Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (12.2000(2001))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

have belonged to the same extensive
structure of Late Period/Ptolemaic date A
A well preserved section of the
pyramid's western enclosure wall (Fig. 2)
has been unearthed in a layer of sand,
87.83 m away from the edge of the
pyramid (i.e., from the middle of its
western wall to the western edge of the
discovered structure) and 176.1 m south of
a section of the same wall preserved further
to the north. The fragment, 3 m long
(N-S) and 1.3 m thick, is a rectangular
“bastion” having two shallow recesses in
the frontal (western) face, and one recess in
each lateral face. Since its bottom had not
been reached at a depth of 0.65 m, the
structure was documented and backfilled
with sand to be explored systematically in
the future.
The late Old Kingdom necropolis
extending between the mastaba of Meref-
nebef and sector I, excavated in previous
campaigns, was subject to clearing work
and studies during this season. Burial
chambers in some of the earlier excavated
shafts were explored and new shafts were
discovered in connection with the clearing
work.
SHAFTS
Our present activities in the area excavated
in 1999 (sectors I/G-H) started with an
overall survey of the area and of the
following shafts: nos. 2-17, 19, 21-23, 26,
28, 31, 34. While drawing and photo
documentation was made of these shafts,
three (nos. 11, 14, 28) were explored.
Two new shafts, no. 4l (northeast of
Shaft 16) and no. 48 (east of Shaft 36), have
been identified in sectors I/G-H. The
chamber containing burial 63, unearthed in
1998, turned out to be the burial chamber

of Shaft 36, localized in 1999- Shaft 49,
with a vaulted ceiling of mudbrick, was
discovered while clearing Chapel 2.
Shafts 5, 36 and 48 were found to be
interconnected by holes in their walls;
their chronological sequence of execution
is as follows: 48, 36, 5.
CHAPELS
Funerary chapels 2, 4, 6 (built of mud
bricks) have been explored. In each case the
floor was unearthed, and in Chapel 2 also
the setting of two false doors. Chapel 4
consisted of two rooms. The low walls
bordering the northeastern entrance to
Chapel 2 have been cleared. Adjoining the
southern false door in this chapel is Shaft
49, covered with a rounded vault made of
mudbrick. It was concealed when the
eastern wall of the mastaba comprising
Shafts 2 and 23 (i.e., western wall of
Chapel 2) was erected.
The mutual relation between various
structures found in sectors I/G-H,
particularly in respect to their function and
chronology (Harris matrix), has been
established. The following units have been
identified:
1) Funerary complex of Meref-nebef (rock
chapel, court I, court II, upper -
western court, brick mastaba with
recesses, eastern chapel (=Chapel 1),
shaft with burial chamber (=Shaft 1);
2) Chapel 9 with Shafts 14 and 19;
3) Chapel 2, with Shafts 2 and 23
(possibly also 49, if it was originally a
“cult shaft” related to Shaft 2);
4) Chapel 3, with Shafts 31 and 34
(mastaba of Peh-en-Ptah = Pehi);
5) Shafts 26 and 28 (which had destroyed
the northern wall of the mastaba of
Pehi);

4) For the platform, cf. K. Mysliwiec, PAM XI, op. cit., 95, figs. 3, 5.

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