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Papers by Elena L Hertel

The corpus of papyri housed in the Museo Egizio in Turin comprises some 9000 fragments and approx... more The corpus of papyri housed in the Museo Egizio in Turin comprises some 9000 fragments and approximately 230 larger ensembles and forms the most extensive known papyrus archive from the Pharaonic period. The papyri originate from Deir el-Medina, the New Kingdom workers' settlement on the Theban Westbank (1300-1070 BCE). In dealing with these papyri, the interdisciplinary project Crossing Boundaries : Understanding Complex Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt , financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS) and led by the University of Basel, the University of Liège, and the Museo Egizio in Turin, seeks to overcome the epistemological and methodological boundaries between archaeology, digital humanities, informatics, papyrology, palaeography, prosopography, and textual research. In this paper, we highlight the limitations of current virtual research environments and digital images for ancient manuscripts studies, exemplified on the papyrus fibres, and how the synergy with modern machine learning techniques can widen their usability

Rivista del Museo Egizio, 2020

In this paper, we introduce the joint project of the Museo Egizio (Turin), the University of Base... more In this paper, we introduce the joint project of the Museo Egizio (Turin), the University of Basel, and the University of Liège entitled “Crossing Boundaries: Understanding Complex Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt”, and provide a progress report for 2019. The project deals with Ramesside hieratic papyri of the Turin collection that stem from Deir el-Medina (c. 1350–1050 BCE), adopting a contextualised approach to this written material. Crossing the boundaries between disciplines, we aim to shed light on the life of a particular category of complex documents, labelled “heterogeneous” papyri, i.e., papyri combining on a single support texts (or drawings) belonging to different genres. ملخص البحث: في هذا النص، نقدم المشروع المشترك بين المتحف المصري (تورينو)، وجامعة بازل، وجامعة لييج بعنوان "تخطي الحدود: فهم طرق الكتابة المعقدة في مصر القديمة"، وتقديم تقرير لفترة عام 2019. يعمل المشروع على البردية الهيراطيقية لرمسيس المحفوظة ضمن مجموعة تورينو والتي تعود إلى دير المدينة (حوال...

Bollettino dei Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, 2021

In Ola el-Aguizy & Burt Kasparian (eds.), Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Egyptologists ICE XII, 3rd–8th November 2019, Cairo, Egypt, Bibliothèque générale 71, Cairo (Institut français d’archéologie orientale), pp. 753–760. , 2023

This ostracon previously belonged to the collection of the Bodleian library, then all Bodleian os... more This ostracon previously belonged to the collection of the Bodleian library, then all Bodleian ostraca were sent to the Ashmolean Museum, whereas the papyri remained in the Bodleian library (information kindly provided by Dr. Helen Whitehouse, formerly in charge of the Department of Antiquities of the Ashmolean Museum). 2. The paleographical features of the text, the thin pointed script resulted from using the Greek reed pen, suggest decisively the Roman period as a possible date for this ostracon: Depauw 1997, p. 26.

This article is the first edition of two papyri with demotic script (pUtrecht, University Library... more This article is the first edition of two papyri with demotic script (pUtrecht, University Library, Demotic Ms. B6.7a and d+e, shortened pUtrecht, Dem. Ms. B6.7a and pUtrecht, Dem. Ms. B6.7d+e), which today are part of the collection of the University Library in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Due to palaeography and content, the fragments’ origin can be traced back to Soknopaiou Nesos. Both texts are of documentary content; one is concerned with the sale of a house share, the other is a receipt of a transaction involving wheat.

Bollettino dei Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie 37 , 2019

Announcement of the publication of the demotic papyri in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio. The papyri ... more Announcement of the publication of the demotic papyri in the Museo Gregoriano Egizio. The papyri bear the inventory numbers: 22955 A and D, 38578 A-D, 38594 2.1 and 2.2, 38597A-C, 38612 A and B. The texts are written in demotic and only two of the papyri have been published before. In total, nine different manuscripts can be discerned as well as several fragments of which it is still inconclusive whether they belong to the aforementioned manuscripts or are part of separate texts. Preliminary research suggests that the origin of most of the unpublished papyri can be traced to Memphis or Saqqara, this is based on the peculiar palaeography of the demotic script that is used in these texts and which will be analysed in-depth for the final publication. The use of certain personal names and deities that are prominent in this region further supports this claim. The content of the papyri is diverse in nature, consisting of administrative texts such as a list of commodities, a grain loan, and a wheat contract. There is also a name list among the manuscripts as well as a letter. The publication of these papyri is in the context of the Progetto Orazio Marucchi research, directed by Alessia Amenta.

