DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4657#0021
\6
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TYPES OF THE THIRD DYNASTY.
miles to the north, which was excavated in the fol-
lowing year. It was, as a rule, the plunderer's most
expeditious method of reaching the burial-chambers,
and so preserved considerable portions of the tombs
undisturbed.] In this case only there seems to have
been provision made for a double burial; the one in
a chamber as usual at the end of the underground
passage, to the west; another in a large chamber to
the immediate east of the entrance.
This latter had been apparently a secondary con-
sideration ; its two chambers contained deposits of
alabaster and pottery of the characteristic forms of
the Illrd Dynasty, but no sealings or well-fashioned
bowls such as furnished the chief burial in the re-
moter chamber. From this one there came, on the
other hand, some vessels of finer quality than any
others found on the site. These are illustrated by
the photographs on PL. XXV., and the typical out-
lines appear in numbers 1-8 on Pl. XXVII. The
three syenite vases with small handles, while re-
taining the weight and solidity characteristic of the
period, are of special quality of work and of stone.
Two of them were selected for the museum at Cairo.
The other forms of the period, in alabaster and
pottery, were plentiful; a number of sealings refer
to Nezm-Ankh, apparently a Ha-Prince of the time.
The name of Neter-Khet also appears on an inter-
esting sealing reproduced on Pl. XXVI., No. 8.
CHAPTER VI.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TYPES OF THE THIRD DYNASTY.
The Tombs.
Pls. VII., XVIII., XXV.
48. With only five tombs of the Illrd Dynasty
excavated, at the time this chapter was written, and
these confined to one locality, it is impossible to
speak of the types found in them as necessarily pre-
vailing throughout the whole period, or indeed to
regard the results as otherwise than tentative and
perhaps local. The excavation of the necropolis at
Reqaqnah, two miles to the north, will probably
show, when the results are analysed, to what extent
and throughout what period the types here illustrated
may be considered to have prevailed. But the fact
that no other tombs of the Illrd Dynasty have pre-
viously been recognised, and the complete blank that
has been hitherto in the history of that age, render it
desirable to publish these results, so far as they lead,
independently, even though some of the questions of
detail have not yet received that consideration which
must ultimately be given to them.
49. The tomb of Neter-Khet is first to be noted,
alike on account of the complexity of its design, as of
the great size and new features observable in its con-
struction. The change from the characteristic forms
of the largest tombs of the 1st and Ilnd Dynasties is
apparently so great that at first glance it is difficult
to perceive any relation between them. The smaller
tombs K 3 and K 4, however, help materially to show
the connection.
It is unnecessary, and it would be speculative, to
attempt to trace the development in detail: a glance
at a few characteristic earlier tombs in sequence, how-
ever, is interesting. In the season 1900-01 Messrs.
Randall-Maclver and Wilkin, working at El Amrah,
to the south of Abydos, were enabled to follow the
links, and connecting the simple form of the pre-
dynastic grave with a class of tomb which in the
1st Dynasty seems to have been typical of the more
important burials, they were able to trace the stages
by which the burial chamber became enlarged and
made rectangular, and finally divided into separate
compartments, the larger one for the chief burial, the
smaller for the accessories. The whole was roofed
over with timber and mud, and in many cases a
descending passage led down to it from without.
The tombs of Den-Setui and Oa-Sen at Abydos
show a further development of this form, as may be
seen in Professor Petrie's Royal Tombs, II., PL. LXIL,
and I., PL. LX. After descent of the stairway, the
effect of entering the tomb (roofed over as it was
with wood and mud, and covered probably with
drifted sand) must have been exactly that of entering
an underground chamber. The difference between
this type and that of the tombs K 3, K 4, becomes
one of construction only ; the chamber was hollowed
out in the desert, leaving a natural roof above it.
Possibly the ease with which a wooden roof might be
entered, and the tomb robbed, had led to the change.
