Petrie, William M. Flinders [Oth.]: The royal tombs of the first dynasty (Part I): 1900 (London, 1900)

26

KOTAL TOMBS OF THE 1st DYNASTY.

72. This important seal, which fixes the
identity of Mersekha, occurs on two small lumps
of clay, each bearing a few very partial prints of
it. They were used to fasten the knot of two
cords ; and the inscription seems to belong to
some material for cleansing the mouth.

73, 74 are difficult to read, owing to their
very imperfect state; these, as well as 72,
bearing the suten hiti title are on black mud.
The buildings named on them begin Avith suten
biti, but there is nothing following that can be
made any equivalent of " Semempses " or of the
figure on 72. They must probably be all titles
of the king, the "golden bull."

77. This seal is interesting, as we have
precisely the same seal in the tomb of Qa,
excepting that the name of the king has been
cut out, and there is therefore a mere lump in
place of it on the impression. This shows that
after a king's death his official seals could not
be used, or at least must have his name erased
if no other seal was provided.

8G. This delicately cut seal has the same
shrine on it, Avith a couchant jackal and feather
over it, as we see on the stele of Sabef,
pi. xxx.

87, 88. These tAvo sealings of Perabsen Avere
found by accident in clearing the grave W 30,
at the end of the cemetery close to the tomb of
Perabsen. This group of graves is not of his
date, as in W 33 Avas the bowl of Azab, vi. 8.
Doubtless more seals of Perabsen and of other
kings Avill be found in exploring their tombs
next year.

25.—The Steles, Frontispiece, pis. xxx. to
xxxvi. The principal stele found Avas the great
one of Merneit, a king hitherto unknoAvn (see
frontispiece). His place in the Dynasty seems
to haA^e been immediately after Zet, and before
Den; and the style of this stele, its size, and
material, all agree A\rell to this date. The
emblem of Neit here is apparently the distaff,
Avith two arrows across it; and this explains
such a sign which occurs on a seal, 39, and on

some of the black steatite cylinders of very early
age. The hoe, mer, and the mouth, r, complete
the inscription. The block is about five feet
high ; the lower part left in the rough hammer-
dressing, the upper part scraped smooth. Just
above the ground level, beloAv the inscription,
the surface is scaled, owing to soaking up
damp from the ground; higher up it is sand-
polished. This grand stele is uoav, of course,
kept at Cairo. In the tomb Avere parts of a
felloAv stele; the rough back (lxiv. 6), the
lower part of the face up to the bottom of the
neit sign, and the top showing just the rounding
of the top of the neit sign : all the rest had
perished.

There was also found a stele of Qa, in
black quartzose rock, like that figured by
De Morgan, fig. 779. In this second example
the edges had been broken all around, so that
the panelling of the false door is lost, but the
Avhole hawk and name is perfect. Being
difficult to move, it was not photographed at
first, and later on Ave ran short of plates, so it
will be published next year.

The best private stele found is that of Sabef,
pi. xxx. and xxxvi. 48. This lay in a chamber
on the west of Qa, here marked with the name
on the plan, pi. lx. The block has been ground
all over, with rounded edges, and not square in
angles. The inscription Avas then sketched on
it with red ink, finally drawn in black ink
(represented by a fidl tint on pi. xxx.), and
then the ground Avas roughly hammered out.
There the work stopped, and the final scraping
and dressing Avas never done. Hence it is
difficult—if not impossible—to settle Avhat the
forms of some signs were intended to be ; and
the red and black ink traces are valuable for
shoAving some details. We see that Sabef was
the keeper of the tomb, Ea Sa-ha-neb; of the
palace, ITa Ror-pa-va; companion in the royal
palace ; had two other titles that are not clear ;
and lastly was overseer of the Sed festival. All
this shows how little the official titles moved

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