Books by Frédéric Colin
CENiM 35, 2023
Claude Traunecker, qui fête ses quatre-vingts ans, a longuement arpenté la région thébaine durant... more Claude Traunecker, qui fête ses quatre-vingts ans, a longuement arpenté la région thébaine durant sa carrière. L’homme des temples – tels Karnak (où il a vécu et œuvré seize années), Coptos, el-Qʿala, Chenhour ou le Qasr el-Agoûz – tente depuis quelques années de résoudre les énigmes de la célèbre tombe de Padiaménopé. L’archéologue, spécialiste des cryptes, des ouâbets ou des chenâ-ouâb, est également philologue et musicien. L’historien des époques tardives, qui s’est rapidement imposé comme l’un des meilleurs connaisseurs de la période amarnienne, est aussi un spécialiste de la religion égyptienne, expert ès prêtrises et rites thébains, et inventeur de la « théologie pariétale » ou des « rites de substitution ». Maniant avec une égale aisance les ressources de la chimie comme celles de la physique, il sait comme nul autre les mettre à profit pour étudier une collection d’objets ou les pierres d’un temple. Ce spécialiste des matériaux, enfin, sait être chercheur aussi bien qu’enseignant.
Ce volume rassemble les contributions que ses collègues, amis, anciens élèves et proches ont voulu lui dédier en témoignage de leur amitié et de leur admiration pour son immense contribution à l’égyptologie. Il présente trente-cinq articles scientifiques et des réflexions relevant d’un registre plus personnel : des témoignages inédits sur la vie d’un savant qui fut aussi un aventurier spéléologue – et pas seulement dans les souterrains de la tombe de Padiaménopé (TT 33).
Avec la participation de :
Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë, Sydney Aufrère, Maryvonne Chartier-Raymond, Marie-Astrid Calmettes, Jean-Luc Chappaz, Frédéric Colin, Philippe Collombert, Luc Delvaux, Maria-Theresia Derchain-Urtel, Didier Devauchelle, Sylvie Donnat, Florence Doyen, Sophie Duberson, Silvia Einaudi, Marc Étienne, Jean-Luc Fissolo, Alain Fortier, Hanane Gaber, Luc Gabolde, Aude Gräzer Ohara, Cassandre Hartenstein, Françoise Labrique, François Larché, Françoise Laroche-Traunecker, Didier Laroche, Guy Lecuyot, Bernard Mathieu, Chantal Nivet-Sambin, Laure Pantalacci, Olivier Perdu, Isabelle Régen, Patricia Rigault-Déon, Lionel Schmitt, Annie Schweitzer, Pierre Tallet, Claude Vandersleyen (†), Daniel A. Werning.
624 pages
https://www.kheops-egyptologie.fr/Editions/editions.html
https://www.enim-egyptologie.fr/?page=cahiers
Claude Traunecker, who is celebrating his eightieth birthday, has travelled extensively in the Theban region during his career. This man of temples - such as Karnak (where he lived and worked for sixteen years), Coptos, el-Qʿala, Chenhour and the Qasr el-Agoûz - has been trying for some years to solve the enigmas of the famous tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33). The archaeologist, a specialist in crypts, wabets and shena-ouab, is also a philologist and musician. The historian of the late periods, who quickly established himself as one of the best experts on the Amarna period, is also a specialist in Egyptian religion, an expert in Theban priesthoods and rites, and the inventor of "parietal theology" or "substitution rites". Equally adept at using the resources of chemistry and physics, he knew how to put them to good use when studying a collection of objects or the stones in a temple. Finally, this materials specialist knows how to be a researcher as well as a teacher.
This volume brings together contributions that his colleagues, friends, former students and relatives have dedicated to him as a token of their friendship and admiration for his immense contribution to Egyptology. It presents thirty-five scientific articles and reflections on a more personal level: previously unpublished accounts of the life of a scholar who was also an adventurous caver - and not just in the underground passages of the tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33).
Résumé : La première partie de la thèse consiste en une étude sociolinguistique de l'onomastique ... more Résumé : La première partie de la thèse consiste en une étude sociolinguistique de l'onomastique associée aux populations machouach et rebou présentes en Egypte à partir du Nouvel Empire (anthroponymes, ethnonymes, toponymes). Les données fournies par les documents hiéroglyphiques sont comparées à celles qui proviennent des inscriptions libyques, puniques, latines, latino-puniques et grecques de l'Antiquité Classique. Il est ainsi démontré qu'une parenté linguistique et culturelle rattache les Machouach et les Rebou des sources égyptiennes aux Libyes des sources grecques. De la sorte, les premières traces d'une langue Libyque sont mises en évidence près de mille ans avant l'apparition du Libyque dans la documentation classique et un segment entier de l'histoire des langues afro-asiatiques se découvre à nos yeux : j'ai donné à cette « nouvelle » langue le nom de « vieux libyque ».
La deuxième partie, présentée séparément pour la commodité du lecteur, prend la forme d'un onomasticon prosopographique : les informations biographiques et historiques concernant tous les personnages porteurs d'un nom vieux Libyque y sont rassemblées, de même que les graphies et variantes graphiques de leurs anthroponymes (en hiéroglyphes, en démotique et en transcription grecque).
La troisième partie exploite les données rassemblées dans les sections précédentes afin d'établir l'histoire des peuples lymphokines en Egypte et dans les régions voisines. Ceux-ci entrent en contact avec la vallée du Nil au moins dès le XVe/XIVe siècle. Leurs mouvements de population sont à l'origine de conflits importants sous les souverains ramessides, tandis que certains éléments s'intègrent progressivement dans la campagne égyptienne. L'influence des grands chefs libyens augmente pendant la XXIe dynastie, parvient à cumuler la grande chefferie et le pouvoir pharaonique. Des éléments d'origine libycophone occupent les principaux rouages de l'Etat de la seconde moitié du Xe siècle au VIIIe siècle. Durant cette période, les Libyens adoptent les formes matérielles, institutionnelles et cultuelles de la culture égyptienne, mais ils conservent en substrat certains éléments religieux. Ce phénomène, jusqu'à présent parfaitement inconnu, se concrétise à l'occasion par un processus d'interpretatio Libyca. Sous la XXVIe dynastie, le pouvoir des grands chefs diminue, ainsi que la vitalité de l'onomastique vieux Libyque parmi les hauts fonctionnaires de l'Etat. Des traditions locales se maintiennent néanmoins très tard, notamment jusque dans la Thèbes romaine, au IIe siècle de notre ère. Une dernière partie étudie les monuments de l'oasis de Siwa (désert Libyque), où une dynastie libyenne locale construisit le sanctuaire d'Ammon, où Alexandre le Grand ira procéder à sa fameuse consultation oraculaire. Considéré comme un Libys par les Grecs, le premier grand chef connu sur place porte un vieux nom Libyque, et permet ainsi de rattacher définitivement le dossier égyptologique au dossier d'histoire antique : c'est le missing link.
La conclusion élargit la perspective en retraçant la proto-histoire des peuples libycophones dans l'ensemble de l'Afrique du Nord à la lumière des recherches résumées ici.
