DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Myśliwiec, Karol: West Saqqara: Saqqara 2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0159
WEST SAQQARA
EGYPT
of which with the tomb owner's name, Ny-
Pepy, incised on their surface.
During the clearing of the area subject
to research in this campaign, the following
shafts were discovered, explored and docu-
mented: 60, 62, 66, 69, 70.
Shaft 69, situated in square 2002, is
noteworthy. It measures 1.43 x 1.48 m at
the mouth and is 5.66 m deep. In the west
wall, there is a small niche hewn 3-41 m
above the floor. At the bottom, there is
a burial chamber on the west side, oriented
N-S, measuring 2.42 m (N-S) by 1.12 m
(E-W) and 1.08 m high. In the burial cham-
ber, the skeleton of a young woman, about
24 years of age, was found (burial no. 397)
together with fragments of the plaster
coating once covering the body {Fig. 10 a,b}.
Tomb robbers had obviously disturbed the
body; upon discovery the skeleton was lying
with head to the south and facing down,
while the remains of the plaster mask were
found in the northern part of the burial
chamber. A hole, witness to a trepanation
that probably failed to help the patient,
can be seen on the back part of the skull.
The Upper Necropolis, predominantly
corresponding to the second half of the first
millennium BC, was poorly represented in
this campaign. Nevertheless, a perfectly pre-
served mummy (burial no. 406), possibly
from the Ptolemaic period, was found above
Shaft 21, in an unusual, doubtless secon-
dary position [Fig. 11}. It was seated in the
southwestern corner of the shaft, whose
mud brick-built upper part had been de-
stroyed in this place. In this secondary po-
sition, it was facing east. The mummy must
have slipped from its original, horizontal
position and fallen into a hole left between
destroyed Old Kingdom structures. This
displacement stripped the cartonnage from
the mummy, leaving it squashed under the
mummy's feet. In spite of its deformation,
the polychromy, including the predomi-
nantly blue background, is well preserved.
So is the polychrome painting on the two
large size gesso panels decorating the torso
Fig. 10. The skull of a young woman with a trepanation hole (left), and view with part of the
gypsum coating (Photo M. Jawornicki)
157
EGYPT
of which with the tomb owner's name, Ny-
Pepy, incised on their surface.
During the clearing of the area subject
to research in this campaign, the following
shafts were discovered, explored and docu-
mented: 60, 62, 66, 69, 70.
Shaft 69, situated in square 2002, is
noteworthy. It measures 1.43 x 1.48 m at
the mouth and is 5.66 m deep. In the west
wall, there is a small niche hewn 3-41 m
above the floor. At the bottom, there is
a burial chamber on the west side, oriented
N-S, measuring 2.42 m (N-S) by 1.12 m
(E-W) and 1.08 m high. In the burial cham-
ber, the skeleton of a young woman, about
24 years of age, was found (burial no. 397)
together with fragments of the plaster
coating once covering the body {Fig. 10 a,b}.
Tomb robbers had obviously disturbed the
body; upon discovery the skeleton was lying
with head to the south and facing down,
while the remains of the plaster mask were
found in the northern part of the burial
chamber. A hole, witness to a trepanation
that probably failed to help the patient,
can be seen on the back part of the skull.
The Upper Necropolis, predominantly
corresponding to the second half of the first
millennium BC, was poorly represented in
this campaign. Nevertheless, a perfectly pre-
served mummy (burial no. 406), possibly
from the Ptolemaic period, was found above
Shaft 21, in an unusual, doubtless secon-
dary position [Fig. 11}. It was seated in the
southwestern corner of the shaft, whose
mud brick-built upper part had been de-
stroyed in this place. In this secondary po-
sition, it was facing east. The mummy must
have slipped from its original, horizontal
position and fallen into a hole left between
destroyed Old Kingdom structures. This
displacement stripped the cartonnage from
the mummy, leaving it squashed under the
mummy's feet. In spite of its deformation,
the polychromy, including the predomi-
nantly blue background, is well preserved.
So is the polychrome painting on the two
large size gesso panels decorating the torso
Fig. 10. The skull of a young woman with a trepanation hole (left), and view with part of the
gypsum coating (Photo M. Jawornicki)
157