Abydos

Abydos, Umm el-Qaab: Earliest royal tombs in Egypt

Important necropolis since early Naqada Period, tombs of the kings of Dynasty 0-2, later the "Mecca" of Pharaonic Egypt.

Location

500 km south of Cairo in the western desert at 1,5 km distance from the cultivation edge

History

	Abydos/Umm el-Qaab, general plan

Important necropolis since early Naqada Period, elite burials since Naqada IIc/d, tombs of the kings of Dynasty 0 - 2. Associated with the cult of Osiris, the god of the dead, since the Middle Kingdom (2000 BC) it became the "Mecca" of Pharaonic Egypt. 

Objectives

Investigation in the architectural development of the early ruler and royal tombs, attribution of the tomb complexes and drawing up of an inventory. Clarification of the chronology and the succession of the kings. Drawing up of a pottery corpus of the pre- to early dynastic period that can be used as a basis for dating pottery types at other places of discovery, due to the unmistakable attributions of the pottery inventories to a succession of tomb complexes or single rulers. Listing of traces of cult activities since the Middle Kingdom.  

History of Research

First excavated by E. Amélineau, 1895-99 reexcavated by W.F. Petrie, 1899-1901 reinvestigations by T.E. Peet, 1911-12 discussion of old excavation reports with regard to the attribution of the tombs and their structure by W. Kaiser in the 1960ies.  

Previous Activities

Since 1977 15 campaigns of 3-5 months by the German Institute of Archaeology investigation of the almost unknown predynastic cemetery U, comprising more than 500 tombs of the Naqada Period (4th mill. BC), among them a series of elite and ruler tombs. Reexcavation of the double chamber tombs of the late predynastic rulers and the tomb complexes of the kings Aha, Athotis I, Dewen and Qa'a (1. Dyn.) and Khasekhemwy (late 2. Dyn.). Small scale investigations at the royal chamber of Wadj, the subsidiary tombs of Djer and Semerkhet (see fig.: Abydos/Umm el-Qaab, general plan). Uncovering of several deposits of offerings for the cult of Osiris.  

Current Work

	Khasekhemwy's tomb

Final investigations in the predynastic cemetery U. Restoration of Dewen's tomb and further uncovering of later deposits to the SW of his tomb. Excavation of the southern part of Khasekhemwy's tomb (last king of the 2nd Dynasty; see fig.: Excavation of the tomb of Khasekhemwy). Documentation and study of finds: pottery, stone vessels, stoppers with seal impressions, and other small objects.  

Methods

All tombs are reexcavated, cleaned and documented in full detail (photographs, drawings of small tombs 1:20, large tombs 1:50).When necessary endangered parts of the tombs are secured. The surrounding of the tombs and other areas of the necropolis hitherto not dealt with are cleaned and mounds of debris removed to detect tombs and deposits that might have been overlooked, as well as traces of building activities. The filling of the tombs as well as the vast mounds of debris in their surrounding are sifted to sort out parts of the tomb equipment. At the same time the finds by Amélineau, Petrie and Peet, distributed among many different museums, are listed as far as possible and are newly documented in order to draw up complete inventories.  

Results

	Tomb of Dewen
	Tomb U-j
	Inscribed labels from tomb U-j

As burial site of the earliest kings - and as presumed from the late 3rd mill. onwards also of the god of the dead Osiris - Abydos was one of the holiest sites in Egypt. The brick-lined tombs lowered into the desert soil of 11 rulers of the 1st and 2nd Dynasty consisted of a big central main chamber for the king (see fig.: Tomb of Dewen) and of up to 200 subsidiary chambers that contained equipment, servants buried with the rulers, and sometimes animals (hounds, lions). The chambers were covered with wooden beams and layers of matts and tiles. On top of each chamber there was a sand tumulus as a symbolic primary hill, of the kind that emerged from the primary flood when the world was created. This form that ensured the continuation of life developed later into the form of the pyramid. In the tombs "false"-exits were detected, aligned towards the opening of a Wadi that was situated in a mountain formation west of the tombs: the entrance to the beyond the resurrected king was supposed to enter.

Surprisingly many pieces of the former tomb equipment are still to be found in their surroundings as well as in the high mounds of debris to be found everywhere. Apart from large quantities of clay and stone vessels, they are mainly stoppers with seal impressions, inscribed labels with extremely interesting historical and administrative data, pieces of ivory belonging to furniture, tools, weapons, toys, jewellery, etc.
The largest part of this equipment was probably already scattered by early tomb robbers or in the Middle Kingdom (c. 1950 BC) and newly deposited when the big chambers were emptied and turned into cult places while searching for Osiris' tomb. The extension of the excavations to the neighbouring predynastic cemetery U, proved since Naqada I, showed that the royal necropolis had a longstanding tradition. Since c. 3400 BC only members of the elite and then only rulers were buried there.

Among the finds from the elite burials, especially tomb U-j (see fig.: Tomb U-j) that can be attributed to a predynastic King Scorpion (around 3200 BC) there is -among other things- the oldest so far known phonetically readable evidence of hieroglyphic writing (on seals, clay vessels, and small inscribed labels (see fig.: Inscribed labels from tomb U-j). They throw a completely new light on the development of the Pharaonic Egyptian "Hochkultur" and at the same time enable the reconstruction of the succession of the predynastic rulers (Dyn. 0) under whose reign both parts of the country, Lower and Upper Egypt, were unified step by step. 

Cooperation

Supreme Council of Antiquities (Egypt) Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Abydos University of Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Abydos 

Contact

Prof. Dr. phil. Günter Dreyer

Ägyptologie
Telefon: +20-(0)2-2735-1460, - 2735-2321
Telefax: +20-(0)2-2737-0770
Email: gdegypt@hotmail.com

Dr. des. Ulrike Fauerbach

Bauforschung
Telefon: +20-(0)2-2735-1460, -2735-2321
Telefax: +20-(0)2-2737-0770
Email: fauerbach@kairo.dainst.org

Dr. phil. Ulrich Hartung

Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Telefon: +20-(0)2-2735-1460, - 2735-2321
Telefax: +20-(0)2-2737-0770
Email: hartung@kairo.dainst.org

Sponsors

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (since 1988), Gesellschaft der Freunde des DAI (Theodor-Wiegand-Gesellschaft), several private sponsors (for the excavation house and the depot).  

Bibliography

Günter Dreyer, Umm el-Qaab I, Das prädynastische Königsgrab U-j und seine frühen Schriftzeugnisse, AV 86, Mainz 1998. Ulrich Hartung, Umm el-Qaab II, Importkeramik aus dem Friedhof U in Abydos (Umm el-Qaab) und die Beziehungen Ägyptens zu Vorderasien im 4. Jahrtausend v. Chr., AV 92, Mainz 2001.Preliminary Reports in: Mitteilungen des DAI Kairo (MDAIK), Vol. 35, 38, 49, 52, 54, 56.G. Dreyer, Recent Discoveries in the U-Cemetery at Abydos, in: E. van den Brink ed., The Nile Delta in Transition, Jerusalem 1992, 293-299.G. Dreyer, A Hundred Years at Abydos, in: Egyptian Archaeology 3, 1993, 10-12.G. Dreyer, Abydos, Umm el-Qaab, in: K. A. Bard ed., Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, London/New York 1999,109-114.G. Dreyer, Egypt's earliest historical event, in: Egyptian Archaeology 16, 2000, 6-7.