DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3389#0027
THE PYRAMIDAL CENOTAPHS
19
39. Though the cemetery produced no examples
of burial in ordinary dress—probably owing to its
not being used by Christians—yet one little child
was in the clothes which it wore during life. Outside
was a long thick shroud. Then followed 8 turns of
coarse bandage from head to ankles, which retained
a yellow wool dress with two bands of purple figures,
tucked in over head and feet. Below was a Y tie
over the shoulders, and 3 turns round the body.
Next a thick coarse cloth turned up over feet to
waist. Then a child's dress laid on the front, having
two bands of purple and red flowers. Within was a
wrap, and bits of a coloured dress with all the wool
eaten out by moth before burial. On the body was
a plain dress of fine linen. The persistence of the
Y band, where all else of the bandaging system was
changed, shows the importance attached to it. (Bristol.)
40. Two instances of dissevered bodies were found,
though such are very unusual in late times. A
woman's mummy, along with portrait mummy 46,
had rhombic bandage, 5 layers: pink feet with black
straps and gold studs, serpent armlets, Isis Horus and
Nebhat triad on neck, a purple robe, and long curl
of hair. Inside the wrapping, the jaw was among
the ribs, all bones of right arm in the pelvis, and the
vertebrae all separate. Above portrait 1, with three
inches of sand between, lay a woman's mummy
wrapped in plain cloths ; within, it had the humeri
out of the scapulae, proximal ends together lying one
across and one down, scapula and ribs between them,
loose vertebrae, pelvis dissevered, and leg bones all
parallel close together. Evidently it had been
wrapped as entirely separate bones. Is it likely that
any accident in macerating the body—which had to
be delivered up after a recognised period—could
possibly have removed all the ligaments of the spine
and have left the vertebrae apart ? Such seems
impossible, and if so we must grant that these were
intentionally dismembered in some manner. Being
women it can hardly be supposed that they had been
lost in the desert and eaten by animals; even in
such a case the spine of a carcase holds together.
CHAPTER VI
THE GROUPS OF TOMBS.
41. Apart from the subject of the portrait
mummies we also cleared and fully examined various
groups of tombs which contained plain mummies.
Neither coloured cartonnage, nor gilt stucco, nor
portraits, were found below any of the ostentatious
stone or brick buildings on the surface, except in one
case (Nos. 2, 3, 4); and hence all these forms of
decoration were probably kept in the house until
abandoned by the family.
The most interesting group was that shown in
photographs pi. xvii, and the top plan, 1, on pi. xxii.
The north-west chamber had originally been in one
with the south-west. A cenotaph was built against
the north wall, with a recess in it for offerings, and
the group painted with basket-stands of flowers ; this
is seen on the right of the top view, xvii, 1, looking
at east end of it; in front view of the south face across
the chamber, in the mid view, 2 ; and closer in the
view 3. There was nothing left in the recess ; in 1888
I found a glass cup in such a recess (Hawara, xvii, 3).
In the middle of the chamber were built two detached
pyramids on square dados. The more perfect one is
shown in elevation above the plan, with the con-
tinuation of the sides dotted up to a point. The
clearest view is of the southern pyramid in view
xvii, 2, and they can both be seen in view 1. The
sizes of these pyramids at the foot of the slope were,
northern, 30^6 inches on west; southern, 32-9 on
north, 34-7 on west. The angles were, northern 67°
north, 67^° south; southern 66^° east, 68^° west,
7o|° south; there was thus no accuracy about them,
and they were only made of mud brick plastered.
After these pyramids were built over the mummies, the
northern part of the chamber was bricked across with
a very thick wall, without any opening. This wall
encased one side of the southern pyramid, and ran
above a portrait mummy 40, vi. This is one of the
few instances of a portrait mummy inside a chamber
or open court, and there was no monument over it
or over the three other bodies. In the north-west
corner under the cenotaph were two bodies, the lower
one that of Heron, whose inscription is on pi. x, 3.
42. The other burials on the eastern side of plan 1
had but slight wrapping bound with coarse tapes of
a brick-red colour, or none.
A small well-finished chamber is that marked 2,
and shown in photograph, xviii, 5. The pits of
burial were very small, and the paving projected over
them ; the southern pit had the base course of a stone
cenotaph. In the north-east corner were set in the
ground a small, flat, ribbed jar, a cup with six waves
in the outline, and a smaller saucer, apparently for
offerings.
