DOI Artikel:
Griffith, Francis Ll.: Egypt Exploration Fund: excavations at Abydos, [1]
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12583#0015
I.-EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND.
A.—EXCAVATIOXS AT ABYDOS.
I. The Prehistoric Cemeteries at El Amrah.
Of the work of Mr. Bandall-Maclver and Mr. Anthony Wilkin in the
prehistoric cemeteries of El Amrah, about six miles to the south of
Abydos, there is an interesting account by the chief explorer in Man,
April, 1901, with illustrations. The locality has been much dug over of
recent years, and some of M. de Morgan's illustrations of prehistoric graves
and their contents are labelled as found at El Amrah, though no record
of these discoveries has been published. Mr. Maclver, with his coadjutor,
were fortunate in finding many graves still intact, and others only partially
plundered or excavated. Beginning work in December, 1900, they found
two cemeteries of prehistoric age separated by a space full of burials of the
XVIIIth Dynasty. The western cemetery covered an area of about
15,000 square yards, and had contained 600 or 700 graves, of which 300
were still worth full record. The burials ranged from the earliest known
through the entire middle period down to the beginning of late prehistoric
times. The work on this cemetery occupied a month. The eastern
cemetery was even more comprehensive in its contents than the western,
reaching the historic period. From it the explorers were able to illustrate
the evolution of all the types of early burial, beginning with that
in which the body was wrapped in a skin and buried in a shallow
round grave, and continuing down to the coffins laid in square brick
tombs roofed and provided with niches for offerings, so approaching the
elaborated type of the royal tombs of the 1st Dynasty. The objects
found in the western cemetery include clay dolls, figures of kine, the
model of a house, a copper dagger, flint lance-heads, mace-heads, and an
axe-head of stone. In the eastern cemetery, a slate, carved with the
emblem of the god Min, is most noticeable.
f. ll. a.
b
A.—EXCAVATIOXS AT ABYDOS.
I. The Prehistoric Cemeteries at El Amrah.
Of the work of Mr. Bandall-Maclver and Mr. Anthony Wilkin in the
prehistoric cemeteries of El Amrah, about six miles to the south of
Abydos, there is an interesting account by the chief explorer in Man,
April, 1901, with illustrations. The locality has been much dug over of
recent years, and some of M. de Morgan's illustrations of prehistoric graves
and their contents are labelled as found at El Amrah, though no record
of these discoveries has been published. Mr. Maclver, with his coadjutor,
were fortunate in finding many graves still intact, and others only partially
plundered or excavated. Beginning work in December, 1900, they found
two cemeteries of prehistoric age separated by a space full of burials of the
XVIIIth Dynasty. The western cemetery covered an area of about
15,000 square yards, and had contained 600 or 700 graves, of which 300
were still worth full record. The burials ranged from the earliest known
through the entire middle period down to the beginning of late prehistoric
times. The work on this cemetery occupied a month. The eastern
cemetery was even more comprehensive in its contents than the western,
reaching the historic period. From it the explorers were able to illustrate
the evolution of all the types of early burial, beginning with that
in which the body was wrapped in a skin and buried in a shallow
round grave, and continuing down to the coffins laid in square brick
tombs roofed and provided with niches for offerings, so approaching the
elaborated type of the royal tombs of the 1st Dynasty. The objects
found in the western cemetery include clay dolls, figures of kine, the
model of a house, a copper dagger, flint lance-heads, mace-heads, and an
axe-head of stone. In the eastern cemetery, a slate, carved with the
emblem of the god Min, is most noticeable.
f. ll. a.
b