Having finished opening the pyramid of Hawara, the next attraction was that of Illahun, a few miles to the east of it, in the Nile valley, at the entrance to the Fayum. This pyramid differs from all others in that the lower part is a natural rock cut into shape; upon that a mass of mud-brick rises, like that of Hawara, and around the base lie the fragments of the fine limestone casing which originally covered it. As almost all the pyramids had their chambers built in a sort of well in the rock base, I tried this pyramid on such an hypothesis, and therefore cleared the edge of its rocky portion all round as far as possible, to search for the cut into it, expected to lead to the excavation for the chamber. At the south-east corner this was difficult, as the rock was there deficient, and the core had been made up by layers of chips. Still, for months we went on clearing the sides and searching. Much other work was going on meanwhile, and by different sources I had found that the pyramid belonged to Usertesen II, as we shall notice presently. Amongst other work, I searched along a ledge in the rock at the base, where the pavement had originally been placed. While doing this we found a well, which I did not clear, as I was near the end of my season for work; but, on Mr. Fraser coming to secure the place during my absence, I commended this well to his notice as a possible entrance. He cleared it out, and at forty feet deep found a passage leading up into the pyramid. Then it was evident that no other external sign on the pyramid itself was possible, for the passages and chambers were wholly cut in the rock, and the pyramid merely stood on the surface, without any connection with the sepulchre beneath it.

There were two well-entrances to the pyramid, close together. One beyond the pavement was so carefully covered with rubbish that I could not have found it unless I had made a great clearance; by this the sarcophagus and large blocks of masonry were taken in. The smaller well was evidently for the workmen to gain access to the lower side of the blocks that were in course of being taken in: it was hidden by the pavement, was found anciently, and served for spoilers to enter by, and lastly was found again in my digging. Had it not been for this smaller well, I believe the pyramid would have been still inviolate.

The passage in the inside is rough hewn in the soft rock, and was smeared over with a coat of thin plaster originally, but without a trace of ornament or inscription. It is wide, and high enough to walk upright freely. At the end it opened into a chamber lined with blocks of limestone, of which a large part has been removed, probably by the Ramesside masons, when they plundered the pyramid and its temples for stone. At the west end of this chamber, which runs east and west, is the door to a red granite chamber, containing the sarcophagus. This second chamber is roofed exactly like that of Menkaura’s pyramid at Gizeh, with slanting blocks cut out in a curve below. The sarcophagus is one of the finest products of mechanical skill that is known from ancient times. It is of red granite, of a form not before met with, having a wide rectangular brim. The surfaces are all ground flat, but not polished; truth, and not effect, was sought for. And its errors of work in flatness and regularity are not more than the thickness of a visiting card. Its accuracy of proportion is also fine, as each dimension is a whole number of palms, with a fluctuation of only one part in a thousand. In front of the sarcophagus stood the alabaster table of offerings, for the ka of Usertesen II, now in the Gizeh Museum. Strange to say, there is not a trace of a coffin, or a lid to the sarcophagus; and, indeed, as this chamber is not under the middle of the pyramid, it may be questioned whether the real interment is not yet to be reached by some other passage.

From the north wall of this chamber a strange passage is cut in the rock, first northwards, then west, then south, then east, and lastly northwards again, opening into the limestone chamber; in fact, it passes around the granite chamber. It was not a workman’s passage intended to be closed up again, as the doorway of it has a bevelled edge and is curved at the top. It rather looks as if intended to prove to any spoilers that there was no other concealed passage leading out from the granite chamber, and thus to check their destructive searchings. If so, we may be tolerably certain that there is some other chamber containing the real interment.

The chambers in the pyramid are to the east of the centre; and adjoining the east face of the pyramid externally there stood a shrine, on the walls of which were figured the tables and lists of offerings for the ka of Usertesen II. The sculptures were of beautiful work, and brilliantly coloured. What process was used for fixing these coats of colour we do not know; but still, from over four thousand years, after being broken and thrown into heaps, these colours are firmly fixed on the stone, and soaking and washing make no change in them. Only one large piece was found, now in the Gizeh Museum, but hundreds of portions of hieroglyphs were recovered among the chips. Who the destroyers were we can guess by an inscription of Ramessu II, rudely painted on a block of the stone. Among the ruins some chips of a black-granite seated statue of Usertesen II, were found, showing that the shrine was furnished like the earlier temples of the fourth dynasty.

