DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49512#0156
124
TOMB TYPES OF DYNASTY II
3. UPPER EGYPTIAN TOMBS OF TYPE III, c.b. CORBEL-ROOFED
SUBSTRUCTURES
In Upper Egypt during Dyn. II the royal and private tombs still have substructures constructed
in an open pit or trench, entered by a stairway or slope from the north, the desert side, the valley side,
or the south. The series of tombs in the Cem. N 1500 at Naga-ed-Der presents in the period ten
tombs of a ground plan similar to the two examples of type II b (2), but roofed with corbel-vaults, five
separate corbels for the five chambers, but all merging together at the top and finished with a flat surface
on top (plastered with mud). The stairways enter from the valley side in seven cases and from the north
in three (see Reisner, Naga-ed-Der, I, pp. 40-57).
(a) The Two Royal Tombs of Type RT III
The two royal tombs, Peribsen (fourth king) and Khasekhemuwy (last king) of Dyn. II,are as different
from the private tombs of their time as were, the tombs of Zer and Zet. That the two royal tombs are
different from each other corresponds to such differences as are to be observed between the forms of
Wedymuw and Qay-'a. The roofing of the two royal tombs is uncertain. It seems from the statements
of Amelineau that the chambers in the tomb of Peribsen were roofed with wood, but I confess a certain
lack of faith in his powers of observation. It may be suggested that some of the beam-holes observed
by him in the walls of the small magazines were lofts (shelves of the form found in the temple magazines
of Dyn. IV and V). The general form of the tomb is, however, reminiscent of the adjacent tombs of
Zer and Zet and the main chamber may have had a wooden roof. The area of the substructure was only
133 sq. m. as compared with 313 sq. m. for Zer and 158 sq. m. for Zet. But the great tomb of Khase-
khemuwy has an area of 1,001-88 sq. m. The general condition of that c.b. structure with its crushed
and spread walls is typical of the condition in which corbel vaults were found at Naga-ed-Der. This was
due, not, as Petrie assumed, to the c.b. having been laid wet, but to the infiltration of water from the
ground and wetting by rain water (rare but sufficient). I therefore reconstruct the Khasekhemuwy
tomb as a corbel-roofed tomb.
I have set the Peribsen tomb as type RT III—1 and the Khasekhemuwy tomb as type RT III-2.
But an examination of the reports on the earlier tombs at Abydos seems to me to point to the presence
of corbel roofs as early as the tomb of Qay-'a. The condition of the northern chambers of the nucleus
substructure indicates that the four chambers opening on the stairway were in fact roofed with corbel
vaults. Thus I place the invention of the corbel in brick-work as early as the last reign of Dyn. I.
DESCRIPTION OF TOMBS OF TYPE RT III, PERIBSEN AND KHASEKHEMUWY
2-IV. King Peribsen (or W/d-ns?): Horus Pr-ib-sn Shm-ib\ see Sethe, Untersuchungen, III, p. 36;
Petrie, RT I, pl. LXI, p. 11, &c.; Amelineau, Fouilles d’Abydos, IV, pp. 245 ff.
Superstructure: destroyed without trace.
Substructure: see Fig. 54, nearly square open pit with c.b. structure. Heavy outer wall entered by
a doorway at the southern end of the west (desert) side, which was approached by a slope. In
this region Petrie found the two stelae of the king. Inside the outer wall a corridor separated into
four parts by door-jambs runs around on all four sides, separating the outer wall from the central
substructure which contained the burial-chamber and the magazines. The central structure (with
thinner walls) contains a nucleus chamber (the burial-chamber) with magazines around it. On
the east and west of the burial-chamber were three magazines on each side. On the north, which
TOMB TYPES OF DYNASTY II
3. UPPER EGYPTIAN TOMBS OF TYPE III, c.b. CORBEL-ROOFED
SUBSTRUCTURES
In Upper Egypt during Dyn. II the royal and private tombs still have substructures constructed
in an open pit or trench, entered by a stairway or slope from the north, the desert side, the valley side,
or the south. The series of tombs in the Cem. N 1500 at Naga-ed-Der presents in the period ten
tombs of a ground plan similar to the two examples of type II b (2), but roofed with corbel-vaults, five
separate corbels for the five chambers, but all merging together at the top and finished with a flat surface
on top (plastered with mud). The stairways enter from the valley side in seven cases and from the north
in three (see Reisner, Naga-ed-Der, I, pp. 40-57).
(a) The Two Royal Tombs of Type RT III
The two royal tombs, Peribsen (fourth king) and Khasekhemuwy (last king) of Dyn. II,are as different
from the private tombs of their time as were, the tombs of Zer and Zet. That the two royal tombs are
different from each other corresponds to such differences as are to be observed between the forms of
Wedymuw and Qay-'a. The roofing of the two royal tombs is uncertain. It seems from the statements
of Amelineau that the chambers in the tomb of Peribsen were roofed with wood, but I confess a certain
lack of faith in his powers of observation. It may be suggested that some of the beam-holes observed
by him in the walls of the small magazines were lofts (shelves of the form found in the temple magazines
of Dyn. IV and V). The general form of the tomb is, however, reminiscent of the adjacent tombs of
Zer and Zet and the main chamber may have had a wooden roof. The area of the substructure was only
133 sq. m. as compared with 313 sq. m. for Zer and 158 sq. m. for Zet. But the great tomb of Khase-
khemuwy has an area of 1,001-88 sq. m. The general condition of that c.b. structure with its crushed
and spread walls is typical of the condition in which corbel vaults were found at Naga-ed-Der. This was
due, not, as Petrie assumed, to the c.b. having been laid wet, but to the infiltration of water from the
ground and wetting by rain water (rare but sufficient). I therefore reconstruct the Khasekhemuwy
tomb as a corbel-roofed tomb.
I have set the Peribsen tomb as type RT III—1 and the Khasekhemuwy tomb as type RT III-2.
But an examination of the reports on the earlier tombs at Abydos seems to me to point to the presence
of corbel roofs as early as the tomb of Qay-'a. The condition of the northern chambers of the nucleus
substructure indicates that the four chambers opening on the stairway were in fact roofed with corbel
vaults. Thus I place the invention of the corbel in brick-work as early as the last reign of Dyn. I.
DESCRIPTION OF TOMBS OF TYPE RT III, PERIBSEN AND KHASEKHEMUWY
2-IV. King Peribsen (or W/d-ns?): Horus Pr-ib-sn Shm-ib\ see Sethe, Untersuchungen, III, p. 36;
Petrie, RT I, pl. LXI, p. 11, &c.; Amelineau, Fouilles d’Abydos, IV, pp. 245 ff.
Superstructure: destroyed without trace.
Substructure: see Fig. 54, nearly square open pit with c.b. structure. Heavy outer wall entered by
a doorway at the southern end of the west (desert) side, which was approached by a slope. In
this region Petrie found the two stelae of the king. Inside the outer wall a corridor separated into
four parts by door-jambs runs around on all four sides, separating the outer wall from the central
substructure which contained the burial-chamber and the magazines. The central structure (with
thinner walls) contains a nucleus chamber (the burial-chamber) with magazines around it. On
the east and west of the burial-chamber were three magazines on each side. On the north, which