They call them ‘turtle-backs’. No more than gentle sand hillocks, these modest mounds occur naturally in the Nile delta. Back in the days of the annual inundation of the river, such knolls assumed a new prominence when they were periodically transformed into islands. The lands around them, meanwhile, were left blanketed in fertile silts after the flood waters receded. Unsurprisingly, many of the ancient Egyptian cities founded in the delta were perched on top of these sandy knolls, allowing them to take full advantage of the agricultural opportunities bequeathed by the river, while also avoiding immersion themselves. As the mud-brick forming most of the structures in these settlements degraded and was built over, so too these turtle-backs grew higher and higher, developing into fully fledged tell sites. Today, one of these is known as Tell Nabasha. It lies in the eastern part of the delta, and has been partially subsumed by agriculture and the town of el-Hosayneya. Although the site lies about an hour and a half from the coast using modern transport, it was once connected to the Mediterranean via the Pelusiac branch of the Nile: a major navigational channel. It was also home to Imet, a prominent city in the region.
In the ancient world, Imet enjoyed renown as the main cult centre of Wadjet. This powerful deity was the goddess of Lower Egypt, and was depicted in various guises. Sometimes she was styled as a lion-headed woman, but more often Wadjet appeared as a coiled cobra, ready to strike. It was in this form that she featured as one of the ‘Two Ladies’ on the crowns of the pharaohs, alongside the vulture representing the goddess of Upper Egypt. As well as rubbing shoulders with the highest in the land, Wadjet dominated religious life at Imet. Surviving texts speak of an annual festival when a great gilded statue of Min-Osiris – Wadjet’s consort – would be driven around the city in a chariot, while the goddess’ potency drew pilgrims to the site. Many were attracted by Wadjet’s association with fertility, and left offerings of figurines, in the hope that the goddess would help them to conceive. While such details conjure a vivid impression of the temple in its pomp, until recently rather less was known about its death and afterlife. The end of ancient Egyptian religion is often linked with the spread of Christianity, a time when monks chiselled away those elements of the ancient imagery that they found particularly troubling. Now, though, ongoing excavations are painting a very different picture of the end of the temple, and the nature of life in and around its shell.
Burials and beverages
‘The name “Imet” probably refers to both the city and a wider territory, a bit like modern Luxembourg,’ says Nicky Nielsen, senior lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Manchester and director of the Tell Nabasha Project. ‘It appears in textual sources as far back as the Old Kingdom (c.2575-2125 BC), with some of the earliest mentions preserved in 5th Dynasty tombs known as mastabas. These texts talk about the “wine of Imet”, and that makes a lot of sense, as wine production seems to be something of a feature of this super-fertile region. Thanks to the archaeology, we also know that the site is likely to have been occupied in some way, shape, or form from an even earlier date. Some of the earliest finds from the area are Early Dynastic graves. These were discovered back in the 1970s, when they were digging the foundations for a new school and found a number of burials. They belong to the 1st and 2nd Dynasties (c.2950-2650 BC), and again that makes sense. We know that there were some really big Early Dynastic settlements and cemeteries within a 50km or so radius of Tell Nabasha. Clearly there was a lot of activity in the area. What we don’t have is any solid evidence for settlement at Tell Nabasha dating to this period. In fact, we don’t really have evidence of settlement before the Late Period (c.664-332 BC). It must be there, but I suspect it’s buried so deep beneath the layers of later buildings that it’s probably going to take us a life-time of digging even to get close to it.’
Excavating West Sussex