Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (17.2005(2007))

SAQQARA

EGYPT

struction of the coffin are reminiscent of
Burial 393 found earlier in square 2104, and
connected with Shaft 4l.5 The shalt and
the chamber in this case as well constituted
a tomb en four, but the arrangement was
different. The long side of the burial chamber
lined the east side of the shaft and the corpse,
like the coffin, was oriented N-S with the
head to the north and facing east. In burial
393, the burial chamber extended southward
from the south side of the shalt and the body
faced east. In spite of structural similarities,
the coffin of Burial 453 was of less solid
constmction that that of Burial 393.
A characteristic feature of the late burials
found in the Upper Necropolis in the three
squares in question is the predominance of
simple mummies or skeletons deposited in
anthropoid cavities hewn in the rock, usually
oriented E-W, with heads to the west.6 Each
of these cavities was covered with a sequence
of irregular slabs of local limestone. However,
the disturbed state of some burials (the
mummy's upper part is frequently dis-
articulated or the bones of a skeleton are
displaced) suggest that these "lids" were
merely parts of the original, larger stone
accumulations which had been destroyed
by tomb robbers.
Particularly interesting and diagnostic for
the intensity of burial activity in this region
is the stratigraphy of two superimposed
burials in square 1903 {Fig. 3}. The lower
one, Burial 455, was found inside an oblong
niche hewn in the north wall of a large shaft
(no. 84), a broad entrance to which was
covered by a row of large, vertically placed

blocks of limestone. The upper burial (no.
454, = BP 5 in Fig. 1) made on the surface
of the rock took on the typical form of a rock-
hewn anthropoid cavity. The corpse found
inside it is a mummy with hands crossed on
the chest in Osiris-like fashion, but there
are hardly any bandages wrapping the
desiccated body [Fig. 41-


Fig. 4- Burial 454 in anthropoid pit
(Photo J. Dqbrowski)

5 K. Mysliwiec, "Saqqara 2004: Excavations", PAM XVI, Reports 2004 (2005), 153-155, Figs 7-8; id., "Old Kingdom
coffins made of Cyperus Papyrus", Studies in Honor ol Prof. M. Verner (Prague, in print).
6 Cf. the only grave of this type discovered in the area of our excavations during previous campaigns: K. Mysliwiec,
T. Herbich, with a contribution by A. Niwinski, "Polish research at Saqqara in 1987", EtTrav XVII (1995), 188-195;
K. Mysliwiec, New faces of Saqqara: Recent discoveries in West Sakkara (Tuchow 1999), Pis 8-10; id., "The Ptolemaic
Period Cemetery in West Saqqara", in: T.A. Bacs, ed., A Tribute to Excellence. Studies offered in honor of Ern Gaal,
Ulrich Luft, Laslo Torok, Studio. Aegyptiaca XVII (Eotvos Lorand University: Budapest 2002), 351.

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