El Kab (or better Elkab) is an
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient E ...
ian site on the east bank of the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal about south of
Luxor
Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''.
Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...
(ancient
Thebes). El Kab was called Nekheb in the
Egyptian language
The Egyptian language or Ancient Egyptian ( ) is a dead Afro-Asiatic language that was spoken in ancient Egypt. It is known today from a large corpus of surviving texts which were made accessible to the modern world following the decipher ...
( ,
Late Coptic: ), a name that refers to
Nekhbet
Nekhbet (; also spelt Nekhebit) is an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb (her name meaning ''of Nekheb''). Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron d ...
, the goddess depicted as a white
vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
.
[Limme, Luc. "Elkab, 1937–2007: Seventy Years of Belgian Archaeological Research." British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan (2008): 15-50. The British Museum. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. .] In Greek it was called Eileithyias polis, "city of the goddess
Eileithyia
Eileithyia or Ilithyiae or Ilithyia (; grc-gre, Εἰλείθυια; (''Eleuthyia'') in Crete, also (''Eleuthia'') or (''Elysia'') in Laconia and Messene, and (''Eleuthō'') in literature)Nilsson Vol I, p. 313 was the Greek goddess of ch ...
".
El Kab consists of
prehistoric and
ancient Egyptian settlements,
rock-cut tomb
A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...
s of the early
Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 BC), remains of temples dating from the
Early Dynastic period (3100–2686 BC) to the
Ptolemaic Kingdom (332–30 BC), as well as part of the walls of a
Coptic monastery
Coptic monasticism is said to be the original form of monasticism as St. Anthony of Egypt became the first one to be called "monk" (Gr: μοναχός) and he was the first to establish a Christian monastery which is now known as the Monastery ...
. This site was first scientifically excavated by
James Quibell
James Edward Quibell (11 November 1867 – 5 June 1935) was a British Egyptologist.
Life
Quibbell was born in Newport, Shropshire. He married the Scottish artist and archaeologist Annie Abernethie Pirie in 1900.Bierbrier, M. L. 2012. ''Who Was ...
at the end of the nineteenth century, but other archaeologists have spent time at this site include Frederick William Green, Archibald Henry Sayce, Joseph John Tylor, and Somers Clarke. However, Belgian archaeologists took over the project in 1937, and it has remained in their hands since then. Much of the research done at this site took place within the town enclosure of El-Kab. However, since the 1980s the work has shifted more to the north and north east of the town.
Description of site
El-Kab is in Upper Egypt, located on the east side of the Nile River, almost to the opposite of Hierakonpolis (on the other side of the river) and about fifty miles above Thebes. With the way the river meandered and eroded the rocks and sand, the Nile River is almost level with the town, but according to Somers Clarke in his journal article “El-Kab and the Great Wall,” “in its early youth the town must have stood well above the flood waters.” The site could be described as a bay between sandstone cliffs to the north and south, and this same sandstone was used to build the temples found in this site.
[Clarke, Somers. "El-Kâb and the Great Wall." The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 7 (1921): 54-79..]
First excavation
During Quibell's first excavation, most of the work was done in the cemetery east of the town. There Quibell found many buried skeletons, all with their heads pointing towards the north, and none of them mummified. This being the earliest cemetery at the site, pots, bead, paint slabs and mirrors were found in these burials, but no papyrus or text were found anywhere.
Ancient Nekheb
The walled settlement of Nekheb was one of the first urban centres of the Early Dynastic period, and for a short time in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) it eclipsed in the city of
Nekhen
Nekhen ( egy, nḫn, ); in grc, Ἱεράκων πόλις Hierakonpolis ( either: City of the Hawk, or City of the Falcon, a reference to Horus or ''Hierakōn polis'' "Hawk City" in arz, الكوم الأحمر, el-Kōm el-Aḥmar, lit=the ...
or Hierakonpolis on the opposite bank, becoming the capital of the
third nome of Upper Egypt. Its massive mudbrick walls, dating to the
Late Period (747–332 BC) and thought to have been built by
Nectanebo II
Nectanebo II ( Egyptian: ; grc-gre, Νεκτανεβώς ) was the last native ruler of Ancient Egypt, as well as the third and last pharaoh from the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt. He reigned from 358 to 340 BC.
Under Nectanebo II, Egypt prosper ...
as a defensive measure, are still largely preserved. They enclose an area of about .
Near the centre of the Nekheb are the remains of sandstone temples dedicated to the
ancient Egyptian deities
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural f ...
Nekhbet
Nekhbet (; also spelt Nekhebit) is an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb (her name meaning ''of Nekheb''). Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron d ...
and
Thoth
Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...
that date primarily to the
Eighteenth to
Thirtieth Dynasties (1550–343 BCE), but the original foundation of the temple of Nekhbet almost certainly dates back to the late fourth millennium BC.
Necropolis
The necropolis has some important tombs, showing the early history of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the reunification of Egypt. The rock tombs of the provincial governors of Nekheb in the
New Kingdom include those of
Sobeknakht II
Sobeknakht II was an ancient Egyptian local Governor at El-Kab and a supporter of the Theban 16th or 17th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period.
