The falcon necropolis at Quesna

EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The falcon necropolis
at Quesna
In 2012 the EES Minufiyeh Survey team excavated in the falcon necropolis at Quesna and revealed
structures and artefacts which provided information on the building of the galleries themselves and
their connection to Athribis as Joanne Rowland and Salima Ikram describe.
A view to the east during excavations; Omar Farouk, one of his team from Quft, and local workmen cleaning the mud-brick walls of the falcon gallery
from the evidence of scattered human bones, for burials
cut into the walls, in the same way that they were cut
into the walls of the mausoleum.
The current excavations are still only in the upper layers
of the fill of the corridors, but close inspection of the
mummified remains in situ suggests that the mummies had
been placed in layers, with libations, including oils and
resins, poured over them. They were packed right up to
the mud-brick walls and piled as high as the curve of the
arches that covered the corridors. The densest contexts of
faunal remains come from the corridors of the galleries,
and analysis by Lisa Yeomans began in summer 2012 (see
box on p.6). Earlier analysis by Peter Popkin of sparse
skeletal material found in the entrance structure at the
west of the gallery indicated the presence of shrews, but
the majority of the bones were those of birds of prey,
including falcons.
From the limited areas excavated in 2012 within the
The extent of the Late Period falcon necropolis at Quesna
was revealed in 2006 through a magnetic survey (see EA
38 p.10), following its initial discovery by the Supreme
Council for Antiquities in the 1990s. This mud-brick
building measures over 150m east to west, including at
its western extent what may be an entrance structure.
During the 2006, 2008, and 2010 seasons, the EES team
opened a series of excavation trenches which began by
investigating the entrance structure, revealing a series of
corridors and arches that lead to a central room, linking
with the east-west aligned corridors of the gallery. In 2012
further investigations clearly indicated, in the middle of
the galleries, a more southerly series of corridors which
were successfully located by 5m x 5m test trenches. The
excavation also revealed possible side annexes, which run
right up to what is thought to be the most southerly wall
of the whole structure.
Also in 2012, the surface area of the previously excavated
(by the SCA) section of the falcon gallery was cleaned for
planning and a new trench was opened directly to the east
of this area. The most significant single finding there was
that of a solid easterly wall, with abutting walls running
further east. This may be the original eastern wall of the
gallery, or, since the area to the east is as yet unexcavated,
it might represent one of a possible series of extensions to
the gallery. Future excavation will hopefully yield more
information in terms of the date ranges for the original,
and extended, parts of the gallery. As with the mud-brick
mausoleum on the southern edge of the Quesna gezira
the structure of the falcon necropolis has been damaged
in antiquity with parts of the walls hacked into, probably,
The northernmost wall of the falcon gallery during recording. The white box
indicates where a later burial might have been cut into the brickwork
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
gallery, the majority of finds were those of mummified
birds and other creatures (predominantly shrews), with
egg-shell found in a few areas, including in a niche
running alongside the probable final southern wall of
the galleries. Clearly birds were being bred nearby and
eggs, as well as birds of various ages, were being offered
at Quesna. Within the falcon galleries, fragments of boxes
that would have housed mummified birds were found
together with a copper alloy figure of a shrew, which
was probably originally set on top of a box of the same
material containing the mummified remains of a shrew. In
addition, a number of pieces of composite falcon figurines
have been excavated, all thus far in copper alloy: beaks,
claws, claws and legs, and even a head, but not a body
itself. Possibly the bodies were of wood, with the details
highlighted in metal. These might have contained actual
mummies of raptors. The SCA investigations in the 1990s
revealed complete figurines of Osiris, as well as falcon
statuettes. An Osiris figurine of copper alloy was located
in the entrance structure to the galleries in 2010, and a
badly damaged faience statuette of a falcon was also found
in 2012 in the corridors of the gallery.
The issue of the species present is relevant for a number of
reasons: the identity of the cult deity (or deities), whether
the species represented might reflect the immediate
environment at the time, and the possible seasonality of
culling as some birds present might be transitory migrants
to Egypt. Raptors and shrews are associated with the cults
of Re and Horus as Horakhty, and are commonly found
together, as in the Saqqara falcon catacombs, at Abydos,
and elsewhere (see map in Ikram Animal mummies in
ancient Egypt, AUC, 2005) as they represent the diurnal
and nocturnal aspects of the sun god. Interestingly some
‘fake’ mummies were also part of the offerings. These
consist of pieces of feathers that were covered with black
resin/oil and carefully wrapped as ex-votos. Similarly,
fragments of bone and feather were embedded in mud
and wrapped in linen, which was then covered with
Analysis of the faunal remains
Analysis of the faunal remains is still ongoing, but so far the
remains of at least 391 birds are represented by the bones recovered
from the necropolis with many more boxes of bones still to be
examined. Falcons are by far the most common species to have
been mummified and offered at the necropolis. Two sizes of
falcon are present and represent at least two different species. The
smaller and more frequent species is the common kestrel (Falco
tinnunculus); rarer bones of a larger type of falcon are probably
from peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus). In addition, several other
types of raptors are present from the Accipitridae family (kites,
eagles, hawks and harriers) with further work needed to identify
these bones to species level. A few bones of non-raptor birds were
present, but 99% of the bird bones are of raptors. Aside from
birds, shrews were also mummified and occasionally rodents when
shrews were not available. Mummified shrews are commonly
found in association with raptor mummies, representing the
Lisa Yeomans
nocturnal manifestation of the sun god.
the resin/oil libation. These were presumably parts of
mummified birds that had fallen off but were regarded
as being sacred and thus became legitimate offerings with
the part symbolising the whole.
