Manual of Egyptian Archaeology and Guide to the Study of Antiquities in Egypt | Page 5

269. Inlaid stool, Eleventh Dynasty
270. Throne-chair, wall-scene, Twentieth Dynasty
271. Women weaving, wall-scene, Twelfth Dynasty
272. Man weaving carpet or hangings, wall-scene, Twelfth Dynasty
273. Cut leather work, Twenty-first Dynasty
274-5. Barks with cut leather-work sails, Twentieth Dynasty
276-7. Bronze jug
278. Unguent vase, or spoon (lamp for suspension?)
279. Bronze statuette of Takûshet
280. Bronze statuette of Horus
281. Bronze statuette of Mosû
282. Bronze lion from Horbeit, Saïte period
283. Gold-worker, wall-scene
284. Golden cup of General Tahûti, Eighteenth Dynasty
285. Silver vase of Thmûis
286. Silver vase of Thmûis
287. Piece of plate, wall-scene, Twentieth Dynasty
288-95. Plate, wall-scenes, Eighteenth Dynasty
296. Signet-ring, with bezel
297. Gold _cloisonné_ pectoral, Dahshur, Twelfth Dynasty
298. Mirror of Queen Aahhotep, Eighteenth Dynasty
299-300. Bracelets of same
301. Diadem of same
302. Gold _Ûsekh_ of same
303. Gold pectoral of same
304-5. Poignards found with mummy of Queen Aahhotep
306. Battle-axe found with same
307. Model funerary bark found with same
308. Ring of Rameses II
309. Bracelet of Prince Psar

EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY.

CHAPTER I
.
_ARCHITECTURE--CIVIL AND MILITARY_.
Archaeologists, when visiting Egypt, have so concentrated their
attention upon temples and tombs, that not one has devoted himself to a
careful examination of the existing remains of private dwellings and
military buildings. Few countries, nevertheless, have preserved so
many relics of their ancient civil architecture. Setting aside towns of
Roman or Byzantine date, such as are found almost intact at Koft
(Coptos), at Kom Ombo, and at El Agandiyeh, one-half at least of
ancient Thebes still exists on the east and south of Karnak. The site of
Memphis is covered with mounds, some of which are from fifty to
sixty feet in height, each containing a core of houses in good
preservation. At Kahûn, the ruins and remains of a whole provincial
Twelfth Dynasty town have been laid bare; at Tell el Mask-hûtah, the
granaries of Pithom are yet standing; at Sãn (Tanis) and Tell Basta
(Bubastis), the Ptolemaic and Saïtic cities contain quarters of which
plans might be made (Note 1), and in many localities which escape the
traveller's notice, there may be seen ruins of private dwellings which
date back to the age of the Ramessides, or to a still earlier period. As
regards fortresses, there are two in the town of Abydos alone, one of
which is at least contemporary with the Sixth Dynasty; while the
ramparts of El Kab, of Kom el Ahmar, of El Hibeh, and of Dakkeh, as
well as part of the fortifications of Thebes, are still standing, and await
the architect who shall deign to make them an object of serious study.
* * * * *

1.--PRIVATE DWELLINGS.
The soil of Egypt, periodically washed by the inundation, is a black,
compact, homogeneous clay, which becomes of stony hardness when
dry. From immemorial time, the fellahin have used it for the
construction of their houses. The hut of the poorest peasant is a mere
rudely-shaped mass of this clay. A rectangular space, some eight or ten
feet in width, by perhaps sixteen or eighteen feet in length, is enclosed
in a wickerwork of palm- branches, coated on both sides with a layer of
mud. As this coating cracks in the drying the fissures are filled in, and

more coats of mud are daubed on until the walls attain a thickness of
from four inches to a foot. Finally, the whole is roofed over with
palm-branches and straw, the top being covered in with a thin layer of
beaten earth. The height varies. In most huts, the ceiling is so low that
to rise suddenly is dangerous both to one's head and to the structure,
while in others the roof is six or seven feet from the floor. Windows, of
course, there are none. Sometimes a hole is left in the middle of the
roof to let the smoke out; but this is a refinement undreamed of by
many.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Brickmaking, from Eighteenth Dynasty
tomb-painting, Tomb of Rekhmara.]
At the first glance, it is not always easy to distinguish between these
huts of wattle and daub and those built with crude bricks. The ordinary
Egyptian brick is a mere oblong block of mud mixed with chopped
straw and a little sand, and dried in the sun. At a spot where they are
about to build, one man is told off to break up the ground; others carry
the clods, and pile them in a heap, while others again mix them with
water, knead the clay with their feet, and reduce it to a homogeneous
paste. This paste, when sufficiently worked (Note 2), is pressed by the
head workman in moulds made of hard wood, while an assistant carries
away the bricks as fast as they are shaped, and lays them out in