DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0364
THE TUMULUS K X
275
pression of the wood of the door showed a crack between two planks, probably the edges of
the two leaves of the door. Thus the sealing had been set in the middle where the edges of
the leaves meet and the door had been made of vertical planks held by cross-cleats, as is
usual in Egypt. Personally, I have no doubt that this sealing came from the door of K X A.
The impression (120) was of a seal resembling, but not identical with, Seal 11-86 (cf. also,
1-9, I—10), and was repeated ten times on the sealing, which was perfect (surface, 7.4 X
5. 2 cm.; thickness, 3.6 cm.).
The cell was roofed with an ordinary Egyptian semi-cylindrical vault consisting of three
concentric courses of bricks leaning towards the back wall — the same kind of vault as that
employed for the roof of K III B and C. The bricks used in the vault were about the same
length and width as those in the main walls, but were only 6 cm. thick, while the mortar
was very plentiful between the bricks. It is well known that the single bricks in this type
of vault will be held in place until the course is completed at the top merely by the cohesion
of the thick mud mortar. The details of the vault in K X A were very difficult to get at,
but the drawing in Fig. 90 is approximately correct. One set of thieves, probably the
second, had broken through the top of the vault; and the damaged upper part of the brick-
work did not enable me to determine whether the space above the vault had been filled
solid with bricks right across the top or whether the side walls had merely been continued
up with the same thickness as below the spring of the vault. At the eastern end, the spring
of the vault began at about 65 cm. above the floor so that the actual vault was 236 cm. wide
and 129 cm. high. Thus the curve of the vault was by no means the semicircle which I
appear to have indicated by the word ‘1 semi-cylindrical.”
The eastern wall of the chamber K X A, had been further strengthened by a pair of
N-S walls (cf. K III B, C) separated by a narrow space, 47 cm. wide, filled with earth
(Fig. 91). One wall, 43 cm. thick, was built directly against the eastern wall of the cell.
The other, 60 cm. thick, ran parallel to the first. Both were broken off about the middle
of the east end of K X A, but had probably been continued to the line of the northern face
of the room and there joined by a short E-W wall.
275
pression of the wood of the door showed a crack between two planks, probably the edges of
the two leaves of the door. Thus the sealing had been set in the middle where the edges of
the leaves meet and the door had been made of vertical planks held by cross-cleats, as is
usual in Egypt. Personally, I have no doubt that this sealing came from the door of K X A.
The impression (120) was of a seal resembling, but not identical with, Seal 11-86 (cf. also,
1-9, I—10), and was repeated ten times on the sealing, which was perfect (surface, 7.4 X
5. 2 cm.; thickness, 3.6 cm.).
The cell was roofed with an ordinary Egyptian semi-cylindrical vault consisting of three
concentric courses of bricks leaning towards the back wall — the same kind of vault as that
employed for the roof of K III B and C. The bricks used in the vault were about the same
length and width as those in the main walls, but were only 6 cm. thick, while the mortar
was very plentiful between the bricks. It is well known that the single bricks in this type
of vault will be held in place until the course is completed at the top merely by the cohesion
of the thick mud mortar. The details of the vault in K X A were very difficult to get at,
but the drawing in Fig. 90 is approximately correct. One set of thieves, probably the
second, had broken through the top of the vault; and the damaged upper part of the brick-
work did not enable me to determine whether the space above the vault had been filled
solid with bricks right across the top or whether the side walls had merely been continued
up with the same thickness as below the spring of the vault. At the eastern end, the spring
of the vault began at about 65 cm. above the floor so that the actual vault was 236 cm. wide
and 129 cm. high. Thus the curve of the vault was by no means the semicircle which I
appear to have indicated by the word ‘1 semi-cylindrical.”
The eastern wall of the chamber K X A, had been further strengthened by a pair of
N-S walls (cf. K III B, C) separated by a narrow space, 47 cm. wide, filled with earth
(Fig. 91). One wall, 43 cm. thick, was built directly against the eastern wall of the cell.
The other, 60 cm. thick, ran parallel to the first. Both were broken off about the middle
of the east end of K X A, but had probably been continued to the line of the northern face
of the room and there joined by a short E-W wall.