in the fll included a nearly complete, crude, red-ware jar. Black, muddy

ash and coarse pebbly sand also flled the channel, which cut through natural layers o gravelly

sand deposited and sorted by running water.

I the pits in the north and south sections are parts o the same continuous channel, this chan-

nel would have run longitudinally west-east, nearly but not quite parallel to the all o the row.

at may be why it shows in the south and north sections at locations so ar apart. e channel

could have ollowed a sinuous, rather than straight, course rom west to east.

HearthsIn addition to the hearth located 37.2 m west o the east end o the all o the row, we saw

more hearths in the sections toward the central and eastern part o the trench. ese are not as

substantial as the one we sketched in ctober 24, consisting o defnite patches o burning and

cultural material, located here and there, close to the cut o the channel in the northern section.

ere is also a bit o architecture in the orm o a pan-shaped, shallow pit with a uniorm lining

o gray alluvial mud.

e layers and pits (possibly channels) that show in the sections o the trench might indicate

that the mouth o the wadi between the aadi and okkatam ormations occasionally owed

with water that cut the channels and distributed gritty and gravelly sand. It was, perhaps, during

a hiatus in this hypothetical desert ooding that people camped in the area north o the all o

the row, next to a narrow wadi channel, into which they dumped their debris. ere the campers

there to build the all o the row and, i so, did they leave the lower limestone debris layer with

which their hearths are associated?

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The Sand Sandwich: An Interruption in Crow Wall Building?e pits or channels occur in the sandy layer that separates the lower rom the upper ld ingdom

horizons, two anthropogenic layers o what looks like masons debris. ne hypothesis is that

water rom wadi outwash cut these channels and deposited the sand between the two compact

layers. e sandy fll contains limestone and alluvial mud ragments. ccording to the water ow

hypothesis, these ragments raed down with the wet, sandy ooze and flled the channels.

In the lower layer o masons debris, we can see layers and lenses o variegated material that

must have resulted rom individual baskets that the ancient workers dumped and very deliber-ately spread out to make the lower compact surace. ey may have created this surace around

the same time that they built the all o the row, some 2 m south o the trench. ur datum

line, running about center-height o the trench section, is at elevation 15.85 m asl. e ound the

very bottom o the south side o the all o the row in the 21 WCS trench at 15.4 m asl, so the

lower layer o masons debris in the trench could well be the oor the builders laid down when

they ounded the wall. e thin hearths and mud-lined pit that the trench cut and sectioned may

be evidence o the builders camp.

e sandy layer implies some kind o interruption during which wind, water, or people depos-

ited sand on the oor o masons debris. e channels could be pits that people dug. e fll in-

cludes mudbrick and pottery. r perhaps wadi oods carved channels that either people or ow-

ing water flled with sand. e cultural material, including mudbrick, might have washed downrom upstream. e sand layer, channels, and fll o the channels must reect some kind o hiatus,

and possibly problems, or the builders o the row all and their activity. hen they resumed,

they prepared a new, higher surace o limestone debris, the upper ld ingdom horizon.

In 21 Paul harman came to a similar hypothesis aer studying the layers o the deep trench

that we excavated up to the all o the row in WCS: an interruption in work that is reected by

layers o sandy, uvial material.

e hypothesis is compelling or several reasons, not the least o which is the act (ascertained by

eisners excavation between 198 and 191) that desert wadi ooding destroyed the enkaure Valley

emple and mudbrick town, located about 3 m due east o our operation WCN (eisner 1931:44-45,

54). is would have been a ooding event o a much later period than the sandy layers between the

two horizons in the contractors trench. e enkaure Valley emple ood seems to have occurred in

ynasty 5 aer the royal house had moved to aqqara and bu ir or the location o the royal buildingprojects, well aer the time that the builders erected the all o the row, probably in the presence o

the royal house at iza.

or the team, ascertaining the distinction between sand deposited by wind, water, or people was not

a acile task, and there was some dierence o opinion between archaeologists and geologists. ould the

gray mud ragments have held their shape, rather than simply dissolve, as they travelled down stream or

as they oozed orward in wet, viscous sand?

