DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49517#0150
100
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
More elaborately combined girdles were recovered as follows:
9. K 1061:10:
Girdle of long slender barrel-beads set side by side, around the waist of B (disc-beads of
faience may have been set along the upper and the lower edges). This is a ladder-form
girdle similar to the well known ladder-form girdles of shell plates and disc-beads
found in C-group graves in Lower Nubia, and in certain Middle Kingdom graves in
Egypt.
10. K 1067:10:
Girdle similar to No. 7, on waist of A.
11. K321:3:
Girdle of at least three rows of small blue ring-beads (sewed on a cloth band ?), from
which hung a fringe made of strings, each of which bore three long cylindrical beads
and was tied at the end about a blue ring-bead;1 on the waist of A. See below, p. 103.
(5) Beads attached to garments
One of the most common uses of beads was on garments — caps, skirts, and probably
tunics. The arrangement at the top of leather skirts was often quite well preserved, but
for the rest, a few scraps of cloth with beads sewed on them was all that was found, and
the nature of the garment had to be judged by its place on the body and by comparison
(Photo. A 2168, Pl. 63, 1).
(a) Cups(?):
Caps decorated with mica ornaments were certainly identified; and the presence in
some cases of large quantities of blue ring-beads about the head of bodies raised the ques-
tion whether these also might not have been from caps. Indeed, it is not impossible that
the single strands of beads found around the heads may have been in some cases a border
around similar caps. In one case a head was found with beads sewed spirally on cloth
(leather?) lying on it, and this I set down here as a cap, but with a certain doubt.
1. K 1604: 11:
On the head of D.
In another case, there were some blue ring-beads sewed on cloth and lying on the head:
2. KXB:62:
On the head of E.
(b) Skirts, leather, on drawstring:
The most common garment found was a leather skirt, which was gathered at the waist
and fell to somewhere below the knees. The bodies were more or less contracted, so that it
was not possible to be sure just how low the bottom of the skirt fell. The waistband was
slashed at short, regular intervals, and the drawstring was threaded with pairs of disc-
beads (almost always white shell), each pair of which showed in one of the slashes in the
leather hem.
1. Kill comp. 1/3:
In debris, but thrown out by plunderers from adjacent grave.
2. K 1024: 15:
In debris between A and B: Photo. A 930, Pl. 42, 2, lower left corner.
1 Cf. the statuettes, Chassinat et Palanque, Assiout, Pls. IV and IX.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
More elaborately combined girdles were recovered as follows:
9. K 1061:10:
Girdle of long slender barrel-beads set side by side, around the waist of B (disc-beads of
faience may have been set along the upper and the lower edges). This is a ladder-form
girdle similar to the well known ladder-form girdles of shell plates and disc-beads
found in C-group graves in Lower Nubia, and in certain Middle Kingdom graves in
Egypt.
10. K 1067:10:
Girdle similar to No. 7, on waist of A.
11. K321:3:
Girdle of at least three rows of small blue ring-beads (sewed on a cloth band ?), from
which hung a fringe made of strings, each of which bore three long cylindrical beads
and was tied at the end about a blue ring-bead;1 on the waist of A. See below, p. 103.
(5) Beads attached to garments
One of the most common uses of beads was on garments — caps, skirts, and probably
tunics. The arrangement at the top of leather skirts was often quite well preserved, but
for the rest, a few scraps of cloth with beads sewed on them was all that was found, and
the nature of the garment had to be judged by its place on the body and by comparison
(Photo. A 2168, Pl. 63, 1).
(a) Cups(?):
Caps decorated with mica ornaments were certainly identified; and the presence in
some cases of large quantities of blue ring-beads about the head of bodies raised the ques-
tion whether these also might not have been from caps. Indeed, it is not impossible that
the single strands of beads found around the heads may have been in some cases a border
around similar caps. In one case a head was found with beads sewed spirally on cloth
(leather?) lying on it, and this I set down here as a cap, but with a certain doubt.
1. K 1604: 11:
On the head of D.
In another case, there were some blue ring-beads sewed on cloth and lying on the head:
2. KXB:62:
On the head of E.
(b) Skirts, leather, on drawstring:
The most common garment found was a leather skirt, which was gathered at the waist
and fell to somewhere below the knees. The bodies were more or less contracted, so that it
was not possible to be sure just how low the bottom of the skirt fell. The waistband was
slashed at short, regular intervals, and the drawstring was threaded with pairs of disc-
beads (almost always white shell), each pair of which showed in one of the slashes in the
leather hem.
1. Kill comp. 1/3:
In debris, but thrown out by plunderers from adjacent grave.
2. K 1024: 15:
In debris between A and B: Photo. A 930, Pl. 42, 2, lower left corner.
1 Cf. the statuettes, Chassinat et Palanque, Assiout, Pls. IV and IX.