Popielska-Grzybowska, Joanna [Hrsg.]; Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists <1, 1999, Warszawa> [Hrsg.]: Proceedings of the first Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists: Egypt 1999: perspectives of research, Warsaw 7 - 9 June 1999 (Warsaw, 2001)

Teodozja Izabela Rzeuska
Warsaw

The Pottery from the Funerary Complex of Vizier Merefnebef

(West Saqqara).*

The Evidence of a Burial and Cult of the Dead in the

Old Kingdom

(Plates 23-36)

In 1997, during the third excavation season
carried out in Saqqara (west of the Pyramid of
Netjerikhet) by the Polish Centre for the Medi-
terranean Archaeology in Cairo under the direc-
tion of Professor Karol MYSLIWIEC, a group
ofPolish archaeologists discovered the tomb of
an unknown vizier called Merefnebef dated back
to the sixth dynasty.1

The pottery presented here was found in the
burial complex of Merefnebef during the seasons
1997 and 1998. Judging by the place where the
pottery was found and the character of the pot-
tery, it had connections with two kinds of Egyp-
tian activities eg:

• funerary ceremony

• cult of the dead

Most of the pottery was found in a sealed ar-
chaeological context.2 They were, except for
a few pots, in a good state of preservation. Ac-

* I am deeply thankful to Professor Karol MYSLIWIEC
for permission to publish this material, his remarks
and encouragement. My sincere appreciation goes
to Dr Nicole ALEXANIAN for her helpful remarks
suggested in personal discussions and in her remark-
able article: Ritualrelikte an Mastabagräbern des
Alten Reiches, in: Stationen, Beitmge zur Kultur-
geschichte Ägyptens, Reiner Stadelmann gewidmet,
p. 3-22, Mainz 1998.1 would also like to thank The
Swedish Institute for granting me the scholarship
that enabled me to conduct the studies on this pot-
tery. Last, but not least, I wish to thank the Medel-
havsmuseet in Stockholm where I spent April and
May 2000 working on this problem as well. Tack sâ
mycket! All pottery drawings made in ink by the au-
thor.

cording to the Vienna System, the majority was
made of Nile silt B1 and one of Nile silt C. There
were also five pots made of Marl fabric A2 and
two ofCl. Except for a hand made bread mould
SQ 98-460, they were made on a Tournette
(slow wheel).3

First, I would like to present groups of pot-
tery connected with the burial ceremony.

Funerary Ceremony

There are two ceramic depots connected with it:
pots found in the burial chamber of shaft No 1 (pl.
23, fig. 1B) and depot on the roof of the westem
cult chapel of Merefnebef (pl. 23, fig. 1C).

Burial chamber of shaft No 1

Behind the main cult chapel of Merefnebef, at
a distance of ca 70 cm north from it, there is
ashaftNo 1 (pl. 23, fig. 1B). On three sides it is

1 K. MYSLIWIEC, SaqqaraExcavations \991,PAM\X
(1998), pp. 90-99; IDEM, New faces of Saqqara,
Tuchöw 1999; IDEM, A new mastaba, a new vizier,
Egyptian Archaeology 13 (1998), pp. 37-39; J. LE-
CLANT, G. CLERC, Fouilles et travaux en Égypt et
au Soudan, 1996-1997, Orientalia 67 (1998), pp. 351-
353 (r), pl.XXn(15).

2 These are the so-called “Funde erster Ordnung”,
M. BIETAK, Tell el-Da’aba V, Wien 1991, p. 318.

3 J. BOURRIAU, Do. ARNOLD, Introduction to the
ancient Egyptian Pottery (hereinafter referred to as:
Introduction), Mainz 1993, pp. 168 ff. I will not de-
scribe the pots in detail; the whole material from
Saqqara West will be published: T.I. RZEUSKA, Pot-
teryfrom Saqqara West (hereinafter referred to as:
Pottery), in preparation.

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