DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4664#0034
KOM EL AHMAR.
29
than elsewhere. When this mound was cleared a
group of chambers was disclosed, the contents of
which were not of importance ; but as the walls did
not rest on undisturbed sand we went down deeper,
and just below the level of the walls began to come
upon scattered objects of the archaic period.
It chanced that the first objects found were those
close to and under the N. wall of the middle room.
There were two sharp-edged stone maces, a flint
knife, and a vase with a large conical seal of yellow
clay. These, with other objects, lay all together, and
the wall had to be undermined to obtain them. An-
other pit was made on the N. side of the wall, and
more than twenty objects, all of archaic types, were
found lying together ; a green glaze monkey, a large
quartz mace, and some pieces of inscribed ivory.
Two other trenches skirting this same group of
rooms, and approaching from the N. and E., ran into
similar groups of archaic objects. In the middle of
these different groups the objects were really heaped
one on another : at one point limestone maces lay in
scores, and, stained by the clay, looked much like a
heap of potatoes. There was also a great heap made
up entirely of objects in ivory, chiefly statuettes.
We at last realised that we had found a great
heap of archaic objects, not distributed in separate
chambers, as Amelineau's finds in the royal tombs
made us expect, but carelessly thrown together.
The heap was approached from every side till its
boundaries were known, and the objects were gradu-
ally removed. This was a month's work, and for
more than half this time we were working with pen-
knife and steel ruler, instead of adze and basket,
extricating the delicate objects from the sandy clay
in which they were embedded.
It is impossible to give a detailed plan of so
confused and close packed a heap of objects ; and as
the order in which they were taken out was largely
accidental, it will be simpler to give a general account
of their relative positions, following this by a com-
plete list of all the objects found in the group, but
leaving details of measurement, &c, to the catalogue
in the plates.
This will involve some repetition, but the fault is
hard to avoid.
72. The best point to begin will be from one of
the largest objects, the flat slab of stone which lay
near the S.E. verge of the group. It was apparently
the base of a statue, or something of the kind,
1 m. 26 long, 80 cm. wide, and 25 cm. thick ; the
top of it sunk, and leaving a ledge 26 cm. wide round
the margin. It lay E. and W. Nothing stood on
this base : its surface was rather rough, and bore no
inscription, so I left it in situ. Close by it, to the
N., W., and S., and on the same level, were parts of a
wall or pavement of squared limestone blocks, six in a
double row to the N., a single row of four to the W.,
and three to the S. Those to the N. were in contact
with the stone slab, the others were a metre away ;
and in the space between to the W. lay the great
slate palette (PL. XXIX.). Under the stones lay a
lot of coarse potsherds and a fragment of bone. This
masonry, and a bit of wall made of small bricks
which was found a little further to the south, formed
the only fragments of building connected with the
great deposit; for, as has been already said, the
system of brick walls shown on the plan lie at a
higher level, and have nothing to do with the archaic
objects.
Immediately to the S. and E. of the stone slab
lay a mass of objects, more than seventy in number,
heaped together with no discernible order; they
included a model bedstead (?) of limestone, broken
maces, stone vases, and objects in glaze. Further
to the E. was the smaller decorated slate palette,
and under it another palette (plain) and a fine flint
knife ; still further to the E., about four metres away,
stood the large granite vase with the inscription of
Kha-sekhem. To the N. of the stone slab the objects
lay still more thickly. Here was the heap of ivory :
it lay in a mass about 2 m. long (N. and S.), and not
quite so broad, a confused heap of statuettes, cylin-
ders, and wands ; some had been broken before being
placed there, but most could have been removed
complete had not the ivory been in so lamentable a
state. The ground was moist, the mixture of sand
and clay was heavy and rather tough ; the long tap
roots of the camel-plant ran through the mass ; more
than once I observed that a root had found its way
through the layers of ivory, and pierced through the
length of a statuette, splitting it up as it grew.
There was a good deal of various salts in the
ground, and a crystalline layer had sometimes formed
between the layers of ivory ; more often it had been
deposited round the outer surface, covering the object
with a tough, dirty-white mask : and often one piece
would be fastened to another by the same material.
