(3.) A set of model tools, axe, knife, adzes and chisels, shown again in outline on [Pl. XVIII], 56-65. These have been analysed by Dr. Gladstone, who writes as follows:—
“The largest fragment gave—
Per cent.
Copper 98·4
Arsenic 0·3
Iron 0·2
Bismuth trace
Lead trace
Antimony trace?
Oxygen as cuprous oxide trace
It is, of course, essentially copper, the minute quantities of the other constituents 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 passage 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 spaces 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 5·3 m. deep, and scattered through the earth in it were coarse 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 shell 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 (majūrs) 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 mass 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 mass 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 scrape 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 shell, 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 passage 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, ⅓ 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 haematite, 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:—