Stones, ancestors, and pyramids:
Serena Love
Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford
University
“Past peoples knowingly inhabited landscapes
that were palimpsests of previous occupations.
Landscapes were occupied and re-occupied. Rarely was this a meaningless or innocent re-use” (van Dyke
and Alcock (ed). 2003. Archaeologies of Memory).
This paper explores the implications of
this quote in the context of the pre-pyramid landscape of early Memphis. It is argued that the Memphite necropolis is
an inscribed landscape of social memory that contributed to a developing
Egyptian identity.
Egyptological research appears to be
entering a new paradigm, focusing on how the pyramids built Egypt rather than
how the Egyptians built the pyramids.
This paper aims to further the notion that pyramid construction
contributed to the creation of social identity and ideology by examining the
pre-pyramid landscape of early Memphis, from a purely symbolic approach. Building from over 50 years of research
concerning the pragmatics of pyramid construction this paper will focus on the
lesser-known symbolic associations of the Memphite landscape, such as the
archaeology of natural places and the cultural appropriation of local
topography. The accumulation of this material suggests that the deliberate
placement of monuments was an act to acknowledge the ancestors and legitimize
power.
The intention of this paper is to
illustrate the degree of cultural activity that preceded pyramid
construction. The purpose here is to
examine two ideas: 1) the landscape was sacred before it was used for
pyramid building and, 2) the patterns of Predynastic and Early Dynastic land
use and how it may have influenced later pyramid placement. Over 1,000 years of life and death are
represented in Memphis before the first pyramid was conceived, although the
archaeology is very thin as not all activities leave a mark upon the land. There is substantial archaeological
material to suggest long-term occupation and sedentary communities. It will be suggested here that these early
communities of Egyptians had created specific symbolic associations with the
landscape, where symbolic meaning and cultural significance was gained from repeated
use. Memphis was thus ‘marked’ hundreds
of years before a pyramid was ever built.