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3. Excavations in 2005

hen we excavate we give every deposit, rom walls to layers, eature numbers. hen we remove

archaeological deposits we intensively collect artiacts, pottery, animal bone, chipped stone

(lithics), charcoal, and plant remains. e draw plans at a scale o 1:2 and sections at a scale o

1:1. e construct stratigraphic matrices to show chronological relationships within the excavated

area. e ollowing sections describe our 25 excavation operations.

Excavations North o the Wall o the Crow (WCN)e investigations that erek atson, li itsell, and en Lajoie carried out in the DDT, along

with Pieter ollets 1:2 mapping, ell within the ollowing objectives or work in WCN:

1. o record the depositional sequence within the DDT. is stage had priority as it was e-

ectively a salvage operation.

2. o assess and reconstruct wadi hydrology, natural sedimentation processes, anthropo-

genic impacts, and the interplay between these depositional agents.

3. o excavate a trench extending rom the DDT through the western side o the asons

ound to determine the internal structure o the mound and connect the DDT to the

all o the row. is strategy provided a stratigraphic sequence or the whole WCN 25

operation and a north-south composite cross-section o the all o the row oundations

when combined with the profles o WCS eep rench excavated in 21.

4. o correlate these results with previous operations in the area in order to elucidate the

wider archaeological sequence o the WCN.

atson, assisted by neis Hassan, excavated rench 2 (fg. 4) rom the DDT to the north side o

the all o the row. Banu ydinoglugil excavated a trench across , the large pit or channel cut

by the northern side o the DDT trench at its western end. able 1 lists the three WCN operations.

Table 1. WCN Units

Unit Squares Dimensions Orientation

Trench .D-.H . m x . m x m North-South

DDT .G-.G; .H-

.H-.H; .I-.I

West-East

BP .F-.G . m x . m x . m North-South

Trench 2 Excavatione wanted to investigate the relationships between eatures in the contractors trench (DDT) and

the all o the row and sample a portion o asons ound, a mound o compact limestone

debris on the north side o the all o the row near its east end, which might be the remains

o a construction ramp (fg. 3). or this purpose atson laid out a trench perpendicular to the

contractors trench (DDT) running rom DDT to the all o the row, approximately 18.54 m in

length x 3 m wide. atson located rench 2 toward the tail-end o the western slope o asons

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22 Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2005 Preliminary Repor t


ound within grid squares 1.D48-1.48, 1.5 m rom the east line, and 5 cm rom the west line

o range 48 on our grid, between coordinate lines E5,61 and E5,615. e north end o rench

2 took in the west side o the prominent channel or pit that showed in the south section, east end

o the contractors trench (DDT).

atson ound that the general reddish sand layer [22,882] (eature numbers are shown in

brackets) between the two compact debris layers is the same as the fll [22,27 - 229] o the chan-

nel or pit. He interpreted the sandy layer as sediment dumped by people in order to prepare alevel surace or building asons ound. e darker striations within the sand result, in his

view, rom the tipping or dumping o baskets o the sandy material. ese thin layers and lenses

cover crude walls and fll (rubble fll, limestone and mud) that belong to the structure o asons

ound.

e uppermost layers o the mound (evident in DDT south section and the surace charac-

teristics o the mound) appeared to comprise construction debris. lose to the all o the

row, atsons team exposed a mass o mud and limestone ragments o very irregular, rounded

shapes and sizes, somewhat yellow and marly, so they probably derive rom the aadi ormation

above our site. e mass has structure. It appears to be a roughly linear, east-west oriented berm

about 3 to 3.5 m widethat comprises the tail o asons ound. e stone appears to be more

concentrated along the southern edge, just 1.6 to 1.8 m rom north base o the all o the row.

ost curious are the layers just above this hump or spine o loose but roughly articulated

stone debris (fg. 5). e rench 2 sections clearly show a series o slanted, thin, contrasting layers

Figure 4. Mud/rubble in-flled and dry stone walls in Trench 2, schematic section

(ater Watson 2005:fg. 3).

