BRICKARCHITECTUREInAncient EgyptA. J. SPENCERARIS &PHILLIPS Ltd.WARMINSTER, WILTS, ENGLAND.CONTENTSAbbreviationsPrefaceIntroductionPart IChapter One: BRICK MANUFACTUREChapter Two: THE EARLIEST USE OFBRICK IN EGYPTChapter Thr ee: THEBONDING CORPUSPart IIChapter Four : F U N E ~ R Y ARCIDTECTUREChapter Five: RELIGIOUSARCIDTECTUREChapter Six: ADMINISTRATIVEAND OFFICIAL BUILDINGSChapter Seven: DOMESTIC ARCHITECTUREChapter Eight : FORTRESSES AND DEFENSIVE TOWNWALLSPart IIIChapter Nine:BRICK WALLSChapter Ten: FLOORSAND FOUNDATIONSChapter Eleven: ARCHES, VAULTS, DOMES AND CORBELSChapter Twelve: SOLIDBRICK CONSTRUCTION IN MASTABAS AND PYRAMIDSChapter Thi rt een: SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALSIN BRICK CONSTRUCTIONChapter Fourteen: BONDINGChapter Fifteen:SPECIAL BRICKSChapter Sixt een:BRICK SIZESAppendix I: Met rology of Egyptian BrickworkIndexesPlatesivvI35710598394104112119123128130136140147149152162ivABBREVIATIONSAnnales duService des Antiquites de L 'Egypte.Bulletin de l'In stitut fran cais D'Archeologie Orientale.Bulletinof the Metropolitan Museum ofArt, NewYork.Bresciani, E., Missioni di Scavo aMedinet Madi [Fayu m-Egitto].Rapporto Preliminare delle Campagn e di Scavo 1966 e196 7.Bulletinde la Societe franco ise d 'Egyptologie.Chronique d 'Egypte.Comp tes rendusde L'Academie des Inscriptiones et Belles Lettres.De Bock, W., Materiauxpour servir iI l'archeologie de l'Egyptechretienne.Gabra, 5., Fouilles de l ' Universite Fouad el-A wal iI HermopolisOuest [Touna el-Gebel).HOlscher, U., The Excavation ofMedinet Habu, vols. 1- V.Journal of the American ResearchCenter in Egy pt.Journal ofEgyptian Archaeology.Jequier, G., Tombeauxde particuliers contemporains de Pepi II.Journal ofNear Eastern Studies.Lepsius, C. R., Denkmiil er aus AegyptenundAethiopien. Abt . I-VI.Lepsius, C. R. , Denkmiiler aus Aegypten und A ethiopien; Text,I-V. Edited by E. Naville, LBorchardt and K. Sethe.Maragioglio, V. &Rinaldi, C., L 'Architettura delle Piramidi Menfite.Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archdologischen Instituts AbteilungKairo.Mitt eilungen der DeutschenOrient-Gesellschaft.Memoires dela Mission Archeologique fran qaise au Caire.Petrie, W. M. F., The Roy al Tomhs of the First Dy nasty, I andRoy al Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties, [I.Port er, B. and Moss, R.L.B., Topographical Bi bliography ofAncientEgyptian Hi eroglyphic Texts, R eliefs and Paintings.Pennsylvania University Museums JournalProceedings of the Society ofBiblical Archaeology.Recueil deTravauxrelatifs iI la philologie et al 'archeologieegyptiennes et assyriennes.Revue d'Egyptologie;Ricke, H., Hughes, G.R. and Wente, E.F., The Beit el-Wali Templeof Ramesses ll.Ricke, H. and Sauneron, 5., DieTempel Nektanebos II inElephantine und ihre Erwei terungen.Tytus, R. de P., Preliminary Report onthe R e-excavationof thePalace ofAmenhotep III at Malqata.Erman, A. and Grapow, H., Wiirt erbuch der Agyptische Sprache,(5 vols.)Ze itschrif t fiir .ifgyptische Spracheund Altertumskunde.encI. Enclosure.H Headers (in char ts).M.K. Middle Kingdom.N.K. New Kingdom.O.K. Old Kingdom.5 Stretchers (in char ts).T Temple (in charts).II. OtherConvent ionsZASTytus, Palace of AmenhotepIII.Ricke and Sauneron, Elephantine.Wb.I. LiteraryPMASAEBIFAOBMMABresciani, MedinetMOOiBSFECdECRAIBLDe Bock, Materiaux . . . Archchret.E.M H.JARCEJEAJequier , G., Contemporains de Pepi II.JNESLD.LD.T.Gabra, Hermopolis Ouest.PMJPSBARec. Trav.Maragioglio and Rinaldi, Piramidi MenfiteMDIKRdERicke, Hughes and Wente, Beit el-WaliMDOGMMAFPetrie, Royal Tombs.PREFACEThe aim of this book is to give a detailed account of thebrick architecture of Ancient Egyptto examine the constructional techniques which were employedto overcomeindividual!:":hitect ural problems. The study is divided into three parts: Part One is concerned with a number_=general points, and contains chapters onbrick manufacture andthe early use of brickin Egypt,...:well as an explanation of theCorpus of brickbonding systems. In Part Two an account of thesurviving brickmonuments of Egypt is given, with special referencetotechnical and structuralccnsiderations. This section is divided into chapters dealing with different types of buildings , and:::e information gathered together providesthebasis of theconclusions of this book. The conclusionszre stated in Part Three, and largely consist of an examination of the constructional techniquese=' ;Jloyed at different periods for various purposes, such as thebuilding of walls, floors, foundationsother structures. A discussion of thekinds of brick used, thebonding andthe bricksizes is also The information contained in this study has been derived in part frompublished sources and" 5{j from observations made on site. The sources of thepublished information are stated inthezc res: where facts are given without referencesthe detailswere obtained by personal study in Egypt.-=-':e brick buildings of Nubia have, for themost part, been excluded fromdetailedexamination,!:OJ are mentioned onlyin cases where theyserve to illuminate the description of Egyptian monuments providing comparative material. Insimilar fashion, Coptic architecture is used onlybriefly tozms trate the later trends in Egyptian brickwork, somefeaturesof which are alreadyappearing in andRoman structures.For assistance in thepreparation of this study I am grateful toProfessor H. W. Fairman,. K. A. Kitchen, Mme. F. de Cenival andDr. B. V. Bothmer. My thanks are also duetothe=itt ee of theEgyptExploration Society, for allowing me to use unpublished material from" ',ci; excavations, andto Aris and Phillips Ltd., for undertaking thepublication of this workin its form.I:\TRODUCTIONOf all thesur viving monuments of Ancien t Egypt , themostfamous arethegreat sto nepyr ami ds of Giza , andthestone-built temples at Luxor , Abyd os, Dendera andEdfu , These grea t works, promoted byth e powerful forcesoffunerary belief or religion, were intended to last for ever, and consequently made use of the most enduring materialswithlittle regardfor expense or labour. However, the vast majority of Ancient Egyptian building was cons tructed morerapi dly andeconomicallybythe ext ensive use of sun-driedbric k as themajor material. A considerable amou nt of thisbric k architecture still survives, but it is only a fraction of which must have once exis ted. Entire citi es have disappeared,. eaving onlythe templ e standing, a fact which has ledt o a ratherone-sided view of Ancient Egyp tian life. BrickbuildingsinEgypt will last for th ousands of years when buried in sand, but onceexposed, suffer rapidlyfrom the effects of windand rain. Blown sand quickly erodes away the softmud-brick walls, and the occasional rain storms wash the bricks intomud. In addit ion tothi s natural decay, the brick buil din gs inEgypt have suffered grea tlyfromthe activitiesof thesebbakhin, who destroythe ruins for the sake of the nit rogenous earth of which theyare composed. Even archaeologists,working in the late Ninetee nth or early Twentieth century, have tended to treat the excavation of brick buildings withless care thanthey appliedto the stone monument s. For example, the enti retownwhic h surroun ded thetemple ofDend era was cleared away without record, in order to open up the temple, and a similar clearance was made at Edfu,during restoration work on the temple of Horus. JFew excavators have thought it worth while to record details oforick bonding, andthebrick sizes have beenneglect ed bymany.Fortunately, this lack of work on brick architecture is not universal, and some excellent studies have been made onthe subject by certain archaeologists. The most important of these contributions is that of a .H. Myers,2 whodevised.! system of recording the arrangements utilized in the various brick bonds by means of a Corpus, the essential featuresof which areretai ned in t herevised andextendedCor pus of brickbondsgiven-in thi s st udy. Some of the older Egypt-ological publications have at tempt edtodeal extensivelywiththe subject of bri ck architect ure, an examp le being L'Artl e Batir chez les Egypt/ens, byA. Choisy, whi ch app eared as lon g agoas1904. Unfo rt un atelythi s book, whilst itcontains some points of value, includes a fair amount of informati onwhich is inaccurate or over-simplified. The tendency:0 over-simplify and to generalize concerning brick architecture also occurs in other publications, so that it is possible for:hree separat e authoritie s, drawing t he const ructional details of the samebuil din g, (thebri ck vaultsattheRamesseum):0 produce three enti relydifferentdiagrams. ' However , at the prese nt daythe positi onis mu ch improved , andmanymore excavators are including details of brickwork, in additionto other-techiti"cal analyses, as a regular feature of theirexcavationreports. Nevertheless, the reporting could befurthe r imp roved, andide allyI would like to see thefoll owin gdetails of brick buildings recorded as a matter of course, and other aspects of the excavation described to a similarstandard:I. The compos itionof th e bricks , and whet he r bu rntor unburnt .2. The dimensions of the bricks.3. The bonding, pr efer abl y descri bed bymeans of a Corpus of bonds.4. The distribution of anyreed-matting or timbertie-beams inthe brickwork.5. The nature of the mortar.6. Det ails of anyplaster.7. Whether stamped bricks occur.8. Any special usages, or bricks of special form.My own st udy of the brick architecture of Egypt is intendedtoconside r inde tail thetechnical aspects of brickconstruction, and matters which do not relate to the structure of the buildings are, in the majority of