outside; and the walls are, roughly, parallel with
the great walls of the town. The method of construction seems to have
been as follows: An oblong excavation, about 6 m. long by 2 wide and 3
m. deep, was made in the gravel. About half the length of this was
needed for the tomb; the other half formed a rough sloping staircase
for the workmen. The sides of the grave were built of brick walls, and
these were covered by an arch of brick about 1.50 m. high. In this the
body was laid at full length, on the left side, the head to the north;
in front of the body was a great mass of pottery. The interest of this
set of tombs lies in the bearing they may have on the question of the
date of the wall, for if it be granted that these are probably of the
early XIIth dynasty (as the pottery suggests), then we have early
XIIth dynasty tombs inside, and tombs of the reign of Amenemhat III
outside the walls. (There were, however, two tombs inside the walls in
which the remains of the pottery were much like those in the tombs
outside.) Now there is a stela from El Kab, to which Dr. Spiegelberg
calls my attention (published in Stobart, Egypt. Antiq., PL. I), which
states that Amenemhat III restored the walls at El Kab which Usertesen
II had built. What walls these were the stela does not state, but the
evidence from the pottery would support the idea that they were the
great town walls. And if this be so, the common pottery of the Middle
Kingdom can now be split into two sections, between which the reign of
Usertesen II will form the dividing line.

20. _The tombs in detail._

In No. 203 there were only two pots and a marble vase. Traces of the
roofing arch were found. The skeleton as it lay measured 1.80 m. long.

No. 205 contained pottery of shapes XIII, 2, 12, 27, 24, 20.

No. 216 contained four examples of XIII, 5, one each of 2, 19, 4, and
about fifty of the small saucer, 12a.

No. 242 contained 26, 2, 3.

No. 255 contained a great mass of pottery of nearly all the shapes (2,
5, 4, 12, 9, 17), much of which lay at a higher level than the two
bodies; of these, one lay upon its back, the other in the regular
position. Before the face of the northern body was an alabaster vase
(X, 4), a small shell and a fragment of bronze rod. Another alabaster
jar (X, 3) stood by the hips of the southern skeleton.

No. 264 was in better condition than most, and contained a great
number of pots, including more than fifty of the shape XIII, 22, a