Recent Excavations at the Pharaonic Port of Mersa Gawasis on the Red Sea, 2004-2005 Field Season

Tuyères

Evidence from the 2004-05 field season suggests that several different sizes of tuyères were used at Wadi Gawasis. The predominant size conforms to the standard one described in the 2003-04 season, although the internal diameter of the tip end at the air hole is smaller: 1.0-1.5 cm. An intact tuyère was approximately 27-30 cm. long and had a gently tapered shape extending from the wider bellows end to the narrower tip. The external diameter of the pipe at the bellows end was approximately 7.0-7.5 cm., the internal diameter was 5.0-5.5 cm., and the wall thickness averaged 1.2 cm. The tip end that was inserted into a fire during copper manufacture had an external diameter of 4.5-5.0 cm., an internal diameter of 1.5-2.0 cm., and a wall thickness of 2.0-2.5 cm. It was also discovered that many pieces had a thin, whitish clay slip that lined the inside of the pipe. However, there are an intriguing number of tuyères that have consistently smaller and larger dimensions at the tip. The smaller sized tuyères, found mostly in WG 19, SU 17, had an external diameter of 3.5-3.8 cm. and an internal diameter at the air hole of 0.2-0.6 cm. The air hole was so tiny that the air blown through the hole would have been under considerable pressure. The larger sized tuyères, only a few in number and found in WG 24 near the cave niches and in WG 26, had external diameters at the tip end of approximately 6.0 cm. and internal diameters at the air hole of 1.0-2.0 cm. The wall thickness tended to be somewhat thicker. All of these tuyères, no matter what the average size, tended to have an internal slip that was usually whitish or light tan in color.

One anomaly to the general tuyère shape that gently tapered from the wider bellows end to the thinner, flattened tip end was found in WG 19, SU 28. This SU consisted of a very dense concentration of tuyères in dark brown sand that was bounded by charcoal and reddish-brown sand. The anomaly was a 10 cm. long fragment of a tuyère with an intact tip end that was very bulbous or rounded in shape, unlike the typical flat end. In profile, it looked like a penis. Future attention to finding and interpreting additional tuyères like this one is justified given the well-known association between metal production and fertility and procreation in sub-Saharan Africa - and world-wide, as well as the presence of the god of fertility Min on one of the stelae found in 2004-05.