DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3390#0029
26
THE GREAf MASTABA IO60 OF SENAR
Reisner has arrived at much the same general con-
clusion from a comparison of the two ages. (Reisner,
Early Dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ed-Der, I, p. 126
et seqq.).
However, these percentages do not give quite a
fair comparison, for included in this collection of
types are a large number of varieties, which really
represent the same original idea. In order, then, to
reach a true conception of the parts played by these
two sources in the building up of the later historic
civilisation, such vases as 12 and 13 should be
counted as one, as should 15 and 16, also 20, 21, 22,
and 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31, 32, 33, and 35, 36.
If we thus expunge material which is not the result
of different ideas, but of mere variation, we find that
the percentage of native pre-dynastic ideas is even
greater, for, of these later ideas,
62'5 °/o were contributed by the native civilisation.
37"5 % » .. » dynastic „
34. It is here seen that in the common class of
material, which serves the every-day life of the
nation, the old native population is in the ascendancy;
but in considering these percentages it must not be
forgotten that they are deduced from pottery, which
was that portion of the civilisation most in the hands
of the lower strata of society, least portable by a
new people, and most fixed to the soil. Hence the
old ideas would tend to continue, and the new ideas
would tend to show themselves less here than in
other classes of objects. So while the above ratios
may give a very good idea of the large amount of
the older civilisation which continued in the country,
yet the comparative importance of the two influences
in moulding the course of the later civilisation may
perhaps be better seen by observing the chief new
things which are found as soon as the dynastic
civilisation appears. They are also found to be those
details of the later Egyptian civilisation, which have
been looked upon as its distinguishing marks.
These introductions are:
1. Brick-making, which, if not entirely new, is at
any rate vastly extended.
2. Mastabas.
3. Burial without ash-jars.
4. Steles.
5. Bedsteads and pillows.
6. Carpentry on a large scale, and a correspond-
ing increase in
7. Carpenters' tools.
8. Use of copper on a large scale.
9. Sculpture in stone.
10. Writing.
11. Cylinder seals.
12. Artistic ability.
13. Game of draughts.
14. Flax.
15. The slow wheel for potters.
It is these details, and not those of the pre-
dynastic culture, which have stamped what we know
as the Egyptian civilisation with its peculiar features,
and which have shaped its progress during the whole
course of its long history. While, on the one hand,
the percentages of the common class, i.e. pottery,
show a predominance in the lowest industry of the
old native race, on the other hand the arts show
a corresponding predominance of the invading race.
In fact, the old pre-dynastic race scarcely seems to
have influenced them at all; and although the
Egyptian civilisation had long been known to science,
yet its pre-dynastic forerunner was never suspected,
and when it was discovered its allocation presented
the utmost difficulty, as no connections could be
obtained between it and its historic successor.
It seems probable, therefore, that the old pre-
dynastic people continued to exist as the main body
of the nation—the uncultured lower classes—for the
most part influenced and not influencing, but supply-
ing the background to the new hybrid civilisation,
the most salient features of which were derived from
the conquerors. The arts which the pre-dynastic
people had possessed quickly fell into disuse before
those of the more advanced civilisation of the
invaders, which would naturally become the fashion-
able style. However, the pre-dynastic culture did
not entirely pass without leaving its mark, for it
probably gave to Egypt its famous power over the
hardest stones, and moreover one of the most charac-
teristically Egyptian of arts dates back to this age—
the art of glazing.
CHAPTER V
OBJECTS FOUND IN THE CEMETERY
Plates i-xiv
{Reference numbers, top right hand. Grave numbers, bottom
left. Sequence-dates, bottom right.)
35. Plate I. View of the cemetery of Tarkhan
from near M on pi. lxix, the hill N on the right and
K on the left, the hills F and J in the distance. The
hills are of a soft marly limestone, split with joints
THE GREAf MASTABA IO60 OF SENAR
Reisner has arrived at much the same general con-
clusion from a comparison of the two ages. (Reisner,
Early Dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ed-Der, I, p. 126
et seqq.).
However, these percentages do not give quite a
fair comparison, for included in this collection of
types are a large number of varieties, which really
represent the same original idea. In order, then, to
reach a true conception of the parts played by these
two sources in the building up of the later historic
civilisation, such vases as 12 and 13 should be
counted as one, as should 15 and 16, also 20, 21, 22,
and 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31, 32, 33, and 35, 36.
If we thus expunge material which is not the result
of different ideas, but of mere variation, we find that
the percentage of native pre-dynastic ideas is even
greater, for, of these later ideas,
62'5 °/o were contributed by the native civilisation.
37"5 % » .. » dynastic „
34. It is here seen that in the common class of
material, which serves the every-day life of the
nation, the old native population is in the ascendancy;
but in considering these percentages it must not be
forgotten that they are deduced from pottery, which
was that portion of the civilisation most in the hands
of the lower strata of society, least portable by a
new people, and most fixed to the soil. Hence the
old ideas would tend to continue, and the new ideas
would tend to show themselves less here than in
other classes of objects. So while the above ratios
may give a very good idea of the large amount of
the older civilisation which continued in the country,
yet the comparative importance of the two influences
in moulding the course of the later civilisation may
perhaps be better seen by observing the chief new
things which are found as soon as the dynastic
civilisation appears. They are also found to be those
details of the later Egyptian civilisation, which have
been looked upon as its distinguishing marks.
These introductions are:
1. Brick-making, which, if not entirely new, is at
any rate vastly extended.
2. Mastabas.
3. Burial without ash-jars.
4. Steles.
5. Bedsteads and pillows.
6. Carpentry on a large scale, and a correspond-
ing increase in
7. Carpenters' tools.
8. Use of copper on a large scale.
9. Sculpture in stone.
10. Writing.
11. Cylinder seals.
12. Artistic ability.
13. Game of draughts.
14. Flax.
15. The slow wheel for potters.
It is these details, and not those of the pre-
dynastic culture, which have stamped what we know
as the Egyptian civilisation with its peculiar features,
and which have shaped its progress during the whole
course of its long history. While, on the one hand,
the percentages of the common class, i.e. pottery,
show a predominance in the lowest industry of the
old native race, on the other hand the arts show
a corresponding predominance of the invading race.
In fact, the old pre-dynastic race scarcely seems to
have influenced them at all; and although the
Egyptian civilisation had long been known to science,
yet its pre-dynastic forerunner was never suspected,
and when it was discovered its allocation presented
the utmost difficulty, as no connections could be
obtained between it and its historic successor.
It seems probable, therefore, that the old pre-
dynastic people continued to exist as the main body
of the nation—the uncultured lower classes—for the
most part influenced and not influencing, but supply-
ing the background to the new hybrid civilisation,
the most salient features of which were derived from
the conquerors. The arts which the pre-dynastic
people had possessed quickly fell into disuse before
those of the more advanced civilisation of the
invaders, which would naturally become the fashion-
able style. However, the pre-dynastic culture did
not entirely pass without leaving its mark, for it
probably gave to Egypt its famous power over the
hardest stones, and moreover one of the most charac-
teristically Egyptian of arts dates back to this age—
the art of glazing.
CHAPTER V
OBJECTS FOUND IN THE CEMETERY
Plates i-xiv
{Reference numbers, top right hand. Grave numbers, bottom
left. Sequence-dates, bottom right.)
35. Plate I. View of the cemetery of Tarkhan
from near M on pi. lxix, the hill N on the right and
K on the left, the hills F and J in the distance. The
hills are of a soft marly limestone, split with joints