DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.410#0044
34
TANIS.
never returned to fetch it, for the house was not
burnt, but gradually fell to decay, standing deso-
late, with the pot of jewellery in the corner of the
empty cellar slowly being buried in the dust and
mud swept in by the weather.
43. About the Ptolemaic period, judging by
the style of the objects, are the remains found in
the north end of the long low Tell adjoining San
on the south side. There are many remains of
houses, and in Koman times the place was used
for a cemetery. A little north of the cemetery
district a few things were found (Find 56):—a
pendant of black flint, roughly ground and pierced;
a scarabseoid with a conventional lotus twist,
which may be earlier; several little figures, two
Ptahs, two apes, four eyes, a ram, two Basts, two
Muts, a little pendant scarab, a lot of beads—all
of green pottery, rather rudely made; also a
pointed flat piece of bone, much polished on the
edge from use. All these are in the British
Museum.
A house of late Ptolemaic period was cleared,
on the south side of the eastern gap in the mounds.
A very good small bronze of Ptah, gilt, was found
there, one and three-quarter inches high; also a
square eye plaque with name of Uati, very thick
and coarse; a flat blue glass eye polished ; some
bone pins, a bronze ring, a handle of bronze wire,
a Ptolemaic coin, &c. (Find 23.)
Another small lot of things of about the same
age was obtained in sinking a pit on the south-
west of the pylon. Here we found a very good
terra-cotta figure (five and a half inches high) of
Harpokrates holding a cornucopias, and seated on
a swan. The figure is an impression from a fine
mould, and has been touched up by hand on the
face with good effect. Near it was a piece of an
iron sickle, a small burnisher of syenite, and a
quantity of small Ptolemaic coins. (Find 32.)
An important house, that belongs to the end of
the Ptolemaic times, was cleared a short way north
of the pylon; and much pottery was obtained
from a neighbouring house of the same age, but
that remains to be brought over. In this house,
marked m on the Plan, everything had been burnt.
The whole of the finds brought over are in the
British Museum, but two large figures of Bes in
terra-cotta and pieces of an ivory sun-dial will
come with the rest of the pottery. In bronze
there was found a small bucket-handle; a
figure of Osiris 1| in. high; an ornament 1^ in.
diam.; an earring of .the usual Greek bull's-head
pattern, very rare in bronze (pi. xii. 45); a bronze
hand 1^ in. long, and several Ptolemaic coins; a
a piece of a gold earring with a dolphin's head
was also found. In iron, a lock-plate 3^x3 ins.;
and some nails. In glass, a piece of glass mosaic
with the tarn in white on dark blue ground (pi. xii.
44), and another piece of the same; an inlaid
mosaic eye in glass, the cheek part being inlaid
with stripes of squares of different mosaic patterns,
all fitted into a green glass frame, with strips of
white glass between the stripes—though much
burnt and broken it is a fine piece ; a piece of a
glass bowl, ground and polished inside and outside,
with a pattern of vine spray laid on in gold foil in
the middle of the glass, two pieces of glass having
been fused together with the foil pattern between
them; a sacred eye in dark blue glass, plain,
polished; a small blue glass phallus, broken; a
small yellow glass head, usually known as Phoe-
nician glass; three pieces of inlaid glass dumps :
these varieties of glass are important, as showing
the age of different styles and forms. In green
pottery, a little plaque of Horus holding snakes
and standing on crocodiles. In burnt clay, two
seals (pi. xii. 13, 14). A scarab (pi. xii. 51)
inscribed " priest of Tahuti." And a pin-head (?)
and ring of bone. From finding quantities of
Ptolemaic coins here, and in the next house, but
no Roman, and from the style of the things,
later in developement (iron lock-plate, glass mo-
saic, &c.) than in other Ptolemaic houses, as
well as from the head on the seal (14), this house
is probably of the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
(Find 15.)
