Abydos Archaeology Research

The purpose of Abydos Archaeology is to advance knowledge about ancient Egypt’s most sacred site—home of Egypt’s first kings and the cult-place of Osiris—through archaeological excavation, conservation, research, and publication.

The past half-century of archaeological research at North Abydos has revealed more about the dawn of Egyptian history than could ever have been imagined when archaeologists began exploring the site in the mid-nineteenth century. Since 1967, under the direction of David O’Connor and later Matthew D. Adams, research in North Abydos has focused primarily on early royal activity during the First and Second Dynasties that followed Egypt’s political unification under King Narmer, c. 3000 BCE. Our understanding of the origins of the Egyptian state and its religious institutions owes much to the recent, systematic investigation of King Khasekhemwy’s Second Dynasty funerary temple, known today as the Shunet el-Zebib, and its surrounding landscape. Situated in the middle of the ancient necropolis, along the processional route of the ancient festival of Osiris, the Shunet el-Zebib was—and is—the focal point of an archaeological site complex that spans 5000 years of history. The surrounding site of North Abydos also features the long buried funerary monuments of the kings of Dynasties 1 and 2; the ancient urban center of Abydos with its central cultural institution, the Temple of Osiris; the “Portal Temple” of Ramesses II dating to the New Kingdom; the world’s first industrial-scale brewery dating to Dynasty 0-1; a vast necropolis of private tombs from the early Middle Kingdom into the Ptolemaic period; and widespread evidence of pharaonic Egypt’s transformation to early Christianity.

History

The modern exploration of Abydos has a long and storied history stretching back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette first began excavating here. Since then, a great many archaeologists and Egyptologists from Egypt and around the world have contributed to our knowledge of this most sacred of ancient Egyptian landscapes. Our excavations today are a continuation of those begun in the 1960s by Profs. David O’Connor and William Kelly Simpson, on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. The Penn-Yale Expedition organized its first field season in 1967, which was in many ways the end of an historical era of archaeology in Egypt (one long centered on the acquisition of museum objects) and the beginning of a new era of fieldwork at Abydos, driven solely by the aims of research and conservation. Over the years, the excavations at North Abydos have focused on many different areas of the site, from the ancient town and its Temple of Osiris to the vast and intricate cemeteries that blanket the low desert beyond, and most importantly in recent years, the great royal monuments of Egypt’s earliest kings—archaeological remains that take us back to the dawn of recorded history. For ancient Egyptians, Abydos was the mythic burial place of the god Osiris and the ancestral home of their first kings. It was Egypt’s single most sacred landscape for thousands of years—a place of pilgrimage, ritual, culture, and power, where ancient Egyptians came to participate in the rituals that established the cultural basis for eternal life. From this place, and the people who lived here 5,000 years ago, much of Egyptian history flowed, shaping the world we know today in countless, unseen ways. Excavation is at the heart of all archaeology, it is how we see into the past, but any excavation is only as good as the body of knowledge and understanding it supports through documentation, conservation, and publication.

Timeline of Research at North Abydos (1965–present)

The Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition Years, 1965–1995

• 1965—David O’Connor undertakes a survey of major sites throughout Egypt on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, in order to identify a site with high potential for a joint long-term field research program.

• 1967—David O’Connor and William Kelly Simpson of Yale University organize the Penn-Yale Expedition’s first field season at Abydos. Construction of a new field house begins at the location of the ruins of British archaeologist John Garstang’s 1907 field house.

• 1967, 1968, 1969—Excavation of the area of the “Portal” Temple of Ramesses II, first examined by Flinders Petrie in 1902. Situated on the escarpment of the low desert overlooking the ancient town and temple of Osiris, the “Portal” Temple was a major ritual waypoint along the processional route of the great festival of Osiris. Discovery of a dense area of Middle Kingdom offering chapels under the New Kingdom temple, opening a new chapter in our understanding of Egyptian religious practice during the Middle Kingdom.

• 1970-1976—Penn-Yale Expedition on hiatus due to security restrictions in Egypt. David O’Connor collaborates with Barry Kemp on a new field project at Malqata, site of King Amenhotep III’s palace complex on the West Bank in Luxor, where foreign projects are still permitted to operate.

• 1977, 1979—Return to Abydos and the “Portal” Temple site, with a focus on the detailed documentation of the Middle Kingdom chapels and investigation of the nature of the pre-Middle Kingdom activity in the area.

• 1979, 1981—Test excavations in the ancient town site of Abydos, first discovered by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette in the 1860s, with detailed analysis of the ceramic assemblage from these excavations.

• 1986, 1988—Beginning of the investigation of the great and long-misunderstood royal funerary enclosures of the First and Second Dynasties in the North Cemetery at Abydos, beginning with parts of the enclosures of Kings Khasekhemwy (the Shunet el-Zebib), Peribsen, and Djer. These seasons marked the beginning of the Expedition’s long-term and still-ongoing exploration of the early royal landscape of North Abydos, which has over the years helped to rewrite the early history of ancient Egypt.

