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El Lahun

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El Lahun (Arabic: اللاهون El Lāhūn, Coptic: ⲗⲉϩⲱⲛⲉ alt. Illahun, Lahun, or Kahun (the latter being a neologism coined by archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie) is a town in Faiyum, Egypt founded by Senusret II. The Pyramid of Senusret II (Greek: Sesostris II) is located near the modern town, and is often called the Pyramid of Lahun. The site was occupied into the late Thirteenth Dynasty, and then again in the New Kingdom, when there were large land reclamation schemes in the area. The ancient name of the site was rꜣ-ḥn.t, literally, "Mouth (or Opening) of the Canal"). It was known as Ptolemais Hormos (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῒς ὅρμος, romanized: port of Ptolemy) in Ptolemaic Egypt.[1] There are multiple areas at El Lahun including the Pyramid of Senwosret II, cemeteries, the Valley temple, and the town of Kahun. It contains many artifacts of daily life from the Middle Kingdom and evidence of administrative procedures seen on papyri and clay sealings.

Excavation History

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El Lahun was initially excavated by William Flinders Petrie in 1889-1890. He mapped the town of Kahun, located the pyramid's entrance, and found many objects of daily life and went back in 1920 to continue his work.[2] Ludwig Borchardt had also worked there in 1899 recording the architecture in Kahun.[3] From 1989 to 1997 egyptologist Nicholas B. Millet worked there with the University of Toronto.[4] The most current excavations and work at Lahun are being done by Zoltan Horvath and a Hungarian team.[5]

Also found in the town were the Kahun papyri, comprising about 1000 fragments, covering legal and medical matters.[2] Re-excavation of the area in 2009 by Egyptian archaeologists revealed a cache of pharaonic-era mummies in brightly painted wooden coffins in the sand-covered desert rock surrounding the pyramid.[6]

El Lahun Layout

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Pyramids

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Pyramid of Senusret II at Lahun

The pyramid at Lahun is dedicated to King Senwosret II. It is located west of the town and the first entrance discovered was found on the south side farther away from the pyramid than expected.[7] Like the other Twelfth Dynasty pyramids in the Faiyum, the Pyramid of Lahun is made of mudbrick, but here the core of the pyramid consists of a network of stone walls that were infilled by mudbrick.petrie p1

The pyramid stands on an artificial terrace cut from sloping ground. On the north side eight rectangular blocks of stone were left to serve as mastabas, probably for the burial of personages associated with the royal court. In front of each mastaba is a narrow shaft leading down to the burial chamber underneath.[8] Also on the north side is the Queen's Pyramid or subsidiary pyramid believed to have been for Queen Atmuneferu based on the inscription.[9] Within the pyramid multiple tombs were discovered by Petrie during his excavations.

Cemeteries

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There have been many cemeteries found between the pyramid and the town. There appears to be a mixture of elite burials and pit burials depending on the cemetery. In the Bashkatib cemetery, there have been multiple types of burials found: open graves, shallow shaft tombs, stairway tombs, and deep shaft tombs.[10] Abdel Rahman el-Aydi found four with an Egyptian mission. They mostly date to the Middle Kingdom like the rest of the site,[11] but there have been ones that date to the Roman period.[12]

Valley Temple

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The Valley temple at Lahun is located slightly southwest of the town. The temple was most likely used for the royal mortuary cult of Senswosret II. It no longer exists as it lays under modern day cultivation. Originally, it would have been connected to the pyramid, but there is no evidence of a causeway connecting the two areas.[13] There have also been papyri found associated with the temple and the mortuary cult and even a day-book where "letters to and from the mayor were copied".[14]

Town layout

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Map of Kahun by Petrie

The village of el Lahun, also known as Kahun, is believed to have been inhabited by the workers who both constructed the pyramid and then served the funerary cult of the king. The village is about 800 meters from the pyramid and lies in the desert a short distance from the edge of cultivation. The town was orthogonally planned, with mudbrick town walls on three sides. The fourth wall may have collapsed and been washed away during the annual inundation or covered due to the cultivation in the area. The town was rectangular in shape and was divided internally by a mudbrick wall running north to south that was added after the initial eastern part of the town was built.[15] This wall divided about one third of the area of the town and created a western section with rows of back-to-back, side-by-side single room houses.[16] The eastern section of the town contains mansions, medium sized houses, and small houses similar to the ones in the western section. The mansions are located in the north part of the eastern section and there are seven in total. Four are along the northern wall and the other three are across the street. The medium and small houses are located east and south of the mansions in the eastern section.

