AERAgram 9, Fall 2008

AERAgram 9

PDF Format. 20 pages.

The most recent Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) newsletter is now online at the above address. There has been a placeholder for it for months but there has never been a functional link. It is working now, although the link says "Fall" and the PDF itself says "Spring". Take your pick. Here are the contents:

• Impressions of the Past: Seals and Sealings from Pottery Mound
• Lost City Site, Flooded
• AERA Launches New Membership Program
• Digging Old Luxor

Here's an extract from Impressions of the Past:

In 2005, Yukinori Kawae and Tove Björk excavated two 5 x 5-meter squares within a midden we dubbed Pottery Mound, uncovering enormous quantities of bone, charred plant remains, pottery, sealings, and other trash. Located in the district of large houses we call the Western Town, this mound of debris was probably left by high-ranking people. The bone, as Richard Redding explained in the Fall 2007 issue of AERAGRAM, came primarily from animals that the well-to-do would have eaten, such as young cattle and game. Here John Nolan, our senior epigrapher, discusses the sealings found in Pottery Mound and the part they might play in helping us learn more about our site. The sealings—mud impressed by a cylinder seal—were used to secure a wide array of goods. In analyzing these bits of impressed mud, Nolan uses a groundbreaking approach to reconstruct the cylinder seals that made the impressions. He then goes a step further and uses the same sealings to extract information about the original seal, its uses, and its owner. These impressions may be small, but they can speak volumes.

See the above for the entire newsletter.