DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3388#0011
MEYDUM AND MEMPHIS
CHAPTER I
GENERAL RESULTS AT MEYDUM.
By FLINDERS PETRIE.
i. The work at Meydum this year was, in each
direction, a carrying out of that which I had begun in
1891 ; and the purpose of this chapter is to link the
present results with those of nineteen years ago, and
also to give a current outline of the recent work,
especially in relation to the plates of this volume.
The order in which the different subjects will be
noticed here is the same as that of the detailed
descriptions by Mr. Mackay and Mr. Wainwright in
the succeeding chapters ; and it may be easier to
follow the exact register of the work recorded by
them, after grasping the outlines in a connected form.
The date of the pyramid is that of King Sneferu at
the close of the iiird dynasty, and the cemetery is
mostly of the same age.
No attempt is made here to repeat the information
in my previous volume Medum, now out of print; the
whole of that is needed for any study of the site, there
is nothing to be altered or omitted from it, but I doubt
if a second edition is desirable.
The work this year was started by Mr. Mackay
and Mr. Wainwright, at the beginning of December
1909, each taking separate parts of the site. Mr.
Benton Fletcher joined us at Meydum, and very
kindly helped us by drawing all the pottery and
scarabs there. I went to Memphis early in February
1910, and Mr. Mackay followed in the middle of the
month, Mr. Wainwright staying on at Meydum mov-
ing the sculptures and working on Nefermaat and
the pyramid. At Memphis Mr. Bushe-Fox joined us
and worked out the pottery kilns of Ptolemaic and
Roman age, besides taking part in the clearance on
the Ptah temple. The work was closed during the
latter part of April. The spelling of the name of
Meydum may be noted. In the previous publication
I followed the custom of using a long e for the Arabic
ye ; but, seeing the importance of using a translitera-
tion which shall indicate the Arabic spelling, I have
since used y in all cases iox ye, as in the words Sheykh
and Bedawyn. Hence the more correct spelling is
Meydum, and that form prevents mispronunciation
of the name. The difference in the name will suffi-
ciently indicate whether references are to the previous
volume or the present.
2. A curious feature of THE PYRAMID of Sneferu,
which was noted in the previous work, is the presence
of a broad shallow groove on the faces of the two
inner casings. These are shewn on the view pi. i, 2,
by arrows at the sides of each groove, pointing down
to the top casing, and upwards on the lower casing.
These grooves are only visible on these casings and
not on the coats outside of these, nor on the outer cas-
ing at the pyramid angle of 51° 52' which covered over
all the steps finally. The hollow appears to be about
two or three inches deep, and has been trigonometric-
ally observed as 211 wide on the upper, and 195 on
the lower face. In 1891 I proposed that these grooves
were analogous to the grooves on the successive coats
of brick mastabas, indicating where the false door and
ka chamber lay behind them in the first body of the
mastaba; hence these grooves might indicate that
there was a ka chamber in the first body of Sneferu's
mastaba.
This year we cleared away the great mound of
chips and blocks from the eastern face of the pyramid,
working in successive steps, from each of which the
stuff was carried out sideways, as seen in pi. xiv, 3.
In this way we bared the south side of the small
temple, and the casing down to the base, pi. xiv, 2.
Then a pit was sunk outside of the pyramid, and a
tunnel cut under its foundation for 150 feet to the
inner body of the mastaba. This passed through
gravel laid under the pyramid-angle casings, and
through solid rock all the way beneath the mastaba-
angle casings. There was not time to expand the
work this season, enough to shew whether a ka
chamber exists. The full account of this work will
therefore be given in future.
CHAPTER I
GENERAL RESULTS AT MEYDUM.
By FLINDERS PETRIE.
i. The work at Meydum this year was, in each
direction, a carrying out of that which I had begun in
1891 ; and the purpose of this chapter is to link the
present results with those of nineteen years ago, and
also to give a current outline of the recent work,
especially in relation to the plates of this volume.
The order in which the different subjects will be
noticed here is the same as that of the detailed
descriptions by Mr. Mackay and Mr. Wainwright in
the succeeding chapters ; and it may be easier to
follow the exact register of the work recorded by
them, after grasping the outlines in a connected form.
The date of the pyramid is that of King Sneferu at
the close of the iiird dynasty, and the cemetery is
mostly of the same age.
No attempt is made here to repeat the information
in my previous volume Medum, now out of print; the
whole of that is needed for any study of the site, there
is nothing to be altered or omitted from it, but I doubt
if a second edition is desirable.
The work this year was started by Mr. Mackay
and Mr. Wainwright, at the beginning of December
1909, each taking separate parts of the site. Mr.
Benton Fletcher joined us at Meydum, and very
kindly helped us by drawing all the pottery and
scarabs there. I went to Memphis early in February
1910, and Mr. Mackay followed in the middle of the
month, Mr. Wainwright staying on at Meydum mov-
ing the sculptures and working on Nefermaat and
the pyramid. At Memphis Mr. Bushe-Fox joined us
and worked out the pottery kilns of Ptolemaic and
Roman age, besides taking part in the clearance on
the Ptah temple. The work was closed during the
latter part of April. The spelling of the name of
Meydum may be noted. In the previous publication
I followed the custom of using a long e for the Arabic
ye ; but, seeing the importance of using a translitera-
tion which shall indicate the Arabic spelling, I have
since used y in all cases iox ye, as in the words Sheykh
and Bedawyn. Hence the more correct spelling is
Meydum, and that form prevents mispronunciation
of the name. The difference in the name will suffi-
ciently indicate whether references are to the previous
volume or the present.
2. A curious feature of THE PYRAMID of Sneferu,
which was noted in the previous work, is the presence
of a broad shallow groove on the faces of the two
inner casings. These are shewn on the view pi. i, 2,
by arrows at the sides of each groove, pointing down
to the top casing, and upwards on the lower casing.
These grooves are only visible on these casings and
not on the coats outside of these, nor on the outer cas-
ing at the pyramid angle of 51° 52' which covered over
all the steps finally. The hollow appears to be about
two or three inches deep, and has been trigonometric-
ally observed as 211 wide on the upper, and 195 on
the lower face. In 1891 I proposed that these grooves
were analogous to the grooves on the successive coats
of brick mastabas, indicating where the false door and
ka chamber lay behind them in the first body of the
mastaba; hence these grooves might indicate that
there was a ka chamber in the first body of Sneferu's
mastaba.
This year we cleared away the great mound of
chips and blocks from the eastern face of the pyramid,
working in successive steps, from each of which the
stuff was carried out sideways, as seen in pi. xiv, 3.
In this way we bared the south side of the small
temple, and the casing down to the base, pi. xiv, 2.
Then a pit was sunk outside of the pyramid, and a
tunnel cut under its foundation for 150 feet to the
inner body of the mastaba. This passed through
gravel laid under the pyramid-angle casings, and
through solid rock all the way beneath the mastaba-
angle casings. There was not time to expand the
work this season, enough to shew whether a ka
chamber exists. The full account of this work will
therefore be given in future.