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Book Review: Mendes I

This volume contains a concise but useful record of excavations over four seasons at Tell Basta from 1968 to 1971. The work was mostly concerned with the excavation of cemeteries, situated in the north-west part of the site, and was essentially a rescue project prior to the expansion of modern buildings over the area. The graves were of mixed date, ranging from the Early Dynastic to the Late Period, but with a majority of New Kingdom age. The burials consisted of pit-graves, with or without brick lining, some but not all being equipped with coffins. Grave-goods included tools, vessels, cosmetic items, scarabs and amulets, shabtis, and jewellery. Most of this material is illustrated in the figures, some of which are drawn and others photographic, but working back from an illustration to the text is difficult. A concordance of figure numbers and burial numbers would have helped. Also valuable would have been a separate concordance to link the published burial numbers with the original excavation numbers, which are visible in some of the photographs of the graves. For example, the grave shown in fig. 109 has an excavation number BT 15, but only by going through the text page by page can one find that this grave is published as Burial 137 on page 63. The text of the volume consists of concise catalogue-type entries on each burial, with a brief description and a list of contents. Future study of the objects illustrated could well provide a more precise dating for some of the graves; in the report, a general 'New Kingdom' date is used to cover everything from Eighteenth Dynasty to Ramesside. The finds are not discussed at length, for this is a simple presentation of the material. The large number of illustrations, however, should permit a re-evaluation of the objects by scholars interestedin the various classes of material represented. No comments are made here about the dating or typology of individual objects, because there is little point in mentioning one or two pieces when what is really needed is a study of all the material. The presentation of data from over 200 graves, dug as a rescue project on a difficult site, is a considerable achievement, and we should be grateful for the information that has been saved. In addition to the burials, a few other structures were located in the course of the excavations. These included a cat-cemetery, which was briefly examined (see p. 76 of the report), a palace, probably of the Middle Kingdom (pp. 76-7), a secular building of the Old Kingdom (pp. 74-5), and a temple of Teti (pp. 75-6). The structures are all described only briefly, but there are plans of the palace and the Old Kingdom building (called 'the Great Building'). The latter may have been an administrative centre or simply a large domestic estate. Of the temple of Teti, only an inscribed pillar and parts of a mud-brick enclosure wall were found, the pillar bearing a reference to a funerary chapel (J,.wt-kl) of Teti. By the New Kingdom, the temple had been destroyed and the area was overbuilt by cemeteries. Despite the slim appearance of the volume, it contains a large amount of information from a part of Bubastis which is no longer accessible. In particular, the excavations have shed new light on the burial customs of the Delta during the New Kingdom. The report is one more useful addition to the sparse bibliography of the cities of Lower Egypt. A. J. SPENCER