jewellery was placed on the mummies, a profusion of vases of hard and valuable stones from the royal table service stood about the body, the store-rooms were filled with great jars of wine, perfumed ointments, and other supplies, and tablets of ivory and of ebony were engraved with a record of the yearly annals of the reigns. The seals of various officials, of which over 200 varieties have been found, give an insight into the public arrangements. A cemetery for private persons was put into use during the First Dynasty, with some pit-tombs in the town. It was extensive in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties and contained many rich tombs. A large number of fine tombs were made in the Eighteenth to Twentieth Dynasties, and members of later dynasties continued to bury their dead here until the Roman period. Many hundreds of funeral steles were removed by Auguste Mariette's workmen, without any details of the burials being noted. Later excavations have been recorded by Edward R. Ayrton, Abydos, iii.; Maclver, El Amrah and Abydos; and Garstang, El Arabah. "Forts" Some of the tomb structures, referred to as "forts" by modern researchers, lay behind the town. Known as Shunet ez Zebib, it is about over all, and one still stands high. It was built by Khasekhemwy, the last pharaoh of the Second Dynasty. Another structure nearly as large adjoined it, and probably is older than that of Khasekhemwy. A third "fort" of a squarer form is now occupied by a convent of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria; its age cannot be ascertained. Kom El Sultan The area now known as Kom El Sultan is a big mudbrick structure, the purpose of which is not clear and thought to have been at the original settlement area, dated to the Early Dynastic Period. The structure includes the early temple of Osiris. See also List of ancient Egyptian towns and cities S 9 (Abydos) S 10 (Abydos) Mahat chapel of Mentuhotep II Notes References Mariette, Auguste, Abydos, ii. and iii. William Flinders Petrie, Abydos, i. and ii. William Flinders Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. and ii. External links Encyclopædia Britannica Online, "Abydos" search: EncBrit-Abydos, importance of Abydos The Mortuary Temple of Seti I at Abydos University of Pennsylvania Museum excavations at Abydos Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC Populated places disestablished in the 4th century BC Cities in ancient Egypt Populated places