DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55201#0018
SEASON OF I9I2-I913 5
were cut away on both sides in exact line with them, right down to
the cultivation. It can thus readily be seen why Hat-shepsut’s temple
was at the side of the valley and why her causeway had to take a line
which necessitated such extensive cutting in the hillside. Neb-hepet-
Ret had previously taken that part of the valley where the grading
was least arduous.
We decided, then, to begin our excavation at the bottom of Neb-
hepet-Ref’s causeway; find, if possible, the valley temple; and work
up from it toward his main temple at Deir el Bahri, dumping behind
us along the cultivation. Before work was started, the ancient cut
at the edge of the lower part of the causeway was visible, and among
the trees there could be seen above the surface a large granite block
which we thought might be part of the temple. We chose a point near
here on the cutting, north of the causeway, where the bed rock showed
in spots through an accumulation of sand and earth, and here our
workmen were started.
Within a day or two stones were found in situ at the base of the
cut, which were clearly similar to the stones in the boundary wall of
Neb-hepet-Ref. We thought we had found an Eleventh Dynasty
structure where one had not been suspected before, but we had to
abandon it temporarily, for above it on a higher level we had en-
countered a network of mud-brick walls which proved to extend
over this entire part of the site and which must first be studied,
planned, and photographed before they could be removed. They
proved to be tombs of the Ptolemaic Period dating from about 200 b.c.
In all, we cleared nearly a hundred tombs of a little-known type. In a
characteristic one the entrance was up the ramp, through a doorway
now destroyed, and then down into a subterranean burial chamber
under the brick vault beyond. On either side of the entrance were
commonly two large pottery vessels in bins, in one of which we found
a complete set of pots, water jugs, and lamps, while nearby there
was a cup of blue faience in perfect preservation. In many tombs the
large pots bore painted designs derived from flowers and palmettes.
We collected a dozen or more of these types which we can now date
back several centuries earlier than they had previously been supposed
to occur in Egypt. Other material found included a set of limestone
Canopic jars with the heads of the four genii who protected the dead
(pl. 89), and a painted marble stela of a man named Thut-er-dis.
Eventually this Ptolemaic level was cleared away and the lime-
stone wall previously mentioned began to appear, buried under an
accumulation of rubbish from the hill. We cleared this wall for a
were cut away on both sides in exact line with them, right down to
the cultivation. It can thus readily be seen why Hat-shepsut’s temple
was at the side of the valley and why her causeway had to take a line
which necessitated such extensive cutting in the hillside. Neb-hepet-
Ret had previously taken that part of the valley where the grading
was least arduous.
We decided, then, to begin our excavation at the bottom of Neb-
hepet-Ref’s causeway; find, if possible, the valley temple; and work
up from it toward his main temple at Deir el Bahri, dumping behind
us along the cultivation. Before work was started, the ancient cut
at the edge of the lower part of the causeway was visible, and among
the trees there could be seen above the surface a large granite block
which we thought might be part of the temple. We chose a point near
here on the cutting, north of the causeway, where the bed rock showed
in spots through an accumulation of sand and earth, and here our
workmen were started.
Within a day or two stones were found in situ at the base of the
cut, which were clearly similar to the stones in the boundary wall of
Neb-hepet-Ref. We thought we had found an Eleventh Dynasty
structure where one had not been suspected before, but we had to
abandon it temporarily, for above it on a higher level we had en-
countered a network of mud-brick walls which proved to extend
over this entire part of the site and which must first be studied,
planned, and photographed before they could be removed. They
proved to be tombs of the Ptolemaic Period dating from about 200 b.c.
In all, we cleared nearly a hundred tombs of a little-known type. In a
characteristic one the entrance was up the ramp, through a doorway
now destroyed, and then down into a subterranean burial chamber
under the brick vault beyond. On either side of the entrance were
commonly two large pottery vessels in bins, in one of which we found
a complete set of pots, water jugs, and lamps, while nearby there
was a cup of blue faience in perfect preservation. In many tombs the
large pots bore painted designs derived from flowers and palmettes.
We collected a dozen or more of these types which we can now date
back several centuries earlier than they had previously been supposed
to occur in Egypt. Other material found included a set of limestone
Canopic jars with the heads of the four genii who protected the dead
(pl. 89), and a painted marble stela of a man named Thut-er-dis.
Eventually this Ptolemaic level was cleared away and the lime-
stone wall previously mentioned began to appear, buried under an
accumulation of rubbish from the hill. We cleared this wall for a