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The necropoles investigated by M. de Morgan and his assistants extended from Kawâmil in the north, about twenty miles north of Abydos, to Edfu in the south. The chief cemeteries between these two points were those of Bât Allam, Saghel el-Baglieh, el-'Amra, Nakâda, Tûkh, and Gebelên. All the burials were of simple type, analogous to those of the Neolithic races in the rest of the world.
The imposing lion-headed promontory of el-'Amra stands out into the plain on the west bank of the Nile about five miles south of Abydos. At the foot of this hill M. de Morgan found a very extensive prehistoric necropolis, which he examined, but did not excavate to any great extent, and the work of thoroughly excavating it was performed by Messrs.
The cemetery of Nag'ed-Dêr is of the usual prehistoric type, with its multitudes of small oval graves, excavated just a little way below the surface. Graves of this kind are the most primitive of all. Those at el-'Amra are usually more developed, often, as has been noted, rising to the height of regular brick tombs. They are evidently later, nearer to the time of the Ist Dynasty.
To describe M. de Morgan's discovery as a "happy guess," as has been done, is therefore beside the mark. * El-Kab. Egyptian Research Account, 1897, p. 11. Diospolis Parva. Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901, p. 2. * Recherches: Age de la Pierre, p. xiii. Another most important British excavation was that carried on by Messrs. Randall-Maclver and Wilkin at el-'Amra.
One of the more remarkable observations made at el-'Amra was the progressive development of the tombs from the simplest pot-burial to a small brick chamber, the embryo of the brick tombs of the Ist Dynasty.
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