Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

the lower courses of the three “bastions”,
the southern and middle ones in particular.
Excessive loads have fostered disinteg-
ration processes in the stone, which must
have shown cracking and loss of surface
layers already in antiquity. Missing parts
must have been repaired with a strong
mortar composed of silt and stone detritus,
the same kind of mortar that was used to
cover the surface of the mud brick
platform. It should be noted that one of the
bricks of the platform is inserted into one
such cavity.
The space adjoining the platform on
the north has been explored down to rock
level. There was a mastaba erected directly
by the substructure of the enclosure wall.
Its main shaft, hewn in the rock, is found
at a distance of 0.63 m west of the
substructure. The space left between the
substructure and the eastern edge of the
shaft has provided a comprehensive cross-
section that is 2.10 m high, showing strata
from the rock bottom to the uppermost
walking level in front of the enclosure wall
(Fig. 9). Three phases of use are clearly
visible, marked by concentrations of dark
mud brick, and separated by layers con-
sisting of either the brownish-red desert
mixture (mentioned above) or dakka with
many fragments of local tafl. The
brownish-red substance is found directly
on the rock surface, and again above the
lowest stratum of bricks, while dakka
occurs between the middle and upper mud
brick concentrations. The middle
concentration preserves two limestone
blocks that seem to be standing in situ,
while the upper concentration contains
a flat block lying horizontally. This block
doubtless belongs to the last phase of use.
It is beside this block, east of it, that

a fragmentary limestone jamb with part of
a hieroglyphic inscription in two columns
was found.5) The style of the hieroglyphs
would point to a late phase of the Old
Kingdom.
Quantities of Old Kingdom pottery
sherds found in the filling of the shaft
(no. 51), particularly in its upper part,
would confirm this date. The shaft has the
following dimensions measured at the top
of the part hewn in the rock: 2.04 m (E-W)
by 2.07 m (N-S). Its total depth is 9-50 m
(Fig. 10). At a depth of 6.60 m, a 1-m
thick “collar” was left in the rock and only
a small square hole (c. 1.10 m bye. 1.10 m)
is hewn through the thickness in the
southwestern corner. Directly below the
“collar”, the shaft enters a burial chamber
hewn in the rock to the east of the shaft.
The chamber is 5.20 m long (N-S), 2.98 m
wide (E-W) and 1.90 m high. A meter
away from its eastern wall there is
a rectangular cavity hewn in the floor and
lined with white limestone slabs. This
“sarcophagus” is 2.45 m long (N-S),
0.94 m wide (E-W) (measured along the
outer edge) and 0.8 m deep. Slab thickness
varies from 10 to 12 cm. The “sarcophagus”
had been covered with a lid made of the
same kind of limestone as the slabs, but
only in the southern part has it been
preserved in many broken pieces. There is
no inscription on any of these elements.
South of the “sarcophagus” there is
a rectangular cavity (0.81 m (N-S) by
0.83 m (E-W); 0.90 m deep) that may
have contained the canopic equipment.
Scarce remains of human bones were found
scattered inside and outside the
“sarcophagus”. There are no premises to
suggest that the tomb was robbed any later
than in the late Old Kingdom.

5) Cf. contribution by K. O. Kuraszkiewicz in this volume.

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