DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6641#0073
NOTES.
59
it is difficult or impossible, as I have stated above, to reach
the base of very ancient towns. But numerous cases may
be quoted in which a town lies at the edge of a jezireh, the
slope of which may be traced further by digging under the
ruins until both sand and rubbish dip beneath the water.
Examples of this kind are furnished by Tell el YahMiyeh,
Nebesheh and Kum Afrin. At Kum el Hisn and Tell Tukh
the jezireh is completely hidden, and only appears in the
excavations or the pits of the sabbdlthin. Tarraneh, Tell el
Yahud and Gemayemi are completely surrounded by desert
or jezireh sand, in part owing to drifting 1 Other sites such
as Heliopolis (Tell el Hisn) and Tanis (Tell San) are evi-
dently connected with the neighbouring jezair or desert, as the
case may be, Tell Basta, which gives no indication of base, is
completely surrounded by alluvium.
A town in growing naturally spread backwards upon the
jezireh, thus the later extensions covered up the early ceme-
teries ; e.g. at Tell el Yahudiyeh and Khata'neh.
This long note, perhaps, needs an apology, but the ques-
tion here treated is of practical importance to the explorer,
and also throws light on a curious custom of the ancient
temple-engineers, which is referred to in Note D.
Note C.
The rocks found here are worth the notice of a geologist.
The French map marks "montagne de gres noire et de
granite," really level desert of basalt with some chips of
diorite; these latter found loose on the tumuli were
identified by Mr. Fletcher, of the Department of Mineralogy
in the British Museum. Pieces of basalt and of fossil wood
are common in the Tell and villages. For another rock
in which the Boman tombs were cut, see p. 52.
All the flint tools and flakes, notwithstanding their bad
workmanship, must have been manufactured elsewhere and
imported, perhaps from Holwan or Upper Egypt.
In the desert near the tumuli, where there are many
pebbles of opaque chert or jasper, Monsieur Naville and I
picked up two rude implements which I am told are of that
material. In colour they are pale ochreous, and in shape
quite different from those described on p. 39.
Note D.
The primaeval necessity of founding a temple ou the
sand must have led to the constant use of that material in
the later foundations of temples, beginning, I think, from the
XXVIth dynasty (I suspect that all the temples at Nebesheh
were re-founded at that time). The use of sand varies
according to the ease of obtaining it. Thus I found no
signs of it in one deep pit in the western part of the temple
at Tell Basta, though the date is not earlier than the XXXth
dynasty. The halls of the XXIInd dynasty in the same
building are, as far as I could ascertain, on a mixed founda-
tion of mud and dirty sand. But, generally speaking, from
the time of the XXVIth dynasty onward the stone bases
of the temples and pylons were laid either (1) on the jezireh,
(2) on mud with a thicker or thinner layer of clean sand at
the top (showing that a ceremonial significance was
attached to it), or (3) in the most important cases (as
shown by Tukh and less clearly by Nebesheh and the
Ptolemaic temple of Tanis) on pure sand brought for the
purpose, and reaching to the jezireh. Even when the jezireh
was many feet under ground, the space was cleared right
down to it, lined with a solid rectangular wall of brick
or specially prepared mud, and filled with sand. There
has been no certain instance discovered of a temple arti-
ficially raised by sand before the XXVIth dynasty, and
against the existence of such a custom previously I
can quote from my own experience Kum el Hisn and
Tell el Yahudiyeh. For references to the subject v. Tanis
I. p. 52 (Ptolemaic temple: the great temple stands on the
jezireh) ; Naukratis I. p. 28 ; Nebesheh jjp. 8, 10, 11, 14, 25,
39.
Two years after writing the above note I find an apt
quotation from a Ptolemaic text in Brugsch's Worterbuch i1
S3
O o o
(Before building some temple the king) " excavated its area
down to the water, and filled it with sand according to rule,
and laid the foundations in fine white stone, with excellent
work that would last for ever." A massive platform or
foundation of stone was usually placed upon the top of the
sand as a solid base for the rest of the building.
