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Andreas Mesli
Amarna Feathers

Während der Grabungskampagne 2020 im Großen Aton Tempel in Tell el-Amarna, Mittelägypten, unter der Leitung des Archäologen Prof. Barry Kemp (www.amarnaproject.com) fand Marzia Cavriani einen „Federnhaufen“/Ansammlung von Federn in einem Pfostenloch und einer flachen Grube. (Siehe „who found the feathers“)
Am 5.12.1912 erlangte diese Grabungsstätte weltweite Aufmerksamkeit durch den Fund der Büste der Königin Nofretete in der Bildhauerwerkstatt des Thutmosis durch Ludwig Borchardt/Deutsche Orientgesellschaft.
Meine Aufgabe ist seit einigen Jahren die fotografische Dokumentation der aktuell und vormals gefundenen Artefakte.
Ein Künstlerstipendium des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen unterstützt das Projekt, sodass ich mich diesen Federn, neben der reinen dokumentarischen Fotografie, in einer besonderen Weise nähern konnte. Auf dieser Webseite sehen Sie einige Beispiele meiner Arbeit.

Ich fotografierte die Federn in drei Stufen.

1. die komplette Feder wird von beiden Seite dokumentiert.
2. die Federn wurden von mir in Ausschnitten aus der Nähe fotografiert.
3. Mikroskopische Aufnahmen eines bestimmten, artenspezifischen Ausschnittes jeder Feder.

Diese drei Stufen sind folgendermaßen begründet.

zu 1. Dokumentation nach wissenschaftlicher Art.
zu 2. künstlerische Studien zu Federn.
zu 3. Anhand des mikroskopierten Teiles wird Dr. Christopher Stimpson/Oxford University
(„bird-bone“ Spezialist) möglichst die Vogelart bestimmen.

Als eine „Randerscheinung“ ergibt sich z.b. die Fragestellung :“Welche Vögel wurden während der nur ca 17 Jahre andauernden Besiedlung der Stadt (ca.1350-1330 v. Chr.) im Tempel geopfert?“

During the excavation campaign 2020 at the Great Aten Temple at Tell el-Amarna, Middle Egypt, with Prof. Barry Kemp as director (www.amarnaproject.com), archaeologist Marzia Cavriani found in a post-hole and a shallow pit an accumulation of about 300 feathers.
At the 5th of December 1912, the site gained worldwide attention following the discovery of the bust of queen Nefertiti by Ludwig Borchardt/Deutsche Orientgesellschaft in the workshop of the sculptore Thutmose.
My assignment over the last years has been the photographic documentation of archaeological material from recent and previous excavations. A funding for artists granted by Northrhine-Westfalia supports the project. As a result, I have been able to approach the feathers in a different way, besides documentational purposes. This website presents some examples of my work.

I photographed the feathers in three stages:

1. the complete feather gets documented from both sides
2. certain parts of the feathers have been photographed in close-up
3. microscopic pictures from selected, species-specific sections of each feather.

The three stages explain themselves as follows:

1. documentation in a scientific manner
2. artistic studies concerning feathers
3. the microscopic part should enable Dr Christopher Stimpson/Oxford University (bird-bone specialist) to determine the kind of birds from which the feathers originated.

As a result, the question arises: What kind of birds were sacrificed at the Great Aten Temple at Amarna during the only about 17 years of occupation?

Who found the feathers?

Report of Butchers’ Courtyard 2020

My name is Marzia Cavriani, I am the supervisor of the area of the Butchers’ Courtyard, near the Stela Site, located in the northern part of the Great Aten Temple. I am an archaeologist and Egyptologist and I attend the first year of my PhD at University of Pisa.

During the 2020 excavation missions, the archaeological investigation of the Butchers‘ Courtyard, which started in 2012, continued. The fundamental question to answer was the clarification of the construction phases of the court in relation to the adjacent Stela Site. (kann man löschen: The archaeological investigation begins to go back to 2019 work.) Outside the southern wall of the Butchers’ Courtyard, part of the external mudfloor (19393) was found. This phase covered a previous one distinguished by postholes and pits (excavated) besser: dug directly into the desert floor. In one posthole feathers, resin, charcoal and ceramic were found together. East to the postholes, two ditches of similar width and depth were excavated. The first ditch was filled with feathers, seeds, ceramic, charcoal and resin. The second ditch also has a similar shape, the filling was very similar: feathers, seeds, charcoal, a fragment of faience, ceramic, wood. Both were interpreted as rubbish pits. The second ditch, cut almost in the center of the square, was in turn cut by two postholes, along the northwest cut. Both ditches were partially covered by the external mud floor of the Butchers’ Courtyard. This confirms the two occupation phases already noted. The ditch and postholes phase is prior to the implementation of the mud floor, linked to the occupation phase of the Butchers‘ Courtyard. The excavation confirms the two phases of occupation already encountered during the excavation of the Stela.