The Falcon Complex and Catacomb of the Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara were discovered in 1969 and excavated by the Egypt Exploration Society expedition directed by W. B. Emery until his death in Cairo in March 1971. Fieldwork continued under the directorship of H S Smith (Field Director) and G T Martin (Site Director and was completed by 1976.
The Falcon Complex and Catacomb of the Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara were discovered in 1969 and excavated by the Egypt Exploration Society expedition directed by W B Emery until his death in Cairo in March 1971. Fieldwork continued under the directorship of H S Smith (Field Director) and G T Martin (Site Director) and was completed by 1976. This volume documents the main temple complex.
In 1897 Jacques de Morgan published a map of the Memphite necropolis, showing for the first time a pair of catacombs for mummified dogs. No further information was given and the catacombs remained largely un-investigated until the 21st century. In 2009 the Catacombs of Anubis Project was set up by Cardiff University who worked in collaboration with the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities in an attempt to understand the larger of the two catacombs. This publication describes the work of the Catacombs of Anubis Project. It examines the way in which the catacomb was created and the likely phases of its development in the Late and Ptolemaic periods. The way in which the many thousands of animal mummies were procured is discussed in the light of modern faunal analysis and these results are combined with a new survey of the site to give a picture of the functioning of the cult at Saqqara. Finally, the way in which the monument may have been re-used in the post-pharaonic era is discussed. The results will be of interest to all those interested in animal mummies and in the development of catacombs as well as those concerned with the evolution of the sacred landscape of Saqqara.
The Mother of Apis inscriptions (534-41 BC), found in 1966-71 in and outside the Mother of Apis Catacomb at North Saqqara by the Egypt Exploration Society, comprise the stelae and graffiti of the masons who constructed the catacomb and of the priests who oversaw the work and conducted the burial and other rituals for the cows. The texts include genealogies of the masons and some accounts of their work and rations. As well as their scientific importance for the understanding of Egyptian sacred animal cults, social life and chronology, they have a strong human interest. This study includes transliterations, translations and explanatory notes on all the texts found, together with commentaries and indexes.
The invention of mummification enabled the ancient Egyptians to preserve the bodies not only of humans but also of animals, so that they could live forever. This book draws together studies on the different types of animal mummies, the methods of mummification, and the animal cemeteries located at sites throughout Egypt.
An exciting archeological exploration of ancient Egypt that examines the potential for discovering the remaining “lost” tombs of the pharaohs. Tombs, mummies, and funerary items make up a significant portion of the archeological remains that survive ancient Egypt and have come to define the popular perception of Egyptology. Despite the many sensational discoveries in the last century, such as the tomb of Tutankhamun, the tombs of some of the most famous individuals in the ancient world—Imhotep, Nefertiti, Alexander the Great, and Cleopatra—have not yet been found. Archeologist Chris Naunton examines the famous pharaohs, their achievements, the bling they might have been buried with, the circumstances in which they were buried, and why those circumstances may have prevented archeologists from finding these tombs. In Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt, Naunton sheds light on the lives of these ancient Egyptians and makes an exciting case for the potential discovery of these lost tombs.
This volume publishes the demotic ostraca discovered by the Egypt Exploration Society in the Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara more than thirty years ago. This site, with its complex of galleries and temple buildings, has brought new insights into Egyptian art and architecture, as well as important information about the economy and organisation of what has turned out to be a cosmopolitan area. The majority of the four hundred or more ostraca published in this volume are written on potsherds, but there are also limestone and gypsum plaster fragments and writing-boards. Collectively, they preserve two different types of text: firstly jar-labels or dockets originally written upon a complete vessel in order to describe its contents or to give directions for its delivery, and secondly compositions written upon a sherd that had already been broken from its parent vessel, or a flake of limestone or some similar material. The texts include literary and magical compositions and a range of texts which argue for the existence of a scribal school of some kind. There is also a short oracular question, various dedications to the gods of the Necropolis, an appeal to the Mother of the Apis, lists of payments and divine images, and a document of self-sale or self-hire which is probably the earliest such document so far recognised. Some of the texts date from the Achaemenid period but the majority are undoubtedly Ptolemaic with some preponderance to the first half of the dynasty.