hem, written in ink with a brush, most of
which showed the name of Ka in the usual panelled frame. There can
therefore be no doubt of the attribution of this tomb.

The tomb B 9 is perhaps that of King Zeser, who seems to have been a
successor of Ka. It is of the same construction as that of Ka. The tomb
B 10 appears to be the oldest of the great tombs, by its easternmost
position; and the objects of Narmer point to this as his tomb. In both
the thickness and the batter of the walls there is a care shown in
proportioning the strength of the ends and the sides. The tomb B 15
is probably that of King Sma. Its walls are not quite so thick, being
fifty inches at the end. The post-holes in the floor suggest that there
were five on the long side, and one in the middle of each end, as in the
tomb of Narmer. But along the sides are holes for roofing beams near the
top of the wall. These roof beams do not at all accord with the posts;
and this proves that, here at least, the posts were for backing a wooden
chamber inside the brick chamber. If this be the case here, it was
probably also true in Narmer's tomb; and hence these brick tombs were
only the protective shell around a wooden chamber which contained the
burial. This same system is known in the first dynasty tombs, and we see
here the source of the chambered tombs of Zer and Zet. Before the age
of Mena, the space around the wood chamber was used for dropping in
offerings between the framing posts; and then, after Mena, separate
brick chambers were made around the wooden chamber in order to hold more
offerings.*

*This chamber was burnt; and is apparently that mentioned by
M. Amelineau, Fouilles, in extenso, 1899, page 107.

The tomb B 19, which contained the best tablet of Aha-Mena, is probably
his tomb; for the tomb with his vases at Naqada is more probably that of
his queen Neithotep. As both the tombs B 17 and 18 to the north of this
contained objects of Mena, it is probable that they were the tombs of
some members of his family.

The great cemetery of the domestics of this age is the triple row of
tombs to the east of the royal tombs; in all the thirty-four tombs here,
no name was found beside that of Aha on the jar sealings, and the two
tombs, B 6 and B 14, seen to be probably of the same age. In B 14 were
found only objects of Aha, and three of them were inscribed with the
name of Bener-eb, probably the name of a wife or a daughter of Mena,
which is not