Biography
Not much is known about Sobeknakht's life. He was the son of Sobeknakht I as w ...
an important official whose saved the Theban
Sixteenth or
Seventeenth Dynasty
The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period, approximately from 1580 to 1550 BC. Its mainly Theba ...
from near destruction by invading forces from the
Kingdom of Kush
The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in wh ...
,
Ahmose, son of Ebana
Ahmose, son of Ebana, served in the Egyptian military under the pharaohs Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, and Thutmose I. His autobiography has survived and is intact on the wall of his tomb and has proven a valuable source of information on the late 17t ...
, an admiral in the wars of liberation against the
Hyksos
Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC).
T ...
rulers (''c.'' 1550 BCE), and
Setau
Setau was the Viceroy of Kush in the second half of Ramesses II's reign. Contemporary records show that Setau served in this position from Year 38 until at least Year 63 of Ramesses II's reign. Setau was "a graduate of the royal school" and alrea ...
, a priest during the reign of
Ramesses II
Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as ...
(1184–1153 BCE). The style of the early Eighteenth Dynasty wallpaintings anticipates that of the first New Kingdom nobles' tombs at
Thebes.
Ptolemaic and Roman eras
During the Greco-Roman period, the town flourished and became known as Eileithyias polis ( gr, Ειλείθυιας πόλις, la, Lucinae Civitas).This village may have thrived for a little while, but it seems that in 380, the city was demolished, either from military or political events. All that remains of the actual buildings are the lower parts of the walls of the houses, but luckily many of the artifacts that would have been inside the houses remained. Coins from the first to fourth century were recovered along with
Demotic Greek and
ostraca
An ostracon ( Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ...
.
Walls
One of the discoveries at the site that Quibell questioned the most during his dig was the walls that surrounded the Serdab. However, much more research has been done since then, and according to a journal article published by the "British Museum of Ancient Egypt and Sudan", the walls date to about the 30th Dynasty, or about the 4th century BC. In 1921, an article titled "El-Kab and the Great Wall" was published in "The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology", and it explained further the three different sets of walls and what they were used for. The first set of walls (the word set being used to describe a double range of walls) "encloses part of the ancient town, second a double range
nclosesthe temple group, and lastly, most conspicuous of the three, the great and massive wall
utsacross the site of the ancient town."
This last wall mentioned surrounds a plot of land that had never actually been inhabited. After some time, because the movement of the Nile River towards the city had threatened to destroy the construction, the original wall around the city could no longer be useful.
The Egyptians had to construct a new wall, farther from the Nile, so that the people could continue to build their houses and live in an area safe from destruction. James Breasted also mentions these walls in an account he wrote of the site in 1897. In his article he states with admiration that, "it is the only city of remote antiquity the walls of which still stand almost intact. From the cliffs back of the town one may look down upon it, stretched out beneath one's feet, and almost see the majestic temple, surrounded by the beautiful villas of the feudal lords, whose soldiery once manned the now silent walls." He then goes on to describe these walls as sun baked brick that are laid thirty-eight feet thick, and surround an enclosure two thousand feet long and fifteen hundred feet wide.
Ancient campsites
In 1967 Pierre Vermeersch discovered a series of well-stratified
Epipaleolithic campsites. Radiocarbon-dated to ''c.''6400-5980 BC, these are the type-sites of the Elkabian
microlithic
A microlith is a small Rock (geology), stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 35,000 to 3,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia an ...
industry, filling a gap in the prehistoric cultural sequence of Egypt between the
Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...
(''c.'' 10,000 BC) and the earliest
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
(''c.'' 5500 BC).
Ancient texts
Since the 1980s, even more discoveries have been made. The surrounding hills are inscribed with
petroglyphs
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
that range in time period, from Predynastic to Islamic times, not to mention hieroglyphics that also vary in date (but for the most part were written during the 6th dynasty). At first, many thought these inscriptions to be similar to modern day graffiti – random phrases written by passerby and travelers. However, once further studied, it was realized that these phrases are actually short texts that mention the inhabitants of the town. This is very interesting, because it tells us that Egyptians took note of who lived in what villages, or at least who lived in El-Kab. Of course, these inscriptions are only dated from the Sixth Dynasty, but it still tells us a little bit about what they valued.
[Limme, Luc. "Elkab, 1937–2007: Seventy Years of Belgian Archaeological Research." British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan (2008): 15-50. The British Museum. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. . page 20]
See also
*
List of ancient Egyptian sites
This is a list of ancient Egyptian sites, throughout all of Egypt and Nubia. Sites are listed by their classical name whenever possible, if not by their modern name, and lastly with their ancient name if no other is available.
Nomes
A nom ...
References
Bibliography
* P. Derchain and P.Vermeersch, ''Elkab'', 2 vols (Brussels and Louvain, 1971-8).
*J.E Quibell, ''El-Kab'' (London, 1898).
* by
James E. Quibell (1898 account of archeological expedition)
*P. Vermeersch, 'L'Elkabien. Une nouvelle industrie epipaleolithique an Elkab en Haute Egypte, sa stratigraphic, sa typologie'. ''CdE'' 45 (1970)
45-68.* Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson, ''The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt'', 92-3.
{{Authority control
Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Egypt
Archaeological sites in Egypt
Roman sites in Egypt
Former populated places in Egypt
19th-century archaeological discoveries