1.G48

1.F48

1.E48

1.D48

DDT

Stone Line [22629]

Stone Line [22659]

Dry Stone Wall

[22668]

Mud/Rubble Infilled Wall

Facing [22666]

Infill [22665]Infill [22667]

}

Mud/Rubble Infilled Wall

Facing [22663]

Infill [22664]

Wall of the Crow

Are

aIn

fill[2

2626]

0 5 m

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Figure5.Teallotherowsche

maticcompositesection.WCN2005rench2andWCS2001Deepondage

(aeratson2005:fg.2).

13.1

0m

Tip-lines

18m,asl

19m,asl

PhVI

PhVF

18.4

5m

PhVC-Tip-lines

PhVB

PhVA1

SeasonlimitofExcavation-ap

prox.

16m,

asl

TopofFoundation

Block

16.0

7m,a

sl

B

aseofFoundationCut

15.4

0m,

asl

WCN

EastSec

tion

WCS

WestSection

25m,

asl

N

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that are certainly basket tip lines, rom dumping quantities that would just about fll an ancient

workers basket. e thin layers are somewhat intercalated, that is, they alternate between sandy

or gravelly material and darker alluvial mud. e upper tip lines include many mudbrick rag-

ments and generally show a high dark silt content in the matrix. e tip l ines angle down to the

south at about 4 toward the all o the row.

atson (25) points out in his ata tructure eport how dierent this is rom the deep

trench we excavated in 1991 and 21 on the south side o the all o the row (WCS). ere the

tip lines sloped down away rom the wall, because on the south side they are certainly waste romtrimming the blocks o successive courses on the wall itsel. n the north side the tip lines are

o dierent material, and slope in toward the all, being located only 2.8 m rom the alls

northern ace.

ithin the stony structure o asons ound, atsons team ound a plastered feldstone

wall with a sandy marl render, 73 to 43 cm rom the west balk o rench 2, running north-south

slightly angled east o south. e plaster render goes up against the all o the row, where the

ace o the all o the row is dressed at and the seams between blocks are plastered over, or a

height o 2-3 cm above the height o the section, rom 16.15 to 19 m asl.

e east section shows a gap, 9 cm deep, and 1.3 m wide, in the compact material up against

the all o the row. ritty sand layers [22,892 22,92] fll the gap.

rench 2 revealed the ollowing gross sequence o human and natural activity during the ldingdom, 4th dynasty:

1. People laid down the lower compact debris layer (atson Phase ), probably commensu-

rate with the building o the all o row. e did not positively ascertain this, because we

came to the end o our excavation period beore reaching the bottom o the wall, and were

not able to trace the layers in the contractors trench (DDT) to the oundation o the wall.

2. People made and used hearths, clay-lined pits and other pits and installations or some

time on the surace o the lower compact layer. (atson Phase ).

3. adi streams laid down sediments over the lower compact rubble layer (atson 25,

Lajoie 25). adi streams laid down oreset beds (Lajoie 25), that urther covered and

leveled the sloping surace o the lower compact rubble layer, or people covered the lower

layer to purposeully level it with basketuls o sand (atson 25, Phase ).

4. People built casemate retaining walls to hold debris (atson Phase .A) upon which they

created asons ound (Phase .A) by building additional dry stone walls (Phase .)

and dumping baskets o dark silty material (Phase . C). ey spread the material o the

upper layers asons ound to the north and west, creating the upper compact layer cut

by the contractors (DDT) trench (Phase .D).

5. s people continued construction activity (on the all o the row?) in the vicinity, they

made pits and cuts into the upper compact surace (Phase .E) and deposited the upper

layers that cap asons ound (Phase .F).

