Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

WEST SAQQARA

EGYPT

SAQQARA 2002: INSCRIPTIONS

Kamil Omar Kuraszkiewicz

Fragments of jamb S/01/20, completing
the biographical text found on it and
reported on last year, were discovered in

the 2002 campaign, as was a group of
inscriptions relating to an official named
Ikhi.

JAMB S/01/20 WITH AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL INSCRIPTION

Clearing of the area between Shaft 51 and
the enclosure wall of the Netjerykhet
complex1) has identified the limits of
a chapel (no. 10) situated to the east of
Shaft 51 and belonging to this tomb.
Found in the removed debris were several
further limestone fragments of jamb
S/01/20 discovered in 2001.1 2) 3 They must
have been literally thrust into the ground
by the falling blocks that crushed the
jamb.
These new fragments completed the
frontal and lateral sides of the jamb (Fig. 1
a,b\ cf. PAM XIII, Reports 2001 (2002),
Fig. 1 on page 148). The biographical
inscription had been carved into the front
of the jamb, while the lateral side had
previously seemed to be void of any
decoration. Conservation brought out
traces of a relief on the badly weathered
stone, while another newly discovered piece
bore fairly well-preserved fragments of the
decoration on both the front and lateral
faces. Consequently, a more complete

interpretation of the object became
possible.
The jamb was evidently the southern
(left) side of a niche containing the false
door and together with the other jamb it
must have supported a lintel. This year's
campaign also brought to light an
anepigraphic offering table belonging to
this cult place. Considering the evidence,
one can estimate the width of the false door
at c. 70 cm and the height at c. 110 cm.
The frontal face of the jamb leans some
5 degrees to the back. Both jambs were
probably decorated with inscriptions on
the front and representations of offering
bearers on the lateral sides, i.e., inside the
niche, thus resembling other known
objects of this kind (Fig. 2).o) To judge by
the size and form of the block — the top
surface has been preserved — it is fairly safe
to assume that it was a whole unto itself,
implying that the carvings preserved on
the jamb represent the entire decoration of
this wall of the niche.

1) Cf. K. Mysliwiec, PAM XIII, Reports 2001 (2002), 135-142, and his report in the present volume.
2) Cf. K. Kuraszkiewicz, “An Old Kingdom Autobiography from Saqqara”, PAM XIII, op. cit., 147-150.
3) Cf. e.g. L. Borchardt, Denkmaler des Alten Reiches II (Catalogue general des Antiquites egyptiennes) (Le Caire 1964),
nos. 1548, 1549.

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