DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:Myśliwiec, Karol: Saqqara: excavations 1996
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41241#0109
shaft (No. I) is 1.10 m deep and the northern one (No. II) 1.60 m,
measured from the upper edge of the rocky platform on which the
original enclosure was built. Both shafts were roofed over with
mud bricks, but the roof over shaft I consists, surprisingly, of just
one layer of bricks. Since this shaft was found filled with irregular
stones (mostly yellowish slate), it seems that this roof was a false
one, just to cover the fill. Whether the shaft was meant as
protection, camouflage or an impediment on the way inside the
tomb, or simply as a decent store of stone waste, remains an open
question.
Speaking against its provisional character is the structure of
the plinth upon which this simple roof rested. The filling consists
of three layers of quite regular oblong stones, set in a recess hewn
in the edge of the rock platform. One should note a dark coating of
clay on the rocky surface of the shaft's western wall, the same kind
as that which covers the rocky bottom of both shafts.
The shaft II roof structure is much more sophisticated
(Phot. 2). It consists of many layers of bricks, the inner one
forming what is most probably a "corbelled roof'4 (suggested by
the recessed position of subsequent bricks in a reasonably well
preserved place), which seems to have supported an oblique layer
of bricks, covered with a thick coat of dark mud (2-5 cm), remains
of which are still visible in its original position in the northern side
of the excavation. On top of this was a mass of bricks resting on
a broad offset, i.e. a stratum of bricks lying immediately on the
rock platform. The lower part of the roofs outer surface, covered
with a thin coating of dark clay, is partly preserved on the western
side of the pit. There are three large bricks (31x11x8 cm)
lying one upon the other, immediately on the rock bottom of
shaft II, at the
4 Cf. N. Swelim, A reason for the corbelled roof in Dynasty III and IV
Pyramids, The Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities,
XIV, pp. 6-12.
107
measured from the upper edge of the rocky platform on which the
original enclosure was built. Both shafts were roofed over with
mud bricks, but the roof over shaft I consists, surprisingly, of just
one layer of bricks. Since this shaft was found filled with irregular
stones (mostly yellowish slate), it seems that this roof was a false
one, just to cover the fill. Whether the shaft was meant as
protection, camouflage or an impediment on the way inside the
tomb, or simply as a decent store of stone waste, remains an open
question.
Speaking against its provisional character is the structure of
the plinth upon which this simple roof rested. The filling consists
of three layers of quite regular oblong stones, set in a recess hewn
in the edge of the rock platform. One should note a dark coating of
clay on the rocky surface of the shaft's western wall, the same kind
as that which covers the rocky bottom of both shafts.
The shaft II roof structure is much more sophisticated
(Phot. 2). It consists of many layers of bricks, the inner one
forming what is most probably a "corbelled roof'4 (suggested by
the recessed position of subsequent bricks in a reasonably well
preserved place), which seems to have supported an oblique layer
of bricks, covered with a thick coat of dark mud (2-5 cm), remains
of which are still visible in its original position in the northern side
of the excavation. On top of this was a mass of bricks resting on
a broad offset, i.e. a stratum of bricks lying immediately on the
rock platform. The lower part of the roofs outer surface, covered
with a thin coating of dark clay, is partly preserved on the western
side of the pit. There are three large bricks (31x11x8 cm)
lying one upon the other, immediately on the rock bottom of
shaft II, at the
4 Cf. N. Swelim, A reason for the corbelled roof in Dynasty III and IV
Pyramids, The Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities,
XIV, pp. 6-12.
107