Gebelein Archeological Project
Dates of work: 25 January–8 March 2015
Team:
Director: Wojciech Ejsmond, archaeologist (PhD candidate, Center for Research on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe, University of Warsaw)
Field director: Julia M. Chyla, archaeologist, GIS specialist, UniGIS (PhD candidate, Center for Research on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe, University of Warsaw, and Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
SCA representative: Ali Mohamed Ahmed
Egyptologists: Daniel Takács (Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Anthropologist: Marzena Ożarek-Szilke (PhD candidate; Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Geophysicist: Jakub M. Ordutowski, archaeologist (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin)
Photographer: Piotr Witkowski, archaeologist, RTI specialist (independent)
Restorer: Arkadiusz Ostasz (freelance)
Expert consultation: Michał Madej, geologist (University of Warsaw), Adam Grylak, prehistoric lithics (Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław)
(Joint description of seasons 2014 and 2015)
The Gebelein Archaeological Project comprises archaeological and epigraphic surveys as well as analysis of archival data aimed at recording and publishing local archaeological heritage endangered by modern development. The archaeological survey was carried out with the use of a GNSS tool with mobile GIS application, documenting archaeological features and finds in situ, including specifically human skeletal remains and ceramics.
Of greatest interest among the archaeological features is a rock-cut chapel dedicated to the goddess Hathor and another, unidentified male deity, dating from the reign of Hatshepsut. The documentation of this previously unpublished speos was initiated in 2015. The concentration of graffiti in the southern part of the Western Mount of Gebelein also merited attention despite their poor preservation. A new methodological approach was developed, combining decorrelation and Reflectance Transformation Imagining (RTI) to good effect in recognizing different aspects of the graffiti.
The project thanks the University of Warsaw Foundation and the Consultative Council for the Students’ Scientific Movement of the University of Warsaw for their financial support, as well as the Polish Centre of the Mediterranean Archaeology for granting research scholarships.
See also:
- Ejsmond, W. with contribution of J.M. Chyla and P. Witkowski (2015). New archaeological research at Gebelein. Egyptian Archaeology, 47, 7–9
- Ejsmond, W., Chyla, J.M., Witkowski, P., Wieczorek, D.F., Takács, D., Ożarek-Szilke, M., and Ordutowski, J.M. (2015). Comprehensive field survey of Gebelein — preliminary results of a new method in processing data for archaeological sites’ analysis. Archaeologia Polona, 53, 617–621
- Takács, D., Ejsmond, W., Chyla, J.M., and Witkowski, P. (2015). Hatshepsut’s Speos at Gebelein — preliminary conclusions on the unpublished temple. GM, 247, 117–120
- Wieczorek, D.F. (2015). A Ramesside rock inscription at Gebelein — an unknown expedition of Ramesses IV. EtTrav, 28, 217–229
Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 25