Wah-Sut

Wah-Sut

Shown within Egypt
Location	Egypt, South of Abydos
Region	Upper Egypt
Coordinates	26°10′38″N 31°55′53″E / 26.17722°N 31.93139°ECoordinates: 26°10′38″N 31°55′53″E / 26.17722°N 31.93139°E
Type	Government planned Settlement and Mortuary Temple Complex
Part of	Abydos
History
Founded	Twelfth Dynasty
Abandoned	Thirteenth Dynasty
Periods	late Middle Kingdom Twelfth Dynasty to Thirteenth Dynasty
Site notes
Archaeologists	C.T. Currelly and Arthur Weigall1901-1903 Josef Wegner 1994-present

Wah-Sut (Wah-sut-Khakaure-maa-kheru-em-Abdju- Enduring-are-the-places-of-Khakaure-justified-in-Abydos) is a cult town south of Abydos in Middle Egypt. Baisedon the name, we know that the town saw built to be an outlying part of Abydos. The town itself was built by the Egyptian government as the town for the Mortuary Temple of Senworset III. The complex of Senworset III consists of the mortuary temple, town, and a hidden tomb. The area was built during the Middle Kingdom in the 12th Dynasty. The town was used for over 150 years until the end of the Middle Kingdom and the 13th Dynasty.

Middle Kingdom Connections

The town of Wah-sut was built during the Middle Kingdom in the 12th Dynasty. The Egyptian government built it for the workers of Senworset III’s mortuary temple. Senworset III was King during the late Middle Kingdom. According To Joseph Wegner, he set into motion many governmental changes, which established a break in the Middle Kingdom state (early and late).^[1] These changes created a difference in the early to late periods of the Middle Kingdom. Many texts have been found of the administrative records of this time period. Aside from these texts, the archeological record shows proof of the changes as well. One major change made by Senworset III, which is found in significance at Wah-Sut, is the importance of Mayors. The Mayor’s work is done in direct guidance of the officials of the royal government. They also are very important within the towns they are Mayor of as well as the complex of the town. They hold multiple titles within the community including heading the economic and administrative aspects of the town and temple. This degree of change of the government directly leads to a more centralized government.^[1]

There were many cultural and religious changes made in Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. The use of amulets as divine symbols increased drastically during this time period. The scarab beetle became the most recognizable. It is known for its symbolization of the solar cycle and rebirth. These scarab beetle amulets were found throughout the Wah-Sut complex in the form of seals of the government officials. They also seemed to be linked to burials as well as worn during life. Another religious symbol found during the Middle Kingdom are the magic wands.These wands are decorated with divine images and often hieroglyphs. These wands represent the same as the scarab amulets, the solar cycle and symbolizing rebirth. They have been found to be most used in childbirth rituals to protect the child and bring them into life healthy. They were then buried in the tombs of their female owners. Along with the magic wands, birth bricks were known to be used as well. They were similar to wands magically, but they were physically used during labor to make it easier for the women and to protect the baby. The combination of these physical aspects and some of the spells found textually lead to the understanding of Middle Kingdom rituals surrounding birth.^[1]

The complex at South Abydos shows the complexity of the cultural changes happening that define the Middle Kingdom. Being a Middle Kingdom government built town, Wah-Sut was orthogonally laid on the cubit system. Both the town and the Mortuary Temple were made of the same mudbricks, which shows that they were built at the same time and created for each other.^[2]

Excavators

In 1901-1902, C. T. Currelly, Arthur E. P. Weigall and a couple other men found the temple and tomb of Senworset III (Senusert III). The first season in South Abydos, they discovered the hidden tomb and a temple on the edge of the cultivation that is on axis.

The next archeologist to work at South Abydos came in 1994. Josef Wegner, working under David O. Conner, began his fieldwork in South Abydos in 1991. In 1994, he discovered part of the town at South Abydos. Ever since then, he has been working on the town and mortuary temple, which later came to be known as Wah-Sut.^[3]

Excavation Findings of Senworset III Complex

Mortuary Temple

The mortuary temple of Senworset III is located outside the town walls of Wah-Sut to the north along the cultivation line. It was used by the cult of Senworset III to honor him after his death. A town, built by the government, was close by to house those who used and took care of the temple. Archeological evidence shows that the temple was used to honor the King. This evidence comes the construction of the temple as well as what is found in the areas surrounding the temple.

