DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:Szpakowska, Eliza; Górecki, Tomasz: Sheikh ABD el-Gurna: archaeological activities in the hermitage in tomb 1152
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42092#0308
SHEIKH ABD EL-GURNA
EGYPT
SHEIKH ABD EL-GURNA
ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES
IN THE HERMITAGE
IN TOMB 1152
Tomasz Gorecki, Eliza Szpakowska
Archaeological activities in the hermitage were carried out between 14 January and 3 March
2006, foremost in the courtyard situated on the rock terrace in front of the entrance to the
Middle Kingdom tomb.1
Meanwhile the books discovered in 2003 (Gorecki 2007: 266-272) underwent
conservation treatment in the labs of the National Museum in Alexandria between 3 March
and 11 April and in August-September 2006.2 3 The two papyrus books were threatened by
microorganisms and their conservation had to be delayed until this threat could be dealt with
effectively. As for the third book, comprising parchment cards held between wooden covers, the
conservation program was completed successfully (for a detailed conservation report, see below,
contribution by D. Kordowska in this volume), permitting the contents to be identified. The
bigger set counting some 23 cards holds excerpts from the Book of Isaiah {Fig. 1). The lesser
set, comprising only two cards both of which appear to be palimpsests, is part of the
apocryphal Martyrium Petri, referring to the miraculous cures effected by the Apostle
(Fig. 2}J Both the Book of Isaiah and the Martyrium Petri have been dated provisionally
to the 9th-10th century.
1 The mission was directed by Tomasz Gorecki, assisted by a team comprising Iwona Antoniak, coptologist; Malgorzata
Czapinska, architect; Eliza Szpakowska and Andrzej Cwiek, egyptologists; Cristobal Calaforra-Rzepka, wall painting
restorer; Jarostaw Sliwa, photographer; Mariusz Dybich, organization and technical safeguarding of the work in the
burial shaft. The Supreme Council of Antiquities was represented by Manal Mohamed Abd el Naby el Shazly from the
Islamic-Coptic Inspectorate in Luxor.
2 The work was carried out by Daria Kordowska and Anna Thommee-Stachon of the PPKZ S.A. Book, Prints and
Archives Conservation Department in Torun.
3 I am indebted to Prof. Tito Orlandi for identifying the parchment texts and suggesting a provisional dating.
305
EGYPT
SHEIKH ABD EL-GURNA
ARCHAEOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES
IN THE HERMITAGE
IN TOMB 1152
Tomasz Gorecki, Eliza Szpakowska
Archaeological activities in the hermitage were carried out between 14 January and 3 March
2006, foremost in the courtyard situated on the rock terrace in front of the entrance to the
Middle Kingdom tomb.1
Meanwhile the books discovered in 2003 (Gorecki 2007: 266-272) underwent
conservation treatment in the labs of the National Museum in Alexandria between 3 March
and 11 April and in August-September 2006.2 3 The two papyrus books were threatened by
microorganisms and their conservation had to be delayed until this threat could be dealt with
effectively. As for the third book, comprising parchment cards held between wooden covers, the
conservation program was completed successfully (for a detailed conservation report, see below,
contribution by D. Kordowska in this volume), permitting the contents to be identified. The
bigger set counting some 23 cards holds excerpts from the Book of Isaiah {Fig. 1). The lesser
set, comprising only two cards both of which appear to be palimpsests, is part of the
apocryphal Martyrium Petri, referring to the miraculous cures effected by the Apostle
(Fig. 2}J Both the Book of Isaiah and the Martyrium Petri have been dated provisionally
to the 9th-10th century.
1 The mission was directed by Tomasz Gorecki, assisted by a team comprising Iwona Antoniak, coptologist; Malgorzata
Czapinska, architect; Eliza Szpakowska and Andrzej Cwiek, egyptologists; Cristobal Calaforra-Rzepka, wall painting
restorer; Jarostaw Sliwa, photographer; Mariusz Dybich, organization and technical safeguarding of the work in the
burial shaft. The Supreme Council of Antiquities was represented by Manal Mohamed Abd el Naby el Shazly from the
Islamic-Coptic Inspectorate in Luxor.
2 The work was carried out by Daria Kordowska and Anna Thommee-Stachon of the PPKZ S.A. Book, Prints and
Archives Conservation Department in Torun.
3 I am indebted to Prof. Tito Orlandi for identifying the parchment texts and suggesting a provisional dating.
305