BP Excavationer eis hmed and the Saidi workers cleared out the western end o the contractors trenchand pushed back the overburden, we had a better look at the large pit or channel showing in

section at the western end o the southern side o the trench. is is the pit () or channel flled

with cultural material, pottery, and mudbrick (see above).

e pit, located northeast o the reat ate in the all o the row, is 6 m wide and 84 cm

deep. granite and limestone chip layer capped the top o the pit. muddy layer that showed in

the DDT section with nearly complete red-ware beer jars flled the bottom o the channel. x-

amining this layer closely, we noticed that the pieces o dense, dark gray mud took the orm o the

bottoms o jars and bread-baking pots. ese mud pieces are unfred pots, or parts o vessels. In

some o the pieces the gray mud phases into silt that is fred red; these are partially fred vessels.

omeone discarded these incompletely fred, or unfred pots into the pit.

In the same pit we fnd that some o the upper layers look decidedly like gravel worn and

washed by water: probably wadi oods.

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Banu ydinoglugil supervised the excavation o the BP trench, 4.5 x 1.5 x 1.3 m into the west-

ern side o the pit at the western end o the DDT, in an attempt to determine its north-south extent

and its stratigraphic relationships to contiguous DDT layers. e excavations revealed no tip lines

that would indicate basket dumping and intentional flling. ll the layers that we saw flling in

the southern section o the contractors trench thin out to the south, so that the whole sequence

o layers flling the pit or channel thin out rom 1 m to only 34 cm thick. is indicates that the

original pit is a airly sharp cut in cross section rom east to west, but very shallow and gradual

to the south.e pit or channel cut through older, underlying layers o gravel and sand, probably the edge

o the wadi an. is is the frst phase o deposition north o the all o the row that we saw in the

contractors trench, and in the deep 24 excavations o del elany in WCGN, north o the ate.

Summary and Comments on the WCN Sequenceatson (25) summarized his phasing o the stratigraphic sequence rom the contractors trench

(DDT), rench 2 to the all o the row, and the excavation o the large pit () at the western end

o the contractors trench 2 in table 2 (see below).

Phase I: Fluvial Sands

atson (25) noted that the uppermost elevation o this lower unit o sand and marl beds, hisPhase I, is approximately 15 m asl. uring the 25 feldwork, the local water table uctuated

around 14.75 m asl, which prevented deeper excavation. e lower layers were damp throughout

the exposure o the contractors trench, which prevented making fner distinctions.

atson suggested that running water deposited the lower sand and marl clay layers:

e bedding structures and eatures within these layers comprised relatively simple bed-

sets with predominantly wavy parallel to wavy-to-even nonparallel bedding suraces,

requent laminations within these layers, well-to-moderately sorted sands and normal

graded beds suggesting sediment transport and deposition by turbidity currents most

likely attributable to uvial processes. Indeed, requent deposits/lenses o levigated clay

deposits indicate the presence o standing water in the area (atson 25:11).

e uvial deposits o fne to coarse grains in sand layers, and the fne clay deposits, suggesta prevailing, or perhaps more likely a localized, hydraulic regime characterized by low to moder-

ate energy discharge by shallow streams (atson 25:12). iting Boggs (1995:36-317), atson

urther hypothesized that the episodic streams may have constituted a sandy braided stream

system: i the WCN [area north o the all o the row] was situated adjacent to an active wadi

system then it appears on the basis o Phase data rom the DDT that it may have been on the

southern margins o its alluvial an (atson 25:14).

e frst indication o human activity in the contractors trench is a crescent-shaped ash and

charcoal deposit, possibly rom a hearth, in the southern section at the western end. atson

compares its elevation at 15 m asl with the earliest exposures o cultural material in the WCE 21

and 22 squares 2.6 and 2.C8 at 14.87 and 15.21 m asl respectively.

