| From Schweinfurth’s “Temple” toDimay. | |
| R.L. | |
|---|---|
| Floor surface of raised chamber on left of central chamber | 35·506 |
| Pottery mound of old settlement | 24·580 |
| First depression on line of levels | 9·611 |
| Following elevation | 16·521 |
| Second depression | 6·096 |
| Following elevation | 14·461 |
| Third depression | 7·716 |
| Plateau north of Dimay | 21·448 |
| On ruined mounds in Dimay enclosure | 28·368 |
| Causeway at undamaged upper end | 25·438 |
| From Dimay to LakeQurûn. | |
| Causeway | 25·438 |
| Plateau north of Dimay, upper end | 17·000 |
| „ „ lowerend | 13·270 |
| Fossils plentiful between | - 3·500 |
| and | - 13·000 |
| Water surface, Lake Qurûn, May 2nd, 1892 | - 43·540 |
These levels I am convinced are correct, as they were taken with the utmost care, as I myself saw, by Messrs. W. O. Joseph and A. Pini, who had been in constant practice at levelling. The levels between Lake Qurûn and Dimay were taken twice over; the first levels, taken by Monsieur Pini alone, giving a difference of level between the lake and causeway of 68·952 metres, while the difference found, when both read, was 68·978.
The levels for the old town near Schweinfurth’s “temple” having been found to be from R.L. 23 to 26, the theory that Lake Mœris was a little below the level of R.L. 23·00 is favoured by the determination of this level. The presence and peculiarities of the quay at Dimay, if it is such, and the existence of an old town on the heights where the Dimay ruins stand, if they can be used as evidence of what the lake level used to be, point to high levels rather than to low ones, and do not answer to Linant’s appeal to the old abandoned towns to bear witness in his favour.
In connection with the levels of Dimay and Schweinfurth’s “temple” the levels of the ruins of Biahmu should be studied. These are given on [Plates XXII.] and [XXIII.]
The top of the highest corner-stone of the enclosure wall, now in situ, is at R.L. 21·59, and, accepting Mr. Petrie’s restoration of these ruins, the top of this wall, when complete, would have been at R.L. 23·00, which would seem to indicate that the maximum water-level of the lake was below R.L. 23·00, but higher than R.L. 17·00, the level of the ground outside the enclosure. These ruins are referred to more fully on [p. 83] et seq.
Mr. Flinders Petrie’s Views of Lake Mœris.—Having discussed the theories of Linant Pasha and Mr. Cope Whitehouse, the only two that I can find stated with any distinctness, and the only ones that have been put forward by travellers having a personal acquaintance with the Fayûm, I will, before setting forth my own reading of the past history of the province and my theory as to its connection or identity with Lake Mœris, first give Mr. Petrie’s views, who should be included with the two foregoing theorists, as a traveller having a personal acquaintance with the Fayûm, and, in a special line, a very intimate one. I do not think that he would claim that the expression of his views constitutes the enunciation of a new theory of Lake Mœris, but only his way of viewing an old theory with some side-lights of his own added by way of illumination.
The views, that I have adopted, are in general agreement with those favoured by Mr. Petrie, and as he, an Egyptologist and archæologist, has thrown light on the subject from his standpoint, I propose to make the same attempt from my point of view as the Public Works officer in charge of the irrigation of the Fayûm. The working out of the problem of Lake Mœris would seem to require an alliance between a palæontologist, an archæologist, an Egyptologist, a geologist, and a hydraulic engineer.
The following is copied from ‘Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoë,’ by W. M. Flinders Petrie, published in 1889:—
“Medinet el Fayûm ([Plate XVII.]) is the modern town which represents the ancient Arsinoë, so named by Ptolemy Philadelphos in honour of his sister-wife; it lies at the extreme south of the old site, which covers a space of over a mile long and half a mile wide, a vast wilderness of mounds strewn with pottery. At the opposite end of the ruins, toward the north, is the great temple enclosure of the old Egyptian town. Before its name of Arsinoë, the city had obtained the name of Crocodilopolis, from the worship of the sacred crocodiles maintained there; and still earlier it was known as Shed, meaning, apparently, that which is saved, cut out, delivered, or extracted, referring to the district being reclaimed from the great lake. The whole province was known as Ta-she, ‘the land of the lake’; and, whatever may have been the mistakes of historians about Lake Moiris, there is no doubt that the lake was the main feature of the district.
Plate XVII.