DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49512#0254
218 THE MASTABA AND THE SUBSTRUCTURE OF PRIVATE TOMBS OF THE REIGN OF SNEFERUW
chamber were roofed with flat stone slabs. The remaining six tombs were never finished or have not
been completely recorded. Two of them, Nos. (19) and (20), had over the chamber a corbelled roof
built of stone, and probably No. (17) had also. Nos. (13) and (14) were unfinished, according to Rowe.
No. (16) had a closed chamber constructed in the pit and roofed with a c.b. semi-cylindrical vault.
The remaining tombs in the eastern group have substructures of the rectangular shaft type. Most
of these, Nos. (2$)-(36), are of the ordinary Giza type, with a connecting passage between the bottom of
the shaft and the chamber, and the chamber hollowed in the solid rock. But three of them, Nos. (22^(24),
have the chambers built of stone blocks, roofed with corbelling. These have a grooved shaft, horizontal
passage, and a canopic niche in the south wall. The chamber of No. (24) was built in an open pit and
those of Nos. (22) and (23) may have been of the same type, but owing to the defective record cannot
be certainly placed. They may have been constructed in a chamber hollowed in the bad rock.
It appears from the examination of the distribution of the tombs in the site that the group of open-
trench and pit substructures west and north-west of the pyramid enclosure were earlier in date than
the substructures of the eastern group. Their type is clearly based on that of the two known royal tombs
of Dyn. Ill, not on the stairway tombs with underground chambers of the same dynasty. This sloping
passage type of tomb is found only at Medum. In the great Archaic Cemetery of Saqqarah, and the
cemeteries of Dahshur as far as now excavated, there is no single example of this form of substructure.
It is apparently a local development at Medum, followed by two substructures, Medum 16 and 17,
of altered form, and by the shaft tombs of the reign of Cheops and later. At Saqqarah the substructures
pass directly from the stairway + shaft type to the shaft type. Thus the period between the end of
Dyn. Ill and the end of the reign of Sneferuw appears to be dominated at Saqqarah by the stairway +
shaft and the shaft type, while at Medum, through this local development, the period is dominated by
the sloping passage substructure. It must, however, still be left in doubt whether these sloping passage
tombs at Medum were constructed during the building of the pyramid or slightly before.
The eastern group presents a variety of substructure types, modifications of the open-pit and trench
type (Nos. (13), (14), and (i6)-(2o)), shaft tombs with built chambers (Nos. (22), (23), and (24)), and
shaft tombs with rock-cut chambers (Nos. (25)-(36)). The first group of seven is obviously related to the
earlier trench and pit type, while the shaft tombs are types closely related to the Cheops mastabas at
Giza, and are not far from them in date.
The far western field contains sixty or more smaller shaft tombs with rock-cut chambers, approaching
the Giza type 1. The shafts are about 2x1m. (not 2x2) and the chambers are 2*5X 1-7X1-7m.
These fall into two groups, the pent-roof form (Mackay’s type D, four shafts) and the flat-roofed chamber
type (Mackay’s types A, B, and C, thirty to forty shafts). The chambers of the latter class are all lined
with masonry and some have a flat slab roof. The passage is horizontal with the opening at the floor-level.
Twenty or more have a canopic recess in the south wall near the SE corner at floor-level. Four have
a canopic pit in the SE corner of the floor and four have no receptacles for the canopic packages. The
other class, Mackay’s type D (four examples), presents the ordinary rock-cut shaft and chamber, but has
a pent-roof cut in the rock which roofed the chamber. The pent-roof is unnatural in a rock-cutting
and should be explained as an imitation of a pent-roof constructed of lean-slabs. The earliest dated
example of this roofing construction is in the second chamber of the Cheops pyramid. The third chamber
in that pyramid had a slab roof, relieved of pressure by other slabs placed above the roof and separated
by spaces. The Second Pyramid has a pent-roof in both its burial-chambers, and the pent-roof burial-
chamber was common in the pyramids of Dyn. V-VI. The tombs of type D are of the same size as
those with lined chambers.
chamber were roofed with flat stone slabs. The remaining six tombs were never finished or have not
been completely recorded. Two of them, Nos. (19) and (20), had over the chamber a corbelled roof
built of stone, and probably No. (17) had also. Nos. (13) and (14) were unfinished, according to Rowe.
