DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1033#0025
THE CIVILIZATION OF THE XIITH DYNASTY—KAHUN.
25
(22), the wavy lines incised (39 to 45), the strange
dishes with incised patterns (103 to 111), and the
trays of offerings (102). None of these types ever
occur in the XVIIIth—XlXth dynasties, excepting a
very few bits of the incised dishes.
The jars are often washed over with red ochre or
rouge wash, especially those with black neck bands
(22). These necks are very largely found in the
masons' pottery heap just north of the .temple outside
the town wall. The little dishes (62) are also found
there, thus certifying their age. These small dishes
and cups (67) are found by the hundred at Gizeh.
There I had thought them to be of late date, as I had
no opportunity of tomb or town excavation there to
prove their age. But having found similar cups and
saucers in a heap on the east side of the south stone
pyramid of Dahshur, in a similar heap on the east
side of the pyramid of Illahun, and now in the
masons' rubbish, it is evident that they belong to the
Xllth dynasty, if not to earlier times.
Among the peculiar objects there is the pot (12),
closed below; this seems to be for a drum like the
modern darabuka: the jars with spoutless holes'(19):
the long pipe-like objects, closed below (34), which
were also found in the foundation deposit (XIV, 14):
the dish with a partition (49) and a peg on the out-
side : the dishes with two loops in the bottom (58),
which are like a large class of roughly cut stone
objects, which have similarly two loops (or occasion-
ally only one) in the bottom : the lids (54) which
resemble those of the XXVIth dynasty, but are quite
unknown in the XVIIIth: the plain cone (92)::
and the incised dishes, which seem as if intended to
serve up food in, judging by the example with a
raised centre (107): the patterns of these apparently
are derived from basket work.
The regular method of supporting the jars was on
a ring stand (28—30, 36—8, 85—8, 99—101) ; and
though anyone not accustomed to Egyptian life may
object that such a support was a needless complica-
tion, and ask why a flat bottom was not made to the
jars, yet the reason of the arrangement is quite clear.
If a jar of porous pottery containing any liquid is set
on the ground, it picks up dust and grit on its damp
surface, and soon looks loathsome ; but by placing it
on a ring stand it remains always clean. Other
forms of supports were used, particularly stone stands,
cut in soft limestone. These were generally rect-
angular slabs with four feet, for one or two jars, with
a raised rim, a conical hole for each jar with raised
edge, and often a groove to catch and lead away
the water which exuded from the jar. Occasionally
they were circular, with three feet. Also solid stone
blocks were made of a cup shape, like fig. 63 in
outline, or rather more upright: with a small hemi-
spherical hollow in the top and a groove around
that. Four of these I found in the pyramid of
Hawara, and several in the town of Kahun.
43. The material of the pottery differs much from
that of any later age. There is not much of the
rough red tile stuff common in late times, none of the
fine drab of the XXVIth dynasty, and very little of
the hard face polished light drab and light brown of
the XVIIIth dynasty. A coarse, rough, hard body
of brownish-grey is common, also brown softer pot-
tery. The thin cups (I—3) are the finest clay, a
smooth brown, rather reddish, and often washed over
with red. A very special point in this pottery is the
streaking of the inside upward by the fingers, instead
of turning it. Some few vessels which were found
under special conditions may be noted as positively
of the Xllth dynasty beyond any question, namely,
the foundation deposit pottery (PI. XIV), the pottery
found in a box with cylinders of the Xllth dynasty
(XIV, 18—20) and pottery of the masons' rubbish
(XII, 22, 62). The rest of the pottery has the
general authority of being found in the town, gene-
rally in rooms which had been deserted, and filled up
with the rubbish of neighbouring houses.
Some pieces, of eight or nine vases, of the black
pottery were found (PI. XXVII, 199-202) in various
parts of the town. One vase is plain; most of the
pieces bear the chevron pattern, with the alternate
spaces filled with rows of dots ; or a double chevron
blank, with dots on each side of it. One fragment
has figures of three pairs of goats, standing upright,
face to face, with a palm or vine between each pair.
The design of this is scarcely Egyptian, but looks
more Phoenician or Assyrian. This black ware is just
what was found by M. Naville with scarabs of the
XHIth dynasty at Khataneh near Fakus, in graves
many feet deep beneath accumulations of the time of
Seti I, and hence certainly early. Here it is again
found associated with objects of the Xllth or XHIth
dynasty, and its date therefore is almost beyond
question. The difficult point now is to determine
whether we are to throw back to such a date the
Italian black pottery with chevron pattern and dots
so closely like this. The fact that such pottery
is quite unknown in Egypt at any other age, none
having been found in the towns or graves of the
XVIIIth, XlXth, XXth, XXIInd, XXVth, XXVIth
D
25
(22), the wavy lines incised (39 to 45), the strange
dishes with incised patterns (103 to 111), and the
trays of offerings (102). None of these types ever
occur in the XVIIIth—XlXth dynasties, excepting a
very few bits of the incised dishes.
