DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0053
PEEIOD OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
39
the Tel], the Romano-Jewish inhabitants of the
town found a narrow strip of workable stone in
which they cut the rock tombs of an extensive
cemetery. In other parts the desert sand lay
either on red sand or on basalt, and in the
flourishing times of the XXth dynasty it was the
custom to hide the painted coffins in heaps of
stones or tumuli above the surface level.
The earliest dateable antiquities from Tell el
Yahudiyeh are of the middle kingdom. Two of
the graves which we opened in the jezireh con-
tained some of the peculiar black pottery of that
period, but most of our pottery scarabs and flints |
were bought from the fellahin who were digging
in the Great Tell. They were found at the base
of the town-remains in the east-central part of
the enclosure. I examined these diggings several
times and we dug two or three pits in the same
part, finding fragments of bones with one or two
flints in the dirty sand which thinly covered the
rock. The town spreading over this cemetery had
disturbed the graves, and few of the pots were
found perfect by the sabbakhin.
Scarabs—of these in pale steatite with white nacreous
surface I purchased about fifty that may safely be attributed
to the middle kingdom, and I saw several others. See Plate
x. (where No. 15 only is doubtful as to period). Perhaps
also PI. xi. No. 12—14, and 17,18 ; also PI. xvi. 15,16. I
have in some cases noted the form of the head. In dark
steatite unglazed there are three scarabs, PI. x. 9, 27, 31; in
soft dark green limestone one, and in amethyst three. A large
piece of unworked amethyst shows that they were probably
made on the spot. One, PI. x. 1, reads ° ^ (~Q |jf t_j)J,
i.e. Usertesen L [friend of ?] Ptah.1 Dr. Grant has a note
of purchasing one of the same king on the spot, in 1878.
Another device, No. 2, (^P^U—Q| > *s doubtless suggested
by the cartouche of Amenemhat II.2 No. 3 is of an unknown
1 This is also figured by Flinders Petrie, "Historical
Scarabs," London, 1889, No. 180.
2 Cf. Hist. Sc., No. 205, If.
queen
Tauta (?).3 The next is of a high
official
keeper of the seal'
(?)
, ' The chancellor, the
Ha ur 1 or Har 1 His scarabs are well
known,4 and it would be interesting to localize them. A well-
worked specimen, with a unique legend, which I unfortunately
did not copy, was kept at Bulaq. It can be identified by
JJ (j J^.
The type (shown in PI. x. 7 and 8, cf. also xvi. 15) of a lion
overpowering a crocodile in the presence of the sun, seems
to be referable to a myth embodied in the Edfu inscriptions,
according to which Horus of Mesen (as the lion) slew the
Asiatic enemy (crocodile) of Harmachis (the sun).5 This is
a fragment of the local mythology of i|^> ] r^^i
(Heracleopolis Parva 1), and may well have influenced all the
towns on the eastern border.
The patterns upon some of the scarabs are tasteful, but
usually without meaning, and show the ignorance of the
engravers, who frequently reduced characters and groups to
nonsense without thereby improving the designs: while
finer workmen introduced wrong signs for the sake of effect.
Flint flakes and instruments were numerous. In colour
they are pale yellowish grey, slightly translucent, and often
show a portion of the white outer crust. Some are broad, thin
and irregular in outline, about 3 inches x If; others are
slender, flat on one side and doubly ridged on the other,
measuring from 3 inches to If in length. The tiny flakes,
as found at Helwan, are absent. One knife is moderately
well chipped. Several are serrated along one edge, which is
often much polished by use. The thin-edged specimens of
this variety may have been used as saws, but many specimens
have a more or less blunt edge and must be scrapers.
The largest implement is a well-formed axe 5 inches long,
which I picked up amongst the waste heaps of pottery
rejected by the sabbakhin. If its situation could be
absolutely trusted, it was Eamesside or later, but as its colour
was similar to the above flakes, it may have been dropped
there recently by a workman.6
Pottery.—To find this in anything like a perfect state is
extremely rare except in graves and burnt houses : the
ordinary rubbish mounds and house remains contain only
sherds. The fact, therefore, of the pots being offered to
us more or less complete, together with scarabs and flints as
at Khata'neh, affords fair proof of their having been found
together in graves. The early date of all is shown by their
complete absence from our numerous excavations and re-
searches amongst remains that are known to be late, and by
their presence deep under Eamesside rubbish; apart from
the legends and style of the scarabs.
