The Slain Soldiers of Neb-Hepet-Re' Mentu-Hotpe
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THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART THE SLAIN SOLDIERS OF NEB-HEPET-RE' MENTU-HOTPE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION PUBLICATIONS VOLUME XVI 1945 New V0"^" W\eAVopo\\"ta^ YY\V^«Ak\v\ r o? art - ^^^Y\Av> irAjWe^ oY- THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART THE LIBRARY 107509 PUBLICATIONS OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION VOLUME XVI THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION THE SLAIN SOLDIERS OF NEB-HEPET-R& MENTU-HOTPE BY H. E. WINLOCK NEW YORK MCMXLV COPYRIGHT BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, I945 CONTENTS PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS ........... v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .......... vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......... viii CHAPTER I. THE TOMB ........... Few casualties in battles of 2000 B.C. The tomb discovered in 1923, but its im portance not realized, until 1926. It was not impressive, though approached by a stair. Its plan. Another community tomb. A third of the same type. A hoe blade. The bodies stacked, all at one time. Their eventual plundering. CHAPTER II. THOSE BURIED IN THE TOMB ....... About 60 soldiers. Their stature. Their skull form. Their northern character. However, they were Egyptians, about 30-40 years old. Their bushy hair. Veterans of previous battles. Archers' wrist guards. A bow tip and cord. The wounds, on the surface. Arrow wounds. Ebony arrow tips. Arrows fired from battlements. Other missile wounds, made by stones. The coup de grace. The heads smashed, of those previously wounded. Carrion birds, made post-mortem wounds, characteristic of vultures. Soldiers killed in two attacks. The bodies had been stacked up. Their condition. Varying amounts of disintegration. Sand on the bodies and in the bandages, used to cleanse the bodies. Their wrappings. Only two in coffins. Nearly 4000 years buried. All died in one siege, of Heracleopolis. CHAPTER III. THE MARKINGS ON THE BANDAGES AND A TUFTED TOWEL 25 Sixty linen marks, on bed sheets. An enigmatic mark, on linen from Thebes, the property of a temple. Meaningless marks. Hieratic markings. The origin of the cloth. A linen towel. APPENDIX I. MEASUREMENTS MADE ON THE BODIES OF THE SOLDIERS 33 APPENDIX II. WRAPPINGS ON THE BODIES 37 INDEX I. SUBJECTS ..... 38 INDEX 11. PERSONAL NAMES ON THE BANDAGES 40 INDEX III. BODIES MENTIONED IN THE TEXT . 40 PLATES ....... 4i CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES IN THE TEXT PAGE Fig. i. Half of a hoe blade, split down the middle. Scale i 4 5 Fig. 2. Methods of lashing bow cords. A. To the lower end of a bow from the tomb of the soldiers. B. To the upper end of a bow from the near-by Tomb 101. Actual size 10 Fig. 3. Diagram showing how the tufts were made on towels 31 PLATES I. Map of a section of the hillside northeast of the court of the temple of Neb-hepet- Rer. II. Plans of the three community tombs, 101, 506, and 507, above the northeast corner of the court of the temple of Neb-hepet-Ref. III. The tombs on the hillside, looking east. The entrance to the tomb of the soldiers is the third on the left, somewhat lower than the others. The photograph was taken in 1926, before the clearing of the quarry, above which stands Cook's Rest House. IV. A. Wrist guards found among the bodies of the soldiers. Scale 5:6 B. Wrist guard in place on a soldier's arm. Scale about 1:2 V. A. Two bow tips. The shorter is the upper end of a bow found in Tomb 101, the longer the end of a bow found in Tomb 507 wrapped in the bandages with body no. 11. Actual size B. Ten arrow tips and a reed arrow shaft with the butt of a tip. Actual size VI. Nos. 10 and 21, with uncurled hair to the nape of the neck. No. 45, with the hair curled into small greased ringlets all over the head. Scale 2:5 VII. A. The ebony tip of an arrow entered the forearm of no. 6 at a; it was bent with the movement of the arm and broken off between the radius and ulna; the tip was found under the skin, here removed, at @. Scale about 1:2 B. The ebony tip of an arrow entered the base of the neck of no. 10, and the point was embedded under the skin in front of the ribs at a. Scale about 1:2 C. The ebony tip of an arrow transfixed the tissues connected with the left lung of no. 36. Scale about 1 :i vi CONTENTS D. The