Garstang, John: Maḥâsna and Bêt Khallâf (London, 1903)

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INTRODUCTION.

two to three hundred feet wide, beyond the confines
of the cemetery, and thus partly disturbed by the
tombs placed there in the early dynasties. For the
purpose of defining these better preserved portions of
the settlement they have been accorded different
letters according to their positions in the general plan
of the site on PL. II.

4. The tombs of this cemetery were for the most
part of the period between the Old and Middle
Kingdoms ; yet the earlier dynasties were also repre-
sented. The excavation when completed showed
remarkably how the cemetery had spread slowly and
consistently northward through a long sequence of
years. Its earliest tombs must date back to the
early Ilnd or perhaps the 1st Dynasty. These had
been already excavated (it was said by De Morgan),
but they were re-opened to verify their dates and
character. It was found that they formed the
southern limit to the cemetery. A few uninstructive
and plundered pit-tombs led on to some characteristic
graves of the IVth-VIth Dynasties, bordering upon
the knoll on which the prehistoric settlement had
formerly stood. There were found in them some
stone bowls and small objects of art characteristic of
the period. The knoll itself was devoid of tombs:
possibly the character of its sand had been unsuitable
for sinking shafts, or perhaps the ruins of the former
habitations had still remained conspicuous obstacles,
and so caused it to be avoided. Beyond, in a small
valley to the north, tombs of the Vlth and later
Dynasties were plentiful, and spread over the farther
rise to the number of several hundred, all undisturbed.
With the Xlth Dynasty they came to an end. It
does not appear that this was the necropolis of any
large or important town, but rather the burying place
of some small village or villages, which then, as now,
rose here and there in the cultivation, built and
rebuilt upon the ruins of the past.

5. The tombs of the later period yielded little,
though they were numerous and undisturbed. The
same feature has been noticeable in other sites of the
same date wherever they have been examined. This
general poverty and rudeness of the known works of
this period between the Vlth and Xlth Dynasties,
while it provides a marked contrast, is seemingly not
to be attributed to any real change of burial custom.
The reason must rather be seen in a general depres-
sion of art and artistic sense, the products of which in
those brighter ages found their way into the graves of
the time. Thus the excavation of these tombs,
following upon those of the Old Kingdom, was useful

in supplying further evidence of local detail, shewing
how a small and presumably average rural district of
the ancient country was beset by the same depression
and decline as seem to have prevailed in general
during this period throughout the whole of Egypt.

Archaeologically, too, this period provides a
unique interest, in the small "button seals," glazed or
of worked stone, which (with the increasing number
of preserved specimens) are attracting a corresponding
increase of attention. Twenty-eight were found in
this excavation in their original position upon the
bodies. With women, they were mere pendants,
attached to a necklet of beads or other trinkets that
adorned them ; but with men they always occurred
singly, suspended from the neck or attached to a
finger of the left hand. The designs upon them are
always symmetric, often geometric and conventional;
yet no two from this site were alike, nor are any
strictly the same as those existing in private collec-
tions with which they have been compared. They
were almost certainly signets.

6. Apart from these objects, the period yields
nothing comparable in interest to the small objects
of art, jewels, and pendants, that characterise the
IVth, Vth and Vlth Dynasties. The furniture of
one rich burial of the Old Kingdom from Mahasna
(No. 104) was chosen entire by the Government for
exhibition in the Museum at Cairo. It comprises,
among its larger objects, thirteen vessels of alabaster
and hard stones, finely wrought and of delicate finish,
an alabaster head-rest, with fluted column upon a
plain base and square abacus, and a mirror of copper.
Its beads are chiefly carnelian, glaze and gold, with a
pendent carnelian centre. But the chief feature of
the deposit is a long chain necklet of gold, of remark-
able fineness and finish, each link delicately welded,
in the manner in which each link is doubled through
the two loops of that which precedes it in the chain.
Other objects of good quality were found, and are
pictured in the plates. They do not, for the most
part, establish any new archaeological types.

In the village of Mahasna itself were found
some traces of a former burying place. A tomb in
the road, revealed by the falling in of the surface,
yielded some good pieces of red polished pottery of
the Old Kingdom. A few other tombs were either
difficult of access or unsafe to dig; many must have
been built over by an arm of the village ; the search
in other accessible places around was devoid of
result.

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