El Kab Part 1

El Kab.

by J.E. Quibell.

INTRODUCTION.

1. It was on Mr. Somers Clarke's proposition that El Kab was selected for last winter's work of the Research Account. Mr. Clarke has for some years been interested in this site, and has published some of the XVIIIth dynasty tombs there. He wished to see the smaller tombs excavated, and the great area inside the town examined, so, with his colleague, Mr. J. J. Tylor, he offered a considerable subscription to the funds, on condition that El Kab should be the selected site. To Mr. Jesse Howarth, equally with these gentlemen, we are indebted for that support without which the excavations could not have been carried out.

We arrived at El Kab on the 1st of December, and within four days had cleared out several of the uninscribed tombs in the famous hill, and had made them into a most comfortable house. Nothing in Egypt makes so pleasant a dwelling as a rock-tomb. In a house in which window and door are one, and three sides and the roof are of solid rock, there can be no draughts, and the range of temperature night and day is very small. We had a room each, another for a dining-room, and in two more I packed away my forty workmen. These were nearly all men known in previous years at Kuft and Naqada, for the natives of El Kab are few in number and of inferior physical strength, so that their labour at two piastres a day was dearer than that of the picked Kuftis at four.

All the conditions of work were very pleasant, much better than I have known in Egypt before. No crowd of loiterers and dealers' spies haunted the work as at Kuft, no robbery by workmen threatened us as at Thebes. Surveying poles were left out for weeks together; at most villages they would have been stolen the first night for firewood.

There was some delay in getting the necessary permission for digging; after a fortnight's waiting we received it, and began to work upon the XIIth dynasty cemetery. Halfway through March the digging was gradually brought to an end, and map-making and packing occupied the time till we left in the beginning of April. Fifty-four boxes of pottery and other objects were brought to England, were exhibited during the month of July at University College, and were then dispersed to various museums, Oxford, Philadelphia, Chicago and Manchester, receiving the largest shares. I have to acknowledge much help received both in Egypt and England. To Mr. Clarke, besides the financial support mentioned already, we owe thanks for help in the work of excavation, in plan-making, drawing, etc., and for his untiring hospitality. To Miss A. A. Pirie, who was with us for the later two-thirds of the season, we are indebted for several coloured drawings of tombs, etc., now at University College, and to her, as also to my sister, for constant aid in the varied daily occupations of the digger, tasks in which their experience makes them most valuable helpers, and which they cheerfully added to the labours of desert housekeeping. In England, several friends have helped in the work of unpacking, exhibiting, drawing plates, etc., notably Miss Griffith, Miss Murray, Mr. Herbert Thompson and Dr. Walker. Few outside the little ring of diggers and their friends know how much drudgery in Egypt and in England is taken off our hands by friendly helpers, working without a thought of reward.

2. The site of El Kab is a large one. The area inside the town walls alone would have required to clear it five times the money we had at our disposal; and besides that, there was the hill of XVIIIth dynasty tombs, the cemeteries outside the walls, and the temples far up on the desert. It was necessary to make careful choice of such spots as would repay the labour expended on them. The most obvious place to search would be the sandstone hill in which we lived, where the fine inscribed tombs of Paheri and Aahmes are well known. But is there much chance of finding inscribed tombs anywhere in Egypt except at Thebes?

We know that the tomb was left open for the visits of relatives, and open it must always have remained, unless it got drifted up with sand, or unless the quarrying of another tomb on a higher level sent down a ma.s.s of chips which hid it. At the capital, tombs were often lost for long periods in this way; in less crowded cemeteries the accident would seem to be less likely to happen. Many traces in the existing tombs at El Kab show that earlier tombs were quarried away in order to make room for them. This would seem to minimise the chances of finding anything valuable of early date; and if by chance some inscribed tomb still remains hidden in the talus of chips in the lower part of the hill, the business of making a thorough search there would be so long and expensive that it will probably remain undiscovered.

