This document is part of the online version of the book Amheida II: A Late Romano-Egyptian House in the Dakhla Oasis / Amheida House B2 by Anna Lucille Boozer, which is available at http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/amheida-ii-house-b2/. It is published as part of the NYU Library's Ancient World Digital Library and in partnership with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW). Further information about ISAW's publication program is available on the ISAW website. Please note that while the base URI of this publication is stable, the exact content available at that address is likely to change over time.
Only four wooden objects were found in House B2: a door lock-bolt (18.1), a handle, probably from a basket (18.2), a stopper (18.4), and a fragment from a bed or chair frame (18.3). None of them shows singular working techniques, jointing or decorations. Additionally, no wood species identifications have been made.↩#p3099
Wooden objects that are preserved by desiccation in an arid climate usually retain the object’s original volume and shape, but they become very fragile and friable.1 The objects recovered in this dwelling are indeed very fragmentary and incomplete, only representing a small part of the furnishing and household equipment commonly documented in domestic contexts. Wooden items such as combs, spindles, and other instruments of daily use that one would expect to find, are completely missing. These few recovered objects cannot provide enough information for a comprehensive study of the wooden furnishings of the house. It is, however, interesting to note a door lock-bolt found in room 3, derived from an occupational debris layer (DSU 19) that can be related to the second phase of activity of the house.↩#p3100
The presence of this bolt suggests an intent to protect valuable goods, food, and manufactured items stored in this room, which is, notably, the most private space in the house. The type of bolt used was a pin-tumbler lock, a mechanism operated by a key that opened a barred door from outside. A device affixed to the inner side of the door contained wooden pegs that would drop into the holes of the bolt and secure it. The door could be unlocked by inserting a long shaft key into an opening located on the exterior side of the door. This shaft key had corresponding pins that lifted the pegs, allowing the bolt to slide out.↩#p3101
Comparisons to this lock type can be found in Douch, Karanis, and Kellis. Two pin-tumbler locks were found in the Necropolis of Douch.2 From Karanis there was evidence of a door with a rectangular keyhole on the exterior side, and a security device attached to the inner side.3 A firm locking device, in the form of a sliding bolt, is attested in House 1 in Kellis. Kellis House 1 is the same house with evidence of a shaft key with pins.4↩#p3102
Condition: incomplete, friable. Glued together from pieces.↩#p3112
Description: Two joining fragments of a door lock-bolt with squared cross-section. A 8.65 cm long notch is carved on one of the faces. Three holes of slightly different dimensions pass through the thickness of one end. The movable pegs that fell into the holes locked the door, preventing the bolt from moving.5↩#p3113
Parallels: Petrie 1889:11, pl. XIII, 16; Petrie 1917:59-60, pl. LXXV.↩#p3114
Condition: incomplete, very fragile; burn traces. Glued together from pieces.↩#p3122
Description: two joining fragments of a wooden handle from a basket or shaduf. Only one end is preserved, and it terminates in a knob-like extremity to which the rope was fixed. Three fragments of sewn-plaits basket are from the same context. See Boozer, chapter 9 in this volume.↩#p3123
Description: Two joining fragments of an incomplete stick. The preserved end is rounded, a squared mortise (1.4 x 1.2 cm) passes through the cross section and a groove runs across the circumference. It is probably part of a bed frame, chair, or couch.↩#p3133
Parallels: Compare with Petrie 1927:62, pl. LIV, 555; Petrie, et al. 1913:24, pl. VIII, 6.↩#p3134
4 Hope 1986: 82, 83, fig. 4.a, pl. IV.d; Hope 1985: 115, fig 4.e, 118, fig. 5.d. For more wooden keys of this type see Peacock and Maxfield 2007: 332, fig. 13.2.12-13; Whitcomb 1979: 209, pl. 72 a, b.
