Jan.9] SOCIETYOF BIBLICALARCHEOLOGY. [1894.
Andoftenthe inscription endsby referring to a statue whichit is
statedthe writer cut out, and which reached" its house " in safety.
These events happened, the scribe informs us, " in the days of
Nehera,the son of Kema," or in the days of some othernomarch.
It is difficult to show the connection between the nomarchs
mentioned at Hat Nuband those buried at Der-el-Bersheh, but
it seems likely thatthe Nehera, son of Kema, of the graffiti, and
the Nehera, son of Kema, whowas buried at El Bersheh, wereone
andthe same person. If this be true, it follows thatthe Kai of the
graffitiwasprobablythe Kai, fatherof Tehutihtp, whomwe find
mentionedat the tomb of the latter : Tehutihtp himself,we know,
brought a great colossusfrom Hat-Nub. If these identifications
are true, it is probable thatthe mass of the graffiti are Xlth dynasty,
or slightly anteriorto the Xllth dynasty.
It is impossible to enter furtherintodetailsabouttheseinscrip
tionshere,but they certainlyseemworthworkingout properly.
Beforebringingthesenotesto a close, I must mentionthatbelow
the Xllth dynastyinscriptionsdescribed abovethere are several
writtenin very largecharacterswhichby the cartouches seemto be
muchearlier. Theyare more weathered than the Xllth graffiti
above,but one contains the cartouche of Teta of the Vlth dynasty,
andnearit is a larger cartoucheof Teta withhis banner namebeside
it, which I believe to have beenpreviouslyunknown;in the example
we have here,it reads Se-hotep-taui.
This brings us to the end of the principal graffiti, there are
doubtlessothers,andif the great entrancepassagewereclearedwe
should probablyfindother stelae andkings' names; but owingto
the distance from the river this work would entailconsiderable
expense,and is not likely to be done at present.Note.
Sincewritingthe article on Gebelen andel-Kab,^ ablished in the
last Proceedings(Vol. XV, Pt. 8), Monsieur Brugsch has kindly
shown me a piece of a statue foundat Gebelen, apparentlypartof
the shoulder of a statue of a king bearing the cartouches of the
HyksoskingUser-n-ra, Kian whowasfirstmadeknown to us by
MonsieurNaville'sexcavationsat Bubastis. Thisseems furtherto
supportthe theory I then advanced,namely,that the Hyksos actually
heldGebelenandEl-Kab,at any rate for some time.&2