in Clivaz, C. and Allen, G. (eds.) Ancient Manuscripts and Virtual Research Environments. Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University (Classics@, 18), p. 21. Available at: https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/crossing-boundaries-between-humanities-and-informatics-the-case-of-egyptian-papyri/., 2021

The corpus of papyri housed in the Museo Egizio in Turin comprises some 9000 fragments and approx... more The corpus of papyri housed in the Museo Egizio in Turin comprises some 9000 fragments and approximately 230 larger ensembles and forms the most extensive known papyrus archive from the Pharaonic period. [1] The papyri originate from Deir el-Medina, the New Kingdom workers’ settlement on the Theban Westbank (1300–1070 BCE). In dealing with these papyri, the interdisciplinary project Crossing Boundaries: Understanding Complex Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt, financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) [2] and the Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.–FNRS) and led by the University of Basel, the University of Liège, and the Museo Egizio in Turin, seeks to overcome the epistemological and methodological boundaries between archaeology, digital humanities, informatics, papyrology, palaeography, prosopography, and textual research. In this paper, we highlight the limitations of current virtual research environments and digital images for ancient manuscripts studies, exemplified on the papyrus fibres, and how the synergy with modern machine learning techniques can widen their usability.

Revue d'Égyptologie 70, 2020

This article presents the stela F 1929/12.3 kept at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden belong... more This article presents the stela F 1929/12.3 kept at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden belonging to Parthenios son of Pamin, Προστάτες of Isis at Coptos during the Roman Period. The stela is the 27th monument which can be attributed to this well-known character due to its demotic inscription containing his name and a standard dedication formula to Isis. The text is arranged under a depiction showing the king dedicating a temple to Isis and Harpocrates. Due to striking similarities in depiction and inscription to another stela of Parthenios, it is possible that the two were erected as a couple, an idea which has already been suggested for two other stelae of the Parthenios dossier.

Rivista del Museo Egizio, 2020

In this paper, we introduce the joint project of the Museo Egizio (Turin), the University of Base... more In this paper, we introduce the joint project of the Museo Egizio (Turin), the University of Basel, and the University of Liège entitled “Crossing Boundaries: Understanding Complex Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt”, and provide a progress report for 2019. The project deals with Ramesside hieratic papyri of the Turin collection that stem from Deir el-Medina (c. 1350–1050 BCE), adopting a contextualised approach to this written material. Crossing the boundaries between disciplines, we aim to shed light on the life of a particular category of complex documents, labelled “heterogeneous” papyri, i.e., papyri combining on a single support texts (or drawings) belonging to different genres.
Online available: https://rivista.museoegizio.it/article/crossing-boundaries-understanding-complex-scribal-practices-in-ancient-egypt-with-a-2019-progress-report/

Conference Presentations by Elena L Hertel

The Material Turn has impacted most of the Humanities and Egyptology is not an exception. In the ... more The Material Turn has impacted most of the Humanities and Egyptology is not an exception. In the case of text-related studies, it has sparked an interest in the text carriers which nowadays are often examined additionally to text editions and discussions. This paper argues for a more radical implementation of such approaches, stepping away from the idea that material features are only supportive to the text and instead embracing materiality of inscribed objects as a fully developed research area. The concrete application of such a methodology will be illustrated on the example of some New Kingdom papyri from Deir el-Medina that were studied for physical traces of use and reuse. The papyri are characterised by a mix of administrative and non-administrative inscriptions coexisiting on the same manuscript, which illustrates the pragmatic use of writing as an everyday tool. Through the analysis of traces of earlier, erased texts it is possible to gather information on what kind of texts were removed and what they were replaced with, thus shedding light on the (re)use of a manuscript in varying contexts. Further, features like text distribution, changes in handwriting and text-internal dates can allow to reconstruct the sequence of inscription of a papyrus and provide a glimpse into the concrete use life of manuscripts in Deir el-Medina. Based on these application examples, it will be proposed to evolve Egyptological research on materiality of texts towards a truly symmetrical treatment of the text and the physical features of the inscribed object that will grant materiality a more prominent position within the field, and render Egyptological sources and work accessible to an interdisciplinary community of manuscript research.

