The ancient necropolis of Asyut: documentation and interpretation

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Asyut, a city in Middle Egypt roughly 375 km south of modern Cairo, has been a regional center from the Old Kingdom at the latest all the way up to the Roman Period. Its beginnings can be traced back into the 4th millennium BCE. The ancient city is almost completely lost under the strata of the alluvial plain, which is in turn covered by the rapidly growing modern city. Accordingly, archaeological evidence for the ancient city of Asyut is scarce. In contrast to the city itself, the Gebel Asyut al-gharbi, a limestone mountain located to the west of Asyut at the edge of the Libyan Desert, provides far more information on ancient Asyut. In antiquity, the mountain served as a necropolis for the inhabitants of Asyut, high officials among them, as well as for sacred animals. In addition to this, several areas of the mountain were exploited as a quarry. Christian anchorites lived on the mountain during the First Millennium and monasteries were erected on Gebel Asyut al-gharbi. Three objectives of the project deserve to be mentioned in particular: 1. The documentation of individual architectonic structures (tombs and monasteries), inscriptions, decoration, and finds recovered at Gebel Asyut al-gharbi (e. g. the tomb of the gouverneur Djefai-Hapi I., which is the largest Middle Kingdom tomb of a non-royal person; or, the Tomb of the Dogs, a large burial site for canids, which houses thousands upon thousands of dead animals). 2. The identification of several functions the Gebel Asyut al-gharbi has fulfilled, and the examination of the changes these functions underwent over the centuries (e. g. the 11th Dynasty nomarch's tomb N13.1, which was visited by educated people during the New Kingdom, in addition, the tomb was used as a place for praying during the Islamic Period; or, the remains of a New Kingdom temple overbuilt by a Late Roman settlement). 3. The information gathered from and about Gebel Asyut al-gharbi is to provide new and improved knowledge on the archaeologically inaccessible city. In this context, the specific regional characteristics of Asyut are of particular importance.