CAR Seminar series - The 1st Dynasty Elite Cemetery of Abu Rawash

The 1st Dynasty Elite Cemetery of Abu Rawash. Discoveries of the earliest remains of funerary boats known in Egypt (2950 BC). Dr Yann Tristant (Macquarie University) The site of Abu Rawash is located at the northern edge of the great Egyptian necropolis of Memphis, about 8 km northwest of the Giza Plateau. Since 2010, the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO, Cairo, Egypt) has undertaken, in collaboration with Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia), the study of the Cemetery M at Abu Rawash and its large mud-brick mastabas assigned to the elite of the 1st Dynasty. This program aims to re-excavate the monuments partially cleared by Pierre Montet in the years 1913-1914, in order to gather new information about the funerary architecture of the period and the Early Dynastic Memphite society at the dawn of Pharaonic civilisation. During the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the team uncovered the remains of wooden boats deposited at the north of four different mastabas. The boats were designed according to the technique of lacing ligatures. Based on material associated, stratigraphy and more importantly a set of C14 dates, the boats of Abu Rawash are currently believed to be the oldest boats ever found in Egypt. Transported to the conservation laboratory of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) at Giza, the boats will be exhibited soon in the galleries of the future museum. Their study will provide a better understanding of shipbuilding techniques in the early periods of Egyptian history and its development over the 400 years before the famous boat of Khufu (c. 2550 BC).