Balat (Egypt)
Balat ( Arabic بلاط, DMG Balāṭ 'place') is a village in the eastern part of the Dachla oasis in Egypt that has existed since at least the second half of the 14th century . Three kilometers to the northeast was at Ain 'Asil ( Arabic عين أصيل, DMG ʿAin Aṣīl ) a settlement from the Old Kingdom . The northern part of the settlement was surrounded by a wall and extended over an area of 110 × 230 m. The governor's palace (oasis chief) and other administrative buildings were located there. In the south there were, among other things, important remains of houses and pottery.
Two kilometers west of Ain 'Asil was the necropolis of Qila' el-Dabba ( Arabic قلاع الضبة, DMG Qilāʿ aḍ-Ḍabba , door bolt fortresses') with five large brick masts of the oasis rulers from the late 6th dynasty (period of Pepis I and Pepis II ). The mastabas and their courtyard were surrounded by a large brick enclosure. Two mastabas had a niched facade. Inside there were multiple shrines and grave rooms with brick barrels .
One of the special features of the Qila 'el-Dabba necropolis is the placement of coffin texts on the coffin of Medu-Nefer (Mastaba 5), which is one of the earliest evidence of this type of text. The mastaba of Chentika (Mastaba 3) is the only one to contain wall paintings in the burial chamber.
In the vicinity of these mastaba graves, further graves were laid in the 6th Dynasty and the First Intermediate Period , the cemetery was used until the Second Intermediate Period and again in Roman times . Some of the graves are simple shaft graves. Other graves were dug in the rock and closed at the top with an adobe vaulted ceiling. The largest graves even had a courtyard with a small mud-brick mastaba. The deceased were buried in wooden coffins or mats and received gifts such as calcite vessels, copper mirrors and tools.
literature
- Dieter Arnold: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Albatros, 2000, ISBN 3491960010 , pp. 33–34, → Balat
- Michel Valloggia: Dakhla Oasis, Balat. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 216-219.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ibrāhīm Ibn-Muḥammad Ibn-Duqmāq († 1407): Kitāb al-Intiṣār li-wāsiṭat ʿiqd al-amṣār; al-Guzʿ 5. Būlāq: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Kubrā al-Amīrīya, 1310 AH [1893], p. 11 below – 12, especially p. 12, line 10.
Coordinates: 25 ° 35 ' N , 29 ° 15' E