DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18130#0049
THE CEMETERIES OE SEDMENT AND CCJROI).
35
carelessly dropped into the pit. A cross or two,
a Christian palm-branch lamp, and a roughly-
carved dove (see plate xlii) showed the tombs to
be Christian and of about the IVth century.
The dove carved in wood shows how long
certain things may survive. Over the screen in
chapels in the Cretan mountains such doves are
placed to-day. The size, form, and method of
inserting the wing is the same.
Near these circular pits were some tombs
that had been re-used at about the same time.
The bodies were roughly wrapped, and had been
stacked in the tomb one above another. But
there was some idea of regularity ; for instance,
bodies were lying with the axes east and west,
though the heads were not all to the east.
These I took to be pagans. Could the Christian
protest against paganism have shown itself in
this total and unnatural disregard for the body ?
55, About half a mile south of the temple
site we found some prehistoric graves. The
plunderers had left very little. One whole pot
and some sherds were obtained. This was of the
tall cylinder shape, and decorated by red lines
dividing the surface into lozenge-shaped spaces,
of which the long axis is vertical. This type
comes near the close of the prehistoric period.
Unfortunately the pot was so badly decayed
that it fell to pieces shortly after we found it.
56. A short distance south of the temple a
cemetery for burying sacred fish was found.
Here, at a depth of from 20 to 35 inches below
the surface, were the remains of a large number
of the sacred Nile perch. As far as could be
seen the fish had been buried without any pro-
cess of embalming or other preservation. A
piece of net or a few fish were placed within it,
and then the hole was filled up with ashes. One
of the pits was brick-lined, and one of these
bricks was stamped with the cartouche of Ra-
messu II. A search was then made, and in a
wall in the cemetery a brick was found stamped
with the cartouche of Tahutmes III. Near the
i fish were many oxen interred. As my com-
panion, Mr. L. Loat, has made special study
of Nile fishes, the full account of this interesting
cemetery is published by him in the annual
volume of the Egyptian Research Account.
The drawing of an ox in glazed ware and
the scarabs came from the site of the temple
| worked by Professor Petrie when he was digging
in the Fayum (plate xl, 2, 3, 7, 8).
It will be seen these show the very things
found in the animals cemetery. No. 2 is an
ox; No. 3 is the Nile perch; No. 7 is a picture
of the king sacrificing one, and the seal, No. 8,
is in the form of a fish. This led me to think
that the worship of these animals was a part of
the temple worship. The plates of scarabs pub-
lished by Professor Petrie, after he dug the
temple site, however, show only one Avith a fish
design, but they also show no other marked
design; so it is possible that the worship of
this fish had a prominent place in the G-urob
temple.
The general evidence of the three weeks' exca-
vations entirely goes to confirm Professor Petrie's
statement that the town was a foreign centre,
and had no existence after the reign of
Merenptah.
The foreign pottery shows intercourse with
the Aegean and Phoenicia by sea, and the juglet
(plate xxxix, 32) is evidence of Syrian trade by
caravan.
35
carelessly dropped into the pit. A cross or two,
a Christian palm-branch lamp, and a roughly-
carved dove (see plate xlii) showed the tombs to
be Christian and of about the IVth century.
The dove carved in wood shows how long
certain things may survive. Over the screen in
chapels in the Cretan mountains such doves are
placed to-day. The size, form, and method of
inserting the wing is the same.
Near these circular pits were some tombs
that had been re-used at about the same time.
The bodies were roughly wrapped, and had been
stacked in the tomb one above another. But
there was some idea of regularity ; for instance,
bodies were lying with the axes east and west,
though the heads were not all to the east.
These I took to be pagans. Could the Christian
protest against paganism have shown itself in
this total and unnatural disregard for the body ?
55, About half a mile south of the temple
site we found some prehistoric graves. The
plunderers had left very little. One whole pot
and some sherds were obtained. This was of the
tall cylinder shape, and decorated by red lines
dividing the surface into lozenge-shaped spaces,
of which the long axis is vertical. This type
comes near the close of the prehistoric period.
Unfortunately the pot was so badly decayed
that it fell to pieces shortly after we found it.
56. A short distance south of the temple a
cemetery for burying sacred fish was found.
Here, at a depth of from 20 to 35 inches below
the surface, were the remains of a large number
of the sacred Nile perch. As far as could be
seen the fish had been buried without any pro-
cess of embalming or other preservation. A
piece of net or a few fish were placed within it,
and then the hole was filled up with ashes. One
of the pits was brick-lined, and one of these
bricks was stamped with the cartouche of Ra-
messu II. A search was then made, and in a
wall in the cemetery a brick was found stamped
with the cartouche of Tahutmes III. Near the
i fish were many oxen interred. As my com-
panion, Mr. L. Loat, has made special study
of Nile fishes, the full account of this interesting
cemetery is published by him in the annual
volume of the Egyptian Research Account.
The drawing of an ox in glazed ware and
the scarabs came from the site of the temple
| worked by Professor Petrie when he was digging
in the Fayum (plate xl, 2, 3, 7, 8).
It will be seen these show the very things
found in the animals cemetery. No. 2 is an
ox; No. 3 is the Nile perch; No. 7 is a picture
of the king sacrificing one, and the seal, No. 8,
is in the form of a fish. This led me to think
that the worship of these animals was a part of
the temple worship. The plates of scarabs pub-
lished by Professor Petrie, after he dug the
temple site, however, show only one Avith a fish
design, but they also show no other marked
design; so it is possible that the worship of
this fish had a prominent place in the G-urob
temple.
The general evidence of the three weeks' exca-
vations entirely goes to confirm Professor Petrie's
statement that the town was a foreign centre,
and had no existence after the reign of
Merenptah.
The foreign pottery shows intercourse with
the Aegean and Phoenicia by sea, and the juglet
(plate xxxix, 32) is evidence of Syrian trade by
caravan.