El Kab (or better Elkab) is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Luxor (ancient Thebes). El Kab was called Nekheb in the Egyptian language (Coptic: ⲛ̀ⲭⲁⲃ Enkhab), a name that refers to Nekhbet, the goddess depicted as a white vulture. It was called Eileithyias polis, the “city of the goddess Eileithyia” in Greek.
El Kab consists of prehistoric and ancient Egyptian settlements, rock-cut tombs of the early Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 BC), remains of temples dating from the Early Dynastic period (3100–2686 BC) to the Ptolemaic Kingdom (332–30 BC), as well as part of the walls of a Coptic monastery. This site was first scientifically excavated by James Quibell at the end of the nineteenth century. Still, other archaeologists at this site include Frederick William Green, Archibald Henry Sayce, Joseph John Tylor, and Somers Clarke. However, Belgian archaeologists took over the project in 1937, which has remained in their hands since then. Much of the research done at this site took place within the town enclosure of El-Kab. However, since the 1980s, the work has shifted more to the north and northeast of the town.
Location of El Kab
El Kab is located 17 km north of Edfu, situated near the ruins of the Temple of Nekhbet (XVIII dynasty) and the ruins of the Temple of Thot. El Kab is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal, about 80 kilometres south of Luxor.
Description of site
El-Kab is in Upper Egypt, located on the east side of the Nile River, almost the opposite Hierakonpolis (on the other side) and about fifty miles above Thebes. The site could be described as a bay between sandstone cliffs to the north and south, and this same sandstone was used to build the temples found on this site. With the way the river meandered and eroded the rocks and sand, the Nile River is almost level with the town, but according to Somers Clarke in his journal article “El-Kab and the Great Wall,” “in its early youth, the town must have stood well above the flood waters.”
First excavation
During Quibell’s first excavation, most of the work was done in the cemetery east of the town. There, Quibell found many buried skeletons, all with heads pointing towards the north and none mummified. This being the earliest cemetery at the site, pots, beads, paint slabs, and mirrors were found in these burials, but no papyrus or text was found anywhere.
Ancient Nekheb
The walled settlement of Nekheb was one of the first urban centres of the Early Dynastic Period. For a short time in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC), it eclipsed the city of Nekhen or Hierakonpolis on the opposite bank, becoming the capital of the third nome of Upper Egypt. Its massive mudbrick walls, dating to the Late Period (747–332 BC) and thought to have been built by Nectanebo II as a defensive measure, are still largely preserved. They enclose an area of about 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft).
Temple of Amenhotep III at El Kab
Near the centre of the Nekheb are the remains of sandstone temples dedicated to the ancient Egyptian deities Nekhbet and Thoth that date primarily to the Eighteenth to Thirtieth Dynasties (1550–343 BCE), but the original foundation of the temple of Nekhbet almost certainly dates back to the late fourth millennium BC.
Necropolis
The necropolis has some significant tombs, showing the early history of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the reunification of Egypt. The style of the early Eighteenth Dynasty wall paintings anticipates that of the first New Kingdom nobles’ tombs at Thebes. The rock tombs of the provincial governors of Nekheb in the New Kingdom include those of Sobeknakht II, an important official who saved the Theban Sixteenth or Seventeenth Dynasty from near destruction by invading forces from the Kingdom of Kush, Ahmose, son of Ebana, an admiral in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos rulers (c. 1550 BCE), and Setau, a priest during the reign of Ramesses II (1184–1153 BCE).
Ptolemaic and Roman eras
During the Greco-Roman period, the town flourished and became known as Eileithyias polis (Greek: Ειλείθυιας πόλις, Latin: Lucinae Civitas). This village may have thrived for a while, but in 380, the city was demolished by military or political events. All that remains of the actual buildings are the lower parts of the walls of the houses, but luckily, many of the artefacts that would have been inside the homes remained. Coins, along with Demotic Greek and ostraca, were recovered from the first to the fourth century.
Walls
One of the discoveries at the site that Quibell questioned the most during his dig was the walls surrounding the Serdab. According to a journal article published by the “British Museum of Ancient Egypt and Sudan”, the walls date to about the 30th Dynasty or the 4th century BC.
In 1921, an article titled “El-Kab and the Great Wall” was published in “The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology”, and it explained further the three different sets of walls and what they were used for. The first set of walls (the word set is used to describe a double range of walls) “encloses part of the ancient town, second a double range [encloses] the temple group, and lastly, most conspicuous of the three, the great and massive wall across the site of the ancient town.” This last wall mentioned surrounds a plot of never-inhabited land. However, much more research has been done since then. After some time, because the movement of the Nile River towards the city had threatened to destroy the construction, the original wall around the city could no longer be applicable.
The Egyptians had to construct a new wall farther from the Nile so that the people could continue building their houses and living in an area safe from destruction. James Breasted mentions these walls in an account he wrote of the site in 1897. In his article, he admires that “it is the only city of remote antiquity, the walls of which still stand almost intact. From the cliffs back of the town, one may look down upon it, stretched out beneath one’s feet, and almost see the majestic temple, surrounded by the beautiful villas of the feudal lords, whose soldiery once handled the now silent walls.” He then describes these walls as a sun-baked brick laid thirty-eight feet thick, surrounding an enclosure two thousand feet long and fifteen hundred feet wide.
Ancient campsites
In 1967, Pierre Vermeersch discovered a series of well-stratified Epipaleolithic campsites. Radiocarbon-dated to c.6400-5980 BC, these are the type-sites of the Elkabian microlithic industry, filling a gap in the prehistoric cultural sequence of Egypt between the Upper Paleolithic (c. 10,000 BC) and the earliest Neolithic (c. 5500 BC).
Ancient texts
Since the 1980s, even more discoveries have been made. The surrounding hills are inscribed with petroglyphs that range in the period, from Predynastic to Islamic times, not to mention hieroglyphics that also vary in date (but, for the most part, were written during the 6th Dynasty). At first, many thought these inscriptions to be similar to modern-day graffiti – random phrases written by passersby and travellers. However, once further studied, it was realised that these phrases are short texts that mention the town’s inhabitants. This is very interesting because it tells us that Egyptians noted who lived in what villages, or at least who lived in El-Kab. Of course, these inscriptions are only dated from the Sixth Dynasty, but they tell us a little about their value.
