Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
is the study of the technological aspects of the archaeological material. Equally
important however, but dealt with in a later phase of the Project, will be the
iconographic and philological studies. Experimental archaeology will provide
additional insight. The Project is closely associated with the Ancient Egyptian
Leatherwork Project.
Among the objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb were no less than 93 pieces of
footwear. Although the majority is Sewn Sandals, several pieces are extraordinary and
thus far, comparable pieces have not been recovered from other contexts. Among
these is a pair of shoes, based on the familiar sewn soles with leather uppers and
elaborately decorated with beads. Another extraordinary pair of small sandals is
entirely made of beads.The presentation will shortly discuss the manufacturing
technology of the footwear, with an emphasis on the Sewn Sandals, which is one of
the most abundant Categories of sandals known from ancient Egypt (there are 75
specimen in the AEFP database, excluding Tutankhamun’s). The four Types are
presented and their most important differences explained in order to be able to put
Tutankhamun’s sandals in perspective. The sandals from Tutankhamun will be
compared with the footwear from among others Yuya and Tuya.
It is beyond the scope of the presentation to fully discuss topics outside the
technological aspects, not in the least because the research is still in progress, but few
(preliminary) conclusions can be presented:
� Tutankhamun’s footwear has some extraordinary items, but a large part are Sewn
Sandals.
� The distinction between the various Types is not only shape but also the
refinement of the manufacturing technology.
� Differences in detail within types might be explained by different sandal
makers/production centres.
� The leather treadsole might be a geographically induced feature.
� Type C sandals were meant for the higher levels of society and at least Type A
for the lower levels. The distinction however, might even be subtler as a
comparison with the footwear from Yuya and Tuya suggests.
� In general the wear is slight, and in some cases (almost) non-existing. This shows
the strength of this Type of sandal, but one should realise that the degree of wear
is much influenced by the surface on which one walks. On the other hand, some
sandals might have been made for burial only.
� Sewn Sandals, especially Type C, are very popular in the 18th Dynasty, but they
are much older: Type A and B go at least as far back as the Middle Kingdom.
The manufacturing technique however, is already seen in prehistoric basketry.
(b) The “Rope Cave” at Mersa Gawasis [poster]
André J. Veldmeijer and Chiara Zazzaro
In the mid 1970s, Abdel Moneim Sayed discovered the remains of a Middle Kingdom
harbour, known in ancient Egypt as S3ww, in Mersa Gawasis, about 22 km south of
modern Safaga at the Red Sea coast. It proved to be an important site, not in the least
because texts mention expeditions to Bia-Punt. In 2001, the University of Naples
“L’Orientale”, the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient Rome, in collaboration
with the University of Boston, co-directed by Rodolfo Fattovitch and Kathryn Bard,
started the systematic investigation of the site in order to understand the organisation
of seafaring in Pharaonic Egypt. One of the most spectacular finds is a cave, used to
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