1896.J OJ [Stevenson. 



above were usurped by them to bury their own dead. Moreover, in the 

 step-passage of a Mastaba, a burial of the Xllth dynasty was found super- 

 imposed upon the remains of the strangers. Here were therefore three 

 well-deSned epoch-marking layers, and the fact that briclc tombs of 

 the Xlltli dynasty were constructed over the ruins of a town occupied by 

 these people, conclusively proves that their presence in Egypt preceded 

 the Middle empire. 



Four necropoles and two mud-brick towns extending over an area of 

 five miles yielded the same result as to strata and relative occupancy. It 

 is therefore reasonable to see in this intrusion of a strange race, spreading 

 over so considerable a portion of the Egyptian territory, which it held for 

 so long a period of time exactly coinciding with the raonume'ntal break 

 in Egyptian history, if not the explanation of at least an important fact 

 connected with that break ; and to venture upon the assertion that a 

 migratory movement of some magnitude took place about 3400 B.C., of 

 which the people whose remains have just come to light formed a portion, 

 and by which the first united Egyptian empire was weakened and brought 

 to an end. 



Mr. Petrie, assisted by Mr. Duncan, pursued his investigations at 

 Nagada, whilst Mr. Quibell, working for the " Egyptian Research Ac- 

 count," explored the burials near Ballas, both exploring parties continuing 

 their researches until over 2000 burials were opened and their contents 

 examined and secured. These made it evident that the invaders liad long 

 retained their peculiar customs and beliefs : Instead of cutting their 

 tombs in the solid rock as did the Egyptians, they dug their graves in 

 shoals of gravel in the dry water courses of the desert edge ; tliese graves 

 are open square pits of the type of those found at Mycenaj ; they were 

 roofed over with wood, and their average dimensions are about 0x4 and 

 5 feet in depth. Their size varies, however, from half to double those 

 here mentioned. Unlike the Egyptians who mummified their dead and 

 laid them stifliy stretched out upon their backs, the body, reduced to a 

 skeleton, here lay in a contracted position turned upon its left side, facing 

 the west, with the head to the south. Every body, or ninety-nine out of 

 a hundred, was found with the head taken off or removed. Short, oblong 

 coffins of coarse pottery, with a lid and resembling a chest, were used. The 

 bodies showed evidence of having been mutilated before burial. In one 

 fine tomb, the bones were heaped in the centre, whilst other bones, the 

 ends of which had been broken off and scooped out as though for marrow, 

 were placed around them. This led Mr. Petrie to suggest that they must 

 have been ceremonial cannibals. In other graves the bones were sepa- 

 rated and sorted out. 



Large bowls of coarse pottery, such as those exhibited with the coffin, 

 contained ashes, probably of the funeral feast, and Mr. Petrie aptly 

 quotes with reference to this custom 2 Chron. xvi. 14, xxi. 19, and Jere- 

 miah xxxiv. 5, referring to a great burning made at every funeral — a cus- 

 tom probably Amorite. These were placed at the foot, and other jars,. 



