During
excavation work at the north-eastern area of Aswan's Komombo temple as part of
a project to decrease subterranean water, an Egyptian mission from the Ministry
of Antiquities has recently discovered a Hellenic-era limestone block engraved
with hieroglyphic inscriptions. Writen By/ Nevine
El-Aref .
A
carpentry workshop was also discovered by a German-Swiss mission led by
Cornelious von Pilgrim on Aswan's Elephantine Island in Aswan, where two New
Kingdom-era axes were found.
Mostafa
Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explains that
preliminary studies carried out on the block reveal that it dates back to the
era of Macedonian King Philip III Arrhidaeus, the step brother of Alexander the
Great, who succeeded his brother to the throne. The
block is 83cm tall, 55cm wide and 32cm thick. The inscription shows the
cartouche of King Philip III and a prayer to the crocodile god Sobek of
Komombo. The upper part of the block depicts the goddess Nekhbet and its lower
part bears an image of King Philip wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt.
The
two most notable artefacts found at the workshop on Elephantine Island are axes
made of bronze or copper. The axes were found in a small pit in one of the
uppermost floors of the structure. The artefacts have been dated to the reign
of either Thutmosis III or during the early rule of Amenhotep II.
One
of the axes, which was most likely used as a construction tool, is symmetrical
with elongated lugs; this type of axe started to appear in Egypt during the
Second Intermediate Period. The axe, which is heavily corroded and cracked, is
similar to a type of splayed axe with straight sides that became common at the
time of the 18th Dynasty.
The
second axe is clearly of foreign, likely Syrian, origin, and is the first of
its kind to be found in Egypt. The axe head has a hole where it can be mounted
on a shaft; a technology that was never adopted by Egyptian manufacturers.
“The
axe has four spikes on the opposite sides of the blade, which corresponds to
the Nackenkammäxten type of axe, which has only been known to originate from
the northern Levant and Syria,” Von Pilgrim told Ahram Online.
Von
Pilgrim added that two almost identical pieces have been found at a sanctuary
of stratum VIII in Beth Shan (North Palestine) and in a tomb in Ugarit (Syria). However,
the Levantine pieces are dated slightly later than the artifacts from Egypt,
which could possibly be explained by the longevity of such precious weapons or
tools and their eventual depositing in sacral and funeral contexts. Von
Pilgrim added the axe from Elephantine is the earliest example of such an axe
ever found, adding that it is safe to assume that it was used as a construction
tool on Elephantine.
The
Syrian axe, however, may have found its way into Egypt during the direct
contacts, or conflicts, between Egypt and Mitanni during this period. The
discovery of this Syrian axe in Elephantine could add to the study of contact
between Egypt and Mitanni, the North African nation's rival in Syria during the
Thutmoside period.
Egyptian Archaeologists discovered a limestone stela in Kom Ombo temple
area dated back to Early 18th Dynasty or the Liberation war period. 
