by Sarah Parcak
36. Staubwasser et al., “Climate Change at the 4.2 ka BP Termination of the Indus Valley,” 1425.
37. Donald B. Redford, “Mendes & Environs in the Middle Kingdom,” Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson, vol. 2, ed. Peter Der Manuelian (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1996), 679–82.
38. Peter deMenocal, “Cultural Responses to Climate Change During the Late Holocene,” Science, vol. 292, no. 5517 (2001): 667–73, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1059287; H. M. Cullen et al., “Climate Change and the Collapse of the Akkadian Empire: Evidence from the Deep Sea,” Geology, vol. 28, no. 4 (2000): 379–82, https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28 < 379:CCATCO>2.0.CO;2.
39. John Baines and Jaromir Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt (New York: Facts on File, 1984).
40. Van Haarlem, “Tell Ibrahim Awad,” 33–35. The cemetery of this site contained the remains of people who lived between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the First Intermediate Period. Delia L. Phillips et al., “Bioarchaeology of Tell Ibrahim Awad,” Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, vol. 19 (2009): 157–210.
41. Jacques Vandier, Mo’alla: La tombe d’Ankhtifi et la tombe de Sébekhotep (Cairo: l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1950); Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies Chiefly of the Middle Kingdom (Göttingen: Vandenhoek and Ruprecht, 1988), 23–26; Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006).
Inscription #1: The Butler Merer of Edfu said: “I buried the dead and I nourished the living, wherever I went in the drought that occurred. I closed off all their fields and mounds in town and countryside, not letting their water inundate for someone else, as does a worthy citizen so that his family may swim.” (See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, 87.) This man refers directly to a drought. When he talks about “closing off fields,” he means that he prevented the vital floodwaters from escaping from the fields of those who lived in his province. If he had not done so, the waters would have flowed away to irrigate another province’s crops.
Inscription #2: The Treasurer Iti of Imyotru (near modern Gebelein, 30 kilometers south of Luxor) explained: “I nourished Imyotru in years of misery. Though four hundred men were in straits through it, I did not seize a man’s daughter, nor did I seize his field.” (See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, 88.) In this case, Iti makes reference to not just one instance, but multiple years of “misery.” We do not know precisely what that means, but clearly people were suffering.
Inscription #3: In the stele of the Steward Senisi of Coptus (modern Quft, 30 kilometers north of Luxor), we can read: “I measured out Upper Egyptian barley as sustenance for this whole town in the gateway of the Count and Chief Priest Djefi, in the painful years of distress.” (See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, 89.) Again, we see a reference to extended suffering. In this case, people needed measures of barley to survive, which suggests a period of starvation.
Inscription #4: In the autobiography of the Nomarch Henqu, the inscription states: “I also resettled the towns that were enfeebled in this nome with persons of other nomes.” (See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, 89.) These towns might have been enfeebled due to disease, starvation, or war, hence an influx of people from other nomes. These things suggest a period of instability.
Inscription #5: From the autobiography of a nomarch named Khety: “I made a sluice-way for this town, while Upper Egypt was in a bad way, no water to be seen. I sealed the borders … I made the high ground into marshland. I made the inundation flood the old mounds. I let the plowlands be (inundated) while every neighborhood thirsted.” (See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies, 23–24.) This is clear evidence of a drought, with the nomarch using innovative water retention techniques by digging a series of canals and levees. Basically, he hacked the floodplain.
Inscription #6: From the door stele of the Treasurer Neferyu, “I nourished the great in the year of ‘belt tightening.’” (See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies, 26–27.) A drought would be accompanied by a year of poor harvests. This is another piece of evidence for at least one arid year in the First Intermediate Period.
Inscription #7: From the tomb of Ankhtifi of Mo’alla (just outside Luxor): “All of Upper Egypt was dying of hunger but I did not allow anyone to die of hunger in this nome … the whole country has become like locusts going up and down stream (in search of food).” Egyptologists have downplayed the significance of texts such as this (see Stephan Seidlmayer, “First Intermediate Period [ca. 2160–2055 BC]”), saying Ankhtifi is repeating what numerous other tomb owners have stated while also greatly exaggerating (see D. B. Spaniel, “The Date of Ankhtifi of Mo’alla,” Göttinger Miszellen, vol. 78 [1984]: 87–94). Ankhtifi also makes reference to the ancient Egyptians eating their children, which most modern Egyptologists discredit. While Ankhtifi’s tomb inscription follows formulae that are similar to those appearing in other tombs, he goes a step further. Because of the drought, Ankhtifi takes pride in telling posterity that he did not allow anyone in his nome to go hungry. The normal descriptive formula takes an entirely different meaning: Ankhtifi performed the custodial duties of a nomarch in a time of great need, thus showing his leadership abilities.