Résumé : La première partie de la thèse consiste en une étude sociolinguistique de l'onomastique ... more Résumé : La première partie de la thèse consiste en une étude sociolinguistique de l'onomastique associée aux populations machouach et rebou présentes en Egypte à partir du Nouvel Empire (anthroponymes, ethnonymes, toponymes). Les données fournies par les documents hiéroglyphiques sont comparées à celles qui proviennent des inscriptions libyques, puniques, latines, latino-puniques et grecques de l'Antiquité Classique. Il est ainsi démontré qu'une parenté linguistique et culturelle rattache les Machouach et les Rebou des sources égyptiennes aux Libyes des sources grecques. De la sorte, les premières traces d'une langue Libyque sont mises en évidence près de mille ans avant l'apparition du Libyque dans la documentation classique et un segment entier de l'histoire des langues afro-asiatiques se découvre à nos yeux : j'ai donné à cette « nouvelle » langue le nom de « vieux libyque ». La deuxième partie, présentée séparément pour la commodité du lecteur, prend la forme d'un onomasticon prosopographique : les informations biographiques et historiques concernant tous les personnages porteurs d'un nom vieux Libyque y sont rassemblées, de même que les graphies et variantes graphiques de leurs anthroponymes (en hiéroglyphes, en démotique et en transcription grecque). La troisième partie exploite les données rassemblées dans les sections précédentes afin d'établir l'histoire des peuples lymphokines en Egypte et dans les régions voisines. Ceux-ci entrent en contact avec la vallée du Nil au moins dès le XVe/XIVe siècle. Leurs mouvements de population sont à l'origine de conflits importants sous les souverains ramessides, tandis que certains éléments s'intègrent progressivement dans la campagne égyptienne. L'influence des grands chefs libyens augmente pendant la XXIe dynastie, parvient à cumuler la grande chefferie et le pouvoir pharaonique. Des éléments d'origine libycophone occupent les principaux rouages de l'Etat de la seconde moitié du Xe siècle au VIIIe siècle. Durant cette période, les Libyens adoptent les formes matérielles, institutionnelles et cultuelles de la culture égyptienne, mais ils conservent en substrat certains éléments religieux. Ce phénomène, jusqu'à présent parfaitement inconnu, se concrétise à l'occasion par un processus d'interpretatio Libyca. Sous la XXVIe dynastie, le pouvoir des grands chefs diminue, ainsi que la vitalité de l'onomastique vieux Libyque parmi les hauts fonctionnaires de l'Etat. Des traditions locales se maintiennent néanmoins très tard, notamment jusque dans la Thèbes romaine, au IIe siècle de notre ère. Une dernière partie étudie les monuments de l'oasis de Siwa (désert Libyque), où une dynastie libyenne locale construisit le sanctuaire d'Ammon, où Alexandre le Grand ira procéder à sa fameuse consultation oraculaire. Considéré comme un Libys par les Grecs, le premier grand chef connu sur place porte un vieux nom Libyque, et permet ainsi de rattacher définitivement le dossier égyptologique au dossier d'histoire antique : c'est le missing link. La conclusion élargit la perspective en retraçant la proto-histoire des peuples libycophones dans l'ensemble de l'Afrique du Nord à la lumière des recherches résumées ici.
Fr. Colin (dir.), F. Charlier, Fr. Colin, L. Delvaux, L. Hapiot, J.-L. Heim, S. Marchand, M. Mossakowska-Gaubert, J. Van Heesch, avec la collaboration de C. Duvette, Bahariya I. Le fort romain de Qaret el-Toub I, FIFAO 62, 2012. Qaret el-Toub is one of the few sites in the northern Bahariya oasis that escaped the archaeologi... more Qaret el-Toub is one of the few sites in the northern Bahariya oasis that escaped the archaeological surveys conducted by Ahmed Fakhry in the 1930s and 1940s. A graveyard settled on the bedrock was used from the end of the Old Kingdom until the early Roman Period. It belongs to the large ring of cemeteries surrounding the urban area of Psôbthis, ancient chief town of the “Small Oasis”. In the last quarter of the 3rd century AD, military castra were installed over the graves in the incoming area of the caravan routes from the south (Darb el-'Arbayin) and from the northwest (Siwa Oasis). This first volume of the final archaeological reports of the excavations at Qaret el-Toub attempts to identify the nature of the site, to make an assessment of the scientific potential of its archaeological field, and to determine the overall chronology of the history of this oasis fortress, that was built in order to embody locally and to protect the public institutions of the Roman State. As the fort was occupied continuously, from its building under Diocletian and Maximian until the 10th century AD, the sequence of occupation levels which it provides makes it an ideal research field for the study of the transitional period leading from late Antiquity to Arabic times.
Recorded Lectures by Frédéric Colin
https://www.youtube.com/live/vXXMAsXA-qU?si=VLPmsE_wJ5sgdDMR&t=3156, 2024
On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/live/vXXMAsXA-qU?si=VLPmsE_wJ5sgdDMR&t=3156
This lecture pres... more On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/live/vXXMAsXA-qU?si=VLPmsE_wJ5sgdDMR&t=3156
This lecture presents the current state of research on the discovery of a group of coffins belonging to women, buried in a secondary position in the fill of a ramp built by Thutmose III in western Thebes. The five coffins were buried in a single phase and directly covered with debris. Starting from the observation that this arrangement is unusual, the lecture tries to answer two questions: what are these coffins doing in this strange context? Who are these people who deserve such an atypical burial, when at the same time they deserve such a beautiful burial?
To address the second question, the lecture discusses the interpretation of the inscriptions on the coffins, the study of the associated objects, and the study of the characteristics of the skeletons, in order to determine the sex, gender, and social status of the deceased. The study is based on an X-ray procedure carried out in situ using portable equipment.
The answer to the first question is based on the systematic 3D modelling of the stratigraphy, according to the principle of a 'matrioshka doll' pattern. This contextual analysis, combined with the results of excavations by Howard Carter and Ambrose Lansing (for the Metropolitan Museum) before and after the First World War, suggests that the coffins were moved to the ramp in an operation that was both opportunistic and respectful of past generations. Their new location gave them a front row seat to attend the ceremonies of the "Beautiful Festival of the Valley", during which the boats of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were carried along the processional causeway.
In conclusion, the study shows that the decoration of the coffin of one of the deceased, Lady Ta-Abu, highlights women's agency in funerary ritual in a highly original way. While different kinds of gender staging are attested in the decoration of female and male coffins from this period, the artist has entirely feminized the funerary scenes depicted on Lady Ta-Abu's coffin.
Two details are particularly interesting: one could be a representation of a typical "grape offering", in which children receive special attention under the guidance of adult women. The other detail reveals an instance of the same ritual event being documented in both 2D and 3D formats. The 2D representation is of the ideal scene, while the 3D objects are those that were actually left behind by the officiating women.
Papers by Frédéric Colin
Carnet de laboratoire en archéologie égyptienne, 25/08/2024, https://clae.hypotheses.org/4084, 2024
https://clae.hypotheses.org/4084
This paper reports on experiments in digital archaeology focused... more https://clae.hypotheses.org/4084
This paper reports on experiments in digital archaeology focused on two fragments of so-called ‘paddle doll’ figurines dating from the Middle Kingdom but discovered in 2023 in a 7th century context in al-Asasif.
The first objective is to propose a new method of 5D modelling to provide a solution to two classic difficulties encountered in stratigraphic excavations and their publication protocols.
1. Archaeological digging is a destructive procedure where the observer erases data in the same process as he records it.