cases, not includedTheindividual monuments aredescrib ed in Chapte rs 4to 8, toillust ratethewidespread use of bri ck andthe methods usedin various types of buil dings. Th ese chapters contain a bodyof infor mati onwhichmustfor mthe basis of anywork onEgyptian brickwork, comprising the facts which have been recovered from the excavation and study of the survivingmonuments. Since this information has, up till now, been scattered in excavation reports and other publications, I feelthat it is valuable to assemble it in one place so that the evidence concerning the techni ques of Egyptian brickwork isreadily available. In the later chapters, the conclusions based on this material are stated, in an examination of the construc-tion of particular archit ectural features. These conclusions, especiallythose concerned with brick sizes and bonding, havevalue in esta blishing thedat e towhichvarious st ruct ures belon g, and it is t o be hopedthat the ywill be improve d byfurther work onthe subject.1. Barsanti, A. , ASAE8 (1907) , 22 4-232.2. Mond, R. &Myers, o.u, The Bucheurn; 1, 47- 9&Ill, Pis. CXII-CXV.3. L,D. , I,89 ; Baralae, E., ASAE8 ( 19 07 ), 198-200: Choisy, A., L'Art de Battr cheztes Egypti ens, 44 -5.CHAPTER ONE: BRICK MANUFACTUREThe mat erials usedinmakin g br icksinAncient Egypt were Nile mu d, cho pped straw andsand. The se wer e mixedinvarying quantitiestoprodu ce bricks of different characteristics. The commonest type of brick consists of mud andchopped st raw witha small addition of sand, butvariet ies regularly occur whi ch are made upof nothing but sand andgravellydesert soil.Thewhole process of brickmaki ng inPharaonic Egypt was so similar tothat usedto daythata full descri ption ofthe stages of production can be given.Wet Nile mud is mixedwithchopped st raw and sand, pushedintoa woodenmould, andsmoothed by hand. Thebrickmaker th enloosens the mouldfro m thebrick andlifts it off t o leave the wet bri ckup onthe ground. Thi s processis repeated until the whole areais covered with nea t rowsof bricks, with only thethickness of the frameof themouldbetween each. TI,e bricksareleft to dry forabout thr ee days before beIng t urn edover, andbythe end ofa weektheyarefirm enoughto be stacked in a heap. The pure Nile mudshr inks byover30% in drying, bu t th e sand and straw inthebricks preve ntthe formation of cr acks. Experiments with brickrnakin g in modern times haveshownthat the bestmixt ure of th e consti t uents is one cubic metr e of mud with one-third of that amount of sand, plus 20kg of stra w. IBricks containing fine sand, whenwell dried, can stand compressive st ress inthe order of 52kg/cm2,wher eas brickswiththe same amount of sand, but also with straw, are less strong. 2In modernEgypt , thefellahi n will occasionallymake br icks enti relyby hand , dispensing withthe woodenmould,andit is quitepossible tha tthi s method was someti mes empl oyed inPharaoni c times. Thatthemajority of bricks weremade in wooden moulds, however, is without doubt, as this method is depicted in ancient representations, andsomeexamples of the moulds have beenfound.r' These moul ds are identical totheir moderncounterpar ts, exceptthat theyhave mortise andtenon joint s at thecorners instead of nails. From one side a handleprojects, bywhichthe brickmakermani pulates the mould. Nomoulds have yet been found whic h wereintended to producethespeciallyshaped bricks usedfor arches, cornices and other distinct architectural features.Of the evidence fromancient representations about brickmaki ng, the most valuable comes from the scenes in the: omb of Rekh mire atThebes.4TIle process of mixing themudandmaki ng the rows of bricks bythe use of woodenmoulds is clearly shown, and the inscription accompanying the scene reads:"Maki ng bricks t obuild ane w t he storeho use of the templeof Karn ak."Badawy has argued that slJt db! should mean "to lay bricks" rather than to "make bricks," since the originalmeaning of sa lis "toweave" or " to plai t," whichwould agreewiththeGreek use of Tr XwOuifxx; for the process ofbonding bricks into a wall. SHowever, alt houghthe original meanin g of sal ribl mayhave been "to laybricks ,"there is ample evidenceto show th atit also cameto mean "to make bric ks" fromtheNew Kingdom onwar ds. Thisisdemonstratedbythe exa mple from the tomb of Rekh mire, quo tedabove, whe re thescene clearly sho ws themanufact ure, notthe layin g, of bricks ; it is furthe r provedbythe frequent scene in fou ndationceremonies showingthemo ulding of the first brickbytheKing. Sincethetitl e ofthis scene is invariably sal dbt , this can onlymean" making bricks" inthis contex t. At Edfu this founda t ionritual is accompa nied bythe inscrip tion :6"Making bricks at the four corners of the temple."As heholds the brick-mould, the King saystoHorus:.:ld I~ C J c = d i ~ LJCV" I make a brick in order tobuild your sanct uary." 7I. Fathy, H., Gourna: ATaleo/ T'Wo Villages, 252.2. ibid., 287- 8. On theuseo f straw seeCarninos, R., LateEgy ptian Miscellanies, 190.3. Petrie, W. M. F., Tools andWeapons, PI.XLVll, 55.4. Davies ,N. deG., TheTomb 0/ Rekhrntre at Theb es, PI. LVII I.5. Bada wy , A., ASAE54( 1957), 51ff. , es peciall y p.6 4.6. Chassinat, E., Ed/Oil, II, 60.t . ibid., 6 1, &vol. XlI, PI.CCCLXXII.Since theKing is actually holding the brick-mould, it cannot be said that he is " laying bricks,"as Badawy argues.He gives an example of the earlier meaning of slJt from a Middle Kingdomstela, but either translation of the wordcouid be read:"Now I made this tombin Abydos, of brick which I assembled."8AnotherEgyptian word used in relationto brickwork is c4cG(Pip),9"to make (bricks)," which becomesthe Copt ic 1!WW1f'. Badawy also quotes a phrase fromtheEdfu textsreferring to the preparati on of mudfor bricks:"I mix earth with water."10A papyrus of the Nineteenth Dynasty11 contains accounts of brickmaking and records the number of bricksproduced by various workmen, but unfortunately does not state the length of time required to make the bricks.In modern Egypt , a team of four brickmakers will produce an average of 3,000 bricks per day, but therate ofmanufacture in ancient times may have been slightly less, owing to the greater size and weight of many of thebricks. The same papyrus cont ains an otherwise unkn own wordl;l.1l..=.Lt gJl takenin the worterbucn t o mean"to burnbricks,"12 This is possible, since burnt bricks were used in Ramesside buildings in special circumstances,13but the damaged stat e of the text makes it impossible to be sure of the meaning of the word. References to brickmanufacture in other text s are similarly lackingin precise details; Papyrus Reisner I apparently records the prod-uction of 65 cubic cubits of bricks per day, 14 and contains several words for "brick-clay" and related materials. 15A demotictext, Papyrus Sorbonne 276, 16 refers t o the use of old bricks for the rebuilding of a storehouse, showingthat the re-use of bricks was a common practice.8. Lange, H.O. &Schaf er, H., Grab una Denksteinedes M.R. , 20 733.9. -Anastasi V, 3,1.10. Badawy, A., ASAE 54(1957 ) ,57.1 1. Vi rey, P. , ParcheminRapport e de The bes, in MMAF, I, 481-51Q.12. Wb., V, 156, 7.13. Seebelow, pp. 44, 140.14 . Simpson, W.K.. Papyrus Reisner 1, 62 .15. Thesewordsdiscus sedbySimpson, op. cit., 72, 75-7.16. I amgrateful toMme. F. deCenival fo r detail s of this text.CHAPTER TWO' THEEARLIEST USE OFBRICK IN EGYPTIt is difficult toestablish preciselywhen the use of brick for building began inEgypt . Theearliest buildings of anysize aretheFirst Dynast y mastabas of Saqqara andNaqada, and the t ombs of Abydos. In thesest ructures, andespeci-ally in the Saqqaramastab as, we see a highly-developed archit ecture makin g expert use ofthebuilding materials.Previous to th e First Dynasty , however, very little has been discoveredto illustr at e the earlier effo rt s of th e Egyptiansin brick building, andtheremains which have beenfound are notonany sizeable scale. Thesophisticated architect ureof theArchaic Period seems, like so many thi ngs atthi s pointin Egyptian history, to appear suddenly, fullyformed.Whil stth ere can be nodoubtthat influences fromMesopotamiahelped t o promote thi s new outburst of buil ding inthe early dynasties , the re is also evidence toshow thattheinhabitants of the Nile Valleyduring th e Naqada1I periodwere not unfamiliar withthe large-scale use of brick as a building material. This evidence comes mainlyfromthe slat epalett es, ivor y labels andmud-sealings of the age.On the fragmentary Tjehenu palette in Cairo , a series of walled enclosures or townsare shown, intheprocess ofbeing attacked by animals representing differ ent provinces. Such butt resseddefen sive walls could only have been cons-tructed of bri ck, and must have been of sufficient height andthi ckne ss to resistattack. Another example occurs ontheNarrner palett e, where the King, in th e form of a bull , has broken int o oneof these walledt owns. The mud-sealingsfrom theAbydos First Dynastytombs frequ entl y sho w oval enclosures of thi s type. Somesealings 1 show a more devel-oped enclosed to wn or camp, wherethe surrounding wall is laid out on a rect angular plan in theformof thehieroglyph[] hwt , whichrepresent s a walledarea witha gateway atone corner. 