ILLAHUN.
1889-90.
Having finished opening the pyramid of Hawara, the next attraction was
that of Illahun, a few miles to the east of it, in the Nile valley, at
the entrance to the Fayum. This pyramid differs from all others in that
the lower part is a natural rock cut into shape; upon that a mass of
mud-brick rises, like that of Hawara, and around the base lie the
fragments of the fine limestone casing which originally covered it. As
almost all the pyramids had their chambers built in a sort of well in
the rock base, I tried this pyramid on such an hypothesis, and therefore
cleared the edge of its rocky portion all round as far as possible, to
search for the cut into it, expected to lead to the excavation for the
chamber. At the south-east corner this was difficult, as the rock was
there deficient, and the core had been made up by layers of chips.
Still, for months we went on clearing the sides and searching. Much
other work was going on meanwhile, and by different sources I had found
that the pyramid belonged to Usertesen II, as we shall notice presently.
Amongst other work, I searched along a ledge in the rock at the base,
where the pavement had originally been placed. While doing this we found
a well, which I did not clear, as I was near the end of my season for
work; but, on Mr. Fraser coming to secure the place during my absence, I
commended this well to his notice as a possible entrance. He cleared it
out, and at forty feet deep found a passage leading up into the pyramid.
Then it was evident that no other external sign on the pyramid itself
was possible, for the passages and chambers were wholly cut in the rock,
and the pyramid merely stood on the surface, without any connection with
the sepulchre beneath it.
There were two well-entrances to the pyramid, close together. One beyond
the pavement was so carefully covered with rubbish that I could not have
found it unless I had made a great clearance; by this the sarcophagus
and large blocks of masonry were taken in. The smaller well was
evidently for the workmen to gain access to the lower side of the blocks
that were in course of being taken in: it was hidden by the pavement,
was found anciently, and served for spoilers to enter by, and lastly was
found again in my digging. Had it not been for this smaller well, I
believe the pyramid would have been still inviolate.
The passage in the inside is rough hewn in the soft rock, and was
smeared over with a coat of thin plaster originally, but without a trace
of ornament or inscription. It is wide, and high enough to walk upright
freely. At the end it opened into a chamber lined with blocks of
limestone, of which a large part has been removed, probably by the
Ramesside masons, when they plundered the pyramid and its temples for
stone. At the west end of this chamber, which runs east and west, is the
door to a red granite chamber, containing the sarcophagus. This second
chamber is roofed exactly like that of Menkaura’s pyramid at Gizeh, with
slanting blocks cut out in a curve below. The sarcophagus is one of the
finest products of mechanical skill that is known from ancient times. It
is of red granite, of a form not before met with, having a wide
rectangular brim. The surfaces are all ground flat, but not polished;
truth, and not effect, was sought for. And its errors of work in
flatness and regularity are not more than the thickness of a visiting
card. Its accuracy of proportion is also fine, as each dimension is a
whole number of palms, with a fluctuation of only one part in a
thousand. In front of the sarcophagus stood the alabaster table of
offerings, for the _ka_ of Usertesen II, now in the Gizeh Museum.
Strange to say, there is not a trace of a coffin, or a lid to the
sarcophagus; and, indeed, as this chamber is not under the middle of the
pyramid, it may be questioned whether the real interment is not yet to
be reached by some other passage.
From the north wall of this chamber a strange passage is cut in the
rock, first northwards, then west, then south, then east, and lastly
northwards again, opening into the limestone chamber; in fact, it
passes around the granite chamber. It was not a workman’s passage
intended to be closed up again, as the doorway of it has a bevelled edge
and is curved at the top. It rather looks as if intended to prove to any
spoilers that there was no other concealed passage leading out from the
granite chamber, and thus to check their destructive searchings. If so,
we may be tolerably certain that there is some other chamber containing
the real interment.
