DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Myśliwiec, Karol: West Saqqara: Saqqara 2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0154
WEST SAQQARA
EGYPT
pavement constituted by several layers of
roughly worked, irregular, rather flat blocks
of local limestone, leveling the somewhat
inclined surface of the rock in this area
(maximal height of the 'pavement': 0.75 m).
The western edge of this 'pavement' lines
up with a vertical rock-hewn wall, which
runs parallel to a similar wall hewn west of
it, at a distance of 1.80 m, forming a cor-
ridor that runs N-S, descending steeply to
Fig. 5. Localization of trial pits testing the sout-
hern extension of the mud-brick platform
the south, under the northern part of the
platform. This archaic structure must have
been considered very old in the late Old
Kingdom (probably late Sixth Dynasty),
when mud-brick shafts were built inside
the 'corridor', partly using its rock-hewn
walls (e.g. Shaft 70).
The dismantling of the platform6 ena-
bled an examination of potsherds found in
the clay of the bricks. Some Middle King-
dom fragments proved to be of latest date,
providing a dating terminus post quern for
the platform.
New data concerning the southern ex-
tension of the platform was obtained from
five small trial pits (2 by 2 m), located in
squares 2303, 2403 and 2503 [Fig.. 5]. The
platform continues southward at the same
level, c. 0.50-1.00 m below the present sur-
face, forcing us to conclude that it is longer
in this direction than the presently known
49 m. No pottery of diagnostic value was
found in the layer of sand, either on or be-
low the platform, and there are literally no
remains of any human activities on its sur-
face, not even traces of ritual fireplaces,
which is the case of the chapels and open
courts in front of the mastabas.7 Therefore,
it seems plausible to think that this plat-
form was not ritual in nature. It may have
had a protective function.
A new feature of the late Old Kingdom
necropolis excavated this season is the oc-
currence of several skeletal burials in rec-
tangular reed coffins, placed in funerary
chambers at the bottom of rock-hewn shafts.
The best preserved one (Shalt 41, burial
no. 393) was found in a longitudinal cham-
ber (extending N-S), the short northern
side of which adjoins a shaft [Figs. 6-8].
This burial resembles the 'furnace tombs'
6 For the platform, cf. K. Mysliwiec, "West Saqqara Excavations, 2001", PAM XIII, op. cit., 135-142. .
7 Merefnebef, 62-63, Pis. XXVg, XXVIb,c, CXIIId.
152
EGYPT
pavement constituted by several layers of
roughly worked, irregular, rather flat blocks
of local limestone, leveling the somewhat
inclined surface of the rock in this area
(maximal height of the 'pavement': 0.75 m).
The western edge of this 'pavement' lines
up with a vertical rock-hewn wall, which
runs parallel to a similar wall hewn west of
it, at a distance of 1.80 m, forming a cor-
ridor that runs N-S, descending steeply to
Fig. 5. Localization of trial pits testing the sout-
hern extension of the mud-brick platform
the south, under the northern part of the
platform. This archaic structure must have
been considered very old in the late Old
Kingdom (probably late Sixth Dynasty),
when mud-brick shafts were built inside
the 'corridor', partly using its rock-hewn
walls (e.g. Shaft 70).
The dismantling of the platform6 ena-
bled an examination of potsherds found in
the clay of the bricks. Some Middle King-
dom fragments proved to be of latest date,
providing a dating terminus post quern for
the platform.
New data concerning the southern ex-
tension of the platform was obtained from
five small trial pits (2 by 2 m), located in
squares 2303, 2403 and 2503 [Fig.. 5]. The
platform continues southward at the same
level, c. 0.50-1.00 m below the present sur-
face, forcing us to conclude that it is longer
in this direction than the presently known
49 m. No pottery of diagnostic value was
found in the layer of sand, either on or be-
low the platform, and there are literally no
remains of any human activities on its sur-
face, not even traces of ritual fireplaces,
which is the case of the chapels and open
courts in front of the mastabas.7 Therefore,
it seems plausible to think that this plat-
form was not ritual in nature. It may have
had a protective function.
A new feature of the late Old Kingdom
necropolis excavated this season is the oc-
currence of several skeletal burials in rec-
tangular reed coffins, placed in funerary
chambers at the bottom of rock-hewn shafts.
The best preserved one (Shalt 41, burial
no. 393) was found in a longitudinal cham-
ber (extending N-S), the short northern
side of which adjoins a shaft [Figs. 6-8].
This burial resembles the 'furnace tombs'
6 For the platform, cf. K. Mysliwiec, "West Saqqara Excavations, 2001", PAM XIII, op. cit., 135-142. .
7 Merefnebef, 62-63, Pis. XXVg, XXVIb,c, CXIIId.
152