1787.d.13, 2(21)

Genre: Archaeological Photography

View of the entrances to three tombs, built of rough rubble masonry: 'On both banks of Wady Feiran, above and below the convent ... there are also large numbers of tombs, either excavated in the 'jorfs' or constructed with loose stones ... The constructed tombs have two, four, or more 'loculi' for the reception of bodies; the most common form is that in which there are two chambers, one above the other ... Two of these buildings are frequently joined together, providing room for four bodies, and occasionally there are large tombs ... which has [sic] three tiers of 'loculi' [see print 24], one above the other, the lowest being below the surface of the ground. The walls of the tombs are of flat selected stones, built without mortar, and the chambers are about twelve feet long, two feet four inches broad, and five feet high; they are rounded off at the end which receives the head. The buildings lie almost invariably east and west ... It is curious to notice the perfectly different system of burial which prevailed at the same period, at two places so near each other as Musa and Feiran, for at the former place there is not a trace of these stone tombs; whether this arose from a diversity of opinion as to the proper mode of burial, or from some other question at issue between the two great convents of the Peninsula, would be an interesting subject for enquiry' (part I, pp. 213-14).

For another copy of this photograph, see the duplicate set (with the two additional volumes of photographs) at shelfmark Maps 29.d.28.