The chambers in the pyramid are to the east of the centre; and adjoining
the east face of the pyramid externally there stood a shrine, on the
walls of which were figured the tables and lists of offerings for the
_ka_ of Usertesen II. The sculptures were of beautiful work, and
brilliantly coloured. What process was used for fixing these coats of
colour we do not know; but still, from over four thousand years, after
being broken and thrown into heaps, these colours are firmly fixed on
the stone, and soaking and washing make no change in them. Only one
large piece was found, now in the Gizeh Museum, but hundreds of portions
of hieroglyphs were recovered among the chips. Who the destroyers were
we can guess by an inscription of Ramessu II, rudely painted on a block
of the stone. Among the ruins some chips of a black-granite seated
statue of Usertesen II, were found, showing that the shrine was
furnished like the earlier temples of the fourth dynasty.
The regular temple of the pyramid stood about half a mile to the east of
it, on the edge of the desert; and it has been destroyed like the
shrine, and by the same hands, as two cartouches of Ramessu II were
found on the blocks; several beads, &c., of the nineteenth dynasty occur
in the ruins; and I found the name of Usertesen II on a piece of a
granite pillar of Ramessu II at Ahnas, some miles to the south, showing
for what purpose Illahun had been plundered. The outline of the temple
can be traced by the thick brick wall which surrounded it. The plan is
square, and it seems to have consisted of brickwork externally, lined
with limestone masonry. But of the internal arrangement not a trace can
be recovered. Probably a shrine of granite stood at the west end of the
court, and objects of sandstone in the area, judging by the position of
the chips. Also a large basalt statue existed here, of which only one
fragment was found; the statue must therefore have been removed
(probably to Ahnas), and not broken up here. One interesting discovery
was made, however. In the middle of the area I noticed a slight hollow
in the rock surface, about two and a half feet square. I thought of a
foundation deposit, and examined this place. A block of stone lay fitted
into it; on breaking and raising this, a second block was seen; when
that was removed, we found plain sand. Scraping this out, we came on
much broken pottery, and then some bronze models of tools, and a large
number of carnelian beads. There were four sets of objects, thrown in
pell mell; but the strings of carnelian beads, all exactly alike, are a
puzzle. Is it possible that they were bead-money? They have the
requisites of an exchange standard, as well as gold; they need a regular
amount of labour to produce them, they are unalterable, and they serve
for ornament when not used for exchange. However that may be, we have
here far the oldest foundation-deposit known.
[Illustration: 82. FOUNDATION DEPOSIT. 1: 4.]
The great prize of Illahun was unknown and unsuspected by any one. On
the desert adjoining the north side of the temple, I saw evident traces
of a town, brick walls, houses and pottery; moreover, the pottery was of
a style as yet unknown to me. The town-wall started out in a line with
the face of the temple; and it dawned on me that this could hardly be
other than the town of the pyramid builders, originally called
Ha-Usertesen-hotep, and now known as Kahun. A little digging soon put it
beyond doubt, as we found cylinders of that age, and no other; so that
it was evident that I actually had in hand an unaltered town of the
twelfth dynasty, regularly laid out by the royal architect for the
workmen and stores, required in building the pyramid and its temple.
After a few holes had been made, I formed up the workmen in a line along
the outermost street, and regularly cleared the first line of chambers,
turning the stuff into the street; then the chambers beyond those were
emptied into them; and so line after line, block after block, almost
every room in the town was emptied out and searched. The only part not
quite cleared was where habitations had been formed in Roman times by
lime-burners, who had disturbed the place and destroyed the ancient
walls. Every chamber as it was cleared was measured and planned, and we
can see the exact scheme of the architect, and where he expanded the
town as time went on.
[Illustration: 83. NORTH SIDE OF KAHUN, SHOWING LINE OF TOWN WALL.]
