DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4104#0024
TOMB AND CEMETERY OP SENUSERT III.
15
into a chamber so smashed that it is hard to
say Avhat was its original shape or size. It
appears, however, to have had a false floor,
through which one descended on to a staircase
leading to the north. This staircase is peculiar :
there is a sloping limestone passage about 3| ft.
wide, and down the centre of the flooring
shallow steps have been cut, not more than
20 inches wide, thus leaving a margin of
11 inches or so on either side. The roof does
not seem to have been very high, but the
passage has been so battered by the plunderers
in their successful attempt to rob the tomb,
that it is difficult to tell. It runs about
26 ft., and then turns sharply off to the
west. A couple of yards further a great
quartzite sandstone portcullis, similar to that
in S 10, has been dropped down, and on the
other side the passage runs on until it comes
to an abrupt end against the quartzite sand-
stone lid of the sarcophagus, lying somewhat
askew.
The lid is a large-sized block, carefully
dressed on all sides, but of the sarcophagus not
a vestige remains. Extensive digging all
around revealed nothing, and it is to be
presumed that, as it was securely hidden below
the floor level of the passage, it was made of
limestone, only the drop-lid being of the harder
stone. The plunderers would easily be able to
break up the former, and there is, of course, a
chaos of limestone fragments lying about from
the general destruction of the tomb. The
supposition is supported by the fact that the lid
is one solid rectangular block, and is not
hollowed, as in the case of the sarcophagus of
S 20, as though to fit exactly upon a lower
piece. Indeed, it is rather a covering-stone,
designed to block the passage than an actual
lid forming part of a uniform piece of work.
Near here some fragments of an inscribed
alabaster canopic jar were found, which will be
mentioned again later.
As before, a sand packing brought the surface
of the tomb to a level with that of the desert,
and the brick shaft at the entrance having; been
also filled, a brick construction was laid out on
the top. Along the front of the tomb a heavy
wall Avas built, 3 ft. broad and high, crossing
above the entrance passage at right angles.
Two buttresses run up against this Avail, and
form a recess betAveen them, about 20 ft. Avide.
The sides are Avhitewashed, and there is a brick
flooring, Avhich indicates that this Avas a place
for laying the offerings, as in the case of other
mastabas. Behind the 3 ft. Avail another runs
parallel some 9 ft. away, the inner side of each
being Avhitewashed. At the back of the tomb
there is a broad, Ioav Avail, but on the north
and south sides the cuttings disclosed no brick-
work. Upon the desert, 65 ft. from the front
wall, a Avhitewashed brick platform Avas laid
down, 37 ft. Ions; and about 12 ft. Avide.
This tomb, then, is also in a manner a
mastaba, though the features Avhich constitute
it as such are open to discussion. Although
there is every reason to suppose that the
construction on the surface Avas in the form of
a containing Avail packed Avith sand and gravel,
Avith a court or courts in front, there is actually
no evidence which can absolutely prove it.
Both this and the previously mentioned tomb
sIioav a delicacy and strength of Avorkmanship
worthy of the Xllth Dynasty. The limestone
blocks are beautifully trimmed, and the
manipulation of the hard quartzite sandstone
must command one's admiration. It must be
remembered that this stone had to be brought
from the quarries near Cairo —a distance of 400
miles or more by river, and nine over the rough
roads in the cultivation and rougher tracks in
the desert. Each block, too, Aveighs several
tons. The design of the tombs, on the other
hand, Avas not brilliantly conceived, although it
Avas so beautifully executed. It seems almost
childish that so much care should have been
expended upon the blocking of the passages
leading from the entrance to the sarcophagus,