DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4222#0026
16
ROYAL TOMBS OF THE 1st DYNASTY.
CHAPTER III.
HE INSCRIBED TABLETS, &c.
PLS. II.—XII.
17. The account of the various objects found
in the tombs will be stated in the order of their
publication in the plates, as that enables the
reader to refer most readily either way between
the plates and text.
Plate I. (Frontispiece). The most important
discovery of this year is that of the jewellery in
the tomb of King Zer, which belonged to his
queen. While my workmen were clearing the
tomb they noticed among the rubbish which
they were moving a piece of the arm of a
mummy in its wrappings. It lay in a broken
hole in the north wall of the tomb—the hole
seen in the top of the cell next to the stairway,
in views pi. lvi. 3, 4. The party of four who
found it looked in to the end of the wrappings
and saw a large gold bead, the rosette in the
second bracelet. They did not yield to the
natural wish to search further or to remove it;
but laid the arm down where they found it until
Mr. Mace should come and verify it. Nothing
but obtaining the complete confidence of the
workmen, and paying them for all they find,
could ever make them deal with valuables in
this careful manner. On seeing it Mr. Mace told
them to bring it to our huts intact, and I received
it quite undisturbed. In the evening the most
intelligent of the party Avas summoned up as
a witness of the opening of the wrappings, so
that there should be no suspicion that I had not
dealt fairly with the men. I then cut open the
linen bandages, and found, to our great surprise,
the four bracelets of gold and jewellery, in the
order in which they are shown upon the arm in
the central photograph of the frontispiece. The
of threading
verification of the exact order
occupied an hour or two, working with a
magnifier, my wife and Mr. Mace assisting.
When recorded, the gold was put in the scales
and weighed against sovereigns before the work-
man, who saw everything. Rather more than
the value of gold was given to the men, and thus
we ensured their goodwill and honesty for the
future. The sequel is instructive. Though all
our camp of workers knew about this and about
several other finds of gold, yet the willing separa-
tion between our workmen (who came from
Koptos, fifty miles away) and the local natives
was so complete that no tales of the gold got
about the country. When the Arabic papers
copied the discovery from my letter in the Times,
after I had left Egypt, it caused a great ferment
in the neighbourhood, and huge tales of the
gold and treasures rent the hearts of the local
plunderers, Avho till then were in ignorance of
the valuables that my men had found. There
could not be a more satisfactory hold over the
workmen than that which is proved by this
whole affair.
The history of the arm can be somewhat
inferred. It certainly had not been looked into
by any one since the first plunderer, or the
obvious lump of gold would have been taken.
And the plunderers who broke up the body of
the queen must have been later than those who
hacked the holes in the walls in search of
treasure. So we may reconstruct the history in
this fashion. The roof of the tomb had become
decayed and let the sand pour through, over the
queen's body, before the first plunderers broke
>*
snBacfc
m
valfl
ibles-
tb
AmenbflteP
his age,
.lid
My *
broken up
forearm in
got so mucl
else perish
seems to h£
stairway (
thousand ;
here, and'
the arm w
destroyed
find, tort]
lay in th
eyed the
and these
Cairo Mi
than a fe
treasure.
18 J
bracelets
The 1
gold am
thefaca(
the la
up for
%:
tecktf
Siting
i i
Ne
ROYAL TOMBS OF THE 1st DYNASTY.
CHAPTER III.
HE INSCRIBED TABLETS, &c.
PLS. II.—XII.
17. The account of the various objects found
in the tombs will be stated in the order of their
publication in the plates, as that enables the
reader to refer most readily either way between
the plates and text.
Plate I. (Frontispiece). The most important
discovery of this year is that of the jewellery in
the tomb of King Zer, which belonged to his
queen. While my workmen were clearing the
tomb they noticed among the rubbish which
they were moving a piece of the arm of a
mummy in its wrappings. It lay in a broken
hole in the north wall of the tomb—the hole
seen in the top of the cell next to the stairway,
in views pi. lvi. 3, 4. The party of four who
found it looked in to the end of the wrappings
and saw a large gold bead, the rosette in the
second bracelet. They did not yield to the
natural wish to search further or to remove it;
but laid the arm down where they found it until
Mr. Mace should come and verify it. Nothing
but obtaining the complete confidence of the
workmen, and paying them for all they find,
could ever make them deal with valuables in
this careful manner. On seeing it Mr. Mace told
them to bring it to our huts intact, and I received
it quite undisturbed. In the evening the most
intelligent of the party Avas summoned up as
a witness of the opening of the wrappings, so
that there should be no suspicion that I had not
dealt fairly with the men. I then cut open the
linen bandages, and found, to our great surprise,
the four bracelets of gold and jewellery, in the
order in which they are shown upon the arm in
the central photograph of the frontispiece. The
of threading
verification of the exact order
occupied an hour or two, working with a
magnifier, my wife and Mr. Mace assisting.
When recorded, the gold was put in the scales
and weighed against sovereigns before the work-
man, who saw everything. Rather more than
the value of gold was given to the men, and thus
we ensured their goodwill and honesty for the
future. The sequel is instructive. Though all
our camp of workers knew about this and about
several other finds of gold, yet the willing separa-
tion between our workmen (who came from
Koptos, fifty miles away) and the local natives
was so complete that no tales of the gold got
about the country. When the Arabic papers
copied the discovery from my letter in the Times,
after I had left Egypt, it caused a great ferment
in the neighbourhood, and huge tales of the
gold and treasures rent the hearts of the local
plunderers, Avho till then were in ignorance of
the valuables that my men had found. There
could not be a more satisfactory hold over the
workmen than that which is proved by this
whole affair.
The history of the arm can be somewhat
inferred. It certainly had not been looked into
by any one since the first plunderer, or the
obvious lump of gold would have been taken.
And the plunderers who broke up the body of
the queen must have been later than those who
hacked the holes in the walls in search of
treasure. So we may reconstruct the history in
this fashion. The roof of the tomb had become
decayed and let the sand pour through, over the
queen's body, before the first plunderers broke
>*
snBacfc
m
valfl
ibles-
tb
AmenbflteP
his age,
.lid
My *
broken up
forearm in
got so mucl
else perish
seems to h£
stairway (
thousand ;
here, and'
the arm w
destroyed
find, tort]
lay in th
eyed the
and these
Cairo Mi
than a fe
treasure.
18 J
bracelets
The 1
gold am
thefaca(
the la
up for
%:
tecktf
Siting
i i
Ne