The jars are often washed over with red ochre or
rouge wash, especially those with black neck bands
(22). These necks are very largely found in the
masons' pottery heap just north of the .temple outside
the town wall. The little dishes (62) are also found
there, thus certifying their age. These small dishes
and cups (67) are found by the hundred at Gizeh.
There I had thought them to be of late date, as I had
no opportunity of tomb or town excavation there to
prove their age. But having found similar cups and
saucers in a heap on the east side of the south stone
pyramid of Dahshur, in a similar heap on the east
side of the pyramid of Illahun, and now in the
masons' rubbish, it is evident that they belong to the
Xllth dynasty, if not to earlier times.
Among the peculiar objects there is the pot (12),
closed below; this seems to be for a drum like the
modern darabuka: the jars with spoutless holes'(19):
the long pipe-like objects, closed below (34), which
were also found in the foundation deposit (XIV, 14):
the dish with a partition (49) and a peg on the out-
side : the dishes with two loops in the bottom (58),
which are like a large class of roughly cut stone
objects, which have similarly two loops (or occasion-
ally only one) in the bottom : the lids (54) which
resemble those of the XXVIth dynasty, but are quite
unknown in the XVIIIth: the plain cone (92)::
and the incised dishes, which seem as if intended to
serve up food in, judging by the example with a
raised centre (107): the patterns of these apparently
are derived from basket work.
The regular method of supporting the jars was on
a ring stand (28—30, 36—8, 85—8, 99—101) ; and
though anyone not accustomed to Egyptian life may
object that such a support was a needless complica-
tion, and ask why a flat bottom was not made to the
jars, yet the reason of the arrangement is quite clear.
If a jar of porous pottery containing any liquid is set
on the ground, it picks up dust and grit on its damp
surface, and soon looks loathsome ; but by placing it
on a ring stand it remains always clean. Other
forms of supports were used, particularly stone stands,
cut in soft limestone. These were generally rect-
angular slabs with four feet, for one or two jars, with
a raised rim, a conical hole for each jar with raised
edge, and often a groove to catch and lead away
the water which exuded from the jar. Occasionally
they were circular, with three feet. Also solid stone
blocks were made of a cup shape, like fig. 63 in
outline, or rather more upright: with a small hemi-
spherical hollow in the top and a groove around
that. Four of these I found in the pyramid of
Hawara, and several in the town of Kahun.
43. The material of the pottery differs much from
that of any later age. There is not much of the
rough red tile stuff common in late times, none of the
fine drab of the XXVIth dynasty, and very little of
the hard face polished light drab and light brown of
the XVIIIth dynasty. A coarse, rough, hard body
of brownish-grey is common, also brown softer pot-
tery. The thin cups (I—3) are the finest clay, a
smooth brown, rather reddish, and often washed over
with red. A very special point in this pottery is the
streaking of the inside upward by the fingers, instead
of turning it. Some few vessels which were found
under special conditions may be noted as positively
of the Xllth dynasty beyond any question, namely,
the foundation deposit pottery (PI. XIV), the pottery
found in a box with cylinders of the Xllth dynasty
(XIV, 18—20) and pottery of the masons' rubbish
(XII, 22, 62). The rest of the pottery has the
general authority of being found in the town, gene-
rally in rooms which had been deserted, and filled up
with the rubbish of neighbouring houses.
Some pieces, of eight or nine vases, of the black
pottery were found (PI. XXVII, 199-202) in various
parts of the town. One vase is plain; most of the
pieces bear the chevron pattern, with the alternate
spaces filled with rows of dots ; or a double chevron
blank, with dots on each side of it. One fragment
has figures of three pairs of goats, standing upright,
face to face, with a palm or vine between each pair.
The design of this is scarcely Egyptian, but looks
more Phoenician or Assyrian. This black ware is just
what was found by M. Naville with scarabs of the
XHIth dynasty at Khataneh near Fakus, in graves
many feet deep beneath accumulations of the time of
Seti I, and hence certainly early. Here it is again
found associated with objects of the Xllth or XHIth
dynasty, and its date therefore is almost beyond
question. The difficult point now is to determine
whether we are to throw back to such a date the
Italian black pottery with chevron pattern and dots
so closely like this. The fact that such pottery
is quite unknown in Egypt at any other age, none
having been found in the towns or graves of the
XVIIIth, XlXth, XXth, XXIInd, XXVth, XXVIth
D