4
THE TOMBS OF THE OLD KINGDOM
very dark brown wood, and it was broken in
several pieces. There are deficiencies certainly in
some parts, as in the cake hern, for neheru. The
names have been translated here in accord with the
list of Vth dynasty offerings in Murray, Saqqara
Mastabas, 36, with some exceptions here noted.
The list begins at the left hand (mid pi. xii)
contrary to the direction of writing. Maspero has
pointed out that the order is that of the use in the
ritual. First, water to purify, then incense, after
which are perfume and ointments. The lieknu oil
may be “ oil of praising ”; the safeth oil may be
“ oil of slaughter ” of the sacrifice; khnum oil
seems to be from the cataract; tuant oil possibly
from Uauat, Nubia; thahenu oil from Libya, olive
oil; cedar oil was certainly from Syria. Some way
further, the word duau has never been translated;
it is applied to both bread or cake and to beer.
This suggests that it refers to malted or fermented
grain; the determinative on this coffin is always
a grain of corn. I have entered it as “ malted,”
though it may equally be bread “ leavened ” with
yeast. Three kinds are named ner, shebu or neshebu
and n. These may refer to nar herdsman’s bread,
a rough kind; shabu, shab a meal; n, or otherwise
the sign of grain (M. S.M. Zq), perhaps for nepr-
corn. “Root bread” lacks here the ta, “earth,”
after it; we read of bread made of lotus, which
might be from the dried root (Diodoros). In the
lower line mest has not been explained; mesyt,
the “evening meal,” suggests that this is the rubric
of the following entries as composing the evening
meal. The entries are entirely fruit and wine, all
the animal food coming in the midday meal before
this. The water and natron in the upper line may
mark the mouth wash after the morning meal, and
be the division between that and the midday meal.
7. A tomb (613) of the same age, is that of
Nenna, at the south end of the site, toward Mayana.
The statuette (1, 19, 20) was in a recess in the
rock chamber, secured by a bar across the front.
On the base is the inscription, fig. 21. “ The chiefly
companion, deputy of the king in the palace, medu
(priestly title), anmutek (support of thy mother, head
of family) Nenna. May the king- give an offering,
and Anpu, upon his mountains, for the devoted
Nenna. The devoted to the great God, Nenna.”
In the tomb was a figure of a cook (22, 23) which
is the best of the wooden figures of servants, care-
fully modelled with fine stucco, as a creditable
copy of the earlier figures of limestone. There were
two burials in the chamber, a female skeleton lying
on a mat, head north, face east, slightly contracted,
and a broken-up coffin of wood. Two shafts in the
floor each led to a chamber with only fragments of
bone remaining. There was a Nenna, son of Shedu,
who had the title “ chiefly companion; ” he was
ruler of the temple or palace, and lived a few miles
south at Deshasheh; as Shedu is dated about the
end of the Vth dynasty, it seems very probable
that his son is the Nenna of Mayana about seven
miles to the north (see Deshasheh, p. 4; pis. xxii, xxv).
(At Chicago.)
8. This type of tomb, dated to the Vlth dynasty
by Ra-mery-ha-shetef and by Nenna, with a rock
chamber containing coffins of women, and a rock
pit for the master, is also found in a hill toward
the north-west, where there is a great cave partly
fallen in, numbered 415 (pi. lxxxi, 10). Here was
an open courtyard, 23I/2X7I/2 feet, without any
pit in it; a doorway led to a rock chamber, 36 feet
wide, and 16 feet deep back; the variations in the
dimensions are shown on the plan. This chamber con-
tained pottery and four coffins, in which remained
three women and a child. In the floor is a large
pit, in which were remains of a very large coffin,
118 inches long, 55 wide and 28 deep; the sides
2 to 3 inches thick. It was lying in the pit at 165
down, containing a man’s skeleton and a damaged
head-rest (xiv, 1). The pottery (at U. C.) is a very
useful series of types of this age, the starting point
for classifying the later forms. See 29 k, 33 f, 34,
51 ep, 74 k p, 75 c h m, 89 b. A flint knife found
here (xxii, 4) is between the forms of the IVth
and Xllth dynasties. (Ipswich.)
Another tomb which, by the style of the figures,
can scarcely be later than the Vlth dynasty, is
no. 604 of Neb-em-suhet (“Lord in the egg,” that is
to say, from birth). The small chamber was on the
west of the shaft, containing a coffin of sycomore,
tied across both ways with a rope. At the foot of
it were two painted wooden statuettes (xvii, 1, 2)
with the same inscription on each, “ the royal over-
seer of... Neb-em-suhet.” The figures of the bread-
maker and the cook (xvii, 3) are a little inferior to
those of the previous tombs, but far better than in
the IXth dynasty. The head-rest (1, 18) with the
square abacus is of the regular Old Kingdom type.
(Oxford.)
