DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4104#0033
24
ABYDOS III.
here to say something of the plunderers, for at
the very entrance we came on some pottery
that had been broken during the long years
they had spent in the determined effort to
destroy the body of Senusert III.
Almost all that is known of this pottery was
discovered by Professor Petrie when excavating
at Abadiyeh (see Diospolis Parva). There a
number of flat pan-shaped graves were found,
and in them a quantity of pottery very like the
prehistoric forms, but showing much rougher
workmanship. Most of the beads found in the
graves also differed from the known types,
and great numbers of flat, oblong pieces of
mother-of-pearl were strung together. With
these there were also many worn articles well
known in the Xllth Dynasty, so it would seem
as if these people, to whom Professor Petrie
gave the name of Pan-grave people, must, have
come in at the close of that period. It looks as
if a strong barbaric race had arrived as con-
querors, bringing with them their household
goods and ornaments. If not driven out
later, the younger generation probably adopted
the ways of the more civilized folk, and so no
more of the old things are found.
It is the pottery made by these people that
the first plunderers left in the tomb (see pi. xl).
Doubtless during the remainder of the Xllth
Dynasty the temple connected with the tomb,
—described by Messrs. Randall Maclver and
Mace in El Amrah and Abydos,—was in use,
and the site of the tomb known and venerated.
Consequently at the fall of the dynasty, so
great a tomb would be well known to the
conquerors, and certainly one of the first places
they would attempt to destroy.
34. When the plunderers got into the tomb
they found themselves in a room of great
beauty, (I Although it looks long and narrow
on the plan, the proportions are extremely
good, and the great blocks that formed the
sides and ceiling are of the finest- white lime-
stone. The long blocks of stone which form
the ceiling are carved to look as if the roof
were made of long poles side by side.
The photograph on pi. xliii, shows the pole-
roof chamber, taken by flashlight. Unfortunately
the film was slightly curved in its holder.
The effect of the room is remarkable: long,
narrow, and severe, yet the fe.eling of the cross
lines of the cutting, and the proportion of them
to the size of the room, is such that the few who
saw it were strangely impressed by its beauty
Near the end of this pole-roof chamber, two
passages run off to right and left. Each leads
to a room, D,D. These rooms are not lined,
but the rock was very carefully dressed and
then roughly polished. As the two rooms are
alike I shall speak only of the south one in
detail. The height at the different corners
m. It is
8 ft. 7 in. wide and 17 ft. 3J> in. long. The
variation in the measurements is very slight,
though they are nowhere exact, e.g., the east
wall at the top measures 8 ft. 7 in., while at
again the north
wall at the top measures 17 ft. 3£ in., and at
the bottom half an inch more.
With these three rooms the tomb apparently
ends. It was quite evident that there were
no openings from the side chambers, so these
were left. In the pole-roof chamber, however,
at intervals of every few feet holes had been
chiselled through the thick lining. Usually
the place selected was where two stones joined,
and with very narrow chisels the corners were
cut off, and the stone worked through. Both
sides and the end showed nothing but solid
rock behind the lining. Next the ceiling was
tried. When the great carved blocks at the
end opposite the entrance had been broken
through, masonry was found above, and when
that in turn was torn away, still more masonry,
and so on through several layers, till at last
the plunderers found themselves in an enormous
passage running parallel to the pole-roof
chamber, but on a higher level,
ABYDOS III.
here to say something of the plunderers, for at
the very entrance we came on some pottery
that had been broken during the long years
they had spent in the determined effort to
destroy the body of Senusert III.
Almost all that is known of this pottery was
discovered by Professor Petrie when excavating
at Abadiyeh (see Diospolis Parva). There a
number of flat pan-shaped graves were found,
and in them a quantity of pottery very like the
prehistoric forms, but showing much rougher
workmanship. Most of the beads found in the
graves also differed from the known types,
and great numbers of flat, oblong pieces of
mother-of-pearl were strung together. With
these there were also many worn articles well
known in the Xllth Dynasty, so it would seem
as if these people, to whom Professor Petrie
gave the name of Pan-grave people, must, have
come in at the close of that period. It looks as
if a strong barbaric race had arrived as con-
querors, bringing with them their household
goods and ornaments. If not driven out
later, the younger generation probably adopted
the ways of the more civilized folk, and so no
more of the old things are found.
It is the pottery made by these people that
the first plunderers left in the tomb (see pi. xl).
Doubtless during the remainder of the Xllth
Dynasty the temple connected with the tomb,
—described by Messrs. Randall Maclver and
Mace in El Amrah and Abydos,—was in use,
and the site of the tomb known and venerated.
Consequently at the fall of the dynasty, so
great a tomb would be well known to the
conquerors, and certainly one of the first places
they would attempt to destroy.
34. When the plunderers got into the tomb
they found themselves in a room of great
beauty, (I Although it looks long and narrow
on the plan, the proportions are extremely
good, and the great blocks that formed the
sides and ceiling are of the finest- white lime-
stone. The long blocks of stone which form
the ceiling are carved to look as if the roof
were made of long poles side by side.
The photograph on pi. xliii, shows the pole-
roof chamber, taken by flashlight. Unfortunately
the film was slightly curved in its holder.
The effect of the room is remarkable: long,
narrow, and severe, yet the fe.eling of the cross
lines of the cutting, and the proportion of them
to the size of the room, is such that the few who
saw it were strangely impressed by its beauty
Near the end of this pole-roof chamber, two
passages run off to right and left. Each leads
to a room, D,D. These rooms are not lined,
but the rock was very carefully dressed and
then roughly polished. As the two rooms are
alike I shall speak only of the south one in
detail. The height at the different corners
m. It is
8 ft. 7 in. wide and 17 ft. 3J> in. long. The
variation in the measurements is very slight,
though they are nowhere exact, e.g., the east
wall at the top measures 8 ft. 7 in., while at
again the north
wall at the top measures 17 ft. 3£ in., and at
the bottom half an inch more.
With these three rooms the tomb apparently
ends. It was quite evident that there were
no openings from the side chambers, so these
were left. In the pole-roof chamber, however,
at intervals of every few feet holes had been
chiselled through the thick lining. Usually
the place selected was where two stones joined,
and with very narrow chisels the corners were
cut off, and the stone worked through. Both
sides and the end showed nothing but solid
rock behind the lining. Next the ceiling was
tried. When the great carved blocks at the
end opposite the entrance had been broken
through, masonry was found above, and when
that in turn was torn away, still more masonry,
and so on through several layers, till at last
the plunderers found themselves in an enormous
passage running parallel to the pole-roof
chamber, but on a higher level,