The temple itself was built of limestone with a mudbrick exterior wall. The main entrance consisted of a mudbrick pylon with a gate entrance. Leading up to the gate was a causeway leading from the cultivation. This entrance seemed to only be used during cult rituals. There were side doors leading into the temple for all other access. The main entrance led to the central court where only cult activities and very special occasions occurred. The interior of the temple consisted of three main chambers each devoted to a different function and there were interior streets, which were used in order to access the chambers on either side of the central chamber. This was meant to keep the central chamber sacred.^[4]

The west block consisted of housing and administrative quarters and is separated into three different units consisting of multiple rooms of different sizes. In the rooms thought to be housing units they found hearths and domestic ceramics. Ceramics used for cooking were found which dated to the later part of the Twelfth Dynasty. This helped point to the functions of these rooms.^[4] A waste deposit, called a refuse, was found along the outside of the west temple walls. Inside this refuse they found a variety of pottery used for cooking and household practices as well as administrative seals and debris. The finding of these seals leads to the belief that this section of the temple must have been used to house the administrative employees who worked in the temple. Those who would have stayed in the west block would have been the administrative personnel on duty, such as the temple overseer, phyle director and temple scribe as well as those who help them.^[4]

The east block was composed of five separate units that were not quite as preserved as the west block. Based on what they found left behind, the east block seemed to be used for both long and short term storage for cult activities, preparation for priesthood and cult activities, and post ritual activities. Much of the info about the east block came from its refuse deposit, which was located directly behind the east side of the temple. It contained large amounts of ceramics (most of them whole), animal bones, and mud jar stoppers. Much of what was found seemed to come from the cult activities of the galleries.^[4]

There was also a refuse deposit for the central chamber. It was found in front and to the side of the main entrance of the temple. The ceramics that were found were all very similar which made it look like the trash came from the activities of the cult activities. Many beaker jars were found representing liquid offering, most likely in the form of beer. Also found here were many administrative seals.^[4] To the east of the temple, between the temple and the town, a production field was found. An area fill of pottery sherds was found covering almost 6000 square meters. Pottery linked to the production of bread and beer were found in abundance in the area. A building has been found not very far from the eastern entrance of the temple, which seemed to be linked to the storage in the galleries of the east block. About 50 meters east of the temple there seem to be another cluster of buildings that may have been used as supply and storage rooms for the production area. This production area seems to have been used by the cult for the temple activities.^[4]

Hidden tomb

The tomb of Senworset III was discovered in 1902 by Arthur Weigall. It is placed at the base of the desert cliffs surrounded by a t-shaped mudbrick enclosure wall. He deduced who the tomb belonged to based on it being on axis with the Mortuary Temple of Senworset III. In the next few years, Currelly examined the interior of the tomb. He found a 170 meter long subterranean tomb leading under the gebel (cliff).^[5]

Currelly tells us of the interior of the tomb. When he entered it, it had been completely plundered. The walls and ceiling of the first main chamber were made of fine white limestone blocks. The ceiling looked to be carved of long poles placed side by side. It was very exquisitely carved. Off of this chamber, were two long passages into the cliffs. These rooms were not lines in stone, but the rock was carefully cut out and roughly polished. They were both very large but this is where the tomb ends. In the limestone chamber, Currelly found evidence of the plunderers chiseling into the walls and ceilings looking for more. When they got through the ceiling they found yet another passageway above it. This area was set up just like the first set, with two chambers off if it. The main passage lines in fine white limestone and the ones off of it polished. Behind the walls of one of these rooms, yet another passageway was found. This “plug” as Currelly called it was 64 feet from the outer passage and was pure granite. The plunderers had to create a tunnel under it to get through. They also made a tunnel to the side of the plug and ended up dropping into yet another room. This was lined with blocks of quartzite sandstone the exact side of the walls. Beyond this was another passageway made up of nothing but the natural rock. This led to the final room which was again lines with the same quartzite sandstone as the previous room. In this room, laid a great sarcophagus made of red granite. Inside was a canopic box made of granite with a quartzite lid. Alabaster dishes were found smashed, more than likely by the plunderers, along the inside, but there was no body found. There were no inscriptions found in the tomb or on the sarcophagus. Currelly believed the plundering occurred at the end of the twelfth dynasty.^[6]

