Abu Sir al-Malaq

Madinat al Fayyum Cairo Abu Sir al Malaq

Map of Egypt

Abu Sir al-Malaq (also Abusir el-Meleq, Abusir el-Melek , Arabic أبو صير الملق, DMG Abū Ṣīr al-Malaq ) is a village on the west bank of the Lower Nile in Bani Suwaif Governorate near the eastern edge of the Fayyum Basin . To the west of the village is an extensive ancient Egyptian necropolis that was used from the Predynastic to the Early Byzantine Period.

history

The necropolis in the west of the village served as a burial place of the late Negade culture (IId2 – IIIB) and was again occupied in the Hyksos period, the Saitic and Roman periods .

The prehistoric cemetery was uncovered from 1905 to 1906 by the German Orient Society under the direction of Georg Möller . The dead lay crouched on their left side in oval pits without a coffin . Clay pots and flint tools were found as accessories . A special feature is a vessel in the shape of a camel .

The graves of the Hyksos period were dated by scarabs with royal names and contained elongated skeletons that were anthropologically determined to belong to the Semitic family of peoples.

The pristine grave of Tadja, which is located in Berlin today, dates from the 25th dynasty . Systematic excavations have only taken place on site at the beginning of the 20th century. Otherwise, the necropolis has been systematically looted and destroyed since then, and grave goods stolen there (especially coffins) keep appearing in the art trade.

literature

• Otto Rubensohn , F. Knatz: Report on the excavations at Abusir el Malaq in 1903. In: Journal for Egyptian language and antiquity. Volume 41, 1904, pp. 1-21.
• The archaeological results of the prehistoric burial ground of Abusir el-Meleq according to the records of Georg Möller . Edited by Alexander Scharff . Hinrichs, Leipzig 1926.
• Jürgen von Beckerath : Abusir el-Meleq. In: Wolfgang Helck (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie (LÄ). Volume I, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-447-01670-1 , Sp. 28.
• Günter Vittmann : About the robbery excavations in Abusir El-Meleq. In: Göttinger Miscellen . (GM) Vol. 42, 1981, pp. 81-87.
• Jürgen Seeher : Abusir el-Meleq. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 91-93.

Web links

Commons : Abu Sir al Malaq  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Abu Sir al Malaq  - travel guide

• The prehistoric cemetery of Abusir el-Meleq . Project website of the German Orient Society.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The prehistoric cemetery of Abusir el-Meleq. Project website of the German Orient Society. Retrieved June 15, 2012 . 
2. ^ J. von Beckerath in W. Helck Lexikon der Ägyptologie. (LÄ) Volume I, Wiesbaden 1975, p. 28.

Coordinates: 29 °  N , 31 °  E