reed shaft of an arrow transfixed the left side of the chest of no. 20 from the back; the ebony tip was broken off and clotted with blood as the man fell on his face. Scale about 1:2 E. The ebony tip of an arrow entered the right shoulder of no. 30 F. The same arrow seen in the notch of the right scapula from the front. Scale about 1.2 VIII. A to C. Broken nose and depressed fractures of the skull over the right eye and on the right temple of no. 14. Scale 1 \2 D. The ebony tip of an arrow puncturing the floor of the left orbit of no. 21. Scale 1 \2 IX. A. Complete fracturing of all the bones on the left side of the face and head of no. 23. Scale 1:2 B. Fracture of the left frontal bone and the right maxilla of no. 25. Scale 1 \2 C. Fractures of the right cheek and parietal bone, and possible post-mortem frac ture of the left frontal bone, of no. 52. Scale 1 \2 D. Fracture of the left parietal bone of no. 54. Scale 1 \2 X. A. Wound over the right temple of no. 29 and the skin of the face forced up into the right eye by the fractured malar bone. Scale 1 \2 B. The same skull cleaned to show the complete fracturing of the right zygomatic arch and the connected bones, and the fractured jaw. Scale 1 \2 C. The nose of no. 58 driven in by a heavy blow. Scale 1 \2 D. Fracture of the left parietal bone of no. 62. Scale 1:2 XI. A and B. Damage done by vultures to the feet of nos. 15 and 17. Scale 1:2 XII. Damage done by vultures in the left armpit and cheek of no. 26, showing shredded out tendons and bones of the skull and the ribs. Scale 2:3 XIII. A and B. Depressed fracture of the left frontal bone above the left orbital margin of no. 64, viewed from the outside and inside surfaces. Actual size C and D. Linen marks x and xi, perhaps written on the outside bandages of the bodies of two possible officers. Scale 1:2 E to G. Three marks, xn, on old sheets used as bandages on bodies of slain soldiers. Actual size XIV. Linen marks 1 to iv. The enigmatic mark written on sheets, and the same mark accompanied by z, gg, and J. Scale 5:6 XV. Linen marks v to ix. The enigmatic mark accompanied by jj, \j, v~-, ^, J| and J. Scale 5:6 vii CONTENTS XVI. Linen marks, xm to xix, of three men named Amuny and of Sefankh-Amun- Sokhem-Towy, Yu-Sobk-nakhte, Sobk-nakhte, Se'n-Wosret, Intef-oker, and a fourth Amuny. Actual size XVII. Linen marks, xx to xxiv, of Sobk-hotpe, Si-ipu, Ity, Se-hetep-ib-Sobk, and Sobk- nakhte. Actual size XVIII. Linen marks, xxv to xxvm, of Amuny, a son of Intef, an unknown person, and Mentu-hotpe. Actual size XIX. Linen marks, xxix to xxxn, of two Se'n-Wosrets, Sen-bebi, and Senut.... Actual size XX. A. Linen marks, xxxm to xxxv, of Kheper-ka and two men whose names are illegible; Actual size B. Part of a tufted bath towel. Actual size ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following pages are really the work of several persons, though if any statements in them are proved to be wrong in the end, the blame is undoubtedly mine. With the exception of one which was taken in the Museum, all the photographs are from the camera of the late Harry Burton. The map and the plans were drawn by Walter Hauser, as were two of the sketches. The diagrams showing how bow cords were fastened I drew several years ago. The second chapter is very largely due to Dr. Douglas E. Derry, helped by James Brewster and myself in the field, but it is written in my own words to a great extent. The third chapter contains work by Alan Gardiner both in the field and from photographs which I sent him recently, and a large part of that chapter is due to the never-failing cooperation of Ludlow Bull. To each of these half dozen colleagues my thanks are too great to need further mention. H.E.W. vm CHAPTER I THE TOMB OUR thousand years ago Egypt must have been a very different land from what Few casualties it is today. We know little about the Delta and can only suppose that it was smaller of 2000 B c Fand far more marshy than it is now. Up the river from Memphis to Gebel Silsileh the cultivated areas were narrower. Moreover, throughout most of its length the Nile flowed in a river bed higher than the land on either hand, where water remained in stagnant papyrus swamps, haunted only by fishermen and fowlers and their game. In an Egypt so closely circumscribed the population must have been far smaller, and it had even less chance to grow because over almost the entire country agriculture was limited to one crop a year.