3. The greatest monument at El Kab is the town wall, the huge ma.s.s of which must arrest the attention of every pa.s.ser-by on the river. It encloses a great square of about 580 yards in the side; the walls are 40 feet thick, and in most places still reach a height of 20 feet. The diagonal of the square runs, roughly, N. and S., and the S.W. wall is parallel to the river. The S.W. corner has disappeared; indeed the river now runs over the point where it must have stood. There is evidence that the Nile has moved eastward at this point, but not to any great extent, within the last 2000 years, for some remains of a landing-stage, believed to be Roman, can still be seen a little south of the town. About a quarter of the area inside the walls was cut off from the rest by a curved double wall, and only inside this smaller area are there many traces of buildings. Here, in the early part of the century, was a large mound, but now the sebakhin have carried it all away, and we look over a most desolate s.p.a.ce, at one part red with the broken pottery of all periods, thrown out from the sebakh-digger's sieve, at another white with the salt that everywhere permeates the soil. A few great brick walls remain, and the foundations of the temple, but no part of the superstructure. Outside this town, but inside the great square of the walls, the character of the ground is quite different. There are no great ma.s.ses of pottery, hardly any brick walls; in the lower parts little parallel ridges in the soil show that cultivation has been carried on there within the last few years; for the rest, the ground is covered with pebbles, much like the untouched desert, and here and there are fragments of pottery, evidently of early date. These were most numerous on two or three slight rises which, as we afterwards found, had contained groups of tombs. Thus, on the day we arrived, was presented the first puzzle of El Kab. The greater part of the enclosure had never been inhabited, at least by people living in houses and using pottery. What, then, could have been the purpose of the huge walls? The north wall (strictly, the north-west, but called north for convenience) could be crossed by walking up the great sand-slope, which reaches to its top on both sides. This is driven up by the prevalent north wind. A similar, but much smaller, heap has drifted against the north side of the south wall. From the top of the north wall one has a good view of the whole neighbourhood. The town lies at the mouth of a wide valley, flanked by broken ranges of sandstone hills. An hour's walk up this valley is to be seen the little square block of Amenhotep III's temple, the great isolated rock of the graffiti, and, rather nearer, the small temple of Rameses. The low hill to the left, half a mile away, is the hill of tombs. The row of black dots sloping downwards to the east are the doorways of the tombs; they follow the bed of soundest rock. Further to the north is a rock looking, in the distance, like a huge mushroom.

This is a hill of which there remains only the upper part, resting on great pillars; the flanks of the hill and all the inside of it except these pillars have been quarried away, the stone being used probably for the temples of El Kab. The strip of cultivated land is very narrow at this part, often less than 500 yards wide.

Immediately to the east of the walls the ground has been disturbed, being covered with small and equal rises and depressions; sc.r.a.ps of XIIth dynasty pottery scattered over its surface showed that here was the cemetery of the Middle Kingdom.

_Note._--I stopped for five hours at Kafr-es-Zaiat on the railway journey from Alexandria to Cairo to examine a site, which may be the Serapeum of the Saite nome. On the map, in the Description de l'Egypt, some ruins are marked as the village of El Naharieh, north of Kafr-es-Zaiat. I found, on talking with the people, that ruins had existed there thirty years ago, but that now all the ground they had covered had been brought into cultivation. Under the mats in the mosques some blocks of granite of old Egyptian work may be seen, and I noticed the cartouche of Necho twice. The sheikh of the village had, too, a fine lintel, used as a gate-post. This he kindly had moved for me, and on it I saw the name of the Serapeum of the Saite nome, _Hat-biti_, again with the cartouche of Necho. (_Cf._ de Rouge, Geographie de la Ba.s.se egypte, p. 22.)

CHAPTER I.

THE EARLIEST TOMBS.

4. The lower parts of the ground inside the enclosure had been very thoroughly looted, chiefly by the natives of El Kab, when cultivating.

We found many small graves about 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, and waist deep, but containing no bones, and with so little pottery in them that it took some time to determine their period. But in the two low mounds to the north, and the larger one in the south, graves of several kinds soon appeared. Of these one set were clearly later than the rest.

