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One of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt, El Lahun, is the town associated with Senwosret II, the fourth Pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty. Like all the Pharaohs of this Dynasty, also Senwosret decided to build his own pyramid in Faiyum, close to the modern El-Lahun city. For the construction of the pyramid, which is known as Sesostris, a big workforce was needed, including labourers and artisans.
The workforce was settled in a small town, called Kahun, approximately 800 meters away from the pyramid. This area was firstly excavated in 1888-90 by Flinders Petrie and its importance was immediately recognized since it was one of the few sites that provided evidence about the everyday life in ancient Egypt. However, the fact that the material used for the houses was mudbrick and not stone as in temples, resulted in the demolition of the buildings during the process of the excavation.
The drawings from the excavation show that Kahun was rectangular in shape ca. 384 x 335 meters - and laid out on a regular plan. A mudbrick wall was running along the three sides of the town whereas another internal one, of the same thickness, divided about one third of the area. This spatial division revealed the existence of two social classes living separately. One part of the town consisted of small houses of about four rooms, organized in rows, abutting on the side and back with each other. According to documents found, the house plans were not so fixed, but rather adjusted, throughout time, to accommodate smaller or larger families. It also seems that there were stairs leading to the roof, providing an extra room to the houses. These small houses, that were about 120 square meters in total, addressed to workers, soldiers, doorkeepers, singers, dancers and low-level scribes1 , as it is documented by the surviving texts.
The other part of the town with the so-called Mansions, addressed to the elite class and occupied an area of about 2.520 square meters. These houses were rectangular in shape and were divided into a series of rooms of the same shape, which developed around a central courtyard where usually a pool and a garden were located. The walls around the courtyard seem to have been plastered and painted mainly in black, yellow, blue and white colours. Connected to the courtyard was a type of living room, around which the bedrooms were arranged. There are quite interesting details in the mansions which reveal how people anticipated the hot climate of Egypt. The courtyard, which needed to provide an appropriate environment for entertainment, was facing North in order to benefit from the cool north winds and at the same time to protect from the dust which was characteristic of the south winds. The purpose of the windows was not to provide a view but rather to allow the air circulation, while maintaining a cooler temperature inside. This is why they were located quite high on the wall, almost next to the ceiling. Even the bedrooms were connected to smaller courtyards which provided them with light and air.
While this town seems at first glance to lack main facilities, there was administration and production both located in the Mansions. The residents of the small houses had to address to the Mansions for their commodities: the workrooms found there provide evidence of bakery, brewery, cattle shed and butchering. Kahun was two days away from the capital city, so the elite was responsible for all the main functions of the town. The elite area was also connected to a mansion on the highest point of the town, which Petrie called acropolis. This mansion that was considerably bigger than the rest was believed to have been the temporary residence of the King when he was visiting the construction work or even the home and office for the Mayor. This building was later occupied by the Romans and Petrie decided to stop the excavation of this part as he believed that the evidence of the original building would have been destroyed.
Apart from the urbanistic and architectural details revealed with the excavation of Kahun, what seemed to have been the major discovery were the everyday belongings that were left behind, which gave an insight to the customs and life of that period and to the possible nationality of the workers. Tools, pottery, jewellery, papyri, dishes, masks, boxes with buried babies were some of the belongings which showed that probably many non Egyptians resided in Kahun. The design of some of the pottery was Phoenician or Assyrian, whereas the burial of the babies beneath the house was a custom noticed at Ur. Even the building technique of some of the villas was also used in Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, In some of the papyri Asiatic slaves were mentioned and there is the belief that some of the residents were of Semitic origin.
Kahun, this possibly multinational town, was abandoned after approximately 100 years of occupation. The fact that they left so many of their everyday belongings behind could be probably explained by a sudden departure. It was occupied during the Thirteenth Dynasty and again in the New Kingdom period (between 16th century BCE and 11th century BCE). As mentioned above, there is also evidence of Roman intrusion and the period of this was identified by the pottery left behind and a coin of Theodosius.
Footnotes :
1. "A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing. The work could involve copying books, including sacred texts, or secretarial and administrative duties such as taking of dictation and the keeping of business, judicial and historical records for kings, nobility, temples and cities. Later the profession developed into public servants, journalists, accountants, typists, and lawyers." (Wikipedia . Vocabulary entry : scribe)
source: 1. Wikipedia. Vocabulary entry : El-Lahun. Accessed : 4th February 2011
2. The Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, Virtual Kahun [online ]. Available from : http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/ancientegypt/virtualkahun/ . Accessed : 4th February 2011
3. 'A Planned Town of the Middle Kingdom: Kahun - PYRAMID TOWN FOR SENWOSRET II'S CULT., THE TOWN'S FUNCTION., DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN., ELITE HOUSES' [online]. Available from : http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/36/A-Planned-Town-of-the-Middle-Kingdom-Kahun.html . Accessed : 4th February 2011
4. W. M. Flinders Petrie (1890), 'Kahun, Gurob, and Hawara', London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co. Online available from : http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_title.pl?callnum=DT73.K3P5_cop1 . Accessed : 4th February 2011.
5. 2. Town planning, [online]. Accessed : 4th February 2011. |
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