The regular temple of the pyramid stood about half a mile to the east of it, on the edge of the desert; and it has been destroyed like the shrine, and by the same hands, as two cartouches of Ramessu II were found on the blocks; several beads, &c., of the nineteenth dynasty occur in the ruins; and I found the name of Usertesen II on a piece of a granite pillar of Ramessu II at Ahnas, some miles to the south, showing for what purpose Illahun had been plundered. The outline of the temple can be traced by the thick brick wall which surrounded it. The plan is square, and it seems to have consisted of brickwork externally, lined with limestone masonry. But of the internal arrangement not a trace can be recovered. Probably a shrine of granite stood at the west end of the court, and objects of sandstone in the area, judging by the position of the chips. Also a large basalt statue existed here, of which only one fragment was found; the statue must therefore have been removed (probably to Ahnas), and not broken up here. One interesting discovery was made, however. In the middle of the area I noticed a slight hollow in the rock surface, about two and a half feet square. I thought of a foundation deposit, and examined this place. A block of stone lay fitted into it; on breaking and raising this, a second block was seen; when that was removed, we found plain sand. Scraping this out, we came on much broken pottery, and then some bronze models of tools, and a large number of carnelian beads. There were four sets of objects, thrown in pell mell; but the strings of carnelian beads, all exactly alike, are a puzzle. Is it possible that they were bead-money? They have the requisites of an exchange standard, as well as gold; they need a regular amount of labour to produce them, they are unalterable, and they serve for ornament when not used for exchange. However that may be, we have here far the oldest foundation-deposit known.

The great prize of Illahun was unknown and unsuspected by any one. On the desert adjoining the north side of the temple, I saw evident traces of a town, brick walls, houses and pottery; moreover, the pottery was of a style as yet unknown to me. The town-wall started out in a line with the face of the temple; and it dawned on me that this could hardly be other than the town of the pyramid builders, originally called Ha-Usertesen-hotep, and now known as Kahun. A little digging soon put it beyond doubt, as we found cylinders of that age, and no other; so that it was evident that I actually had in hand an unaltered town of the twelfth dynasty, regularly laid out by the royal architect for the workmen and stores, required in building the pyramid and its temple. After a few holes had been made, I formed up the workmen in a line along the outermost street, and regularly cleared the first line of chambers, turning the stuff into the street; then the chambers beyond those were emptied into them; and so line after line, block after block, almost every room in the town was emptied out and searched. The only part not quite cleared was where habitations had been formed in Roman times by lime-burners, who had disturbed the place and destroyed the ancient walls. Every chamber as it was cleared was measured and planned, and we can see the exact scheme of the architect, and where he expanded the town as time went on.

The general outline was a square mass; walled on

the west, north, and east sides, but open on the south to the Nile plain, and not fully built out in this direction. In this space were buildings adjoining the wall all round; within them a main street around three sides of a square block of buildings in the middle; and minor streets subdividing the buildings. Then outside the wall on the west the town was enlarged by a further space, also walled, and divided by a long main street, and cross streets all the way along it. The larger houses all have a court, or atrium, with columns around the middle of it, and in the centre a small stone tank let into the ground with a square of limestone around it five feet each way. These columns were sometimes of stone, sometimes of wood; with a simple abacus, or with a carved palm capital; octagonal, or fluted, or ribbed; but they always had large circular stone bases, which mostly remain in place in the rooms. The roofing was usually of beams, overlaid with bundles of straw, and mud-plastered; but many arched roofs of brickwork remain, some entire, others with only the lower part. The doorways were always arched in brickwork, and we know now for certain that the arch was not only known, but was in constant use by the early Egyptians.

In the rooms pottery was often found; and many parts of the town having been deserted when the building of the pyramid was finished, the empty rooms were used as rubbish holes by the inhabitants who remained; in such places there might be even six or eight feet depth of broken pottery, woodwork and other things. Tools

were also found hidden in the dust which had lain in the chambers; and one basket was found with a lid, marvellously fresh and firm, containing copper hatchets and chisels, and a copper bowl, all as free from rust as when they were buried. Beneath the brick floors of the rooms was, however, the best place to search; not only for hidden things, such as a statuette of a dancer and pair of ivory castanets, but also for numerous burials of babies in wooden boxes. These boxes had been made for clothes and household use, but were used to bury infants, often accompanied by necklaces and other things. On the necklaces were sometimes cylinders with the kings’ names; and thus we know for certain that these burials, and the inhabitation of the town, is of the twelfth dynasty, from Usertesen II onward. Lying on one box was a splendid ivory carving of a baboon seated, of the most naturalistic work, comparable with the best cinquecento Italian ivories. This of course is kept at the Gizeh Museum. In the houses but little sculpture was found; far the finest piece being a basalt statue of an official, now also at the Gizeh Museum.

87. Ivory Baboon.