DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4142#0007
DEIE EL BABAR.1.
A second cutting was run from east to west,
parallel to the northern rock-face; and working
towards the ruined eastern wall of the Vestibule to
the Altar Court, the men came upon the columns of
the Terrace without, and then upon the wall of the
Vestibule itself. An entrance was made over this wall,
and the work pushed into the Altar Court; but much
difficulty was experienced in dealing, in a confined
space, with the fallen ruins of the northern wall. On
March 2nd the workmen, digging painfully down-
wards among the stones, hit the corner of a structure
which had the -appearance of a mastaba. For the
moment it was impossible to clear the new discovery
without cutting away the only available space for the
tramway, and not before the western wall had been
reached could the workmen be set to dig down to the
pavement. Thus it was not until March 13th that a
ramp was revealed, and thereafter a part of a dedi-
catory inscription showing the "mastaba" to be in
truth a High Altar, the only survivor of many in the
temples of Egypt. It was a discovery of the first im-
portance, and the excavators might well have looked
for no other reward. But another unexpected find
had been made four days previously, namely, that of
the entrance to a rock-cut Chapel, lying immediately
to the north. The diggers penetrated into it by a
hole above the doorway, since repaired, and found it
half-full of chips, and admirably preserved since its
last defacement in Pharaonic times. Every part of
the Upper Platform excavated during the first season
was found filled with talus from the cliffs to the level
on which the Copts built their convent. This lower
layer contained few or no remains of ancient life : some
wooden mallets were unearthed in the Altar Court,
and a headless granite statuette of Osiris ; but for
the rest, rubbish had been shot over these northern
chambers by Nature, and not by man, and I should
also attribute to a natural cause the collapse of the
northern wall.
Between the Altar Court and the western cliff is
interposed a narrow Hall, which was entirely buried
under debris of the cliff when the excavation was
begun in February, 1893. Nevertheless there was
found written in pencil, just under the ceiling level on
the eastern wall: " Ouvert par Greene en 1855," and
also on the western wall, above the pictured altar to
which Thothmes III. brings his offerings : " La mono-
graphie de ce tombeau a ete terminee le 17 Avril 1855."
But, four years later, Mariette omits all trace of this
Hall from his plan, and we must presume, therefore,
that its walls had been covered again by a fresh fall
from the cliff—a frequent event at this particular spot
—or by rubbish thrown from above by tomb-diggers.
Greene can hardly have penetrated to the floor of the
Hall, except at the extreme northern end, where the
ceiling being intact, little or no debris was found in
1893, whereas the rest of the Hall was encumbered by
enormous roofing blocks. Greene considered it to be
a tomb, and it is possible that it was he who found
mummies in the now rifled pit which exists at its
northern end.
The workmen reached the south-eastern angle of
this Hall on February 13th, and on the succeeding day
I learned that Greene had preceded me. As the work
went on, the Hall was found to be filled with fine
chips from the cliff, absolutely devoid of any traces
of ancient life, but mixed with enormous blocks, the
ruins of the roof. The removing of these caused
infinite trouble, and protracted the excavation of the
Hall until the 17th of March. Its position renders it
very liable to be filled again and again by falls from
the cliff, and indeed a shower of rocks came down
into it in March, 1894, and did some damage to the
sculptures. The stuff which seems to have filled the
open Altar Court before Coptic times, probably lay
thick over the roof of the Hall of Offerings until at
some moment—perhaps that moment of cataclysm at
which the whole temple was pushed a little forward—
the thick slabs of the ceiling gave way, and the Hall
was filled with their ruins, and with the chips which
had been lying upon them.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHAMBERS.
The group of chambers consisting of the Altar
Court, with its Vestibule and rock-cut Chapel, must
be among the oldest parts of the temple. The
decoration of the walls seems to indicate the
earlier years of the Queen's reign, for the name of
Thothmes III. never occurs, and some of the scenes
commemorate the father of Hatshepsu. Perhaps the
death of Thothmes I. had only recently taken place.
The dedication of this part of the edifice is peculiar.
Elsewhere Amon Ea is lord of the temple; here he
introduces Harniakhis both into the Vestibule and
into the Court, where stood a great altar built in
honour of the latter.
coi
tt
C<
ce
I
a
o:
r
t
t
-....-1m~- .".
