DOI Artikel:
Maspero, Henri; Edgar, Campbell Cowan; Breccia, Annibale Evaristo; Lefebvre, Gustave; Spiegelberg, Wilhelm; Legrain, Georges: Le musée égyptien
DOI Artikel:Erfassung im Meketre-Projekt
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9426#0119
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PLANCHES LVI-LVII.
MIDDLE EMPIRE TOMBS IN THE DELTA.
About fifteen kilometres south-west of Damanhour, in the village of Barnougi,
is an ancient site consisting of two mounds which are separated from each
other by a short stretch of swamp. The southern kom, on which stands the
mosque of Sidi Saadallah, the father of our temporary ghafir, has been worked
by the fellahin for bricks and sebakh, and it is now not much higher than the
cultivated land. A lion-headed gargoyle of marble lies at the threshold of the
mosque, and on the surface of the kom are traces of the usual refuse of
Christian times, though the present level probably represents an earlier period.
The northern mound is much higher. It seems to have been originallv a
natural sand-hill, and its height has been increased by human occupation.
A large part of it is covered by more or less ruined chambers made of sun-dried
bricks, which here and there are laid diagonally for one course. One can still
distinguish groups of these chambers, opening one into another, and several
of them are filled with the remains of fallen-in domes There are no signs
of any later stratum of occupation, as there are on the surface of the other kom.
Last March (1907) the Omdeh of Nedibeh and Barnougi informed our
late Inspector at Tantah, Francis Eff. Abdelmalek, that he had noticed some-
thing which looked like a large tomb in the northern mound. The Inspector
immediately went to the spot and cleared it out, the Omdeh assisting and
providing the workmen. The excavation resulted in the discovery of two fine
tombs of painted limestone, unplundered though much damaged by natural
causes. I was not able to get to Barnougi until the afternoon of the second day
when the work was almost over, though I was still in time to take some
notes about the disposition of objects in the second tomb. Shortly afterwards
I returned to Barnougi for a few days and went on working round about the
tombs but without finding anything of importance. I also made tracings of the
painted scenes in the intervals of a long spell of rainy weather. Finally M. Lacau
came to Barnougi to examine the tombs and in particular to see if anything
could be made out of the very badly preserved inscriptions. After we had done
(1) Chambers of the same type are found at various places in the Delta, see Annales, VII, p. 207,
fig. 2 and Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities, pl. XXXIX M. At Barnougi the curve of the dome was
quite clear in more than one case. What is said about such chambers in Annales, VII, 209, needs
therefore to be modified.
PLANCHES LVI-LVII.
MIDDLE EMPIRE TOMBS IN THE DELTA.
About fifteen kilometres south-west of Damanhour, in the village of Barnougi,
is an ancient site consisting of two mounds which are separated from each
other by a short stretch of swamp. The southern kom, on which stands the
mosque of Sidi Saadallah, the father of our temporary ghafir, has been worked
by the fellahin for bricks and sebakh, and it is now not much higher than the
cultivated land. A lion-headed gargoyle of marble lies at the threshold of the
mosque, and on the surface of the kom are traces of the usual refuse of
Christian times, though the present level probably represents an earlier period.
The northern mound is much higher. It seems to have been originallv a
natural sand-hill, and its height has been increased by human occupation.
A large part of it is covered by more or less ruined chambers made of sun-dried
bricks, which here and there are laid diagonally for one course. One can still
distinguish groups of these chambers, opening one into another, and several
of them are filled with the remains of fallen-in domes There are no signs
of any later stratum of occupation, as there are on the surface of the other kom.
Last March (1907) the Omdeh of Nedibeh and Barnougi informed our
late Inspector at Tantah, Francis Eff. Abdelmalek, that he had noticed some-
thing which looked like a large tomb in the northern mound. The Inspector
immediately went to the spot and cleared it out, the Omdeh assisting and
providing the workmen. The excavation resulted in the discovery of two fine
tombs of painted limestone, unplundered though much damaged by natural
causes. I was not able to get to Barnougi until the afternoon of the second day
when the work was almost over, though I was still in time to take some
notes about the disposition of objects in the second tomb. Shortly afterwards
I returned to Barnougi for a few days and went on working round about the
tombs but without finding anything of importance. I also made tracings of the
painted scenes in the intervals of a long spell of rainy weather. Finally M. Lacau
came to Barnougi to examine the tombs and in particular to see if anything
could be made out of the very badly preserved inscriptions. After we had done
(1) Chambers of the same type are found at various places in the Delta, see Annales, VII, p. 207,
fig. 2 and Petrie, Hyksos and Israelite Cities, pl. XXXIX M. At Barnougi the curve of the dome was
quite clear in more than one case. What is said about such chambers in Annales, VII, 209, needs
therefore to be modified.