DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6638#0031
KHATAANAH, KANTIR.
Abodt two miles towards the north-east of the
present station of Fakoos, is a large village
called Dedamoon. Following the course of the
Bahr Fakoos, one presently reaches the small
village of Khataanah, close to which is an isbet
(farm) belonging to a high dignitary.1 On this
farm are three mounds, which I partly ex-
cavated during the winter of 1885. They all
three lie within the area of a city which must
have been large, for the land is covered with
fragments of pottery for a considerable distance
around. The largest of these mounds, to the
southward, stands on the edge of the desert,
and on the verge of the cultivated land just
opposite Khataanah. On the top are some
ruins of a large enclosure of crude bricks, in-
side which the soil consists of debris of houses,
stones, and pottery. Along the western side
of this enclosure, the ground is covered with
chips of calcareous stone, which clearly indicates
that lime-burning has there been actively carried
on. In Lower Egypt, where stone is scarce,
every piece of limestone is at once taken and
burnt for lime, which accounts for the destruc-
tion of a vast number of monuments, and espe-
cially of those which, like many temples of the
twelfth dynasty, were not made of hard stone.
I worked for more than a month with about a
hundred labourers in the area of the enclosure,
and especially towards the western side, and
went down as far as the water allowed. I
found evidences of the site of a temple. On
one side I uncovered the bases of six columns
of calcareous stone ; on the other, a pavement
upon which had probably stood a granite shrine;
but I found no inscriptions of any kind, except
1 Cf. tbe report of M. Maspero, Zeitschr. 1885, p. 12.
one stone bearing the two cartouches of Seti
(pi. ix. d). One of the cartouches of this
Pharaoh I also found upon a piece of enamelled
pottery, which is now in the British Museum.
I also discovered the lower part of the two
cartouches of Si Amen (pi. ix. b), a king who
seems to have exercised great authority in
Lower Egypt, whose name is often found at
Tanis, and whom I consider to be the usurper
Herhor, the founder of the dynasty of priest-
kings.2
In the centre of the enclosure, and on the
top of the highest mound, is a sphinx of black
granite, the head being broken off, and a much-
erased inscription between the fore-paws. Al-
though I made several squeezes of the inscrip-
tion, and looked at it in all possible lights, I
am not certain that my reading is correct; but
it seems to me to be the name of Sebekneferu,
of the Thirteenth Dynasty. All around this
sphinx I sunk very deep pits; and at a depth
of about ten feet, I found a few large oval
urns containing ashes, pieces of charcoal, and
bones. Some of the bones were decidedly those
of animals, while others might be human. In
and around each of these urns, I found a
number of small pots of black and red earthen-
ware, and some small cups and saucers. These
pots seem to have been made for oil and per-
fumes ; and some are so shaped that they cannot
stand upright. Also, round about the urns, I
found a few scarabs, two bronze knives, and
some small flints. The little black and red
pots are of an entirely new type; but the ware
of which they are made, as also the cups found
with them, exactly resembles what is found at
s Cf! Naville, Inscr. tie Pinotem, p. 16.
Abodt two miles towards the north-east of the
present station of Fakoos, is a large village
called Dedamoon. Following the course of the
Bahr Fakoos, one presently reaches the small
village of Khataanah, close to which is an isbet
(farm) belonging to a high dignitary.1 On this
farm are three mounds, which I partly ex-
cavated during the winter of 1885. They all
three lie within the area of a city which must
have been large, for the land is covered with
fragments of pottery for a considerable distance
around. The largest of these mounds, to the
southward, stands on the edge of the desert,
and on the verge of the cultivated land just
opposite Khataanah. On the top are some
ruins of a large enclosure of crude bricks, in-
side which the soil consists of debris of houses,
stones, and pottery. Along the western side
of this enclosure, the ground is covered with
chips of calcareous stone, which clearly indicates
that lime-burning has there been actively carried
on. In Lower Egypt, where stone is scarce,
every piece of limestone is at once taken and
burnt for lime, which accounts for the destruc-
tion of a vast number of monuments, and espe-
cially of those which, like many temples of the
twelfth dynasty, were not made of hard stone.
I worked for more than a month with about a
hundred labourers in the area of the enclosure,
and especially towards the western side, and
went down as far as the water allowed. I
found evidences of the site of a temple. On
one side I uncovered the bases of six columns
of calcareous stone ; on the other, a pavement
upon which had probably stood a granite shrine;
but I found no inscriptions of any kind, except
1 Cf. tbe report of M. Maspero, Zeitschr. 1885, p. 12.
one stone bearing the two cartouches of Seti
(pi. ix. d). One of the cartouches of this
Pharaoh I also found upon a piece of enamelled
pottery, which is now in the British Museum.
I also discovered the lower part of the two
cartouches of Si Amen (pi. ix. b), a king who
seems to have exercised great authority in
Lower Egypt, whose name is often found at
Tanis, and whom I consider to be the usurper
Herhor, the founder of the dynasty of priest-
kings.2
In the centre of the enclosure, and on the
top of the highest mound, is a sphinx of black
granite, the head being broken off, and a much-
erased inscription between the fore-paws. Al-
though I made several squeezes of the inscrip-
tion, and looked at it in all possible lights, I
am not certain that my reading is correct; but
it seems to me to be the name of Sebekneferu,
of the Thirteenth Dynasty. All around this
sphinx I sunk very deep pits; and at a depth
of about ten feet, I found a few large oval
urns containing ashes, pieces of charcoal, and
bones. Some of the bones were decidedly those
of animals, while others might be human. In
and around each of these urns, I found a
number of small pots of black and red earthen-
ware, and some small cups and saucers. These
pots seem to have been made for oil and per-
fumes ; and some are so shaped that they cannot
stand upright. Also, round about the urns, I
found a few scarabs, two bronze knives, and
some small flints. The little black and red
pots are of an entirely new type; but the ware
of which they are made, as also the cups found
with them, exactly resembles what is found at
s Cf! Naville, Inscr. tie Pinotem, p. 16.