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Mahasna and Bet Khallaf
CHAPTER IV.
THE TOMB OF HEN-NEKHT. K 2. (With Pls. 17-23)
35.
On a mound just to the north of the tomb last described, from which it
is separated by some 300 metres, was found the ruined superstructure of
a tomb built upon a similar principle; it proved to be the burial place
of a king whose name is new to history, tentatively read during the
excavation Hen-Nekht, and now by Professor Sethe, Sa-Nekht. In detail of
its construction it showed some marked differences from the larger tomb
to which it is near. It consisted essentially of two parts alike, with
common superstructure, each with its own stairway and set of chambers
underground. The one group to the north was supplementary and empty;
its portcullis had never been lowered, nor its purpose fulfilled. But
the stairway of the central and deeper portion was barred with two
great slabs, and in the chambers was found the funeral furniture of a
man whose bones and coffin remained in one of the larger rooms.
36.
The superstructure of this tomb was not, apparently, a mastaba of
ordinary character. Though so ruinous that it was difficult to discern
more than its outline amid the mass of brick-work, yet it had seemingly
been built up originally in steps, after the manner shown in the
photographs of its eastern side, on Pl.17. Its analogy with the form
of the step pyramid at Saqqara is striking. The whole rested upon a low
platform of brick laid upon the desert. On the east there was some sign
of an ancient pathway leading towards but not up to the building.
At
the southern end two narrow walls, projecting perpendicular to the
face, enclosed between them (as may be seen in the plan on PL. XVIII.)
a recess the use of which was not apparent. A smaller enclosure, built
of a single thickness of bricks in the angle formed where the easterly
wall joined the main building, was found to contain deposits of various
forms of pottery. The divisions marked E F on the plan represent the
position occupied by the rising portion of the steps, as illustrated by
the section C D.
37. The main passage begins to descend at the
point a, which is somewhat confused; then turns southward at b,
descending from that point below the desert level. At c it is blocked
by a great mass of stone, neatly fitted into position, as shown in the
photograph on Pl.17. It was found by excavation from within that this
stone covered the mouth of an arched passage, which led down from this
point to the well beyond, where another slab d further barred the way.
This stone was of great size, being 17 feet high and 8 to 9 feet wide,
with a thickness in places of 2 feet. By scraping a hole under its
middle, leaving the outer edges resting upon the sand, it was possible
to creep through, and so enter the chambers beyond. These are outlined
by a white line in the plan, and their vertical depth is shown on the
section A B below.
Plate 19: Seal impressions from the tomb of Hen-Nekht at Bet Khallaf.
Here were found in
confusion the remains of a stout wooden coffin (its fragments destroyed
by the white ant) and the bones of a man. Dr. C. S. Myers, who has
examined these in detail, and whose notes thereon are appended to the
end of the present chapter, writes that " the skull is extraordinarily
massive, remarkably long, and with marked grooves and ridges. . . . We
shall not be far wrong if we conclude that the stature of Hen-Nekht was
1860 millimetres (or 6 feet 1 inch). The skeletal stature thus appears
to have been 200 millimetres greater than that of the average
prehistoric or early empire Egyptian."
The tomb contained
deposits of alabaster and copper vessels, illustrated on Pls. 20b, 22
and 23, also some flint and copper implements and pottery; which
will be comparatively treated of in Chapter VII; and further a few
fragmentary seal impressions, bearing a royal name, possibly Hen-Nekht,
as shown in facsimile on Pl.19. One fragment, No. 7, may be part of
an oval cartouche; if so it is the earliest yet recorded, but unhappily
it falls short of giving the necessary clue to the identity of this
king.
39. The very stature indicated by his bones, however,
may provide a clue. A height of 20 cms. (nearly 8 inches) more than the
average of his time, must have constituted him conspicuous among men.
Professor Sayce, upon seeing the bones before measurement, was so
struck by their remarkable strength, that he immediately recalled the
passages in Manetho and Eratosthenes giving mention of one (or two)
giant kings of the period. The names given by these historians are
Sesochris and Momcheiri; but the question of his identity from this
coincidence is hardly an archaeological problem.
Plate 21: Types of alabaster vessels from the tomb of Hen-Nekht at Bet Khallaf.
41. The other series of chambers in the
northern portion of the tomb, as has been indicated, contained no
deposits. The descent to them was similar and better preserved : it
showed that, as in the tomb K 1, the original direction of the first
few steps, g-g, was to the north; at h there was a similar turn to the
south, but no stone blocked the passage at K.
