Identity area
Reference code
Černý MSS 6
Title
Date(s)
- 1918-1970 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
1 folder
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
38 groups of records and notes on graffiti, including tracings, transcriptions and maps.
Notes and indexes mainly for Theban graffiti and the Nubian graffiti.
A set of proofs for a part of Graffiti de la montagne thébaine.
The Theban material largely covers work on the Theban mountain in the 1960s and includes preparation of graffiti lists for publication.
There are also some graffiti Černý consulted for A. J. Arkell in the late 1940s/early 1950s.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged by theme.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- Ancient Egyptian
- Arabic
- English
- French
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Some tracings require careful handling - fragile paper. Identified in individual files.
Finding aids
Černý MSS, typewritten catalogue.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Černý 5.187-221 (Graffiti Wādi el-'Allāḳi), published as:
Černý, J., 'Graffiti at the Wādi el-'Allāḳi', in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 33 (1947), 52-57 (OEB 52).
Visitor's graffiti from Saqqara:
Contributions by J. Černý in Firth, C. M. andQuibell, J. E., The Step Pyramid, vol. i (1935) (OEB 139530).
Notes area
Note
Černý proposed an integrated plan of study of West Theban archaeological and written resources in the 1920s (in a letter to F. Lexa). He began a collection of Theban graffiti texts already during his first sojourn in Egypt in 1925 and continued since. He was in contact with Wilhelm Spiegelberg and Battiscombe Gunn, as well as Herbert Eustis Winlock. Spiegelberg and Winlock encouraged Černý in his graffiti studies, according to Černý's own recollection.
Gunn consulted his graffiti finds from the Eckley B. Coxe expedition activities in Maidum with Černý. These consultations led to a manuscript of a revised publication of the Maidum visitors' graffiti, which was not published and now forms part of the Gunn MSS (Notebook 54), and the Eckley B. Coxe Expedition archive, Philadelphia.
Having established his reputation as a specialist for hieratic ostraca and graffiti, Černý was invited to participate in the edition of visitors' graffiti from Saqqara (in the 1930s), which resulted in a contribution to, Firth, C. M. andQuibell, J. E., The Step Pyramid, vol. i (1935) .
Note
For early graffiti studies the available materials consist of transcriptions and notes in notebooks and in references in Černý's correspondence with F. Lexa (Academy of Sciences Prague, the fonds Lexa, correspondence), and B. G. Gunn (Gunn MSS, Griffith Institute Archive).
Note
Černý MSS 6.20 - Not used.