Their enclosure walls, within which several burials were found, were at right angles to the great wall of the town, and cut through the other graves (mastabas) which, though parallel to one another, were skew to the town walls. These earlier tombs were of several types: (1) mastabas with square shafts; (2) mastabas with sloping "stairways,"

both of crude brick; (3) burials in the kind of large earthenware pot that our workmen call a _majur_; and (4) burials of that now well-known type which has been called New Race, Libyan, Neolithic, etc., and which is distinguished by the contracted position of the body with the head to the south, and by a very definite cla.s.s of pottery, paint slabs, beads, etc. The mastabas were found both within and outside of the town walls, one group (PL. XXIII) lying quite close to them. On three diorite bowls found in these graves (one inside the walls, the others outside) the name of Sneferu appeared. As this is the only king's name occurring in any of these tombs, it seems probable that most of them may belong to the reign of Sneferu, or to the period immediately following. And the town walls, being built through the Old Kingdom cemetery, are, of course, the later in date.

About thirteen "stairway" tombs and thirty-seven mastabas were examined. The precise number cannot be given, for when the walls of the mastaba are entirely denuded, and only the well is left, one cannot be sure that the grave was ever of the mastaba form. Of smaller graves which yielded any evidence, there were about fifty-three; but many more, which, from their position, orientation, and size, could be a.s.signed to the early period, were quite empty, or contained only a few potsherds.

5. The most important mastaba was that of Ka-mena (PL. XXIII). It is one of a group which we found under the great mound of drifted sand on the north side of the wall. PL. VII gives two views of this group of tombs during the process of excavation. The low walls are denuded near the end of the sand-slope to a single brick's height; in the centre they are a metre high, and they sink again towards the end under the great wall. They are built with recessed panels, and were originally plastered and painted white. Round the whole tomb runs a boundary wall. The two small closed chambers at the end of the last pa.s.sage (corresponding to those which, in the tomb of Nefer-shem-em, contained his two statues) were empty, but a few fragments of the legs of a small sandstone statue were found near. In the E. wall itself there are two niches; in and near them were found many small pieces of worked limestone, some inscribed. They are copied in PL. XVIII, 49-53 and 55. The face in 49 retained a touch of green paint on the cheek, an important piece of evidence for the dating of the Naqada tombs, the occupants of which also used this method of adorning themselves. The pieces, 53 and 54, seem to be parts of a stela; 50 and 55 are from the bases of limestone statues.

The inscriptions give us Ka-mena's name, and show him as a king's acquaintance and a priest.

The chambers inside the mastaba, left blank in the plan, were found filled with brick earth; this was cleared out, but nothing save a sc.r.a.p of IVth dynasty pottery was found. The earth was doubtless thrown in in this way to economise bricks; the cross walls would serve only to keep this loose earth from falling down the well in the centre. The well was about 15 feet deep, filled with thick, damp clay, the bottom being, even in January, very near the water-level. The chamber was to the south, closed by a rough-hewn slab of sandstone three inches thick. It should be noted that the sandstone in the neighbourhood breaks naturally into very flat plates, so that it is easy to pick out slabs which, with very little dressing, will serve for building; such pieces were found in many of the early tombs.

This slab being removed, the chamber was found to be full of a very tenacious clay, much of which had to be cut away with a knife, for in so tough a substance a light blow with an adze has no effect, and a heavy one may damage some valuable object before it can be seen. The whole chamber was lined with flat sandstone blocks, but the thin roof slabs had given way under pressure of the earth above. The style of building was irregular (_v._ PL. I), the blocks being fitted, but not squared. The body had lain on the west side, with its head north; no trace of a coffin remained, and the bones were a mere white paste, only to be distinguished by sc.r.a.ping sections with a knife through mud and bone. Under the whole body was a bed of white sand. Near the entrance were six vases (XI, 12), of a shape and fabric indistinguishable from a late Neolithic form common at Naqada, and opposite the middle of the body was a group of important objects.

