Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

TELL EL-LARKHA

EGYPT

did not appear to lie in anatomical order,
even though the grave did not seem to
have been looted. Only one small vessel
was found in the grave.
Grave 29 was a single chamber burial
measuring 1.50 x 0.78 x 0.18 m, sur-
rounded by a single row of mud-bricks laid
end-to-end. The body of an adult female
lay in flexed position on its right side with
the head to the south. A single stone bead
was found with the body.
Grave 30 [Fig. 11} was like all the
others a single chamber burial measuring
1.90 x 1.06 x 0.57 m, surrounded by a single
row of mud-bricks laid end-to-end. This
poorly built grave with crooked side walls
was that of a male (20-25 years old), buried
on his left side in flexed position, head
pointing north. Grave goods comprised
three pottery vessels placed by the north
and south walls and a clay seal fragment.
POOR GRAVES
Graves 11, 17, 18, 22, 25, 28, 31, 32
[Fig. 12}, 33 were all pit burials (0.70-
1.02 x 0.32-0.66 m) with no grave goods,

containing strongly flexed and very poorly
preserved skeletons, laid typically on the
left side with head to north or west. In two
cases (Graves 18 and 22) the position of the
skeleton was on the right side with head to
east or north. There was one child's grave
and one double grave of a man and woman.
Grave 19 apparently contained only
the skull of an adult male? interred face up
in a pit measuring 0.20 x 0.16 m.
In three cases, evidence was recorded of
mats lining the pits and covering the
bodies. Most of the interred were males
and females in their early twenties with
a few falling in the 35-45 years age group.
In summary of four years of excavation
on the Tell el-Farkha cemetery,4 it may
be said that in the vast majority of cases
a selective location of graves was practiced.
The richest burials appear to be grouped at
the southern end of the cemetery and the
moderately rich graves occupy the middle
section. The poor graves were concentrated
toward the northeast, where features dating
from the end of the Early Dynastic period
and the beginning of the Old Kingdom had
started to encroach on the burial ground.

4 Cf. previous reports in PAM XIII, Reports 2001 (2002), 113-117; PAM XIV, Reports 2002 (2003), 106-109; PAM XV,
op. cit., 106-107.

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