• 1991—Discovery of a buried royal fleet of fourteen wooden boats dating to Egypt’s First Dynasty as part of the Expedition’s continuing investigation of the Early Dynastic ritual landscape of North Abydos. Telephone and electricity installed at the Abydos field house, along with the construction of a specially designed sherd yard for ceramic sorting and analysis.

University of Pennsylvania PhDs based on fieldwork at Abydos

• Diana Craig Patch, The Origin and Early Development of Urbanism in Ancient Egypt: A regional study (1991)

• Janet Richards, Mortuary Variability and Social Differentiation in Middle Kingdom Egypt (1992)

• Josef Wegner, The Mortuary Complex of Senwosret III: A study of Middle Kingdom state activity and the cult of Osiris at Abydos (1996)

• Stephen Harvey, The Cults of King Ahmose at Abydos (1998)

• Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner, The Cult of Osiris at Abydos: An archaeological investigation of the development of an ancient Egyptian sacred center during the Eighteenth Dynasty (2002)

• Matthew Douglas Adams, Community and Society in Egypt in the First Intermediate Period: An Archaeological Investigation of the Abydos Settlement Site (2005)

The Penn-Yale-IFA Years, 1995–2017

• 1995—Project Director David O’Connor moves to the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and IFA becomes the main sponsor of the reorganized Penn-Yale-IFA Expedition.

• 1997—First IFA-sponsored field season, continuing the project’s investigation of the early royal ritual landscape of North Abydos.

• 1999—Matthew Adams joins NYUIFA as Associate Director & Field Director of the project.

• 2000—Return to the First Dynasty boat graves discovered in 1991 for further excavation and analysis, including the first detailed examination of the remains of one of the wooden boat hulls. Expansion of the Abydos field house, adding new bedrooms, labs, and storage spaces, and, for the first time since its construction in 1967, the house is provided with hot and cold running water, flush toilets, and indoor showers.

• 2001-2002—The project begins a major new initiative: the long-term, large-scale, still-ongoing archaeological investigation and architectural conservation of the Shunet el-Zebib—the Second Dynasty cult enclosure of King Khasekhemwy and the only Early Dynastic royal monument still standing at Abydos. Initial documentation and condition assessment undertaken in collaboration with preservation architects William Remsen and Anthony Crosby and structural engineer Conor Power.

• 2002-2003—Discovery of the First Dynasty cult enclosure complex of King Aha, accompanied by subsidiary graves for courtiers and retainers, as well as ten donkeys, the oldest complete donkey skeletons found anywhere in the world. New excavations of the remains of the Osiris Temple, first explored by Auguste Mariette in the 1860s.

• 2004-2005, 2005-2006—Project moves to the implementation phase of the architectural conservation program at the Shunet el-Zebib, in tandem with ongoing excavations, including comprehensive investigation of Late Antique occupation of the monument.

• 2008—World Monuments Fund selects the Shunet el-Zebib for its 2008 Watch List of the World’s 100 Most Endangered Sites, in recognition of its importance to Egypt’s cultural heritage and in support of its long-term preservation.

• 2009—David O’Connor publishes the first comprehensive book on the history and archaeology of ancient Abydos—Abydos: Egypt’s Earliest Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris.

• 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012—Continuation of conservation and excavation at the Shunet el-Zebib. Construction begins on a new wing of the Abydos field house dedicated to the storage and study of the project’s collection of archaeological material.

• 2011—Field season cut short by the events of the January 25 uprising, followed by a security vacuum leading to several weeks of nighttime looting at the site. A systematic foot survey in April identifies more than 200 looters’ pits in North Abydos.

• 2013—Focus on the systematic documentation of 2011 looting damage in North Abydos. NYUIFA excavations featured in The New Yorker.

Institute of Fine Arts, NYU PhDs based on fieldwork at Abydos

• Laurel Bestock, The Development of Royal Funerary Cult at Abydos: Two new funerary enclosures from the reign of Aha (2007)

• Michelle Marlar, The Osiris Temple at Abydos: An archaeological investigation of the architecture and decorative elements of two temple phases (2009)

Abydos Archaeology, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU & Princeton University, 2018–2021

• 2017—David O’Connor retires from the Institute of Fine Arts and Matthew Adams becomes project director.

• 2018—Deborah Vischak of Princeton University joins Matthew Adams as project co-director. With the co-sponsorship of the Princeton Department of Art & Archaeology, the first field season of the reorganized Abydos Archaeology project begins a major new research initiative in “Cemetery D,” site of the earliest non-royal funerary component of the North Cemetery, which was built over the remains of Egypt’s oldest industrial-scale beer production facility. Launch of Abydos Archaeology website, social media, and online documentation program. Construction of the new collections wing at the Abydos field house is completed.

