DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3391#0022
THE JEWELLERY TOMB
13
to the burial. This is proved because the piece in
question was found at a much higher level than the
remainder, shewing that it had been removed from
the body. Before, however, he could take away any
more of the jewellery, the roof fell in and crushed him
and the mummy, the latter being on the coffin ; this
accounts for the fact that the fragments of wood
were under and not over the body.
The robbers, who, as I shall explain in chapter ix,
were the guardians of the cemetery, having seen the
fate of their accomplice, and knowing that to clear
away the fallen roof would be a labour of many days,
filled in the tomb-shaft so that their doings would
not come to light, and they never had a chance to
reach the jewels again. In a few years the secret of
the contents of the tomb was forgotten, and by a
singularly lucky chance they escaped the attentions
of later plunderers.
CHAPTER IV
XIITH DYNASTY OBJECTS
30. PLATE V, no. 1. Two xiith dynasty discs
with rounded backs engraved with the familiar
sma, the symbol of union, seen so commonly on
the sides of the thrones of statues. The upper
one is of solid lazuli, and the lower of a flat plate
and a curved back of quartz crystal set in gold.
They are from the tomb of Uartet As't, no. 42,
cemetery A, and were found with a bronze mirror
(pi. x, no. 14) and a string of large green spherical
beads. These discs and the beads are now in the
University Museum, Manchester.
PI. v, no. 2. Zam and Uas sceptres from the
tomb of Sa-uazet (no. 166). For examples of these
see Dahdwur 1894, p. 111, but they are rare. They
were found, together with a stick, on the left of
the body of Sa-uazet, whose titles were Mety en Sa
or ' Regulator of the Courses of the Priests.'
The sceptres were originally covered with gold
leaf, but this had all peeled off before I opened
the coffin. They are now in the National Museum,
Dublin.
For details of the burial, see chapter x.
31. PI. v, no. 3, and pi. vi (scale 1:3). A
massive limestone stele of a man named Ab and
his descendants. The figure at the top is that of
Ab; beneath him are a male and a female figure,
possibly of the son and daughter-in -law of Ab, and
beneath them again are four male figures who may
be their children. On the right are three figures
of servants grinding corn, and at the bottom right
hand corner is the name Anhora, who may have
been a doorkeeper.
On the left is seen a man snaring birds with
a clap-net; some of the birds being cut in the
stone, and others being painted on in red. The
inscription on the right of the net appears to have
been put on by the son of Ab.
The line of names at the bottom of the stele
appear to be the grandchildren who were not
important, or perhaps those who died in infancy.
The stele is coloured; the figures being in
black and yellow, and the hieroglyphs in black,
yellow and red. The block is rudely triangular,
and the engraving has been adapted to fit the
size.
The date of this stele may at the earliest be
of the ixth-xth dynasty. The reasons for this sup-
position are: (1) because no stele is known without
the false-door before the xith dynasty. (2) The
work is very coarse, shewing a decayed civilisation
which could well be prior to the rise of the xith
dynasty. (3) Its resemblance to some of the steles
from Dendereh. This block is not really a true
stele, but rather a condensed tomb-scene. We must
therefore put it before the regular xith-dynasty
steles, but after the false-door, the false-door being
a forerunner of the stele ; hence the xth dynasty
seems the more probable date.
The block was found half way down a xxvith-
dynasty shaft on the extreme east of cemetery B.
I can offer no suggestion as to its origin, as no
graves are known of the period to which it might
reasonably have belonged.
A translation of the inscriptions is given in
chapter xi.
PL v, no. 4; see sect. 18.
32. PI. vii, nos. i-8, are four canopic jars with
human heads, of the xiith dynasty from grave 116,
cemetery A. The graves had been robbed anciently
by breaking in from grave 126 (see pi. xlvii).
The contents of the tomb had been entirely broken
up with the exception of a few pots which are
shewn on pi. xli.