Phase II: Gravel/Sandse distinction between Phase and , while somewhat arbitrary, is a marked increase in gravel

deposits consisting o fne to coarse pebbles and angular and platy limestone ragments that cross-

bed the general trend o the bed-sets. ross bedding reers to layers within a bed that dip at an

angle to the orientation o the primary beds (atson 25: 27; Boggs 1995: 118-122). In lay terms,

the gravel deposits look like pockets o limestone ragments, quartzite pebbles, and chert cobbles

with the heavier raction concentrated near the base, and the material becoming fner toward the

top and east.

atson designated as Phase gravel/sand deposits that reach a maximum thickness o 1.1

m rom 15 m asl to about 16.1 m asl in the western section o the contractors trench. e layers

declined eastwards to merge into the water table at about 14.75 m asl aer which the team could

not trace them urther. is is part o a much wider slope o the ancient suraces to the east and

north in the northeast part o our site.

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atson (25:15) interpreted Phase layers as the existence o a sandy/gravelly braided

wadi river system, which appears to have been prograding. sed in reerence to shorelines, pro-

gradation or regression reers to seaward movement (Boggs 1995:52-53). In WCN the idea

is that the wadi an was building out and extending gradually eastward. atson (25:15) ob-

served that combined with the notion that the WCN area was contiguous with the margins o the

wadi alluvial an, it seems probable that the Phase deposits generally comprise lateral and/or

longitudinal bars that orm between the braided streams o such a an. e contractors trench

gave us cross-sectional views o the longitudinal bars.atson (25:16-17) suggested that the cross-bedding and lateral grading o the gravel

sands within the Phase deposits denote ow velocity uctuations resulting in dierential depo-

sition o sediments (bedload). iting Lajoie (personal communication 25) atson (25:16-

17) suggested urther that the particle size dierences evident between Phases - suggest that

the wadi system was prograding eastward. He concluded that, in terms o the environmental

assessment o the WCN area this is perhaps the single most important interace or acies in the

entire sequence (atson 25:17).

oting that the sequence (atsons Phase and ) slopes gently rom west to east, en Lajoie

(25) characterized these layers as typical scour and fll rom wadi ash oods. He suggested

that the quartzite and chert inclusions probably washed rom the high desert, while the more

abundant limestone chips, which he saw as tabular and imbricated, may have derived rom quar-rying stone or the pyramids and other monuments in quarries along the northern side o the

wadi up slope. Lajoie agreed that lenses o levigated yellow clay (marl) in this lower sequence

might represent water that stood in shallow pools on the surace o the wadi an (Lajoie 25).

o sum up the picture given by the lower layers in the contractors trench, beore people built

the all o the row or did much else in the area just north o the wall, intermittent rains sent

water down the wadi between the okkatam and aadi ormations, and out to the east, build-

ing up an alluvial an rom the sandy sediments le by braided shallow streams. t some point

the velocity o the streams increased, carrying coarser gravels that inter-bedded with fner sands,

building the wadi an higher and carrying it arther east. atson (25:17) cites as possible

causes drier conditions, which resulted in a loss o plant cover and increased soil erosion, in-

creased precipitation and changes in the local landscape caused by people.

It is certain that during the time people laid down the Phase deposits (the lower rubble lay-er) directly upon the Phase and wadi deposits, quarry work had been underway or some time

along the lower southern slope o the okkatam ormation, upstream along northern bank o

the wadi. Probably the frst thing the quarrymen did was remove the absorbent sand cover rom

the limestone bedrock, which would have increased the ow o any rainall across the bedrock. It

is likely they removed and used as uel any wood and plant cover near the wadi mouth. is may

have contributed to the more orceul activity o the wadi streams lower and to the east, in the

area north o the all o the row.

at pyramid building was a major, i indirect, cause or changes in orce, duration, and re-

quency o wadi streams seems a reasonable inerence. e can possibly investigate this hypothesis

by exposing the ld ingdom wadi bed upstream. is would help interpret the data rom the