2. The formal conventions of chronostratigraphic synthesis imagined by Edward C. Harris (1979) based on his experience of excavating settlement contexts known for their complex stratigraphy are in fact a highly abstract tool. Indeed, the disembodiment and decoupling of the so-called ‘Harris matrix’ from other documentary evidence makes it difficult for the reader to falsify (in an epistemological sense) the archaeologist’s interpretation.
The first three dimensions of the 5D model provide a tangible image of the strata that the excavator destroyed as he progressed. The fourth dimension links the ‘Harris matrix’ directly to the corresponding stratigraphic layers, reconnecting it to the rest of the visual documentation of the site and allowing the reader to empirically assimilate and possibly refute the chronological and spatial framework established by the archaeologist. Finally, the fifth dimension offers the possibility of integrating an additional level of typological interpretation in the same virtual space.
The second aim of this article is to present two new examples of female figurines known as ‘paddle dolls’ and to discuss the outcomes and views of a number of important publications that have appeared in the first decades of the twenty-first century. Among others, we will review interesting studies by MORRIS 2011 & 2017, DÍAZ HERNÁNDEZ 2017, and MORENO GARCÍA 2017, whose interpretations of the image we will consider based on a method that distinguishes three different levels of analysis.
1. The denotative level: what do the signs that make up the figurines literally represent?
2. The connotative level: what semantic cluster do these signs belong to in the minds of the Egyptians?
3. The pragmatic level of interpretation, which aims to analyze the specific situation in which the artist has placed his composition of signs to make it perform a particular function, either predicative (to commemorate or convey infor¬mation about something) or performative (to actualize an ontological assertion, a status, a situation or an action). What specific meaning does he ascribe to them in a given context of use?
Colin, Fr., Hartenstein, C., Ali Zeinelabdein, M., Asensi Amoros, V. Bernabeu Sepulcre, N., Guillon, L., Iyer, M., Marchand, S., Martineau, L.,, « Assassif (2023). Le mur de Thoutmosis III et les ateliers de Padiamenopé », BAÉFÉ 2024, https://doi.org/10.4000/11vii. BAÉFÉ, 2024
Excavation report of the 2023 season in al-Asasif. The teaching of Amenemope (new version, from t... more Excavation report of the 2023 season in al-Asasif. The teaching of Amenemope (new version, from the workshops of Padiamenope). The causeway of Thutmose III. The construction of the tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33). The professionals of the death working in the necropolis. A coffin from the workshop of Chelidonia (Champollion, Louvre Museum).
Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 30 juillet 2024. Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire. Me contacter pour toute demande de réutilisation d'un original (que j'accorderai volontiers).
Fr. Colin, « Archéologie et histoire de l'art à la lumière du Skioptikon. Strasbourg, 1893-1915 », in Fr. Colin, S. Donnat, Fr. Laroche-Traunecker et I. Régen (éd.), Au-delà de Karnak. Recueil d'études offert à Claude Traunecker, Montpellier, Paris, 2023, p. 95-115. The aim of this study is to show how the archives of the University of Strasbourg during the Germ... more The aim of this study is to show how the archives of the University of Strasbourg during the German period reveal the strategies that the scholars of the Faculty of Philosophy implemented to modernize the teaching of archaeology and art history in a context of competition with other German universities, thanks to the use of the Skioptikon (aka Projektionsapparat), which at the beginning of the 20th century was considered an inescapable innovation. I can send you the full pdf on individual request.
The inspection report recorded on the Abbott Papyrus during the reign of Ramses IX by a commissio... more The inspection report recorded on the Abbott Papyrus during the reign of Ramses IX by a commission charged with investigating allegations of looting in the Theban necropolis is an Egyptological textbook case. It contains a rare example of a topographical description, which, thanks to the concordance of observations in the text and in the field, can be precisely linked to identifiable facts in the modern Egyptian landscape. This article analyzes about twenty interpretations of the key passage that characterizes the tomb of Amenhotep I. From 1859 to 2023, the authors sometimes succumbed to the temptation of circular validation, combining philological and archaeological information in an attempt to locate the tomb of the oracular king, an exercise that ultimately took the form of an insoluble puzzle. By examining how Egyptian scribes of the Ramesside and Ptolemaic periods normally described hypogeums, the investigation came up with a simple new solution based on the regular functioning of Egyptian syntax and the identification of an entirely common lexicon. After overcoming the ancient philological obstacle, the study concludes that the configuration and dimensions described in the Abbott papyrus correspond exactly to the longitudinal axis of Theban Tomb 320, where the mummy of Amenhotep I was discovered among the many secondary burials of the so-called "royal cache". Therefore, it is necessary to revise a number of archaeological hypotheses that have been previously constructed for the interpretation of important monuments at Dra Abou el-Naga (tombs AN B, K93.11), at Deir el-Bahari, and upstream of the Valley of the Kings (KV 39). Full pdf on individual request.
Post-excavation studies carried out in 2022-2023 on the basis of photogrammetric surveys produced... more Post-excavation studies carried out in 2022-2023 on the basis of photogrammetric surveys produced during the 2021 excavation campaign have yielded an important result for the history of the first private funerary monuments of the New Kingdom in the Theban necropolis. Two fragments of painted plaster reused in a secondary position in the construction of a ramp built towards the end of the reign of Thutmose III have been linked to the decorative typology of two of the earliest mortuary chapels dating from the beginning of Dynasty 18: the tomb of Tetiki (TT15) and that of Tetiankh. In addition to shedding early and rare light on the lost tomb of a senior member of the royal entourage, this article also aims to test a method of presentation and publication based on 3D digital models of artefacts and archaeological contexts.
By proceeding to a new translation of the displacement records inscribed on the sarcophagi of Set... more By proceeding to a new translation of the displacement records inscribed on the sarcophagi of Seti I, Rameses I and Rameses II discovered in TT 320, this article aims at renewing the philological, archaeological and anthropological interpretation of these texts, which shed a particularly interesting light on the ritual and oracular procedures surrounding the secondary burials of royal mummies. An attempt is made to identify the meaning of the mysterious term "qȝy" of Inhapi through demotic parallels. The logics of the underlying oracular procedure are investigated with respect to the approval or disapproval of the deity, which leads to a discussion of the interpretation of key passages in the Tanite statue of Osorkon II and of oracular amuletic decrees. The author of the text quoting an oracle on the sarcophagi used a specular syntax, which repeats, mutatis mutandis, the pattern of oracular questions formulated on hieratic ostraca from Deir el-Medina. Cross-checking this analysis with archaeological facts, the study concludes that the concept of "cache" is inadequate for the purposes of the comparative anthropology of necropolises and that the taphonym "qȝy of Inhapi" did refer to TT 320. In this dynastic multiple burial, each stage of the clustering process is likely to have combined primary and secondary burials, simultaneous and sequential deposits.
Recollecta Ægyptiaca, 2022
https://recaeg.hypotheses.org/1200.
Publication of a stone sphinx statuette, which was bought by... more https://recaeg.hypotheses.org/1200.
Publication of a stone sphinx statuette, which was bought by W. Spiegelberg in Cairo in 1902/1903. The curious inscription bearing the title of Psammetichus I may be a secondary addition in order to customize the sculpture. By purchasing a small portable figure of this type, the customer was perhaps acquiring the devotional copy of a larger royal image belonging to a temple, which was a focus of some special worship within the local community. This humble artwork may have assumed a votive function, if the purchaser intended to offer it in a shrine, or a commemorative function, if it was an expression of his personal piety towards the king in the private sphere of the household.