No. (16) had a closed chamber constructed in the pit and roofed with a c.b. semi-cylindrical vault.
The remaining tombs in the eastern group have substructures of the rectangular shaft type. Most
of these, Nos. (2$)-(36), are of the ordinary Giza type, with a connecting passage between the bottom of
the shaft and the chamber, and the chamber hollowed in the solid rock. But three of them, Nos. (22^(24),
have the chambers built of stone blocks, roofed with corbelling. These have a grooved shaft, horizontal
passage, and a canopic niche in the south wall. The chamber of No. (24) was built in an open pit and
those of Nos. (22) and (23) may have been of the same type, but owing to the defective record cannot
be certainly placed. They may have been constructed in a chamber hollowed in the bad rock.
It appears from the examination of the distribution of the tombs in the site that the group of open-
trench and pit substructures west and north-west of the pyramid enclosure were earlier in date than
the substructures of the eastern group. Their type is clearly based on that of the two known royal tombs
of Dyn. Ill, not on the stairway tombs with underground chambers of the same dynasty. This sloping
passage type of tomb is found only at Medum. In the great Archaic Cemetery of Saqqarah, and the
cemeteries of Dahshur as far as now excavated, there is no single example of this form of substructure.
It is apparently a local development at Medum, followed by two substructures, Medum 16 and 17,
of altered form, and by the shaft tombs of the reign of Cheops and later. At Saqqarah the substructures
pass directly from the stairway + shaft type to the shaft type. Thus the period between the end of
Dyn. Ill and the end of the reign of Sneferuw appears to be dominated at Saqqarah by the stairway +
shaft and the shaft type, while at Medum, through this local development, the period is dominated by
the sloping passage substructure. It must, however, still be left in doubt whether these sloping passage
tombs at Medum were constructed during the building of the pyramid or slightly before.
The eastern group presents a variety of substructure types, modifications of the open-pit and trench
type (Nos. (13), (14), and (i6)-(2o)), shaft tombs with built chambers (Nos. (22), (23), and (24)), and
shaft tombs with rock-cut chambers (Nos. (25)-(36)). The first group of seven is obviously related to the
earlier trench and pit type, while the shaft tombs are types closely related to the Cheops mastabas at
Giza, and are not far from them in date.
The far western field contains sixty or more smaller shaft tombs with rock-cut chambers, approaching
the Giza type 1. The shafts are about 2x1m. (not 2x2) and the chambers are 2*5X 1-7X1-7m.
These fall into two groups, the pent-roof form (Mackay’s type D, four shafts) and the flat-roofed chamber
type (Mackay’s types A, B, and C, thirty to forty shafts). The chambers of the latter class are all lined
with masonry and some have a flat slab roof. The passage is horizontal with the opening at the floor-level.
Twenty or more have a canopic recess in the south wall near the SE corner at floor-level. Four have
a canopic pit in the SE corner of the floor and four have no receptacles for the canopic packages. The
other class, Mackay’s type D (four examples), presents the ordinary rock-cut shaft and chamber, but has
a pent-roof cut in the rock which roofed the chamber. The pent-roof is unnatural in a rock-cutting
and should be explained as an imitation of a pent-roof constructed of lean-slabs. The earliest dated
example of this roofing construction is in the second chamber of the Cheops pyramid. The third chamber
in that pyramid had a slab roof, relieved of pressure by other slabs placed above the roof and separated
by spaces. The Second Pyramid has a pent-roof in both its burial-chambers, and the pent-roof burial-
chamber was common in the pyramids of Dyn. V-VI. The tombs of type D are of the same size as
those with lined chambers.