![]()
Chapter 1
Setting and history of research in Wadjet Province
Wadjet (snake, cobra) is the Ancient Egyptian name for the Tenth Upper Egyptian nome, or province.1 It is located more or less in the middle of Egypt, about 360 km south of Cairo (Figs 1 and 2). The main archaeological sites there are today known as Qau (also known as Qau el-Kebir or Qaw) and Badari. In Upper and Middle Egypt, the Nile flows from the south to the north as one river (while it divides into several branches in the Delta) within the Sahara, the largest desert on Earth. Agriculture was only possible near the river. Once a year the water level of the river rose and flooded the lands nearby leaving fertile silt behind. The flooding was caused by heavy rains in Ethiopia, as a result all the fertile parts of the country were flooded for some weeks. Settlements could only be built on hills within the floodplain that were not reached by the water, or in the lower desert, that is the desert close to areas of cultivation. In contrast, the high desert lies higher up and is more removed from the river. It was never a real option for any permanent settlements. However, even in the low desert, the water supply was complicated and as a result the settlements on the desert edge are rarely large.
The exact size of the Wadjet province is not known for sure. There are no extant ancient maps outlining its borders. Its limits can only be assumed by places known to be in a given province that are attested in written sources. The borders might be also guessed by natural borders such as mountains. An important source is a list of provinces on a temple building excavated at Karnak, ancient Thebes. On the White chapel of Senusret I, there appears a list of all Egyptian provinces with measurements. In theory the list provides a perfect guide for the size of the Egyptian provinces, but there are many problems with it.2 It evidently also includes the Wadjet province and provides the information that it was about 32 km long (3 ἰtrw, 1 ḫз).3 No further information about the size of the province is given.
Figure 2. The Wadjet province (author)
From the actual landscape of the region, it might be assumed that the southern border of the province was at Gabal as-Saih al-Hardi. This is a mountain very close to the river on the east side of the Nile opposite the modern town of Tahta which almost blocks the route by land. It is a natural border and is therefore a natural point where one can expect to limit a region. Going 32 km north, the northern border of the province was perhaps somewhere south of the modern town Abutig.4
South of the Wadjet province was the Menu (Min) province, named after its main deity Min who was worshipped in Ipu (better known as Akhmim, the modern village not far away) the capital of the province. The rock cut tombs of the local oligarchs of the late Old Kingdom and early First Intermediate Period in the Menu province have been excavated, providing rich textual and visual material for this period. North of the Wadjet province there were two provinces. On the west bank of the Nile there was the province called Sha with its capital Shashotep. The latter town is not far away from the modern village Rifeh. Near Rifeh substantial cemeteries were excavated, ranging in date from the late First Intermediate Period to the end of the New Kingdom, with several finds datable later. The precise extent of the Sha province is not known. Farouk Gomaà believes that Matmar and Mostagedda, on the east side of the Nile, also belonged to this province.5 These places were also excavated by Guy Brunton. The material found is in many ways very closely related to the material found at Qau and Badari. Others, such as Helck6 think that the Sha province was just on the west side of the Nile, while the east bank was all part of the Atfet province.
The eastern cliffs of the high desert plateau are close to the Nile and the fertile land in the Wadjet province, providing only a small strip of about 1 km width of cultivation on this side. On the western side the fertile land is much wider, with up to 10 km providing a good base for agriculture and for the support of a substantial population. While on the east side of the Nile settlements were quite close to the desert, on the west side they were spread over the fertile land. In general, Ancient Egyptian burials were close to settlements, often just next to the town walls.7 The cemeteries on the east bank are therefore often close to, or even in, the desert and for that reason are in general well-preserved. The burials on the west bank are most likely in the fertile plains on the small mounds where the settlements were located. There were certainly once also cemeteries in the western desert, but only one near the village of Zaraby has been excavated. Today, the cemeteries close to the towns and villages on the west bank have vanished along with the settlements, although many may still lie under the modern fields. The Nile nowadays flows in a different bed from 4000 years ago. A big flood destroying the remains of the ancient town of Qau is recorded for the early nineteenth century.8 It can be assumed that there were similar floods before, but evidently it seems that there had been none that destroyed the ancient town since Ptolemaic times, as this temple survived 2000 years. For the periods before, no data are available.
The cemeteries of Qau (Fig. 3) are the most important ones in the province. They lie in a desert bay about 9 km long, surrounded by limestone mountains. In the north are the monumental tombs of the Middle Kingdom governors. In the middle there is a shallow wadi separating the bay into two halves. North of this wadi was the village of Qau el-Kebir, now called Etmanieh. The desert itself is flat and very pebbly, and so not very suitable for digging burials. The cemeteries of Qau are all north of the wadi. The main cemeteries of the ancient town are south of Etmanieh. Close to the village and to the east is the north cemetery. Further south is cemetery 400 and even further south, the ‘south cemetery’. The latter was found heavily looted, but it was the main cemetery of the town. Cemetery 400 contained many early tombs dating from the Second to the Fourth Dynasty. The north cemetery contained mainly burials of the Second Intermediate Period.9
Going further north, there is the small cemetery, 100, at the northern edge of the bay where the cliffs come very close to the cultivation. Here are the remains of monumental Middle Kingdom tombs with a cemetery of many smaller burials that date down to the Roman and Byzantine periods.10
North of the cliff the mountains remain close to the fertile lands. They provide just enough space for a small desert strip that was used for cemeteries. The region is cut by many wadis.11 The lower desert here is therefore a small strip between the higher rock of the desert and the cultivation. The strip is just a few hundred meters wide but about 10 km long. The main village in the region is Badari, providing the name for the chain of cemeteries in this part of the region. It is evident that t...
