DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0057
THE T
contained, besides the scarabs above mentioned,
necklaces of glass, glazed pottery, and shells.
The basalt here is split up and seamed, and in one place
we cleared a natural well descending about fifteen feet with
nearly straight sides. When cutting into the tumuli, after
clearing to the hard reddish sandy floor of the desert, loose
blocks with sand were found beneath, and these became
more compact until the original rock was reached, still
fissured in all directions.
The tumuli were grouped round the east and south sides of
the depression from the north-east corner to the south-west,
and were not placed in a conspicuous situation.
One and a half miles beyond lies a kind of wady through
which the canal of Ismailiyeh flows, side by side with the
direct road from Khanqeh to Belbes. At the top of the
intervening rise, south of the main cemetery, are two low
circular tumuli, perhaps prehistoric, perhaps of a later nomad
race. From this elevated situation the Tell can be seen, but
that is of little importance, as they are a long way from it.
We cut into them deeply and in all directions, finding
nothing, except close to the surface the body of an unfortu-
nate Bedawi, who had probably been murdered thirty or
forty years before. He was wrapped in his woollen cloak,
and covered with sand and stones. The skull is in the
Natural History Museum. A more careful search might be
rewarded with the discovery of flint implements, &c.
Tumulus I. was the northernmost and the most striking.
Its diameter was 150 feet, and its height 9 feet above
the floor, the sides sloping very gradually. It was, as
usual, composed of basalt chips and blocks with sand,
by no means easy to work in. In shape it must havo
been somewhat oval or oblong, but it had been deformed
by the extensive excavations of a Greek, who about
twenty years before cut into it on the south side, and,
not content with reaching the desert level, had gone so
deep in search of great treasure that we had a good oppor-
tunity of testing the rock by simply clearing his digging.
Our Arab informant told us that the Greek found a mnduq
abyad and a Matin, which, as we learnt through our sub-
sequent experience, meant a white pottery coffin with a
scarab-ring. There was no sign elsewhere that the Arabs
had dug in the tumuli. The Greek must have found the
coffin close to the surface, and dug deep, hoping to discover
a richer interment beneath : but the work proving unpro-
fitable, he did not try any of the other mounds.
Some pieces of diorite resembling granite gave us a hope
of granite sarcophagi, but, before long, we came to the
conclusion that they were all chips from rounded pebbles
which had probably been on the surface of the desert for
centuries before being used in the tumulus. We found them
in several places, and probably there is a vein of diorite in
the neighbourhood.
After clearing the old working to the original rock we cut
a trench from the north end of the pit to the north-west side
of the tumulus along the floor of the desert. Near the centre
we hit upon an earthenware coffin, lying high up near the
M.ULI. 43
surface and with its head to the west. As in nearly all
cases, the grave had been ransacked and the face-piece of
the coffin destroyed. The latter was of the usual painted
type. It was protected in the ordinary way by crude bricks,
measuring 6f to 7 inches x 14 to 141.1 Two pilgrim bottles,
a wooden handle (dagger ?), two plain Tridacna shells, one
small, the other large, and a hardly recognizable fragment of
an earthenware ushabti were found by the workmen near the
head. I myself cleared the interior of the coffin, finding
nothing but the skull and some bones. There were no other
interments.
Tumulus II. lay east of I. It was circular and only 2£ feet
high. It contained three graves close together in the centre,
lying on the desert floor. The coffins in this case were covered,
not by a brick vault, but by small basalt blocks cemented
together with mud. The south grave II. 1 was two feet
deep, rounded at the head and foot, the central grave forming
its northern wall. It had been entirely wrecked. The coffin
was of white earthenware unpainted, of the usual type, but M
was incised upon the head-piece before baking (see PI. xvi. 6).
It contained fragments of bones and part of a decayed dum-
tree nut. I rebuilt the coffin almost entire, but it had been
opened from the side on which the letter was impressed, and
the continuation of the inscription (if there was any) was
entirely destroyed. A jug (PI. xv. 10) was found beneath
the remains of the coffin.
The other two graves north of it were also much disturbed;
a scrap of bronze and the remains of a painted coffin were
found.
Tumulus III, south of I., and on the east side of the
depression (VII. being continuous with it but not so high),
was one of the most productive, and contained many inter-
ments. It formed a broad ridge, sixty yards long from north
to south and twelve feet high, near the top of which the coffins
were laid, heading westward, in three rows. We dug deep to
the undisturbed floor without result. All the coffins were
within two or three feet of the surface, but a small double-
vaulted tomb of bricks, III. 2, descended seven feet.
We found about twenty interments, placed in regular order.
I will describe those of which I took special notes.
At the north end was an unpainted coffin (III. 21) with
rude head and arms, PI. xiv. 2, close to the surface and without
bricks. It contained no antiquities, but between it and the
next were three food jars (as PI. xiv. 6), one of which probably
belonged to it. There were many peculiarities about it; the
absence of bricks, the small size and rude work of the coffin,
the strange head and curly locks of hair. However, I think
it is of the same date as the rest, though probably it was the
last interment at the north end.
Near the north end was a child's grave, III. 5, without
coffin, built of bricks 17 X 7^ and 16 X 7f. It had not
been rifled (because not worth it) and contained beads of
porcelain and variegated glass, with a central pendant re-
presenting the eye-ball, also of glass (see PI. xv.).