42. Edward Brovarski, “Ahanakht of Bersheh and the Hare Nome in the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom,” Studies in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Sudan: Essays in Honor of Dows Dunham on the Occasion of his 90th birthday, June 1, 1980, ed. William Kelly Simpson and Whitney M. Davis (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1981), 14–30.
43. Brovarski, “Ahanakht of Bersheh and the Hare Nome in the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom.”
Chapter 8
1. My favorite history of the Middle Kingdom is Wolfram Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (London: Gerald Duckworth, 2006).
2. Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 19.
3. Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 19–23.
4. Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 28.
5. For overviews of the site, see William Kelly Simpson, “Lischt,” Lexikon der Ägyptologie, vol. 3, ed. Wolfgang Helck and Wolfhart Westendorf (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1979), 1058–61.
6. Dieter Arnold, The Pyramid Complex of Amenemhat I at Lisht: The Architecture, Egyptian Expedition Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 29 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015).
7. Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 29–32.
8. Dieter Arnold and Peter Jánosi, “The Move to the North: Establishing a New Capital,” Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, ed. Adela Oppenheim et al. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015), 54–67. This co-regency is debated, though. See Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 33.
9. Arnold and Jánosi, “The Move to the North,” 54–67; Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 55.
10. William Kelly Simpson, The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry, 3rd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 54–66.
11. See Dieter Arnold, The South Cemeteries of Lisht, Volume III: The Pyramid Complex of Senwosret I, Egyptian Expedition Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 25 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992); Dieter Arnold, The South Cemeteries of Lisht, Volume I: The Pyramid of Senwosret I, Egyptian Expedition Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 22 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988).
12. Wolfram Grajetzki, Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (London: Gerald Duckworth, 2009), 132–33.
13. Seen in the tomb of Khnumhotep II: Naguib Kanawati and Linda Evans
, Beni Hasan, Volume 1: The Tomb of Khnumhotep II, The Australian Centre for Egyptology, Report 36 (Oxford: Aris and Phillips, 2014).
14. For overviews of Middle Egyptian, see James P. Allen, Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); Mark Collier and Bill Manley, How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself, rev. ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003); Richard B. Parkinson, “The Impact of Middle Kingdom Literature: Ancient and Modern,” in Oppenheim et al., Ancient Egypt Transformed, 180–87.
15. R. B. Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings, Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture, vol. 9 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 5–6.
16. For an overview of Itj-Tawy, see Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, 29–31.
17. Although not necessarily for everyone. See Wolfram Grajetzki, Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt: Life in Death for Rich and Poor (London: Gerald Duckworth, 2003).
18. Dieter Arnold, Middle Kingdom Tomb Architecture at Lisht, Egyptian Expedition Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 28 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008).
19. Mud-brick construction ramps survive in varying types and quantities at and near Old through Middle Kingdom pyramids. See Dieter Arnold, Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone Masonry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 81–90.
20. Middle Kingdom quarries for hard and soft stones occur mainly in the Eastern Desert, but there are also some in the Western Desert. See Barbara G. Aston et al., “Stone,” Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, ed. Paul T. Nicholson and Ian Shaw (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 5–77, esp. 8–15, figs. 2.1–2 maps, table 2.1; for quarries, see Rosemarie Klemm and Dietrich D. Klemm, Stones and Quarries in Ancient Egypt, trans. and ed. Nigel Strudwick (London: British Museum Press, 2008).
21. See Arnold, South Cemeteries of Lisht, Volume I: The Pyramid of Senwosret I, 14.
22. Felix Arnold, “Settlement Remains at Lisht-North,” House and Palace in Ancient Egypt: International Symposium in Cairo, April 8 to 11, 1992, vols. 1 and 2, ed. Manfred Bietak, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie, vol. 14 (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996), 13–21.
23. “Necklace of Sithathoryunet,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/545532, accessed 5 May 2018; Wolfram Grajetzki, Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdom: The Archaeology of Female Burials (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), 36–45.
24. “Amenemhet and Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan,” in Simpson, Literature of Ancient Egypt, 418–24.