This paper reports on experiments in digital archaeology and epigraphy focused on stamped mudbric... more This paper reports on experiments in digital archaeology and epigraphy focused on stamped mudbricks discovered in al-Asasif in 2019 and 2021. It is intended both as a progress report on the project "Digital Archaeology in a Monumental Necropolis in Thebes, Egypt" sponsored by the University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study and as a complement to the article "Un édifice au nom du roi Héqataoui (Ahmosé I er) dans la nécropole thébaine" published in Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 30/1 (Colin 2021).
As a first objective, it will attempt to improve the methodology of the epigraphist by exploring the heuristic power of digital photogrammetry, a technical innovation whose potential is not yet fully explored. The main challenge is to reinforce the “falsifiability” (in Karl Popper’s sense) of the editor’s demonstration, and thus make the reader less dependent on subjective facsimiles produced in the field. A fast “digital squeezing” method was tested under real fieldwork conditions on prints typical of stamped clay materials. The “field survey” and “artifact survey” methods are described, as well as the building of models, the means of storage and publication, and most importantly, the heuristic tools used to highlight the inscribed micro-topography in order to decipher and edit the text, such as the QGIS software well-known to geographers and archaeologists. Counter-intuitively to anyone trained in 20th century methods (like the author), these tools allow for better viewing of details than the autopsy of the original would. The paper squeeze method used by Johannes Dümichen in the 19th century is also discussed on the basis of a specimen preserved at the University of Strasbourg, in order to place the experimentation into perspective and show that it responds to a methodological and practical preoccupation that was already of concern to the founders of our sciences. In the same vein, an unpublished request from 1892 preserved in the archives of the Kuratorium of the University of Strasbourg illustrates an early interest in photogrammetry among German art historians. At that time, this technique remained the exclusive domain of a specialized institute, the Meßbildanstalt. This methodological barrier has now been overcome, since the digitization and automation of photogrammetry has made it easily usable by all archaeologists and epigraphers in the field.
The second goal of this article is to confirm or refute the remaining uncertainties regarding the edition of the stamp of King Heqatawi, identified as Ahmose I. The tools for highlighting the micro-topography demonstrated that the inscriptions under study originate from the same stamp, despite the irregularities of the support and the prints that complicate the process of comparison. They also confirmed the presence of cord prints featuring the opening of a cartouche on the two examined specimens, an important conclusion for the royal status of the character named on the bricks. The most significant achievement resulted from 3D modeling’s ability to harmonize the philological and archaeological perspectives by encouraging a joint investigation of both approaches. In this case, it was possible not only to identify a common stamp on the two investigated bricks, but also to establish that the same workman had molded them both. In other words, to identify a brickmaker’s “industrious hand” in the same way that a paleographer identifies a scribe’s “writing hand”. The study thus enabled us to draw up a biography of artifacts from their production to their ultimate destination at the end of a sequence of uses. Finally, this online article is in itself a test of innovative publication of digital objects in 2, 3 or even 4 dimensions – since speech, movement and time are involved in the figures.
Fr. Colin, C. Hartenstein, V. Asensi Amorós, C. Dupuis, S. Marchand, S. Mérigeaud, A. Micheau, B. Mulot, S. Nannucci, « Assassif (2021). La construction d’une rampe à la XVIIIe dynastie pour niveler une paléorivière pléistocène », BAEFE 2022, https://journals.openedition.org/baefe/6128. Année de la campagne : 2021 Autorité nationale présente : Hanan Hassan et Kerolos Wagdi (inspecte... more Année de la campagne : 2021 Autorité nationale présente : Hanan Hassan et Kerolos Wagdi (inspecteurs des antiquités), ainsi que Mohamed Ahmed Aly (restaurateur) représentaient le ministère du Tourisme et des Antiquités (MoTA). Numéro et intitulé de l'opération de terrain : 17147-Archéologie contextuelle du temple funéraire de Padiaménopé dans l'environnement de l'Assassif Composition de l'équipe de terrain : Frédéric Colin, égyptologue
While there is massive evidence of the mortuary cult of Ahmose I’s family at Abydos, in the form ... more While there is massive evidence of the mortuary cult of Ahmose I’s family at Abydos, in the form of pyramids, cult buildings and texts, the Theban necropolis is virtually devoid of archaeological testimony on the building activities of the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty . However, the king’s mummy was discovered in Thebes, in the royal cache (TT 320), together with other members of his entourage. This apparent paradox is puzzling and has indeed inspired various hypotheses to explain this split in the documentation between Thebes and Abydos. The discovery in 2019 of nine mudbricks stamped with the name of a king, called simply HqA tA.wy, in the French excavations in al-Asasif, provided new data to resolve this question. This paper aims to support the identification of King Ahmose as the author of these bricks and to shed light on the ideological value of this eponymous title, based on the analysis of a key passage in the Ahmose Stele from Karnak (Cairo Museum, CGC 34001). It will also discuss the issue of the displacement of materials and royal bodies organised by the public authorities and search for a possible initial burial context of Ahmose’s mummy in light of new evidence of his building activities in the necropolis of the Theban Residence. https://pam-journal.pl/resources/html/article/details?id=227048
Communication prononcée lors de l'assemblée générale du laboratoire UMR 7044 Archimède (Universit... more Communication prononcée lors de l'assemblée générale du laboratoire UMR 7044 Archimède (Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Université de Haute-Alsace, Ministère de la culture et de la communication).
Publication of 47 mudbricks stamped in the name of Theban tomb 33's owner, Padiamenope (based on ... more Publication of 47 mudbricks stamped in the name of Theban tomb 33's owner, Padiamenope (based on the few readable specimens). These building materials all come from the main pylon of the mausoleum, of which a preliminary photogrammetric survey is produced to mutually contextualize the findings and the structure. The stamps include the main titles of Padiamenope, which are ẖry-ḥb, ḥry-tp, as usual. The author briefly discusses and interprets the meaning of this bicephalous designation as a complementary expression that could be translated as "lector-priest and master of ceremonies" (in preference to the formula "lector-priest and chief", which does not sufficiently convey the ritual connotation that the two lexical components share in this specific context). This practice of stamping mudbricks with the name of a private person, which is rare in the history of ancient Egypt, represents a further connection between the monuments of Padiamenope (TT 33) and Montuemhat (TT 34), whose builders obviously shared the same workshop culture. Among the expected long-term benefits, the stamping of mudbricks incorporated into a major mortuary cult structure may have been intended to perpetuate the name of the deceased, even deep within the walls.
Uploads
Books by Frédéric Colin
Ce volume rassemble les contributions que ses collègues, amis, anciens élèves et proches ont voulu lui dédier en témoignage de leur amitié et de leur admiration pour son immense contribution à l’égyptologie. Il présente trente-cinq articles scientifiques et des réflexions relevant d’un registre plus personnel : des témoignages inédits sur la vie d’un savant qui fut aussi un aventurier spéléologue – et pas seulement dans les souterrains de la tombe de Padiaménopé (TT 33).