1 See section of a grave in PI. xiv.
G 2
contained, besides the scarabs above mentioned,
necklaces of glass, glazed pottery, and shells.
The basalt here is split up and seamed, and in one place
we cleared a natural well descending about fifteen feet with
nearly straight sides. When cutting into the tumuli, after
clearing to the hard reddish sandy floor of the desert, loose
blocks with sand were found beneath, and these became
more compact until the original rock was reached, still
fissured in all directions.
The tumuli were grouped round the east and south sides of
the depression from the north-east corner to the south-west,
and were not placed in a conspicuous situation.
One and a half miles beyond lies a kind of wady through
which the canal of Ismailiyeh flows, side by side with the
direct road from Khanqeh to Belbes. At the top of the
intervening rise, south of the main cemetery, are two low
circular tumuli, perhaps prehistoric, perhaps of a later nomad
race. From this elevated situation the Tell can be seen, but
that is of little importance, as they are a long way from it.
We cut into them deeply and in all directions, finding
nothing, except close to the surface the body of an unfortu-
nate Bedawi, who had probably been murdered thirty or
forty years before. He was wrapped in his woollen cloak,
and covered with sand and stones. The skull is in the
Natural History Museum. A more careful search might be
rewarded with the discovery of flint implements, &c.
Tumulus I. was the northernmost and the most striking.
Its diameter was 150 feet, and its height 9 feet above
the floor, the sides sloping very gradually. It was, as
usual, composed of basalt chips and blocks with sand,
by no means easy to work in. In shape it must havo
been somewhat oval or oblong, but it had been deformed
by the extensive excavations of a Greek, who about
twenty years before cut into it on the south side, and,
not content with reaching the desert level, had gone so
deep in search of great treasure that we had a good oppor-
tunity of testing the rock by simply clearing his digging.
Our Arab informant told us that the Greek found a mnduq
abyad and a Matin, which, as we learnt through our sub-
sequent experience, meant a white pottery coffin with a
scarab-ring. There was no sign elsewhere that the Arabs
had dug in the tumuli. The Greek must have found the
coffin close to the surface, and dug deep, hoping to discover
a richer interment beneath : but the work proving unpro-
fitable, he did not try any of the other mounds.
Some pieces of diorite resembling granite gave us a hope
of granite sarcophagi, but, before long, we came to the
conclusion that they were all chips from rounded pebbles
which had probably been on the surface of the desert for
centuries before being used in the tumulus. We found them
in several places, and probably there is a vein of diorite in
the neighbourhood.
After clearing the old working to the original rock we cut
a trench from the north end of the pit to the north-west side
of the tumulus along the floor of the desert. Near the centre
we hit upon an earthenware coffin, lying high up near the
M.ULI. 43
surface and with its head to the west. As in nearly all
cases, the grave had been ransacked and the face-piece of
the coffin destroyed. The latter was of the usual painted
type. It was protected in the ordinary way by crude bricks,
measuring 6f to 7 inches x 14 to 141.1 Two pilgrim bottles,
a wooden handle (dagger ?), two plain Tridacna shells, one
small, the other large, and a hardly recognizable fragment of
an earthenware ushabti were found by the workmen near the
head. I myself cleared the interior of the coffin, finding
nothing but the skull and some bones. There were no other
interments.
Tumulus II. lay east of I. It was circular and only 2£ feet
high. It contained three graves close together in the centre,
lying on the desert floor. The coffins in this case were covered,
not by a brick vault, but by small basalt blocks cemented
together with mud. The south grave II. 1 was two feet
deep, rounded at the head and foot, the central grave forming
its northern wall. It had been entirely wrecked. The coffin
was of white earthenware unpainted, of the usual type, but M
was incised upon the head-piece before baking (see PI. xvi. 6).
It contained fragments of bones and part of a decayed dum-
tree nut. I rebuilt the coffin almost entire, but it had been
opened from the side on which the letter was impressed, and
the continuation of the inscription (if there was any) was
entirely destroyed. A jug (PI. xv. 10) was found beneath
the remains of the coffin.
The other two graves north of it were also much disturbed;
a scrap of bronze and the remains of a painted coffin were
found.
Tumulus III, south of I., and on the east side of the
depression (VII. being continuous with it but not so high),
was one of the most productive, and contained many inter-
ments. It formed a broad ridge, sixty yards long from north
to south and twelve feet high, near the top of which the coffins
were laid, heading westward, in three rows. We dug deep to
the undisturbed floor without result. All the coffins were
within two or three feet of the surface, but a small double-
vaulted tomb of bricks, III. 2, descended seven feet.
We found about twenty interments, placed in regular order.
I will describe those of which I took special notes.
At the north end was an unpainted coffin (III. 21) with
rude head and arms, PI. xiv. 2, close to the surface and without
bricks. It contained no antiquities, but between it and the
next were three food jars (as PI. xiv. 6), one of which probably
belonged to it. There were many peculiarities about it; the
absence of bricks, the small size and rude work of the coffin,
the strange head and curly locks of hair. However, I think
it is of the same date as the rest, though probably it was the
last interment at the north end.
Near the north end was a child's grave, III. 5, without
coffin, built of bricks 17 X 7^ and 16 X 7f. It had not
been rifled (because not worth it) and contained beads of
porcelain and variegated glass, with a central pendant re-
presenting the eye-ball, also of glass (see PI. xv.).
1 See section of a grave in PI. xiv.
G 2