The ivory itself was of various degrees of consistency ;
sometimes a mere yellow paste, or a little heap of
grains or needles, lying in a hollow in the clay ;
sometimes just so well preserved that we could affirm,
" This must have been a statuette about a foot long,"
29
than elsewhere. When this mound was cleared a
group of chambers was disclosed, the contents of
which were not of importance ; but as the walls did
not rest on undisturbed sand we went down deeper,
and just below the level of the walls began to come
upon scattered objects of the archaic period.
It chanced that the first objects found were those
close to and under the N. wall of the middle room.
There were two sharp-edged stone maces, a flint
knife, and a vase with a large conical seal of yellow
clay. These, with other objects, lay all together, and
the wall had to be undermined to obtain them. An-
other pit was made on the N. side of the wall, and
more than twenty objects, all of archaic types, were
found lying together ; a green glaze monkey, a large
quartz mace, and some pieces of inscribed ivory.
Two other trenches skirting this same group of
rooms, and approaching from the N. and E., ran into
similar groups of archaic objects. In the middle of
these different groups the objects were really heaped
one on another : at one point limestone maces lay in
scores, and, stained by the clay, looked much like a
heap of potatoes. There was also a great heap made
up entirely of objects in ivory, chiefly statuettes.
We at last realised that we had found a great
heap of archaic objects, not distributed in separate
chambers, as Amelineau's finds in the royal tombs
made us expect, but carelessly thrown together.
The heap was approached from every side till its
boundaries were known, and the objects were gradu-
ally removed. This was a month's work, and for
more than half this time we were working with pen-
knife and steel ruler, instead of adze and basket,
extricating the delicate objects from the sandy clay
in which they were embedded.
It is impossible to give a detailed plan of so
confused and close packed a heap of objects ; and as
the order in which they were taken out was largely
accidental, it will be simpler to give a general account
of their relative positions, following this by a com-
plete list of all the objects found in the group, but
leaving details of measurement, &c, to the catalogue
in the plates.
This will involve some repetition, but the fault is
hard to avoid.
72. The best point to begin will be from one of
the largest objects, the flat slab of stone which lay
near the S.E. verge of the group. It was apparently
the base of a statue, or something of the kind,
1 m. 26 long, 80 cm. wide, and 25 cm. thick ; the
top of it sunk, and leaving a ledge 26 cm. wide round
the margin. It lay E. and W. Nothing stood on
this base : its surface was rather rough, and bore no
inscription, so I left it in situ. Close by it, to the
N., W., and S., and on the same level, were parts of a
wall or pavement of squared limestone blocks, six in a
double row to the N., a single row of four to the W.,
and three to the S. Those to the N. were in contact
with the stone slab, the others were a metre away ;
and in the space between to the W. lay the great
slate palette (PL. XXIX.). Under the stones lay a
lot of coarse potsherds and a fragment of bone. This
masonry, and a bit of wall made of small bricks
which was found a little further to the south, formed
the only fragments of building connected with the
great deposit; for, as has been already said, the
system of brick walls shown on the plan lie at a
higher level, and have nothing to do with the archaic
objects.
Immediately to the S. and E. of the stone slab
lay a mass of objects, more than seventy in number,
heaped together with no discernible order; they
included a model bedstead (?) of limestone, broken
maces, stone vases, and objects in glaze. Further
to the E. was the smaller decorated slate palette,
and under it another palette (plain) and a fine flint
knife ; still further to the E., about four metres away,
stood the large granite vase with the inscription of
Kha-sekhem. To the N. of the stone slab the objects
lay still more thickly. Here was the heap of ivory :
it lay in a mass about 2 m. long (N. and S.), and not
quite so broad, a confused heap of statuettes, cylin-
ders, and wands ; some had been broken before being
placed there, but most could have been removed
complete had not the ivory been in so lamentable a
state. The ground was moist, the mixture of sand
and clay was heavy and rather tough ; the long tap
roots of the camel-plant ran through the mass ; more
than once I observed that a root had found its way
through the layers of ivory, and pierced through the
length of a statuette, splitting it up as it grew.
There was a good deal of various salts in the
ground, and a crystalline layer had sometimes formed
between the layers of ivory ; more often it had been
deposited round the outer surface, covering the object
with a tough, dirty-white mask : and often one piece
would be fastened to another by the same material.
The ivory itself was of various degrees of consistency ;
sometimes a mere yellow paste, or a little heap of
grains or needles, lying in a hollow in the clay ;
sometimes just so well preserved that we could affirm,
" This must have been a statuette about a foot long,"