DOI Artikel:
Firth, C. M.: Archaeological report: the destruction of the cemeteries in the neighbourhood of Dakka
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18105#0009
the river. When the Aswan Dam is completed, and the reservoir
is full, a considerable shallow lake will be formed behind Dakka temple;
the existing wells and saqia shafts will remain full, and a very large
area will become cultivable as soon as the reservoir begins to be emptied.
The existence of these wells will enable a permanent village to be
built on the desert edge, an event otherwise impossible, owing to the
great distance of the desert from the river. The late summer culti-
vation will coincide with the presence of a considerable male popu-
lation in the villages, for at the season in question a large number
of servants and others leave Cairo and the other large towns owing
to temporary non-employment. But even if these men do not engage
in agricultural work, the land will be available, and it is possible that
the flooding by the reservoir will not prohibit the growth of date-palms
at certain places, particularly on those higher alluvial banks next the
desert to which reference has already been made.
The present method of cultivation is one which has been pecu-
liarly fatal to ancient remains, and owing to the special conformation
of the Dakka plain „ it would appear that the method of irrigation by
well and saqia has been in use at least from Roman times. This
species of irrigation has, however, the great disadvantage that the
water contains no suspended matter, and since every heavy wind
covers the plain with sand, it becomes necessary to add a thin layer
of fertile soil to the fields each year. This soil is dug from the higher
ancient alluvial banks, and since it is precisely those banks which
were utilized in ancient times as burial-places, the Nubian cemeteries
have suffered severely at the hands of cultivators. Sometimes an
entire alluvial bank is removed together with any ancient remains
which may have existed in it, but more generally it is the surface
only, to a depth of from one to two metres, which is thus removed,
a depth, however, which is still amply sufficient for the destruction,
of the vast majority of ancient cemeteries.
While a considerable amount of this sebakh-digging is, no doubt,
recent, a great deal of it is ancient enough. The earth removed when
cutting a Ptolemaic-Eoman tomb must have been considerable, and
it seems to have been carried away at the time the graves were dug,
no doubt for agricultural purposes. This may have led to the removal
of the soft contents of ancient graves as a fertilizer, and this
fact alone can explain the disappearance of the entire contents of
is full, a considerable shallow lake will be formed behind Dakka temple;
the existing wells and saqia shafts will remain full, and a very large
area will become cultivable as soon as the reservoir begins to be emptied.
The existence of these wells will enable a permanent village to be
built on the desert edge, an event otherwise impossible, owing to the
great distance of the desert from the river. The late summer culti-
vation will coincide with the presence of a considerable male popu-
lation in the villages, for at the season in question a large number
of servants and others leave Cairo and the other large towns owing
to temporary non-employment. But even if these men do not engage
in agricultural work, the land will be available, and it is possible that
the flooding by the reservoir will not prohibit the growth of date-palms
at certain places, particularly on those higher alluvial banks next the
desert to which reference has already been made.
The present method of cultivation is one which has been pecu-
liarly fatal to ancient remains, and owing to the special conformation
of the Dakka plain „ it would appear that the method of irrigation by
well and saqia has been in use at least from Roman times. This
species of irrigation has, however, the great disadvantage that the
water contains no suspended matter, and since every heavy wind
covers the plain with sand, it becomes necessary to add a thin layer
of fertile soil to the fields each year. This soil is dug from the higher
ancient alluvial banks, and since it is precisely those banks which
were utilized in ancient times as burial-places, the Nubian cemeteries
have suffered severely at the hands of cultivators. Sometimes an
entire alluvial bank is removed together with any ancient remains
which may have existed in it, but more generally it is the surface
only, to a depth of from one to two metres, which is thus removed,
a depth, however, which is still amply sufficient for the destruction,
of the vast majority of ancient cemeteries.
While a considerable amount of this sebakh-digging is, no doubt,
recent, a great deal of it is ancient enough. The earth removed when
cutting a Ptolemaic-Eoman tomb must have been considerable, and
it seems to have been carried away at the time the graves were dug,
no doubt for agricultural purposes. This may have led to the removal
of the soft contents of ancient graves as a fertilizer, and this
fact alone can explain the disappearance of the entire contents of