A journey through the Yemen and some general remarks upon that countryHarris, Walter
History
A journey through the Yemen and some general remarks upon that country
Harris, Walter
Yemen (Republic) -- Description and travel
The first cave-tomb which I visited consisted of a circular chamber with
a domed roof; the room measured some twelve feet in diameter, and the
highest point of the roof was five feet eight inches from the floor.
To the left of the entrance was an alcove three feet deep, three high,
and four in length. The door was three feet wide and over five feet in
height, but the walls were lower in the chamber.
[Illustration: _Ground plan of Tomb III._]
A little higher up the side of the precipice we were able to gain
entrance to a second cave, which I call Cave II. This excavation formed
two oval chambers, partly divided from one another by a buttress running
out from the solid rock. On both sides of this partition, and on the main
walls facing it, were ledges cut in the rock three feet above the ground;
in the dust of one of which I found a few bones and an engraved bead.
[Illustration: _Interior of Tomb III., Hait Hirran._]
Cave No. III. was perhaps the most important I visited, and showed signs
of more careful excavation than any of the others. A doorway led one
into a circular chamber, off which to right and left two small rooms
opened out. This circular entrance-hall led, opposite the door, into a
still larger chamber, into which in turn opened two alcoves and a room,
all of them four-sided. On the left and immediately in front the doors
were raised above the ground and nearly square, the floor of the alcoves
being level with the lower part of the openings. On the right, however,
was a chamber level with the floor, entered through an archway. The two
alcoves showed evident signs of having at one time been closed up, for in
the lintels of rock were visible holes which may either have held a door
or been used for joists to strengthen any masonry which may have been
arranged to fill up the opening.
[Illustration: _Entrance to Tomb IV., Hait Hirran._]
Cave IV., again, to the south of the others, presented quite a new
feature, the face of the precipice being cut to form a large square
chamber, in the back wall of which a doorway opened into the tomb. Below
this window, a foot or two above the ground, ran a series of five holes
drilled a short way into the rock, and which seems at some time to have
held the supports of a platform or seat. Apparently the whole outer
chamber was lined with plaster, and may have been once separated from the
face of the precipice by masonry. The window or aperture opening into the
tomb was situated three feet from the ground, and was two and a half feet
in height and two feet three inches in breadth. The interior consisted of
an alcove six feet in length, two feet wide, and three in height. Here,
as in Cave No. III., I found bones amongst the accumulation of dust, but
nothing else.
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