7/27/2019 Bringing an Ancient House Back to Life

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CausewayGiven all e unusual callenges o Season 2011, i is raeramazing a we made i roug e excavaions o eend o Marc, acieving mos o our goals, and o lae April,

wen I sared a new projec wi arciec Gner Heindl

and arcaeologis Asra Abd el-Aziz o resore House E, one

o e priess ouses in e enkawes own (KK). Our res-

oraion o e lower par o House E is, opeully, e begin-ning o a resoraion o muc more o e own.

Lisa Yeomans and Hanan Mamoud excavaed wa was

le o House E in e spring o 2009 (AERAGRAM 10-2: 1013),

aer e ouse lay exposed and e walls ad dwindled grealy

or 77 years ollowing Selim Hassans excavaion o e KK in

1932. House E is one o a series o seven similar ouses along

e norern side o e enkawes causeway. Wi wa re-

mained, Lisa and Hanan unraveled muc abou e oundaion,

organizaion, and laer modicaions.

Te own builders laid ou e own on a bedrock plane le

rom e 4th Dynasy quarrymen sripping blocks of one oe naural, soer, more clay-like limesone beds. Tis ard

surace slopes around 6 rom norwes o soueas. Tey

rs laid down wo ick walls common o all e ouses in

is series, running eas-wes, and orming e norern and

souern walls o e buildings. Te slope resuls in a 1.2-meer

(4-oo) diference in elevaion beween e iger norern

and e lower souern wall. Ten e builders pariioned e

elongaed space wi nor-sou walls allocaing an area o 12

15.7 meers (39 52 ee) or eac ouse, including e sared

cross walls. o accommodae e slope wile mainaining level

Map o House E roaed o he same orienaion as he phoo above

wih norh o he boom. Map prepared by Rebekah Miracle, AERA GIS

0 1 5 m

Bringing an Ancient House Back to Life by Ana Tavares

7/27/2019 Bringing an Ancient House Back to Life

2/4Spring 2011 17

courses o brick, ey buil e cross walls rom e sou, wieac successive course exending urer nor. Te ouses

began wi very similar inernal layous, wi disinc elonga-

ed rooms, common a Giza in is period. Bu over ime rooms

were swapped and doorways blocked beween adjacen ouses

(AERAGRAM 10-2: 1013).

Rebuilding Ancient Architecture

Arcaeologiss don jus excavae o ge and record inorma-

ion abou e pas; ey use a inormaion o reconsruc

wa appened, o ge a glimpse o e pas and bring i alive

wi drawings, poograps, and video, or digially wi 3models. Reconsrucing, even parially, an ancien building

in real bricks and morar generaes many new insigs and

undersandings, as well as urer quesions.

In 2005 and 2006 we carried ou a pilo conservaion pro-

gram on e small asern own House (E) in e Los

Ciy sie, unded in par by e Aniquiies ndowmen und

o e American Researc Cener in gyp (AERAGRAM 8-1:

89). We rs sudied mudbrick conservaion meods in

gyp and around e world. Te bes soluion was reburial in

a ick sand layer. Tis o course would no allow or display

or researc, so we decided o bury e E and build a replica

in e same locaion and use maerials as close as possible o

ose used ancienly (bricks, morar, and plasers). We me

wo goals: proecing wa remains o e ancien srucure

and presening i or viewing and sudy.

Recording and Resurrecting House E

Prior o e reconsrucion, e 2011 Illusraion group, Yasser

Mamoud, Hassan Ramadan, and Said el-Assal, compleed

many secion and proile drawings roug e ouse, wile

e surveyor (Moamed Abd el-Aziz) and poograper

(Hilary McDonald) recorded eac wall meiculously. We also

made video recordings wi e excavaors, Lisa and Hanan,

explaining eac room and e overall low o space roug

e ouse. roug Marc, Asra supervised mudbrick pro-

ducion. Gner joined e eam in April. We ook on a crew

o experienced mudbrick builders, and e projec began in

earnes.