One of the most problematic aspects of studying fragmentation rites in ancient cultures lies in t... more One of the most problematic aspects of studying fragmentation rites in ancient cultures lies in the understanding of their purpose. For many cultures, our interpretations rely entirely on the archaeological evidence – the intentionally damaged object and its context – without any texts, images, or other types of sources left to help explain the reasoning behind the act. The exact opposite is the case for the ancient Egyptian fragmentation rite known from textual sources as the ‘Breaking of the Red Vessels’. A first phase of interest in the ritual during the 1920s-30s brought forth a number of contributions that associated the textual evidence with tomb depictions showing acts of intentional vessel-breaking. Ever since, researchers have identified contexts of intentionally damaged ceramics as the physical remains of this ritual. Both the number and diversity of such identifications are still growing.
This paper argues that a re-evaluation of all the evidence attributed to the ‘Breaking the Red Vessels’ is necessary, since the plethora of sources attributed to the ritual is too heterogenous to allow a consistent interpretation of the act. It is aimed to give an overview of the original, textual evidence of the ‘Breaking of the Red Vessels’ and to challenge whether it should be associated with any of the currently known contexts of deliberately damaged ceramics in Egypt. Instead, it will be proposed that Egypt is home to different fragmentation rites that need to be carefully examined and interpreted through the lens of fragmentation theory. This paper aims to contribute to the conference by providing an example of ritual fragmentation from the periphery of the Aegean and opening for discussions on methodology of fragmentation studies in an interdisciplinary context.

Papyrus Turin Cat. 1881+, also referred to as Papyrus Turin B, was acquired for the papyrus colle... more Papyrus Turin Cat. 1881+, also referred to as Papyrus Turin B, was acquired for the papyrus collection of the Museo Egizio in Turin in 1824. While a significant number of publications have been devoted to the various texts written on the roll, it is conspicuous that there is no edition to date dealing with the document in its entirety. This paper is structured in two sections
and aims to present the results of newly undertaken research in which the manuscript is studied from a holistic perspective.
The first part of the presentation offers an introduction to the previous editions, the history of the papyrus’ conservation, and a detailed outline of the documents’ textual content. The second part is focused on the use and reuse of the papyrus in ancient times. The manuscript has been through a vivid history of being inscribed, cleaned, and re-inscribed with different
types of texts over an extended period of time. Thanks to the administrative texts featuring a specific date it is possible to establish the order of inscription which offers insight into the question of how long a papyrus roll could be in use. The placement of these different entries bears witness to a regular, yet apparently unsystematic way of record-keeping. The presence of
a literary composition (one of the so-called Late Egyptian Miscellanies) and its placement in context of the surrounding administrative inscriptions testifies not only to a closely connected Sitz in Leben of the different text types, but also gives insight to the way the ancient scribe(s) interacted with previous inscriptions on the manuscript.

Rivista del Museo Egizio, 2020

Bollettino dei Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, 2021

Bollettino dei Monumenti Musei e Gallerie Pontificie 37 , 2019

The corpus of papyri housed in the Museo Egizio in Turin comprises some 9000 fragments and approx... more The corpus of papyri housed in the Museo Egizio in Turin comprises some 9000 fragments and approximately 230 larger ensembles and forms the most extensive known papyrus archive from the Pharaonic period. [1] The papyri originate from Deir el-Medina, the New Kingdom workers’ settlement on the Theban Westbank (1300–1070 BCE). In dealing with these papyri, the interdisciplinary project Crossing Boundaries: Understanding Complex Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt, financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) [2] and the Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.–FNRS) and led by the University of Basel, the University of Liège, and the Museo Egizio in Turin, seeks to overcome the epistemological and methodological boundaries between archaeology, digital humanities, informatics, papyrology, palaeography, prosopography, and textual research. In this paper, we highlight the limitations of current virtual research environments and digital images for ancient manuscripts studies, exemplified on the papyrus fibres, and how the synergy with modern machine learning techniques can widen their usability.

