DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4657#0011
6
THE PRE-DYNASTIC SITES.
croached upon, from objects found (apparently as
they had been left) in undisturbed patches lying be-
tween the tombs. But in most places the further
indications were unreliable, the traces having been
scattered by the constant turning over of the sand.
17. The ground itself was darker than the desert
around, an appearance caused by the mixing of the
sand with dust of a dark colour. The same effect
can be secured experimentally by grinding to powder
bricks or hard pieces of Nile mud, and mixing with
sand in sufficient quantity. If the amount of dust is
small, a greater contrast with pure sand can be gained
by sprinkling with water. It is a matter of common
experience that the presence of underground tombs,
when built of brick, may often be detected by the
character and colour of the desert just below the
surface. This darker earth is well known to the
natives, who find it excellent ground from which to
sift the sebakJi required for agricultural purposes, as
they do from ancient town mounds. On this account
it is difficult to secure for excavation the site of a
settlement that has not been more or less disturbed ;
the examination of such a spot would be in any case
a minute process, but its difficulties become extreme
when the disturber has been at work. It is like the
attempt to trace the lines of a camp that has been
moved in fields turned over by the plough.
18. In the present case, a mound that superficially
looked promising was found to have been thoroughly
trenched and sifted by the sebakhin. A small flat
area adjoining it, however, remained in better con-
dition. Pottery of the pre-dynastic character was
common ; fragments lay strewn thickly about, while
more rarely was to be seen " black-topped " pottery,
or an occasional piece decorated with white lines of
the kinds familiar in the tombs. Among the cases
in which these were found there was little indication
that this pottery had been in use ; on the contrary, it
seemed to have been carefully deposited, in some
cases buried, where it lay. In type it corresponded
exactly with the period of the pots found in the
neighbouring cemetery at Alawniyeh. More inter-
esting, and more common, were the domestic pots,
large and small, which were found in the various
places noted in the plan. Some of them had been
used for storing, but the black traces of fire clinging
to the majority indicated that they had been used
for cooking purposes. The bones of fish and small
animals and pieces of crocodile hide were not un-
common. In one place only a majur, or large
earthenware vessel, was found, inverted but empty.
Among other small objects found are those shown in
the upper photograph on Pl. V. On the left hand is
a small stone vessel, of excellent work, fashioned in
the form of a seated frog. The limbs are faithfully
delineated, but the photograph shows the effect
poorly. On the right are some mace-heads and frag-
ments of them, pieces of characteristic stone vases, a
polished " celt," and some small round objects (gene-
rally of pottery) pierced with a hole, hence probably
spinning-whorls.
It is thus seen that the indications of a settlement
were plentiful; but the main features of interest con-
nected with early village communities—their choice
of site, their habitations, their social relations and
domestic conditions—are problems waiting to be
solved. It is only possible, in this instance, to
illustrate one or two features from a new point of
view.
19. The position chosen for the settlement was a
prominent rise in the sandy desert at the present
edge of the cultivated lands. There can be no
certainty that this was also the ancient limit to the
annual inundation, but the steepness of the desert
edge just at this point indicates the action of water.
Considering all things, it seems probable that there
was at this place some quantity of water, probably
stagnant. Around the northern side (Pl. II.) a con-
siderable valley breaks through the sands. It has
presumably been formed by water, but at what age
it is impossible to say. It is at least older than the
middle empire tombs built in it. A similar valley
bounds the southern limit to the portion S 1, while
the two portions called S 1 and S 2 are separated by
a less marked depression. To the west the situation
is wholly exposed to the wide desert, of which it
commands a view.
20. The indications of dwellings are enigmatical.
In the part S 2 there were found the remains of some
wood-piles arranged in some system, and between
them the abundant traces of small twigs intertwined
and of powdered mud. There can be little hesitation
then in saying that the essentials of the shelter were
provided by a " wattle and daub" construction. A
difficulty then arises as to the arrangement. In the
sketch plan on Pl. IV., the position of all the piles
found within that area is indicated. A pencil line
drawn through the numbers 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 25, 13,
24, in succession, reveals the curious fact that only
two sides of any rooms are represented in the plan.
