DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3388#0026
i6
THE GREAT MASTABA, NO. 17
the eyebrow by a ball of paste. This paste had been
pressed into a strip of linen loosely passing over
the sockets, after which the head had been bandaged
in the usual way. One of these plugs from the
eye-socket is shewn on pi. xi, 5, after it had been
removed from the head, with the convex lump of
paste upwards.
The septum of the nose had not been broken
to extract the brain, yet the skull was absolutely
empty. The brain can therefore only have been
removed through the foramen magnum, when the
head was taken off for the preparation of the body.
It was bandaged separately from the backbone, for
linen adhered to the condyles ; the two being again
adjusted before the final wrapping.
The lower jaw had been tightly bandaged round
and round, the bandages passing right over the
teeth, shewing that it must have been taken off and
wrapped separately. It shewed no trace of flesh.
The mouth was filled with a twisted-up pad of
linen, visible in front of the vertebrae in the mass,
pi. xi, 4.
The skull measurements are :—
mm.
Length, glabella . . . .187
„ ophryon . . . .186
Breadth, max......141
„ bi-auricular . . .118
„ bi-zygomatic . . .123
Height .....140
Basi-nasal length . . . .99
Basi-alveolar.....87
Nasi-alveolar . . . . -79
Nasal height.....59
Nasal width.....24
Nasion to chin . . . .127
Jaw length . . . . . 119
„ breadth at joint . . .121
„ breadth at base . . .101
Nose deflected to the left.
Orbits isolated from both brow and nose (pi. xi,
1, 2, 3).
1 molar slightly decayed.
The long-bone measurements in millimetres are :—
Right. Left.
Humerus
329 326 (end damaged)
Radius.
262 257
Ulna .
286 281
Femur.
. (broken) 466
Tibia .
393 399
Fibula.
39S 396
The three packages which were found in the
sarcophagus were examined by Dr. Riiffer, Director
of the Quarantine Dept. Alexandria, who reports
the contents to be only vegetable matter. Parallel
to this is his report, that the packages, which were
returned to the body, generally contain only a part
of the organ, the rest of the package being filled
out with vegetable matter and mud.
There was no special place in the tomb for the
reception of the intestines, nor were any found apart
from these packages. One of the packages is shewn
on pi. xi, 5.
The bones and critical examples of the wrappings
are placed in the Ethnographical Department of the
British Museum.
The wrappings are of fine gauze, soft and smooth
as silk, measuring on the warp and woof:—
155 x 60 threads to the inch.
102 68
/ 140 60
128 72,
123 62
A few fragments of very coarse loosely woven
cloth were also found in the coffin.
Samples of the bandages were submitted to Mr.
Midgley of Bolton, who pronounced them all to be of
flax.
No signs of a headrest were discovered.
The tomb stood open for some time after it had
been rifled, as the sloughs of two snakes were left
here, after their owners had cast them and gone away
again.
31. The sarcophagus was of red granite, of very
massive construction, with a cover of the usual early
shape (pi. x, 4). The workmanship is fine; the
accuracy of the flatness of the interior having an aver-
age error of not more than -025 inch over a surface of
about 6x2 feet, and even this variation is in large
wide curves. Over the smaller area at the ends, about
2x2 feet, the average error drops to only '02 inch.
The interior surface is hammer-dressed and parti-
ally polished, bearing numerous signs of working
with a copper or bronze tool.
The perpendicular inner edges are drilled, while
the edges between the bottom and the sides are
hammered out, the angles not being sharp, but wide
and rounded.
The exterior, though quite smooth, is not so
carefully worked as the interior. A great chip has
been knocked off one corner of the sarcophagus,
THE GREAT MASTABA, NO. 17
the eyebrow by a ball of paste. This paste had been
pressed into a strip of linen loosely passing over
the sockets, after which the head had been bandaged
in the usual way. One of these plugs from the
eye-socket is shewn on pi. xi, 5, after it had been
removed from the head, with the convex lump of
paste upwards.
The septum of the nose had not been broken
to extract the brain, yet the skull was absolutely
empty. The brain can therefore only have been
removed through the foramen magnum, when the
head was taken off for the preparation of the body.
It was bandaged separately from the backbone, for
linen adhered to the condyles ; the two being again
adjusted before the final wrapping.
The lower jaw had been tightly bandaged round
and round, the bandages passing right over the
teeth, shewing that it must have been taken off and
wrapped separately. It shewed no trace of flesh.
The mouth was filled with a twisted-up pad of
linen, visible in front of the vertebrae in the mass,
pi. xi, 4.
The skull measurements are :—
mm.
Length, glabella . . . .187
„ ophryon . . . .186
Breadth, max......141
„ bi-auricular . . .118
„ bi-zygomatic . . .123
Height .....140
Basi-nasal length . . . .99
Basi-alveolar.....87
Nasi-alveolar . . . . -79
Nasal height.....59
Nasal width.....24
Nasion to chin . . . .127
Jaw length . . . . . 119
„ breadth at joint . . .121
„ breadth at base . . .101
Nose deflected to the left.
Orbits isolated from both brow and nose (pi. xi,
1, 2, 3).
1 molar slightly decayed.
The long-bone measurements in millimetres are :—
Right. Left.
Humerus
329 326 (end damaged)
Radius.
262 257
Ulna .
286 281
Femur.
. (broken) 466
Tibia .
393 399
Fibula.
39S 396
The three packages which were found in the
sarcophagus were examined by Dr. Riiffer, Director
of the Quarantine Dept. Alexandria, who reports
the contents to be only vegetable matter. Parallel
to this is his report, that the packages, which were
returned to the body, generally contain only a part
of the organ, the rest of the package being filled
out with vegetable matter and mud.
There was no special place in the tomb for the
reception of the intestines, nor were any found apart
from these packages. One of the packages is shewn
on pi. xi, 5.
The bones and critical examples of the wrappings
are placed in the Ethnographical Department of the
British Museum.
The wrappings are of fine gauze, soft and smooth
as silk, measuring on the warp and woof:—
155 x 60 threads to the inch.
102 68
/ 140 60
128 72,
123 62
A few fragments of very coarse loosely woven
cloth were also found in the coffin.
Samples of the bandages were submitted to Mr.
Midgley of Bolton, who pronounced them all to be of
flax.
No signs of a headrest were discovered.
The tomb stood open for some time after it had
been rifled, as the sloughs of two snakes were left
here, after their owners had cast them and gone away
again.
31. The sarcophagus was of red granite, of very
massive construction, with a cover of the usual early
shape (pi. x, 4). The workmanship is fine; the
accuracy of the flatness of the interior having an aver-
age error of not more than -025 inch over a surface of
about 6x2 feet, and even this variation is in large
wide curves. Over the smaller area at the ends, about
2x2 feet, the average error drops to only '02 inch.
The interior surface is hammer-dressed and parti-
ally polished, bearing numerous signs of working
with a copper or bronze tool.
The perpendicular inner edges are drilled, while
the edges between the bottom and the sides are
hammered out, the angles not being sharp, but wide
and rounded.
The exterior, though quite smooth, is not so
carefully worked as the interior. A great chip has
been knocked off one corner of the sarcophagus,