2 Thereis great similaritybetween the encl osuresrepresented onthe seatings and the "Funerary Palaces"of Abydos, th e surviving exa mples of whi chdate fromtheSecond Dynasty. It seems likely, therefor e, thatatthetimeof theunifi cation of Egyptthere werein existence sett le-ments prote cted by fortifi ed brickwalls, probably of comparable size toth e Shunet ez-Zebibat Abydos, whose wallis now11m high and5.30m thick. If constructions of thi s size were presentto have been attackedbyNarrner , thenthey must also have existed during the latter part of the Naqada II cult ure, althoughno remains have as yet beenfound.The only townsit e to have yieldedremains of the brickworkof Predynastictimes is Naqada,wherePetri e discovereda town of the Naqada I - II periods. The buildings were constructed of bricks measuring 29 x11.5x 7.5cm, and " showe dcarelessness about squareness and angles.t' ' Unfortunat ely no speci fic archit ectural details are available about this Naqadatown, but Petrie' s descripti on indi cate s that theruins were of considerable extent.At other Predynastic settlement sites no definit e examples of theuse of bri ck have been discovered, except forsomespecial bricks used in the constructio n of kilns for roasting grain. These bricks take theform of long thin bars of bakedclay. and their use implies thatthe Predynastic Egyptians were aware of th e process of baking bricks, alt hough theynever employed it outside thi s context. Grain kilns of this period have beenfound atAbydos andMahasna; th ose atthe latte r site employ burnt bricks upto 71cm in length. 4The surviving funerarymonument s ofthe Predynastic periodmake infrequent use of bri ckwork. Mosttombs withbrick-lined pit s whi ch were oncethough t tobelong tothe Naqada II period have been assigned, on the revision ofPetrie' s Sequen ce Datin g, to the FirstDynast y.The earliestbrickedto mbs appear t o be th ose of Cemetery T atNaqada,'dated t o S.D. 5 0 ~ 70, t ogether withthe Decorat edTomb atHierakonpolis.f which, ithas recentlybeen shown, 7 belongsto the same archit ect ural typeas these Naqada graves. TheDecorat ed Tomb has been dat ed t o S.D. 63,8 thereforeplacing itvery close to the time of the uni ficati on of Egyptby Narmer, whilstthe Cemet ery T at Naqad a would seemto be of Naqada II dat e,9 butvery likely running over int o th e earlyFirstDynast y. Brick is empl oyed in these t ombsfor lining the walls, and also in some cases forth e const ruction of a shor t int ernal cross-wall, whichdivides the pit int otwo rooms. Detail s of thi s brickwork are non-existent , except for thefact th atthe walls were apparently about 50cmthick with plaster -coated surfaces. There is doubt as to thenatur e of th e roo fing of th e t ombs:F.W.Greenfirst thoughtthatthe Decor at ed tomb had been vault ed, but later revised his opinion and cat egorically stated th at the roof had been1. Petri e, W . M . F ~ , R oyal Tombs, I, PI. XXV I, 58-60, andII , ..1.XI, 1.2. Gardine r, A. H. , Egy p tianGram mar, 4 93, 6.3. Pet rie, W.M. F. , Na qada and Ballas, 54.4. Garst ang, J. , Mahasna and Beit KlIallaf, 7.5. Pet rie, Naqada andBallas, 18f f.6. Qulbell, 1. E. andGreen, F.W., Hi erak onpolis, II , 20-1.7. Kem p, B.1. , JEA., 59(197 3) , 36 - 4 3.8. Payn e, i.c., .TEA. , 59(1 97 3) , 31.9. Ke m p, 0[1. ott .,42 .of wood. 10 One of the tombs at Naqada, numbered T.lS, is said to have consisted of a vaulted chamber built ina pit, 11 but, as B.l. Kemp has pointed out, 12 this statement has to be treated with caution, specially since nomention is made of vaulting in Petrie's field notebook. The only other interesting point concerning the brickworkof these t ombs is the possible use of a brick arch above a doorway in T.23, although the evidence for this relies ona scribbled note in the original excavation records. t 3If an arch did exist, it would probably only have been a roughcorbel or gabled st ruct ure of two or three bricks, since the span of the doorway was only 60cm. I think it unlikelythat the true arch or proper vaulting would have been used in this cemetery, when we have only a single instance ofthe use of true vaulting fromthe more developed monuments of theFirst Dynasty, and no example of t he arch unt ilthe ThirdDynasty.The architectureof these tombs shows that brick was in use for funer ary monuments in the late Naqada II period,and must have been used for some time previ ously, since the brickworkis not unaccomplished and the builders evidentlywere familiar with the material. At a slightly later date, in the early First Dynasty, brick lining is common in tombs atNaqada, and occurs also at Mahasna, El-Amra, Tarkhan and elsewhere.The orlgin of Egyptian brick archit ecture seems to lie in themain sett lements of the later Predynastic period. Thiswould explain how it is possible for an extensive use of brick to appear at Naqada, this being an importanttown, whilstno brickworkoccurs in the less urbanized communities of Mahasna or Badari, where the emphasis was apparently onwattle-and-daub construction. 14 Probably furt her excavation at important Predynasti c sites such as Hierakonpolis andKopt os would shed more light on the early brick architect ure of Egypt, and its relation to the forti fied towns shown onthe palettes and sealings. Certainly, at the time of the unificati on of the country by Narmer, the art of building in brickwas well understood, ready todevelop underthe influence of Mesopotamia to produce the magnificent panelled monu-ment s of the Saqqara archaic cemetery.10. tota., 38 .11. Petrie, Neqaaa andBallas. 24.12. Kemp, op. ctt; 41.13. ibid. , 41.14. Garstang , J., Mahasna andBei t Khalla[, 6.CHAPTER THREE: THE BONDING CORPUSThe only attempt to standardize the description and recording of the various types of brick bonding used inEgyptian architecture was made by a. H. Myers in his publication of the Bucheum1 and continued in his otherexcavation reports. As Myers himself remarked, the formation of such a Corpus makes for a great saving in timeover written descriptions of bonds, and it is a greatpity that no-one has botheredtoutilize his system in lat erworks. This Corpus, alt houghbasically sound, suffers from a number of inconsist encies andconsequentlyrequiressome modification. The new system which I am about to describe was devised to eliminate the difficulties whilstpreserving the same underlying principles as used by Myers.Whena bondis describedin the old Corpus, threefacts are emb odied in th e code given tothat bond. The first ,indicated by a letter, is the type ofstructuce under examination - Wfor wall, Cfor corner, A for arch, and etc.This is followed by a numberwhich indicates the thi ckness of the brickwork, on theprincipl e that 1.0; one bri ck-length,1.5; onebrick-l ength plus one brick-width, andso on, Finally comes a small letter, which is thetype letterfor the arra ngement of brickwork und er considerati on. For example, bonds with alternatecourses of headersandstretchers are given the letter a, whilst those withlayers of edger-headers are labell ed c. Minor variations onth e samegeneral arrangement are indi cat ed by numbers aft er th e letters, e.g, WI.5a l. Thisrather complexdescription can besimplified by dispensing withthe first two parts of the coding, since in most cases these are not absolutelynecessary.It does notreallymatter towhich struc ture the bri ckwork belongs whenitis th e bonding which is bein g recor ded.Nor is it always necessaryto recordthe thickness of many structures, especially walls, since the bonding is, in mostcases, thesame all through. It is only of real value to statethewall thicknessin this waywhen it is of special interestor directly affect s thebondbeing used.The result of all this is the formati onof a new Corpus using a codi ng comprised of a letter anda number only,the general arrangement being indicated by the letter and minor variations by the number. It can be seen from thedrawings th atall the bond s includedund er one letter have thesame cha racte ristic s: Type A denot es a face bondingwhich shows courses of headers and st retchers (not necessarily in alt ernat e layers) , Type B has headers and st retchersmixed in the same course, Type C always employs edger-head ers, andso on for the othe r types.One of th e maindefects of the old Corpus was its inabilityto deal withbonds which impart a differentappearancetotheopposite faces of t he same wall. Forexa mple, by drawing the secti on of bondWI. 5d, it canbe shown that thereverse face of any wall of this type would have a face bond of two courses of stretchers alternating with one courseof headers, an arrangement which is given in thesame Corpus 2 as \\'1.5c_ The same confusionappli es tobond1I'1.5a 1 which gives an appear ancetothe reverse side of the wall of WI .5c. This weakness of the old system wasone of themain reasons for modifying it. In the new Corpus, these complex bonds are classifi ed bygiving therelevant code lett er for eachface of thewall, andwriting themtogether. Thus the code AC describes an arr ange mentin which one face of the wall has the character istic appearance of a class A bond, whilst theother face conforms totype C.The classification of arches andvaults by Myers is rath erunsat isfact ory. f In my ownCorpus, the bonding ofthese structures is recorded using small lett ers to distinguish them from the capitals used for other.brickwork. Thesame principles of typing are used, the letters indicating the arrangements, but the use of a.b,c, etc. must not betaken as having anyrelationwiththe bondslabelledA, B, c..., whichdo not refer to arches or vaul ts. Archesconsis-ling of several rings of brick, of different arrangements, have two letters to show the bonding of the various rings.In these cases, thefirst letter of thecode applies totheupperrings of brickwork, andthe subsequent lett ert o theinner courses. 