The general outline was a square mass; walled on
[Illustration: 84. STEPS TO UPPER BUILDINGS ON HILL.]
the west, north, and east sides, but open on the south to the Nile
plain, and not fully built out in this direction. In this space were
buildings adjoining the wall all round; within them a main street around
three sides of a square block of buildings in the middle; and minor
streets subdividing the buildings. Then outside the wall on the west the
town was enlarged by a further space, also walled, and divided by a long
main street, and cross streets all the way along it. The larger houses
all have a court, or atrium, with columns around the middle of it, and
in the centre a small stone tank let into the ground with a square of
limestone around it five feet each way. These columns were sometimes of
stone, sometimes of wood; with a simple abacus, or with a carved palm
capital; octagonal, or fluted, or ribbed; but they always had large
circular stone bases, which mostly remain in place in the rooms. The
roofing was usually of beams, overlaid with bundles of straw, and
mud-plastered; but many arched roofs of brickwork remain, some entire,
others with only the lower part. The doorways were always arched in
brickwork, and we know now for certain that the arch was not only known,
but was in constant use by the early Egyptians.
[Illustration: 85. BASKET WITH TOOLS. 1: 7.]
In the rooms pottery was often found; and many parts of the town having
been deserted when the building of the pyramid was finished, the empty
rooms were used as rubbish holes by the inhabitants who remained; in
such places there might be even six or eight feet depth of broken
pottery, woodwork and other things. Tools
[Illustration: 86. CASTANETS AND FIGURE OF DANCER.]
were also found hidden in the dust which had lain in the chambers; and
one basket was found with a lid, marvellously fresh and firm, containing
copper hatchets and chisels, and a copper bowl, all as free from rust as
when they were buried. Beneath the brick floors of the rooms was,
however, the best place to search; not only for hidden things, such as a
statuette of a dancer and pair of ivory castanets, but also for numerous
burials of babies in wooden boxes. These boxes had been made for clothes
and household use, but were used to bury infants, often accompanied by
necklaces and other things. On the necklaces were sometimes cylinders
with the kings’ names; and thus we know for certain that these burials,
and the inhabitation of the town, is of the twelfth dynasty, from
Usertesen II onward. Lying on one box was a splendid ivory carving of a
baboon seated, of the most naturalistic work, comparable with the best
cinquecento Italian ivories. This of course is kept at the Gizeh Museum.
In the houses but little sculpture was found; far the finest piece being
a basalt statue of an official, now also at the Gizeh Museum.
[Illustration: 87. IVORY BABOON.]
The domestic remains were of great interest; beside the pottery there
were balls of thread, linen cloth, knives and tools of copper and of
flint, a mirror of copper (Group 92), fishing nets, and many wooden
tools, hoes, rakes, a brick-mould, plasterers’ floats, mallets, copper
chisels set in wooden handles, &c. Also games (Group 93) as whip-tops,
tip-cats, draught-boards, dolls, and a beautifully woven sling. Many
pieces of furniture were found, among them the greater part of a
finely-made slender chair of dark wood inlaid with ivory pegs.
Blue-glazed pottery was not unusual, several figures of animals and
pieces of bowls being found. Hitherto we had never known how the
Egyptians obtained fire, as there is no sign of this on the sculptures,
nor do they seem to have attached any significance to fire-making. In
this town I found several sticks with the burnt holes made by drilling
fire, as many races do at present: the Egyptians probably did this with
the bow-drill, with which they were so familiar, and of which specimens
were found here.
[Illustration: 88. FLINT TOOLS. 1: 6.]
[Illustration: 89. PLASTERERS’ FLOATS, AND BRICK-MOULD.]
[Illustration: 90. AGRICULTURAL TOOLS OF WOOD. 1: 20.]
[Illustration: 91. FIRE APPARATUS. 1: 10.]
