DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4202#0040
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MH
* V
31
CHAPTER VII.
MINOR OBJECTS.
(42.) Some of the minor objects found have
been already described in connection with the
burials, such as the amulets (sect. 25), fur-
niture of Mora (sect. 31), beads (sect. 31), cubit
(sect. 41).
There had probably been many wooden
statues like those found at Saqqara, but such
would naturally be used up as wood by the
ancient plunderers. Two feet were found, one
nearly life-size, the other smaller, showing how
much more had been destroyed. A life-size
head was found, which had been roughly
chopped off the body, and greatly weathered,
so that hardly any fea-
tures remain. A figure
without feet, 30 ins. high,
lay in the sand which
filled the well of tomb
103 (pi. xxxii. 9) ; it is
weathered and cracked,
but has been of fine wo?k.
It is remarkable as being
a nude figure; there is
only one such yet known
among the ha statues,
namely, that in lime-
stone at Cairo. Another
wooden figure, also greatly
Aveathered, was found in
another pit; it wears the
triangular kilt, and is
22 ins. high.
(43.) Clothing was found in many of the
tombs. In the plundered tombs it was often
half pulled out, and in the unplundered ones
there were such large quantities of it as to
Wooden Figuke.
suggest that it was one of the main objects of
the plunderers. In the unopened tombs the
presence of air had oxidized the linen, mostly
to dark broAvn or black, and made it either
powdery or so brittle that it could scarcely
be unfolded ; but where the tombs had been
opened and filled up with sand, the clothing
was often in almost perfect state. There were
the roller bandages on the bodies, the large
linen cloths laid over all as a winding-sheet,
and stores of clothing deposited with it, both
made up and in long pieces.
The most complete outfit was in a solid block
coffin, tomb 148/>. The body, wrapped up, lay
fixed with some pitch, and over it all the space
was filled with clothes. The made-up shirts
were all of the outline shown in pi. xxxv. They
consist of one piece of stuff from waist to feet,
lapped round and sewn down the edge; to
that are sewn on two pieces passing over the
shoulders, and continued out into long sleeves.
The gap at front and back was closed by tying
with three pairs of strings before, and the same
behind. Tiie narrow sleeve has in some cases
a sort of fin of loose stuff left below it: this
was originally a surplus left for letting it out,
but it was so frequent as to suggest that it had
become ornamental. It is remarkable that not
one dress was found of the form shown on
the monuments, with shoulder-straps; but the
actual form seems to have been developed out
of that by extension of the shoulder-straps
along the arms. Hence the monumental dress
must have been only an artistic survival in the
Old Kingdom. The form of this actual dress
is very closely the modern galabiyeh of the
MH
* V
31
CHAPTER VII.
MINOR OBJECTS.
(42.) Some of the minor objects found have
been already described in connection with the
burials, such as the amulets (sect. 25), fur-
niture of Mora (sect. 31), beads (sect. 31), cubit
(sect. 41).
There had probably been many wooden
statues like those found at Saqqara, but such
would naturally be used up as wood by the
ancient plunderers. Two feet were found, one
nearly life-size, the other smaller, showing how
much more had been destroyed. A life-size
head was found, which had been roughly
chopped off the body, and greatly weathered,
so that hardly any fea-
tures remain. A figure
without feet, 30 ins. high,
lay in the sand which
filled the well of tomb
103 (pi. xxxii. 9) ; it is
weathered and cracked,
but has been of fine wo?k.
It is remarkable as being
a nude figure; there is
only one such yet known
among the ha statues,
namely, that in lime-
stone at Cairo. Another
wooden figure, also greatly
Aveathered, was found in
another pit; it wears the
triangular kilt, and is
22 ins. high.
(43.) Clothing was found in many of the
tombs. In the plundered tombs it was often
half pulled out, and in the unplundered ones
there were such large quantities of it as to
Wooden Figuke.
suggest that it was one of the main objects of
the plunderers. In the unopened tombs the
presence of air had oxidized the linen, mostly
to dark broAvn or black, and made it either
powdery or so brittle that it could scarcely
be unfolded ; but where the tombs had been
opened and filled up with sand, the clothing
was often in almost perfect state. There were
the roller bandages on the bodies, the large
linen cloths laid over all as a winding-sheet,
and stores of clothing deposited with it, both
made up and in long pieces.
The most complete outfit was in a solid block
coffin, tomb 148/>. The body, wrapped up, lay
fixed with some pitch, and over it all the space
was filled with clothes. The made-up shirts
were all of the outline shown in pi. xxxv. They
consist of one piece of stuff from waist to feet,
lapped round and sewn down the edge; to
that are sewn on two pieces passing over the
shoulders, and continued out into long sleeves.
The gap at front and back was closed by tying
with three pairs of strings before, and the same
behind. Tiie narrow sleeve has in some cases
a sort of fin of loose stuff left below it: this
was originally a surplus left for letting it out,
but it was so frequent as to suggest that it had
become ornamental. It is remarkable that not
one dress was found of the form shown on
the monuments, with shoulder-straps; but the
actual form seems to have been developed out
of that by extension of the shoulder-straps
along the arms. Hence the monumental dress
must have been only an artistic survival in the
Old Kingdom. The form of this actual dress
is very closely the modern galabiyeh of the