DOI Artikel:
Naville, Edouard; Peet, Thomas Eric: Egypt Exploration Fund: excavations at Abydos
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12419#0026
Egypt Exploration Fund.
single trench separated from each other merely by a partition of bricks,
makes it practically certain that these bodies were all interred at one
and the same time. The further fact that all are male is curious and
shows that there is something quite abnormal about the whole pheno-
menon. It is hardly worth while to indulge in speculation as to its
meaning. A burial of dead warriors might be suggested, though no
traces of wounds were found on the bones. What is really interesting
is whether these burials are related to the early wall. It is curious that
the trench should be 'parallel to it and at the same time so near it.
Nevertheless it must be remembered that a trench which was to contain
a number of burials with head north or south, the only two positions in
vogue at the period, could not run otherwise than east and west.
During the progress of work in this cemetery surface tombs of various
periods were found. One of the most interesting was that of a woman,
dating from the Xllth Dynasty. On the body were numerous beads
and amulets together with four scarabs, one of green glaze, one of
amethyst, and two of black steatite. Among the objects was a. curious
object of spiral silver wire with a ring at one end and a tiny hook at the
other (Fig. 8). Another grave, again that of a woman, contained a
veritable mass of beads, amulets, etc. Part of this lay confused under
the head, but the rest was in carefully arranged strings at the wrists and
fingers. The whole has been restrung in the original arrangement.
Among the numerous scarabs was one bearing the cartouche of
Sheshonk I., and the rest were also of definitely XXIInd Dynasty
types.
After some three weeks' work in this cemetery a number of the men
were moved to a spot north of the Coptic Der, where there seems to be
a continuation of the same cemetery. Here, however, the mastabas have
totally disappeared, probably as a result of denudation. The contents of
the tombs were very similar to those obtained in the other part of the
cemetery. In one case the lowest of the three chambers had remained
untouched by the plunderers, who thought they had reached the bottom
of the tomb after clearing the two upper chambers. It contained the
body of a woman, together with a copper mirror of early pattern, a fine
set of carnelian beads with a Taurt amulet in haematite, several small
pottery vases, and three alabasters of wretched workmanship. This
burial probably belongs to the Xlth or Xllth Dynasty. This same
cemetery contained two vaulted brick tombs of a type which was found
in 1909 to begin in the XVIIIth Dynasty. These had been converted
into Christian chapels by the Copts. Staircases had been built in the
single trench separated from each other merely by a partition of bricks,
makes it practically certain that these bodies were all interred at one
and the same time. The further fact that all are male is curious and
shows that there is something quite abnormal about the whole pheno-
menon. It is hardly worth while to indulge in speculation as to its
meaning. A burial of dead warriors might be suggested, though no
traces of wounds were found on the bones. What is really interesting
is whether these burials are related to the early wall. It is curious that
the trench should be 'parallel to it and at the same time so near it.
Nevertheless it must be remembered that a trench which was to contain
a number of burials with head north or south, the only two positions in
vogue at the period, could not run otherwise than east and west.
During the progress of work in this cemetery surface tombs of various
periods were found. One of the most interesting was that of a woman,
dating from the Xllth Dynasty. On the body were numerous beads
and amulets together with four scarabs, one of green glaze, one of
amethyst, and two of black steatite. Among the objects was a. curious
object of spiral silver wire with a ring at one end and a tiny hook at the
other (Fig. 8). Another grave, again that of a woman, contained a
veritable mass of beads, amulets, etc. Part of this lay confused under
the head, but the rest was in carefully arranged strings at the wrists and
fingers. The whole has been restrung in the original arrangement.
Among the numerous scarabs was one bearing the cartouche of
Sheshonk I., and the rest were also of definitely XXIInd Dynasty
types.
After some three weeks' work in this cemetery a number of the men
were moved to a spot north of the Coptic Der, where there seems to be
a continuation of the same cemetery. Here, however, the mastabas have
totally disappeared, probably as a result of denudation. The contents of
the tombs were very similar to those obtained in the other part of the
cemetery. In one case the lowest of the three chambers had remained
untouched by the plunderers, who thought they had reached the bottom
of the tomb after clearing the two upper chambers. It contained the
body of a woman, together with a copper mirror of early pattern, a fine
set of carnelian beads with a Taurt amulet in haematite, several small
pottery vases, and three alabasters of wretched workmanship. This
burial probably belongs to the Xlth or Xllth Dynasty. This same
cemetery contained two vaulted brick tombs of a type which was found
in 1909 to begin in the XVIIIth Dynasty. These had been converted
into Christian chapels by the Copts. Staircases had been built in the