4Throughout this st udybonds are referred t o bytheir numbers in theCorpus, to avoid repeti tive lengthy descript-ions. In some cases the thickness of the wall is state d interms of brick-lengths immediately after the code for thebonding, e.g. A2(l .5). This system is parti cularlyuseful for arches and vaults, where it is more import ant torecor dthe number of courses employed. OccasionallyI state the thi cknesses of structures bythis method separatelyfromthe bond ing; in these cases,forexample, "a wall witha thickness of 2.5,"means a wall whose width is equaltotwoanda half brick-lengths, It should benot ed that the drawings all show th e simplestkno wn versions of each bond,because a wall bonded in (for example)A3 may be anything from two to twenty brick-lengthsacross, but since thebonding patt ernis unaffect ed, onlythe basic bond is dr awn. The drawings of all the bonds so far typed are given onPlates 1-20.1.,.Mond, R. andMyers, D. H., The Buch eum, r. 4 7- 9, and 1lI, Pis. CXII-CXV. 3.Mond , R. andMyers, o.n., TI le Bucheum; III, PI. CXII. 4.ibid. , PI s. CXIIl -CXIV.SeeCorpus drawi ngs of bonds ex tand cdl.1. Petri e, W.M.F. , Tar knan 11, Pis. XU XI V'2. Petri e, W.M. F. , Tarkhan 1 and Memphis V, 8.3. Reisner, G.A.,Naga ed-Der, 1, 20-1.4. Junke r, H., Pnedhof tnTurab;16.S. Reisn er, op etc, 27.6. Emery. W.o. , Great Tombs of theFirst Dynast y, II, 143-158.7. Reisner, G. A.. Tomb Develop ment, 17.S. Emery,op. ctt., 12-3.9. Petri e, W. M.F., Tarkhan II, PI. XVI10. Emery. W. o. , Great Tombs of Ole Firs t Dynasty, III, 46-9, PIs. 4 5-9.11. ibid. 102andPis. J16, 1'20.The earliest t ombs to make use of brick have been discussed above, (p.5) these being those of Cemetery T at Naqadaand the Decorated Tomb of Hierakonpolis. These monument s are followed, in the First Dynast y, by a large number oftombs atNaqada, Tarkhan, Mahasna and elsewhere, which use brickwork for the lining of the pit. In small private gravesthese lining-walls are usually half to one brick-length in thickness, and are commonly mud-plast ered on thei r interior faces.The simplest tombs of this typehave a single chamber in the substructure and were originally roofed with woodenbeamsand planks. No brick superstructures have yet been found above lined pits of this kind, although simple brick mastabaswere discovered by Petrie over unlined pit-graves of the FirstDynasty at Tarkhan. I The const ruction of the lining of thegraves differs littl e from one sit e to another. Where t he brickwork is only a half-brick in thickness, the bonding has ofnecessity tobe XI . Examples of this type are found in grave 1006 at Tarkhan,21643 and1525 atNaga ed-Der' and20.i.l at Tura, 4 but very manymore examples occur at these and other sites. Othergraves have a lining double this thick-ness, and although in some cases the brickworkis still composed only of stretchers, the majority show more att empt atbonding. At most cemetery-sites of this typethe bondused is AI, i.e, alt ernate courses of headers and stretchers, but atEI-Amra and Nagaed-Der A8 was most frequent. The alternation of three courses of stretchers with one of headers seemsto have beenparticularly prevalent at the latter site, so much so that for thickerwalls the rare bonds A5 and A7 are utilized,in contrast tothe A2 or A3 adoptedat all other sites. In themajority of cases thebricks were mort ared roughly with mudand plastered over, but at Naga ed-Der Reisner records that no mort ar was used, and the brickwork relied solely on themud-plaster for cohesion. s This mud-plaster is usually from one to thr ee centimetres in thi ckness.Further examples of small brick-lined tombs are found in the subsidiary graves which cluster around the large funerarymonumentsof Abydos, Giza and Saqqara. Few st ructural detail s of the brickwork are available for thefirst two sites named:it is only possible to say that all the Abydos subsidiary graves, andthose of Giza mastaba V, were lined with brick and roofedwith wooden planks. Much more informati on is recor ded from the satellite burials of the First Dynasty tombs at Saqqara,which will now be considered:The individual graves around Saqqara tomb 3503 6arc lined with brickwork, bondedXI(O.5), and plastered internally.(Fig.I) The roofing is formed of two logs, laid longitudinally over the pit , with planks across them above. Some of thegraves had one course of brick laid over the wooden roof, a feature which sometimes occurs in this type of tomb in theprovincial cemeteries, examples being found at Naga ed-Der, El-Arnra andEI-Ahaiwa. 7In the reign of Uadji the subsidiaries of Tomb 3504 were constructed by digging a trench and dividing itup by cross-walls to form rows of small graves. 8 This technique is also used atAbydos and (in part) aroundGiza mastaba V. Thebonding employed in the lining and cross-walls of Uadji' s satellite graves is unfortunately notrecorded, but It is knownthat the lining-wallswere one brick-lengththick and coated with mudplaster. The graves were roofed withplanks andreeds, above which st ood superst ruct ures built of brick and filled with rubbl e. As can be seen in the drawing (Fig.2), thesides of these small mastabas are bondedAl and the roof consists of a slightly vaulted layer of stretchers. This vault is notself-supporting, however, as it rests directly on the internal filling, a feature which also occurs in grave 2039 at Tarkhan. ?Subsidiary graves around tomb 3506 10also possessed low superstructures, but in this case they were constructed ofmud. The subst ructures were lined with brick, bonded AI (I.O), and some had a course of brick above the woodenroof.The most interesting of all the satellite burials at Saqqara arc those around a large tomb datedto the reign of Ka-a.(3500) 1 1 Unlike the graves discussed above, these do not have a brick lining tothe pit , but they have the best -preservedbrick superstructures of any graves of theirtype so fardiscovered, and these superstructures show an advance in architec-tural technique. The usual wooden roofing used in all other examples of subsidiary graves of the First Dynasty is herereplaced by an inclined vault, built against the enclosure wall of tomb3500. This vault , the earliest certain example known,corresponds to type dl of theCorpus. Above the vault a small mastaba was built, also of brick. The brick casing of thisCHAPTER FOUR:I. Early Pit-Tombs.FUNERARYARCHITECTUREFig.] Cross-sectionof subsidiarygrave of Tomb 3503 atSaqqara:Fig.2 Sup erstructure ofsubsidiarygrave of Tomb 3504 atSaqqara./Sectionmast aha sta nds ona low pedest al, and is only half a brickinthickness, th erefor e consisting entirely of str etche rs. Atth etop ofthe masta ba, whichis of a vaulte d shape, the bricks rest onth e sand filling. (See Fig.3) These important gravesshowthatthe inclined vaultwas known bythelateFirst Dynast y andwas inuse inthe Mcmphite areato cover shor tspans. It seems proba ble tha t inUpper Egypt the vault was not introduceduntil mu ch late r.The use of br ickworkin to mbswas extended during the Fir st Dynastyto include cross-walls in thesubstructure, there bydividing the pit int o a number of com partments. An early example of this is seen inthe 'DecoratedTomb' at Hierakonpolis, 12discussed above, whichis dividedinto two partsbya short wall built out fromone side of the chamber. Ata slight ly lat erdate, thesubs tructu re is split int o two, three or five compart ments accordin g to the plans given inFig.4(p.12) Thes e typeshavebeen foundatEl-Amra , 13 Naga ed-Dcr, 14 and Tura. 1 5 The cross-walls are generallyfound t o be th innerthan th elinin g of th e pit , and th e two seemnever to be Interbonded. Instead, t he lining was const ructedfirst andthenth e thind,d:fedI,Fig.3 SubsidiaryGrave of Tomb 3500 at SaqqaraLang SectionI >, -' .Cross SectionII:',LJ 'internal walls were added, merel y butting upagainst thesides ofthe pit. Mostofte n all the brickwork is coated withmud-plasterwhichhelps to consolidatethe unbondedcorners.12. Quibc ll, J.E. andCrcen, V.W., Hier atco npotisIt, 1'], L XVII13. Mciver. D.R. an dMate, A.C., Et-Arnr ahand Aby dos. 1'1. IV14. Reis ner , G. A. Nagaeaocr, I, 2 7ff.15. Jun ker . H. ,Fried/lOt in Tural" 18- 20.2. Corbel-roofedtombs of theSecon d Dynasty .The thinness of the cross-walls results fromthei r being builtenti relyof st retc hers , alt ho ugh in someof thelargertombs at Naga ed-Der 16the walls reached a thic knessof 1.0 andwer e bondedAS. These examples are mor e advancedthanthe simple brick-lined pit in that th ey have st airwayentrances from one side, a roof of woodandbri ck , andwereoriginallycovered bya nich ed mastaba superstructur e.Section of VaultTomb N.15864........Fig.5I19. Reisner, op. cit., 52- 3 and PIs. 2 9 30.20. ib id., 4 1- 2an dl'ts. 32-3.3 ..._ ... 1 ...._ ..Cross-Walls ill Small Graves. Fig.41216. Re isner, op. cit., 34-5 . Exa mples ar eTombs J608, 162 1 & 1624.17. Rei sn er, G.A. , Nagaeu o-r. l. 45.18. Mciver, D.R. andMace, A.C., El-Amrahan dA bydos, 34 .N. 1584. 19Three chamb ers of the pit of t his tombare roofedwith separatecorbel-vaults , the inner faces of whi ch havetheappearance of Al bonding, but behi nd the facethebricks are all laid as heade rs. Each course of thevault projectsapproximate ly3-4cmbeyondthe course immediatelybelow, andthe roof is j oined at a heigh t of 1.35 metr es. Thecorners of the corbels are made roundedby laying the bricks in a radial plan, andall the walls are coated withmud-plaster. The stair way ent rance tothis to mb has nanking walls of stretchers (bonding XI(0. 5) andthe doo rwayint othe substr uct ure is roofedwit hwoo denbeams, upo n whichthe corbelling rests . A course of bricks on edge is includedin one of the cross-walls of the pit with the purposeof comp ensating fordi fferences inthe level ofthe ground.N. 1586.2oFive individual corbel vaults, which merge intoa mass ofbrickwor k above, cover t he five chambers of the substruc-ture. The vaults, which areplaste red int ernally, have gra inedcorners unlikethoseof tombN. 