About the project

Qantir/Pi-Ramesse (House of Ramses) is situated in the Nile-Delta of Egypt, about 120 km northeast of Cairo. The city was founded by Ramesses II. in the 13th century BCE and was since then his main residence. It is structured by monumental palace and temple buildings and was the seat of the royal cariotry. Since 1980, archaeological fieldwork is taking place, which demonstrated the importance of this city in the Late Bronze Age of Egypt. Between the 17th of December 2016 and the 18th of June of 2017 an exhibition titled “Ramesses – Divine ruler of the Nile” was taking place in Karlsruhe, Germany, in which we presented an animation of the reconstruction of Pi-Ramesse.

Supported by the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim and the excavation project itself, a nearly 7-minute animation and several still images could be created during a time-span of nine months. Especially the visualisation of the horse stables was of upmost importance, as these were excavated quiet well. Besides that, the urban structure of the city was visualised very carefully.

Besides the results of the excavation, extensive magnetographic surveys were undertaken, which were the basis for our reconstruction. Over 1.5 square kilometres were measured and therefore visualised vast areas of the city structure. The underlying sources for our reconstruction are displayed throughout the animation.

Literature

  • Franzmeier, H./Pusch, E.B. 2016: ‘Pi-Ramesse’, in: M. Bauks/K. Koenen (eds.), Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet.
  • Franzmeier, H./Hageneuer, S. 2017: From the Nile Delta to Karlsruhe: Or How to Present Mud Bricks in an Exhibition, in: CIPEG Journal 1, 15–26.
  • Franzmeier, H./Hageneuer, S. 2019: “Pi-Ramesse”, in: ANTIKE WELT Jubiläumsheft “Auferstehung der Antike. Archäologische Stätten digital rekonstruiert”, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft: Darmstadt, 30-31.
  • Gilli, B. 2016: ‘How to build a Capital? The Second Life of Pre-Ramesside Materials in Pi-Ramesse’, in: H. Franzmeier/T. Rehren/R. Schulz (eds.), Mit archäologischen Schichten Geschichte schreiben. Festschrift für Edgar B. Pusch zum 70. Geburtstag, FoRa 10, Hildesheim, 137-176.
  • Hageneuer, S. 2016: Die virtuelle Resonstruktion von Pi-Ramesse, in: Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (Hrsg.), Ausstellungskatalog “Ramses – Göttlicher Herrscher am Nil”, 268-272.
  • Pusch, E.B./Becker, H. 2017: Fenster in die Vergangenheit. Einblicke in die Struktur der Ramses-Stadt durch magnetische Prospektion und Grabung, FoRa 9, Hildesheim.
  • Pusch, E.B./Herold, A. 2001: ‘Piramesse’, in: D.B. Redford (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Vol. 3, Oxford, 48-50.