WATANI International 17 January 2010
The ruins of the first Islamic capital of Egypt, Fustat, have yielded rich pickings for archaeologists.
Shortly after the Arab conquerors arrived in Egypt they decided to move the national capital from Alexandria and set up a new one of their own. They chose a spot just outside the Byzantine stronghold of Babylon—present day Old Cairo, where a Roman fortress had been defending the area. In the open ground south of the fortified wall the Arab leader, Amr Ibn al-Ass, set up camp, and his tented city was given the name Fustat. It was here that the first mosque in Egypt was built.
Fustat was gutted by fire in the 11th century and was never rebuilt. For centuries it remained largely a wasteland with potteries and other fabrications on its fringe. The neglect of the site proved fortuitous, as it enabled archaeologists to work freely, and indeed it is now the prime site in the archaeology of Islamic Egypt.
Fustat has always drawn the attention of historians and archaeologists, not least among which has been the Institut Français d##Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) which has been active there since 1985. In a recent conference organised by the French Embassy in Cairo, IFAO experts reviewed the results of their 25-year excavations in the area of Estable Antar in Fustat.
The wonders of Fustat
The excavations at Estable Antar, Roland-Pierre Gayraud said, revealed that the streets of the town were narrow, not planned to accommodate any wheels. There were remains of houses with Arabic inscriptions and a small mosque, possibly indicating that the Arabs had a reasonable knowledge of building.
Among the major finds, as revealed by Sobhi Bouderbala, were large numbers of Arabic ostraca—pieces of pottery used for writing, equated with documents. The ostraca of Estable Antar included commercial texts that revealed information about the trade, transactions and weights used in that period. One piece carried a magical incantation and some Qur##anic verses.
The first pieces of Chinese pottery in Egypt were found in Estable Antar, dating back to the Tang Dynasty (ninth century). This was distinct from Egyptian pottery because of its small size and decorated upper edges.
One of the wonderful Antar discoveries was a type of Egyptian pottery made of Aswani clay and coated with manganese. Specimens of such pottery had been found in Alexandria and Aswan, but never in the Nile Valley.
For the first time, Roberta Cortopassi showed, cotton which appeared in textiles found in Fustat. Cotton was not previously known in Egypt because its cultivation requires a copious supply of water, so the Egyptians preferred to plant linen, while cotton was planted in Asia.
Coins, seals and weights minted in Egypt were also discovered, as revealed by Abdelhamid Fenina. As the inscriptions on them showed, various coins were minted under various rulers beginning in Roman times and continuing well into the ninth century.
The French proudly claim the credit of being the first foreign mission to have worked in Fustat since 1912.
The mysterious Harwa
Harwa was a mysterious figure in ancient Egypt. He lived in the seventh century BC, when Egypt was controlled by the Nubians of the 25th Dynasty. He held the position of Great Steward of the Divine Votaries; a position that allowed him to manage the huge resources of the state of Amun-Re of Karnak This position was held for three centuries by members of the clergy and controlled the whole of southern Egypt.
The importance of Harwa lies in his tomb in the Theban necropolis on Luxor’s West Bank where eight statues of him in various positions were discovered. These statues are now scattered among the Egyptian collections in different parts of the world—in Cairo, Aswan, Paris, London and Leipzig. There is a statue of him with his wife and daughter, the three of them depicted with physical imperfections.
At a recent lecture organised by the Italian Archaeological Institute in Cairo Francesco Tiradritti, president of the Italian archaeological mission in Luxor, talked about the institute’s discoveries in the tomb of Harwa.
Excavations have been carried out at Harwa’s tomb by the Italian Archaeological Mission to Luxor since 1995. The finds indicate that Harwa was not only a dignitary with vast power, but was the actual ruler of the whole of southern Egypt, ruling on behalf of the pharaohs of the Nubian Dynasty. This conclusion is supported by a limestone ushabti (funerary statuette), discovered in 1997 into the tomb, showing Harwa holding in his hands the crook and the flail, that is to say the regalia, the characteristic emblems of the pharaonic royalty.
Harwa may thus have been the first king in the Renaissance Period, a term used to describe the 25th Dynasty. The Renaissance movement in art especially began in Harwa’s tomb then spread widely in Egypt. Old images were painted in a new style. “For example,” Dr Tiradritti explained, “in paintings of earlier periods we would find scenes of servants taking a calf to slaughter and all the cows would be looking at him sadly. In Harwa’s tomb, the calf is also sad, as if he knew his fate.”
It is clear that the artists who decorated Harwa’s tomb came from Upper Egypt. Harwa’s tomb is similar to a temple built by Pharaoh Taharqa, one of the 25th Dynasty kings, in northern Nubia.
No slaves
Mervat Ayad
A number of tombs belonging to the workers who built Khufu’s pyramid—the Great Pyramid of Giza—was discovered in the necropolis of the Giza plateau. Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass said that the tombs date back to the 4th Dynasty when the pyramids of Khufu (2609-25840 BC) and Khafre (2576-2551 BC) were built.
Dr Hawass said the tombs are among the most important discoveries of the 20th and the 21st centuries since they shed light on the early period of the 4th Dynasty and, more importantly, contradict the view that the pyramids were constructed through slavery or forced labour.
“The tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that the people buried in them were by no means slaves,” Dr Hawass said.
The most important tomb, belonging to Idu, is rectangular in structure with a mud brick outside casing covered with plaster. It has several burial shafts cased in white limestone, with niches in front of each shaft. Adel Okasha, supervisor of the excavation, said that the upper part of Idu’s tomb was vaulted, symbolising the eternal hill from which human creation began, according to the Memphis religious tradition.
Evidence uncovered revealed that families in the Delta and Upper Egypt sent 21 buffaloes and 23 sheep to the plateau every day to feed the workers. Dr Hawass pointed out that in doing so these families were not paying their taxes, but were rather contributing to a national project. The number of workers did not exceed 10,000, he said, contradicting Herodotus who said the workers numbered some 100,000.
Dr Hawass said that the workers came from the Delta and Upper Egypt, rotated every three months, and those who died during the construction process were buried there.
Scientifically and archaeologically, Dr Hawass said, no specific time may be set during which the construction of the pyramids was concluded. The transportation of the granite, basalt and limestone blocks used in the construction was only conducted during the three-month Nile flood season, he said, but the construction work lasted throughout the whole year. The blocks used in the construction of the body of the pyramid were cut out of the Giza plateau itself.
The cemetery of the pyramid builders was discovered in 1990 when a horse stumbled on top of a mud brick structure ten metres far of the necropolis located to the south of the wall. The necropolis is composed of two levels connected by a ramp. The tombs are of different shapes and styles; some are pyramidal in shape while others are vaulted, and some include false doors.