A large enclosure is shown in plan xxii, 3, the
view from the east being on pi. xviii, 4; the view of
19
39. Though the cemetery produced no examples
of burial in ordinary dress—probably owing to its
not being used by Christians—yet one little child
was in the clothes which it wore during life. Outside
was a long thick shroud. Then followed 8 turns of
coarse bandage from head to ankles, which retained
a yellow wool dress with two bands of purple figures,
tucked in over head and feet. Below was a Y tie
over the shoulders, and 3 turns round the body.
Next a thick coarse cloth turned up over feet to
waist. Then a child's dress laid on the front, having
two bands of purple and red flowers. Within was a
wrap, and bits of a coloured dress with all the wool
eaten out by moth before burial. On the body was
a plain dress of fine linen. The persistence of the
Y band, where all else of the bandaging system was
changed, shows the importance attached to it. (Bristol.)
40. Two instances of dissevered bodies were found,
though such are very unusual in late times. A
woman's mummy, along with portrait mummy 46,
had rhombic bandage, 5 layers: pink feet with black
straps and gold studs, serpent armlets, Isis Horus and
Nebhat triad on neck, a purple robe, and long curl
of hair. Inside the wrapping, the jaw was among
the ribs, all bones of right arm in the pelvis, and the
vertebrae all separate. Above portrait 1, with three
inches of sand between, lay a woman's mummy
wrapped in plain cloths ; within, it had the humeri
out of the scapulae, proximal ends together lying one
across and one down, scapula and ribs between them,
loose vertebrae, pelvis dissevered, and leg bones all
parallel close together. Evidently it had been
wrapped as entirely separate bones. Is it likely that
any accident in macerating the body—which had to
be delivered up after a recognised period—could
possibly have removed all the ligaments of the spine
and have left the vertebrae apart ? Such seems
impossible, and if so we must grant that these were
intentionally dismembered in some manner. Being
women it can hardly be supposed that they had been
lost in the desert and eaten by animals; even in
such a case the spine of a carcase holds together.
CHAPTER VI
THE GROUPS OF TOMBS.
41. Apart from the subject of the portrait
mummies we also cleared and fully examined various
groups of tombs which contained plain mummies.
Neither coloured cartonnage, nor gilt stucco, nor
portraits, were found below any of the ostentatious
stone or brick buildings on the surface, except in one
case (Nos. 2, 3, 4); and hence all these forms of
decoration were probably kept in the house until
abandoned by the family.
The most interesting group was that shown in
photographs pi. xvii, and the top plan, 1, on pi. xxii.
The north-west chamber had originally been in one
with the south-west. A cenotaph was built against
the north wall, with a recess in it for offerings, and
the group painted with basket-stands of flowers ; this
is seen on the right of the top view, xvii, 1, looking
at east end of it; in front view of the south face across
the chamber, in the mid view, 2 ; and closer in the
view 3. There was nothing left in the recess ; in 1888
I found a glass cup in such a recess (Hawara, xvii, 3).
In the middle of the chamber were built two detached
pyramids on square dados. The more perfect one is
shown in elevation above the plan, with the con-
tinuation of the sides dotted up to a point. The
clearest view is of the southern pyramid in view
xvii, 2, and they can both be seen in view 1. The
sizes of these pyramids at the foot of the slope were,
northern, 30^6 inches on west; southern, 32-9 on
north, 34-7 on west. The angles were, northern 67°
north, 67^° south; southern 66^° east, 68^° west,
7o|° south; there was thus no accuracy about them,
and they were only made of mud brick plastered.
After these pyramids were built over the mummies, the
northern part of the chamber was bricked across with
a very thick wall, without any opening. This wall
encased one side of the southern pyramid, and ran
above a portrait mummy 40, vi. This is one of the
few instances of a portrait mummy inside a chamber
or open court, and there was no monument over it
or over the three other bodies. In the north-west
corner under the cenotaph were two bodies, the lower
one that of Heron, whose inscription is on pi. x, 3.
42. The other burials on the eastern side of plan 1
had but slight wrapping bound with coarse tapes of
a brick-red colour, or none.
A small well-finished chamber is that marked 2,
and shown in photograph, xviii, 5. The pits of
burial were very small, and the paving projected over
them ; the southern pit had the base course of a stone
cenotaph. In the north-east corner were set in the
ground a small, flat, ribbed jar, a cup with six waves
in the outline, and a smaller saucer, apparently for
offerings.
A large enclosure is shown in plan xxii, 3, the
view from the east being on pi. xviii, 4; the view of