Working in the Suburbs: the study of archaeological and material remains at domestic workshop site M50.14-16 at Amarna
Final Report Abstract
This project focused on the analysis and publication of material excavated from the archaeological site M50.14-16, a domestic workshop in the Main City South at Amarna (ancient Akhetaten in Middle Egypt, ca. 1353–1336 BCE). The site comprises two residential houses (M50.16 and M50.15) and a possible work courtyard (M50.14). Excavations conducted in 2014 and 2017 uncovered evidence of industrial activities – unlike the excavation conducted in 1922 by Woolley – particularly related to glass working, faience production, metalworking, and agate processing. The project included a comprehensive evaluation of the 1922 and modern excavation archives, as well as the reconstruction of the site’s archaeological and architectural development. Spatial analysis of the material remains allowed for the identification of activity areas associated with the processing of different materials. The comparison of the excavated industrial materials with objects from other Egyptian and non-Egyptian sites provided new insights into the socio-economic processes of Late Bronze Age settlements, particularly regarding production sequences (chaîne opératoire) and the organization of production. A social and demographic study shed light on the site's inhabitants, who likely belonged to Amarna’s middle social class, though their names and titles are not preserved. Additionally, the workshop was contextualized within its surroundings in the southern city of Amarna, highlighting the exchange of knowledge and raw materials between Amarna’s workshops. Comparative studies with other urban and industrial sites in Egypt, Sudan, and Western Asia placed the workshop within the international industrial framework of the Late Bronze Age, emphasizing the importance of craft production for the societal and economic networks of this period.
Link to the final report
https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-48068
Publications
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The Domestic Manufacture of Vitreous Materials in Late Bronze Age Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Settlements: Tell El-Amarna as a Case Study. in: M. Meyer et al (Hrsg.). Approaching Economic Spaces. Methods and Interpretation in Archaeometric Ceramic Analysis. Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 64. Berlin: Topoi
Hodgkinson, A. K.
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Waste management at Amarna. Horizon 21. The Amarna Project, 22–26.
Hodgkinson, A. K.
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A.G.K. Hayter at Amarna: a detailed notebook and a “new” glass workshop. Horizon, 23. The Amarna Project, 16–21.
Hodgkinson, A. K. & Boonstra, S. L.
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Mr Hayter’s Notebook: Insights on the 1921 excavations at Amarna. Egyptian Archaeology 63, 49–53.
Boonstra, S. L. & Hodgkinson, A. K.
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The glass and faience workshops of Amarna, in T. Bagh and A.L. Manly (Hrsg.) Amarna - city of the Sun God. Kobenhavn: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. (Ausstellungskatalog „Amarna - city of the Sun God“).
Hodgkinson, A. K.
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Vortrag für die Danish Egyptological Society (März 2023): Colours for the Aten: The Manufacture of Glass and Faience in the workshops of Amarna.
Anna K. Hodgkinson
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‘An Interdisciplinary Approach to Egyptian Settlement Archaeology: Using Archaeometry, Experimental Archaeology and Spatial Analysis to Interpret Material Excavated at Amarna Site M50.14–16’. In Landscapes: Studies in Honour of Steven Snape, edited by Glenn Godenho, Nicky Nielsen, and Ashley Cooke, 123–38. Wallasey: Abercromby Press, 2024.
Hodgkinson, Anna K.
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"Working in the Suburbs: The Archaeological Remains from Amarna Site M50.14–16". London: The Egypt Exploration Society. Finanziert durch die DFG und das Institut für Ägyptologie der Freien Universität Berlin.
Hodgkinson, A. K.