However, all the buildings found were demolished in the process of excavation, which proceeded in long strips down the length of the village. When the first strip had been cleared, mapped and drawn, the next strip was excavated and the spoil dumped in the previous strip. As a result, there is very little to be seen on the site today. The main function "has usually been linked to the funerary cult of Senwosret II [ie. Senusret II] – whose nearby pyramid complex has been understood as the main reason for its existence – housing administrators, as well as temple staff for the upkeep of his royal mortuary cult."[8]

Petrie's initial excavation was remarkable for the number, range, and quality of objects of everyday life (including tools) that were found in the houses. According to Dr Rosalie David's Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt, "the quantity, range and type of articles of everyday use which were left behind in the houses may indeed suggest that the departure [of the workmen] was sudden and unpremeditated" (p.199). Among the artifacts found there were wooden boxes buried beneath the floors of many of the houses. When opened they were found to contain the skeletons of infants, sometimes two or three in a box, and aged only a few months at death. Petrie reburied these human remains in the desert.

Houses

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In Kahun there are three main types of houses found: mansions, medium size houses, and smaller homes. The mansions are about 2,700 m2, medium are 100-168 m2, and small houses are 50 m2 or smaller. Mansions were significantly larger than the other houses that most of the workers and villagers lived in. Mansions also contained granaries on one side of the building that could hold enough grain for the entire town.[17] They are located on the north edge of the town and the small and medium ones are in the western section, and south and east of the mansions. The houses located in the western section are smaller and much closer together than ones south and east of the mansions.[18] These mansions were also separated into smaller units within that may have housed the entire family, the staff, and administrative activities.[19]

Multiple artifacts have been found in these houses. In the smaller houses papyrus and copper tools have been found which can tell us a little about what the people who lived here did.[18] There are also administrative sections in the mansions that contained papyri detailing administrative duties and dealings as well as names of individuals.[14]

Acropolis

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A major feature of the town was the so-called "acropolis" building. The acropolis is roughly the same size as the other mansions at Lahun and is located at the end of the main street to the west. It is next to the four mansions on the north side. It was most likely made for the mayor based on the seals and seal impressions found.[20] The platform the mudbrick building was built on top of was carved out of stone that already existed; it was only carved down to create the platform. It rests above the rest of the town on this platform.[13]

Discoveries

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12th Dynasty medical papyrus found at El Lahun
Limestone slab showing the cartouche of Senusret II and name and image of goddess Nekhbet. From Mastaba 4, north side of Senusret II Pyramid at Lahun, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London

Papyri and Clay Sealings

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The papyri have been found in multiple areas of Lahun and are on different topics: administrative dealings, the town, and the temple. They had to do with agriculture, temple proceedings, and town organization.[13] Temple documents discuss the daily occurrences at the temple and important information about the temple. There were also census lists that listed the people who lived in the town including soldiers, servants, scribes, and members of certain households. Among the administrative papyri there were legal proceedings recorded including ones on debt.[21] Petrie was the first to propose that the seals and papyri found in the town of Kahun were for administrative purposes which was later supported by other finds including those in 1899 by Ludwig Borchardt.[22]

The clay sealings were found

Mummies

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It was announced by the Supreme Council of Antiquities on 26 April 2009 that an anthology of pharaonic-era mummies in vividly painted wooden coffins were uncovered near the Lahun pyramid in Egypt. The sarcophagi were decorated with bright hues of green, red and white bearing images of their occupants. Archaeologists unearthed dozens of mummies, thirty of which were very well preserved with prayers purposed to help the deceased in the afterlife inscribed upon them. The site, once enveloped in slabs of white limestone, revealed that it could possibly be thousands of years older than previously thought.[23]

Experts think that a new understanding of Egyptian funerary architecture and customs of the Middle Kingdom all the way to the Roman era could be learned from the exploration of the dozens of tombs encompassing the site near the Lahun, Egypt’s southernmost pyramid. "The tombs were cut on the rock itself, and they vary in architectural designs," said archaeologist Abdel Rahman El-Aydi, head of excavations at the site. Some of the tombs were erected on top of gravesites from earlier eras. Ayedi told reporters: "The prevailing idea was that this site has been established by Senusret II, the fourth king of the 12th Dynasty. But in light of our discovery, I think we are going to change this theory, and soon we will announce another discovery." He said that teams had made a discovery of an artefact that was dated earlier than the 12th Dynasty, but did not include any specifics on the item and promised an official statement would be made within days.[24]

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities announced on 23 May 2010 that 57 ancient Egyptian tombs were discovered in an area close to Lahun. Most of the graves contained an ornamental painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside. Some of the tombs date to the Egyptian First and Second dynasties, as far back as 2750 BC.[25] Several of the sites were decorated with hieroglyphics that the ancients believed would help the deceased travel through the afterlife.[26]