1584. Example s of gra inedvaultsoccur also intombs N.1 51 1. 1513 and1626. The int-ernal face of thecorbel shows three layers of st retchers alter-nati ng wit h one of headers, but thesolidmass ofthe struct ureis composed, as usual, of headers only. Above th e entrancethe bri cks reston th e woodenroofing of the door at the baseofthe sta irway.There are several tombs of similarsize andst ruc t ur e tothetwodescribed abo ve, but innoneis thebrickwor k so well pres-erved. Some details oftheir construction are given in thetableonpage 15. Further examp les of the use of corbel roofing arefoundinthesmallertombs ofthe SecondDynast y at Naga ed-Alth ou gh we still have toexaminethetombsof theFirstDynast y at Abyd os and the panelledmast abas of the sameperiod atother sit es. I have includedherea descrip tion of certain Second Dynastytombssincetheyarea directdevelop-mentof th e earlywood-roofed graves discussed in the previous section. The substruct ur es of the cor belledtombs arestill built inthesamefashi on as those of the simpleFirstDynasty graves, withthreeor five rooms, the latt er being morefrequent . Stairway entrances descend intothe pit fromthe side andareflanked bythe thi nretaining walls of bric k. Thewooden roofi ng of {he earliergraves is replacedbya roof for med of cor belling inbrickwork toforma false vaul t. Usuallya sepa rat e corbel sta nds above eachroom of thesubst ructure andthebr ickwork is built up over thetombinto a solidmass. Onevi den ce recoveredfrom t ombN. 1514 at Naga ed-Der,17the supe rst ruct ures overthe corbelled burial chambersare showntohave beenbric k mastabas wit h simplified palace-facade pan elling, enclosed withina brick wall.Some tombsof this ty pe have been found at EI-Amr a 18 butno diagrams of the brickconstruc tion are available fromthi s site. Byfarthe greatest numb er of corbelled to mbs, however, occ ur at Naga ed-Der, where theconstructional det ails were so comp-letelyrecordedthat the best pr eserved examples can be desc ribed individually.Base of corbel toshowthickening of walls.k_ are stai rwa ytombswi t h usually onlya single chamber in the subst ructu re. Most of these graves have groined_ :. :: rJy\". 1619 and showing theradiating of the bricks usedtoproduce rounded comers.i !Thecorbelling'"' :. :-egins atthe thirdorfou rth course of the walls of thepit, and quite often these walls show thickening at this:: .:- ;:-o\ide a fi rm basefor thebrickwork above. (SeeFig.6) The bonding of the face of the vault s is rat her irregularin these small graves, but the backing is invariably built of headers.Mud plaster is used on all th e brickwor k. Twotombs fromCemeteryN.3000 are the bestpreserved examples of this group. Their construc-tional detail s are as follows :N.3014.2 2The roofin g consists of a grained cor bel made up en tirely of headers,which bond irregularl y at theangles. Th e vault spri ngs fromthe thi rdcourse of th e subst ructure walls and covers a spanof 0.95met res. Inthe buri al chamber the cross-walls are bonded neithe r withthe mainwalls nor wit h eachot her, but great quan tit ies of mud -plaster havebeen spread over the j oint s.,; - _ : 3-=-.::.:s : ombis const ructedwithbricks measuring 24 x12 x 6cm. largelyunrnortar ed. but coveredwithplaster. The_- 5:: =of the corbel has headers on theface, whereas theEast side alte rna tes hea ders and st retche rs for five out ofsever; .ourses. This has causedthe West side tohave a greater degree of curv atur e thanthe East, maki ng the ju nct ion. '-. t wo sides markedl y off-cent re. (SeeFig.7, below)Internally, thevaultis piasteres andgroined, bu t in the thickness- tz.ecrfckwork the corner bondi ng is very irregular..- :? Section of corbel, tomb 3022at Naga ed-Der:7 -:.=use of the corb el-vaultt o cover the substruct ure of these tombs represen ts an advance over theearlier wooden. ut showsJ probable ignor ance of true vaulting inUpper Egypt atthis date. A disadvant age of the system is- l :3.:-ge amount of brickwork has tobe cons truc ted behindthe face of the vault as a cantilever toth e weightof, erlapped courses. The bricks used at Naga ed-Der averaged28 x14 x 7cm. Corbelling in brickseems tobe;:d toUpper Egypt in theSecondDynast y, practically all theexamples coming fromNaga ed-Der andEl-Amra.cs " IS and 669atQau were apparentlv alsocorbelled, but no details ofthe construc tion of the se tombs are =;LThecorbel-vaultrecur s later ingraves of theFour thandFift hDynasties. but with out theentrance"''' ypresent inthe earlier type. (See below, p.29)AbydosCemeteryB andt heArchaic Tombs of Umm el-Qa'ab,C -= to mbs of CemeteryBat Abydos are dat edtotheearlyFirst Dynasty, and area largerversion ofthebrick-.:: ;-itgrave discussed above in Secti onJ. Unfor t unate ly, verylittle information has been published about the ......... ork of these to mbs, alt houghthe lining-walls of the pi ts were of considerablethickness. Apart from the fact: the walls wereplasteredwithmud. the onlyother details available arethe sizes of the bricks in t ombs B.15 and- -e , These are givenin thetable onpage 14 . TIleroo ting of thetombs was made of wood, in some cases supportedtervals byupright posts.is rather mor e infor mation available abo utthe const ructio n of the large royal tombs or cenotaphs atAbydos._- -.c gives a list of the brick sizesfor the various tombs,25andthe measurements arc stated in the summaryon> P.Fur ther detai ls of thebrick const ruction canonly be obtainedfromth e photographs published byPetrie,=_yJI Tombs of tire Earliest Dy nasties, vol umesI andII. The tombs takethe formof a brick-linedsubst ruct ure_ -": -:-.:! into several rooms. theroofing. and, in manycases. the bur ial chamber, being made of wood. Reisner' s the ory- . ertain of thetomb s were roofedwit h bric k cor belling2 6 has not found general acceptance andseems unl ikely.= )51 "ases thefacts concerning the brick const ruction are sofew thatthey can be summarised in a tabulated form-elo w)butthere are some detail s from certain of theto mbs whichcanbe stated individually . Re isner, op. ci t. 59- 6 1.iN cL, 7') , 80 and Pis. 64-5.: 3. in,778und 1'1. 62.24 . Bru nton, U., Qall 11/11.1 Badari, I, l 2-3.2S. Petrie, W.M. F., Roya l Tombs, II , I S.26. Reis ner, G.A. , TombDevelopment, 355.13Tomb 0/ Udimu: The bonding is type Al throughoutthe lining of the pit , but inthe fourteent h coursefrom t hebasethe bricks arc laid on edge onthe SouthandWest sides of the to mb. to adjust the differences in level. All thewalls were originally mud-plastered.Tomb 0/ Semerkhe t ; This tombis remarkablein having thebrickwork of the lower part of t he walls bonded in C1,which is very rare at thi s period. In t he highe r courses thebond becomes AIwith occasionallayers of edger-headersfor levelling. Anot he r example of a type C bond in t he lateFirst Dynasty occurs in mastaba VII at AimRoush.excavatedbyMontet. 2iTomb 0/ Ke-a: The bric kwork her e is so irregular and rou gh that no disti nct bond canbe identified. Pet rie consideredthatthe careless natu re of the brickworkwas due 10the Iact that t he defects would have been concealed by the woodenlining of the chambe r. 28SUMMARYSite & Tomb Dynasty Bonds used Brick Size (em) NotesNaqeda:T. 15 Pre- X I1037 Pre- 23.5 x11 x 5.5Tarkha n:4'23 x11.5 :\ 7.5 Plaster 2.5cm195 A I 25 x12.5 :\ 7.5414 XI Plaster used.1006 XI 23.5x 11.5 x 7 Plaster 2.5c mM I1It I1SI1I1:11. 120 I-II 26. 5 x14x 5.5H.12R I-II 'on edge' 26.5 x14x 6.5Il l 29 I ' on edge' 24x11.5x 7.5El-Amra:b.S I 25.5x12.5 x 7.5b.33 I XI ( I-O) 25.5102S longb. 137 11 Corbel of headers.b. J78 11Hierakonpolis:100 ( Dec. Tomb) Pr e- Xl ? x 9x 9 Floo r paved wn h23:\ I L5 x 8 brick.Tnra:20.i.! XI (0.5)QUlI:443 1- 11 26.5 x11.5 x 7.5455 I -II}25.5 x12.5 x 7.51803 I-II509 I- II}516 I-II 24 x 11.5:..6.5SIR I-II 518 corbelled.1592 l- JJ 23xIOx 7.51742 I-II 28x14 x7.5Abydot:BJ 5 I 22.5:.. 11.5 x 7.58.19 I 24.5 x11.5 x 7.5Djer I XI 24.5 x 12 x 6.5Mernen I 22.5 x11.5 x 6Udimu I 24.Sx12 x 7.SAdj.ib I 25 x12x7Semcrkhet I CI . AI 23.5 xI I x 6.5Ka-a 1 Irregular. 25 x12.5x 7.5Pcnbsen 11 24xll .5 x 7Khasckhemui 11 26.5x12.5 x 7.5'"\1 follows :JIj IjO 58Thebonding of t he main walls seems tobe intended toalterna te layers of headers and stretchers. but the re are-tany irregularit ies. Stic ks andreeds are bidbet weent he cou rses of brickworkto assist bon ding.Wit hin t hi s super-st ruct ure lire dividing-walls. bondedAI, whichlirenot builtintothemainwalls. The bric ks are23 x10x7cmin size.witha variat ion of .O. SCIll, whilstfort he niches of thefacade smalle r br icks at 15 x 7 x 7cm arc used. Therecess Sourb cf tile centre of tileEastface has a wooden 1100Tcomposed of fiveplanks of wood, the outer one of whic hruns underth e sides of theniche.60This is a filledrnastuba andconsequent lyhas no magazines inthesuperst ructu re. Two stzcs of bricks wereused .. :H'of :!4.5 x II. S x Scm for thebulk of the tomb. and anot herof17.5x 8.5 x 6.5clTl specifically for t he palace-:.:. : ;.t de.In general plan and designthismastaba is very similar t o number 2038, describedbelow.: ljJ861The bricks of this tombwere umforrn th roughout the structuremeasuring 25 xI :! x 7.5c m. Thefourthrecess' re mtheSouthend of t he mastaba. on the East side,has a woodenfloor as in to mb1060. No derails of the bondingt he main walls arerecorded.In t heEast corridor 01 thelomb two subsi diarygraves were found.62having slight lyvaultedsuperst ruc t ures restin g-n 3sandfilling. The " rick covering. made of stre tche rs b id along th e axis of thevault. was stro ng enough to be self-supporting whent he sand filling ha d beenremoved, showing how at rue vault couldbe producedbyaccident. 