DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17532#0002
EXCAVATIONS AT NAUKRATIS.
A.
SITE AND BUILDINGS.
By D. G. Hogarth.
Mr. Ernest Gardner, summing up in 1889 the results of the excavations
at Naukratis which Mr. Flinders Petrie had begun in 1884, was of opinion
that something still remained to be done on the site.1 This opinion was
shared by Mr. Petrie and has been expressed by him more than once, when
Greek remains in Egypt were under discussion. A further campaign, there-
fore, has long been contemplated ; and when I heard late in 1898 that very
serious encroachments were being made upon the mounds of Gaif, it seemed
that it was time to act.2 Paying a flying visit to the place in December, I
found that, compared with Mr. Petrie's map of fourteen years before, the
Mounds showed a greatly changed appearance. The " Great Temenos "
at the south end had become a cornfield: the " Arab village" shown in the
map on the north-east edge of the mound was now divided from the
uncultivated land by a broad belt of green, which in the east centre had
been pushed far out into the hollow heart of the site by an artificial
embankment twelve to fifteen feet high. Hundreds of natives were
employed daily in digging sebakli {i.e. virgin earth for top-dressing the
1 Naukratis, ii., p. 73.
2 I had already been informed that the Egypt Exploration Fund was not prepared, in view 01
its heavy obligations elsewhere, to come to the rescue ; and that neither Mr. Petrie nor Mr. Gardner
in their private capacity wished to resume the work.
A.
SITE AND BUILDINGS.
By D. G. Hogarth.
Mr. Ernest Gardner, summing up in 1889 the results of the excavations
at Naukratis which Mr. Flinders Petrie had begun in 1884, was of opinion
that something still remained to be done on the site.1 This opinion was
shared by Mr. Petrie and has been expressed by him more than once, when
Greek remains in Egypt were under discussion. A further campaign, there-
fore, has long been contemplated ; and when I heard late in 1898 that very
serious encroachments were being made upon the mounds of Gaif, it seemed
that it was time to act.2 Paying a flying visit to the place in December, I
found that, compared with Mr. Petrie's map of fourteen years before, the
Mounds showed a greatly changed appearance. The " Great Temenos "
at the south end had become a cornfield: the " Arab village" shown in the
map on the north-east edge of the mound was now divided from the
uncultivated land by a broad belt of green, which in the east centre had
been pushed far out into the hollow heart of the site by an artificial
embankment twelve to fifteen feet high. Hundreds of natives were
employed daily in digging sebakli {i.e. virgin earth for top-dressing the
1 Naukratis, ii., p. 73.
2 I had already been informed that the Egypt Exploration Fund was not prepared, in view 01
its heavy obligations elsewhere, to come to the rescue ; and that neither Mr. Petrie nor Mr. Gardner
in their private capacity wished to resume the work.