Twelve of the tombs were found to belong to the Eighteenth Dynasty, which ruled Egypt during the second millennium BC. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass said the mummies that date to the 18th Dynasty are covered in linen decorated with religious texts from the Book of the Dead and scenes of ancient Egyptian deities. The discovery might help experts have a better understanding of the ancient Egyptian religions. Some of the tombs are decorated with religious texts that ancient Egyptians believed would help the deceased cross over to the underworld, said Abdel Rahman El-Aydi, chief archaeologist of project.[27] El-Aydi said one of the oldest tombs is almost completely intact, with all of its funerary equipment and a wooden sarcophagus containing a mummy wrapped in linen.[28]

In 31 of the tombs, dating back to around 2030–1840 B.C., during the Middle Kingdom era, archaeologists found scenes of different ancient Egyptian deities such as Horus, Amun, Hathor, and Khnum decorated on the tombs.[29]

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to GretaVanGeek/El Lahun.

Bibliography

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  • Brunton, Guy. 1920. Lahun I: The Treasure, London: Bernard Quartich.
  • Kemp, Barry. 2018. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, 3rd ed., London.
  • Petrie, W. M. Flinders, Guy Brunton, and M. A. Murray. 1923. Lahun II, London: Bernard Quartich.
  • Petrie, W. M. Flinders. 1891. Illahun, Kahun, and Gurob, London.
  • Moeller, Nadine. 2016. The Archaeology of Urbanism in Ancient Egypt, Cambridge, England: University of Cambridge Press.

References

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  1. ^ Peust, Carsten. "Die Toponyme vorarabischen Ursprungs im modernen Ägypten" (PDF). p. 57.
  2. ^ a b Petrie, W. M. Flinders (1891). Illahun, Kahun, and Gurob (published 1974).
  3. ^ Borchardt, Ludwig (1899). "Der zweite Papyrusfund von Kahn und die zeitliche Festlegung des mittleren Reiches des ägyptischen Geschichte". Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. 37: 89–103.
  4. ^ Frey, Rosa A., and James E. Knudstad (2008). "The Re-examination of Selected Architectural Remains at El-Lahun". Journal of the Society of the Studies of Egyptian Archaeology. 35: 27–81.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Horvath, Zoltan (2009). "El-Lahun Survey Project: The Archaeological Mission of the Museum of Fine Arts". Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts: 186–190 – via Academia.
  6. ^ Johnson, C. Cache of mummies unearthed at Egypt's Lahun pyramid. April 26, 2009.
  7. ^ Petrie, W. M. Flinders (1891). Illahun, Kahun, and Gurob (published 1974). p. 1.
  8. ^ a b Nadine Moeller, The Foundation and Purpose of the Settlement at Lahun during the Middle Kingdom: A New Evaluation in R.K. Ritner (ed.), Essays for the Library of Seshat. Studies Presented to Janet H. Johnson on the occasion of her 70th birthday, SOAC 70, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, (2018), p.187.
  9. ^ Petrie, W. M. Flinders (1891). Illahun, Kahun, and Gurob (published 1974). p. 5.
  10. ^ Petrie, W. M. Flinders; Brunton, Guy; Murray, M.A. (1923). Lahun II. London: Bernard Quartich. pp. 21–23.
  11. ^ Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  12. ^ Petrie, W. M. Flinders; Brunton, Guy; Murray, M.A. (1923). Lahun II. London: Bernard Quartich. p. 24.
  13. ^ a b c Kemp, Barry (2018). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (3rd ed.). Routledge. p. 213.
  14. ^ a b Kemp, Barry (2018). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (3rd ed.). Routledge. pp. 218–219.
  15. ^ Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  16. ^ "A Planned Town of the Middle Kingdom: Kahun." Arts and Humanities Through the Eras. Gale. 2005. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2019-08-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  18. ^ a b Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–287. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  19. ^ Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 367. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  20. ^ Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  21. ^ Kemp, Barry. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (3rd ed.). Routledge. pp. 218–220.
  22. ^ Moeller, Nadine (2018). The archaeology of urbanism in ancient Egypt: from the predynastic period to the end of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-1-107-43908-5.
  23. ^ redOrbit (2009-04-27). "New Cache Of Mummies Discovered In Egypt - Redorbit". Redorbit. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  24. ^ redOrbit (2009-04-27). "New Cache Of Mummies Discovered In Egypt - Redorbit". Redorbit. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  25. ^ "Ancient Egyptian Tomb Revealed". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
  26. ^ [1] Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ [2] Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ [3] Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ [4] Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
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