El‐Hiba

Abstract El‐Hiba lies on the east bank of the Nile in northern Middle Egypt, about 55 km south of modern Beni Suef. The site is comprised of two main parts: an imposing walled town mound with a small limestone temple to Amun erected by Sheshonq I, Libyan founder of the 22nd Dynasty; and a series of outlying cemeteries with numerous burials, mostly disturbed, cut into the surrounding desert. Kamal worked first at Hiba in the late nineteenth century; Grenfell and Hunt followed him in 1902/3 and recovered enough papyri, mostly third century BCE , from mummy cartonnage to generate two monographs. Junker excavated burials at the site for three days in 1911; Ranke completely excavated Sheshonq I's temple and explored Greco‐Roman houses on the town mound in 1913/14. An Italian expedition excavated burials and Greco‐Roman and Third Intermediate period material on the town mound in 1934/5. In 1980, a University of Washington mission worked one season at the site. The current University of California, Berkeley team began work in 2001.