Ahmose- Citadel II

From 1991 onwards, during excavationg jointly carried out by the Austrian Archaeological Institute Cairo and the Institute of Egyptology Univ. Vienna, an enormous citadel of the early 18th Dynasty has been excavated. The estimated area covers ca. 50.000 M. So far an enclosure wall with buttresses, the foundation of a big ralsed fortress of ca. 70 x 45 mtrs has been found, as weil as remains of a big palatial structure with an E-W diameter of at least 150 mtrs. A part of this citadel has already been explored in the course of project P10977SPR. Last season the northeastern entrance of this structure has been found, including bath and washing installations for visitors of this palace. Most likely this palace was constructed during the late reign of king Ahmose. Stratigraphy reveals that it was constructed on top of the citadel of the late Hyksos period at the eastern edge of ancient Avaris, the capital of this dynasty. While the Ministry of Science and Research funds the excavation work proper and the personal costs of the civil servants involved, the costs of freelance specialists or scholars and technicians from other institutions and their travelling` costs have to be financed independently. A series of analyses has to be done as for example the statistic assessment of the pottery from the Hyksos period till the New Kingdom, spezialised studies of imports from the Levant and comparisons with materials from other sites such as Memphis have to be incorporated. It is also most important to have a Protomagnetometer survey of the whole area of the citadel in order to direct in an economical way the future excavations. Such an undertaking is promising, as shown by Dr. Helmut Becker from the Denkmalpflegeamt 17 Munich at Oantir. Also a thorough study of human remains is important. Between the stratum of the citadel of the early 18th Dynasty and the citadel of the late Hyksos period numerous tombs have been found, which seemed to be partly burials of slain soldiers, partly inhumations of executed persons. Palynological studies are carried out by the University of Zagazig with a special Ph.D-dissertation on this subject. The results of this project can be very rewarding for rewriting the history of the end of the Hyksos period and the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. Dramatical historical happenings left their traces in the archaeological material. Incorporated into this project is also an analysis of pumice of different stages of volcanic activity in Thera and the Eastern Mediterranean in order to organize a prospection survey for volcanic ash from the Thera eruption. There is a good chance to find a datum line across the stratigraphies of archeological sites in the Eastern Mediterranean. The European Commission (Raphael program) had already decided to pay half of this subproject, provided that the other half would be financed by an Austrian authority within a year. This application includes therefore the other half in order to secure this EC money for this project.