Memphis

General information

Memphis, the first capital of Egypt, played the leading role in the political, economic and cultural life of the country during three millennia of Ancient Egyptian civilization. The capital was founded ca. 3100 BCE and remained one of the largest cities of the country until the 7^th century CE when, following the Arab conquest, the political center of Egypt moved to al-Fustat.

At present, the archaeological site Memphis is a cluster of dozens of artificial mounds (tells or koms) and occupies a vast territory of around 500 ha. bordered by the modern villages Mit Rahina, Ezbet Gabri, Aziziya and the town Badrashein.

Palace of Apries ruins

The first archaeological work on the site permitted by the Antiquities Service of Egypt were carried out in January-March 1901 by A. Daninos (Daninos Pasha). Unfortunately at that time “archaeological” excavations were usually carried out without thorough, if any, documentation. For instance Daninos did not even pinpoint the exact location of the excavation area in his report. He just wrote “to the north from the ruins of ancient Memphis”. In the opinion of B. Kemp who conducted a topographical survey of Kom Tuman in 1976, Daninos had excavated the western part of the palace of Apries.

Map of Memphis (based on the map, drawn by J. Dimick. In: Anthes R. Mit Rahineh, 1955

Between 1908 and 1910, English archaeologist W.M.F. Petrie carried out large-scale excavations at Kom Tuman. One of his goals was to reveal the sequence of cultural layers composing the mound in the north-western part of the site. In the course of these excavations Petrie came to the conclusion that the mound is the platform of the “casemate” type with remains of palatial buildings of different periods. The last of these were erected by Apries (589-570 a pharaoh of the XXVI Dynasty. Additionally, Petrie carried out excavations of the massive mud-brick wall enclosing the palace and the neighboring “camp”. In the north-eastern section of the enclosure wall archaeologists uncovered the foundations of the “Grate Gates” It is important to stress that results of the work in Memphis were regularly reported in periodicals.

Kom Tuman is tightly squeezed by villages and arable land. On the background – the Djozer Step Pyramid

In 1955 J. Dimick, field director of the Pennsylvania University expedition at Mit Rahina, compiled a map based on aerial photos of the site. It is worthy to note that besides the ruins of the Apries palace and the enclosure wall he also plotted remains of a large building in the central  area of Kom Tuman.

From the 1980s, the Egypt Exploration Society has been carrying out an archaeological and geophysical survey of Memphis. Reconstruction of the historical landscape of the area in different periods is a special focus of the EES research at the site. The results of core-drilling at Kom Tuman showed that this part of Memphis might have already been populated during the Old Kingdom.

CESRAS exploration of Memphis

Topographical work at the site

In 2001 CESRAS was granted SCA permission to explore the northern part of the site of Memphis. The Russian concession includes three areas: Kom Tuman, Tell Aziziya and Kom Dafbaby. The overall size of the concession is ca. 20 hectares.

Topographic measurements, magnetic and electric surveys were carried out at the site in 2001-2002 in order to locate the most promising areas for further excavations. Unfortunately, the upper layers are severely disturbed by the robber pits and trenches of sabbahins (locals using the mudbrick detritus as a fertilizer in fields) and mainly contain contaminated material. Such obstacles impeded the establishing of stratigraphy and conducting geophysical prospecting. However, a magnetic survey revealed a cluster of highly magnetic objects in the central area of Kom Tuman. In the course of Russian excavations started in 2003 a large manufacturing complex was unearthed. Until now eleven furnaces for metal and faience production have been excavated and studied.

Profile Pit I

During several seasons the field work was focused on studying the building plotted by J. Dimick. The evidence revealed during the excavations showed that the so-called “Dimick’s Building” is in fact just a combination of diachronic architectural elements belonging to different constructions, remains of which were visible on the surface in the mid 1950^s . Data which would point to the function of the structures composing “Dimick’s Building” is very meager, as during the past 50 years many walls were dismantled to the foundations and almost no floors remained.

Excavations of the so-called "Dimick's Building"

Field work in the central part of Kom Tuman yielded evidence that the area was densely populated from the New Kingdom through the Graeco-Roman Period. Excavations and core-drilling showed that the major construction activity at Kom Tuman was undertaken in the Late Period. It was preceded by the leveling of the area and heightening it, most probably in order to secure the buildings from subsoil water.

 

Palaeoecological survey at the site

A large number of pottery sherds, dating to the Middle and Old Kingdoms discovered in the upper contaminated layers allowed us to hypothesize that the territory of Kom Tuman may have already been occupied in the 3^rd millennium.

Simultaneously with large scale field research in the central part of the concession CESRAS is carrying out test excavations on its periphery, areas in which much archaeological material is most rapidly destroyed by the activities of the local population: land reclamation; building of houses, corrals; sabbahin and robbers digging etc. Several test trenches dug in Tell Aziz and Kom Dafbaby revealed remnants of some domestic features, pottery accumulations dated to the Late and Graeco-Roman periods.