Our 2011 House E projec included experimenal arcaeol-

ogy, conservaion, and reconsrucion. Asra experimened

by making mudbricks (or as e preers o call em, sun-dried

bricks) wi diferen meods, sizes, and composiions (see

page 19). We conserved e ancien srucure by orougly

mapping and documening is eaures, encasing eac wall

wi mudbrick and en by lling e rooms wi sand and

laying down a mudbrick surace. We buil a replica o e lowepar o e walls and oors above e buried remains.

Unlike E, House E is no reaened by ucuaions in e

waer able. Te ouse is buil a a muc iger elevaion on

e sloping bedrock surace o e plaeau. Tereore, we saw

no need or possibiliy o bury i deeply in sand o avoid u-

midiy and emperaure ucuaions. We did owever ave o

ackle a marked slope, more an 1.2 meers (3.9 ee) rom

e norwesern o e soueasern corner.

Building on a Slope

Gner supervised e workers wo buil new inernal wallsdirecly above originals, bu wi e weig disribued ono

e modern skin-walls. inally we plasered e loor and e

inner walls o e ouse. We le e brick courses exposed on

e ouer walls o e ouse o sow e building ecnique.

e builders laid e irs courses o e ouer easern and

wesern walls on e slope. en, like eir ancien couner-

pars, ey laid level courses, compensaing or e slope by

exending successive brick courses norward as ey buil

up. By numbering brick courses we could see a wile 7 is

e iges course a e low soueasern corner, e nor-

Facing page: eam members pose in he House E reconsrucion a he

end o he season. View o he souh. his page, op: Workers prepare

he mud morar on sie or reconsrucing House E. View o he eas.

Below: Sayed albeah poins he mudbricks on a compleed wall. View o

he norh. Phoos by Ashra Abd el-Aziz.

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wesern corner rises o course 12. Nex season we would

like o complee inernal deails, suc as door sockes,

resolds, and ine plaser.

Living on a Slope

Building a parial replica o House E broug up manyquesions abou e sape and use o e ancien ouse.

Peraps e mos puzzling eaure was e slope o e

loors wiin rooms. Arcaeologiss ave ound ouses

wose loors slope up rom ron o back in oer sies

and periods. Our reconsrucion brings ou a e

loor o e zigzag enrance (Rooms 76, 77, 80), wic

adds o e securiy o e inerior, as an even grea-

er slope an e res o e ouse.

Bu e degree o slope o e oors o House

E, accenuaed by our reconsrucion, is somewa

disurbing o our modern minds. We see a e oors oindividual rooms in oer KK ouses were raised on a spread

o crused limesone debris, wic may ave also leveled e

slope o some degree. I oor levels o eac room were lev-

eled, i would efec a sepping up rom ron o back. Te

evidence rom House E and oer ouses is a, or e mos

par, inabians simply lived on e slope. Tis mig ave

been less impracical or everyday aciviies, wic, or e

mos par, ook place on e oor, an or modern urniure

like our-legged ables and cairs. Poery jars and bowls were

mosly round-boomed. Se ino a socke a was cu ino e

dir oor or a cylindrical ceramic sand, ey could be iled

agains e slope, so a e rim o e vessel sayed level.

How did air and lig ow in a building wi no laeral win-

dows wes and eas (were House E was anked by House

and F)? Peraps ig cleresory windows allowed in lig and

air over e cenral rooms? Did e inabians insall windcacers, wooden oods known as malqafin Arabic, above e

bedrooms as sown in New ingdom represenaions? Models

o ancien ouses sow iny windows se up ig on e walls,

inended o allow some lig and air, wile keeping ou e

ea and brig lig. Peraps we sould expec only one or

wo o ese on e souern aade o e building, wile e

open couryard on e nor would cac e cooler breeze.

Te use and ow o space is also inriguing. Wy does e

souern (main?) enrance ave suc resriced access, wi

a zigzag series o small spaces and our doorways, wile e

norern (back?) enrance provides a direc sig line rom esree ino e recepion niced room (Room 71)?

