DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0170
158
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYPT
around it, or below, may be the rest of a building.
Some symmetrical form of the mounds can be detected,
and we are perhaps led at once to the temple, or to
trace out the streets of the town. Or a patch of
ground is reddened with fire, showing that a house has
been burnt there, and probably stone and metal and
pottery may remain intact in the ruins. But our
special notice must be given to the potsherds lying
strewn all over the surface. Pottery is the very key
to digging; to know the varieties of it, and the age of
each, is the alphabet of work. Not that it is more
distinctive in itself than most other products of various
ages ; but it is so vastly commoner than anything else,
that a place may be dated in a minute by its pottery
on the surface, which would require a month's digging
in the inside of it to discover as much from inscriptions
or sculptures. A survey showing the form of the
ground, and the position of every fragment or indica-
tion that can be of use, is essential to understanding
it; and will often point out, by the probable symmetry
of parts, what are the best spots to examine first.
Having then made out as much as possible before-
hand, we begin our diggings. If there appear to be
remains of a temple, or some larger building, which
should be thoroughly examined, we first make pits
about one edge of the site, and find how far out the
ruins extend. Having settled that, a large trench is
dug along the whole of one side, reaching down to the
undisturbed soil beneath, and about six or eight feet
wide at the bottom, all the earth being heaped on the
outer edge of the trench. Then the inner side is dug
away, and the stuff thrown up on the outer side by a
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYPT
around it, or below, may be the rest of a building.
Some symmetrical form of the mounds can be detected,
and we are perhaps led at once to the temple, or to
trace out the streets of the town. Or a patch of
ground is reddened with fire, showing that a house has
been burnt there, and probably stone and metal and
pottery may remain intact in the ruins. But our
special notice must be given to the potsherds lying
strewn all over the surface. Pottery is the very key
to digging; to know the varieties of it, and the age of
each, is the alphabet of work. Not that it is more
distinctive in itself than most other products of various
ages ; but it is so vastly commoner than anything else,
that a place may be dated in a minute by its pottery
on the surface, which would require a month's digging
in the inside of it to discover as much from inscriptions
or sculptures. A survey showing the form of the
ground, and the position of every fragment or indica-
tion that can be of use, is essential to understanding
it; and will often point out, by the probable symmetry
of parts, what are the best spots to examine first.
Having then made out as much as possible before-
hand, we begin our diggings. If there appear to be
remains of a temple, or some larger building, which
should be thoroughly examined, we first make pits
about one edge of the site, and find how far out the
ruins extend. Having settled that, a large trench is
dug along the whole of one side, reaching down to the
undisturbed soil beneath, and about six or eight feet
wide at the bottom, all the earth being heaped on the
outer edge of the trench. Then the inner side is dug
away, and the stuff thrown up on the outer side by a