• 2019—Field season resumes architectural conservation and excavation at the Shunet el-Zebib, and opens new research at the Temple of Osiris, beginning with the excavation of the front pylon. Preliminary implementation of 3D modeling in the field and construction of low-impact visitor pathways at North Abydos in support of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ decision to open the area to the public.

• 2020—Continuation of “Cemetery D” excavations exploring the early Old Kingdom cemetery and the Early Dynastic brewery. Installation of dual-language interpretive signage in English and Arabic at several locations in North Abydos as part of ongoing educational outreach efforts, and launch of a documentary series featuring updates from the field in English and Arabic. Abydos Archaeology team members experience archaeology life in quarantine during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

• 2021—Fieldwork on hiatus due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Abydos Archaeology, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, 2022–present

• 2021—Project awarded major NEH Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research grant for continued excavation and documentation of the Abydos brewery site — “The Abydos Royal Breweries and the Emergence of Kingship in Egypt” (Matthew D. Adams, P.I.).

• 2022—Return to fieldwork at the “Cemetery D” brewery site, where archaeologist T.E. Peet had noted parts of eight brewery structures in early twentieth-century excavations. Seven of those original eight have now been re-located and documented, showing at least some of them to have been more than 35m long and containing more than 80 individual beer vats per structure. Discovery of the first examples of Naqada III/Dynasty 1 beer jars in situ at the brewery — as well as some of the best-preserved architectural features so far documented at the site — giving us not only much clearer dateable contexts around the reign of King Narmer, but also the most intriguing archaeological evidence for the original construction, function, and scale of the brewery facility at the time of Egypt’s political unification in the early First Dynasty.

What Is North Abydos?

Abydos is in many respects the birthplace of Egyptian history. A remote site in the southern Nile Valley, it was the ancestral home of Egypt's first kings, where they built their tombs and funerary monuments. As a place of pilgrimage to the long vanished Temple of Osiris, it was also the Mecca of ancient Egypt for more than 2,000 years.

The archaeological area of Abydos is a vast site complex covering around 8 square kilometers—in its scale and complexity one can think of it as something akin to the expansive, multi-component sites of the Mayan and classical worlds. The project’s research area in North Abydos encompasses the ancient core of the site, including the ancient town of Abydos and its chief institution, the Temple of Osiris, as well as the vast and intricate cemeteries that blanket the low desert overlooking the town and temple—which include the great royal monuments of Egypt’s first kings—and the grand processional route of the festival of Osiris, along which generations of ancient pilgrims made their way from the Temple of Osiris to his symbolic tomb at Umm al-Qa‘ab, in an annual event that put Abydos at the center of Egyptian cultural life beginning in the Middle Kingdom.

The archaeological record of North Abydos spans the entire history of ancient Egypt from predynastic to Late Antique, but the history of Abydos did not end in antiquity. Far from it, many centuries of life have unfolded in and around the ancient remains of this sacred place, from the time of the pharaohs up to our time. Abydos today is part of a vibrant rural community neighboring the towns of Beni Mansour and al-‘Araba al-Madfuna. In addition to the archaeological area of North Abydos, the greater Abydos site complex also encompasses the archaeological areas of Umm al-Qa‘ab, on the western edge of the low desert, where the kings of Egypt’s first dynasties were buried; the iconic and beautifully decorated New Kingdom temples of Seti I and Ramses II; the funerary complexes of kings Senwosret III and Ahmose in South Abydos; and another expansive cemetery field adjacent to the ancient town, known as the Middle Cemetery.

Archaeological projects currently active at other areas of the site include:

Abydos Middle Cemetery Project, directed by Prof. Janet Richards, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan

Excavations at the Mortuary Complex of Pharaoh Senwosret III, directed by Prof. Josef Wegner, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Umm el-Qa‘ab: Royal Tombs of the First and Second Dynasties at Abydos, German Archaeological Institute in Cairo

Abydos Temple Paper Archive, directed by Ayman Damarany, Dr. Nora Shalaby, and Dr. Jessica Kaiser, Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities-University of California, Berkeley

Temple of Ramesses II Project, directed by Dr. Sameh Iskander, New York University, ISAW

Abydos Osireion Project with the World Monuments Fund, directed by Dr. Nicholas Warner and Ashraf Okasha, American Research Center in Egypt

Abydos South Project, directed by Mohamed Abd el-Badie and Dr. Deborah Vischak, Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

Ahmose and Tetisheri Project, directed by Dr. Stephen Harvey

South Abydos Tombs Project, directed by Yasser Mahmoud Hussein, Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

To learn more about our sponsoring institution, please visit the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

To learn more about the National Endowment for the Humanities Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research program, currently supporting our research at the Abydos Royal Brewery (2022-24), please visit NEH.gov.

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