25. As the power center shifted from Itj-Tawy to the northeast Delta during what’s known as the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1648–1540 BC), the city must still have had occupants. We believe this because the Victory Stele of Piye—an inscribed stone slab from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo—mentions Itj-Tawy. That was some 1,100 years after the city served as Egypt’s capital. This identification is not certain, though. The stele may have referred not to the old capital, but to another city, or to the general region.
26. The phrase “White Walls” (Inbu-Hedj) refers to pharaonic Memphis. Steven Snape, The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames and Hudson, 2014), 170; see also Nadine Moeller, The Archaeology of Urbanism in Ancient Egypt, From the Predynastic Period to the End of the Middle Kingdom (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 158–60.
27. Unlike some early Middle Kingdom “soul house” models (Aikaterini Koltsida, Social Aspects of Ancient Egyptian Domestic Architecture, British Archaeological Reports International Series, book 1608 [Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007], pls. 11–15) and New Kingdom and later housing (Dieter Arnold, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egyptian Architecture [Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003], 112), including Late Period multistory house models, the archaeology of the Middle Kingdom features less evidence for multiple floors (versus rooftop access) from the many state-founded communities and portions of a few organic settlements. Many dwellings might have an upper floor implied, but not necessarily confirmed, by the presence of stairways and other features found in housing at Lahun (where staircases are often affiliated with granaries), Elephantine (a potential multistory building H84; houses H70 and H93), Tell el-Dab’a (a palatial complex), North Lisht (Houses A 1.3 and A 3.3), and elsewhere (Moeller, Archaeology of Urbanism in Ancient Egypt, 285, 311, 314, fig. 8.44, 336–37, 341, 352–55, fig. 9.10, 361–64, figs. 9.18–19, 370; see also Stephen Quirke, Egyptian Sites: Lahun. A Town in Egypt 1800 B.C., and the History of Its Landscape [London: Golden House Publications, 2005], 49).
28. Percy Newberry, El Bersheh, Part I: The Tomb of Tehuti-hetep (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1895).
29. Sarah Parcak et al., “Satellite Evidence of Archaeological Site Looting in Egypt: 2002–2013,” Antiquity, vol. 90, no. 349 (2016): 185–205, https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2016.1.
30. Seen in the rock-cut tombs of Tell el Amarna. See Norman de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of el Amarna (London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1903).
31. But this cemetery has had few tombs excavated. See Wolfram Grajetzki, “Multiple Burials in Ancient Egypt to the End of the Middle Kingdom,” Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt During the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, ed. Silke Grallert and Wolfram Grajetzki, GHP Egyptology 7 (London: Golden House Publications, 2007), 16–34.
32. For another example of a tomb with a mud-brick causeway, see Alexander Badawy, A History of Egyptian Architecture, Volume 2: The First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, and the Second Intermediate Period (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), 152, fig. 59; and at Lisht, Grajetzki, Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdom, 18, fig. 2.
33. For an overview of painting and artistic styles in ancient Egypt, see W. Stevenson Smith, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, rev. with additions by William Kelly Simpson (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998).
34. Numerous examples of Middle Kingdom painting can be found in Oppenheim et al., Ancient Egypt Transformed.
35. Discussions of these and other Middle Kingdom titles can be seen in Henry George Fischer, Egyptian Titles of the Middle Kingdom: A Supplement to Wm. Ward’s Index, 2nd ed., rev. and augmented (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997).
36. See Collier and Manley, How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs, 41; and Grajetzki, Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, 101.
37. See Ingrid Melandri, “Female Burials in the Funerary Complexes of the Twelfth Dynasty: An Architectonic Approach,” The World of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000–1550 BC), Volume II: Contributions on Archaeology, Art, Religion, and Written Records, ed. Gianluca Miniaci and Wolfram Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom Studies, book 2 (London: Golden House Publications, 2016), 161–79.
38. For a discussion on the types of Middle Kingdom kilts and garments in general for commoners, the military, priests, the elite, royalty, and foreigners in Egypt, see Philip J. Watson, Costume of Ancient Egypt, Costume Reference (London: B. T. Batsford, 1987), 12–17, 30, 39–40, 47–48, 51, 55.
39. Although women rarely received their own tomb chapels in ancient Egypt, a few examples exist, such as a Middle Kingdom vizier, Intefiqer, building his mother, Senet, a tomb in Thebes (Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993], 100, 165), whereas mothers were honored widely in ancient Egyptian society, inscriptions (e.g., the Middle Kingdom text known as Teaching of Duaf’s son Khety), and male-dominated mortuary settings (Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, 106–7).