In archaeology, certain contexts are more obviously ideological than others, thus it makes sense to start with these. Not only the presence, but also the absence of certain artefacts in ideological ‘hotspots’ explains ideology. For example, after the Old Kingdom, flint weapons were rarely considered suitable grave-goods. However, their occasional occurrence in elite tombs and possible association with elites on settlement sites might suggest that unsuitability for burial was not predicated on the lower
prestige of the material resulting from introduction of metal.
Four contexts are usually considered ideologically dense: shrines, temples, burials and special deposits; the latter being divisible into votive deposits, magic charms and sacred artefact deposits. These areas overlap and some artefacts may consistently occur in several areas, making them appear especially ‘sacred’. I begin a consideration of context with the case of the flint knife, frequently categorized as ritual despite appearing on ‘profane’ sites.
5.2.1 RITUAL SITES AND SLAUGHTER KNIVES
It is sometimes assumed that flint bifacial knives are largely ritual (as I have found when discussing these with others), associated with ritual cattle slaughter38 and therefore found predominantly on ritual sites, however, archaeological contextual evidence is inconclusive. Furthermore, it is only through a consideration of the wider evidence, iconography and text, that the metaphoric meaning of the flint knife may be glimpsed. It will be shown that bull sacrifice, a rite closely associated with burial (Otto 1960), was executed using flint until at least the Middle Kingdom. The choice of
38
The word ‘butchery’ is often used instead of ‘slaughter’, however, it is the slaughter of the beast which is usually shown iconographically and which would be best suited to bifacial knives. Butchery is more likely to have been completed using expedient tools (Haskell Greenfield pers. comm.) as found at the Panhesy butchery site at Amarna (Graves-Brown 2009).
174 material was important, and I will argue that the act of sharpening was an essential part of this ritual.
Objects of a restricted geographical range tend to be iconic (2.3.1.1). This is the case with the bifacial knife. Furthermore, the physicality of many such knives also supports a ritual importance (Chapter 4). However, although the knife is traditionally associated with ritual cattle slaughter, actual contexts in which knives or knife
fragments are found together with cattle remains are rare (Tillmann 1992, 197). At 1st Dynasty Helwan (map 4), a flint knife was found in a magazine among a layer of ox bones. Two other flint knives were found arranged in a cross-shape at the bottom of the structure (Saad 1951, 10–11, pl. 7–8). At Tell el-Farka (map 4) Early Dynastic cultic centre, a flint knife was found with several cattle ribs (Cialowic 2009, 86–87). Text was needed to identify an archaeological structure associated with knife
fragments at the 5th Dynasty as the ‘Shrine of the Knife’ of Raneferet at Abusir (map
4; Vachala and Svoboda 1989; Svoboda 1993, 2006).
That flint knives were used more generally in ritual is supported contextually by their appearance on other sacred sites, particularly temples and tombs. Schmidt (1992, 87) claims that most flint knives are found on sacred sites. Miller (1985) believes stone knives found at New Kingdom Karnak (map 7) were used for temple slaughter, presumably by a simplified, possibly erroneous equation of
temple=slaughter=flint knife.
It could be argued that the fact that most Early Dynastic flint knives are found in elite and royal burials (examples are given in Appendix 1) reflects the interests of excavators and is not a genuine ancient bias. However, Old Kingdom contexts include both domestic and ritual sites, for example:
(i) Elephantine temple and town (map 8), including a group in a natural rock fissure in a temple (Dreyer 1976);
(ii) Raneferef’s mortuary complex around the slaughterhouse and stores at Abusir (map 4; Vachala and Svoboda 1989; Svoboda 1993, 193); (iii) The Khentkaus pyramid complex at Abusir (map 4) in what may be a
domestic context (which contained votive dishes) and around the stores (Svoboda 1993, 197);
(iv) Abydos (map 4) temple and town? (Petrie 1903b);
(v) The settlement at Giza (map 4; Kromer 1978; Conard 2000; Werschkun 2007a and b);
175 (vi) ‘Ayn-Asīl domestic sites (map 3; Midant-Reynes 1983; 1998);
(vii) Tell el Ibrahim Awad (map 4) town, temple and burial site (Schmidt 1992); (viii) Bet Khallaf (map 6) elite cemetery (Garstang and Sethe 1902).
Interestingly, Svoboda (1993, 216) writes of the Abusir (map 4) lithics ‘The elaborate bifacial knives and their fragments come mostly from exactions [sic] in domestic storing and slaughtering areas of the Ranferef and Khenkaus mortuary temples; they are not found in the official parts (pillar courts)’.
Schmidt (1992, 87 footnote 4) argues that the character of the ‘settlement’ at Giza is unproven, and that the many bifacial knives found there could have been part of the temple inventory. Conversely, Kromer (1978, 30) categorizes those from Giza as profane even though the purpose of the Giza settlement seems to have been to build and perhaps serve mortuary monuments. However, the intra-site level of generally sacred sites may include ‘profane’ areas. More recent excavations at Giza (map 4) reveal flint knives distributed throughout the complex, even in bakeries and copper workshops (Werschkun 2007b, 251). ‘Domestic’ sites such as ‘Ayn-Asīl (map 3) also produce flint knives, though, as Midant-Reynes (1998, 44) states, there is a dramatic difference between the proportion of knives to other flint tools at this site (2%) and in comparison with that on ‘sacred’ sites; the temple site of Elephantine (map 8) has 14.3% and Giza artisans’ village has 21.5% of flint knives (Midant-Reynes 1998, 45). Tell el Ibrahim Awad (map 4), which included some religious structures, has 12% (Midant-Reynes 1998, 46).
It would be interesting to more closely compare the percentage of flint knives to other flint tools on sacred sites with purely profane sites, if such a differentiation could really be said to exist. Unfortunately there are few Old Kingdom settlement sites suitable for analysis. It could well be that lack of excavated settlement sites, as
opposed to sacred sites, has simply biased the archaeological record, giving the impression that flint knives only occur on sacred sites.
By the Middle Kingdom, flint, excepting arrowheads, rarely occurs in burials (5.2.4.5). For Middle Kingdom Lahun/Kahun (maps 4 and 5), older excavation reports do not give percentages of tools and museum material is not necessarily representative of the excavated record. However, I examined 534 tools and fragments in British museums from Kahun, of which 158 were bifacial knives or knife fragments. This gives around 28.6% of the total flint as knives and knife fragments. Kahun, near modern el-Lahun, housed priests and lay people responsible for the cult of the dead
176 king. Thus, the site was neither purely sacred nor purely profane. Middle Kingdom Buhen (map 9), as a fort, would normally be considered a profane site, though war can also be ‘ritual’ (Chapter 6). In British museums collections, I found only one Buhen flint knife fragment, unfortunately from an unreliable context (Durham 1964.106;
Appendix 2). However, spearheads are extant (Birmingham Museum 513.1965; plate