2.2.4 A fourth group: group D
As explained above, the three core groups A, B and C are established first and foremost on account of their provenance. A fourth group of 18th Dynasty ostraca, henceforth called group D, can be established on the basis of other criteria. The exact findspot of the ostraca of this group is unknown and therefore prima facie no specific date can be proposed for them. The ostraca in question are O. Cairo JE 96585, O. Cairo JE 96587, O. Cairo JE 96606, O. Cairo JE 96330.B and .C, and O. Cairo JE 96331. Despite their unclear provenance all five ostraca were reportedly discovered together in the Valley of the Kings by the mission of Davis and Ayrton in the season of 1905 – 1906.27 They have a number of aspects in common. The first feature is the great dimensions of the marks on these ostraca. Many of the marks on these ostraca are about 5 by 5 cm in size. This is well illustrated by counting the number of marks that fit next to each other on the ostracon:
Ostracon Width Number of marks in a row
O. Cairo JE 96585 19.0 cm 4 marks O. Cairo JE 96587 22.5 cm 4 marks O. Cairo JE 96606.B 11.5 cm 3 marks O. Cairo JE 96630 34.5 cm 5 marks O. Cairo JE 96631 29.5 cm 7 marks
These are considerably smaller numbers than the ostraca in groups A, B and C. Compare for example the following ostraca:
Ostracon Width Number of marks in a row
O. Cairo JE 72490 19.0 cm 13 marks O. Cairo CG 24107 22.0 cm 13 marks
OL 6788 25.0 cm 12 marks
The marks on the ostraca in group D are clearly much larger. Related to the size of the marks is the instrument that was used to draw them. In each case this was a brush that is much
27 The provenance of these five ostraca, as well as that of O. Cairo JE 96590 and O. Cairo JE 96603 – most probably related documents, see below, p. 119-120 – is indicated by the acronym “B.M.”. Because this site designation is otherwise not known, one wonders if it was perhaps misread for “P.M.”, the designation given to one of the areas excavated by Davis and Ayrton in the season of 1905-1906. The location of this site is the branch leading to the tomb of Amenhotep II and the area of KV 53 in particular, see Reeves, Valley of the Kings, 297 and 303.
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thicker than the pen used for the ostraca in groups A, B and C. Furthermore, in all ostraca in group D red ink was used to draw marks.28
Another aspect of the ostraca in group D is that none of them is composed in neat lines. The layout of the ostraca seems to be dictated by the shape of the ostracon itself rather than by the scribe’s desire to arrange marks in columns or lines. Take for example O. Cairo JE 96606.B. The left half of the ostracon is higher than the right half, and therefore several marks are arranged vertically on the left end, and only one mark is written on the right end.
Also characteristic for the marks in group D is their style: all marks seem to have been drawn with quick, steady lines which are never shaky or hesitant. It is difficult to compare the hand of the marks, as they are mostly simple geometric shapes that do not clearly demonstrate the traits of the hand of a particular scribe. Perhaps the only mark that can be compared is mark , which appears in O. Cairo JE 96606.B, O. Cairo JE 96587 and O. Cairo JE 96631. Particularly in O. Cairo JE 96606.B and O. Cairo JE 96631 this mark is very similar, and could well have been made by the same hand: the beak of the bird is very short, the body of the bird is slim and slants to the left, and the legs are long.
All these features strongly suggest that the five ostraca form a single group. That is supported by the repertory of marks inscribed on the ostraca (TABLE 10). The majority of the marks in this group can be identified without any problems because they occur on the ostraca from groups A, B and C. O. Cairo JE 96585 seems to be complete. It displays a total of nine marks, of which appears here for the first time. It closely resembles mark , but O. Cairo JE 9659129 is inscribed with both and , demonstrating that the two need to be differentiated. Mark is probably an allomorph of turned upside down.
O. Cairo JE 96587 is completely preserved too and displays 10 marks, all of which are complete. In the left upper corner we distinguish mark , which we had not yet encountered before. O. Cairo JE 96606 is the accession number that belongs to three fragments: .A, .B and .C. Fragment .A shows unclear lines which cannot be identified as workmen’s marks, and the significance of which is unclear; fragment .B displays a total of five marks, all encountered elsewhere and therefore securely identified. Fragment .C displays three incompletely preserved marks. The top mark is not securely identified, but the most likely option is an allomorph of mark : , but rotated 180 degrees. The mark left of it is damaged, but can be identified when we turn to O. Cairo JE 96630. This ostracon appears to be complete and displays 10 marks. At the bottom we can discern mark , not attested in groups A, B and C, which is probably the same mark as the damaged mark on O. Cairo JE 96606.C. The last ostracon, O. Cairo JE 96631, also preserved in its entirety, displays 21 different marks. Mark
at the lower half of the ostracon would appear to be an allomorph of . A damaged mark that somewhat resembles it is situated at the top of the ostracon. The traverse stroke through the middle of the horizontal element suggests that it is to be distinguished from all allomorphs of , which lack such a vertical stroke. The mark perhaps represents Gardiner Y1, , but it is not attested as such elsewhere in the 18th Dynasty.
As mentioned, the marks on the ostraca in group D do not seem to have been arranged in a clear order. The ostraca are therefore not related to each other by a common sequence of marks, apart perhaps from the following short sequences of marks:
O. Cairo JE 96587: – – O. Cairo JE 96631: – – – O. Cairo JE 96630: – –
28 As an exception to the previous two statements, four marks on O. Cairo JE 96587 were not drawn with a thick brush since they consist of very thin lines. They were inscribed in a darker shade of red. The other six marks on the ostracon do conform to the criteria of brush size and red paint.
29
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The sequences are short and never exactly the same, and so it is very uncertain if this similarity in sequence is meaningful at all. None of the ostraca in group D displays marks that are arranged in a sequence that is known from other ostraca.
Together, the ostraca in group D contain 29 unique marks. Each of the five ostraca displays a similar repertory of marks (TABLE 10).
JE 96585 JE 96587 JE 96606 JE 96630 JE 96631