ï~~Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 44 (2007) 179-209
New Light on the Patermouthis Archive
from Excavations at Aswan
When Archaeology and Papyrology Meet
Jitse H.F. Dijkstra University of Ottawa
Abstract
Although in recent years several studies have been devoted to aspects
of the Patermouthis archive (fifth-seventh centuries CE), there are
still many questions about it left unanswered. This article makes two
contributions to the study of the archive. In the first place the remarkably precise references to the topography of Late Antique Syene
already known from the papyri will be examined in the light of recent
excavations carried out in Aswan since 2000. Secondly, the findspot
of the archive will be established on the basis of a hitherto unnoticed
diary entry by one of the German excavators of Elephantine at the
start of the twentieth century. Together these contributions show the
benefits of close cooperation between archaeologists and papyrologists.
Introduction
In a special thematic section of a recent issue of this journal an attempt
was made to bridge the gap between the fields of archaeology and papyrology.1
The introductory essay, followed by several case studies illustrating different
interdisciplinary approaches, sketches developments in Egyptian archaeology
and papyrology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and provides some
answers to the question of why there has been so little cooperation between
these disciplines for such a long time. The authors make reference to several
recent archaeological projects such as the Dakhleh Oasis Project in which papyrologists successfully work together with other specialists on site. At the end
of their essay, the authors plead enthusiastically for "an ongoing and dynamic
1BASP (2005) 167-272.
