Artefacts of Excavation

The survey on behalf of the Graeco-Roman branch began on the 19th of January and was focused on finding papyri with other periods and objects of secondary importance. The two cemeteries were next to each other seperated by a channel made by run-off water. 

The excavartion report notes excavating  bodies, rarely in wooden coffins, from shallow pits with pottery and beads as grave goods but were from a period earlier than the Graeco-Roman and were not designated as anything. 

Cemetery A: Around 200-300 cartonnage mummies were excavated on the south ridge. Limestone coffins contained damaged cartonage with gilded masks (the excavator thought is was due to a combination of salt and insufficent resin being used in mummification). The coffins were in large rectangular pits and not orientated in a particular way. There were also pot burials. 

Cemetery B: The north ridge cemetary was excavated for over 300 cartonnage burials. There were large shaft graves from earlier periods but these had been robbed. The dominant type of buiral was shaft and chamber without a coffin. There were also stone coffin burials and pot burials found at the site. 

Both sites shared similar grave goods mostly small coarse ware vessels. It was also noted by the excavator that these were sometimes in caches which included: cloth, coarse ware, bronze utensils, limestone moulds, and agricultural material that the excavator thought might be infant burials.