DENDEEEH.

INTEODUCTION.

1. Dendereh is to most persons only the
name of a temple; one of the largest, best
preserved, and most popular examples of
Egyptian architecture, visited and admired
by every tourist, a stopping-place of every
steamer. The large volumes in which Mariette
published the inscriptions, which had been un-
covered by his direction, might be thought to
exhaust what was to be done for Dendereh.
But beside the temple there was a town, which
is yet untouched, except by native diggers.
And the inhabitants of this town were buried
in a large cemetery on the desert behind the
town, which had never been touched by
scientific work. With the usual reckless waste-
fulness, dealers were allowed in the last few
years to try plundering there; but happily
their ventures were not fruitful, as they re-
opened already rifled tombs, and did not search
for the external sculptures.

A cemetery of a nome capital, as yet un-
opened in modern times, was therefore a
promising site for historical study. The town
was known to be ancient, and there was the
possibility of its proving to be prehistoric;
there were many questions to be solved, and a
fair prospect of results. I therefore applied,
on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund, for
permission to excavate at Dendereh, and west-

ward as far as Hu. The first year our time
was fully occupied at Dendereh itself, and the
second year we extended our work along the
desert to Hu.

Our party was happily composed. I had the
advantage of the help of Mr. Arthur Mace,
who was keenly interested in the work, and
most painstaking and thorough in all that he
did. Tn the latter half of our time we were
joined by Mr. David Maclver, Avho came to
Egypt mainly for anthropometric work, but
had been well fitted for archaeology by working
with Mr. Alfred Maudslay on Central American
remains, and by familiarity with continental
museums. These gentlemen, who were both
Oxford men, have continued their work in the
following year with good success. "We were
also joined by Mr. IV. de G. Davies, who came
mainly to practise on copying, and who did
several large pieces of such work with accuracy;
beside which he gave much time to clearing the
cemetery of Ptolemaic times, and all the steles,
labels, and amulets of that age come from his
ground; while later on he excavated many of
the eastern-most mastabas. My Avife was with
me all the time, helping in the surveying,
cataloguing, and marking of the objects, and
also draAving all the tomb plans here published.
And at the last, Mr. Chas. Rosher Avas on the