DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4862#0035
Minor places
of burial
The main
sepulchre
The form of
the sarcoph-
agus
THE TOMB AND THE SITE
and it was through this narrow hole that I attempted to empty it, until
the evident magnitude of the task made it necessary to open the true
entrance in the courtyard. A fourth place of burial is found in front
of the shrine (No. III). Its chamber (No. 6) lies to the true east a few
feet down. It is low and has a raised bench along one side. At the west
end it broke into the chamber of the early burial shaft (No. I), and from
the lowest filling of that I was able to recover some detached fragments
of the shrine, though I could not clear it completely (Plate LXXVII, 2).
Thieves (?) possessing a remarkably good sense of direction, had also
quarried through some yards of rock and had established a connection
with the back of the late tomb. It must have been by this circuitous
route that an entire vaulting block of the shrine found its way to the
bottom of the great well of that tomb (No. XIII).1
The main burial-place behind and deep below the level of the shrine
was reached by a very circuitous route which afforded serious obstacles to
attack. The entrance is at the extreme north end of the colonnade out-
side, where a pit (No. VI) with an emplacement for heavy roofing-slabs
descends vertically three meters or so. From its west corner a low and
roughly cut gallery leads off in a diagonal direction (due west) in order to
avoid the old shafts, and presently descends by a flight of very rude and
steep steps into a chamber (No. 2), which I found filled almost to the roof
with heavy masses of rock.2 But this was not the goal; another stairway
of equally rude sort descended in the middle of the floor. At the foot we
reached a short passage, and then a rough room (No. 1), in one side of
which a gaping hole witnessed to the success of the robbers in penetrating
to the final resting-place. Fragments of very large jars showed that
thirst had been well provided against by the original or a later occupant.
Puyemre showed his individuality to the last, and in devising a mode
of burial went back, as was his wont, to ancient models, one of which, if
'Vol. II, p. 3i. The vaulting was formed of long, narrow blocks, with the necessary curve cut at one
side, like those in the passage of Mentuhotep's temple. A row of these placed on their ends on the walls
(on which the spring of the vaulting had already been provided), and meeting similar ribs at the crown of
the vault, formed the roof. The real roof being firm rock, the stones had no weight to support.
2 At the top of the stairs is a cavern (No. 3) with walls and floor of jagged rock to which, none the
less, some sort of a door was fitted, as a jamb of stone indicates. Consult Pis. LXXIII, LXXVI.
12
of burial
The main
sepulchre
The form of
the sarcoph-
agus
THE TOMB AND THE SITE
and it was through this narrow hole that I attempted to empty it, until
the evident magnitude of the task made it necessary to open the true
entrance in the courtyard. A fourth place of burial is found in front
of the shrine (No. III). Its chamber (No. 6) lies to the true east a few
feet down. It is low and has a raised bench along one side. At the west
end it broke into the chamber of the early burial shaft (No. I), and from
the lowest filling of that I was able to recover some detached fragments
of the shrine, though I could not clear it completely (Plate LXXVII, 2).
Thieves (?) possessing a remarkably good sense of direction, had also
quarried through some yards of rock and had established a connection
with the back of the late tomb. It must have been by this circuitous
route that an entire vaulting block of the shrine found its way to the
bottom of the great well of that tomb (No. XIII).1
The main burial-place behind and deep below the level of the shrine
was reached by a very circuitous route which afforded serious obstacles to
attack. The entrance is at the extreme north end of the colonnade out-
side, where a pit (No. VI) with an emplacement for heavy roofing-slabs
descends vertically three meters or so. From its west corner a low and
roughly cut gallery leads off in a diagonal direction (due west) in order to
avoid the old shafts, and presently descends by a flight of very rude and
steep steps into a chamber (No. 2), which I found filled almost to the roof
with heavy masses of rock.2 But this was not the goal; another stairway
of equally rude sort descended in the middle of the floor. At the foot we
reached a short passage, and then a rough room (No. 1), in one side of
which a gaping hole witnessed to the success of the robbers in penetrating
to the final resting-place. Fragments of very large jars showed that
thirst had been well provided against by the original or a later occupant.
Puyemre showed his individuality to the last, and in devising a mode
of burial went back, as was his wont, to ancient models, one of which, if
'Vol. II, p. 3i. The vaulting was formed of long, narrow blocks, with the necessary curve cut at one
side, like those in the passage of Mentuhotep's temple. A row of these placed on their ends on the walls
(on which the spring of the vaulting had already been provided), and meeting similar ribs at the crown of
the vault, formed the roof. The real roof being firm rock, the stones had no weight to support.
2 At the top of the stairs is a cavern (No. 3) with walls and floor of jagged rock to which, none the
less, some sort of a door was fitted, as a jamb of stone indicates. Consult Pis. LXXIII, LXXVI.
12