Die spätantike/koptische Klosteranlage Deir el-Bachit in Dra' Abu el-Naga (Oberägypten): Erster Vorbericht

In the years I993 until 2000, a large rock-cut tomb (K93.II) in the hillside of Dra' Abu el-Naga/Western Thebes was excavated by the German Institute of Archaeology, Cairo. On the basis of internal and external evidence, the original construction phase of the tomb can be dated to the very beginning of the I8 t h dynasty. It is tentatively assigned to the second king of the dynasty, Amenhotep I. At the end of the 20 t h dynasty, the tomb was re-used and partially re-shaped by the High-Priest of Amun, Ramsesnakht; later still, during the 22 n d and 26 t h dynasties, the two outer courts of the tomb were re-used as burial places. In Coptic times, substantial installations were constructed inside the two courts of the tomb, including working areas, kilns, and probably also a 'primary school' (see below). It soon became apparent that these installations were but one part of the large Coptic monastery Deir el-Bakhit which is located above the tomb, almost on top of the hill. Although Deir el-Bakhit is by far the largest monastery on the West Bank of Thebes, almost nothing is known about its origin, its founder(s), or its original Greek/Coptic name. In preparing a major interdisciplinary research project, in the Fall of 200I and in the Spring of 2002, two short preliminary seasons of surveying and partially excavating in the monastery were conducted by a joint archaeological mission of the German Institute of Archaeology and the University of Munich, co-directed by the authors of this report. The major aims of these two seasons were I) to obtain a clearer picture of the dating of the monastery on the basis of the pottery, especially of the chronologically relevant fine wares (Egyptian Red Slip Ware A-B), and 2) to prepare a preliminary complete plan (scale I:250) of the buildings of the monastery including the outer and inner terrace-walls on the slopes of the south and west side of the monastery. The ruins of the Coptic monastery have been robbed of re-usable building material until the early 20 t h century; even the mudbrick walls have been pulled down mostly to the last courses and the buildings in the central area have evidently been levelled. The east-west orientated skeleton burials of the nearby Coptic cemetery, obviously belonging to the monastery, have been completely plundered, perhaps as early as the end of the I9 t h or the beginning of the 20 t h century. The interpretation of the complex building structures with their enclosure and terrace walls surrounding an area of about 70 x 77 m (0.4 ha) as a Coptic monastery is confirmed by the archaeological evidence such as pottery fragments with Christian symbols and graffiti of names, and also texts of Coptic ostraca and papyri. Its size, its extension and its visible building structures indicate that the monastery of Deir el-Bakhit, situated in the hills of Memnonia/Medinet Habu and near to the late Roman/early Byzantine civilian settlement in the vast temple area of Seti I, must have been far more important than the two rather small monasteries of Cyriacus and Epiphanius and the two monasteries of Deir el-Bahari and Qurnet Murai. On the evidence of the wares, forms and types of stamped decoration of the fine wares (Egyptian Red Slip Ware A-B) an approximate date of the monastery from the late 5 t h /early 6 t h to the late 7 t h /early 8 t h century AD seems probable. During the 200I and 2002 seasons, some 40 ostraca were found, most of them Coptic, one written in Hieratic. The majority of these ostraca, including the Hieratic ostracon, are very small and only partly legible. As far as can be determined now, some of these ostraca have religious and some of them economic contents. One interesting detail was the localization of some kind of Coptic primary school in the area, presumably in the second forecourt of tomb K93.II: a significant number of ostraca contain pupils' (or, in this case, presumably monks') exercises in writing. One text contains, following writing exercise