6 )!,':'. l-m,r y.\\f. R.. err" t Tomhs (I! rh.. Finr Dyuast.". 1,&2 " $; T'1l. 21 )5.; ; . ibid., 'I s ' and .. l 6.1;0). "-me ry. " p. ci t., III , S IO &. I'b'lTIlis is a very large tomb measuring approximately55x. 28 melres. It is enclosed hy a thick wall, built ofbrickswhose average dimensions are 24 x 12 x x. Scm alt hough some examples were down to20 x 10 x 7cm. In themastuba itself the sizeof the bricks was 14 x12 x R.5em. like the larger ones of the wall. TIle palace-facade usedspecial bricks measuring only15 x 7 x 6.5cm. No det ails ofthe bon ding arc available.Montet excavated a number of tombs atthis site, of which numbers I, II, and VII were panelled mustabas. He gtvcslittle det ail in his report 6l> aml only in the case oftomb VII is any information (Ill the brickwork given. This mastabahad niches along the faces of the same type as those of Saqqaratomb3507. TIle style of the mast aba dates it at thecurliesttoUdlmu and at the latest to Ka-a. All Interesting and unusual t ulck bond is used in both the tomb itself andin the encl osing wall. This bond is type eElof the Corpus. and uses headers and stretchers on their edges altemutiugwithcourses of bricks bid fla t. The laying of bricks on edge is very unusual m this period. except when used in Isolat edgroups 10 adjustthe levels of the cour ses. In this tomb, however, the bricks arc deliberat ely and regularly laid on edge,in a style which usually occurs only in theRoman age. It may be significant that there is only one other large monumentof theFirstDynasty w'hich employs regular layers of bricks on edge. this being the tomb of Semcrk hetatAbydos.67A poi ntworthnot ing is that the bricks have to bc made with the thic kness equal to half the breadth to achieve the bondI' El . .....hereas the usual ratio of breadthto thickness is 3: 2. The brick Sill.' itself is not given in the report.04.6 ( IQ0 5). v-rr,6 5. I'.: 1022.5 x 12 x 821-2 xIO.5 x 720xI0.'>.:72I xlO.S-I lx6KH.I.. TI ,ircl I:ifvpriall {) y ",ut y . 1'1.. 14. 1i14.iii!. Car'., G.. H""'" "" di,'id,d by. b, ;, k Pl' lon inlotwo [cn Is b..I.,lly of t ypa,,,,,,1>1 ,,,,,.Lmrd..ll h ....,.1>mO>lumrn,1'}'1Oll of btick wI' h III .JclI . d p,. .... y. Th. pyl"",....,,1> 1.. ,hatof ",,,,1034 III,h. , Itis butl';n A) . od Olf' bond of ' )1'11 or ,h. 1m,,,,,. OIl !t. \1,... Iif o-t... """UllUt"id-t>W!' I_Ill _ tbambJ 'n'" tIx dnon .roIIKI..II....... ,,,,,,tis of dlIT' J< V"0!\d ....,r... ort/lyn ly "'nk In" '11011'1 "'1. ..... by an. """d doar. ' 1> Tt>< _ bule tomb lI'''''o undo-d II)' ......... pIa. _ from m-. , on.11,.... in tx;j:hl . ,h ....ooc,nul'.....,.pnoq f' IXII Ird.., .. ,,",," ....u.. Vl uI" Of. IOf d l e..nn ""'0' . >II .hilI ,_db.... -ls, ...... . ,..."p1.. [,,,,,, llx .... "I lb1""'"t'1 V. Uoy l'emptlll .,...... ed, Tho blt".",o, \; of :oll . ttI .. o\nondlnJ.- '" Ih. mo, "",pl" .,,.nll'''''''lo1>1 . "CI and ADI. . ,e >II " r b' e, lin.... ;ro,,, \.k.mil ,on""....,d.,>1 '"l he .0,ly InmhodOltd 10 N, khloo"",1> trill Al, nlid 1100 roo( _ upl>old by """"." ,""''''''' iol !t>e b ,!" " H'"", ",,,dIoS""or 11 ,oM ... oI.b..,..,-\ll , h. doonIn ,II< !""'plo ' mf'kx wc,. hwI , of"""". ""'!X,....,. brick JllDlbI. wb>0 ,. ... pI'" hou", j Ult No' II, of ' h, ,," ..w,y of tbepyraml" Ame", mh,tIll. Th , ,. , lroc' ur.. ".. du cnbl ln (h' p' er1....,10m, Int m, tlng bti , k , on,lmetion ;. found In11"" "' 1,1, ofSIl to' "I''''''' Illl'!'" vfi h. middl. of ' M' . mplo-a=. ....... 1M", ",mp and p,.. h-."ybo'tho p " . t 'J.on kiq II,. pllh".,.. pi" whiLlI bod DJI bold , ..... .I8 'ifd io ,tili ,,"...""'llon. ""d Ih",. vI ,"hor Old bulld",,,IIItho ...... ' '''''1'1 ..on I'"t" 63.the .., lon l bYUd,nl phZCf ' n ' MSol., I cmplco,,, ..d . t Too.' om' roun,I"ino. of ,h. "mploot"S,w'rI i. J. u'Ln g b, iel:n X 17 . 12.. """' .. .-l, ' '''. , . , ,,,", >t. I''',i, . U'.... . .. iI""" ". 1IV H" 1l00" ''''', U.. >:,'1.".. If. I ,'1 "".on" "5. N. .. Kinl:'!otn T..... pln .nd Cbapl"ls.Eit"'tt,,'"Dy_Q'. " m id.. Tltobel... ...., LI "- . " .. ....c,._ ."" . _ '.T Ill. n... h C. , _ ,,, ,, s.at"', 11d """" tIm>II oi llle HoII. '" Rtjuicirtr m.lI 1IUI ....""1 ..,. 11atIhop.... no. ..,Iiool ... ..n. of Ioof _ "'" ,... , ..... of 1loo umpIo:. rho""'.."".. loelnl "",,_ d 011_"'aof bnd.: Jl I 16 "'Ic>n tod.\(1 1 19 I 11n J"'0'""number of ' h'p . "" ......1"mpl.. nf "l,ner_ oh ' 0 TW Am"",lIJrbrlc: k w.n. nl .. hi.h n" .d ,), bo,h pWo, cd" OUIlIso 0, li nt , ...._ . , lie'"--...Thef't10DO....b... 'o .he oboe 01 tbio waD. waoe.ho bn.u_ oIl ......"'d "" b ,he 01',... Phu.,lILto. Tho 46 1 15.km. nd. CO"'''''Y '0 u.. ..... >1 P'''' '''' in lempl",,,"l,,,,,,.., ""din 1. ..1"""..... L->.y. n0' rudI"""" In Wm, nf ' b, jot"' , . and " !teil!l" "f ].60 , nd 4.lS", or, t" o .. !o iT< 1;,... ..-h,,, ..hit< pi.." , b.."".ft ....d .. . ",,,,"r.'.,T1lt Grr.IGirdle . .. ..r ..... !eml'lt " I !lamoro>.MIPU' rllOW' th, t , h,. urviving rem, io, >T' but t ho pbtfn'mUp Otl"' lIl,h",me w"' con!l ructor!, ..-1'0" .ntr, ,,,,I.y.t t l.. tup ur n", ,. mp. o"'cwe ,,,Ill.. th. t w. or. do, lIo&wit hOOll'Ih, ,,,,,11ot her 1.,lu,,,,ol lh. huilcl inll or< "'1,l, jll,J. .. the . b",ncc of.IlYd""" I>1T' nlpl" ,om, f01ll 1of,m, lIl"" jpt ".1ch. pd, whOM: olo>"ed ';t u. uonOft th" pod,ulrllik, foundation W\l uldb. , ntir. ly ;nwithEgr p'i. n bd1d. TI,i,i of. w.nthick, , nch lng,n or.. of 29,4 x2G.Gm, with tho inlIer f, ,, , upp-omdbl' bULlr,""""Intc"a],. ".A' S , uk",Li, tho G.. " T.n"no, cons;otApollo .t Ihl, . It . P"ri. foundd.co,"I.. moe""cOl....d In >t on.,WblOh Il.COl1,I. " " .. .. ...". ,," lL"0,laO, ".1,." "", ".L, N."" .." I," .' "..l . , ., n"w. " , l'.. """,,'II. I , , 0-I ., " " ;'. "".M. , '_ ... , .."n"" , "-'.... T.",II. "0 ,.,. xxlI H ' >!d" ".,."- ' 001., " ,So, ...tore'> ronslrurtc4. ')'int in,J,at. {romS>i" ", l'Iolom.... ti.......be d"" .....,.,. of !he lm::i:.I ,1.0, lbt nd> It!.Iq II' , ...... of "Ie,, uOlIh< ..."plr 11Oled of l " '1 ",,,k,.. rol1.d j , it , ....,1 In ,b. tIlIddlc of _..-aU (t'l .6). R ployodb '" lhe brlck""' inRI"''''' I ",d 7 ,he If\'''IO' "cal """'P"'M'd..r",....IIlbf .. BIodI. ttm.,ti. ""0.. buildlns ", ay _nh"", ...... IJI untm0 11,., 1M...... ftwll oll ...for the "'IUd-.,,-.... of 1II. 10-,tItrTlU'. ,_1. or ..........d '""""of _n.o.!u,onobaI. II..... I ".11 or hi>f,om ,on!, .h hr ,,""'ltd n'".........., ..,U(wY) In>,..d ,h. ' emplcof ""'''". ' .. Thor ....u .\hlbi,. ,bo lo 'l>c etuollC,m"iafo"",,in all "''''' nfj, .od ,bc hndlS""'1''''''"''' lle '" ,he "" t .... of 36 1 x 11 18.5 x 12 m.,,1. ""',....... S-_'....... " . .. un, ..... CIrio__.._ n l".","UV.U 'Vl, 1114. " ' M. _ ., . ... uv.... .... ; . .., ,-." VU-'u.L '.'. ' '-'" L. . k_. 10" '"' . 0. ,_. 0' vll , ". .....,,_ .., ' r ........ _ ...,,...j ,_.........,... .."". (l.. lf.-" "" .., '0. ,, -4 ,. , ,..,... M.....', (; .. IJ_D 14. ""- )'. '0 lot, ",...,. A"".......,, ',.,... "nck.. bu'..lth "",bot " r II, ". rod '""nl b, lo k! "l'ho", is ""'0 _1>1 "'" Of uI -....l1>f1o: k .-011 (OO. ,1'IIt>fIafCd i""'''' Al ' M '"''''' ",.11' _ ..... /hfo """.... of II"". bloo:kl "" Ih. "".., r..... " """"I:b..d_k.. Ohf 01 rhobIof .orIl", rnd",.,....:Ill, .. 1Mcr ,1'1.>, f I . b,,' ""'"Co. or Ih... Is pn:ornd ... Ihll>l y 'h.n:r'1n -.II II , ho _ 01_11 . _Innh .,' hil n ,....plt. .,..j tlro CC= c_rll ..bich _ ..-. ...... IIII I lite1 a ......... 11 ,Il.,H, 7 . 111kk. boil! by ....:11... ",house CI.r,,,,,,,I>I 'h, T-orntno< . .. ..o lo , ho 'Ibl. n.. p.,o7'1. " .To,1te No""ofLbo Itmple of Am... lies. ccrn ,""""",e of r l h" qo. II T1u> ii .moo or 1M!ltint r""" Med!....H"hu --....I . ,I.., h. ....,"""- oom. "'....pl.._ . "u .1A . 19-:!O . 1!.km.''' In .... 11 U,"" " rb""L"""k. .. bII, """b _ . ,011 .. """,l . bl. ,,,,,,,,on,,,, 'ho< eanl> ..-f< of __..II -.Ill posIIioOOI, liDrieot pnotlfIh 1' 1"("""' 0111 1Lf 1mSo "r'mlpI1..olm_.,..._"....,""'"....ba_...-..'lJtJlJw'Dyax..XVMIlhp.." G" .. W,ll

! " d, cncl . w,1I" lO xIU . IO,in.IU.9JI lS.h 10ls-6...l-l . 11 x 1441 . 2(l xI1n . l lx 9HAI9.lxIS-- ..JS410 Ih10So,..Brie\< nr To""' '0 II.. ,.;po..r I'blhp Arrhkbou.... IIi ,h ..PIi"l '''''' ,h. "".., !"" 'I ..... I" ..1t in ""0"" "....1. 01brtd:.....k. .. ...hlI ..od ln .h.,..."....., ",,'IJI: _I lof1ho: 'C1IIr'< ol' PIAtl .....-.,I r""""1O__"' .......... CUDa"'t: .......... _of"brrl ltrxu"".21.11,5n> r.....'.1"No_ tin .... ""'" i. 'hil .oIl.adDO......._ to "" "'" pre_. 01,..... lllren b. .... _ ...I" _ .. .. "., " ",,_ ... , .... , ... ... ....'>-0 .I " _ . , "'1-",..... "._1.. ........J-II'. ... ..... .. AS"", . ("' .), '0""' _.... e-ao.l;. . .... ..d if J. SOIIlInlhio:kD00-. ._ ...-... .. ... _", ......... , .....n ...... ,..... -. .. ..... "'"'"""...... _ l... U 1DiospoliJ Pan 'a fRIHTh' temple endo,"" ' I lhi> ,i " W>l . lIered lafarm. fortres>In Rom. " lim".II>< orisln" w.lI bei"! ofPr.olemllcd"te. " On the Eo"t Ilde of 'h, lemcno, i. I,,,,,eW,, orw, II-loid b,ickwork, "..hielL " ' Irie . t, ,,d 1o be Ih, found, liun"f"'m' II i. "luOle jn ,hoI"'. buill of brick.37 x 18.S X14elTt. " ',nd h.. intern,1'Om'p.>'"n"," wil hno, i"rcrc onncclIIlSPrab.bly il II . nolh" , x" npi, of a !",..I.fllll cellub, f...,ndation. of 'he"Oletype " ,ho", of S' q'Pr> (.., , b"". p, !e 71).