25 contractors trench:e major problems associated with interpreting the WCN data are that the seasonal/cyclical

incidence o rainall and entral adi ooding and/or discharge, its duration, intensity

and the reliability o these putative spate events (e.g. the impact on propagation due to slope

gradient and bed infltration) are entirely unknown. e contemporary geomorphology o

the area suggests that the drainage channel o the wadi slopes rom about 95 m, above sea

level, in the west to about 2 m asl in its known eastern extent, with the water discharge

owing rom west to east. Yet, we have no data concerning morphology o this purported

wadi network during the ld ingdom or the impact o hydraulic interventions (e.g. dams,

canals), which may have been constructed by the Pyramid makers in order to secure the

local area against possible spate events (atson 25:13).

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Phase IIIA-B: The Lower Rubble Layer

e Lower ubble Layer consisted predominantly o fne to coarse sand (1%-7%), angular

limestone and marl ragments (3%-9%) with pebbles, chert, occasional charcoal and gray

alluvial mud ragments. e material o Phase A was compacted orming a mass-like quality

that may have occurred as a result o inundation in the area, with the subsequent calcifcationo the limestone and/or solidifcation o the marl elements. lternatively, water may have been

added as bonding agent prior to deposition in order to deliberately cement the constituents and

so construct a hardened or metalled surace (atson 25:38).

e contractors trench exposed approximately 48 m o this layer in the north and south sec-

tions, beginning about 2 m rom the west end o the trench. e layer slopes gently to the east

to disappear below the extent o excavation. e approximate top elevations o the Lower ubble

Layer are 16.13 m asl (north section), and 16.23 m asl (south section), on the west to 15.29 m asl, and

15.35 m, asl at the eastern end o the trench. dditionally, a similar surace was exposed at the

base o the rench 2 test trench.

People purposeully created the Lower ubble Layer, as indicated by bucket dumps (more

likely basket dumps) that show in section. e dimensions o these dumps ranged rom 2 cm

to 4 cm thick x 15 cm to 9 cm wide, roughly 1.35 m 3. is dumping created a surace that was

intentionally metalled, a British term or a road covered with small or crushed stones.

Phase VII - Modern Disturbance Modern Disturbance, GPMP dumps, and Selim Hassans dumps

Phase VI - Dune Activity Post BP (?) and modern sand bank

Phase V - The Upper Rubble Layerand the Masons Mound

Sub-phase FSurace layers and completion o Masons Mound

Sub-phase eastConstruction activities: Pits/cuts

Sub-phase DSurace preparation in the DDT area

Sub-phase CTip-line deposits - Building the Mound

Sub-phase BBurying the rubble/mud in-illed and dry stone

walls

Sub-phase AIIEarly deposition/construction o Masons Mound

Sub-phase AIConstruction o rubbled in-illed/retaining walls

Phase IV - The Interplay o Fluvial

and Human Activity

Sub-phase C

Marl plastered/mudbrick structure (Provisional sub-

phase as based on season End o Excavation rom

Trench )

Sub-phase BMake-up/levelling activity (Provisionally included

in Phase V as based on .F test trench)

Sub-phase AFluvial event(s)

Phase III - Lower Rubble Layer

Sub-phase BLower rubble layer: exposure, activity and urther

construction

Sub-phase AThe lower rubble layer: construction - bucketdumps

Phase II - Gravel/SandsGravel/sands: DDT - changing hydrodynamics and human activity

Phase I - Lower SandsLower sand deposits: low level hydrodynamics and the irst indications o human

activity in the WCN sequence

Table 2. Summary o stratigraphic phases identied in area WCN 2005

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atson (25: 37-53, 19) designated two sub-phases: A) the initial construction phase and )

a period o urther construction and related activities, including incidental aeolian deposits.

People le many eatures across the Lower ubble Layer indicating fres: fre scrapes, ash, and

charcoal dumps, and a brick-built hearth. dditionally a clay-lined mixing pit, a large pit, and

variable quantities o lithics (chipped stone), bone, charcoal, and miscellaneous objects were

also le. atson (25:19) noted, ese remains indicate various activities associated with con-

struction and manuacturing activities as well as ood consumption and, possibly, preparation.