A second cutting was run from east to west,
parallel to the northern rock-face; and working
towards the ruined eastern wall of the Vestibule to
the Altar Court, the men came upon the columns of
the Terrace without, and then upon the wall of the
Vestibule itself. An entrance was made over this wall,
and the work pushed into the Altar Court; but much
difficulty was experienced in dealing, in a confined
space, with the fallen ruins of the northern wall. On
March 2nd the workmen, digging painfully down-
wards among the stones, hit the corner of a structure
which had the -appearance of a mastaba. For the
moment it was impossible to clear the new discovery
without cutting away the only available space for the
tramway, and not before the western wall had been
reached could the workmen be set to dig down to the
pavement. Thus it was not until March 13th that a
ramp was revealed, and thereafter a part of a dedi-
catory inscription showing the "mastaba" to be in
truth a High Altar, the only survivor of many in the
temples of Egypt. It was a discovery of the first im-
portance, and the excavators might well have looked
for no other reward. But another unexpected find
had been made four days previously, namely, that of
the entrance to a rock-cut Chapel, lying immediately
to the north. The diggers penetrated into it by a
hole above the doorway, since repaired, and found it
half-full of chips, and admirably preserved since its
last defacement in Pharaonic times. Every part of
the Upper Platform excavated during the first season
was found filled with talus from the cliffs to the level
on which the Copts built their convent. This lower
layer contained few or no remains of ancient life : some
wooden mallets were unearthed in the Altar Court,
and a headless granite statuette of Osiris ; but for
the rest, rubbish had been shot over these northern
chambers by Nature, and not by man, and I should
also attribute to a natural cause the collapse of the
northern wall.
Between the Altar Court and the western cliff is
interposed a narrow Hall, which was entirely buried
under debris of the cliff when the excavation was
begun in February, 1893. Nevertheless there was
found written in pencil, just under the ceiling level on
the eastern wall: " Ouvert par Greene en 1855," and
also on the western wall, above the pictured altar to
which Thothmes III. brings his offerings : " La mono-
graphie de ce tombeau a ete terminee le 17 Avril 1855."
But, four years later, Mariette omits all trace of this
Hall from his plan, and we must presume, therefore,
that its walls had been covered again by a fresh fall
from the cliff—a frequent event at this particular spot
—or by rubbish thrown from above by tomb-diggers.
Greene can hardly have penetrated to the floor of the
Hall, except at the extreme northern end, where the
ceiling being intact, little or no debris was found in
1893, whereas the rest of the Hall was encumbered by
enormous roofing blocks. Greene considered it to be
a tomb, and it is possible that it was he who found
mummies in the now rifled pit which exists at its
northern end.
The workmen reached the south-eastern angle of
this Hall on February 13th, and on the succeeding day
I learned that Greene had preceded me. As the work
went on, the Hall was found to be filled with fine
chips from the cliff, absolutely devoid of any traces
of ancient life, but mixed with enormous blocks, the
ruins of the roof. The removing of these caused
infinite trouble, and protracted the excavation of the
Hall until the 17th of March. Its position renders it
very liable to be filled again and again by falls from
the cliff, and indeed a shower of rocks came down
into it in March, 1894, and did some damage to the
sculptures. The stuff which seems to have filled the
open Altar Court before Coptic times, probably lay
thick over the roof of the Hall of Offerings until at
some moment—perhaps that moment of cataclysm at
which the whole temple was pushed a little forward—
the thick slabs of the ceiling gave way, and the Hall
was filled with their ruins, and with the chips which
had been lying upon them.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CHAMBERS.
The group of chambers consisting of the Altar
Court, with its Vestibule and rock-cut Chapel, must
be among the oldest parts of the temple. The
decoration of the walls seems to indicate the
earlier years of the Queen's reign, for the name of
Thothmes III. never occurs, and some of the scenes
commemorate the father of Hatshepsu. Perhaps the
death of Thothmes I. had only recently taken place.
The dedication of this part of the edifice is peculiar.
Elsewhere Amon Ea is lord of the temple; here he
introduces Harniakhis both into the Vestibule and
into the Court, where stood a great altar built in
honour of the latter.
coi
tt
C<
ce
I
a
o:
r
t
t
-....-1m~- .".