possible that mummification was
confined to the upper classes until the great increase of wealth in
the XVIIIth dynasty led to the wider adoption of the custom?

Some of the later Neolithic bodies were, however, dried, either by
artificial means or by some property of the soil, so that the whole
body could be lifted out without any of the limbs snapping off. It is
reported that the body of an engineer, who, not many years ago, died
and was buried at Assuan, and afterwards exhumed to be sold as a
mummy, was dried up in this way.

A chamber generally contained more than one body; four was a not
uncommon number, and in one chamber eight persons, probably women,
lay side by side. This fact certainly agrees badly with the idea just
expressed of the absence of mummification. The objects found in the
graves were of well-known types. Bottle-shaped vases at the head and
feet, alabaster kohl pots, kohl sticks of ivory, bronze mirrors
without handles, paint-slabs with their pestles and spatulae of
serpentine and basalt, with beads of green glaze and various kinds
of hard stone, were the regular staple of our finds. And the date of
these was already well known from Kahun and other places; indeed the
date of this cemetery could be seen at once from the chips of pottery
lying on the surface. This conclusion was confirmed by the two
private stelae (PL. IV), and a cylinder of Amenemhat III, found in one
necklace. Inscriptions were extremely rare; there were few scarabs,
and perhaps the most interesting object was the plain alabaster
statuette (PL. V, 2), which was found close to the skull of its owner.
This was the only figure of the kind found in the cemetery, and is
probably the earliest dated ushabti. It represents a mummy-shaped
figure; no hands, hoe, or basket can be seen, but the face is well
executed.

The tombs were, of course, often robbed, how often, it was difficult
to decide, for the destruction caused by the falling roof is very
similar to that caused by early robbery. But it was very seldom that a
skull could be preserved, or that the exact position of the bones in
the body could be worked out. There had been very little re-use of the
shafts; in one occurred pottery and a mirror of the XVIIIth dynasty,
in another a Roman lamp; but these were exceptions; it was purely a
Middle Kingdom cemetery.

22. A fine collection of beads was obtained, chiefly in hard stone. In
one tomb alone (No. 156) I spent most of two days try