Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

SAQQARA

EGYPT

(SQ 04-1323) [Fig. 4}- The fill of the
passage should be interpreted most likely
as offering deposit or deposits thrown out
of the burial shafts by tomb robbers. The
southern part of the fill could originate from
an early Sixth Dynasty context in view of
the presence of beer jars characteristic of the
first phase in the operation of the necro-
polis (e.g. tombs of Merefnebef and Ny-
ankh-Nefertum). As for the northern part,
it must have come from a burial dated to
the terminal Sixth Dynasty, based on the
beer-jars’ identification. Further explorations
should indicate a potential source for this
material. At this point, however, it is im-
portant to note that since the sloping pas-
sage was filled with these secondary de-
posits and not by sand, the structure cover-


Fig. 4■ Late Old Kingdom, beer jar (type 4), fil-
led with ash and plugged with inner stop-
per from the top. Not to scale (Drawing
T.I. Rzeuska, inking M. Orzechowska)

ed later with a mud-brick platform must
have been still open at this date.
MASTABA OF NY-PEPY
The exploration of the mastaba of Ny-Pepy
(burial complex no. 5) was completed this
year. Burial shaft 32 from the central part
of the mastaba did not contain any offering
deposit consisting of pottery. A few sherds
of beer jars, chiefly cylindrical forms with
characteristic red-slipped exterior, were dis-
covered on the level of the burial chamber
and inside it (type 3 in the local typology).
Sherds of other types of pottery were few
[Fig. 5}. South of Ny-Pepy's funerary com-
plex, in the neighborhood of shafts 20, 24
and 29, a deposit of vessels and animal
bones was discovered (Deposit 2/2004). It


dated to the late Old Kingdom. Not to
scale (Drawing T.I. Rzeuska, inking
M. Orzechowska)

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