Plate 22: Model cylindrical vases of alabaster, 3rd Dynasty, Bet Khallaf.
Here was (and still
remains) an archway of singularly perfect construction and
preservation. It consists of fifteen bricks, most of which have been
purposely shaped as voussoirs. This has been effected in a few
instances by chipping the ordinary form of brick, but more often by
adding a wedge-thickening of mud and allowing it to dry on and harden
before use for building. They fit together nicely, and form an arch
which is, roughly, the third of a circle. The course is single; and the
bricks of the wall are built up to it in horizontal courses, the
interstices being filled with broken pieces and hard mud. Passing down,
it is seen that the barrel roof consists of three successive descending
portions, to follow the steep angle of the passage floor.
Plate 23: Copper implements and fittings from the tomb of Hen-Nekht at Bet Khallaf.
By this instance the
whole process by which these tombs were designed to be protected was
made clear. The funeral ceremony performed, and the pathway laden with
offerings, the slender walls of brick were removed, and the great
stones fell into position before the successive doors, sliding in their
grooves. The wells were then filled with mud of a hard and tenacious
quality. The surface over all was probably bricked up, to finally
conceal the approaches to the tomb. In this way the broken and pounded
state of many of the objects is accounted for; for these passages had
not for the most part been previously dug out so as to clean the steps,
former plunderers having been content to make speculative holes through
the solid mass in the hope of reaching the burial and its jewels.
42. With regard to the bones recovered from this tomb, Dr. C. S. Myers kindly furnishes the following statement:—
"
The skeleton of Hen-Nekht is particularly interesting; for he is by far
the earliest king whose (p.13) remains have been found, and they are
the first which can with fair certainty be attributed to the III
Dynasty. The Cairo Museum now possesses his skull, two tibiae, his left
femur, left clavicle, and left humerus, together with fragments of
pelvis, scapulae, and fibulae.
Plate 20a: The skull from the tomb of Hen-Nekht at Bet Khallaf.
"The squamous portions of the
temporal bones are much damaged at the upper margins. In side-view, a
depression is seen in the profile-line of the forehead between the
strong frontal eminences above and the glabella below. The supraorbital
ridges are indicated only over the inner half of the orbits. The nasion
is deeply sunk. The nasal bones are short: the shape of the nose is
slightly concave near the root, but distinctly convex towards the free
end of the nasal bones. The nasal spine is moderately developed.
"The
lower jaw is unusually massive, and marked by strong ridges giving
attachment to powerful muscles. The chin is triangular, and very
prominent. The angle of the jaw appears almost a right angle. Three
right lower molar teeth are present. The face seems orthognathous. The
temporal crests are strongly indicated; the mastoid processes are also
very powerful. The pteria are in H. The profile curve of the skull-roof
is a long low arc traceable from the frontal eminences backward. The
hinder half of the parietal region is more flattened; but the
supra-occipital part of the occipital bone is well developed, and
protrudes noticeably in side-view beyond the parietal region that lies
above. Seen from behind, the occipital region is of a rounded
pentagonal shape, the two upright sides being unusually long and
vertical. The parieto-occipital sutures contain numerous large Wormian
bones. The outer surface of the occipital bone is exceedingly rugged.
One, in particular, of its many ridges, stretching across the greater
part of the width of the bone, at the level of the superior nuchal
line, is so prominent as to form a spur projecting nine millimetres
beyond the surface of the bone beneath it.
"On this spur the
skull naturally rests, when placed in a horizontal position. In a view
from below, little is noteworthy. There are deep depressions behind and
internal to the mastoid processes. The palatomaxillary and
inter-maxillary sutures are open. Seen from the front, the forehead is
high, full, but a little narrow. The nose is high, but its bridge is
broad. The lower margins of the nasal apertures are well defined. The
cheek-bones are massive, rugged, and broad. The internal bi-orbital
distance is wide. "The long bones are very massive, remarkably long,
and well marked with grooves and ridges. The olecranon fossa of the
humerus is imperforate. The femur is very broad at its lower end. The
tibiae are highly platycnemic, very massive, and have a strongly convex
bend forwards.
"The following are the several measurements given
by the skeleton of Hen-Nekht, and by that of another Egyptian of the
same dynasty described in sections 44, 45.
SKULLS
HEN-NEKHT K3
mm mm
Glabello-occipital
length 193
194
Maximum
breadth ....
153
152
Minimum frontal breadth
97.5
93.5
Basio-bregmatic height
...
147
Nasio-alveolar
length .... 67
64
Nasio-mental
length ....
... 108.5
Nasal
length .....
52
51
Nasal breadth .....
