archaeology of Egypt

A great stele from Karnak commemorates Queen Ahhotep's participation in the war of liberation during the Hyksos Period. The ceremonial artifacts found in her tomb reflect her political and military role. She was rewarded with the "Golden Fly of Valor" for her bravery during the struggle.

From the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty, gold rewards were given in several forms: a) bracelets and necklaces -as the "Order of the Golden Collar" or šbyw collar,  b) flies -as the "Golden Fly of Valor" or the "Order of the Golden Fly",  and c) ceremonial and warlike artifacts -such as daggers, axes, armlets, headdresses, barks, and lions.  Queen Ahhotep did wear and/or receive most of them, initiating an era of brave and political active Queens.

The fly motif in military decoration could be related to several aspects: a) the behavior and the persistence of biting flies attacking humans; b) the presence of flies on battlefields, where blood is being shed; and c) the fly is the hieroglyphic determinative sign of the word "fly" (‘ff), the verb "to fly" (‘ff ), and the sound "aff" (‘ff) (expressing "rejection" and "bother"),  all of them connected with the same idea of "shooing away" animals or enemies. In later times (ca. 1550 BCE onwards) it was used as a symbol of bravery.

The weaponry and the "Golden Fly", found in the tomb of Ahhotep, and the inscriptions of Ahmose, at Karnak, permit to confirm her active role during the Hyksos war. Queen Ahhotep received splendid ceremonial artifacts after the country was liberated from the Hyksos because of her bravery and support for her late husband and her two sons. The ceremonial artifacts (three golden fly pendants, a battle axe, and two models of ceremonial bark) found in her tomb were part of the funerary and ritual objects used to symbolize and guarantee the eternal victory of the order (maat) over the chaos (the enemies or evil forces).

In December 2010 - January 2011, the Archaeological Expedition of the Università degli Studi di Napoli, “l’Orientale” (UNO), and the Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO), Rome, in collaboration with the Boston University (BU) (USA), conducted the ninth field season at the site of Mersa/Wādī Gawasis, Red Sea, under the direction of Prof. Rodolfo Fattovich (UNO/IsIAO), and Prof. Kathryn A. Bard (BU). The team in the field included Italian, American, Egyptian, British, and German personnel with different specializations (archaeology, nautical archaeology, palaeo-ethnobotany, topography, conservation and computer science). Mr. Ahmend Sadiq Tawfiq represented the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the field, and greatly supported the work. The site of Mersa/Wādī Gawasis is located 23 km to the south of the modern port of Safaga, on the top and along the slopes of a fossil coral terrace, to the west of which is the lower Wādī Gawasis. Earlier excavations along the western slope of the terrace provided good evidence for the use of Mersa/Wādī Gawasis as the pharaonic port for voyages to Punt in the Middle Kingdom and the early New Kingdom. The 2010-2011 research program included archaeological excavations, robotic inspection of two man-made galleries (Cave 6 and Cave 7) in the western sector of the site (Wādī Gawasis), and conservation of timbers and ropes discovered in earlier field seasons at the site.