Avec la participation de :
Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë, Sydney Aufrère, Maryvonne Chartier-Raymond, Marie-Astrid Calmettes, Jean-Luc Chappaz, Frédéric Colin, Philippe Collombert, Luc Delvaux, Maria-Theresia Derchain-Urtel, Didier Devauchelle, Sylvie Donnat, Florence Doyen, Sophie Duberson, Silvia Einaudi, Marc Étienne, Jean-Luc Fissolo, Alain Fortier, Hanane Gaber, Luc Gabolde, Aude Gräzer Ohara, Cassandre Hartenstein, Françoise Labrique, François Larché, Françoise Laroche-Traunecker, Didier Laroche, Guy Lecuyot, Bernard Mathieu, Chantal Nivet-Sambin, Laure Pantalacci, Olivier Perdu, Isabelle Régen, Patricia Rigault-Déon, Lionel Schmitt, Annie Schweitzer, Pierre Tallet, Claude Vandersleyen (†), Daniel A. Werning.
624 pages
https://www.kheops-egyptologie.fr/Editions/editions.html
https://www.enim-egyptologie.fr/?page=cahiers
Claude Traunecker, who is celebrating his eightieth birthday, has travelled extensively in the Theban region during his career. This man of temples - such as Karnak (where he lived and worked for sixteen years), Coptos, el-Qʿala, Chenhour and the Qasr el-Agoûz - has been trying for some years to solve the enigmas of the famous tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33). The archaeologist, a specialist in crypts, wabets and shena-ouab, is also a philologist and musician. The historian of the late periods, who quickly established himself as one of the best experts on the Amarna period, is also a specialist in Egyptian religion, an expert in Theban priesthoods and rites, and the inventor of "parietal theology" or "substitution rites". Equally adept at using the resources of chemistry and physics, he knew how to put them to good use when studying a collection of objects or the stones in a temple. Finally, this materials specialist knows how to be a researcher as well as a teacher.
This volume brings together contributions that his colleagues, friends, former students and relatives have dedicated to him as a token of their friendship and admiration for his immense contribution to Egyptology. It presents thirty-five scientific articles and reflections on a more personal level: previously unpublished accounts of the life of a scholar who was also an adventurous caver - and not just in the underground passages of the tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33).
La deuxième partie, présentée séparément pour la commodité du lecteur, prend la forme d'un onomasticon prosopographique : les informations biographiques et historiques concernant tous les personnages porteurs d'un nom vieux Libyque y sont rassemblées, de même que les graphies et variantes graphiques de leurs anthroponymes (en hiéroglyphes, en démotique et en transcription grecque).
La troisième partie exploite les données rassemblées dans les sections précédentes afin d'établir l'histoire des peuples lymphokines en Egypte et dans les régions voisines. Ceux-ci entrent en contact avec la vallée du Nil au moins dès le XVe/XIVe siècle. Leurs mouvements de population sont à l'origine de conflits importants sous les souverains ramessides, tandis que certains éléments s'intègrent progressivement dans la campagne égyptienne. L'influence des grands chefs libyens augmente pendant la XXIe dynastie, parvient à cumuler la grande chefferie et le pouvoir pharaonique. Des éléments d'origine libycophone occupent les principaux rouages de l'Etat de la seconde moitié du Xe siècle au VIIIe siècle. Durant cette période, les Libyens adoptent les formes matérielles, institutionnelles et cultuelles de la culture égyptienne, mais ils conservent en substrat certains éléments religieux. Ce phénomène, jusqu'à présent parfaitement inconnu, se concrétise à l'occasion par un processus d'interpretatio Libyca. Sous la XXVIe dynastie, le pouvoir des grands chefs diminue, ainsi que la vitalité de l'onomastique vieux Libyque parmi les hauts fonctionnaires de l'Etat. Des traditions locales se maintiennent néanmoins très tard, notamment jusque dans la Thèbes romaine, au IIe siècle de notre ère. Une dernière partie étudie les monuments de l'oasis de Siwa (désert Libyque), où une dynastie libyenne locale construisit le sanctuaire d'Ammon, où Alexandre le Grand ira procéder à sa fameuse consultation oraculaire. Considéré comme un Libys par les Grecs, le premier grand chef connu sur place porte un vieux nom Libyque, et permet ainsi de rattacher définitivement le dossier égyptologique au dossier d'histoire antique : c'est le missing link.
La conclusion élargit la perspective en retraçant la proto-histoire des peuples libycophones dans l'ensemble de l'Afrique du Nord à la lumière des recherches résumées ici.
Recorded Lectures by Frédéric Colin
This lecture presents the current state of research on the discovery of a group of coffins belonging to women, buried in a secondary position in the fill of a ramp built by Thutmose III in western Thebes. The five coffins were buried in a single phase and directly covered with debris. Starting from the observation that this arrangement is unusual, the lecture tries to answer two questions: what are these coffins doing in this strange context? Who are these people who deserve such an atypical burial, when at the same time they deserve such a beautiful burial?
To address the second question, the lecture discusses the interpretation of the inscriptions on the coffins, the study of the associated objects, and the study of the characteristics of the skeletons, in order to determine the sex, gender, and social status of the deceased. The study is based on an X-ray procedure carried out in situ using portable equipment.
The answer to the first question is based on the systematic 3D modelling of the stratigraphy, according to the principle of a 'matrioshka doll' pattern. This contextual analysis, combined with the results of excavations by Howard Carter and Ambrose Lansing (for the Metropolitan Museum) before and after the First World War, suggests that the coffins were moved to the ramp in an operation that was both opportunistic and respectful of past generations. Their new location gave them a front row seat to attend the ceremonies of the "Beautiful Festival of the Valley", during which the boats of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were carried along the processional causeway.
In conclusion, the study shows that the decoration of the coffin of one of the deceased, Lady Ta-Abu, highlights women's agency in funerary ritual in a highly original way. While different kinds of gender staging are attested in the decoration of female and male coffins from this period, the artist has entirely feminized the funerary scenes depicted on Lady Ta-Abu's coffin.
Two details are particularly interesting: one could be a representation of a typical "grape offering", in which children receive special attention under the guidance of adult women. The other detail reveals an instance of the same ritual event being documented in both 2D and 3D formats. The 2D representation is of the ideal scene, while the 3D objects are those that were actually left behind by the officiating women.
Papers by Frédéric Colin
This paper reports on experiments in digital archaeology focused on two fragments of so-called ‘paddle doll’ figurines dating from the Middle Kingdom but discovered in 2023 in a 7th century context in al-Asasif.
The first objective is to propose a new method of 5D modelling to provide a solution to two classic difficulties encountered in stratigraphic excavations and their publication protocols.
1. Archaeological digging is a destructive procedure where the observer erases data in the same process as he records it.
2. The formal conventions of chronostratigraphic synthesis imagined by Edward C. Harris (1979) based on his experience of excavating settlement contexts known for their complex stratigraphy are in fact a highly abstract tool. Indeed, the disembodiment and decoupling of the so-called ‘Harris matrix’ from other documentary evidence makes it difficult for the reader to falsify (in an epistemological sense) the archaeologist’s interpretation.
The first three dimensions of the 5D model provide a tangible image of the strata that the excavator destroyed as he progressed. The fourth dimension links the ‘Harris matrix’ directly to the corresponding stratigraphic layers, reconnecting it to the rest of the visual documentation of the site and allowing the reader to empirically assimilate and possibly refute the chronological and spatial framework established by the archaeologist. Finally, the fifth dimension offers the possibility of integrating an additional level of typological interpretation in the same virtual space.
