596 EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



the wind- driven sand of the desert, which, at first sight, seemed never 

 to have been touched by man. 



A more attentive examination quickly showed me that the so-called 

 desert contained a number of sepulchers, which, if not as numerous as 

 those of Saqqarah, were at least as important. 



The stone pyramids of Dahchour, although opened, yielded no his- 

 torical information ; those of brick had resisted all attacks. Only some 

 ruined mastabas of the fourth and twelfth dynasties were known, the 

 former situated north of the northern brick pyramid, the other south 

 of the southern pyramid. 



The absence of documents, the resistance which the pyramids of 

 brick offered, the numerous indications which I discovered at each foot 

 of the soil, were the reasons which induced me to concentrate my efforts 

 on that part of the Memphitic necropolis. But being obliged to go to 

 upper Egypt during the months of December, 1893, and January, 1894, 

 I could direct the work in person only after the 18th of February. 



During my absence excavations had been carried on according to 

 my order to the south and north of the northern tumulus in the group 

 of tombs, the upper of which I recognized on my arrival to belong to 

 the old empire, and the lower to the twelfth dynasty. 



The cartouches of Ousertesen II and III and Amenemhat III left 

 no doubt as to the epoch in which these latter monuments had been 

 constructed. 



The pyramid, as I have already said, had been attacked, and under 

 the millions of accumulated bricks untouched diluvial gravel had been 

 found. The royal chamber was not included in the mass of the monu- 

 ment itself. As is usually the case in stone pyramids, it was possibly 

 built deeper down. I soon learned by using the drill in the center of 

 the trench recently opened, that the diluvium continued to a depth of 

 9.50 meters underneath the foundations of the pyramid, and was with- 

 out the slightest trace of human labor. Under these alluvial deposits 

 friable gravels were found whose silicious nodules arrested the drilling. 

 Further search was useless, for the tombs, if they existed, would have 

 been hollowed from the mass of the rock itself, and would probably be 

 found at a very great depth. 



These negative indications were most precious to me, and in order to 

 procure information of a nature which would aid me in my researches, I 

 abandoned for several days the excavation in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood of the pyramid and devoted myself to a careful study of the 

 tombs hollowed out in the mountain. 



The tombs of the middle empire in the necropolis of Dahchour do 

 not at all resemble those of the old empire, discovered by Mariette at 

 Saqqarah. We do not find among the monuments of the twelfth 

 dynasty at Dahchour the elaborate funeral temple covered with bas- 

 reliefs like those of Ti, Mera, Ptah-Hotep, Ptah-Chepses, etc. The 

 mastaba of Dahchour is very simple and contains no chambers, being 



