New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites: The Finds and the Sites.

• Author: Grzymski, Krzyztof

The appearance of this book and its companion volume of lists and plates brings to completion the publication of the results of the Scandinavian Joint Expedition (SJE) to Sudanese Nubia. It is indeed fitting that the last report published in the SJE series deals with the Egyptian and Egyptianized material, since Save-Soderbergh has been the authority on the subject ever since the appearance of his masterful Agypten und Nubien in 1941. One category of New Kingdom material found in the SJE concession, namely the pottery, was published in 1977 by Rostislav Holthoer as volume 5.1. That earlier volume is now one of the classic works on the subject of Egyptian ceramics. The high quality of scholarship characterizing all the SJE reports is paralleled by the attractive appearance of the volumes and excellent photographs and drawings. The only shortcomings are the lack of information concerning the present locations of excavated objects, except for those in Khartoum, and the absence of indices.

As was the case with the other volumes, the opening chapter of the book under review (pp. 1-13, by Save-Soderbergh) presents the historical and cultural background, thus placing the finds in a wider context. The following chapters are grouped into two large sections: "The Finds" (pp. 14-181) and "The Sites" (pp. 182-324). Since the pottery was discussed in an ear-lie. r volume little space is devoted to that subject now, and the chapter on ceramics (written by Holthoer, Save-Soderbergh, and Troy) is primarily concerned with refinements to Holthoer's original typology. This is based upon Troy's redating of the tomb groups. A most important and useful...