l..JDOo DDO11\01'Il' ITIJic ellclo,u" w,ll of Ih, tempI< 01M,d'mud I' bullt in u"dOlI, ting , our.., . but , n, lrely of "..,>ed brick,of,lL" DYH"'Y. '" Ana til':' w,U of,1 '0"me Iypo in Ih. Eon P"" orthe "m' no,. which m,y h... form, dII", clLd o, ure """"d Ih, tempj, of ,I" S",,,,d !I"ll. '" , ho of "u,,d b,i d,, '".l lure i, .,h ucturo in Iho "mpl, or,"whicll the ",""to"IILIJ g]11be , ,w"hou," ,,. Thi, I,unlikely , i,,,,, it doe, "o1w nfu,m \0the ' ype ul' "mpIN torcloorn, foulld " Ih. I, p, oo.bll ill A2 ""A.l h" odln!;. wllh "''''y bri, k. 0". d" fo, Itv. lling, Thmi>117, ' ," '" .....__" " . 10."" ,,,".J.. lJlF'I, Ihoh,;";kIi'" at H. 11 x 1... ' ''IIrick__Inc" "r " hltt pwter lll\ til< lUlr. .... (PI.$I B) Thl! ,nIl ;1 pl'''''''''' In 1!>"" .JO'/:{r p hDlUi ll r ...... trltl 1f II'll1l ..nound. Iht ,.-mpIt oj Kllnum:01 ' hOoilO, bull''" _ llUhq c"",... ln thti,ftlll form.Typo AIDc 1>wNI.... .. _ 1M'"" l llIc ", ,,,..,iJIIl"""'- ...m.- - . ",lhl in 111tu,.110." ..." ."COt1SIdfnble IIUmbcT of ltrl.::k bIIill lOmpIc:o l RoonatI c.-Wn ,. _ .... .'Vi...,' 000&..... :au"...... _.ct n tonI wilhbnck _I... Tho I'Ioot1 oCW .- lhioI1hIo pabo =oil...lIt _'" Iiho.. ""'....tifII -KI " .s(km, , ow. cd .... wllll a , hln ... of pbsfl -..oodenpoe, 1Th< "''''rial, _ "fCllJl ht, ,1I"n"' ,,"of,11, .1ld ' 0'"'ofhnek pion from 'h. r".d. '0tb. c.ot re. " tho outor ....n of thi, building w.. f.cod" on th< ramp d" oot to u. h tll< f". d. ,'"0.1 Ill< Soulh l '" bUill ufb,ich4014.5of AM"' '' ..... ll. 101'.", ".,,1.. W."-' . 1\_" _I, ,,,,, ,,,,, . .. f'l. ' ltL " .0' , ,.-..,, 01" " . H." . , ,,, , . J. P-s.,"1'- ,it. IU' " ,", .....t , 40,"', IM"-, '01. "", (: ,,,'' , ' ' , ...A ,'At , . " . ... j, " " ,>G. ."'" " "'-, )], ;""'-. "'..... ""'-. " I. ,,,.,,Jo:r ",,,,nI>l\'" '" 0\'I>0SinI dl,""' io",, .. OCCU"III ,heSIn ,,'" [)yn>olym.pCloi .\ro."W, n."n.. ..,WI.of .h...ul1l .... I/omo"Il 111 1'\.1... 53.... 8 . ..... .. ,he. ......... ICOfOdUlI the h 1u II beTheiIo, ..ie>r of ,h. ,,,,,,filii ".0.Jed .-ifh plo. .., ' 0 ' 'hleirnaa of IOcIn, .a.. tho"' :ails of tbe p On lhn....n. h_ tho' J>l'Iid" .. . Of!'." nO' """"""" 11 ' hb pj>!w""""',. 10 U\OIhcr p 1i.U,......10 hall. CCfl t" l ""rti&:o:OIor"""""" all of ..-!lieh 4 b) .>IIlte d _1>, in ""'.. willi I su tf.'!*'. lI' ... .."" u,.,J ..bWldinl fo, porin( th. fl_ d f",the ..-illo' 0 ' llei!*J.' of 71cm,F'rx- 41 IJn ,,,,,fins w.. alt md(0) prod"". Ihr oe .."I..()vc' the em lral hall I ..,,, 10""" ,"011. " n either side. , oTcrnpo" ry cenlring " f ....,odcn be""", w"" employ.d dun,, Ihe com l, u, ' io" of lh, l"lie, ..ul l!.lbe hol a whe,eIh. be",,,, we", >el inl glh, ICfTlJ' I' wall ue .,ill ibk- "SUnil., hgl" in . ..'M! of lheE,, !I G.le h. 1lbee" p.'chell wil h . Io" t:, . howinS Ih. , U,e beom. we,e" mo,ed , f..,cumpl"iun g f theroof. " Th. 1WIl. lechniq'" w.. u, ell hI IheI, mple gr Ikit . 1WIl!1whore Ih. ml[k.! of lernpo..rycenl, in, C:lO b, ",eu . l ' he ,u, of 'he ", ,,I'ed enl"n" hall,"Th. dOOfW' y, of the Secunll l':1b e, ibly bcinS r", ed lulh,....u. by wood e" "' Sun"of lh, 5Iun. bnlro wer, f,,"n, d t o the bric kwork by cord. p""",d hole, il Lthe , Ion.(Flg.481,lh. ",,;ill roo"", of the horn" h. d bnl. h" "h I!opin! " I[ f"".. ;rnil mh. d pwj,. ti o",rcod Second Pa!Jlco..thefloo" wcr. compo>o f IheP.I'.e me. lUred37 x 18 xI l , n,. " . weItooillUuotu" . ..I,kh' he 10" ' bas"." In the ' m1ll 100m,' ndp..,,1';,". ,..n. ltl "'L ,'Id.. ll 4 n ," . IW. . IV, ,",'0. ''''' ,. Jb"" '''', ,..n . ,to,...w.c.. IN';'; ' 0" ',n. T." ", . ' " ' .. hi... "I Am,", ,,,,,,m, " .". ''"'' ,,'-". I"",, It ., _..0" ,it. UMe' " (If Ih. ll",," ....,. fO'1I\04 of pl. " e. which h.dbeen in """" " .... >!though f. ", ,oom'l\ooauf '. S,o,," .... 0..4 fOf th. J"" renoolopIII and Qo Tiyi . ",hlclo ue d".. .. in PIa,.. ftoo/l .. bt III'.. "1 ., .',... ,_ ." ...... V( ......l .. ", ,, 'll.... _. ".""" ' VL9l. -.' ..' VH " .....OVor.. -. " K ovL... -. .. 6_''1' ..'.On.III !"IIld .. ..t 01 Dime ..... cn..ld. ,O'd by ,h. o;>c. ..to" ' 0 "'.. b.."f'" 'O,,1tPIlrpou.!l di(f..od wnoi". ..hly in' lylefromIh. Mdi""y hoo..., }hi, IJ.:!OI . 1013 I14,5 6cm,ln .i,..laid in n "" (See 11.54,\.)rn"dulunf Rnm, " d. t, ",hlch h,,,, been found .. olbor ,it..la' incooform 'ory d o"ly 10 ' he 4 .. 11 .. '0:>,...............__in linl-lC.' b11 r""nJ . t " ,e. In Er;ypl. ,.. but the;' ,,,,.,,," ,,1 fu' u' 1nC lhi!or b" IlJ,ni- lb' "'" blunlbnck 1$ ,he F"'''' andf\e.. . '" U ' 0 ' - :-,tI,. "",II' " '' '" ,he "pll'" ltIO....'ft FIt i 1).Locoo'iool _d.-.l Bridi ...... CCIII)

.... 1C""durl'rt dl ) 1 ! ..S:>.Bur... t>nc: k ......" __..,110... ,.rproo(pb" ". Vult b' .. ...!uYc Sro110 ul l""'....-..n," n"""d,d ..."h 'ho 0....' ....bof ,'" """'"Ik".. i>;>pIn not pn' dtlIl>f ;,lIo' .....h... ro, ,1,1"", .. of ,", ",all... it 100ftIihl)'tobo,o of""""{' I"........ of ,ho ........ """, ' doand \..1. "'''' ...plnytdAl Al>toth ,. Iudt:I u oor! ......r. u( -.10nnc ,10: """'flOof """"'hoCP111n........ ........114II ....... oc., .............. ,'''' ' . I ,"bny """. """lei "I til. _ Io: inKoom be in lh. .... on, " rno:k>otd on"...u)w:JJI , buil' l>y Tut"mo. i> I. and I.", by 0 1'1""'''' "111 D)n......n "r,ough.. "" . '''''''1\1 '' 10'' Tho "nllU< oily II f""udan .. ..... bwlt "". pia. s.om. bnck> b..........of ....... ....mrp lll .\l 'OO< T.....')'.flltll '" T.....I'Sol [lytwI1nJingi< ......."""0 "PfiJIl' bumo....". r, In dt , lb_ ' "rho.......,.06 n.... bnm Ioo>d. .. _ .. r-v .......pleJ ,hot _loi""",.., _ ' .......d of,,_ bIod >llh _ , ..-_ 011001< , 11.. ?,!.no' lO.OJO Ioa& ,......... >CO ... orOIIDd".e ..-\00... lht.....d ,ntho101" Roman ....1.. I nd at' ....plO)'. d U le.,...,yIn Ihr COpt"h........ ,e their dllllCJUi-1,'m. .. Tho """d"', of .11. CopIId O _ te "",ploy"" O'n'f Iht l:l4'Ole: ,no! of ,h.colto, 10. ....... Il Oll...,. or""....... f........-.tiII, "la ol ...L>J I, ,h. eO.... '" " r ",hdl. "'". t lllU dlrecl1"", in ,Inri. b)'"IFii-6S) In >dd" iDll. thovaull lwl b..... moJo "'lII llrhi!l:>., i:Illoo odpo. Ill'inril dornv lay just """i'h" """, _ ..,.hOd, r":. ht tll roonn folJl>tid ,h. 0'''''OCIIy ' inN";' h ' III' "'......1. Ilub"'",he mdoou.. _ U. IIld inI lh. Gr.,,=-Ilad _ ...:1 by adlnof' I pc 0-, "'lL.,. " H\I, r __.of.' _ 'v lI' I n , UlV XXllX. .. \I a. rnl" "". h1, " I' . ... . " . ' II ""I. , ,, ... .. .. LI'".. ........ "01.,. 1' ''0' '1' . " " ."111. ""'-. '"111 U, .... ,........... " to' ). J ,..lc,UOllIJ, JI'lh . ..d IIrid Iiuo (ern\ !'i .,..Cop,", Y.."." Al A2 Rcll,J. I::. & Gr.... n. F.W. Hi"' i2 k rmpo fll, II. 1\1 20 &PI.L XXI V.ibid. 20. AI.., G3nt3nil . J. AS"!;' 8(I1107). PIs-V. VL S.Fairs..."i$. W.A. , JA RC \I (J 1171 2), IS&' FiJ. \I. 'I.Jariu,B., MDlK26(1 1170).1346 . 10.Stadel man n. R. MDrK2 7(1\1 7 1). 200 I. L1. H-, ,uDIK26(t970 ). 91 -J. 12.so mersCb tk... lEA'7 (1\121). 59.Several parts of the Old Kingdomtown wall of Elephantine have been discovered at that site, built of small mud-bricksin Class A bonding. The South-East sect ion 4 of the wall is founded on a substruct ure of thin walls, whichwerebuilt in order tofill upt he irregular hollows in the grani te bedrock. These foundation walls are bonded A2( 1.5) or A3(2.0). whilstt he main wall above themis four bricks across and is built in A3bonding, except for a base layer of bric kson edge. The bricks themsel ves measure 26-27 x11-13 x 6-7cm, andthey are laidin mud-mor tar .In the Southernpar t of the site stands anot her section -of the same wall, (bricks 27x14 x 7.5cm) over built by a later wall of the NewKingdom. More remains of the early waU6lie to theEast of the temple of Khnum, where there are four levels of build-ing, some of which appear torepresent repairs of Middle Kingdom da te. Here alsothe bonding is Class A, and the bricksare 24- 27 x11- 13 x 6.5cmin stze.AtEIKab the lown wall '7was circular, andformed of Iwoparallel thin walls wit h a rubblefilli ng bet ween, alt houghSomers Clarke believed 8 thatthey were twoindependent walls, as in t he early " fort" of Hterakcnpchs. They stand 4.88mapart and are 2.44 and 2. 74m thick respectively. both const ructed of bricks 35x13 x 6cmin size. The date of thetownenclos ure is not certain. but it is presumed 10 belong tothe Middle Kingdom."Remains of to wn-walls of this period have been foundat Edfu , overlying a cemet ery of t he Old Kingdom. IGThe earliestwall was builtin theFirstIntermediate Period and was reinforced during theMiddle Kingdom. It does not fo llow ast raight course, but contains a number of right-angle bends . whichproject out wards in t he manner of bastions. I I Lat erin the Middle Kingdom a newenclosure was buill on a st raight plan.All t hese walls are constructedin Class A bonding,probablyA3, as is usual in thick masses of brickwork.Since t he available informa tionon fortifications within Egypt is so slight at this da te,I have included belowa briefdescription of t he const ruction of the outer walls of t he Nubian fort resses. Some of these feat ures belong tothe NewKingdom. but they are stated her e toavoid dividing the mat erial concerned with a single group of buildings.I .a.3.,.Buhen.105Number of 2. courses. " iQ" 6I II. Ra 1 x 3 x1250 =3750 kgMoment at toe = 3750 x1.42= 5325 kg/mTIle buttress can withstanda pressure up to5,325 kg/mThe use of buttressing on a retaining wall cl early gives greatly improvedstrengt h in returnfor a small extraoutlay of materials. and the process is common in Egyptian brickwork.In some cases retaining walls were constructedby the use of loose fllllng contained between twoparallelwalls of brick. a good example of this type being found in the terrace temple ofAmosis I atAbydos. 