DOI Artikel:
Edgar, Campbell Cowan: Recent discoveries at Kom El Hisn
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9427#0064
PLANCHES XXXII-XXXVI.
RECENT DISCOVERIES AT KOM EL HISN.
I
A few vears ago l publislied in the Musée égyptien (vol. II, p. i 09) an account
of tvvo tombs which had recently been excavated at Kom el Barnougi in the
province of Behera. They apparently dated from the earlier part of the Middle
Empire, and their décoration presented a peculiar compromise, as was pointed
out by M. Lacau, between the Old Empire mastaba and the Middle Empire
sarcophagus.
Towards the end of 1910 a better preserved tomb of the same sort was
discovered at the well-known site of Kom el Hisn, which lies near the station
of Tod on the light railway between Teh el Baroud and Delingat. Kom el Hisn
has been identified, by Griflith and others, as Pi-nebt-Amou, capital of the
Western nome, and the identification is probably right. It is certain at least
that the chief deity of the town was Hathor nebl Amou. This is proved by the
Ramesside inscriptions published by Griflith and Daressy(1), by the much earlier
inscriptions on the tomb and by those on a statue of Amenemhat III which was
found in the sebakh in 1911 and is now exhibited in the Cairo Muséum.
The tomb lies at the south-west corner of the site, close lo a little ezbeh.
One of the sheikhs there had asked permission to extract some limestone blocks
which he said were to be found just below the surface of the kom. Our local
Inspector, Anton effendi \oussef, went and examined the spot, and on laying
bare the stones found them to be the roof of a small chamber. It had been
completely rifled in antiquity, the robbers having eut an entrance through the
upper part of the massive block which formed the cloor. The wooden colFin had
crumbled into brown dust, and nothing was left of the funerary offerings. The
only things found by our workmen in the earth which covered the floor were
a few inscribed fragments of limestone (evidently from the ceiling) and a fine
head of a Xll* dynasty king (see pl. XXXII).
At the time of the burial the surrounding country was of course lower than
it is now, and the mouncl in which the tomb was constructed stood at a safe
height above llood-level. There are some traces ofmud-brick walls round about
(1) Naukratis, vol. II, p. 78; Annales du Service des Antiquités, IV, p. 281.
RECENT DISCOVERIES AT KOM EL HISN.
I
A few vears ago l publislied in the Musée égyptien (vol. II, p. i 09) an account
of tvvo tombs which had recently been excavated at Kom el Barnougi in the
province of Behera. They apparently dated from the earlier part of the Middle
Empire, and their décoration presented a peculiar compromise, as was pointed
out by M. Lacau, between the Old Empire mastaba and the Middle Empire
sarcophagus.
Towards the end of 1910 a better preserved tomb of the same sort was
discovered at the well-known site of Kom el Hisn, which lies near the station
of Tod on the light railway between Teh el Baroud and Delingat. Kom el Hisn
has been identified, by Griflith and others, as Pi-nebt-Amou, capital of the
Western nome, and the identification is probably right. It is certain at least
that the chief deity of the town was Hathor nebl Amou. This is proved by the
Ramesside inscriptions published by Griflith and Daressy(1), by the much earlier
inscriptions on the tomb and by those on a statue of Amenemhat III which was
found in the sebakh in 1911 and is now exhibited in the Cairo Muséum.
The tomb lies at the south-west corner of the site, close lo a little ezbeh.
One of the sheikhs there had asked permission to extract some limestone blocks
which he said were to be found just below the surface of the kom. Our local
Inspector, Anton effendi \oussef, went and examined the spot, and on laying
bare the stones found them to be the roof of a small chamber. It had been
completely rifled in antiquity, the robbers having eut an entrance through the
upper part of the massive block which formed the cloor. The wooden colFin had
crumbled into brown dust, and nothing was left of the funerary offerings. The
only things found by our workmen in the earth which covered the floor were
a few inscribed fragments of limestone (evidently from the ceiling) and a fine
head of a Xll* dynasty king (see pl. XXXII).
At the time of the burial the surrounding country was of course lower than
it is now, and the mouncl in which the tomb was constructed stood at a safe
height above llood-level. There are some traces ofmud-brick walls round about
(1) Naukratis, vol. II, p. 78; Annales du Service des Antiquités, IV, p. 281.