A link between Quesna and Athribis (just 7km south
of Quesna) is known from inscriptions on objects found
previously within the mausoleum, such as a black stone
Ptolemaic Period sarcophagus of Horudja - now in the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This year’s excavations in the
falcon necropolis, however, have provided inscriptional
evidence that confirms the connection between the two
sites, particularly in respect of the personnel involved
in the organisation of the falcon necropolis during
the Thirtieth Dynasty. The best represented of these
individuals is Djedhor, referred to as Djedhor Pashed on
later inscriptions and known from three statues/statue
bases (Cairo JE 46341, OIM 10589 and Cairo 4/6/19/1)
found at Athribis. Djedhor was the ‘chief guard of the
double doors of Horus Khenty-Khety the great god, lord
of Athribis’ (Sherman, JEA 67 (1981), pp.82-102), this
cult being attested at Athribis from at least the Middle
Kingdom onwards. Neither the mausoleum nor the
A jar stopper with a saucer,
found in trench 12
A bird mummy jar with a small bowl used as a lid
Mud-sealing SF28, showing the text and the impressions of
textile or string on the reverse
A copper-alloy giant shrew (above) and a bird leg in the same material (right)
EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The upper part of a Horus stela from trench 13
poison of every male and female viper and all snakes! It
is all this that I have done in the house of the Falcon.
The like thereof had not (ever) been done by any man
who came before’ (Sherman translation). An object that
offers such protection is the ‘Horus on the crocodile’
stela shown resting against the shins of Djedhor on
Cairo JE 46341, found in the falcon gallery at Quesna.
Texts, most notably the Metternich Stela (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York), describe how a spell should
be recited over a Horus stela with the aim of deterring
any biting snakes, or, indeed any threatening creatures
of the desert. The upper part of a similar stela was found
in the falcon gallery in 2012, although it is broken in the
middle so it can only be presumed that Horus stands on
a crocodile. The surviving text refers to Osiris, born of
Isis, and to the reading of magical spells and the reciting
of incantations.
One aim for future seasons will be to try to identify
embalming workshops and any breeding facilities at
Quesna and we also hope to continue investigating the
main galleries: to examine parts of the corridors down to
floor level and to explore further to the east.
falcon necropolis at Quesna had been located when the
Djedhor statues were found, but it seems reasonable to
suggest that he was responsible for the organisation and
running of the Quesna falcon necropolis.
In 2012 four sealings, complete and fragmentary, were
found in the gallery and their reverse impressions show
that they had originally been pressed on to textile/string,
to seal the commonly found ‘bird mummy’ jars at Quesna.
Gypsum stoppers for such jars have been found frequently
in the southern corridors of the gallery and in two
instances they had ceramic saucers attached, indicating
that the jar’s mouth would have been covered first by a
layer of linen, followed by a saucer, and then finally sealed
with gypsum, with a cord or strip of cloth tied around it,
on to which the seal was affixed. The seal impressions all
bear the same text and the following transliteration can
be suggested: Wsir nb IAt-qb nTr aA Hri-ib Km(-wr) pA bjk.
‘Osiris, Lord of IAt-qb, Great God who is in Athribis, the
Holy Falcon’. The rare place name of IAt-qb is attested on
the offering table Turin 1751, which is contemporaneous
with Djedhor (Sherman dates the statue bases to between
325 and 323 BC). The location Km(-wr), which may be
read on the impression, is Athribis, and pA bjk, a very
common designation of the holy falcon, is also found in
Djedhor’s texts (Cairo JE 46341 and OIM 10589).
The text on the base of OIM 10589 is translated by
Sherman as ‘Honoured before Osiris Lord of IAt MAat;
praised before the gods who are in the Necropolis on
the North of the Athribite Nome’, and that is exactly
where Quesna lies - on the northern edge of the Athribite
nome (although at some points in history it belonged
to the province north of Athribis). The text continues
to record Djedhor’s building and embalming activities
as well as his medical care: ‘in addition to that which
I did in your house’ (alternative translation to that of
Sherman), ‘in order to save every one thereby, from the
q Joanne Rowland is Director of the EES Minufiyeh Archaeological
Survey and a Junior Professor in Egyptian Archaeology in the
Egyptology Department of the Freie Universität, Berlin. Salima
Ikram is Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.
They are grateful to Karl Jansen-Winkeln (Freie Universität, Berlin)
for the translation of the seal impression and comments on the place
name, and to him and John Tait (Emeritus Professor of Egyptology,
University College London), for their comments on the sealings and
on the Horus stela. Photographs of the objects were taken by Geoffrey
Tassie, who is also thanked for his insights into the construction of
the gallery. Magnetic and radar surveys were carried out by Kristian
Strutt of the University of Southampton and all faunal analysis by
Lisa Yeomans and Peter Popkin. Funding for the spring and summer
2012 seasons was generously provided by the EES, with help from the
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, who supported the second
archaeological field school at Quesna in summer 2012.