3Theweight of theinternal filling acts in such a way as to aid the stabilit y of thewhole st ruct ure. by preventing thecollapse of the brick casing.Another form of wall is that built on a sinusoidal plan. as exemplified around the South pyramid of Mazghuneh.4although this technique is not restricted to the Middle Kingdom as has been stated. s Adetailed study'' of the advant-ages of this form 01building over a convent ional retaining wall of the same thickness has revealed that an improvementof 100% in resistance to side-thrustis obtained. Animportant point concerning walls of this type is the fact that theyarerelatively thin; the most substantial examples around the pyramids of Mazghuneb1 and SouthSaqqara 8 are only1.05m and 0.65m across, whilst thewavy walls used in domestic buildings very oftenhave a thickness equal to thewidth of a single brick.9This would seem to indicatethat theEgyptians exployed walls of this formwhen they wished10 combine rapid construction with a fair degree of stability. ln the case of the extremely t hin walls thewavy construe-lion would give rigidityto the brickwork. just as modern sheet i ron is corrugatedto improve its strength. The bondingof such thin walls is Al or Xl , whilst great retaining walls are usually bondedA2 or A3 like thick walls of othe r types.More varialionin bonding occurs in thecasing-walls of mastabas and in the lining of tomb-pit s. as shown in the chartson page 14 15, 2 1, 245and 33-7.2. Great Walls,Construction ;11 Lf!I' f' 1Courses of Brickwork.Brick walls of fairly massive dimensions are common inEgyptian architect ure in both secular and religious buildingsandthroughout Pharaonic times they show greaturufcrrnny in construction. TIley are mostfreque ntly builtin A3bonding. so theirinternal struct ure consists entirely of headers. In cases where thethickness of thewall is not equalto an even number of brick-lengths the bonding is A2, butthis change has no real effect onthe mass of bricks in theheart of the wall. Probably these bonds were employedsofrequentl y because of their simplicity; the fact tha t all thebricks of the internal work were laid as headers would considerably speed upthe process of construction. Goodexamples of this type of bonding in thick walls are found in the enclosures of the royal mortuarytemples at The bes,and in the early dynastic " fort"of Hierakonpolts.! ? although in the latter case it is necessaryto ignore the palace-facadepanelling.,.,s.,.l ' uu d ly, C.T. F- R. &t We igall, A-E. I'. , Abydar., Ill. JJ&t I'I.Ull .Pet rie, W.M. t .&. Mach y, L.., Th eL abyrint h.Gu;..,h&. .ua=llhuneh, !' t. XX XIX. 6.Uq,u el , ( ;" Veil;( I'Y'amidez rJu Moy enEmp i re. 55& 1'1. XV. 9.V"' Cc>u IIU, J. &Heve, A. Mll'giua, 1, 9 7-10 1. 10!'e lr ie. W. M.I-. &t Macka y. E. , op. d t . 41.113JeQuier, G.,ap. dt . 5S-6.Sole p.95.ove-n.J. F_&t Green. Y.W. ,H /c,ak o"poJiz,11, 10 . Ga n t ang, J. _4S..tE8 ( l 'i 01), 114Construction in Undulating Courses of Brickwork.If ]ILn 'rlling by use o{ bricks0/1 edge. Fig. 74It is commonto see bric ks laid on the ir edges, as headers, in various pans of Egyp tian walls; t hese are notmerelycareless irregularities, but arethe result of a deliberatetechnique of adjusting the levels of the courses. Thi s process isnotrestricte d tothick walls, but canbe found everywherein Egyptian bric kwork. Sometimes the bricks are tilted overso as to raise one secti on of a course more thananothe r.( Fig.74}. Further adjustment of the levels was made by varyingII. Seepp. 10 4- 6-1I .A. L 'A ,., dt.hHIr, EO'prir,u, 16 7,13, J.n.s. Cit.. 'of A khrFlarrn, III . 92.14. Dunham. 0 ., Sl' hc, 1... Kdmak.NonJ, 11 1, 12-3&PIs. XXXI XXXVI.The temples of earlier periods donot havethis deep subst ruct ure, and brickwork was not normally employedint heir foundations, Asmall amount of brick was usedbeneat h t he temple of Ramesses 1I1 at MedinetHabufor thepurpose of lining t he wall t renches to prevent the collapse of their sides priorto t he laying. of t he stone blocks ofthe foundation. 24( Fig.79)Fig. 79 Foundations ill t ileTCI11/" e ofMcdinl'! Habit.The brickwork of these struct ures is in each ease well-laid, andther e is no communication betweenthe compart mentswit hin it. AI Tani s, Mcdamud, Karnak andEI-Kab there wereramps 10 t hetopof t he platfor m to give access tot hechapel.Al Saqqara, the buildings standon a sloping site, and it has been sta led20t hat this necessitate dthe preparationof elaborate foundations. but t his does not explain the presence of similar st ructures on sites wherethe ground is level.The real intention of thebrick platformwas to elevatethe buildin g which stood upon it , as Egypt ian peripteral templeswere usuallyraised above t he ground and approached by ramps.Cellular plat for ms of brick, of a slight ly dif ferent kindfrom those discussed above, were used as foun dations formilitary camps atDeffeneh, Naukrans andMemphis. Here again thefoundation was used to elevate t he building, sot hat t he living quarters, raised several metre s above the ground, would be more defensible. The lower pari of t hest ructure consisted of a block of brickwork, withinternal compartments, some of which were gravel-filled, whilstot hers in cont rast tothefoundations of pertpte ral chapels, which were always filled up solid. were domed over andused as store-cellars. A st ructural descri ption of t hese military camps has alreadybeen given in Chapter 8 (pp.106-7).It should be noted t hat all the examples of cellular platforms so far known belong t oLate-Period or Graeco-Roman times.Extensive use was made of brick in Ihefoundati ons of temples from Sajte times onwards 10 build a retaining-wallaroundthe sand bed upon whichthe temple stood. The preparation of the site was carried out as follows: first , agreatrectangularpitwas excavated and its sides were lined with a t hick wall of mud-brick; t he enclosed space wasthenfilled up wit h sand. over whichwere placed several courses of sto ne blocks,10form a platformfor t he temple.Several foundations of this kind have been foundby excavation, especially ill the Delta, where the dest ruction ofthetemples has left their subst ruct ures exposed. A pa rt icularly good example has recently been discoveredatMendes, 21 witha buttressed brick lini ng-wall around thefoundation sand, but the technique was not rest rict ed tothe Delta, since it occ urs at the temple of Deir el-Medinaat Thebes.22Ot her examples have beenfound atGemeryemt,Ncbcsheh and Tukh el-Oaramus (pp.72and 77). The following text, from the temple of Edfu, would seem toIndicate t hat this method of founding a temple was t he standard rule in Late times:Native soilAn exceptionally solid mass of brick work was found to underlie t hepavementof theNorth gate of the precinctsof Amun at Karnak, going downto a dept h of eleven courses below the floor.2SMost of the se bricks were laid" He excavated itsfoundat ion as far as t he water, it being filled up with sand according to t he rule, being cons t ructedof sandstone as an excellentwork for eternity.,, 23parallel to the axis of the gateway. as headers or on their edges, but irregularities were common and some coursesconsisted only of a layer of broken bricks. 26In conclusion, it may be stated once more that the majority of Ancient Egyptian buildings had inadequate found-ations. It is important to notethat thosefoundations which are solidly const ructed, such as occur beneath thetemplesand fortified camps of the Late Period. were not the result of a desire to createa firm base for the building, but werereally mot ivated by mythological or military considerations.26. Ibid. . PIs.XXXII- XXXIV.122Fig.80 vauttsf rom arch ill Tomb oft n t at GUll.The earliest examples of theusc: of brick vaults in Egypt occ ur inthe subsidi ary graves of tomb 3500 at Saqqara,(page10) inwhicht he subst ruct ures areroo fed by vaulting of typed I.Furt her exa mples of this kind of vaultare knownfrom t heArchaicPeriod in tombs at Beil Khallaf Ipage 23) andRcqaqnah (page23) andmany d l vault s occur in t he funeraryarchi tect ure of th e Old Kingdom. This type of vaulting mustbe one of the longest-lived arch itectural forms ever devised,since it was in common usefrom theFirst Dynasty down 10the Coptic period. True arches seem to have come into uselater thant he inclined vault; the earliestwell-att ested examples arefoun dintombs of the Third Dynastyat BeitKha lla,Reqaqnah and Saqqara, and the bonding inall these cases is t ypec1 (pages 23-4) . There is a faint possibilitythetan arch may,have been employed in tombT.23 atNaqada, but th e only evidence for thisrests ona brief note in Pet rie' s fieldrecords,andit would be rashto infer thatthearchwas knuwn in Predynastlc umes.IThe useof both arches and vault s increased greatly aft er the close of theArchaicPeriod, becoming widespread inthe tombs of theOld Kingdom. Arches inthe form of 3n arc of a circle occur forth e firstlimeat Giza, 2 where theyare used toform a support for the springing of t wu parallel vault s (Fi g.SO). Such arch es are of t ype cl, buttheyarecomposed of specially shapedbricks which produce parallel ribs along the soffi I of th e arch, in imitation of earlierbuilding materials. In t he to mb of Sabef3the re was an unusual vaultover the chapel. formed of inlerlocking bricksassembledin dl bonding, as shown inFig.8LAUthe differentforms of bricks used in these to mbs aredescribed inChapter 15.ARCHES, VAULTS, DOMES AND CORBELS CHAPTER ELEVEN:Arches andVaul ts:--I. Kemp, B-J. , Je ll S9 (1 9731, 4 1-1&. ns.a.2. II. , GiZa,V, 156 9 ; I X, 142-3. Badawy , A. , III Abu BukT.A.M. , Ex ,"""atiQluat Giza, 194 9- 50, 129 3 1.J. C. , Tilt MI"" , at C'ZSaq q.1 fa.4S. ll iil o;ch er. U. , E M. If. . V.4- 5.4 6. ibid., 11I. 3 11- 9.47 . Pel ri e. W.fot. P_. Sixr 'mpl- --Jk.;.,. d.- Mechn.o. .IJJ1Plat e 39I IIf]R.oMANpFORT,__--~ I, 'Walloj-5~ m ,N~SEL KAB: TEMPLE ENCLOSURETANIS: TEMPLE ENCLOSUREI :'y