Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1960s - 2009 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
French Egyptologist. He was born on 14 November 1943 in Mulhouse, France. He began his professional life as a chemical technician, working for a decade in the textile chemistry industry while nurturing a passion for ancient Egypt sparked during his childhood. He transitioned to academic Egyptology through the mentorship initially of Jean Leclant, then director of the Egyptology Institute at the University of Strasbourg, and later that of Philippe Derchain, Leclant's successor. In 1968, having participated in the Belgian excavations at Elkab the previous year, he was offered the position of on-site chemist at the newly founded Centre Franco-Égyptien d'Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK) by its co-director Serge Sauneron. He spent 16 years at the Centre, during which time he prepared his doctorate in Egyptology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (defended in 1980), under the guidance of Jean Yoyotte. In 1984 he became a research officer at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and left the Karnak Centre. He then held teaching positions at the École du Louvre and the University of Louvain, before taking up the Chair of Egyptology at University of Strasbourg in 1997, which he held until his retirement in 2007.
Archival history
Originally in the possession of Professor Claude Traunecker.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Donated to the Griffith Institute (via Professor Elizabeth Frood) in September 2009.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Seven notebooks detailing graffiti in the Temple of Amun and, to a lesser degree, the Temple of Montu, Karnak, organised by location, created between 1968 and 1971. Supported by six boxes of indices, plans, photographs, epigraphic drawings, squeezes, related correspondence, and a folder of analysis drawn from the notebooks.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Kept as received.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Property of the Griffith Institute. No restrictions.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright Griffith Institute, University of Oxford.
Language of material
French
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
No problems.
Finding aids
Full catalogue on this website.
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
- Traunecker, C. 1979. Manifestations de piété personnelle à Karnak. Bulletin de la Société Française d'Égyptologie 85, 22-31.
- Traunecker, Claude 1982. Le peuple de Karnak. In Anonymous (ed.), Karnak, l'Égypte grandiose, 55-59. Dijon: Archéologia.
- Traunecker, Claude 1987. Une pratique de magie populaire dans les temples de Karnak. In Roccati, Alessandro and Alberto Siliotti (eds), La magia in Egitto ai tempi dei faraoni: atti, convegno internazionale di studi, Milano, 29-31 ottobre 1985, 221-242. Verona: Rassegna internazionale di cinematografia archeologica arte e natura libri.
- Traunecker, Claude 1998. Les graffiti des frères Horsaisis et Horemheb: une famille de prêtres sous les derniers Ptolémées. In Clarysse, Willy, Antoon Schoors, and Harco Willems (eds), Egyptian religion: the last thousand years; studies dedicated to the memory of Jan Quaegebeur, Part II, 1191-1229. Leuven: Peeters.
Note: graffiti from the temple of Ptah will be published by Elizabeth Frood and Chiara Salvador.
Graffiti from the southern processional route will be published by Chiara Salvador.
Graffiti from the eighth pylon will be published by Elizabeth Frood and Chiara Salvador.
See also (as a sample):
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Taher, Ahmed al- 2017. A Ptolemaic graffito from the court of the 3rd pylon at Karnak. Cahiers de Karnak 16, 13-26.
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Collombert, Philippe 2023. Ahmès Néfertary du grenier d'Amon à Karnak. In Colin, Frédéric, Sylvie Donnat, Françoise Laroche-Traunecker, and Isabelle Régen (eds), Au-delà de Karnak: recueil d'études offert à Claude Traunecker, 117-137. Montpellier; Paris: CNRS - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3; Khéops.
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Frood, Elizabeth 2013. Egyptian temple graffiti and the gods: appropriation and ritualization in Karnak and Luxor. In Ragavan, Deena (ed.), Heaven on Earth: temples, ritual, and cosmic symbolism in the ancient world, 285-318. Chicago: The Oriental Institute.
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Frood, Elizabeth, Chiara Salvador, and Ellen Jones 2020. Chasing shadows: graffiti in the eighth pylon at Karnak. Egyptian Archaeology 57, 4-9.
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Salvador, Chiara 2016. Graffiti and sacred space: New Kingdom expressions of individuality in the court of the seventh pylon at Karnak. In Ullmann, Martina (ed.), 10. Ägyptologische Tempeltagung: ägyptische Tempel zwischen Normierung und Individualität. München, 29.-31. August 2014, 111-128. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
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Salvador, Chiara 2022. "Socializing" the sacred space: graffiti and appeals to the living in New Kingdom Karnak. In Weiss, L., N. Staring, and H. Twiston Davies (eds), Perspectives on lived religion II: the making of a cultural geography, 29-38. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
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Salvador, Chiara 2023. Graffiti at the south-east door of the court of the tenth pylon at Karnak: staff only beyond this point? In Ragazzoli, Chloé, Khaled Hassan, and Chiara Salvador (eds), Graffiti and rock inscriptions from ancient Egypt: a companion to secondary epigraphy, 355-376. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.
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Salvador, Chiara 2023. Three enigmatic scenes of Merneptah in the court of the Seventh Pylon at Karnak. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 109 (1-2), 5-20.
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Widmer, Ghislaine 2019. Les graffiti démotiques du domaine d'Amon à Karnak: des chiffres et des lettres. Bulletin de la Société Française d'Égyptologie 201, 104-120.
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Widmer, Ghislaine 2023. The Demotic graffiti of Karnak: where, when, and why? In Ragazzoli, Chloé, Khaled Hassan, and Chiara Salvador (eds), Graffiti and rock inscriptions from ancient Egypt: a companion to secondary epigraphy, 377-394. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.
Notes area
Note
- Ella Bosworth-Gerbino (French and Latin student at UCL) rehoused the archive, created the catalogue, and undertook scanning of key materials together with Professor Elizabeth Frood in June 2024 and September 2025.
- Chiara Salvador (then a DPhil student at Oxford) scanned the notebooks in 2013-2014 thanks to a grant from the Griffith Egyptological Fund.
- Andrew Hogan (then a MPhil student at Oxford) scanned materials pertaining specifically to the Temple of Ptah in 2010-2011, yet to be released, thanks to a grant from the Griffith Egyptological Fund.