Paweł Lech Polkowski (ed.) STONE CANVAS TOWARDS A BETTER INTEGRATION OF ‘ROCK ART’ AND ‘GRAFFITI’ STUDIES IN EGYPT AND SUDAN I NS T I T U T F R A NÇ A I S D’A RC H É O L O GI E O R I E N TA L E POLISH CENTRE OF MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023 Paweł Lech Polkowski (ed.) Stone Canvas Towards a Better Integration of ‘Rock Art’ and ‘Graffiti’ Studies in Egypt and Sudan BIBLIOTHÈQUE D’ÉTUDE 183 – 2023 Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023 Table of contents Preface by Anna Wodzińska and Laurent Coulon ............................................................. IX Foreword by Paweł Lech Polkowski ..................................................................................... XI Paweł Lech Polkowski Rock Art and Graffiti Studies in Egypt and Nubia: An Introduction.............................................................................................................. 1 i. rock art as a source of knowledge........................................................ 31 Dorian Vanhulle Pre-pharaonic Rock Art: A New Eldorado for Research? When Answers Are Carved in Stone ........................................................................... 33 Elena Panaite Some Considerations on Saharan Rock Art and “Libyan” Identity Markers in Egyptian Iconography ............................................................................................... 53 Axelle Brémont Beyond “Pharaonic”: Non-hieroglyphic Animal Engravings of Dynastic Date. Towards a Chronological and Interpretative Framework ......................................... 79 Table of contents Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023 V ii. pictures on the walls ..................................................................................... 103 Tim Karberg Masons’ Marks from Musawwarat es-Sufra, Nubia, and Egypt: A Non-lingual Marking System and its Intercultural Context ................................ 105 Suzanne Davis, Geoff Emberling Meroitic Graffiti as Devotional Practice at El-Kurru, Sudan ................................... 121 Valeria Kuvatova “Languages” of Wall Paintings in the Chapel of Exodus: Decoding the Pictorial Program................................................................................... 135 Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo A Building’s Biography and Graffiti at the Temple of Debod: Formal, Spatial, and Semantic Analysis of Dromedary Figures and the Scenes on its Walls .......................................................................................... 151 iii. between text and image............................................................................... 173 Pierre Tallet An Overview of Official and Private Inscriptions Related to Sinai Expeditions from the Naqada Period to the End of the Old Kingdom ........................................ 175 Nikolaos Lazaridis Rock Communications: The Interaction of Textual and Figural Graffiti in North Kharga ........................... 189 Adam Łajtar Interrelation Between Textual and Figural Graffiti in Cult Places: Some Examples from Graeco-Roman Egypt and Christian Nubia ......................... 201 VI Stone Canvas Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023 iv. at the crossroads: iconography and archaeology ................ 217 John Coleman Darnell Graffiti, Festivals, and Nubian Self-presentation: Three Case Studies ......................................................................................................... 219 Gwenola Graff Comparing Predynastic Eastern Desert Rock Art with D-Ware? Possibilities and Limits .................................................................................................. 241 José Ramón Pérez Accino, Hisham El-Leithy Graffiti as Representation of Archaeological Features in the Royal Cache Wadi .............................................................................................. 253 v. studying images ...................................................................................................... 267 Adel Kelany A Possible Transition in Rock Art from the Late Palaeolithic to the Epipalaeolithic Period in Wadi Abu Subeira, Aswan .................................... 269 Serena Nicolini, Maria Carmela Gatto How Far South? Hunting Scenes and Towed Boats Between Egypt and Nubia ................................ 283 Pablo Ozcáriz Gil Spanish Roman Figurative Graffiti and Their Parallels in the Eastern Roman Empire: The Case of Santa Criz (Eslava, Navarre) ............ 305 Julia Maczuga Across Boundaries: Pictorial Graffiti from Ghazali Northern Church in Comparison with Nubian Christian Iconography and Rock Art from the Fourth Nile Cataract Region ........................................................................ 323 Rabab Hamdy Aly Rock Art in Suez: Exploring the Potential of Archaeological Sites in the Context of Tourism .......... 343 Table of contents Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023 VII Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023 Paweł Lech Polkowski* Rock Art and Graffiti Studies in Egypt and Nubia An Introduction 1. INTRODUCTION: CONTEXTS AND BACKGROUNDS 1.1. FROM BRUSSELS TO CAIRO The boundaries of the modern countries of Egypt and Sudan doubtlessly demarcate one of the richest archaeological areas of the world. Such richness is of course a blessing, although at times it may also be a curse. This can happen because a vast diversity of archaeological material and architecture, often appreciated by scholars and laymen for their splendour, monumentality, or aesthetic appeal, can easily eclipse other forms of heritage, at first glance less spectacular. Graffiti and rock art1 are two such types of relics that, despite being recorded already in early stages of Egyptology and Nubiology, have so far not reached the status of mainstream research subjects. The above contention, however, may hopefully soon become obsolete, as recently significant progress in elevating the status of rock art and graffiti studies has been made and actualised in new research projects, workshops and conferences, and growing numbers of publications, all devoted to both these types of material. The “Stone Canvas” colloquium2 and the resulting proceedings can be placed among such recent achievements. They are a direct continuation of several earlier, and to some extent pioneer, endeavours. In this context, of particular significance are the two conferences organised in Brussels in 2010 and 2015 by the late Dirk Huyge.3 They were dedicated to rock art research in the Sahara, providing one of the first opportunities to gather a fair number of scholars working on Egyptian and Nubian rock art. In turn, the 2018 International Federation of Rock * Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (PCMA), University of Warsaw, and Poznań Archaeological Museum. 1. For definitions, see infra. 2. The conference entitled “Stone Canvas: Towards a Better Integration of ‘Rock Art’ and ‘Graffiti’ Studies in Egypt and Sudan” was held in Cairo from 10th to 12th November, 2019. It was organised by the author as part of the postdoctoral fellowship programme of the PCMA and of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) in Cairo. 3. The two meetings were organised from 3rd to 5th June, 2010, and from 17th to 19th September, 2015, and resulted in two edited volumes: respectively Huyge, Van Noten, Swinne (eds.) 2012; Huyge, Van Noten (eds.) 2018. Rock Art and Graffiti Studies in Egypt and Nubia 1 Spécimen auteur – © Ifao – 23-03-2023