DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4222#0018
EOYAL TOMBS OF THE 1st DYNASTY
best tablet of Aha—Mena is probably his tomb ;
for, as we have noticed, the tomb with his vases
at Naqada is more probably that of his queen
Neit-hotep.
The length of the tomb is about 26 feet, and
the breadth of it 17 feet; with a batter of the
walls like that of the other tombs.
It appears to have had five posts along each
side, like the other tombs.
As both of the tombs B 17 and 18, to the
north of this, contained objects of Mena, it is
probable that they were tombs of his family.
But the great cemetery of the domestics of
this age is the triple row of tombs to the east
of the Royal tombs; in all the 34 tombs
here no name was found beside that of Aha on
the jar searings; and the two tombs B 6, 14,
seem to be probably of the same age. In B 14
were only objects of Aha, and three of them
with Bener-ab, probably the name of a wife or
daughter of Mena, which is not found in any
other tomb. In B 6 was a vase of Narmer, pro-
bably turned over from his tomb B 10, as B 6
is clearly of the same group as B 14, the tomb
of Bener-ab.
11. The Tomb of King Zer—Ta (pis. lx., lxi.),
has an important secondary history as the site
of the shrine of Osiris; established in the
XVIIIth Dynasty (for none of the pottery
offered there is earlier than that of Amenhotep
III.), and visited with offerings from that time
until the XXVIth Dynasty, when additional
sculptures were placed here. Afterwards it was
especially despoiled by the Copts in erasing the
worship of Osiris. But of this later history the
main remains were collected already by Amcli-
neau, and it is the early state of the place as
the tomb of King Zer that we have to study
here.
The tomb. chamber has been built of Avood ;
and the brick cells around it were built sub-
sequently against the wooden chamber, as
their rough unplastered ends show (pi. lvi.
3, 4); moreover the cast of the grain of the
wood can be seen on the mud mortar adhering
to the bricks. The beams on which the wooden
planking of the sides rested were 9x5 inches ;
of the 9 inches the wall end covered 3, and the
mud mortar stood out 2 inches more, covering
thus 5 inches, and leaving 4 inches wide for
the footing of the planks. There are also long
shallow grooves in the floor, a Avide one (10
inches across) near the Avest wall, 3 narroAv ones
(2 inches across) parallel to that and a short
cross groove : all probably the places of beams
which supported the wooden chamber. Besides
these there was, till four years ago, a great mass
of carbonized Avood along the north side of the
floor, 331 X 36 inches, or 28 X 3 feet; in
which were copper Avire and nails. This Avas
probably part of the flooring of the tomb, but it
has entirely been destroyed after M. Ame-
lineau uncovered it.
The floor of the tomb, beneath the Avood-
work, Avas covered Avith a layer of bricks 3
inches thick, which lay on 5 inches of clean
sand. But all the middle of the tomb had been
cleared to the native marl for building the
Osiris shrine, of which some fragments of sculp-
ture in hard limestone are uoav all that remain.
The size over all of the Avooden chamber must
have been about 28 feet square; the whole
space including the cells around being about 43
feet X 38 feet. The best preserved parts of the
Avail are 9 feet high, and it is 8-^ feet thick.
A strange feature here is that of the red
recesses, such as I have described last year in
the tomb of Zet. The large ones are on the
west Avail, and in the second cell on the north
wall. Beside these, there are very shalloAv ones
on each side of each of the cell walls on the
north and south, except the eastern narrow cell
on the north, and the tAvo most eastern ones on
the south; there is also one niche in a cell on
the east. No meaning can yet be assigned to
these, except as spirit-entrances to the cells of
offerings, like the false doors in tombs of the Old
Kingdom.
times
best tablet of Aha—Mena is probably his tomb ;
for, as we have noticed, the tomb with his vases
at Naqada is more probably that of his queen
Neit-hotep.
The length of the tomb is about 26 feet, and
the breadth of it 17 feet; with a batter of the
walls like that of the other tombs.
It appears to have had five posts along each
side, like the other tombs.
As both of the tombs B 17 and 18, to the
north of this, contained objects of Mena, it is
probable that they were tombs of his family.
But the great cemetery of the domestics of
this age is the triple row of tombs to the east
of the Royal tombs; in all the 34 tombs
here no name was found beside that of Aha on
the jar searings; and the two tombs B 6, 14,
seem to be probably of the same age. In B 14
were only objects of Aha, and three of them
with Bener-ab, probably the name of a wife or
daughter of Mena, which is not found in any
other tomb. In B 6 was a vase of Narmer, pro-
bably turned over from his tomb B 10, as B 6
is clearly of the same group as B 14, the tomb
of Bener-ab.
11. The Tomb of King Zer—Ta (pis. lx., lxi.),
has an important secondary history as the site
of the shrine of Osiris; established in the
XVIIIth Dynasty (for none of the pottery
offered there is earlier than that of Amenhotep
III.), and visited with offerings from that time
until the XXVIth Dynasty, when additional
sculptures were placed here. Afterwards it was
especially despoiled by the Copts in erasing the
worship of Osiris. But of this later history the
main remains were collected already by Amcli-
neau, and it is the early state of the place as
the tomb of King Zer that we have to study
here.
The tomb. chamber has been built of Avood ;
and the brick cells around it were built sub-
sequently against the wooden chamber, as
their rough unplastered ends show (pi. lvi.
3, 4); moreover the cast of the grain of the
wood can be seen on the mud mortar adhering
to the bricks. The beams on which the wooden
planking of the sides rested were 9x5 inches ;
of the 9 inches the wall end covered 3, and the
mud mortar stood out 2 inches more, covering
thus 5 inches, and leaving 4 inches wide for
the footing of the planks. There are also long
shallow grooves in the floor, a Avide one (10
inches across) near the Avest wall, 3 narroAv ones
(2 inches across) parallel to that and a short
cross groove : all probably the places of beams
which supported the wooden chamber. Besides
these there was, till four years ago, a great mass
of carbonized Avood along the north side of the
floor, 331 X 36 inches, or 28 X 3 feet; in
which were copper Avire and nails. This Avas
probably part of the flooring of the tomb, but it
has entirely been destroyed after M. Ame-
lineau uncovered it.
The floor of the tomb, beneath the Avood-
work, Avas covered Avith a layer of bricks 3
inches thick, which lay on 5 inches of clean
sand. But all the middle of the tomb had been
cleared to the native marl for building the
Osiris shrine, of which some fragments of sculp-
ture in hard limestone are uoav all that remain.
The size over all of the Avooden chamber must
have been about 28 feet square; the whole
space including the cells around being about 43
feet X 38 feet. The best preserved parts of the
Avail are 9 feet high, and it is 8-^ feet thick.
A strange feature here is that of the red
recesses, such as I have described last year in
the tomb of Zet. The large ones are on the
west Avail, and in the second cell on the north
wall. Beside these, there are very shalloAv ones
on each side of each of the cell walls on the
north and south, except the eastern narrow cell
on the north, and the tAvo most eastern ones on
the south; there is also one niche in a cell on
the east. No meaning can yet be assigned to
these, except as spirit-entrances to the cells of
offerings, like the false doors in tombs of the Old
Kingdom.
times