DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49512#0189
TOMB TYPES OF DYNASTY III
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with FS 3043, while the other three are to be dated from the end of Dyn. II or the beginning of Dyn. III.
With these early tombs of type IV B (1) is also to be reckoned the Giza Mastaba T (reported by
Covington and Petrie), which may be as early as the reign of Khasekhemuwy. The underground
chambers of each of these seven tombs form a complex differing in plan from the best constructed of
the mastabas of Dyn. II.
In the archaic cemetery at Saqqarah, Mr. Firth excavated a group of mastabas lying immediately
west of the Hesy-ra mastaba numbered FS 3001 to 3021. The majority of the large mastabas are of
type IV B, but the information at my disposal is not sufficient to determine which of them have a
a complex of chambers (IV B (1)) and which have a single chamber (IV B (2)). Under these circum-
stances I list the large mastabas under type IV B (1). FS 3020 I would place as contemporaneous or
even a few years earlier than the Hesy-ra tomb. There are six other large mastabas west of this tomb
which I date to Dyn. Ill, FS 3017, 3003, 3004, 3007 + 3015, 3009, and 3010.
Interspersed among the groups of large tombs of Dyn. II and III in the archaic cemetery are
a number of small tombs of the single-chamber types IV A (2), IV B (2), and even of the shaft type VI.
Some of these are obviously intruded, and therefore the dating of the single tombs is difficult. Most
of them were badly plundered and the contents of the burial chambers therefore not fully available.
Where stone vessels are reported, I have, in general, used these to date the tombs in question because
the types of vessels used in Dyn. Ill are so clearly defined.
The tomb types, both of superstructure and substructure, were developing at this time from the
stairway tomb to the shaft type of Dyn. IV. It is clear that the simple stairway tomb of type IV A
was used concurrently in this period with the stairway + shaft type of IVB. In a number of twin
mastabas beginning in the latter part of Dyn. Ill and extending into the reign of Sneferuw, the two
burial-places are of different types, one stairway + shaft and the other the shaft type. These large
mastabas mark the first introduction of the shaft type in private tombs at a time when the stairway
type was still in use.
A number of tombs, some of them well known from the reliefs taken from them, are entirely un-
reported, and a good many details are yet unavailable for the tombs excavated by Mr. Firth. As a
consequence I have grouped the descriptions of these Saqqarah mastabas under type headings, leaving
always a certain doubt as to their date. A few tombs which I date to the reign of Sneferuw or there-
abouts I have included in Chapter XI.
DESCRIPTION OF MEMPHITE TOMBS OF STAIRWAY+SHAFT TYPE: TYPE IVB(i)
3-ci. FS 3043 : information supplied by Mr. Quibell from Mr. Firth’s notes; examined by W. S. Smith.
Superstructure: filled c.b. mastaba; cruciform chapel. See Fig. 72.
Measurements: N-S E-W Prop. Area
Overall 33-5 m. 17-0 m. 1/1-96 569-5 sq. m.
Substructure: type IV B (1); six or more rock-cut chambers; six chambers arranged in two rows of
three chambers each, running north and south and connected at two ends; at NE corner a passage
leading to another apartment (?); sealing of Khasekhemuwy.
3—cii. Giza T: see Covington, Annales, VI, pp. 193 ff., and Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, pl. VII, p. 7. See
Fig- 73-
Superstructure: solid c.b. mastaba, panelled on all four faces with panelling enclosed by wall.
155
with FS 3043, while the other three are to be dated from the end of Dyn. II or the beginning of Dyn. III.
With these early tombs of type IV B (1) is also to be reckoned the Giza Mastaba T (reported by
Covington and Petrie), which may be as early as the reign of Khasekhemuwy. The underground
chambers of each of these seven tombs form a complex differing in plan from the best constructed of
the mastabas of Dyn. II.
In the archaic cemetery at Saqqarah, Mr. Firth excavated a group of mastabas lying immediately
west of the Hesy-ra mastaba numbered FS 3001 to 3021. The majority of the large mastabas are of
type IV B, but the information at my disposal is not sufficient to determine which of them have a
a complex of chambers (IV B (1)) and which have a single chamber (IV B (2)). Under these circum-
stances I list the large mastabas under type IV B (1). FS 3020 I would place as contemporaneous or
even a few years earlier than the Hesy-ra tomb. There are six other large mastabas west of this tomb
which I date to Dyn. Ill, FS 3017, 3003, 3004, 3007 + 3015, 3009, and 3010.
Interspersed among the groups of large tombs of Dyn. II and III in the archaic cemetery are
a number of small tombs of the single-chamber types IV A (2), IV B (2), and even of the shaft type VI.
Some of these are obviously intruded, and therefore the dating of the single tombs is difficult. Most
of them were badly plundered and the contents of the burial chambers therefore not fully available.
Where stone vessels are reported, I have, in general, used these to date the tombs in question because
the types of vessels used in Dyn. Ill are so clearly defined.
The tomb types, both of superstructure and substructure, were developing at this time from the
stairway tomb to the shaft type of Dyn. IV. It is clear that the simple stairway tomb of type IV A
was used concurrently in this period with the stairway + shaft type of IVB. In a number of twin
mastabas beginning in the latter part of Dyn. Ill and extending into the reign of Sneferuw, the two
burial-places are of different types, one stairway + shaft and the other the shaft type. These large
mastabas mark the first introduction of the shaft type in private tombs at a time when the stairway
type was still in use.
A number of tombs, some of them well known from the reliefs taken from them, are entirely un-
reported, and a good many details are yet unavailable for the tombs excavated by Mr. Firth. As a
consequence I have grouped the descriptions of these Saqqarah mastabas under type headings, leaving
always a certain doubt as to their date. A few tombs which I date to the reign of Sneferuw or there-
abouts I have included in Chapter XI.
DESCRIPTION OF MEMPHITE TOMBS OF STAIRWAY+SHAFT TYPE: TYPE IVB(i)
3-ci. FS 3043 : information supplied by Mr. Quibell from Mr. Firth’s notes; examined by W. S. Smith.
Superstructure: filled c.b. mastaba; cruciform chapel. See Fig. 72.
Measurements: N-S E-W Prop. Area
Overall 33-5 m. 17-0 m. 1/1-96 569-5 sq. m.
Substructure: type IV B (1); six or more rock-cut chambers; six chambers arranged in two rows of
three chambers each, running north and south and connected at two ends; at NE corner a passage
leading to another apartment (?); sealing of Khasekhemuwy.
3—cii. Giza T: see Covington, Annales, VI, pp. 193 ff., and Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, pl. VII, p. 7. See
Fig- 73-
Superstructure: solid c.b. mastaba, panelled on all four faces with panelling enclosed by wall.