27
23.5
Orbital height
.....
38 33 (r.)
34 (1.)
Orbital breadth.....
32 (r.)
39 (r.)
30.5(l.) 40 (1.)
External bi-orbital breadth . 110 100
Internal
bi-orbital breadth . 25
17
Basio-nasal
length ....
...
100
Basio-alveolar
length ...
... 96
Bizygomatic
breadth ....
... 131
Bi-malar
breadth ....
... 89
Bi-mastoid
breadth ....
107 95
External
bi-maxillary breadth ...
63
Bigonial
mandibular breadth 105
90
Palatal
length .....
57.5
...
Orbito-malar arc ....
... 104
Bi-auricular
arc ....
351 343
Horizontal
circumference
547
552
Cranial
breadth index.
79.3 78.4
Cranial
height index ....
... 75.8
Upper facial
index ....
... 48.9
Lower
facial index ....
...
82.8
Gnathic index .....
... 96.0
Nasal index .....
51.9
46.1
Orbital index .....
84.2 (r.) 84.6 (r.)
80.3 (L) 85.0 (l.)
LONG BONES. [1]
Humerus (maximum length) ... (r.) 334 (r.)
344 (1) 328 (l.)
Radius
(maximum length) ...
266 (r.)
260 (1.)
Ulna (maximum length)
... ... (r.)
285 (1.)
Tibia
(maximum length)
433 (r.) 418 (r.)
(excluding
spine)
430 (1.) 418 (1.)
Femur
maximum length)
... (r.) ...
511 (1.) ...
Tibia
(ant. post.
diam.
42 (r.)
33.5(r.)
at nutrient foramen)
40 (l.)
34.5 (l)
Tibia
(transverse diam.
...
2l.0 (r.)
at nutrient foramen)
...
20.5 (1.)
Femur
(maximum breadth
.. (r.)
...
of
lower end)
79 (1.) ...
Clavicle
(maximum length) . ...
(r.) ...
170 (1.) ...
Platycnemic
index
... 62.7 (r.)
59.4 (1.)
"The
accompanying Table makes it clear that the relative bone-lengths of
Hen-Nekht, as indeed those of the early Egyptians generally, correspond
more nearly to what is met with among negroid than among European
races, if Broca and Humphry's figures can be accepted as true, and if
one is justified in taking the mean bone-lengths in a series as
representing the average skeletal measurements. The same fact seems
indicated if we attempt to construct the stature of Hen-Nekht from his
humerus, femur, tibia, and femur and tibia conjoined, by multiplying
each bone-length, first, by a factor calculated for Europeans, and,
secondly, by another calculated for negroes. The statures in the series
obtained by the second method are far more closely identical than those
obtained by the first. The humerus of Hen-Nekht is exceptionally short.
His leg-bones give a skeletal stature of 1858 millimetres. To this have
to be added a few centimetres for the conversion of the skeletal into
the living stature; from it have to be deducted a few centimetres to
allow for over-estimation due to excessive macroskely.[5] We shall not be
far wrong if we conclude that the stature of Hen-Nekht was 1860
millimetres, or 73-23 inches. Beddoe's formula gives a closely similar
result.[6]
"Thus the skeletal stature of Hen-Nekht appears to
have been about 200 mm. greater than that of the average prehistoric or
early kingdom Egyptians."
Ratio of
Bone-Lengths
Hennekht Europeans[2]
Negroes[2] Prehistoric Egyptians
Egyptians[3] VI.-XII
Dyn[4]
Humerus x
100 36.56
40.11 38.20
38.64
37.90
Femur and Tibia
Clavicle x 100
49.40 44.63
46.74
46.73
47.20
Humerus
Tibia x
100 84.10
80.52
84.78
82.67
84.60
Femur
Radius x 100
73.93 79.40
78.78 79.20
Humerus
Footnotes:
1. It is to be regretted that these
measurements were not taken with a properly devised osteometer: they
may nevertheless be regarded as sufficiently accurate for most
anthropological purposes.
2. Cf. Topinard's Anthropology (Eng. Trans.), p.303.
3. From the Monograph by E. Warren (Phil. Trans. R. S. L. ser.B, vol. 189, p.173).
4. Prepared from Randall-Maclver's figures in Prof. Petrie's Dendereh.
5. Cf. La determination de la taille, etc., by L. Manouvrier (Mem. de la Soc. d'Anth. de Paris, 1892).
6. "On the Stature of the Older Races," etc. by J. Beddoe (J. Anth. hist., XVII., p. 202).
[Continue to Chapter 5]
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