cts of the Old Kingdom.

[Illustration: 393.jpg GENERAL PLAN OF BUILDINGS AT ABYDOS]

Also, had they only worked the higher levels, and left the rest, the
inflow of high Nile would have formed a pond, which would have so
rotted the ground that deeper work could not have been carried on in the
future. The only course, therefore, was to plan everything fully, and
remove whatever stood in the way of more complete exploration. All
striking pieces of construction, such as the stone gateways of Papi,
were left untouched, and work carried on to deep levels around them; in
this way, at the end of the season, the site was bristling with pieces
of wall and blocks of stonework, rising ten or fifteen feet above
the low level clearances. As the excavations progressed, there was
an incessant need of planning and recording all the constructions.
Professor Petrie always went about with a large dinner-knife and
a trowel in his pocket, and spent much time in cutting innumerable
sections and tracing out the lines of the bricks. The top and base level
of each piece of wall had to be marked on it; and the levels could then
be measured off to fixed points.

An outline of some of the principal buildings is given, to show the
general nature of the site of the temple of Abydos. This plan is not
intended to show all periods, nor the whole work of any one age; but
only a selection which will avoid confusion. The great outer wall on the
plan was probably first built by Usirtasen I.; the bricks of the oldest
parts of it are the same size as bricks of his foundation deposits, and
it rests upon town ruins of the Old Kingdom. But this wall has been so
often broken and repaired that a complete study of it would be a heavy
task; some parts rest on nineteenth dynasty building, and even Roman
patchwork is seen. Its general character is shown with alternating
portions, the first set consisting of towers of brickwork built in
concave foundations, and then connecting walls between; formed in
straight courses. The purpose of this construction has long been a
puzzle. The alternate concave and straight courses are the natural
result of building isolated masses, on a concave bed like all Egyptian
houses, and then connecting them by intermediate walls. The hard face
across the wall, and the joint to prevent the spread of scaling, are the
essential advantages of this construction.

The corner marked Kom-de-Sultan is the enclosure which was emptied out
by Marie