Other head-rests of this age are from tombs 415
(xiv, 1) with a winnowing board, 2, split at the
base and bound with leather (Ipswich), and 274,
THE TOMBS OF THE OLD KINGDOM
very dark brown wood, and it was broken in
several pieces. There are deficiencies certainly in
some parts, as in the cake hern, for neheru. The
names have been translated here in accord with the
list of Vth dynasty offerings in Murray, Saqqara
Mastabas, 36, with some exceptions here noted.
The list begins at the left hand (mid pi. xii)
contrary to the direction of writing. Maspero has
pointed out that the order is that of the use in the
ritual. First, water to purify, then incense, after
which are perfume and ointments. The lieknu oil
may be “ oil of praising ”; the safeth oil may be
“ oil of slaughter ” of the sacrifice; khnum oil
seems to be from the cataract; tuant oil possibly
from Uauat, Nubia; thahenu oil from Libya, olive
oil; cedar oil was certainly from Syria. Some way
further, the word duau has never been translated;
it is applied to both bread or cake and to beer.
This suggests that it refers to malted or fermented
grain; the determinative on this coffin is always
a grain of corn. I have entered it as “ malted,”
though it may equally be bread “ leavened ” with
yeast. Three kinds are named ner, shebu or neshebu
and n. These may refer to nar herdsman’s bread,
a rough kind; shabu, shab a meal; n, or otherwise
the sign of grain (M. S.M. Zq), perhaps for nepr-
corn. “Root bread” lacks here the ta, “earth,”
after it; we read of bread made of lotus, which
might be from the dried root (Diodoros). In the
lower line mest has not been explained; mesyt,
the “evening meal,” suggests that this is the rubric
of the following entries as composing the evening
meal. The entries are entirely fruit and wine, all
the animal food coming in the midday meal before
this. The water and natron in the upper line may
mark the mouth wash after the morning meal, and
be the division between that and the midday meal.
7. A tomb (613) of the same age, is that of
Nenna, at the south end of the site, toward Mayana.
The statuette (1, 19, 20) was in a recess in the
rock chamber, secured by a bar across the front.
On the base is the inscription, fig. 21. “ The chiefly
companion, deputy of the king in the palace, medu
(priestly title), anmutek (support of thy mother, head
of family) Nenna. May the king- give an offering,
and Anpu, upon his mountains, for the devoted
Nenna. The devoted to the great God, Nenna.”
In the tomb was a figure of a cook (22, 23) which
is the best of the wooden figures of servants, care-
fully modelled with fine stucco, as a creditable
copy of the earlier figures of limestone. There were
two burials in the chamber, a female skeleton lying
on a mat, head north, face east, slightly contracted,
and a broken-up coffin of wood. Two shafts in the
floor each led to a chamber with only fragments of
bone remaining. There was a Nenna, son of Shedu,
who had the title “ chiefly companion; ” he was
ruler of the temple or palace, and lived a few miles
south at Deshasheh; as Shedu is dated about the
end of the Vth dynasty, it seems very probable
that his son is the Nenna of Mayana about seven
miles to the north (see Deshasheh, p. 4; pis. xxii, xxv).
(At Chicago.)
8. This type of tomb, dated to the Vlth dynasty
by Ra-mery-ha-shetef and by Nenna, with a rock
chamber containing coffins of women, and a rock
pit for the master, is also found in a hill toward
the north-west, where there is a great cave partly
fallen in, numbered 415 (pi. lxxxi, 10). Here was
an open courtyard, 23I/2X7I/2 feet, without any
pit in it; a doorway led to a rock chamber, 36 feet
wide, and 16 feet deep back; the variations in the
dimensions are shown on the plan. This chamber con-
tained pottery and four coffins, in which remained
three women and a child. In the floor is a large
pit, in which were remains of a very large coffin,
118 inches long, 55 wide and 28 deep; the sides
2 to 3 inches thick. It was lying in the pit at 165
down, containing a man’s skeleton and a damaged
head-rest (xiv, 1). The pottery (at U. C.) is a very
useful series of types of this age, the starting point
for classifying the later forms. See 29 k, 33 f, 34,
51 ep, 74 k p, 75 c h m, 89 b. A flint knife found
here (xxii, 4) is between the forms of the IVth
and Xllth dynasties. (Ipswich.)
Another tomb which, by the style of the figures,
can scarcely be later than the Vlth dynasty, is
no. 604 of Neb-em-suhet (“Lord in the egg,” that is
to say, from birth). The small chamber was on the
west of the shaft, containing a coffin of sycomore,
tied across both ways with a rope. At the foot of
it were two painted wooden statuettes (xvii, 1, 2)
with the same inscription on each, “ the royal over-
seer of... Neb-em-suhet.” The figures of the bread-
maker and the cook (xvii, 3) are a little inferior to
those of the previous tombs, but far better than in
the IXth dynasty. The head-rest (1, 18) with the
square abacus is of the regular Old Kingdom type.
(Oxford.)
Other head-rests of this age are from tombs 415
(xiv, 1) with a winnowing board, 2, split at the
base and bound with leather (Ipswich), and 274,