DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0044
22 HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
The western trenches showed that here if anywhere the adjacent or subsidiary struc-
tures were to be found protected by the debris of the Deffufa. The excavation of this area
and the removal of the debris around the mud-mass was at once undertaken, and by
March 11, 1913, the whole was clear. The top of the main structure was cleaned up in
March, 1914.
The Lower Deffufa itself consists of a single rectangular mass of unbaked mud-brick
with a later addition of some size on the middle of the eastern face. The main building is
orientated about 15° 50' east of magnetic north and is practically but not mathematically
rectangular. The directions of the faces are as follows:
West face: 15° 40' ±5' east of north,
East face: 15° 55' ±5' east of north,
North face: 13° 25' ±5' south of east, .
South face: 13° 30' ±5'south of east.
The building is 52.20 m. ± 20 cm. long, and 26.70 m. ± 20 cm. wide. These measure-
ments indicate that the builder intended the mass to be 100 by 50 Egyptian ells in size.
The highest point now preserved, which is on the western face, is 19.30 m. above the foot
of the wall and 22.95 m. above the bench mark, B.M.2,1 set by the Egyptian Survey De-
partment on a large granite boulder in the plain to the north. The original floor of the
top was, however, above the highest point now preserved, and probably between 19.50
and 20.50 m. above the foot of the western wall.
The wall rests on all sides in a comparatively shallow foundation trench. The ground
rises and falls along this trench, but is nowhere more than 70 cm. above the floor of the
trench. The space between the wall and the side of the trench is about 20 cm. wide and
is filled with clean grey sand like that of the present sand-banks in the river. It was not
possible to investigate fully the strata under the building without destroying considerable
portions of the brickwork. Nevertheless the decay of the southeast corner enabled us with
some danger to make a partial examination there, and it became clear that the mass was
built over a low mound of older debris containing walls similar to heavy house walls of
mud-brick. Thus it was only the outer parts of the walls of the Deffufa which were sunk
in the foundation trench.
The unburned mud-bricks used in the Deffufa were of two sizes. The greater part
measured on an average 35 X 17 X 12 cm.; but in the lower courses, of which I counted
twenty at the NE corner, a thinner brick was used, measuring 35 X 17 X 8 cm. Where the
outer face of the wall was preserved, a fairly consistent alternation of header and stretcher
courses was observed; and this surface bonding was probably continued over the whole of
the faces of the building. Behind the face of the masonry, the header and stretcher
courses appeared with some variations to be laid in fours alternately; that is, four header
courses were overlaid with four stretcher courses, and so on. The walls were further
strengthened by beams of wood set horizontally in the brickwork at right angles to the
faces of the wall. These beams had either entirely decayed or been burnt out by fire.
The empty channels where they had lain were difficult of access and, where accessible, usu-
ally damaged by the probings of treasure hunters. At places, however, the mud-mortar
1 B.M.2 has a mean value of 224.808 meters above mean sea level at Alexandria. The foot of the wall is thus
228.458 meters above sea level.
The western trenches showed that here if anywhere the adjacent or subsidiary struc-
tures were to be found protected by the debris of the Deffufa. The excavation of this area
and the removal of the debris around the mud-mass was at once undertaken, and by
March 11, 1913, the whole was clear. The top of the main structure was cleaned up in
March, 1914.
The Lower Deffufa itself consists of a single rectangular mass of unbaked mud-brick
with a later addition of some size on the middle of the eastern face. The main building is
orientated about 15° 50' east of magnetic north and is practically but not mathematically
rectangular. The directions of the faces are as follows:
West face: 15° 40' ±5' east of north,
East face: 15° 55' ±5' east of north,
North face: 13° 25' ±5' south of east, .
South face: 13° 30' ±5'south of east.
The building is 52.20 m. ± 20 cm. long, and 26.70 m. ± 20 cm. wide. These measure-
ments indicate that the builder intended the mass to be 100 by 50 Egyptian ells in size.
The highest point now preserved, which is on the western face, is 19.30 m. above the foot
of the wall and 22.95 m. above the bench mark, B.M.2,1 set by the Egyptian Survey De-
partment on a large granite boulder in the plain to the north. The original floor of the
top was, however, above the highest point now preserved, and probably between 19.50
and 20.50 m. above the foot of the western wall.
The wall rests on all sides in a comparatively shallow foundation trench. The ground
rises and falls along this trench, but is nowhere more than 70 cm. above the floor of the
trench. The space between the wall and the side of the trench is about 20 cm. wide and
is filled with clean grey sand like that of the present sand-banks in the river. It was not
possible to investigate fully the strata under the building without destroying considerable
portions of the brickwork. Nevertheless the decay of the southeast corner enabled us with
some danger to make a partial examination there, and it became clear that the mass was
built over a low mound of older debris containing walls similar to heavy house walls of
mud-brick. Thus it was only the outer parts of the walls of the Deffufa which were sunk
in the foundation trench.
The unburned mud-bricks used in the Deffufa were of two sizes. The greater part
measured on an average 35 X 17 X 12 cm.; but in the lower courses, of which I counted
twenty at the NE corner, a thinner brick was used, measuring 35 X 17 X 8 cm. Where the
outer face of the wall was preserved, a fairly consistent alternation of header and stretcher
courses was observed; and this surface bonding was probably continued over the whole of
the faces of the building. Behind the face of the masonry, the header and stretcher
courses appeared with some variations to be laid in fours alternately; that is, four header
courses were overlaid with four stretcher courses, and so on. The walls were further
strengthened by beams of wood set horizontally in the brickwork at right angles to the
faces of the wall. These beams had either entirely decayed or been burnt out by fire.
The empty channels where they had lain were difficult of access and, where accessible, usu-
ally damaged by the probings of treasure hunters. At places, however, the mud-mortar
1 B.M.2 has a mean value of 224.808 meters above mean sea level at Alexandria. The foot of the wall is thus
228.458 meters above sea level.