[Illustration: 92. SET OF TOOLS, VASES, AND MIRROR. 1: 8]
Not only do we in this town drop into the midst of the daily life and
productions of this early age, but the documents of the time also
remain. In various chambers papyri were found; some carefully sealed up
and put by, such as the wills of Uah, and Antefmeri, but mostly thrown
aside as waste paper. One of the largest is a hymn of praise to
Usertesen III: some pages of a medical work, some of a veterinary
papyrus, and innumerable parts of letters, accounts, and memoranda make
up the collection. As only five papyri of this early date were known
before now, this is a wide addition to our resources.
Another subject has quite unexpectedly come to light. Marks of various
kinds are found on pieces of pottery-vessels here, some put on by the
maker before the baking, but mostly scratched by the owner. These marks
are many of them derived from the Egyptian workmen’s signs, corruptions
of hieroglyphics. But, as we shall see in the next chapter, the
discoveries at Gurob point to these having some kinship with the Western
alphabets. They are therefore the venerable first step in adopting marks
to represent sounds, irrespective of their primitive form and
significance.
[Illustration: 93. CLAY TOYS, TWELFTH DYNASTY.]
That these marks were known not only to Egyptians, but to foreigners
here as well, is probable from the discoveries of Aegean pottery in this
place. Intermixed with, and even beneath, the rubbish mounds of the
twelfth dynasty are pieces of pottery which appear to be the forerunners
of what we know as Greek pottery in later ages. The ware, the motives of
the decoration, belong to the Aegean, and not to Egypt; either Greece or
Asia Minor was their home, but long centuries before any specimens that
we yet know of from those countries. The weights found here also testify
to foreign influences, the greater part of them being on the Phoenician,
Aeginetan, and Hittite standards.
Some later times have left their traces in this place, although the bulk
of it is purely of the twelfth dynasty. A wooden stamp of Apepi was
found, probably of the Hyksos king; and if so, the only small article
yet known of that dynasty. A small papyrus of Amenhotep III was found,
rolled up, and placed in a pottery cylinder: also a splendid ‘hunting
scarab’ of that king, recording his slaying 102 lions, which is of
brilliant and perfect blue-green glaze. A broken papyrus of Amenhotep IV
was also left here. But the main prize was a family tomb, probably of
the end of the nineteenth, or early twentieth, dynasty. A cellar cut in
the rock, belonging to one of the houses of the twelfth dynasty, had
been found at this later date, and used as a sepulchre. More than a
dozen coffins were piled in it, each containing several bodies, all the
wrappings of which were reduced to black sooty dust. I stripped for the
work, and for hours was occupied in opening coffin after coffin,
carefully searching the dust inside each, cataloguing everything as I
found it, overhauling the pottery and stone vases heaped in the
chambers, and handing everything out to the one native lad whom I took
down to help me. At last I finished the place, and came out much like a
coal-heaver or a sweep, so that I had to go to the nearest pond to wash
all over. Though none of the interments were rich, yet there were
interesting
[Illustration: 94. OBJECTS FROM MAKET TOMB. 1: 10.]
objects, and some foreign; and above all we had the whole find
completely recorded, and the positions of things noted exactly as they
had been left by the interrers. A curious point is that though the
pottery, and the decoration of one of the coffins, precludes our dating
this earlier than the end of the nineteenth dynasty, yet all the scarabs
on the bodies are of the early part of the eighteenth dynasty, down to
Tahutmes III; excepting a few of the twelfth dynasty, doubtless found,
as we found so many, in this town. That all the decorations should be
heirlooms is a strange fact. In the richest coffin, the only one
containing a name, that of the lady Maket, were two musical reeds,
carefully slipped inside a larger reed for protection; the scale shown
by their holes is the major scale. The pottery here was remarkable; not
only are there none of the styles characteristic of the eighteenth and
nineteenth dynasties, so well known at Tel el Amarna and Gurob, but the
greater part is Phoenician, and not Egyptian, in its paste and its
forms; while among it is an Aegean vase, with an ivy leaf and stalk on
each side, the earliest style of natural decoration after the period of
geometrical. Some vases of green paste here are curious, one in the form
of a horn stopped at the wide end.
