Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

SAQQARA

EGYPT

The southern shaft (no. 98) measures
1.41 by 1.43 m at the mouth and is 4.09 m
deep. It has an L-shaped burial chamber on
its eastern side, at a depth of 1.70 m. Inside
the chamber, a displaced burial, B.541, and
remains of a wooden figure were found.
Below the burial chamber there is a niche
hewn in the east wall of the shaft; it turned
out to be empty.
The northern shaft (no. 97) measures
1.98 by 1.92 m at the mouth. It was
explored to a depth of 10.90 m. Remains of
two wooden figures were found in the fill
(at a depth of 3.40 m) as well as an
anepigraphic offering table (at 6.20 m). Two
successive rock “floors” were identified
inside the shaft, the first one at 7.72 m
below the surface and the second at 8.40 m.
Both have the form of horizontal shelves
with irregular openings leading to the
deeper parts of the shaft. The burial
chamber was not reached this season.
The eight shafts explored in squares
1903-1904 vary in size, structure and
contents. All of them were found robbed,
most probably at the end of the Old
Kingdom, but some still preserve remains of
the original funerary equipment. The largest
of these shafts, no. 73 (square 1903),
measures 1.77 by 1.76 m at its mouth, and is
9.40 m deep [Fig. 7\ The burial chamber,

located on the west side and measuring 3.05
m (N-S) by 1.65 m (E-W), 1.08 m high, is
accessible through an irregular hole in its
quasi-roof which is a false bottom in the
shaft; this opening was left in the rock directly
above the chamber level. A rectangular
burial pit is hewn in the west part of the floor
of the chamber. The pit measures 2.16 m
(N-S) by 0.64 m (E-W) and is 0.74 m deep.
Inside the burial pit and in the fill of the
chamber there were the remains of
a rectangular wooden coffin fitting the
dimensions of the pit. The outer face of the
coffin bears decoration in sunk relief,
including fragments of an offering-list [cf.
below, 189-192 and Figs 2-6]. Some
dispersed bones from the burial (B.521) were
found in the chamber, while two secondary
burials (B.512 and B.513) were placed in the
uppermost part of the north wall of the shaft.
The burial chambers of the other shafts
contained, beside fragments of skeletons,
such objects as: fragmentary wooden
planks, probably from coffins (B.537, shaft
79, and shaft 92, without burial); a wooden
headrest (B.539, shaft 87). An intact coffin
made of reed, containing a skeleton and
a simple wooden staff, was found in situ, in
a small niche located at the bottom of
a shallow, 2.40 m deep shaft (no. 81), in its
west wall [Fig. 5].

STUDIES

Geological and ceramological studies (see
below, contributions by J. Trzcihski,
K. Kuraszkiewicz and F. Welc and by T.I.
Rzeuska and F. Welc), as well as conservation
of the structures and objects discovered in
this and previous campaigns (see below,
report by Z. Godziejewski) supplemented

the activities of the mission in this campaign.
Selected objects were transferred to the
Cairo Museum for the exhibition Seventy
Years of Polish Archaeology in Egypt
(Rzeuska 2007), where they underwent
additional conservation treatment before
being put on display.

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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007