Town of Wah-Sut

The town of Wah-Sut was first found in 1901-1902 by Currelly but he believed them to be a part of the New Kingdom temple of Ahmose. The pictures that he shows of where the houses were, shows them equidistant from the Senworset III temple and that of Ahmose, but right next to where Building A has been found.^[2] It was not until more than 90 years later, when Josef Wegner found more of the town, did the mansions found by Currelly get established to be a part of the elite houses at Wah-Sut. The first part of the town discovered by Wegner was the Northwest building, which later came to be known as the Mayor’s house. The town is laid out on the cubit system, where both Building A and the elite houses are laid out in blocks of 100 cubits in width with a street of 5 cubits in width in between every 2 sets of paired houses. Building A forms the southwest corner of the town, but they are not sure where the southwest corner of the town may be. In 1999, the front of Building A is found, along with a 5 cubit wide street running east west.^[7] The exact size of the town will never be able to be determined because much of it lays under the modern town that it there now as well as the cultivation area.

Mayor’s House

The Mayor’s House, or Building A as it was first known, was originally found in 1994. During the first couple seasons, 1994 and 1997, Wegner and his team uncovered a majority of the building. The main area of the building is the central residence. The main entrance of the residence is a columned portico off of a large courtyard. Beyond the portico are three large rooms, which are the main part of the residence. Off of the main rooms are nine smaller rooms and a smaller courtyard. The smaller rooms would have been the sleeping chambers and rooms associated with them. The courtyard attached to the portico was completely paved like the rest of the central residence and seemed to be used for food preparation and storage based on the storage bins built into the outside walls, the amount of pottery found littered around, and the about of organic material discovered. Behind the main residence is office space used by the mayor and his administration.^[2]

During the 1999 excavation, Wegner and his team uncovered a 10-block granary, a series of secondary storage structures, activities done on the west side of the building, and excavated the Northwest corner of the building. This block style granary only shows up in the archeological record during the Twelfth Dynasty. It served as a high volume functioning granary based on deposits found inside the rooms. The size and location of the granary, next to the large central courtyard, suggests that the mayoral residence runs the towns economy and the smaller residences depend on it for their grains.^[7] It was also discovered that the granary was later transformed into residences for a women named Reniseneb, who was a kings daughter, during the Thirteenth Dynasty and the courtyard was turned into a granary court. As mentioned, there were other findings in Building A during the 1999 excavation. The activity found on the external west side of Building A included a water supply chamber. The water supply chamber was a subterranean room with thick walls and littered with broken necked water jars. They also found an extreme amount of nabaq seeds. These are fruited trees that can be used in breads, eaten alone, or for medicine. Many of the fruits were found decomposed on the ground, meaning that they did not seem to be using them for nutrient properties. They seem to be used as windbreaks from the desert or gardening for the wealthy. The north-west corner of the building was also excavated. The findings here are what look to be a series of smaller residence like rooms.^[7]

Elite Houses

The ‘’’Elite houses’’’ at Wah-Sut are found along the grid with Building A. They are labeled B-F. These houses are very large but not quite as large as the Mayor’s house. They are situated in sets of four houses connected each 100 cubits in size. In 1999, Wegner and his team excavated a majority of buildings B and D. From what is discovered, the housed to be exact parallels of each other, they are small versions of the central residence of the Mayors house. The entrance of the main residence of these two houses is a portico followed by the three main rooms. Beyond those rooms are the subsidiary rooms and living quarters. Each house has a decent size courtyard in front of the portico and some administrative rooms just like the Mayor’s house.^[7]

The mansions that are found in 1902 by Curelly are also on axis with the Mayor’s house. As seen in the map of the town, for the most part, are set up exactly like Building B and D. For these reasons as well as the proximity to the Wah-Sut site they are definitely believed to be a part of the town.

