EXCAVATIONS IN EGYPT BOKCHARDT. 447 



north and south, and probably leading from certain important cen- 

 ters to the main street. The first of these broad parallel streets which 

 thus far can be traced, may be seen on the plan in front of house L 50, 

 1, between the houses N 48, 15 and O 48, 8, in front of the house O 

 48, 13, and between O 47, 2-4 and P 47, 19. The next, apparently the 

 most extreme parallel street, is the one termed Oberpriester-Strasse 

 (street of the high priest) and has been fully described in Mitteilun- 

 gen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft, No. 52, page 7. 



The necessary connections between these main arteries of the city 

 were narrow cross streets varying from 1.50 meter (!) to 10 meters 

 in width. They are clearly visible, as shown on the plan between the 

 premises extending from Q 46 to P 48, but good examples of them 

 are also recognizable south of the Wadi at the end of the " high 

 priests' street." These cross streets do not always run in a straight 

 line, but some are of a rectangular outline, as the one between Q 46, 2 

 and Q 47, 9. 



So much concerning the streets within the city the system of 

 which is gradually becoming more distinct. But likewise as regards 

 the long-known street outside of the city area, to which the mapping 

 of the region has added a large number, some views may now be 

 given which may correct former statements on this subject. In the 

 first place, a sharp distinction must be drawn between earlier streets 

 of the time of Amenophis IV and later ones. One of the older 

 streets was no doubt the one which led far into the desert to the ala- 

 baster quarry of the Old Kingdom, having a length of 17.5 kilo- 

 meters, and in some places presenting for its time creditable " art 

 structures," such as ramps and fortified side slopes. Two other 

 roads on the eastern plateau lead still farther into the desert and to 

 the stone quarry located 24 kilometers from the Nile in an air line. 

 This is an alabaster quarrj^ Its original circular entrance shaft led 

 through a sandstone elevation rising from the surface of the desert 

 (pi. 2, fig. 1, top, on left side), but at present the entrance is some- 

 what more accessible because of a break in the covering, as shown in 

 the central portion of the figure. In the interior there opens, first, 

 an irregular space, from which passages lead down to other rooms, 

 and from these to still lower levels. In some of the rooms late 

 Roman potsherds were found, bearing witness to the age of the work- 

 ing of the quarry, which is also attested by the rude relief in the 

 wall of the uppermost room on the left side, near the present entrance 

 (pi. 2, fig. 2). This relief represents a priest sacrificing a gazelle 

 before a row of five gods — Re, Atum, Thot, ( ? ) , and Har-si-ese. As 

 the age of the quarry furnishes the date of the two roads which lead 

 up to it, they must be disregarded in the reconstruction of the road- 

 net at the time of Amenophis IV. There remain, therefore, for this 



