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Descriptive Attribute Value(s)
Area Name Buttress Building East
Description and Bibliography

This building was initially named the Buttress Building (BB) due to the discovery of walls in the north western corner that resembled a buttress. It was later renamed the Royal Administrative Building (RAB) on the basis of the discovery of numerous artifacts suggesting central administration (clay sealings and large storage facilities). The southern end of the building is covered by the Abu el-Hol soccer field, but the part of the building available for excavation has been fully investigated.9 The RAB/BB is a large walled complex to the southeast of the galleries. There is a large open space inside the northern enclosure wall and a series of small rooms along the western wall. At least two of these rooms appear to have functioned (for at least part of the time) as baking spaces. On the south side of the open court is a walled enclosure containing a series of large storage silos/granaries, which we presume to have contained wheat and barley. In an earlier phase beneath the complex there are remains of a set of buildings with a different function and layout.10 The areas immediately east and northwest of the RAB (BBE and BBNW) have been less extensively investigated. The access into the RAB and the storage magazines to the east was highly controlled – as was revealed by excavation in the BBNW area, where the only access into the RAB was through the eastern end of the northern enclosure wall.11



9Sadarangani in Lehner, Kamel, and Tavares, Giza Plateau Mapping Project Seasons 2006-2007 Preliminary Report, pp. 61–65; Murray in Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2009 Preliminary Report, ed. by M. Lehner, Giza Occasional Papers, 5 (Boston: Ancient Egypt Research Associates, 2011), pp. 153–71; 'Pharaoh's Stroeroom & Counting House', ed. by W. Wetterstrom, AERAgram, 6.1 (2002), 6–7.

10Lehner, Kamel, and Tavares, Giza Plateau Mapping Project Season 2005 Preliminary Report, pp. 40–60.

11'Three Roads Diverged', ed. by W. Wetterstrom, AERAgram, 8.1 (2006), 14–15.

Suggested Citation

Claire Malleson, Rebekah Miracle. (2018) "BBE from Africa/Egypt/Giza/Heit el-Ghurab". In Giza Botanical Database. Claire Malleson, Rebekah Miracle (Ed). Released: 2018-10-22. Open Context. <https://opencontext.org/subjects/af827d03-199c-4b08-b5b1-1970f41754f4> ARK (Archive): https://n2t.net/ark:/28722/k2kk9jt30

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