DOI Artikel:
Firth, C. M.: Archaeologcal report
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18106#0006
THE
archaeological survey of nubia.
BULLETIN No. 6.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT.
By g. M. FIRTH.
Cemetery 101.
Bulletin No. 5 carried the work of this Survey down to the
commencement of the preliminary clearing of Cemetery 101. This
cemetery was, like No. 87 at Koshtamna,* choked with sand, only
fragments of stone from the partially ruined superstructures being
visible on the surface. The accumulation of sand held up by these
circular stone cairns was very considerable owing to the nearness of
the desert, while the number of the graves prevented the wind from
blowing away the sand which had collected among them.
At some period, possibly during the first few centuries of the
Christian era, when the tops of the stone superstructures were still
visible above the sand, the graves had been entirely cleared out by
sebbakhin, each pit having been entered from above and the contents
completely removed. The loose earth fillings of the graves, mixed
with fragments of bones and the results of organic decay, must have
been early recognized as an efficient fertilizing material obtainable
with the minimum of effort and the chance of finding beads or objects
of gold or bronze.
The loss of the contents of the graves themselves is to some extent
compensated for by the great quantity of unbroken pottery of the
C-group period found deposited in its original position at the foot of
the east sides of the superstructures and preserved by the thick layer
of sand which began to accumulate as the cemetery ceased to be used.
Practically the only damage sustained by the pottery was the wearing
See Bulletin 4, p. 8.
archaeological survey of nubia.
BULLETIN No. 6.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT.
By g. M. FIRTH.
Cemetery 101.
Bulletin No. 5 carried the work of this Survey down to the
commencement of the preliminary clearing of Cemetery 101. This
cemetery was, like No. 87 at Koshtamna,* choked with sand, only
fragments of stone from the partially ruined superstructures being
visible on the surface. The accumulation of sand held up by these
circular stone cairns was very considerable owing to the nearness of
the desert, while the number of the graves prevented the wind from
blowing away the sand which had collected among them.
At some period, possibly during the first few centuries of the
Christian era, when the tops of the stone superstructures were still
visible above the sand, the graves had been entirely cleared out by
sebbakhin, each pit having been entered from above and the contents
completely removed. The loose earth fillings of the graves, mixed
with fragments of bones and the results of organic decay, must have
been early recognized as an efficient fertilizing material obtainable
with the minimum of effort and the chance of finding beads or objects
of gold or bronze.
The loss of the contents of the graves themselves is to some extent
compensated for by the great quantity of unbroken pottery of the
C-group period found deposited in its original position at the foot of
the east sides of the superstructures and preserved by the thick layer
of sand which began to accumulate as the cemetery ceased to be used.
Practically the only damage sustained by the pottery was the wearing
See Bulletin 4, p. 8.