The second aim of this article is to present two new examples of female figurines known as ‘paddle dolls’ and to discuss the outcomes and views of a number of important publications that have appeared in the first decades of the twenty-first century. Among others, we will review interesting studies by MORRIS 2011 & 2017, DÍAZ HERNÁNDEZ 2017, and MORENO GARCÍA 2017, whose interpretations of the image we will consider based on a method that distinguishes three different levels of analysis.
1. The denotative level: what do the signs that make up the figurines literally represent?
2. The connotative level: what semantic cluster do these signs belong to in the minds of the Egyptians?
3. The pragmatic level of interpretation, which aims to analyze the specific situation in which the artist has placed his composition of signs to make it perform a particular function, either predicative (to commemorate or convey infor¬mation about something) or performative (to actualize an ontological assertion, a status, a situation or an action). What specific meaning does he ascribe to them in a given context of use?
Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 30 juillet 2024. Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire. Me contacter pour toute demande de réutilisation d'un original (que j'accorderai volontiers).
Publication of a stone sphinx statuette, which was bought by W. Spiegelberg in Cairo in 1902/1903. The curious inscription bearing the title of Psammetichus I may be a secondary addition in order to customize the sculpture. By purchasing a small portable figure of this type, the customer was perhaps acquiring the devotional copy of a larger royal image belonging to a temple, which was a focus of some special worship within the local community. This humble artwork may have assumed a votive function, if the purchaser intended to offer it in a shrine, or a commemorative function, if it was an expression of his personal piety towards the king in the private sphere of the household.
As a first objective, it will attempt to improve the methodology of the epigraphist by exploring the heuristic power of digital photogrammetry, a technical innovation whose potential is not yet fully explored. The main challenge is to reinforce the “falsifiability” (in Karl Popper’s sense) of the editor’s demonstration, and thus make the reader less dependent on subjective facsimiles produced in the field. A fast “digital squeezing” method was tested under real fieldwork conditions on prints typical of stamped clay materials. The “field survey” and “artifact survey” methods are described, as well as the building of models, the means of storage and publication, and most importantly, the heuristic tools used to highlight the inscribed micro-topography in order to decipher and edit the text, such as the QGIS software well-known to geographers and archaeologists. Counter-intuitively to anyone trained in 20th century methods (like the author), these tools allow for better viewing of details than the autopsy of the original would. The paper squeeze method used by Johannes Dümichen in the 19th century is also discussed on the basis of a specimen preserved at the University of Strasbourg, in order to place the experimentation into perspective and show that it responds to a methodological and practical preoccupation that was already of concern to the founders of our sciences. In the same vein, an unpublished request from 1892 preserved in the archives of the Kuratorium of the University of Strasbourg illustrates an early interest in photogrammetry among German art historians. At that time, this technique remained the exclusive domain of a specialized institute, the Meßbildanstalt. This methodological barrier has now been overcome, since the digitization and automation of photogrammetry has made it easily usable by all archaeologists and epigraphers in the field.
The second goal of this article is to confirm or refute the remaining uncertainties regarding the edition of the stamp of King Heqatawi, identified as Ahmose I. The tools for highlighting the micro-topography demonstrated that the inscriptions under study originate from the same stamp, despite the irregularities of the support and the prints that complicate the process of comparison. They also confirmed the presence of cord prints featuring the opening of a cartouche on the two examined specimens, an important conclusion for the royal status of the character named on the bricks. The most significant achievement resulted from 3D modeling’s ability to harmonize the philological and archaeological perspectives by encouraging a joint investigation of both approaches. In this case, it was possible not only to identify a common stamp on the two investigated bricks, but also to establish that the same workman had molded them both. In other words, to identify a brickmaker’s “industrious hand” in the same way that a paleographer identifies a scribe’s “writing hand”. The study thus enabled us to draw up a biography of artifacts from their production to their ultimate destination at the end of a sequence of uses. Finally, this online article is in itself a test of innovative publication of digital objects in 2, 3 or even 4 dimensions – since speech, movement and time are involved in the figures.
Ce volume rassemble les contributions que ses collègues, amis, anciens élèves et proches ont voulu lui dédier en témoignage de leur amitié et de leur admiration pour son immense contribution à l’égyptologie. Il présente trente-cinq articles scientifiques et des réflexions relevant d’un registre plus personnel : des témoignages inédits sur la vie d’un savant qui fut aussi un aventurier spéléologue – et pas seulement dans les souterrains de la tombe de Padiaménopé (TT 33).
Avec la participation de :
Guillemette Andreu-Lanoë, Sydney Aufrère, Maryvonne Chartier-Raymond, Marie-Astrid Calmettes, Jean-Luc Chappaz, Frédéric Colin, Philippe Collombert, Luc Delvaux, Maria-Theresia Derchain-Urtel, Didier Devauchelle, Sylvie Donnat, Florence Doyen, Sophie Duberson, Silvia Einaudi, Marc Étienne, Jean-Luc Fissolo, Alain Fortier, Hanane Gaber, Luc Gabolde, Aude Gräzer Ohara, Cassandre Hartenstein, Françoise Labrique, François Larché, Françoise Laroche-Traunecker, Didier Laroche, Guy Lecuyot, Bernard Mathieu, Chantal Nivet-Sambin, Laure Pantalacci, Olivier Perdu, Isabelle Régen, Patricia Rigault-Déon, Lionel Schmitt, Annie Schweitzer, Pierre Tallet, Claude Vandersleyen (†), Daniel A. Werning.
624 pages
https://www.kheops-egyptologie.fr/Editions/editions.html
https://www.enim-egyptologie.fr/?page=cahiers
Claude Traunecker, who is celebrating his eightieth birthday, has travelled extensively in the Theban region during his career. This man of temples - such as Karnak (where he lived and worked for sixteen years), Coptos, el-Qʿala, Chenhour and the Qasr el-Agoûz - has been trying for some years to solve the enigmas of the famous tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33). The archaeologist, a specialist in crypts, wabets and shena-ouab, is also a philologist and musician. The historian of the late periods, who quickly established himself as one of the best experts on the Amarna period, is also a specialist in Egyptian religion, an expert in Theban priesthoods and rites, and the inventor of "parietal theology" or "substitution rites". Equally adept at using the resources of chemistry and physics, he knew how to put them to good use when studying a collection of objects or the stones in a temple. Finally, this materials specialist knows how to be a researcher as well as a teacher.
This volume brings together contributions that his colleagues, friends, former students and relatives have dedicated to him as a token of their friendship and admiration for his immense contribution to Egyptology. It presents thirty-five scientific articles and reflections on a more personal level: previously unpublished accounts of the life of a scholar who was also an adventurous caver - and not just in the underground passages of the tomb of Padiamenope (TT 33).
La deuxième partie, présentée séparément pour la commodité du lecteur, prend la forme d'un onomasticon prosopographique : les informations biographiques et historiques concernant tous les personnages porteurs d'un nom vieux Libyque y sont rassemblées, de même que les graphies et variantes graphiques de leurs anthroponymes (en hiéroglyphes, en démotique et en transcription grecque).