3 Figured Hist. Sc., No. 100.
4 Cf. Hist. Sc., No. 449, ff.
5 Naville, Mythe d'Horus, PI. XVIH. 1. 3.
6 See Note C.
\
39
the Tel], the Romano-Jewish inhabitants of the
town found a narrow strip of workable stone in
which they cut the rock tombs of an extensive
cemetery. In other parts the desert sand lay
either on red sand or on basalt, and in the
flourishing times of the XXth dynasty it was the
custom to hide the painted coffins in heaps of
stones or tumuli above the surface level.
The earliest dateable antiquities from Tell el
Yahudiyeh are of the middle kingdom. Two of
the graves which we opened in the jezireh con-
tained some of the peculiar black pottery of that
period, but most of our pottery scarabs and flints |
were bought from the fellahin who were digging
in the Great Tell. They were found at the base
of the town-remains in the east-central part of
the enclosure. I examined these diggings several
times and we dug two or three pits in the same
part, finding fragments of bones with one or two
flints in the dirty sand which thinly covered the
rock. The town spreading over this cemetery had
disturbed the graves, and few of the pots were
found perfect by the sabbakhin.
Scarabs—of these in pale steatite with white nacreous
surface I purchased about fifty that may safely be attributed
to the middle kingdom, and I saw several others. See Plate
x. (where No. 15 only is doubtful as to period). Perhaps
also PI. xi. No. 12—14, and 17,18 ; also PI. xvi. 15,16. I
have in some cases noted the form of the head. In dark
steatite unglazed there are three scarabs, PI. x. 9, 27, 31; in
soft dark green limestone one, and in amethyst three. A large
piece of unworked amethyst shows that they were probably
made on the spot. One, PI. x. 1, reads ° ^ (~Q |jf t_j)J,
i.e. Usertesen L [friend of ?] Ptah.1 Dr. Grant has a note
of purchasing one of the same king on the spot, in 1878.
Another device, No. 2, (^P^U—Q| > *s doubtless suggested
by the cartouche of Amenemhat II.2 No. 3 is of an unknown
1 This is also figured by Flinders Petrie, "Historical
Scarabs," London, 1889, No. 180.
2 Cf. Hist. Sc., No. 205, If.
queen
Tauta (?).3 The next is of a high
official
keeper of the seal'
(?)
, ' The chancellor, the
Ha ur 1 or Har 1 His scarabs are well
known,4 and it would be interesting to localize them. A well-
worked specimen, with a unique legend, which I unfortunately
did not copy, was kept at Bulaq. It can be identified by
JJ (j J^.
The type (shown in PI. x. 7 and 8, cf. also xvi. 15) of a lion
overpowering a crocodile in the presence of the sun, seems
to be referable to a myth embodied in the Edfu inscriptions,
according to which Horus of Mesen (as the lion) slew the
Asiatic enemy (crocodile) of Harmachis (the sun).5 This is
a fragment of the local mythology of i|^> ] r^^i
(Heracleopolis Parva 1), and may well have influenced all the
towns on the eastern border.
The patterns upon some of the scarabs are tasteful, but
usually without meaning, and show the ignorance of the
engravers, who frequently reduced characters and groups to
nonsense without thereby improving the designs: while
finer workmen introduced wrong signs for the sake of effect.
Flint flakes and instruments were numerous. In colour
they are pale yellowish grey, slightly translucent, and often
show a portion of the white outer crust. Some are broad, thin
and irregular in outline, about 3 inches x If; others are
slender, flat on one side and doubly ridged on the other,
measuring from 3 inches to If in length. The tiny flakes,
as found at Helwan, are absent. One knife is moderately
well chipped. Several are serrated along one edge, which is
often much polished by use. The thin-edged specimens of
this variety may have been used as saws, but many specimens
have a more or less blunt edge and must be scrapers.
The largest implement is a well-formed axe 5 inches long,
which I picked up amongst the waste heaps of pottery
rejected by the sabbakhin. If its situation could be
absolutely trusted, it was Eamesside or later, but as its colour
was similar to the above flakes, it may have been dropped
there recently by a workman.6
Pottery.—To find this in anything like a perfect state is
extremely rare except in graves and burnt houses : the
ordinary rubbish mounds and house remains contain only
sherds. The fact, therefore, of the pots being offered to
us more or less complete, together with scarabs and flints as
at Khata'neh, affords fair proof of their having been found
together in graves. The early date of all is shown by their
complete absence from our numerous excavations and re-
searches amongst remains that are known to be late, and by
their presence deep under Eamesside rubbish; apart from
the legends and style of the scarabs.
3 Figured Hist. Sc., No. 100.
4 Cf. Hist. Sc., No. 449, ff.
5 Naville, Mythe d'Horus, PI. XVIH. 1. 3.
6 See Note C.
\