Cultural Change in Upper Egypt From the Late Middle Kingdom Through the Second Intermediate Period: A New Analysis of the Ceramic Material /

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Ayers, Natasha Dean, author.
Imprint:2017.
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2017
Description:1 electronic resource (420 pages)
Language:English
Format: E-Resource Dissertations
Local Note:School code: 0330
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11715077
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:University of Chicago. degree granting institution.
ISBN:9780355078190
Notes:Advisors: Nadine Moeller Committee members: Carla Gallorini; Janet Johnson.
This item is not available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 78-12(E), Section: A.
English
Summary:Recent excavations in Egypt are advancing our knowledge of the chronology and development of material culture in the Second Intermediate Period, which is a time of political fragmentation. This new data allows for a more nuanced understanding of regional variation in material culture, which demonstrates a different development than the political divisions of Egypt at this time. At the site of Tell Edfu in Upper Egypt, stratified archaeological contexts were discovered from an administrative building complex in use from the Middle Kingdom into the early Second Intermediate Period, as well as and a silo courtyard of the late Second Intermediate Period. The complete pottery sequence from these phases marks the first time an early Second Intermediate Period pottery corpus from Upper Egypt can be separated distinctly from the late Middle Kingdom and late Second Intermediate Period corpora and placed into a specific point in the dynastic chronology. The latter is possible by employing the clay sealings in the assemblage.
This dissertation analyzes the pottery from the late Middle Kingdom through the Second Intermediate Period in an effort to answer questions about how the pottery corpus develops over time and how this development compares to other site in Egypt during these periods. It will be argued that pottery from the early Second Intermediate Period shows the continuation of the late Middle Kingdom pottery tradition into the Second Intermediate Period, with the production of new local types and variants attesting to regionalism in material culture during this period. The appearance of the Theban pottery tradition of the early 17th Dynasty marks the end of the early Second Intermediate Period and suggests strong ties between Edfu and Thebes at this time. In addition to the Egyptian pottery, imported Levantine wares and Middle Nubian pottery are incorporated into the dissertation, not only as chronological indicators, but also as evidence of direct and indirect contact with neighboring cultures.
Another goal of this study is to gain an understanding of how the use of space in this central area of Edfu develops from the late Middle Kingdom through the Second Intermediate Period. The study concludes that although the columned halls were places of administrative activity, as evidenced by the numerous clay sealings, they were multifunctional spaces not reserved exclusively for administration. The pottery types and small finds support this claim.
After analyzing the pottery, archaeological stratigraphy, and associated small finds, this study concludes that sealings with the name of the Hyksos ruler Khayan are positioned in a context dated after the late Middle Kingdom (approximately the mid-13th Dynasty) and before the early 17th Dynasty Theban pottery tradition appears at Edfu. This means Khayan belongs in the early Second Intermediate Period, rather than in the late Second Intermediate Period.
This dissertation expands our current knowledge of the material culture and chronology of the late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period in Upper Egypt and demonstrates local developments within a corpus that still finds points of connection to other sites in Egypt.