DOI article:
M. Johnson, J. de: Egypt Exploration Fund: the greco-roman branch; excavations at Atfieh
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12421#0024
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Egypt Explokation Fund.
In these cloth cartonnage only was found (in one case some dozen later
cloth and papyrus cartonnage burials were piled upon the stone coffin), the
cartonnage being rather similar in pattern to that found in cemetery A, but
cruder and the cloth of thicker texture. The Anubis of cemetery B still
appeared on the flap of the mask, as did gilded wooden beads on the fore-
head. Fig. 13 was taken looking down the steps towards the chamber
mouth in a tomb of this type, and Fig. 14 represents the same with the
sealing bricks removed. Pot coffins in conjunction with the massive stone
ones of this type occurred only in this one instance.
A quite subsidiary and scattered type seldom occurring was a precisely
similar pit, coffin, and cartonnage to those of cemetery A, these burials on
the whole being better wrapped and preserved (Fig. 2 is from cemetery B).
A curiosity was a cenotaph containing two complete five-piece cartonnages
in position in a chamber without any sign of actual burial. One New
Kingdom grave strayed into the site, yielding alabaster vases and a scarab.
Common to both cemeteries (A and B) was the custom of burying plain
coarse pottery in the filling of the graves, usually small circular saucer-
shaped vessels; these were very abundant, and some are seen in Fig. 17
(cf. Faijum Towns. Plate XL (a) 2).
Common also was the wide-spread diffusion of small pits or pockets in
the ground, reaching an average depth of little more than a metre. These
contained rolls of cloth, bronze toilet instruments, triangular charms (?)
of cloth, miniature replicas of the cloth rings used in carrying water-
pitchers, limestone moulds for mummy-figures and the benu bird, palm
fibre, reeds, straw, etc., a few cups of medicine labelled in demotic (on one
of these Griffith reads " the medicine daily -JTth,"), and a large quantity
of coarse unornamented pottery—jars, bowls, cups and saucers, hardly
any with handles (cf. Fig. 17). My opinion is that these deposits were
infantile burials, a conclusion based on slight remains found in the
majority, and a tiny mummied infant with microscopic cartonnage found
in one such on our last working day. In a few cases the superficial
pocket was superseded by miniature chambers cut in the side walls of
pits by the side or at the head of the stone coffin, similar pots, instruments,
and remains occurring likewise in these.
Children's coffins were noticeable in both cemeteries. These were
usually of pot, and, though infrequent, were found in all types of grave.
Fig. 14 shows one and Fig. 16 two in situ. A collection of them appears
in Fig. 15.
Isolated instances of the type of burial first encountered on the com-
mencement of the work occurred at intervals in both sites, but only became
Egypt Explokation Fund.
In these cloth cartonnage only was found (in one case some dozen later
cloth and papyrus cartonnage burials were piled upon the stone coffin), the
cartonnage being rather similar in pattern to that found in cemetery A, but
cruder and the cloth of thicker texture. The Anubis of cemetery B still
appeared on the flap of the mask, as did gilded wooden beads on the fore-
head. Fig. 13 was taken looking down the steps towards the chamber
mouth in a tomb of this type, and Fig. 14 represents the same with the
sealing bricks removed. Pot coffins in conjunction with the massive stone
ones of this type occurred only in this one instance.
A quite subsidiary and scattered type seldom occurring was a precisely
similar pit, coffin, and cartonnage to those of cemetery A, these burials on
the whole being better wrapped and preserved (Fig. 2 is from cemetery B).
A curiosity was a cenotaph containing two complete five-piece cartonnages
in position in a chamber without any sign of actual burial. One New
Kingdom grave strayed into the site, yielding alabaster vases and a scarab.
Common to both cemeteries (A and B) was the custom of burying plain
coarse pottery in the filling of the graves, usually small circular saucer-
shaped vessels; these were very abundant, and some are seen in Fig. 17
(cf. Faijum Towns. Plate XL (a) 2).
Common also was the wide-spread diffusion of small pits or pockets in
the ground, reaching an average depth of little more than a metre. These
contained rolls of cloth, bronze toilet instruments, triangular charms (?)
of cloth, miniature replicas of the cloth rings used in carrying water-
pitchers, limestone moulds for mummy-figures and the benu bird, palm
fibre, reeds, straw, etc., a few cups of medicine labelled in demotic (on one
of these Griffith reads " the medicine daily -JTth,"), and a large quantity
of coarse unornamented pottery—jars, bowls, cups and saucers, hardly
any with handles (cf. Fig. 17). My opinion is that these deposits were
infantile burials, a conclusion based on slight remains found in the
majority, and a tiny mummied infant with microscopic cartonnage found
in one such on our last working day. In a few cases the superficial
pocket was superseded by miniature chambers cut in the side walls of
pits by the side or at the head of the stone coffin, similar pots, instruments,
and remains occurring likewise in these.
Children's coffins were noticeable in both cemeteries. These were
usually of pot, and, though infrequent, were found in all types of grave.
Fig. 14 shows one and Fig. 16 two in situ. A collection of them appears
in Fig. 15.
Isolated instances of the type of burial first encountered on the com-
mencement of the work occurred at intervals in both sites, but only became