Quibell, James Edward: El Kab (London, 1898)

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INTRODUCTION.

I. It was on Mr. Somers Clarke's proposition that
El Kab was selected for last winter's work of the
Research Account. Mr. Clarke has for some years
been interested in this site, and has published some of
the XVIIIth dynasty tombs there. He wished to
see the smaller tombs excavated, and the great area
inside the town examined, so, with his colleague,
Mr. J. J. Tylor, he offered a considerable subscription
to the funds, on condition that El Kab should be the
selected site. To Mr. Jesse Howarth, equally with
these gentlemen, we are indebted for that support
without which the excavations could not have been
carried out.

We arrived at El Kab on the 1st of December, and
within four days had cleared out several of the
uninscribed tombs in the famous hill, and had made
them into a most comfortable house. Nothing in
Egypt makes so pleasant a dwelling as a rock-tomb.
In a house in which window and door are one, and
three sides and the roof are of solid rock, there can be
no draughts, and the range of temperature night and
day is very small. We had a room each, another for
a dining-room, and in two more I packed away my
forty workmen. These were nearly all men known in
previous years at Kuft and Naqada, for the natives of
El Kab are few in number and of inferior physical
strength, so that their labour at two piastres a day
was dearer than that of the picked Kuftis at four.
All the conditions of work were very pleasant, much
better than I have known in Egypt before. No crowd
of loiterers and dealers' spies haunted the work as at
Kuft, no robbery by workmen threatened us as at
Thebes. Surveying poles were left out for weeks
together; at most villages they would have been
stolen the first night for firewood.

There was some delay in getting the necessary

permission for digging; after a fortnight's waiting
we received it, and began to work upon the Xllth
dynasty cemetery. Halfway through March the
digging was gradually brought to an end, and map-
making and packing occupied the time till we left in
the beginning of April. Fifty-four boxes of pottery
and other objects were brought to England, were
exhibited during the month of July at University
College, and were then dispersed to various museums,
Oxford, Philadelphia, Chicago and Manchester, re-
ceiving the largest shares. I have to acknowledge
much help received both in Egypt and England. To
Mr. Clarke, besides the financial support mentioned
already, we owe thanks for help in the work of ex-
cavation, in plan-making, drawing, etc., and for his
untiring hospitality. To Miss A. A. Pirie, who was
with us for the later two-thirds of the season, we are
indebted for several coloured drawings of tombs, etc.,
now at University College, and to her, as also to my
sister, for constant aid in the varied daily occupations
of the digger, tasks in which their experience makes
them most valuable helpers, and which they cheerfully
added to the labours of desert housekeeping. In
England, several friends have helped in the work of
unpacking, exhibiting, drawing plates, etc., notably
Miss Griffith, Miss Murray, Mr. Herbert Thompson
and Dr. Walker. Few outside the little ring of
diggers and their friends know how much drudgery
in Egypt and in England is taken off our hands
by friendly helpers, working without a thought of
reward.

2. The site of El Kab is a large one. The area
inside the town walls alone would have required to
clear it five times the money we had at our disposal ;
and besides that, there was the hill of XVIIIth
dynasty tombs, the cemeteries outside the walls, and
the temples far up on the desert. It was necessary
to make careful choice of such spots as would repay
the labour expended on them. The most obvious

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