CESRAS in cooperation with leading Russian and foreign experts carried out a palaeo-ecological survey in the course of a study of the Nile river bed migration, dynamics and structure of cultural deposits, and geological history of the site.

Collaborating institutions

Supreme Council for Antiquities of AR Egypt:
Ashraf Senussi (2004-2005);
Ragab Turkey Shehata (2001);
Nour ad-Din Abdel Samad (2002);
Abd al Gafar Muhammed Vagdi (2003-2004);
Shaaban Ahmed Muhammed, Samhan Muhammed Abd as-Salam (2005-2006);
Mostafa Hassan Abdel Rahman (2007);
Abd al-Hamid Mohammed Mahmoud Rehan (2008);
Adel Ragab Ali, Dina Adel Hassan (2010).

SPC “Geotechnology” (Moscow):
Sokolov Sergej B.;
Pelevine Alexander T.;
Modin Igor N.;
Katz Michail J.;
Gidaspov Andrey D.;
Pomogaev Oleg N.;
Ovchinnikov Piotr P.

Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium):
Obsomer Claude;
Houyoux Marie;
Verbeek Marie;
Nackers Stephanie;
Permiganaux Julie;
Polet Sebastien.

Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, Research Centre in Cairo:
Herbich Tomaš;
Kurzyk Michal;
Swiech Dawid.

Institute of Fundamental Problems of Biology of RAS:
Khudakov Oleg I.

Institute of Physical and Chemical Problems of Soil science of RAS:
Diomin Dimitry V.

CESRAS:
Belova Galina A.;
Belov Alexander A.;
Davydova Alla B.;
Ivanov Sergej V.;
Karelin Dimitry A.;
Krol Alexei A.;
Kashaeva Natalia S.;
Lavrentieva Maria Y.;
Sherkova Tatiana A;
Tolmacheva Helen G.;
Eigner Dieter.

Moscow Pedagogical State University:
Vinokurov Nikolai I.

Publications

Белова Г.А. Российские ученые в Египте // Белова Г.А. (отв. ред.) Возвращение в Египет: Страницы истории российской египтологии. М.: «Наука», 2009. С. 52-111.

Белова Г.А. Ком Туман (Мемфис) // Шеркова Т.А. (отв. ред.) Культура Египта и стран Средиземноморья в древности и средневековье. Сборник статей, посвященный памяти Т.Н. Савельевой. М.: ЦЕИ РАН, 2009. С. 54-103.

Belova G. Ancient Memphis and the Helleno-Roman World: A Short Note // Maravelia A.-A. (ed.) Modern Trends in European Egyptology: Papers from a Session, held at the European Association of Archaeologists 9th Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg 2003. BAR International Series 1448. Oxford, 2005, p. 5–6.

Belova G. The Cretans in Egypt // Maravelia A.-A. (ed.) Europe, Hellas and Egypt: Complementary antipodes during Late Antiquity. Papers from Session IV.3, held at the European Association of Archaeologists Eighth Annual Meeting in Thessaloniki 2002. BAR International Series 1218. Oxford, 2004, p. 1–4

Ivanov S. Anthropomorphic figurines found at Kom Tuman (Memphis) // Barta M., Coppens F., Krejci J. (eds.) Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2005. Prague, 2007, p. 32-41.

Kats M., Modin I., Gidaspov A., Sokolov S., Pelevin A., Belova G., Krol A. Integrated Geophysical Survey at the Kom Tuman Site, Ancient Memphis (Egypt) // Piro S. (ed.) Proceedings-Extended Abstracts of the 6-th International Conference on Archaeological Prospecting. Rome, Italy, September 14-17, 2005. Rome, 2005, p. 66-69.

Крол А.А. Базы колонн из Мемфиса // Шеркова Т.А. (отв. ред.) Культура Египта и стран Средиземноморья в древности и средневековье. Сборник статей, посвященный памяти Т.Н. Савельевой. М.: ЦЕИ РАН, 2009. С. 263-256.

Крол А.А. Хеб-седный бег и проблема локализации «Белых Стен» Мемфиса // Вестник Древней Истории. 3, 2008, 94-110.

Krol A. Topography of Ancient Memphis: Previous Theories and New Data // Endreffy K., GulyАs A. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists. Studia Aegyptiaca XVIII. Budapest. 2007. 281-290.

Krol A., Vinokurov N. A Metallurgical Furnace from Memphis // Barta M., Coppens F., Krejci J. (eds.) Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2005. Prague, 2007, p. 48-55.

Pomogaev O. Egypt’s Hidden Depths // GPS World. November, 2002, p. 18–26.

Иванов С. Археологические исследования в Мемфисе (Египет) // Открытия минувшего: история древности.— М., 2003.— С. 23–27.