DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4031#0026
THE NECROPOLIS.
13
which they were packed having been opened,
partially rifled, and closed up again. However,
the two spoons, the most valuable of all these
small objects, have been preserved, and may
be seen in the Egyptian Museum at University
College, London.
In the lower part of the Necropolis the
pits are much smaller, and contained little
more than an unornamented rectangular box.
Near the box were placed vases of coarse red
pottery and sometimes small wooden figures,
which seem to have belonged to a boat and its
crew ; also plain wooden head-rests, and a hoe
—the wooden instrument called V mer, which
was used for tilling the land.
The first coffins we discovered were in large
pits where a great many bodies had been
thrown in without any order, and apparently
with a neglect little in accordance with the
feeling of respect which the Egyptians are
supposed to have testified towards their
dead. Some of them were hardly mummified,
wrapped in mats, or in a bundle of palm sticks.
Here and there appeared a coffin painted in
brilliant colours, and with all the characteristics
of a late epoch. The greatest number we
discovered were on the top of a hill and
quite at the surface. A rudimentary niche had
been cut in the rock, and the coffin was covered
with rubbish. Some of those coffins were typi-
cally very ugly (pi. xi. a.). Most of them con-
tained the bodies of women, and the mummies
were wrapped in much cloth, without any amu-
lets. Some of them had the single ornament
of a necklace of small shells and blue beads,
from which hung a porcelain image of Bastit.
There were no inscriptions giving the names
and titles of the deceased. The best mummies
found were in the large pits. Some of them
were in three cases, the inner ones being of
cartonnage, adorned with figures of divinities
and scenes from the Book of the Dead (pis. vii.,
viii.). The two cases enclosing the cartonnage
were painted in red. Several specimens have
been brought to European museums. On these
coffins we see the hands of the deceased crossed
on the breast, and wearing as it were gloves
made of net-work (pis. vii., viii.). In two of
them the right hand lay by the side, while the
left was crossed on the breast (pi. xi. c).
Though the name does not appear on these
coffins, there are inscriptions referring to the
scenes from the Book of the Dead painted upon
them, and also this formula, which is exactly
repeated on several of the wooden sarcophagi :
_Q_
VV V vv\
/W>AAA \^ £
—H— Q O" II
AAAAAA
^ w
m
o I
M/WV\
^ D ^ III
° ^ A_o £Z=i
0 III
fc=U)
J
A___o
M
b==^b /-
iiiniinl
r j] XI A royal offering to Osiris tvlw
til VI MAAAA >=B=A
resides in the Anient; he gives that thy ghost
may appear and smell the flowers in the days of
the festivals of SoJcaris. He gives 'water to thy
ghost, flowers to thy body, garments to thy
mummy, thou art justified, Osiris for eternity.
It is evident that the Necropolis was used in
later times. A proof of this remains in frag-
ments of Greek tablets which we found in some
of the tombs, and I believe most of the coffins
must be assigned to Ptolemaic or Roman times.
There are a few, however, to which a much
earlier date may be assigned, and which, though
they contained bodies contemporary with the
Christian era, are yet the remains of an earlier,
and perhaps of the original Necropolis. I
should mention a plain rectangular yellow box,
which was found empty and without its lid. It
is exactly of the style of the Xlth Dynasty.
The inscription, written horizontally along the
upper part, reads as follows :
w
f
A
l^TM
i
n
J
1
0
II,
° I vX ^k^ A royal offering to Anubis o
his mountains in the Necropolis, the lord of
Teser (may he give) a good burial in the
Khemeter to the beloved Hunt. Another coffin in
13
which they were packed having been opened,
partially rifled, and closed up again. However,
the two spoons, the most valuable of all these
small objects, have been preserved, and may
be seen in the Egyptian Museum at University
College, London.
In the lower part of the Necropolis the
pits are much smaller, and contained little
more than an unornamented rectangular box.
Near the box were placed vases of coarse red
pottery and sometimes small wooden figures,
which seem to have belonged to a boat and its
crew ; also plain wooden head-rests, and a hoe
—the wooden instrument called V mer, which
was used for tilling the land.
The first coffins we discovered were in large
pits where a great many bodies had been
thrown in without any order, and apparently
with a neglect little in accordance with the
feeling of respect which the Egyptians are
supposed to have testified towards their
dead. Some of them were hardly mummified,
wrapped in mats, or in a bundle of palm sticks.
Here and there appeared a coffin painted in
brilliant colours, and with all the characteristics
of a late epoch. The greatest number we
discovered were on the top of a hill and
quite at the surface. A rudimentary niche had
been cut in the rock, and the coffin was covered
with rubbish. Some of those coffins were typi-
cally very ugly (pi. xi. a.). Most of them con-
tained the bodies of women, and the mummies
were wrapped in much cloth, without any amu-
lets. Some of them had the single ornament
of a necklace of small shells and blue beads,
from which hung a porcelain image of Bastit.
There were no inscriptions giving the names
and titles of the deceased. The best mummies
found were in the large pits. Some of them
were in three cases, the inner ones being of
cartonnage, adorned with figures of divinities
and scenes from the Book of the Dead (pis. vii.,
viii.). The two cases enclosing the cartonnage
were painted in red. Several specimens have
been brought to European museums. On these
coffins we see the hands of the deceased crossed
on the breast, and wearing as it were gloves
made of net-work (pis. vii., viii.). In two of
them the right hand lay by the side, while the
left was crossed on the breast (pi. xi. c).
Though the name does not appear on these
coffins, there are inscriptions referring to the
scenes from the Book of the Dead painted upon
them, and also this formula, which is exactly
repeated on several of the wooden sarcophagi :
_Q_
VV V vv\
/W>AAA \^ £
—H— Q O" II
AAAAAA
^ w
m
o I
M/WV\
^ D ^ III
° ^ A_o £Z=i
0 III
fc=U)
J
A___o
M
b==^b /-
iiiniinl
r j] XI A royal offering to Osiris tvlw
til VI MAAAA >=B=A
resides in the Anient; he gives that thy ghost
may appear and smell the flowers in the days of
the festivals of SoJcaris. He gives 'water to thy
ghost, flowers to thy body, garments to thy
mummy, thou art justified, Osiris for eternity.
It is evident that the Necropolis was used in
later times. A proof of this remains in frag-
ments of Greek tablets which we found in some
of the tombs, and I believe most of the coffins
must be assigned to Ptolemaic or Roman times.
There are a few, however, to which a much
earlier date may be assigned, and which, though
they contained bodies contemporary with the
Christian era, are yet the remains of an earlier,
and perhaps of the original Necropolis. I
should mention a plain rectangular yellow box,
which was found empty and without its lid. It
is exactly of the style of the Xlth Dynasty.
The inscription, written horizontally along the
upper part, reads as follows :
w
f
A
l^TM
i
n
J
1
0
II,
° I vX ^k^ A royal offering to Anubis o
his mountains in the Necropolis, the lord of
Teser (may he give) a good burial in the
Khemeter to the beloved Hunt. Another coffin in