DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0030
16 tell el yahoodieh.
urns of red earthenware (PI. XIV. 6), about a I the left ear a shell. These graves had probably
foot and a half in height. They sometimes con-
tained ashes intermixed with some vegetable
substance, and once or twice they also contained
a bronze rasp. The urns were the certain pre-
cursors of a coffin, as they were nearly ahvays
placed on each side of the head, or of the feet, an inscription which is susceptible of more than
been rifled for the sake of the scarabs and the
rings. On one occasion a workman to whom I
had entrusted the clearing out of one of the coffins,
brought me a fine carnelian scarab mounted in
silver. The stone was very badly engraved with
The interment consisted of an outer coffin of
large crude bricks, laid horizontally, while two
bricks leaning against each other made a kind of
vaulted roof (see PL XIV.). Inside was a mummi-
form terra-cotta coffin (PI. XIII. 2), made of one
piece, with a large opening at the head, through
which the corpse was introduced. This done, the
head was covered with a facepiece (PI. XIV. 1),
on which were modelled the features, the hair, and
sometimes the hands. The features were very
coarsely executed, in the style of the numerous
coffins found in the late cemeteries of Errnent or
Alexandria. In most of the Tell el Yahoodieh
coffins, the bones had been heaped together
towards the feet. This was due to the fact that
all the tombs of adults had been rifled in ancient
times. They had been broken in at the head,
the facepiece smashed, the contents of the coffin
plundered; the hole afterwards filled in with
fragments of basalt. Some few had been imper-
fectly rifled, for under the roof wre found arrow-
heads, bronze saucers, and some good specimens
of so-called Cypriote pilgrim-bottles, besides
small pots with a double handle at the top
(PL XV. 15).
One tomb only had not been rifled; it was
that of a child. With the body we found a neck-
lace of porcelain and glass beads, and a ring set
with a small scarab. Over the place of the
heart was laid a small Cypriote vase, and near
one construction.
Most of the coffins were painted. The colours,
which were sometimes very vivid, soon disappeared
after having been exposed to the air. The painting
was very coarse, such as we find on mummies
of Greek and Roman time. It represented a
mummy enclosed in cartonnage ; there were hiero-
glyphed bands dividing pictures of gods such as
Thoth or Ptah, or funerary genii with heads of
crocodiles. The hieroglyphs are very faulty ; in
several instances they look as if they had not been
intended to be read, but were merely ornamental,
and designed to give an Egyptian character to
the interment, perhaps in order to distinguish
the deceased from the Jews who were buried close
by. I have reproduced (Plate II. e.) the inscrip-
tions of one of these coffins, the fragments of
which are now at the Boolak Museum. They
strike the eye at first sight as being of a very late
epoch. The deceased seems to have been called
Khikhi, and I suppose that the last words
upon the vertical bands are intended to be
*j
I have copied from the cross-bands the name
of another, which I give here with its faulty
variants. It is evidently intended for Osiris Nur,
1 , &c.
*, beloved of the gods.
/VWWS /WWW
(WWW
/www —~-——' ——'
urns of red earthenware (PI. XIV. 6), about a I the left ear a shell. These graves had probably
foot and a half in height. They sometimes con-
tained ashes intermixed with some vegetable
substance, and once or twice they also contained
a bronze rasp. The urns were the certain pre-
cursors of a coffin, as they were nearly ahvays
placed on each side of the head, or of the feet, an inscription which is susceptible of more than
been rifled for the sake of the scarabs and the
rings. On one occasion a workman to whom I
had entrusted the clearing out of one of the coffins,
brought me a fine carnelian scarab mounted in
silver. The stone was very badly engraved with
The interment consisted of an outer coffin of
large crude bricks, laid horizontally, while two
bricks leaning against each other made a kind of
vaulted roof (see PL XIV.). Inside was a mummi-
form terra-cotta coffin (PI. XIII. 2), made of one
piece, with a large opening at the head, through
which the corpse was introduced. This done, the
head was covered with a facepiece (PI. XIV. 1),
on which were modelled the features, the hair, and
sometimes the hands. The features were very
coarsely executed, in the style of the numerous
coffins found in the late cemeteries of Errnent or
Alexandria. In most of the Tell el Yahoodieh
coffins, the bones had been heaped together
towards the feet. This was due to the fact that
all the tombs of adults had been rifled in ancient
times. They had been broken in at the head,
the facepiece smashed, the contents of the coffin
plundered; the hole afterwards filled in with
fragments of basalt. Some few had been imper-
fectly rifled, for under the roof wre found arrow-
heads, bronze saucers, and some good specimens
of so-called Cypriote pilgrim-bottles, besides
small pots with a double handle at the top
(PL XV. 15).
One tomb only had not been rifled; it was
that of a child. With the body we found a neck-
lace of porcelain and glass beads, and a ring set
with a small scarab. Over the place of the
heart was laid a small Cypriote vase, and near
one construction.
Most of the coffins were painted. The colours,
which were sometimes very vivid, soon disappeared
after having been exposed to the air. The painting
was very coarse, such as we find on mummies
of Greek and Roman time. It represented a
mummy enclosed in cartonnage ; there were hiero-
glyphed bands dividing pictures of gods such as
Thoth or Ptah, or funerary genii with heads of
crocodiles. The hieroglyphs are very faulty ; in
several instances they look as if they had not been
intended to be read, but were merely ornamental,
and designed to give an Egyptian character to
the interment, perhaps in order to distinguish
the deceased from the Jews who were buried close
by. I have reproduced (Plate II. e.) the inscrip-
tions of one of these coffins, the fragments of
which are now at the Boolak Museum. They
strike the eye at first sight as being of a very late
epoch. The deceased seems to have been called
Khikhi, and I suppose that the last words
upon the vertical bands are intended to be
*j
I have copied from the cross-bands the name
of another, which I give here with its faulty
variants. It is evidently intended for Osiris Nur,
1 , &c.
*, beloved of the gods.
/VWWS /WWW
(WWW
/www —~-——' ——'