DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3236#0141
70
TELL DEFENNEH.
the side of the hox had to be broken open to
remove the figure. This was picked up by one
of my workmen on the plain, and brought to me
uninjured.
Other pieces of gold work are shown on pi. xli.;
a funerary finger-ring (fig. 1), a large plain finger-
ring kept at Bulak; earrings (figs. 2 to 7), of
which about forty were found (including frag-
ments) by the Bedawin who hunt the neighbour-
hood: pieces of globule work, probably of ear-
rings (figs. 12, 13), and of chains (14, 17);
symbolic eyes (figs. 26, 30) ; pieces of chain
(figs. 18, 24,25); beads and foil ornaments (figs.
19—23, 27); setting of a stone (29); and a
piece of dioptase set in gold. Where this diop-
tase came from is not clear; it is now only
known in Hungary and Siberia, but considering
the copper-mines of Sinai, it is not impossible
it may be found there.
74. Among the multitude of fragments of gold-
work picked up by the Bedawin who hunt over
the denuded surface of the site, were some impor-
tant scraps bearing on the manufacture of these
articles at the place. There are many globules
and little dumps of melted gold; scraps of gold
cut out of a plane surface by chiselling, and
above all, one piece chiselled out bearing a
beautiful hieroglyphic feather (<x), evidently
because of a mistake in the work which had to be
altered; further, a piece of gold-foil, cut into the
form for making one of the hollow earrings (such
as xli. 2), was found with one end partly begun.
The large plain gold ring found here, also seems
as if it was still unsold and unengraved. Placing
all these facts together, we can hardly doubt
but that a jewellery trade was carried on,
especially as scraps of gold ornament are com-
moner here than in any other place I know of.
Again there is a profusion of minute weights,
most of them under thirty or forty grains, many of
only three or four grains; over a thousand
having been collected in a couple of months by
me, and such could only be of use for weighing
precious metals. We see then by all these signs
that this was a manufacturing centre ; and if so,
may not Daphnae be the source of much of the
Greek gold-work with quasi-oriental designs
found all over the Mediterranean ? Here are all
the elements : Greek workmen, on the high-road
to Assyria, living in Egypt, close to Phoenicia,
constantly trading to Greece, and making jewel-
lery (as the abundance of their weights shows) on
a large scale.
75. Of silver several wrought objects were
found, and many pounds' weight of lumps of silver,
melted and roughly cut up, besides large quan-
tities of scrap silver in fragments of 20 to 200
grains found by the Bedawin. It seems most
likely, on considering it, that this scrap silver
Avas the equivalent of coinage in the pre-Persian
days in Egypt, when the metal went by weight;
and we should not conclude such finds to be a
sign of a silversmith's place, but merely of a
man's exchangeable wealth buried, as coins were
buried in later times. Several lumps of silver
were found with a silver bowl at the S.E. corner
of the camp, buried close against the wall: the
bowl is 6| inches across, and If inch deep ; it is or-
namented with three rows of broad dots punched on
it; four dots in a group extending one inch, then
a space and then another group, and so on round
each of the three circles. With this was found a
silver dipper (trua), the long handle broken and
twisted up. Both of these articles are now at Bulak.
Many silver rings were found, mostly on the
surface, by the Bedawin, but one (xli. 33) on the
pavement outside of the Kasr. They all
belonged apparently to priests or temple officials
(see pi. xli. 32 to 35). One bears a winged
scarabseus (36); and one has a silver scarab
which turned on the ring anciently (37).
A fine ram's head with the uraeus on it (pi.
xli. 11), probably from a statuette of Khnum,
was found in the camp, with two silver ura)i, and
a bronze Apis. A small silver Horus, much worn,
four tetradrachms of Athens, and one of Ptolemy
TELL DEFENNEH.
the side of the hox had to be broken open to
remove the figure. This was picked up by one
of my workmen on the plain, and brought to me
uninjured.
Other pieces of gold work are shown on pi. xli.;
a funerary finger-ring (fig. 1), a large plain finger-
ring kept at Bulak; earrings (figs. 2 to 7), of
which about forty were found (including frag-
ments) by the Bedawin who hunt the neighbour-
hood: pieces of globule work, probably of ear-
rings (figs. 12, 13), and of chains (14, 17);
symbolic eyes (figs. 26, 30) ; pieces of chain
(figs. 18, 24,25); beads and foil ornaments (figs.
19—23, 27); setting of a stone (29); and a
piece of dioptase set in gold. Where this diop-
tase came from is not clear; it is now only
known in Hungary and Siberia, but considering
the copper-mines of Sinai, it is not impossible
it may be found there.
74. Among the multitude of fragments of gold-
work picked up by the Bedawin who hunt over
the denuded surface of the site, were some impor-
tant scraps bearing on the manufacture of these
articles at the place. There are many globules
and little dumps of melted gold; scraps of gold
cut out of a plane surface by chiselling, and
above all, one piece chiselled out bearing a
beautiful hieroglyphic feather (<x), evidently
because of a mistake in the work which had to be
altered; further, a piece of gold-foil, cut into the
form for making one of the hollow earrings (such
as xli. 2), was found with one end partly begun.
The large plain gold ring found here, also seems
as if it was still unsold and unengraved. Placing
all these facts together, we can hardly doubt
but that a jewellery trade was carried on,
especially as scraps of gold ornament are com-
moner here than in any other place I know of.
Again there is a profusion of minute weights,
most of them under thirty or forty grains, many of
only three or four grains; over a thousand
having been collected in a couple of months by
me, and such could only be of use for weighing
precious metals. We see then by all these signs
that this was a manufacturing centre ; and if so,
may not Daphnae be the source of much of the
Greek gold-work with quasi-oriental designs
found all over the Mediterranean ? Here are all
the elements : Greek workmen, on the high-road
to Assyria, living in Egypt, close to Phoenicia,
constantly trading to Greece, and making jewel-
lery (as the abundance of their weights shows) on
a large scale.
75. Of silver several wrought objects were
found, and many pounds' weight of lumps of silver,
melted and roughly cut up, besides large quan-
tities of scrap silver in fragments of 20 to 200
grains found by the Bedawin. It seems most
likely, on considering it, that this scrap silver
Avas the equivalent of coinage in the pre-Persian
days in Egypt, when the metal went by weight;
and we should not conclude such finds to be a
sign of a silversmith's place, but merely of a
man's exchangeable wealth buried, as coins were
buried in later times. Several lumps of silver
were found with a silver bowl at the S.E. corner
of the camp, buried close against the wall: the
bowl is 6| inches across, and If inch deep ; it is or-
namented with three rows of broad dots punched on
it; four dots in a group extending one inch, then
a space and then another group, and so on round
each of the three circles. With this was found a
silver dipper (trua), the long handle broken and
twisted up. Both of these articles are now at Bulak.
Many silver rings were found, mostly on the
surface, by the Bedawin, but one (xli. 33) on the
pavement outside of the Kasr. They all
belonged apparently to priests or temple officials
(see pi. xli. 32 to 35). One bears a winged
scarabseus (36); and one has a silver scarab
which turned on the ring anciently (37).
A fine ram's head with the uraeus on it (pi.
xli. 11), probably from a statuette of Khnum,
was found in the camp, with two silver ura)i, and
a bronze Apis. A small silver Horus, much worn,
four tetradrachms of Athens, and one of Ptolemy