La troisième partie exploite les données rassemblées dans les sections précédentes afin d'établir l'histoire des peuples lymphokines en Egypte et dans les régions voisines. Ceux-ci entrent en contact avec la vallée du Nil au moins dès le XVe/XIVe siècle. Leurs mouvements de population sont à l'origine de conflits importants sous les souverains ramessides, tandis que certains éléments s'intègrent progressivement dans la campagne égyptienne. L'influence des grands chefs libyens augmente pendant la XXIe dynastie, parvient à cumuler la grande chefferie et le pouvoir pharaonique. Des éléments d'origine libycophone occupent les principaux rouages de l'Etat de la seconde moitié du Xe siècle au VIIIe siècle. Durant cette période, les Libyens adoptent les formes matérielles, institutionnelles et cultuelles de la culture égyptienne, mais ils conservent en substrat certains éléments religieux. Ce phénomène, jusqu'à présent parfaitement inconnu, se concrétise à l'occasion par un processus d'interpretatio Libyca. Sous la XXVIe dynastie, le pouvoir des grands chefs diminue, ainsi que la vitalité de l'onomastique vieux Libyque parmi les hauts fonctionnaires de l'Etat. Des traditions locales se maintiennent néanmoins très tard, notamment jusque dans la Thèbes romaine, au IIe siècle de notre ère. Une dernière partie étudie les monuments de l'oasis de Siwa (désert Libyque), où une dynastie libyenne locale construisit le sanctuaire d'Ammon, où Alexandre le Grand ira procéder à sa fameuse consultation oraculaire. Considéré comme un Libys par les Grecs, le premier grand chef connu sur place porte un vieux nom Libyque, et permet ainsi de rattacher définitivement le dossier égyptologique au dossier d'histoire antique : c'est le missing link.
La conclusion élargit la perspective en retraçant la proto-histoire des peuples libycophones dans l'ensemble de l'Afrique du Nord à la lumière des recherches résumées ici.
This lecture presents the current state of research on the discovery of a group of coffins belonging to women, buried in a secondary position in the fill of a ramp built by Thutmose III in western Thebes. The five coffins were buried in a single phase and directly covered with debris. Starting from the observation that this arrangement is unusual, the lecture tries to answer two questions: what are these coffins doing in this strange context? Who are these people who deserve such an atypical burial, when at the same time they deserve such a beautiful burial?
To address the second question, the lecture discusses the interpretation of the inscriptions on the coffins, the study of the associated objects, and the study of the characteristics of the skeletons, in order to determine the sex, gender, and social status of the deceased. The study is based on an X-ray procedure carried out in situ using portable equipment.
The answer to the first question is based on the systematic 3D modelling of the stratigraphy, according to the principle of a 'matrioshka doll' pattern. This contextual analysis, combined with the results of excavations by Howard Carter and Ambrose Lansing (for the Metropolitan Museum) before and after the First World War, suggests that the coffins were moved to the ramp in an operation that was both opportunistic and respectful of past generations. Their new location gave them a front row seat to attend the ceremonies of the "Beautiful Festival of the Valley", during which the boats of Amun, Mut and Khonsu were carried along the processional causeway.
In conclusion, the study shows that the decoration of the coffin of one of the deceased, Lady Ta-Abu, highlights women's agency in funerary ritual in a highly original way. While different kinds of gender staging are attested in the decoration of female and male coffins from this period, the artist has entirely feminized the funerary scenes depicted on Lady Ta-Abu's coffin.
Two details are particularly interesting: one could be a representation of a typical "grape offering", in which children receive special attention under the guidance of adult women. The other detail reveals an instance of the same ritual event being documented in both 2D and 3D formats. The 2D representation is of the ideal scene, while the 3D objects are those that were actually left behind by the officiating women.
This paper reports on experiments in digital archaeology focused on two fragments of so-called ‘paddle doll’ figurines dating from the Middle Kingdom but discovered in 2023 in a 7th century context in al-Asasif.
The first objective is to propose a new method of 5D modelling to provide a solution to two classic difficulties encountered in stratigraphic excavations and their publication protocols.
1. Archaeological digging is a destructive procedure where the observer erases data in the same process as he records it.
2. The formal conventions of chronostratigraphic synthesis imagined by Edward C. Harris (1979) based on his experience of excavating settlement contexts known for their complex stratigraphy are in fact a highly abstract tool. Indeed, the disembodiment and decoupling of the so-called ‘Harris matrix’ from other documentary evidence makes it difficult for the reader to falsify (in an epistemological sense) the archaeologist’s interpretation.
The first three dimensions of the 5D model provide a tangible image of the strata that the excavator destroyed as he progressed. The fourth dimension links the ‘Harris matrix’ directly to the corresponding stratigraphic layers, reconnecting it to the rest of the visual documentation of the site and allowing the reader to empirically assimilate and possibly refute the chronological and spatial framework established by the archaeologist. Finally, the fifth dimension offers the possibility of integrating an additional level of typological interpretation in the same virtual space.
The second aim of this article is to present two new examples of female figurines known as ‘paddle dolls’ and to discuss the outcomes and views of a number of important publications that have appeared in the first decades of the twenty-first century. Among others, we will review interesting studies by MORRIS 2011 & 2017, DÍAZ HERNÁNDEZ 2017, and MORENO GARCÍA 2017, whose interpretations of the image we will consider based on a method that distinguishes three different levels of analysis.
1. The denotative level: what do the signs that make up the figurines literally represent?
2. The connotative level: what semantic cluster do these signs belong to in the minds of the Egyptians?
3. The pragmatic level of interpretation, which aims to analyze the specific situation in which the artist has placed his composition of signs to make it perform a particular function, either predicative (to commemorate or convey infor¬mation about something) or performative (to actualize an ontological assertion, a status, a situation or an action). What specific meaning does he ascribe to them in a given context of use?
Ce document a été généré automatiquement le 30 juillet 2024. Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire. Me contacter pour toute demande de réutilisation d'un original (que j'accorderai volontiers).
Publication of a stone sphinx statuette, which was bought by W. Spiegelberg in Cairo in 1902/1903. The curious inscription bearing the title of Psammetichus I may be a secondary addition in order to customize the sculpture. By purchasing a small portable figure of this type, the customer was perhaps acquiring the devotional copy of a larger royal image belonging to a temple, which was a focus of some special worship within the local community. This humble artwork may have assumed a votive function, if the purchaser intended to offer it in a shrine, or a commemorative function, if it was an expression of his personal piety towards the king in the private sphere of the household.
As a first objective, it will attempt to improve the methodology of the epigraphist by exploring the heuristic power of digital photogrammetry, a technical innovation whose potential is not yet fully explored. The main challenge is to reinforce the “falsifiability” (in Karl Popper’s sense) of the editor’s demonstration, and thus make the reader less dependent on subjective facsimiles produced in the field. A fast “digital squeezing” method was tested under real fieldwork conditions on prints typical of stamped clay materials. The “field survey” and “artifact survey” methods are described, as well as the building of models, the means of storage and publication, and most importantly, the heuristic tools used to highlight the inscribed micro-topography in order to decipher and edit the text, such as the QGIS software well-known to geographers and archaeologists. Counter-intuitively to anyone trained in 20th century methods (like the author), these tools allow for better viewing of details than the autopsy of the original would. The paper squeeze method used by Johannes Dümichen in the 19th century is also discussed on the basis of a specimen preserved at the University of Strasbourg, in order to place the experimentation into perspective and show that it responds to a methodological and practical preoccupation that was already of concern to the founders of our sciences. In the same vein, an unpublished request from 1892 preserved in the archives of the Kuratorium of the University of Strasbourg illustrates an early interest in photogrammetry among German art historians. At that time, this technique remained the exclusive domain of a specialized institute, the Meßbildanstalt. This methodological barrier has now been overcome, since the digitization and automation of photogrammetry has made it easily usable by all archaeologists and epigraphers in the field.