Of later date still was a large wooden door, which had been probably
brought from some other place in Roman times, and used here for a house.
It had been made by Usarkon I; and when the bronze head and foot-bands
were incised with his name, the wood beneath had received the
impression, which it retained after all the bronze had been removed. On
the middle of the door there had been a scene of Usarkon offering to
Neit and Horus, but this had been almost all chiselled away anciently.
This door is now in the Gizeh Museum.
The next period of importance at Illahun is from the twenty-second to
the twenty-fifth dynasties. The hills near the pyramid had been much
used for rock tombs and mastabas of the pyramid period; but these had
been plundered and destroyed in early times, and the excavations were
re-used during the later Bubastite and Ethiopian dynasties. These
interments are generally rude, the coffins seldom having any
intelligible inscription; but mostly sham copies of the usual formula,
put on by a decorator who could not read. The only fine tomb I found
here was that of a priestess, Amenardus; her sarcophagus has carved
inscriptions along the edges and down the corner-posts, and the coffin
and that of her father are finely painted: these are now at Gizeh. Many
of the mummies have bead net-works and patterns upon them, with figures
of winged scarabs, the four genii, the _ba_ bird, and other emblems, all
executed in coloured beads. As the threading is completely rotted, the
beads all fall apart with the slightest shake, and such work is
therefore never preserved when excavations are left to the native
overseers. When we entered a tomb, I opened the coffins in the gentlest
way, drawing or cutting out the pegs which fastened them; and then a
glance inside showed if any bead-work existed. If there were bead
patterns, the next step was to fetch a petroleum stove down into the
chamber, melt a batch of beeswax, and then when it was on the point of
chilling, ladle it out, and dash it over the bead-work. If the wax is
too hot it sinks in, and soaks all the mummy wrappings into a solid
mass; if poured on, it runs off the body in a narrow stream. When all
the beads were covered, and the wax set, I then lifted up the sheet of
wax with the bead-work sticking to it, flattened it out on a board, and
it was ready for fixing in a tray permanently, with the lower side
turned outward.
The amulets found in these tombs are all of the figures of deities,
specially Bast, and are of pottery covered with light olivey-green
glazes, quite different from those of the nineteenth or twentieth
dynasties. A revival of glazed work took place under the twenty-second
dynasty, of very delicate character, and fine glazing. But the amulet
system went into a very different stage in the twenty-sixth dynasty;
then in place of two or three, generally varying in size, we find dozens
all uniform in style, either of pottery or of polished stone, arranged
in rows on the mummy according to a system. Such was the plan of the
amulets at Hawara and at Nebesheh.
Yet a later period had left its remains at Illahun. In Coptic times,
about the sixth and seventh century A.D., the ground all about the
temple, and on a hill near the canal, was used for a cemetery. Though I
could not spend time on clearing such remains myself, the people of the
place readily grubbed up their forefathers, and disposed of their
garments to any one who would buy them. I thus obtained a large quantity
of embroideries and woven stuffs, the best of which are now at South
Kensington.
Illahun has then proved of great value to our knowledge of Egyptian
civilization; it has shown us a completely arranged town of the middle
kingdom; it has surrounded us with all the products and manufactures of
that age; it reveals the simultaneous use of finely wrought flint tools
with those of copper, when bronze was yet unknown; it provides us with
the writings of the period, including a will two thousand years older
than any known before; the pyramid proves to be of a design new to us,
and contains one of the finest examples of mechanical skill; while of
later ages we learn the date of Phoenician pottery, and of the earliest
figured Greek vases, and can trace the history of the use of amulets. Of
the blanks in the history of civilization, one more has been filled up.
[Illustration: 95. FLINT HIPPOPOTAMUS, TWELFTH DYNASTY.]
[Illustration: 96. BRONZE PANS, NINETEENTH DYNASTY.]