These were: a model granary in rough red pottery (PL. VI), each little storehouse having an opening above, closed by a stopper; another similar granary in fragments, three vertical alabaster jars, an alabaster circular table, and the group of bowls and model tools shown in PL. III. These last consist of--

(1.) A bowl and ewer, probably of copper, not of bronze.

(2.) A bowl of porphyry, a flat bowl of a beautiful light-coloured and translucent diorite, and a flat dish made of a darker variety of the same stone. This last is inscribed with the Ka name of Snefru, Neb Maat, the chisel-like sign of the _maat_ being written on the convex side of the sickle, and the door-frame of the name surmounted by a hawk.

(3.) A set of model tools, axe, knife, adzes and chisels, shown again in outline on PL. XVIII, 56-65. These have been a.n.a.lysed by Dr.

Gladstone, who writes as follows:--

"The largest fragment gave--

Per cent.

Copper 984 a.r.s.enic 03 Iron 02 Bis.m.u.th trace Lead trace Antimony trace?

Oxygen as cuprous oxide trace

It is, of course, essentially copper, the minute quant.i.ties of the other const.i.tuents being due, in all probability, to impurities in the ore. The total absence of tin is the most notable feature."

6. The small mastaba W. of Ka-mena's is of simpler construction.

The brickwork may have been recessed, though this could not be ascertained, as its walls were only two bricks high, and the panelling in the other mastabas does not reach so near the ground. There is no enclosing wall, but there is a pa.s.sage on the east side, with low cross walls which I do not understand. The chamber at the bottom of the well is to the south; it was not closed by a stone. Near the mouth, to the east, was a small coffin of red pottery; its size showed it to be that of a child buried in a contracted position. Between the coffin and the side of the chamber was a diorite bowl; south of this were two vertical jars and a circular table, all of alabaster. On the west side of the chamber lay the body, on its left side, and with the head north; the arms and legs were sharply bent, the heels being brought close to the hips.

7. To the west of this is the compound mastaba marked C in the plan.

The southern half was built later than the northern, the panelling of which can be seen inside the first well beyond the cross wall. The s.p.a.ces marked 1, 3 and 6 are only chambers filled with clay; 2, 4 and 5 are all tomb wells.

The well (4) was exceptional in that its chamber was to the west and not to the south. It was 53 m. deep, and scattered through the earth in it were coa.r.s.e pots of the types in PL. XII (23, 30, 31, 33, 34, 40). Inside the chamber were two vertical alabaster jars, a circular table, a diorite bowl, fragments of malachite, a small river sh.e.l.l containing white paint, and one of the pots (XI, 12) like those in Ka-mena's tomb.

At the bottom of the next well (5) stood one of the large hemispherical pots (_majurs_) which were used as coffins (XX, 5).

It was 60 cm. in diameter, but was empty and inverted. Against the mouth of the chamber was a stone slab two metres high, one side of it much broken away. The chamber was, as in all these tombs, filled with thick mud, and scattered through this mud, or on the floor, lay the following objects: a diorite bowl of the ordinary shape, containing a small vase of alabaster inverted over a ma.s.s of green paint (malachite), a smaller bowl also of diorite, an alabaster table upside down, and two more alabaster vessels.

Below these lay what once had been a very curious box. The pattern of the lid is shown in PL. VIII, 2. It is composed of small flat strips of ivory, 1 mm. thick, and of pieces of glaze, blue and black; these had apparently been glued on to a background of wood, but this had entirely decayed, and the thin film of decoration was left in the ma.s.s of heavy clay. After clearing it sufficiently to learn its nature and size, we drove a piece of tinplate under it, and so lifted out the whole lump of earth in which it was contained. Inside the house we could at leisure sc.r.a.pe away the soil from one side, and pour melted beeswax in its place, then turn the whole over and repeat the process on the other side. In this way a large piece was brought to England embedded in wax. This wax was afterwards removed, and replaced on the inside by plaster of Paris. The size of the box was about 12 inches long by 8 inches broad, and 5 inches high. It had been much crushed, and the sides could not be saved. The contents were a small porphyry bowl (X, 44), a sh.e.l.l, and some green paint.

