Kom Firin: the recording system
This brief note serves as a guide to the recording system at Kom Firin, to facilitate future researcher’s use of the objects and records from the excavations.
TRENCHES
Each excavation area, of varying size, was assigned a one- or two-letter trench designation.
| A, B | Sondages in north-west of site (2002) |
| CA, CB … | Excavations in Citadel (2007) |
| TA, TB… | Ramesside temple (2003-2005) |
| UA, UB… | Ramesside temple (2005-2006) |
| EA, EB … | Ramesside enclosure (2004-2007) |
| TI, TJ, TM, TO | are around the northern gateway, excavated in 2004 |
| NA | Slot trench across northern enclosure (2006) |
Trenches were not aligned to a universal grid.
CONTEXTS
All excavation were undertaken using single-context recording, thus all layers, cuts, structures and other features were assigned a unique four-digit code, e.g: 1047.
Context numbers were given to some features outside excavation areas, most notably visible segments of walls and other structures.
Original context sheets are kept in the archive of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, with lower resolution ones available on the database. Information from these has been entered onto the database. Sheets recording the levels (all relative to STN 2 = 12.00m) are also archived. Each site supervisor kept a site notebook during the season (hardbound Chartwell lab book). These include some intermediate plans, many of which were never inked. References to the notebooks can be found on the context sheets, database etc.
The buildings in the Citadel area were assigned one-letter codes (A, B, C …) during the 2006 survey of the area. Additionally, the ‘pedestals’ of archaeological material left behind by the sebakhin were assigned numbers (PD1, PD2 …); these are occasionally referred to in the photographic records.
FINDS
All small finds (not pottery) were assigned a unique number, e.g. F007. The finds are stored in the magazine at Kom Firin, labelled with this number and the trench/context, boxed by season and material. Exceptions are those objects registered by the SCA, which are housed in another crate (labelled e.g. SCA 9, but with the F-number also).
All finds were photographed, often from several views. Each photograph file is named by the find number, with lower case extensions as a suffix to distinguish different views (thus F007a, F007b etc). High resolution .tiff files of these are kept in the archive of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, with lower resolution ones available on the database.
A selection of finds were drawn in the field, at varying scales. The originals are housed in the the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. Scans of these drawings were used as a basis for inking in (electronically); the scans are deleted once the inked drawing is complete. Again, high resolution .tiff files of these are kept in the archive of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, with lower resolution ones available on the database.
CERAMICS
Ceramics from each context was assessed by the ceramicist as a whole, from which a selection of sherds were made for the site typology. Each typology sherd is given a unqiue number (C234 etc), and is physically labelled with this number, and the trench and context. These sherds are also stored in the magazine, by season.
A small number of ceramics were photographed, often from several views. Each photograph file is named by the typology number, with lower case extensions as a suffix to distinguish different views (thus C300a, C300b). High resolution .tiff files of these are kept in the archive of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, with lower resolution ones available on the database.
All typology pottery was drawn in the field, at 1:1. The originals are housed in the the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. Scans of these drawings were used as a basis for inking in (electronically); the scans are deleted once the inked drawing is complete. Again, high resolution .tiff files of these are kept in the archive of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, with lower resolution ones available on the database.
DRAWINGS
All plans and section drawings by the trench supervisor were drawn at 1:20/1:10, and are housed in the the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. These were scanned, electronically inked, to produce the reference drawings (numbered D001 etc). Variants of these have been published.
MAPS AND SURVEY
The site was subjected to a topographic survey in 2002, with additional data added in subsequent years. The raw data is archived in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum; various maps have been produced for publication from this material. Similarly, the raw data from the magnetometry survey (2003-2005) has been archived.
All of the survey data is relevant to the topographic stations, numbers STN1, STN2 etc. STN 2 acts as the origin for the site (E0 N0 Z 12.00m).
PHOTOGRAPHS
In addition to the finds and ceramics photographs, record shots of the excavations were takenm initially digitally and with slide camera, but since 2007 only digitally. The numbering systems (for digital and film) is season/roll/exposure, thus KF03/4/25. The digital files are assigned this name. High resolution .tiff files of these are kept in the archive of the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum, with lower resolution ones available on the database.