The jar of Duatmutef, nos. 1 and 7, is the best,
the work being quite the high-water mark of the
xiith dynasty. The jar of Amseth is almost as
good, but those of Hapi and Qebhsennuf, nos. 4
and 8, 3 and 6 respectively, are of much inferior
13
to the burial. This is proved because the piece in
question was found at a much higher level than the
remainder, shewing that it had been removed from
the body. Before, however, he could take away any
more of the jewellery, the roof fell in and crushed him
and the mummy, the latter being on the coffin ; this
accounts for the fact that the fragments of wood
were under and not over the body.
The robbers, who, as I shall explain in chapter ix,
were the guardians of the cemetery, having seen the
fate of their accomplice, and knowing that to clear
away the fallen roof would be a labour of many days,
filled in the tomb-shaft so that their doings would
not come to light, and they never had a chance to
reach the jewels again. In a few years the secret of
the contents of the tomb was forgotten, and by a
singularly lucky chance they escaped the attentions
of later plunderers.
CHAPTER IV
XIITH DYNASTY OBJECTS
30. PLATE V, no. 1. Two xiith dynasty discs
with rounded backs engraved with the familiar
sma, the symbol of union, seen so commonly on
the sides of the thrones of statues. The upper
one is of solid lazuli, and the lower of a flat plate
and a curved back of quartz crystal set in gold.
They are from the tomb of Uartet As't, no. 42,
cemetery A, and were found with a bronze mirror
(pi. x, no. 14) and a string of large green spherical
beads. These discs and the beads are now in the
University Museum, Manchester.
PI. v, no. 2. Zam and Uas sceptres from the
tomb of Sa-uazet (no. 166). For examples of these
see Dahdwur 1894, p. 111, but they are rare. They
were found, together with a stick, on the left of
the body of Sa-uazet, whose titles were Mety en Sa
or ' Regulator of the Courses of the Priests.'
The sceptres were originally covered with gold
leaf, but this had all peeled off before I opened
the coffin. They are now in the National Museum,
Dublin.
For details of the burial, see chapter x.
31. PI. v, no. 3, and pi. vi (scale 1:3). A
massive limestone stele of a man named Ab and
his descendants. The figure at the top is that of
Ab; beneath him are a male and a female figure,
possibly of the son and daughter-in -law of Ab, and
beneath them again are four male figures who may
be their children. On the right are three figures
of servants grinding corn, and at the bottom right
hand corner is the name Anhora, who may have
been a doorkeeper.
On the left is seen a man snaring birds with
a clap-net; some of the birds being cut in the
stone, and others being painted on in red. The
inscription on the right of the net appears to have
been put on by the son of Ab.
The line of names at the bottom of the stele
appear to be the grandchildren who were not
important, or perhaps those who died in infancy.
The stele is coloured; the figures being in
black and yellow, and the hieroglyphs in black,
yellow and red. The block is rudely triangular,
and the engraving has been adapted to fit the
size.
The date of this stele may at the earliest be
of the ixth-xth dynasty. The reasons for this sup-
position are: (1) because no stele is known without
the false-door before the xith dynasty. (2) The
work is very coarse, shewing a decayed civilisation
which could well be prior to the rise of the xith
dynasty. (3) Its resemblance to some of the steles
from Dendereh. This block is not really a true
stele, but rather a condensed tomb-scene. We must
therefore put it before the regular xith-dynasty
steles, but after the false-door, the false-door being
a forerunner of the stele ; hence the xth dynasty
seems the more probable date.
The block was found half way down a xxvith-
dynasty shaft on the extreme east of cemetery B.
I can offer no suggestion as to its origin, as no
graves are known of the period to which it might
reasonably have belonged.
A translation of the inscriptions is given in
chapter xi.
PL v, no. 4; see sect. 18.
32. PI. vii, nos. i-8, are four canopic jars with
human heads, of the xiith dynasty from grave 116,
cemetery A. The graves had been robbed anciently
by breaking in from grave 126 (see pi. xlvii).
The contents of the tomb had been entirely broken
up with the exception of a few pots which are
shewn on pi. xli.
The jar of Duatmutef, nos. 1 and 7, is the best,
the work being quite the high-water mark of the
xiith dynasty. The jar of Amseth is almost as
good, but those of Hapi and Qebhsennuf, nos. 4
and 8, 3 and 6 respectively, are of much inferior