8. The mastabas C, Ca, and D were contained in the same boundary wall.

C appears to be the earliest, then Ca, then D. The inner half of the pa.s.sage between C and D is lined with stone; at the end, bricked up in a little chamber, were found the two statues of Nefer-shem-em; to him, therefore, belonged the tomb D. The statue to the west was in sandstone (PL. III), a standing figure, 1/3 life-size; the head was missing, only a few fragments of it being found below the statue. The surface of the stone had been covered with a fine layer of plaster, reddened with haemat.i.te, of which some traces remained; the skirt was painted white.

The other statue of limestone represents Nefer-shem-em seated. The head is well preserved, and the whole statue is a good example of Old Kingdom work, though not of the most finished style, and much damaged by salt. It does not show the "Schminkstriche." The inscriptions incised on the base of the standing figure, and on the right side of the chair of the seated one, are the same:--

_Suten rekh se hez neter hon Nefer-shem-em._

(Number in Ghizeh Catalogue, 650.)

The mastaba D of Nefer-shem-em is of the ordinary type, with two niches on the east, two chambers filled with brick earth, and a central well. This well was filled with bodies, not buried with care, but thrown down in every contorted att.i.tude. The position of twenty-three skulls and bodies was noted, and then, as no plan or arrangement appeared, the rest were left to be taken out by the men. A scarab of Amen-ankh-as, found in one of the bodies on the upper level, appears to give the late XVIIIth dynasty as the date for this ma.s.s of burials.

9. The next mastaba (E) is of a curious form; the S. niche is over one of the wells instead of being in the outer wall. Both wells were cleared until we were stopped by water. From one came the fragments of a pottery sarcophagus of the small type.

The small mastaba (301) nearer the town wall was of more interest. In its well were found fragments of the rough early pottery (PL. XII), of the short type of earthenware coffin, and of a _majur_ (XX, 5), also a piece of a diorite bowl, on which the name Sneferu had been very roughly scratched, and a small (3/4-inch) black stone cylinder (XX, 32). This is of a type already fairly well known from bought specimens (there are twenty-one in the Edwards Coll.), and suspected to be early, but not hitherto found by a European. The engraving shows a figure seated before a table and wearing a huge wig.

10. The next mastaba (No, 288) was inside the town. Just to the south of the tomb pa.s.sage, as if thrown out from it, lay a great many pots of coa.r.s.e pottery of the shapes shown in the top of PL. XII. These pots were also found in the pa.s.sages between mastabas, and fragments of them in very great quant.i.ties were scattered over the tombs, especially over those of the "stairway" type. This suggests that the coa.r.s.e pottery was used, not in the interment, but for the offerings brought by relatives to the tombs. They were placed, probably, opposite the niches, and when they became inconveniently numerous, were thrown away over the tomb wall. Several hundreds of these pots were found, heaped together, behind two mastabas to the north of the wall (PL. VII, C, D).

The tomb had been robbed. Fragments of one of the large, circular, bowl coffins (XX, 5) were scattered through the earth all down the shaft, and the great slab which had closed the door was thrown over at the bottom of the well. The chamber was empty, but under the flat stone were found fragments of a slate dish, of an alabaster table, and of four diorite bowls. Of one of these, the largest I have seen (PL.

II, 1), more than two-thirds of the pieces remained; it was inscribed, in neat, deep characters, _suten biti Sneferu_, the name of the king being written without the cartouche. In this tomb was also one of the coa.r.s.e bars of pottery that I have found both in Old Kingdom and in Neolithic tombs, the use of which is by no means clear. They were, when complete, about 2 feet 6 inches long, and 4 inches thick; they are flat on one side, rounded on the other. The sides of one Neolithic tomb at Ballas were lined with bars of this kind. In another, the body was sheltered by a large inverted dish resting upon several of them; frequently fragments of two or three were found in a tomb. Perhaps they were used as supports for the coffin.