Revue d'Égyptologie 70, 2020

Rivista del Museo Egizio, 2020

In this paper, we introduce the joint project of the Museo Egizio (Turin), the University of Base... more In this paper, we introduce the joint project of the Museo Egizio (Turin), the University of Basel, and the University of Liège entitled “Crossing Boundaries: Understanding Complex Scribal Practices in Ancient Egypt”, and provide a progress report for 2019. The project deals with Ramesside hieratic papyri of the Turin collection that stem from Deir el-Medina (c. 1350–1050 BCE), adopting a contextualised approach to this written material. Crossing the boundaries between disciplines, we aim to shed light on the life of a particular category of complex documents, labelled “heterogeneous” papyri, i.e., papyri combining on a single support texts (or drawings) belonging to different genres.
Online available: https://rivista.museoegizio.it/article/crossing-boundaries-understanding-complex-scribal-practices-in-ancient-egypt-with-a-2019-progress-report/

Crossing Boundaries targets a contextualised and interdisciplinary approach to the hieratic papyr... more Crossing Boundaries targets a contextualised and interdisciplinary approach to the hieratic papyri in the Museo Egizio produced by the community of Deir el-Medina. We aim to cross the boundaries between archaeology, papyrology, and prosopography and to bridge the gap between traditional philology, digital humanities, and cultural heritage. In this poster, we show the current state of our digital tools (TPOP, VLT), first results of our machine learning research and other digital approaches used to facilitate the work on papyrus material.

10-14th September, 2023 Organising Committee: Alexis Den Doncker, Lauren Dogaer, Cyprian H.W. Fon... more 10-14th September, 2023
Organising Committee: Alexis Den Doncker, Lauren Dogaer, Cyprian H.W. Fong, Elena Hertel, Charlotte Hunkeler, Jacqueline M. Huwyler, Marwan Kilani, Geirr Lunden, Tarek Mohamed, Sayed Soliman

Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) is a postgraduate conference set up to facilitate research and promote bonds between British and international universities worldwide who are conducting research in Egyptology, Egyptian Archaeology, or any other related field of study.

E. L. Hertel, Breaking the dšr.t -Vessels. An Ancient Egyptian Fragmentation Rite (Archaeopress Access Archaeology; Oxford 2023), 2023

In ancient Egyptian thought, the funerary procedure played a key role in the transition to the af... more In ancient Egyptian thought, the funerary procedure played a key role in the transition to the afterlife. As early as the Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BCE), the Pyramid Texts and representations and inscriptions in private tombs show a highly developed funerary ritual with a large number of individual rites intended to ensure a safe transition to the realm of the dead and a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. One of these is the so-called ‘breaking the dšr.t-vessels’ (Egyptian sḏ dšr.wt), a rite that involved the intentional damaging of a certain type of ceramic vessel. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the rite through a re-evaluation of the primary sources and previous research and to provide the first study devoted entirely to the rite. While the rite of ‘breaking the dšr.t-vessels’ has been associated with several different archaeological contexts and primary sources, this monograph argues that a careful distinction needs to be made between the evidence identified as such. This study aims to demonstrate that there is a significant discrepancy between textual, iconographic, and archaeological sources which calls into question the identification of a large number of sources as sḏ dšr.wt contexts. A number of different ritual and non-ritual practices in ancient Egypt involve the deliberate fragmentation of pottery, each of which should be addressed in context.

The twenty-third Current Research in Egyptology conference took place at the University of Basel,... more The twenty-third Current Research in Egyptology conference took place at the University of Basel, Switzerland on 10th-15th September 2023. This international event was attended by more than 70 young Egyptologists in person, with additional participants joining online, making for a vibrant and dynamic exchange of ideas. The conference featured a rich program of 87 paper presentations and 17 poster presentations, showcasing some of the latest research and developments made by early career researchers in the field. The present volume collects 22 selected papers from the conference, which cover a wide range of topics, reflecting the diverse interests and expertise of the contributors. The topics include language and literature, archaeology and material culture, society and religion, archival research, intercultural relations, reports on archaeological excavations and methodological issues, regarding all periods of Ancient Egypt.