The same effect occurs with 29, 30, 31 and 32. The
" room " in each case, indicated by the litter of bones
THE PRE-DYNASTIC SITES.
croached upon, from objects found (apparently as
they had been left) in undisturbed patches lying be-
tween the tombs. But in most places the further
indications were unreliable, the traces having been
scattered by the constant turning over of the sand.
17. The ground itself was darker than the desert
around, an appearance caused by the mixing of the
sand with dust of a dark colour. The same effect
can be secured experimentally by grinding to powder
bricks or hard pieces of Nile mud, and mixing with
sand in sufficient quantity. If the amount of dust is
small, a greater contrast with pure sand can be gained
by sprinkling with water. It is a matter of common
experience that the presence of underground tombs,
when built of brick, may often be detected by the
character and colour of the desert just below the
surface. This darker earth is well known to the
natives, who find it excellent ground from which to
sift the sebakJi required for agricultural purposes, as
they do from ancient town mounds. On this account
it is difficult to secure for excavation the site of a
settlement that has not been more or less disturbed ;
the examination of such a spot would be in any case
a minute process, but its difficulties become extreme
when the disturber has been at work. It is like the
attempt to trace the lines of a camp that has been
moved in fields turned over by the plough.
18. In the present case, a mound that superficially
looked promising was found to have been thoroughly
trenched and sifted by the sebakhin. A small flat
area adjoining it, however, remained in better con-
dition. Pottery of the pre-dynastic character was
common ; fragments lay strewn thickly about, while
more rarely was to be seen " black-topped " pottery,
or an occasional piece decorated with white lines of
the kinds familiar in the tombs. Among the cases
in which these were found there was little indication
that this pottery had been in use ; on the contrary, it
seemed to have been carefully deposited, in some
cases buried, where it lay. In type it corresponded
exactly with the period of the pots found in the
neighbouring cemetery at Alawniyeh. More inter-
esting, and more common, were the domestic pots,
large and small, which were found in the various
places noted in the plan. Some of them had been
used for storing, but the black traces of fire clinging
to the majority indicated that they had been used
for cooking purposes. The bones of fish and small
animals and pieces of crocodile hide were not un-
common. In one place only a majur, or large
earthenware vessel, was found, inverted but empty.
Among other small objects found are those shown in
the upper photograph on Pl. V. On the left hand is
a small stone vessel, of excellent work, fashioned in
the form of a seated frog. The limbs are faithfully
delineated, but the photograph shows the effect
poorly. On the right are some mace-heads and frag-
ments of them, pieces of characteristic stone vases, a
polished " celt," and some small round objects (gene-
rally of pottery) pierced with a hole, hence probably
spinning-whorls.
It is thus seen that the indications of a settlement
were plentiful; but the main features of interest con-
nected with early village communities—their choice
of site, their habitations, their social relations and
domestic conditions—are problems waiting to be
solved. It is only possible, in this instance, to
illustrate one or two features from a new point of
view.
19. The position chosen for the settlement was a
prominent rise in the sandy desert at the present
edge of the cultivated lands. There can be no
certainty that this was also the ancient limit to the
annual inundation, but the steepness of the desert
edge just at this point indicates the action of water.
Considering all things, it seems probable that there
was at this place some quantity of water, probably
stagnant. Around the northern side (Pl. II.) a con-
siderable valley breaks through the sands. It has
presumably been formed by water, but at what age
it is impossible to say. It is at least older than the
middle empire tombs built in it. A similar valley
bounds the southern limit to the portion S 1, while
the two portions called S 1 and S 2 are separated by
a less marked depression. To the west the situation
is wholly exposed to the wide desert, of which it
commands a view.
20. The indications of dwellings are enigmatical.
In the part S 2 there were found the remains of some
wood-piles arranged in some system, and between
them the abundant traces of small twigs intertwined
and of powdered mud. There can be little hesitation
then in saying that the essentials of the shelter were
provided by a " wattle and daub" construction. A
difficulty then arises as to the arrangement. In the
sketch plan on Pl. IV., the position of all the piles
found within that area is indicated. A pencil line
drawn through the numbers 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 25, 13,
24, in succession, reveals the curious fact that only
two sides of any rooms are represented in the plan.
The same effect occurs with 29, 30, 31 and 32. The
" room " in each case, indicated by the litter of bones