DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0315
242
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
K 456. Plan XVII, K IV (continued).
Burial:
Body B — sacrificial, in SW corner, tightly contracted, on right side, head south;
hands on face.
Body C — leg-bones thrown up on debris over ram.
Ram — in NW corner, on right side, head south; protectors near horns.
Objects: pair of bone horn-protectors; one complete beaker, Bkt. II, and five or six smashed
beakers.
K 457. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 3/2-4/2.
Grave: rectangular, 250 X 140 cm., 80 cm. below foot of walls; orient., ca. 2° south of
east; the outline is marked by a partially destroyed retaining wall of mud-brick;
thus this grave was made subsequently to the building of the tumulus walls.
Burial: completely plundered; a disturbed ram on floor and some human bones in the
debris.
Objects: potsherds, in the debris.
K 458. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 9/2-10/2. Empty pit.
K 459. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 25/3. Empty pit.
K 460. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 26/3. Empty pit.
K 461. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 18-19. Empty pit.
K 462. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 20/3. Empty pit.
(2) K IV, SUBSIDIARY GRAVES, TYPES AND RELATION
The same general remarks in regard to poor burials as those made for K III, hold for
K IV. But at K IV, the basic facts are entirely different. Eight of the graves lay under
compartment walls of the tumulus — K405, K407, K409, K411, K425, K432, K435, and
K 440. The walls over these were seldom perfectly preserved, but well enough to prove
that the graves were dug and the burials interred before the compartment walls were built.
In only two cases, K 410 and K 457, had retaining walls been built to keep back the filling
of the compartments and these two graves at least had been made after the compartment
walls were built. Thus two sets of graves must be held in mind; (a) those made before the
tumulus walls were built; and (5) those made afterwards.
On the other hand, the conditions indicate that the cemetery as a whole was made after
the burial in the main chambers, K IV A and B. The equal distribution of graves on both
sides of the corridor, their homogeneity, the analogy with K III and K X, and the fact that
no graves were cut by the sacrificial corridor, would exclude the idea that this is a cemetery
of older graves cut through by the main burial. It would be altogether unnatural to find
such a great area as the corridor (about 90 X 5.5 m.) left so conveniently across the middle
of a cemetery. The possibility is not to be excluded that one or two isolated graves may
have been earlier than tumulus K IV, but considering the distribution of the isolated
graves in K Cem. B, this possibility must be regarded as remote.
The facts in regard to the plundering can only be explained by assuming two periods of
spoliation, one before the tumulus walls were built, and one afterwards. The entirely
intact burials were the poor graves, K 408, K 412, K 416, K 417, K 427, K 431, the better
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
K 456. Plan XVII, K IV (continued).
Burial:
Body B — sacrificial, in SW corner, tightly contracted, on right side, head south;
hands on face.
Body C — leg-bones thrown up on debris over ram.
Ram — in NW corner, on right side, head south; protectors near horns.
Objects: pair of bone horn-protectors; one complete beaker, Bkt. II, and five or six smashed
beakers.
K 457. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 3/2-4/2.
Grave: rectangular, 250 X 140 cm., 80 cm. below foot of walls; orient., ca. 2° south of
east; the outline is marked by a partially destroyed retaining wall of mud-brick;
thus this grave was made subsequently to the building of the tumulus walls.
Burial: completely plundered; a disturbed ram on floor and some human bones in the
debris.
Objects: potsherds, in the debris.
K 458. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 9/2-10/2. Empty pit.
K 459. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 25/3. Empty pit.
K 460. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 26/3. Empty pit.
K 461. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 18-19. Empty pit.
K 462. Plan XVII, K IV, comp. 20/3. Empty pit.
(2) K IV, SUBSIDIARY GRAVES, TYPES AND RELATION
The same general remarks in regard to poor burials as those made for K III, hold for
K IV. But at K IV, the basic facts are entirely different. Eight of the graves lay under
compartment walls of the tumulus — K405, K407, K409, K411, K425, K432, K435, and
K 440. The walls over these were seldom perfectly preserved, but well enough to prove
that the graves were dug and the burials interred before the compartment walls were built.
In only two cases, K 410 and K 457, had retaining walls been built to keep back the filling
of the compartments and these two graves at least had been made after the compartment
walls were built. Thus two sets of graves must be held in mind; (a) those made before the
tumulus walls were built; and (5) those made afterwards.
On the other hand, the conditions indicate that the cemetery as a whole was made after
the burial in the main chambers, K IV A and B. The equal distribution of graves on both
sides of the corridor, their homogeneity, the analogy with K III and K X, and the fact that
no graves were cut by the sacrificial corridor, would exclude the idea that this is a cemetery
of older graves cut through by the main burial. It would be altogether unnatural to find
such a great area as the corridor (about 90 X 5.5 m.) left so conveniently across the middle
of a cemetery. The possibility is not to be excluded that one or two isolated graves may
have been earlier than tumulus K IV, but considering the distribution of the isolated
graves in K Cem. B, this possibility must be regarded as remote.
The facts in regard to the plundering can only be explained by assuming two periods of
spoliation, one before the tumulus walls were built, and one afterwards. The entirely
intact burials were the poor graves, K 408, K 412, K 416, K 417, K 427, K 431, the better