Another small find, which is probably Ptolemaic,
TANIS.
never returned to fetch it, for the house was not
burnt, but gradually fell to decay, standing deso-
late, with the pot of jewellery in the corner of the
empty cellar slowly being buried in the dust and
mud swept in by the weather.
43. About the Ptolemaic period, judging by
the style of the objects, are the remains found in
the north end of the long low Tell adjoining San
on the south side. There are many remains of
houses, and in Koman times the place was used
for a cemetery. A little north of the cemetery
district a few things were found (Find 56):—a
pendant of black flint, roughly ground and pierced;
a scarabseoid with a conventional lotus twist,
which may be earlier; several little figures, two
Ptahs, two apes, four eyes, a ram, two Basts, two
Muts, a little pendant scarab, a lot of beads—all
of green pottery, rather rudely made; also a
pointed flat piece of bone, much polished on the
edge from use. All these are in the British
Museum.
A house of late Ptolemaic period was cleared,
on the south side of the eastern gap in the mounds.
A very good small bronze of Ptah, gilt, was found
there, one and three-quarter inches high; also a
square eye plaque with name of Uati, very thick
and coarse; a flat blue glass eye polished ; some
bone pins, a bronze ring, a handle of bronze wire,
a Ptolemaic coin, &c. (Find 23.)
Another small lot of things of about the same
age was obtained in sinking a pit on the south-
west of the pylon. Here we found a very good
terra-cotta figure (five and a half inches high) of
Harpokrates holding a cornucopias, and seated on
a swan. The figure is an impression from a fine
mould, and has been touched up by hand on the
face with good effect. Near it was a piece of an
iron sickle, a small burnisher of syenite, and a
quantity of small Ptolemaic coins. (Find 32.)
An important house, that belongs to the end of
the Ptolemaic times, was cleared a short way north
of the pylon; and much pottery was obtained
from a neighbouring house of the same age, but
that remains to be brought over. In this house,
marked m on the Plan, everything had been burnt.
The whole of the finds brought over are in the
British Museum, but two large figures of Bes in
terra-cotta and pieces of an ivory sun-dial will
come with the rest of the pottery. In bronze
there was found a small bucket-handle; a
figure of Osiris 1| in. high; an ornament 1^ in.
diam.; an earring of .the usual Greek bull's-head
pattern, very rare in bronze (pi. xii. 45); a bronze
hand 1^ in. long, and several Ptolemaic coins; a
a piece of a gold earring with a dolphin's head
was also found. In iron, a lock-plate 3^x3 ins.;
and some nails. In glass, a piece of glass mosaic
with the tarn in white on dark blue ground (pi. xii.
44), and another piece of the same; an inlaid
mosaic eye in glass, the cheek part being inlaid
with stripes of squares of different mosaic patterns,
all fitted into a green glass frame, with strips of
white glass between the stripes—though much
burnt and broken it is a fine piece ; a piece of a
glass bowl, ground and polished inside and outside,
with a pattern of vine spray laid on in gold foil in
the middle of the glass, two pieces of glass having
been fused together with the foil pattern between
them; a sacred eye in dark blue glass, plain,
polished; a small blue glass phallus, broken; a
small yellow glass head, usually known as Phoe-
nician glass; three pieces of inlaid glass dumps :
these varieties of glass are important, as showing
the age of different styles and forms. In green
pottery, a little plaque of Horus holding snakes
and standing on crocodiles. In burnt clay, two
seals (pi. xii. 13, 14). A scarab (pi. xii. 51)
inscribed " priest of Tahuti." And a pin-head (?)
and ring of bone. From finding quantities of
Ptolemaic coins here, and in the next house, but
no Roman, and from the style of the things,
later in developement (iron lock-plate, glass mo-
saic, &c.) than in other Ptolemaic houses, as
well as from the head on the seal (14), this house
is probably of the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
(Find 15.)
Another small find, which is probably Ptolemaic,