Chapter XIV Vegetable Remains Found in the Excavations (Pl. LXXIX) By Percy E. Newberry
| Fig. 1. | Fig baskets composed of leaves of the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera, L.). |
| Fig. 2. | A. Some species of Compositae not identified. |
| B. Leaves of the Persea tree (Mimusops Schimperi, Hochst.). | |
| C. Leaves of the Grape Vine (Vitis vinifera, L.). | |
| D. Stones of the Balanites aegyptiaca, Del. | |
| E. Fruit of the Persea tree (Mimusops Schimperi, Hochst.). | |
| F. Fruit of the Sycomore Fig (Ficus Sycomorus, L.). | |
| G. Young fruit of the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera, L.). | |
| H. Mature fruits of Balanites aegyptiaca, Del. |
With the exception of the fragments of flower-stalks (Fig. 2 A) of some species of Compositae, the specimens figured here are all of well-known ancient Egyptian plants. Two of them, the Mimusops Schimperi and the Balanites aegyptiaca, are not now known in Egypt proper.
Footnotes
1 Birâbi is the plural of birba, an ‘ancient temple’, but here the name is locally used more for a ‘vaulted tomb’, of which many occur in the district.
2 Unfortunately the inscription above the lady is mutilated, but the personal name, Teta-hemt, is preceded by a Image not available: hieroglyph t and an Image not available: hieroglyph s. The s, as Professor Newberry has pointed out to me, must be the 3rd pers. sing. suffix s ‘her’, and he would suggest the restoration Image not available: hieroglyph mt-s, ‘her mother’. An alternative reading would be Image not available: hieroglyph snt-s, ‘her sister’, but the usual writing of this group is with Image not available: hieroglyph n: thus Image not available: hieroglyph Image not available: hieroglyph sat-s, ‘her daughter’, is very improbable.
3 Among this group are several tombs which may perhaps be referred to a slightly later date.
4 This was demonstrated by the presence of stone chippings bearing fragments of the temple paintings that had been chipped off in refacing.
5 The earliest inscribed specimens known bear the cartouches of Aahmes I.
6 In Spiegelberg and Newberry’s Theban Necropolis (p. 8) there is upon a stela a prayer which reads: ‘May every one love him if he is spreading water upon the leaves before my stela.’
7 Naville, Archaeological Report, 1894-5, p. 37.
8 In India the Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) is venerated by the natives, who will not allow the tree to suffer mutilation or destruction.
9 Loret, Le tombeau de Thoutmes III, Pl. 6.
10 Newberry, Beni Hasan, I, pp. 20, 29, 37.
11 Carter and Newberry, Tomb of Thoutmosis IV, pp. 9, 10.
12 On the early history of these Model Sarcophagi and Statuettes see Spiegelberg and Newberry’s Theban Necropolis, pp. 26-9.
13 The Rev. Dr. Collin Campbell, who was with me at the time we discovered these coffins, kindly translated the formulae upon them.
14 Erman, A Handbook of Egyptian Religion, p. 137.
15 Cf. similar tazza Pl. XVIII. 12.
16 Carter, Tomb of Hâtshopsítû, Chap. VI, and Carter and Newberry, Tomb of Thoutmosis, pp. 1-5, Nos. 46001-46035.
17 The deposit of implements was missing in this case.
18 Jequier, Le Papyrus Prisse et ses variantes (Pap. Brit. Mus. 10371 and 10435, Tablette Carnarvon au Caire), Paris, 1910; Maspero, Recueil, Vol. XXXI, p. 146.
19 The tablet is made of wood covered with stucco of fine plaster for a writing surface.
20 Edgar, Cat. Gen. C. M. Graeco-Egyptian Coffins, pp. ii, iii.
21 I hope to publish a full translation of both texts with commentary shortly.
22 For this translation thanks are due to Professor Newberry.
23 The translation is due to Professor Newberry.
24 Found in second sifting.
25 This was part of the toilet-box, Pls. XLVIII-IX.
26 See Coffin-tomb No. 27.
27 In the Cairo Museum eight similar vases belonging to a toilet-box bear the names of sacred oils, Nos. 18652-8.
28 In the Cairo Museum is a wooden tray for mirror with two hollows or receptacles for materials for polishing (?) mirror face, No. 44012.
29 Petrie, Kahun, Gurob and Hawara, Pl. XVI, p. 30, a similar gaming-board in pottery.
30 For knuckle-bones see group No. 25, tomb No. 37. Cp. Quibell, Excavations Saqqara, p. 114, Pl. LXIII. Dice: I have found three specimens among objects from the rubbish heaps of the temple of Dêr el Bahari, and as there were no antiquities here that could be later than the XVIIIth Dynasty, one is led to suppose that the dice are of the same date. Two of the dice were of clay and one was made of limestone.
31 For the numerical order of the holes see Fig. 14. Only one piece aside can be played at a time, as if more they might win the same hole and hence clash; and only one die used.
32 This is known by some adhering to one another when found.
33 See Tomb 24, Pl. XLVI, Fig. 2 G, and amulet necklace of Vth Dynasty, Petrie, Deshasheh, Pl. XLVI. This type of necklace seems almost a necessary adjunct to the dead in the earlier periods.
34 See Tomb 24, Pl. XLVI. A.
35 See example Pl. LIII. 4.
36 See figure found in Tomb No. 54.
37 Feathered.
38 Poulterer (?).
39 Opposite Tomb No. 27.
40 22·50 metres = 74 ft. approximate.
41 Not numbered or excavated yet.
42 It has been suggested that it was made for a tree, but no vegetable remains were found here, and it seems too deep for such a purpose.
43 Maspero, Guide C. M., 1911, pp. 386, 510, and Lacau, Cat. Gen. C. M., No. 28108.
44 Annales, 1903, Tome IV, p. 70. A coffin of a certain Heq-Tau. ‘The bottom of the coffin is divided into small compartments by a kind of wooden frame or trellis, each division being filled with earth, probably representing cultivated land.’
45 An Arabic expression introduced by Vassalli.
46 See specimen, Mariette’s Monuments divers, Pl. LI, coffin of Aqhor. Another specimen was found in Tomb 27 in 1910 (Pl. LIII. 3).
47 Petrie, Qurneh, 1909, pp. 6-9, Pls. XXII-XXIX.
48 Naville, Bubastis, 1887-9, and Petrie, History of Egypt, I, Figs. 142-3.
49 My attention was drawn to this fact by Professor Spiegelberg.
50 The three examples given in this illustration are the types found among the many necklaces belonging to the basket that was found lying in the coffin.
51 For the actual positions of the objects refer to plan of tomb, Pl. LV.
52 See coffin No. 23.
53 These seeds, too far gone to be recognized, are shown in Pl. LXVI, above the figure of the ape.
54 See No. 16.
55 See 73.
56 The justified dead.
57 i.e. the god Sokaris.
58 The god of the dead of Memphis (Saqqarah).
59 Image not available: hieroglyph The familiar alternative for ‘I’. In the following it can therefore be translated by ‘I’.
60 That is to say, ‘gods.’
61 Probably southern Arabia.
62 Read Image not available: hieroglyph.
63 The names following remain visible from the previous inscription.
64 Possibly Image not available: hieroglyph.