People covered some o the eatures, such as the mixing pit, with the material o the Lower ubbleLayer, as sand dried onto the surace around the given eature.

atson (25:11) noted o the creation o the metalled surace: It also appears that this

construction project may have been overcome by a ood event. is is indicated by the Phase

mud pit which was in-flled by overlying Phase deposits that are ascribed to an infll/make-

up phase subsequent to an ostensible ood (Phase A) in the immediate area.

In sum people laid down the artifcial layers o Phase A and soon aer a period when wadi

streams began to ow with increased energy, extending the wadi an to the east. e lower end

o the artifcial surace, at the eastern end o the contractors trench (DDT) is around 15.3 m asl,

while the base o the all o the row in the 21 WCS deep trench is 15.4 m asl. atson (25:

11) suggests that the builders may have laid down the layer in order to provide a stable work-

ing surace over sand and gravel in an area situated at the margins o an alluvial an or braidedstream. uch a surace may have been necessary or initial construction o the oundations o the

all o the row and/or transportation o its constituent limestone blocks.

Phase IV A-B: Flooding and Make-upatson designated as Phase the sand layers that separate the pper and Lower ubble Layers

(Phases and ). e separation begins 43 to 43.5 m rom the east end o the contractors trench.

Like the Lower ubble Layer, the sandy layers slope gently to the east where they disappear below

the limits o the trench at square 1.5. e sand separation layers thicken rom a mere 3 cm on

the west (north section) to 1 m on the east (south section). It thins to the west because the Phase

layer slopes up to become the leg o the . It meets the later, higher compact layer, the surace

we exposed in 24, the upper arm o the . Both arms o the and the leg slope to the east.

Sub-Phase IV Aatson (25:11-11) interpreted three U-shaped pits or depressions about 6 m rom the eastern

end o the trench as belonging to a channel cut by a meandering stream with sucient ow

velocity to cut or more likely gradually erode a channel through the Phase metalled surace.

He suggests that his interpretation implies a distinct change in the local hydrological regime,

i.e. the morphology and orientation o the wadi system rom the shallow braided streams, which

tend to have high gradients and develop in the distal reaches o river systems, and which may

grade or merge down slope in to a meandering river as gradient and bed load decrease ean-

dering channels orm where streams are owing over a relatively at landscape such as a broad

oodplain. hannels in these streams are characteristically U-shaped and actively migrate over

oodplains (atson 25:111 cites Boggs 1995:37).He notes again that quarry activity upstream may have widened the mouth o the wadi and

altered its direction, ow velocity and/or drainage pattern. qually, potential water diversion

and/or management techniques (e.g. the emplacement o dams) in the upstream reaches o the

wadi system may have undamentally altered the capacity and orientation o the wadi system with

concomitant changes in the local environment and ecology (e.g. wadi morphology and drainage)

(atson 25:111, 6.4.1).

xcavation rench 2 cut the prominent channel [22, 232] that showed in the south section at

the east end o the contractors trench. atson noted,

the precise orientation and axis o the Phase A channel is at present unknown as the

rench 2 excavation remains unfnished, though it appears rom its position in the DDT

[contractors trench] sections to be approximately orth to outh. However, assessmentis complicated by the limited exposure and the presence in the DDT orth ection o a

possible ridge and swale (levee) or an abrupt and sinuous bend in the meander (25: 111).

