PTOLEMAIC VAULTED GRAVES
BY HOWARD CARTER
Covering the upper stratum of the sites explored in the Birâbi were
numerous brick-vaulted graves, mostly found not more than a metre or so
beneath the surface rubbish (Pl. XXXIII).
Probably when these vault-graves were first made they actually stood
above the surface, their superstructures being in all probability
intended to be exposed, as would be gathered from the fact of their
external walls showing, in some cases, painted decoration upon the
plaster still adhering to them (Pl. XXXIV. 2). In every case they were
found to be plundered, and in the course of examining some forty
examples that we came across, we rarely found but the very slightest
traces of the burials they once contained. And all that we were able to
gather from these vestiges of the actual interments was that they were
of the Ptolemaic period, but almost pure Egyptian in type. This fact
thoroughly corroborates Mr. Edgar’s statement that ‘during the Ptolemaic
period many of the Greek inhabitants began to adopt the practice of
mummification. At first naturally their custom went to the native
undertakers, and their mummies were decorated just like those of the
Egyptians. Here and there as time goes on, signs of Greek influence
begin to appear. But it is not till the Roman period that the style
becomes what could be properly called Greek.’[20]
In these graves the coffins were of rectangular and anthropoid form, and
the mummies were enclosed in canvas cartonnages covered with stucco
elaborately decorated with pictures of the numerous Egyptian deities and
ritual inscriptions of the usual formulae. Their funerary objects were
glazed faience bowls of several colours, such as many different blues,
violets, &c.; small roughly glazed shawabti figures; porcelain deities
and amulets; painted carved wood _Ba_-birds; erotic figures in faience;
and beads, &c. There were also vases and bowls in pottery; and in two
instances we found a bowl of copper gilt (Fig. 12) and vases in lead,
left or forgotten by the plunderers.
Luckily the substructure of these graves was nearly always found intact,
and likewise in many cases their superstructure. And by this we were
able to gather that it was a common custom for them to have small brick
vestibules or shrines before their entrances; and that under the floors
of either the out-buildings or the vaulted chambers themselves, one or
more amphorae were buried for water or food for the dead (Pl. XXXIV,
Fig. 1); the mouths of these jars were covered by inverted bowls and
sealed with mud.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. GILT COPPER VESSEL FROM PTOLEMAIC VAULTED
GRAVES.]
In one of these sealed vessels, found under the floors, two demotic
papyri were discovered (see description by Spiegelberg, p. 46); in
others were date cakes, grain, and seeds of different kinds; and in the
corner of one of the small outer chambers a batch of forty-seven
Ptolemaic coins (p. 44). The fortunate discovery of the papyri and
coins, treated hereafter, give data for fixing the period of these
vaults to the earlier Ptolemaic times.
With regard to construction, these vault-graves built of mud-brick are
of a rectangular longitudinal shape. The side walls, one and a half
bricks thick, are from six to ten bricks high, while the end walls are
carried up to the height of the crown of the vault. On the inner face of
the side walls a ledge is left, half-way up, for a support to carry the
vaulted roof (the outer faces are run up as high again to receive the
thrust of the vault). The vaulted roof, one brick in thickness, has its
rings leaning against the end wall, starting at the foot with first one
brick on either side, then two, three, and so on, until the feet of
these incomplete rings are far enough out to allow a complete leaning
ring to be formed with its crown actually touching the end wall at the
top. To this complete ring the bricks of the subsequent rings of the
vault are stuck, thus avoiding the force of gravity and enabling the
vaulting to be built without the aid of timber centring. This is a
method by which a barrel-vault can be made, technically known as a
_flown-vault_, and which is known and used by natives in Egypt at the
present day.
For strength and to reduce the thrust, the vault is of parabolic section
and not truly semicircular.
[Illustration: FIG. 13. PTOLEMAIC COINS FROM VAULTED GRAVES.]
Access to these vaulted chambers was sometimes by means of an arched
opening in the end wall covered by the vestibule (Pl. XXXIV. 2), or,
when the latter structure was wanting, by a chimney-like hole at the top
of one end of the barrel-vault.
The flat vault bricks (34×16×6 cms.) have grooves on one side to allow
the mortar to have a better and firmer grip--a very necessary point for
this style of vaulting.
The group of forty-seven Ptolemaic copper coins (Fig. 13), the
preservation of which is unusually good for coins found in Upper Egypt,
new coinage rarely getting so far south, belong apparently to the
dominations of Ptolemies III and IV. They are of four sizes and in
detail are as follows:--
Av. weight Av. diam.
_grammes._ _mms._
10. _Obv._ Head of Zeus Amon to right.
_Rev._ Eagle on thunderbolt to left; cornucopia
in field in front of eagle.
Mints: [Illustration: hieroglyph] 73·0 42·0
6. _Obv._ Head of Zeus Amon to right.
_Rev._ Eagle on thunderbolt to left; cornucopia
in field in front of eagle.
Mints: [Illustration: hieroglyph] 67·0 40·5
17. _Obv._ Head of Zeus Amon to right.
_Rev._ Eagle on thunderbolt to left, head
turned to right; cornucopia in field
over back of eagle.
Mints: [Illustration: hieroglyph] 48·0 39·0
14. _Obv._ Head of Zeus Amon to right.
_Rev._ Eagle on thunderbolt to left; cornucopia
in field in front of eagle.
Mints: [Illustration: hieroglyph] 35·5 34·0