DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49517#0132
86
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
5. CONCLUSIONS
In general, the inscriptions on these seals reproduce the types found by Professor
Petrie at Kahun;1 but they contain a far greater proportion of the Type III (4)a (deeply
hollowed) and b (deeply hollowed) than the Kahun collection of seals and impressions.
According to Professor Petrie, the Kahun collections were gathered by small boys search-
ing in the debris. However, some of the examples are dated by their inscriptions, and a
few are dated by the papyri to which they were attached;2 and there can be little doubt
that, with very few exceptions, the inscriptions Kahun, Pl. X, nos. 2-64 and Illahun, Pl.
VIII, nos. 23-88, Pls. IX-X, nos. 1-193 fall in the same period as the papyri, between
the reign of Sesostris III and that of Sekhem-ka-ra, inclusive.
Thus, while many of the types found at Kerma are to be found in Egypt as late as the
early XVIIIth Dynasty, no characteristic type of that period is represented, and, taken
as a whole, the Kerma collection of seals may be assigned to the period from the middle
of the Middle Kingdom to the Hyksos Period. The seals found in the sacrificial corridors
in K III and K IV must be assigned to the period from Amenemhat II to Amenemhat IV,
and those found in the subsidiary graves of these two tumuli to the same period, but ex-
tending in the case of K IV into the XHIth Dynasty. Thus it is necessary to extend the
range of deeply hollowed, magical figure types (Inscr. Types III (4) a and b), commonly
assigned to the Hyksos Period, and the range of the Hyksos scarab form (Scarab Form
V (3)a) backward to the time of Amenemhat II. This extension of date of the magical
figure scarabs reestablishes the chronological connection between this type of inscription
and the magical figure inscriptions of the early scarabs and the button seals.
The seals found in the sacrificial corridor of K X and the mud seal impression from the
door of the main burial chamber are undoubtedly from the XHIth Dynasty, while the
seals found in the subsidiary burials are of the same period and later. These, like the mud
impressions, present a greater proportion of deeply hollowed magical figure types (Inscr.
Types HI (4) a and b), and show that the usual assignment of this type to the intermediate
period between the Middle and the New Kingdoms is based on the fact that it is the com-
monest type in that period. All the later seals, as well as the mud impressions from K I
and K XI, contain also a large proportion of geometrical line designs (Inscr. Types II (1)
and (2)). These are not unknown in Egypt.3 The hatched lines, in particular, occur on
cylinder seals and on button seals, and elements of geometrical patterns occur as subsidiary
parts of other types of inscription. But so far as our present material goes, the extensive
use of a rich variety of geometrical line designs is a peculiarity of the Kerma seals and
especially of those of the Hyksos Period — a development fully in accord with the in-
creased use of geometrical line designs on the pottery of that period.
1 Petrie, Kahun, Pl. X and Illahun, Pls. VIII-X.
2 Griffith, Kahun Papyri.
3 Petrie, Illahun, Pl. X, nos. 186-193.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
5. CONCLUSIONS
In general, the inscriptions on these seals reproduce the types found by Professor
Petrie at Kahun;1 but they contain a far greater proportion of the Type III (4)a (deeply
hollowed) and b (deeply hollowed) than the Kahun collection of seals and impressions.
According to Professor Petrie, the Kahun collections were gathered by small boys search-
ing in the debris. However, some of the examples are dated by their inscriptions, and a
few are dated by the papyri to which they were attached;2 and there can be little doubt
that, with very few exceptions, the inscriptions Kahun, Pl. X, nos. 2-64 and Illahun, Pl.
VIII, nos. 23-88, Pls. IX-X, nos. 1-193 fall in the same period as the papyri, between
the reign of Sesostris III and that of Sekhem-ka-ra, inclusive.
Thus, while many of the types found at Kerma are to be found in Egypt as late as the
early XVIIIth Dynasty, no characteristic type of that period is represented, and, taken
as a whole, the Kerma collection of seals may be assigned to the period from the middle
of the Middle Kingdom to the Hyksos Period. The seals found in the sacrificial corridors
in K III and K IV must be assigned to the period from Amenemhat II to Amenemhat IV,
and those found in the subsidiary graves of these two tumuli to the same period, but ex-
tending in the case of K IV into the XHIth Dynasty. Thus it is necessary to extend the
range of deeply hollowed, magical figure types (Inscr. Types III (4) a and b), commonly
assigned to the Hyksos Period, and the range of the Hyksos scarab form (Scarab Form
V (3)a) backward to the time of Amenemhat II. This extension of date of the magical
figure scarabs reestablishes the chronological connection between this type of inscription
and the magical figure inscriptions of the early scarabs and the button seals.
The seals found in the sacrificial corridor of K X and the mud seal impression from the
door of the main burial chamber are undoubtedly from the XHIth Dynasty, while the
seals found in the subsidiary burials are of the same period and later. These, like the mud
impressions, present a greater proportion of deeply hollowed magical figure types (Inscr.
Types HI (4) a and b), and show that the usual assignment of this type to the intermediate
period between the Middle and the New Kingdoms is based on the fact that it is the com-
monest type in that period. All the later seals, as well as the mud impressions from K I
and K XI, contain also a large proportion of geometrical line designs (Inscr. Types II (1)
and (2)). These are not unknown in Egypt.3 The hatched lines, in particular, occur on
cylinder seals and on button seals, and elements of geometrical patterns occur as subsidiary
parts of other types of inscription. But so far as our present material goes, the extensive
use of a rich variety of geometrical line designs is a peculiarity of the Kerma seals and
especially of those of the Hyksos Period — a development fully in accord with the in-
creased use of geometrical line designs on the pottery of that period.
1 Petrie, Kahun, Pl. X and Illahun, Pls. VIII-X.
2 Griffith, Kahun Papyri.
3 Petrie, Illahun, Pl. X, nos. 186-193.