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By the end o the 25 excavations, the channel in atsons deeper probe at the north end o

rench 2 appeared to be a semi-circular pit that extends 1.3 to 1.4 m out rom the east side o the

trench. slightly raised shoulder lined the north and south sides o the depression, which was 2.6

m across.

atson (25) and Lajoie (25) agree that owing water brought the sand that flled the

channel. ccording to atson, when the ow that carved the channel slowed, the running water

brought fne sand that flled the channel.

e potential oreset beds (or tip-lines) in the rench 2 test trench were sloping rom the

north/northwest to south/southeast which may indicate the direction o spate ow.

onsequently, it is possible that the channel evident in section, or a contiguous meandering

channel, over-spilled its banks during a period o spate. It is dicult to accurately assess

the extent and impact o this ood, especially as is currently unknown whether it

pre- or post-dates the construction o the all o the row, or even occurred during its

construction (atson 25: 112).

Sub-Phase IVBLajoie (25) maintained that running water deposited three sand layers above the lower rubble

layer. ll channels that cut through the lower rubble layer are flled with uvial sediments andsandy sludge deposits in three phases:

1. Yellowish brown sands with limestone debris,

2. eddish sand with some gray striations,

3. ray sandy sludge with common mudbrick clasts.

ll three units are ood deposits (Lajoie 25).

atson (25:113), on the other hand, suggested that people purposeully laid the middle sand

layer, his Phase , directly over the ood sands: ese layers are muddy in appearance and

contrast starkly with the underlying sub-Phase A sand layers in colour, texture and inclusions.

atson (25:113) cites Boggs (1995: 75) to say that

mud ows are relatively common in arid and semi-arid environments, usually aer heavyprecipitation, and are composed o mud sized grains that have enough cohesive strength

to prevent settling o coarser ractions but not enough to inhibit ow. ese deposits are

characteristically poorly sorted and lack sedimentary structures, except possible reverse

grading (i.e. coarser particles at the top) (Boggs 1995: 75, 31-32). ssentially, they behave

like a viscous plastic and generally solidiy aer owing over relatively short distances. I,

however, do not support this theoryPhase consists o a ca. 4-cm-thick, well-defned

layers and lenses with inclusions comprising relatively large angular mudbricks, some with

mortar/plaster still attached and distinct and undistorted lenses o granite dust. vident

stratigraphic layering/lensing, normal grading within the layers and the improbability o

these inclusions, especially the granite dust lenses, surviving within a mudow precludes

this as an explanation..

Lajoie (25:113) understood thin, darker, slightly reddish layers and lenses as oreset beds,

markers o water ows that built up and extended the sand deposit eastward. atson took these

thin layers as basket dumps deposited by people intentionally building up the surace in prepara-

tion or renewed building activity and to stabilize the area aer the sub-Phase A ood event

and prepare it or Phase construction activities.

Comments on Phase V in WCNatson believes that the builders flled in the pit that Banu ydinoglugil excavated, as well as

other pits and irregularities in the surace extending north o the all o the row.

tratigraphically it appears that the general throughput o surace deposition was approxi-

mately west-east, i.e. as asons ound was under construction the pper ubble Layer surace

was being laid in adjacent construction zones, which gradually expanded towards the mound

area until its internal structure was completed.

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In atsons ub-Phase F, aer they completed the upper part o asons ound (ub-Phase

D-), the builders fnished spreading the pper ubble Layer, the compact ld ingdom surace

that we exposed in our 24 WCN trench.

is sub-phase comprises the completion o the pper ubble Layer and asons

ound. e pper ubble Layer surace appears to be continuous across the entire

WCN, as it appears similar in its attributes to suraces described in previous archaeological

operations in the areaextending rom at least the western side o the mound to the great

ate o the all o the row (atson 25:118).

By capping the sand layers above the Lower ubble Layer and conjoining the compact surace

pper ubble Layer to the Lower ubble Layer on the west, the builders leveled out the eastwards

slope west. e result was an indurated, terrace-like surace extending or some unknown dis-

tance north o the WOC, rom the asons ound to the ate and possibly arther west.

The Reasons or Masons Mound and the Wall o the Crowatson (25:119-12) reviewed the general sequence o building: 1) allery et , ollowed by

2) the all o the row, and fnally 3) the asons ound (fg. 6). He cited the reasons or

concluding that all three o these struct

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