Birth Brick

The birth brick as briefly mentioned above is a magical item which is used in childbirth. One such brick has been found, while it is mentioned many times in texts that have been found. This one brick was found by Wegner and his team at Wah-Sut in 2002. It is made of unfired brick measuring 17x35cm and painted with the divine images. It is used to magically protect both children and mothers during childbirth.The bottom face of the brick depicts a mother holding her born child, flanked by two women who seem to be mid-wives and priestesses of Hathor who have helped the mother give birth to the child. Behind them is the symbol of the goddess Hathor, a horned cow head perched upon a stick. The goddess Hathor is closely related to fertility and childbrth among other things.^[1] The other four sides that have been somewhat preserved depict zoomorphic and anthropomorthic deities, which are also found on the magic wands. The symbols that were preserved enough to analyze include a serval, and a couple of goddesses. The striding wild cat on the lower left corner of side E is one that is still fully present on the brick. The cat is an iconic symbol of solar incarnation in Egypt. This again ties into the magic wands of the Middle Kingdom. There is also an image of a nude goddess holding two snakes in her hands that is important.Although her head has not been preserved, we can still tell that she is facing forwards and that she is a goddess based on her body being sky blue. She looks similar to some found on the magic wands, but there are only a few available to compare them to. She is also similar to the “mistress of animals” found in the Mesopotamia area who is always shown in a full frontal nudity either flanked by or grasping animals.^[8] The side of the birth brick, which seems to be the top and the most important, has been destroyed over time.

The birth brick could have been used as a meskhenet brick. These bricks were used in the physical birthing process. A set of four of the bricks were set up, two bricks stacked together and laid out parallel to one other. The pregnant woman would then stand on them and squat to give birth. While this was happening, there may have been someone using a magic spell to protect the child as well as is done with the magic wands.^[1] The birth brick was found in building A in the Northwest quadrant. As mentioned before, this area was originally a granary, which underwent a huge change during the 13th dynasty. It was turned into a habitation area for Reniseneb. The main part of this area was the 7 room residential area. This is where the brick was found. The actual room in which it was used seemed to be a storage area and was probably not where it was actually used but where it was moved during disturbances after the town was no longer in use. The find of the Birth Brick does lead us to the evidence of female habitation in this quadrant of the building.^[8]

References

1. Wegner, Josef 2010. Tradition and innovation: the Middle Kingdom. In Wendrich, Willeke (ed.), Egyptian archaeology, 119-142. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell
2. Wegner, Josef 1998. Excavations at the town of Enduring-are-the-Places-of-Khakaure- Maa- Kheru-in-Abydos: a preliminary report on the 1994 and 1997 seasons. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 35, 1-44.
3. http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/47-2/Meet%20the%20Curators.pdf
4. Wegner, J., Smith, V., & Rossell, S.. (2000). THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEMPLE NFR-K3 OF SENWOSRET III AT ABYDOS. Ägypten Und und Levante / Egypt and the Levant, 10, 83–125.
5. Wegner, Josef (2009). The Tomb of Senwosret III at Abydos: Considerations on the Origins and Development of the Royal Amduat Tomb Archaism and Innovation, Studies in the Culture of Middle Kingdom Egypt, 103-168. New Haven and Philadelphia.
6. C. T. Currelly (1904). The Tomb Of Senusert III. Abydos, Part III, 22-28 . Egypt Exploration Fund special extra Publication.
7. Wegner, Josef 2001. The town of Wah-sut at South Abydos: 1999 excavations. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 57, 281-308
8. Wegner, Josef. "A Decorated Birth-Brick from South Abydos: New Evidence on Childbirth and Birth Magic in the Middle Kingdom." Archaism and Innovation: Studies in the Culture of Middle Kingdom Egypt. Ed. David P. Silverman and William Kelly Simpson. N.p.: n.p., 2009. 447-96. Web.