The second goal of this article is to confirm or refute the remaining uncertainties regarding the edition of the stamp of King Heqatawi, identified as Ahmose I. The tools for highlighting the micro-topography demonstrated that the inscriptions under study originate from the same stamp, despite the irregularities of the support and the prints that complicate the process of comparison. They also confirmed the presence of cord prints featuring the opening of a cartouche on the two examined specimens, an important conclusion for the royal status of the character named on the bricks. The most significant achievement resulted from 3D modeling’s ability to harmonize the philological and archaeological perspectives by encouraging a joint investigation of both approaches. In this case, it was possible not only to identify a common stamp on the two investigated bricks, but also to establish that the same workman had molded them both. In other words, to identify a brickmaker’s “industrious hand” in the same way that a paleographer identifies a scribe’s “writing hand”. The study thus enabled us to draw up a biography of artifacts from their production to their ultimate destination at the end of a sequence of uses. Finally, this online article is in itself a test of innovative publication of digital objects in 2, 3 or even 4 dimensions – since speech, movement and time are involved in the figures.
The pdf offprint contains only one of the figures. The complete article with the full set of figures is available online in open access by following this link: https://clae.hypotheses.org/1041.
How to quote this model in a scientific paper?
Fr. Colin, “Middle Kingdom Artifacts dumped by Padiamenope’s Workmen, Synthesis”, Maquette AS-2023-2Q-3, 2X-1 & 3D-4, Strasbourg, 2024, https://skfb.ly/oUYXS, DOI: 10.34847/nkl.dcb556l7.
Specifying the model DOI is necessary to ensure its permanent quotation, regardless of its location. It is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr).
This “maquette” has been produced by the French Archaeological Mission in Asasif (Luxor, Egypt).
Photogr. survey & modeling: Fr. Colin. Topo: Cassandre Hartenstein, Univ. Strasbourg UMR 7044 Archimède. Partners: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. Strasbourg, CNRS.
Fr. Colin, Cl. Adamski, “Asasif 2019, Operation A, Opened Coffin inv. AS-2019-1246-01, After Natural Deposits Cleaning”, Artifact Survey AS-2019-OBJ-O-6, Strasbourg, 2022, DOI: 10.34847/nkl.bfde114c.
Note that specifying the model DOI is necessary to ensure its permanent quotation, regardless of its location. It is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr).
The photogrammetric survey AS-2019-OBJ-O-6 has been conducted to document the artifacts and contexts uncovered by the French Archaeological Mission in Asasif (Luxor, Egypt) and to prepare the publication. This version was decimated from version AS-2019-OBJ-O-4.
Photographic survey: Frédéric Colin (Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède). Photographic enhancement: Clémence Adamski. Photogrammetric processing: Cl. Adamski and Fr. Colin. Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Fr. Colin, Cl. Adamski, “Asasif 2018, Operation A, Opened White Coffin of Lady Puyu, inv. AS-2018-1070-01”, Artifact Survey AS-2018-OBJ-J-6, Strasbourg, 2022, DOI: 10.34847/nkl.bfde114c.
Note that specifying the model DOI is necessary to ensure its permanent quotation, regardless of its location. It is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr).
The photogrammetric survey AS-2018-OBJ-J-6 has been conducted to document the artifacts and contexts uncovered by the French Archaeological Mission in Asasif (Luxor, Egypt) and to prepare the publication. This version was decimated from version AS-2018-OBJ-J-4.
Photographic survey: Frédéric Colin (Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède). Photographic enhancement: Clémence Adamski. Photogrammetric processing: Clémence Adamski and Frédéric Colin.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède. Version AS_2019.3_E_4_2 has been decimated from version AS_2019.3_E_4_1.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin. Topography: Cassandre Hartenstein. Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède. Version AS_2019.3_E_4_3 has been decimated from version AS_2019.3_E_3_4.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin. Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède. Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin. Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin. Topography: Cassandre Hartenstein. Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin. Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
Photographic survey & photogrammetric processing: Fr. Colin. Topography: Cassandre Hartenstein. Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède.
Partners of the project: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, IFAO, Univ. de Strasbourg, CNRS.
How to quote this model in a scientific paper?
Fr. Colin & C. Duvette, “Nude female figurine IES_NI_0709, Artifact 3D model 11280/a0b109dc”, Strasbourg, 2018. Online since 2 March 2018, connection on MM/dd/yyyy.
or abbreviated Fr. Colin & C. Duvette, “Artifact 3D Model 11280/a0b109dc”, Strasbourg, 2018.
This model is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr). The handle 11280/a0b109dc is a persistent identifier (PID) allowing to designate this digital data regardless of its location. It is managed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI, https://www.handle.net).
Inv. Nr: IES_NI_0709. Former Inv. Nr. 1255.
The Egyptian collection of the Institut d’égyptologie de Strasbourg was collected at the end of the XIXth and at the beginning of the XXth Century.
Fr. Colin, “Philadelphia in the Fayum 2018, Sector 13, Fired Brick Column 13_005_C, Artifact 3D Model 11280/06628d38”, Strasbourg, 2018. Online since 2 March 2018, connection on MM/dd/yyyy.
or abbreviated Fr. Colin, « Artifact 3D Model 11280/06628d38 », Strasbourg, 2018.
This model is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr). The handle 11280/06628d38 is a persistent identifier (PID) allowing to designate this digital data regardless of its location. It is managed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI, https://www.handle.net).
Responsable du projet Philadelphie : Ruey-Lin Chang (National Taiwan University).
Relevé et modélisation de l’objet : Frédéric Colin (Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède).
Partenaires du projet : Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, IFAO, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, National Taiwan University, Université de Strasbourg.
How to quote this model?
Fr. Colin, “Philadelphia in the Fayum 2018, Sector 13, Pots inside the Basin Masonry, Field Data 3D Model 11280/27d3de46”, Strasbourg, 2018. Online since 4 March 2018, connection on MM/dd/yyyy.
or abbreviated Fr. Colin, “Field Data 3D Model 11280/27d3de46”, Strasbourg, 2018.
This model is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr). The handle 11280/27d3de46 is a persistent identifier (PID) allowing to designate this digital data regardless of its location. It is managed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI, https://www.handle.net).
Responsable du projet Philadelphie : Ruey-Lin Chang (National Taiwan University).
Fouille, relevé et modélisation de la structure : Frédéric Colin (Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède).
Partenaires du projet : Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, IFAO, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, National Taiwan University, Université de Strasbourg.
How to quote this model in a paper?
Fr. Colin, “Philadelphia in the Fayum 2018, Sector 13, Excavation’s Last Stage, Field Data 3D Model 11280/d216242e”, Strasbourg, 2018. Online since 2 March 2018, connection on MM/dd/yyyy.
or abbreviated Fr. Colin, “Field Data 3D Model 11280/d216242e”, Strasbourg, 2018.
This model is stored in a long-lasting way on the data service “Nakala” of the “TGIR Huma-Num” (https://www.nakala.fr). The handle 11280/d216242e is a persistent identifier (PID) allowing to designate this digital data regardless of its location. It is managed by Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI, https://www.handle.net).
Responsable du projet Philadelphie : Ruey-Lin Chang (National Taiwan University).
Fouille du secteur 13, relevé et modélisation : Frédéric Colin (Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7044 Archimède).
Partenaires du projet : Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, IFAO, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, National Taiwan University, Université de Strasbourg.