The same cause probably led to the closing of the
doorway by a stone, and to the deepening of the
passage, so securing a greater thickness of roof. The
tomb K 1 is exceptional, yet it is already linked with
the type. Its every feature is a development on the
same principles, prompted by the same causes. Only
the chambers are more numerous, the passage is
larger and deeper, the doors are more ponderous and
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TYPES OF THE THIRD DYNASTY.
miles to the north, which was excavated in the fol-
lowing year. It was, as a rule, the plunderer's most
expeditious method of reaching the burial-chambers,
and so preserved considerable portions of the tombs
undisturbed.] In this case only there seems to have
been provision made for a double burial; the one in
a chamber as usual at the end of the underground
passage, to the west; another in a large chamber to
the immediate east of the entrance.
This latter had been apparently a secondary con-
sideration ; its two chambers contained deposits of
alabaster and pottery of the characteristic forms of
the Illrd Dynasty, but no sealings or well-fashioned
bowls such as furnished the chief burial in the re-
moter chamber. From this one there came, on the
other hand, some vessels of finer quality than any
others found on the site. These are illustrated by
the photographs on PL. XXV., and the typical out-
lines appear in numbers 1-8 on Pl. XXVII. The
three syenite vases with small handles, while re-
taining the weight and solidity characteristic of the
period, are of special quality of work and of stone.
Two of them were selected for the museum at Cairo.
The other forms of the period, in alabaster and
pottery, were plentiful; a number of sealings refer
to Nezm-Ankh, apparently a Ha-Prince of the time.
The name of Neter-Khet also appears on an inter-
esting sealing reproduced on Pl. XXVI., No. 8.
CHAPTER VI.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TYPES OF THE THIRD DYNASTY.
The Tombs.
Pls. VII., XVIII., XXV.
48. With only five tombs of the Illrd Dynasty
excavated, at the time this chapter was written, and
these confined to one locality, it is impossible to
speak of the types found in them as necessarily pre-
vailing throughout the whole period, or indeed to
regard the results as otherwise than tentative and
perhaps local. The excavation of the necropolis at
Reqaqnah, two miles to the north, will probably
show, when the results are analysed, to what extent
and throughout what period the types here illustrated
may be considered to have prevailed. But the fact
that no other tombs of the Illrd Dynasty have pre-
viously been recognised, and the complete blank that
has been hitherto in the history of that age, render it
desirable to publish these results, so far as they lead,
independently, even though some of the questions of
detail have not yet received that consideration which
must ultimately be given to them.
49. The tomb of Neter-Khet is first to be noted,
alike on account of the complexity of its design, as of
the great size and new features observable in its con-
struction. The change from the characteristic forms
of the largest tombs of the 1st and Ilnd Dynasties is
apparently so great that at first glance it is difficult
to perceive any relation between them. The smaller
tombs K 3 and K 4, however, help materially to show
the connection.
It is unnecessary, and it would be speculative, to
attempt to trace the development in detail: a glance
at a few characteristic earlier tombs in sequence, how-
ever, is interesting. In the season 1900-01 Messrs.
Randall-Maclver and Wilkin, working at El Amrah,
to the south of Abydos, were enabled to follow the
links, and connecting the simple form of the pre-
dynastic grave with a class of tomb which in the
1st Dynasty seems to have been typical of the more
important burials, they were able to trace the stages
by which the burial chamber became enlarged and
made rectangular, and finally divided into separate
compartments, the larger one for the chief burial, the
smaller for the accessories. The whole was roofed
over with timber and mud, and in many cases a
descending passage led down to it from without.
The tombs of Den-Setui and Oa-Sen at Abydos
show a further development of this form, as may be
seen in Professor Petrie's Royal Tombs, II., PL. LXIL,
and I., PL. LX. After descent of the stairway, the
effect of entering the tomb (roofed over as it was
with wood and mud, and covered probably with
drifted sand) must have been exactly that of entering
an underground chamber. The difference between
this type and that of the tombs K 3, K 4, becomes
one of construction only ; the chamber was hollowed
out in the desert, leaving a natural roof above it.
Possibly the ease with which a wooden roof might be
entered, and the tomb robbed, had led to the change.
The same cause probably led to the closing of the
doorway by a stone, and to the deepening of the
passage, so securing a greater thickness of roof. The
tomb K 1 is exceptional, yet it is already linked with
the type. Its every feature is a development on the
same principles, prompted by the same causes. Only
the chambers are more numerous, the passage is
larger and deeper, the doors are more ponderous and