the body, the
vertical jars with cordage pattern, the square slate palettes, the
flat alabaster dishes, and four shapes of alabaster vases (X, 22, 44,
48, 31), two of which often occur also in the mastabas. The first
group obtained were inside an oblong brick building, which showed red
in the distance, the colour being due to the great number of broken
pots of the Old Kingdom (XII, 20, 23) scattered over it. The earth
within its walls was found to consist largely of these pots, of which
there was an unbroken layer, two feet thick. Below this we came upon
the Neolithic tombs. The walls were of the small bricks which we soon
learnt to associate with the work of the Old Kingdom in El Kab. It is
not probable that the walls had any relation to the tombs, for they
were not quite parallel to one another, and there were more tombs
outside these walls. But it is important to observe that a thick layer
of the coarse pottery of the Old Kingdom here overlies Neolithic
tombs. It is just possible that the pottery may have been thrown by
cultivators upon this mound, but the probabilities against this seemed
to me very strong. In one of these tombs (L, 2) the body was found
complete, lying on the left side, with the head to the south. At the
head end were one wavy-handled pot of a late type (XI, 3), two
vertical jars (as XI, 5), with cordage pattern, a square slate
palette, and above these a pot (XI, 9), with decoration in wavy red
lines; also an alabaster cup (X, 38), containing six finger-bones. At
the other end were a bowl, and two vases of well-known forms.

The middles of the graves were generally empty, and bones were rarely
found; the stone bowls, which formed the bulk of the finds, were at
the north and south ends. It does not seem worth while to transfer
from the notebooks the full description of each of these small tombs,
for they have been so thoroughly robbed and turned over that the
position of the different objects in the tomb has no particular
meaning, but it may be well to give a short catalogue of the objects
found (_v._ PL. XXVII). Each of the tombs is about 1.50 m. to 2.00 m.
long, .90 m. wide, and 1.50 deep.

In one tomb (No. 237) the body was laid in a wooden box (length not
seen, .40 m. broad, wood 3 cm. thick), in a contracted position, with
the head to the south, but the bones were disturbed, and the pottery
lay at various levels, not all on the floor of the tomb. There were
traces of mat-work at the north end