DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.50021#0021
II. Cemetery N. 1500.
3
will be published in separate volumes. The whole of these taken together will give a review
of the burial customs, types of graves and funerary offerings in the Thinite nome of indisputable
historical continuity over a period extending from the earliest known predynastic times to the
end of the Middle Empire with the exception of the late predynastic period. The present
volume will deal with the early dynastic cemeteries between the second and third ravines.
11. CEMETERY N. 1500.
CEMETERY 15001 occupies the alluvial slope at the base of the limestone hill which forms
the southern part of the limestone shelf between the second and third ravines, described
above. This alluvial slope consists of strata of hard gravel, sand, soil and loose gravel, of
various thicknesses (see Pl. nd and 12a). In this slope during the first and second dynasties Cemetery
of Ist and
some 50 graves were made, the most important of which consisted of large rectangular pits tznddynast.
containing mud-brick chambers and covered by a mud-brick superstructure. Later, in the
period of the middle and the new empires, that part of the slope within ten meters of the
base of the limestone hill was covered to a depth of from o cm. to 100 cm. with debris thrown Plundered
. . ... .... an(l covered
out from the rock-cut tombs of the limestone hill. It was clear from the continuity of this with New
debris that the older tombs beneath it had, with the exception of the holes made by a multitude
of Coptic graves (50—100 cm. deep), not been touched since the New Empire. This is par-
ticularly true of N. 1581; and therefore N. 1581, which had been completely plundered (see
pl. 23 a, b), was plundered before the cutting of the New Empire tombs above. Thus to the
events in the history of the slope, it is necessary to add the fact of at least one plundering of
the tombs of the ancient cemetery, in or before the New Empire. On the analogy of similar
plundering, it is probable that this took place within a hundred years (perhaps within a year)
after the burials were made.
In the Christian era the site was used as a Coptic cemetery; and narrow Coptic graves Coptic
pointing west, cut up more or less all the vaults and superstructures (see especially Plates xxvm b; cemetery
xviii a; xxiib—c; xiii a and c; and xivb). Furthermore the surface received a certain amount of
debris from these Coptic graves.
Subsequent to this time, the outer part of the slope was eroded by the Nile (see N. 1541,^^^
1637 and 1641). The date of this erosion can not be fixed with any certainty; but it must by the N'k
noted that, according to the chief men of the village of Naga-ed-Der, the main channel of
the Nile ran close along the eastern desert no longer ago than i860—1865. At that time, for
some ten years, the waters of the river washed the base of this alluvial slope leaving Girga
high and dry about half a kilometer from the western bank. During this or some similar
period, or perhaps during several similar periods, part of the slope, apparently a very small
part, was carried away.
Quite recently, within fifty years, the decayed brick and mud plaster of the ruined corbel Sebah
vaults in the northern part of the cemetery attracted the attention of the sebbafyin. When liiggmg
1 This means that the numbering of the graves in this cemetery begins with 1501. They run to 1650; but some numbers were not used.
3
will be published in separate volumes. The whole of these taken together will give a review
of the burial customs, types of graves and funerary offerings in the Thinite nome of indisputable
historical continuity over a period extending from the earliest known predynastic times to the
end of the Middle Empire with the exception of the late predynastic period. The present
volume will deal with the early dynastic cemeteries between the second and third ravines.
11. CEMETERY N. 1500.
CEMETERY 15001 occupies the alluvial slope at the base of the limestone hill which forms
the southern part of the limestone shelf between the second and third ravines, described
above. This alluvial slope consists of strata of hard gravel, sand, soil and loose gravel, of
various thicknesses (see Pl. nd and 12a). In this slope during the first and second dynasties Cemetery
of Ist and
some 50 graves were made, the most important of which consisted of large rectangular pits tznddynast.
containing mud-brick chambers and covered by a mud-brick superstructure. Later, in the
period of the middle and the new empires, that part of the slope within ten meters of the
base of the limestone hill was covered to a depth of from o cm. to 100 cm. with debris thrown Plundered
. . ... .... an(l covered
out from the rock-cut tombs of the limestone hill. It was clear from the continuity of this with New
debris that the older tombs beneath it had, with the exception of the holes made by a multitude
of Coptic graves (50—100 cm. deep), not been touched since the New Empire. This is par-
ticularly true of N. 1581; and therefore N. 1581, which had been completely plundered (see
pl. 23 a, b), was plundered before the cutting of the New Empire tombs above. Thus to the
events in the history of the slope, it is necessary to add the fact of at least one plundering of
the tombs of the ancient cemetery, in or before the New Empire. On the analogy of similar
plundering, it is probable that this took place within a hundred years (perhaps within a year)
after the burials were made.
In the Christian era the site was used as a Coptic cemetery; and narrow Coptic graves Coptic
pointing west, cut up more or less all the vaults and superstructures (see especially Plates xxvm b; cemetery
xviii a; xxiib—c; xiii a and c; and xivb). Furthermore the surface received a certain amount of
debris from these Coptic graves.
Subsequent to this time, the outer part of the slope was eroded by the Nile (see N. 1541,^^^
1637 and 1641). The date of this erosion can not be fixed with any certainty; but it must by the N'k
noted that, according to the chief men of the village of Naga-ed-Der, the main channel of
the Nile ran close along the eastern desert no longer ago than i860—1865. At that time, for
some ten years, the waters of the river washed the base of this alluvial slope leaving Girga
high and dry about half a kilometer from the western bank. During this or some similar
period, or perhaps during several similar periods, part of the slope, apparently a very small
part, was carried away.
Quite recently, within fifty years, the decayed brick and mud plaster of the ruined corbel Sebah
vaults in the northern part of the cemetery attracted the attention of the sebbafyin. When liiggmg
1 This means that the numbering of the graves in this cemetery begins with 1501. They run to 1650; but some numbers were not used.