Egypt Exploration Fund [Hrsg.]: Archaeological report: comprising the work of the Egypt Exploration Fund and the progress of egyptology during the year ... (1911-1912)

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Egypt Exploration Fund.

cemetery (a feature common also to Manqula and Tukh) lay under
towering sand-dunes which had formed during the lapse of centuries. A
large Ptolemaic cemetery occupied the northern part of the site and was
quickly identified. Although much work was done in every direction,
the condition of the papyrus cartonnage found was uniformly hopeless.
Shallow shafts and chambers were here the commonest type of grave. A
wall of large mud bricks filled the entrance to the chamber, and it was
usual to find pots upright or inverted built into this wall.

This terminated the work, and we left the western desert on March 15th.
Although results in kind were meagre, I believe that the year's work
was useful. Little or nothing was previously known of the district
covered. It is now established that in Ptolemaic times there was here
an abundant population and civilization, which increased still further in
Koman times. The number of Ptolemaic sites identified and dug could
probably not be equalled in a similar area in any other part of Egypt.
Damp was the enemy which always defeated us when we were near to
success.

J. de M. Johnson.