1 Supplement, p. 1360.
i 2
59
it is difficult or impossible, as I have stated above, to reach
the base of very ancient towns. But numerous cases may
be quoted in which a town lies at the edge of a jezireh, the
slope of which may be traced further by digging under the
ruins until both sand and rubbish dip beneath the water.
Examples of this kind are furnished by Tell el YahMiyeh,
Nebesheh and Kum Afrin. At Kum el Hisn and Tell Tukh
the jezireh is completely hidden, and only appears in the
excavations or the pits of the sabbdlthin. Tarraneh, Tell el
Yahud and Gemayemi are completely surrounded by desert
or jezireh sand, in part owing to drifting 1 Other sites such
as Heliopolis (Tell el Hisn) and Tanis (Tell San) are evi-
dently connected with the neighbouring jezair or desert, as the
case may be, Tell Basta, which gives no indication of base, is
completely surrounded by alluvium.
A town in growing naturally spread backwards upon the
jezireh, thus the later extensions covered up the early ceme-
teries ; e.g. at Tell el Yahudiyeh and Khata'neh.
This long note, perhaps, needs an apology, but the ques-
tion here treated is of practical importance to the explorer,
and also throws light on a curious custom of the ancient
temple-engineers, which is referred to in Note D.
Note C.
The rocks found here are worth the notice of a geologist.
The French map marks "montagne de gres noire et de
granite," really level desert of basalt with some chips of
diorite; these latter found loose on the tumuli were
identified by Mr. Fletcher, of the Department of Mineralogy
in the British Museum. Pieces of basalt and of fossil wood
are common in the Tell and villages. For another rock
in which the Boman tombs were cut, see p. 52.
All the flint tools and flakes, notwithstanding their bad
workmanship, must have been manufactured elsewhere and
imported, perhaps from Holwan or Upper Egypt.
In the desert near the tumuli, where there are many
pebbles of opaque chert or jasper, Monsieur Naville and I
picked up two rude implements which I am told are of that
material. In colour they are pale ochreous, and in shape
quite different from those described on p. 39.
Note D.
The primaeval necessity of founding a temple ou the
sand must have led to the constant use of that material in
the later foundations of temples, beginning, I think, from the
XXVIth dynasty (I suspect that all the temples at Nebesheh
were re-founded at that time). The use of sand varies
according to the ease of obtaining it. Thus I found no
signs of it in one deep pit in the western part of the temple
at Tell Basta, though the date is not earlier than the XXXth
dynasty. The halls of the XXIInd dynasty in the same
building are, as far as I could ascertain, on a mixed founda-
tion of mud and dirty sand. But, generally speaking, from
the time of the XXVIth dynasty onward the stone bases
of the temples and pylons were laid either (1) on the jezireh,
(2) on mud with a thicker or thinner layer of clean sand at
the top (showing that a ceremonial significance was
attached to it), or (3) in the most important cases (as
shown by Tukh and less clearly by Nebesheh and the
Ptolemaic temple of Tanis) on pure sand brought for the
purpose, and reaching to the jezireh. Even when the jezireh
was many feet under ground, the space was cleared right
down to it, lined with a solid rectangular wall of brick
or specially prepared mud, and filled with sand. There
has been no certain instance discovered of a temple arti-
ficially raised by sand before the XXVIth dynasty, and
against the existence of such a custom previously I
can quote from my own experience Kum el Hisn and
Tell el Yahudiyeh. For references to the subject v. Tanis
I. p. 52 (Ptolemaic temple: the great temple stands on the
jezireh) ; Naukratis I. p. 28 ; Nebesheh jjp. 8, 10, 11, 14, 25,
39.
Two years after writing the above note I find an apt
quotation from a Ptolemaic text in Brugsch's Worterbuch i1
S3
O o o
(Before building some temple the king) " excavated its area
down to the water, and filled it with sand according to rule,
and laid the foundations in fine white stone, with excellent
work that would last for ever." A massive platform or
foundation of stone was usually placed upon the top of the
sand as a solid base for the rest of the building.
1 Supplement, p. 1360.
i 2