Wen reconsrucing e pas we ineviably ain i wi

our percepion o e presen. Te pragmaic ask o making

bricks and building walls as broug o lie e realiy o is

srucure as a ouse. I made us look a our own use o space

and wonder abou ow ancien people really lived.

Indeed, we urn our imaginaion o aemping a complee

rebuild o House E, of-sie, o experimen wi windows, roos

as well as cooking, roasing, baking, visiing, eaing, and sleep-

ing on a slope.

Above: he eam discusses how o lay level courses, compensaing or he slope by exending successive brick courses norhwards as hey

build up. Noe he seep slope o he loor rom norh (oreground) o souh. he loor is covered wih brick o proec he original suraceand will laer be inished wih plaser. View o he souh. Righ: Gner Heindl in he small zigzag rooms ha provided a secluded enrance o

House E. In he background piles o brick wai o be used. View o he souheas. Phoos by Mark Lehner. Facing page: A brickmaker orms

mudbricks in a wooden mold, lining hem up along he ground o dry. Up slope piles o Nile sedimens and bags o sraw are ready o be

mixed or bricks in a mixing pi ar in he background. Phoo on le by Hilary McDonald, phoo on righ by Ashra Abd el-Aziz.

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4/4Spring 2011 19

Experimenal archaeology by deniion enails much uncerainy.

We do no know iniially he oucome o our shor-erm experi-

mens wih pre-modern ools, echniques, operaions, and build-

ings ha our ancien counerpars ook or graned and used ormany generaions.

Mudbrick was he main building maerial a he Los Ciy sie,

he Khenkawes own, and mos ancien Egypian setlemens,

bu he bricks can difer widely. In 2004, Ashra Abd el-Aziz

began a ypology o mudbricks based on size and composiion.

Tis proved such a useul ool or he excavaion eam ha Ashra

exended his work o he res o he Giza Plaeau, and laer o

oher sies in he Memphie area, Dela, Fayum, and Upper Egyp.

He also began o sudy mudbrick using he mehods o ehno-

archaeology, he atemp o undersand culural pracices long

gone by observing similar pracices in radiional conemporaryculures. Ashra visied old riverside brick acories, inerviewed

old brickmakers and recorded adobe houses in Aya, his home-

own souh o Giza, and elsewhere.

Building in sun-dried bricks is becoming a los ar, as he main

componen, Nile sil, can no longer be used. In he 1980s he

Egypian governmen, in an efor o preserve he sil or culi-

vaion, declared i illegal o make bricks rom Nile sil or mos

modern building. Burn bricks, now made rom deser marl clay,

have inexorably been replacing sun-dried sil bricks.

For he EH projec we experimened by making bricks simi-

lar o hose used in he original. Tese were airly small (22 x 18 x

8 cm [8.7 x 7.1 x 3.1 inches]) and empered wih sand raher han

organic maerial. Tis season we had a quie diferen challenge:he bricks used o build House E (and much o he Khenkawes

own) were much larger (34 o 41 cm long, 16 o 20 cm wide, 9 o

12 cm hick [13.4 o 16.1 inches, 6.3 o 7.9 inches, 2.4 o 4.7 inches

hick]) and sraw-empered. We ried diferen eams o brick-

makers and diferen echniques wih varying resuls: one eam

produced good bricks bu oo slowly; he aser eam produced

uneven bricks; anoher eam used a mixure wih oo much ne

sil (clay) and no enough sraw emper so when he bricks dried

hey cracked badly; anoher placed he bricks o dry direcly on

he sand so hey acquired a hick crus o sand ha was very hard

o remove prior o using he bricks.As in all experimenal archaeology, he devil lurked in deails.

When he brickmakers dropped rom heir wooden molds a

brick ormed o a mixure ha was oo we, he bricks slumped

and sagged, alering heir nal dimensions. Te deviaions rom

his, or caked sand, grealy irriaed he masons in May. Misshap-

en bricks would no sraigh and rue ino a course o he wall.

So he masons ended up rimming hem wih rowel blades and

even hand saws, slowing heir work.

By mid-April we had 6,000+ bricks and could begin building!

Trying It Their Way: Brick Basics