Engelbach, Reginald; Petrie, William M. Flinders [Hrsg.]: Memphis (Band 6): Riqqeh and Memphis VI (London, 1915)

RIQQEH

INTRODUCTION

I. The excavations at Riqqeh were begun early
in December 1912, and were continued for four
months, concurrently with those of Prof. Fetrie at
Kafr 'Ammar.

Some graves had been noticed by one of our
workmen, Aly es-Sweyfy, between Kafr 'Ammar and
the village of El-Gerzeh, at which place the pre-
historic and some of the xviiith-dynasty graves had
been worked by the British School two years
previously. I therefore left Kafr 'Ammar with about
fourteen men, with the object of working on these
graves, in order to complete our knowledge of the
west bank of the Nile between Lisht and Meydum ;
this was the only piece of that district not yet
examined. It was soon apparent that the cemetery
was larger than we had expected, so I decided to
make a longer stay there, to work out the large pits
mentioned by Mr. Wainwright in The Labyrinth,
Gerzeh, and Mazghuneh, p. 1, and to finish the
cemetery which he told me was not completed. I
therefore built a house nearly opposite El-Gerzeh
village, so as to be able to work the country for
a distance of about two miles north and south.

We have decided to give the name of RlQQEH to
this volume, as the cemetery extends for nearly four
miles along the desert; this is far beyond the limits
of El-Gerzeh, but it all comes within the district of
Riqqeh, which is a station-town and post-office.
Riqqeh is the next station south of Kafr 'Ammar,
the two villages being about six miles apart; the
distance between the camps was slightly less.

During the last month of my work in Riqqeh,
I was joined by Mr. Thompson, who took over a
large share of the work, both in recording and in
managing the workmen. My best thanks are also
due to Mrs. Flinders Petrie, who spent about a
fortnight in drawing the painted tombs, coffins, and
1

the greater part of the steles; to Miss M. Broome
for doing the inking in of all my pottery drawings ;
to Miss M. Murray for her examination of the
inscriptions ; to Mr. C. M. Green, of the Dept. of
Botany, University College, and Dr. Derry for their
reports in sects. 52 and 14 respectively.

2. PI. xlvi is a rough map of the district, the
graves of which may be divided into seven cemeteries.
These cemeteries are indicated by the letters A-G on
the map. Their periods are as follows :

Cemetery A. Tomb-shafts of the xiith dynasty.
Cemetery B. Modern Muslim, with xiith, xviiith,

xixth, xxii-xxvith, Ptolemaic

and Roman on the east and

south sides.
Cemetery Ci. Roman on surface, with xviii-xixth

dynasty underneath.
Cemetery C2. Exclusively xiith dynasty, but all

the graves had been very badly

plundered.
(Between Ci and C2 is a Muslim cemetery.)
Cemetery D. xviii-xixth dynasty, with a few

graves of the xiith dynasty.
Cemetery E. xviii-xixth dynasty, part of which

is described in The Labyrinth,

Gerzeh, and Mazghuneh, sect. 39;

also some shafts of the xxiii-

xxvith dynasties.
Cemetery F. Large pits of the xviii-xxvth

dynasties, all very badly

plundered.
Cemetery G. Site of the pre-historic cemetery

worked by Mr. Wainwright.

{The Labyrinth Gerzeh, and

Mazghuneh; p. 4 and sqq.)

These, together with the large pits described in
chapter i, comprise the cemeteries of Riqqeh.