DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49512#0274
238 DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUPERSTRUCTURES OF PRIVATE TOMBS: DYN. I-III, AND SNEFERUW
In addition to denudation, the c.b. mastabas in particular have suffered from their exploitation in
modern times for fertilizing material, highly prized by the peasants of the valley.
No deposit of Nile mud which shows on the surface escapes for long the attentions of the sebakh-
diggers after it has once been observed. Every archaeologist working in Egypt is familiar with the
destruction caused in all the c.b. buildings still preserved within the last fifty years. It is therefore only
from occasional mud-brick mastabas buried in sand and from the remnants of others that the types of
superstructures of Dyn. I and II can be reconstructed, for, with one possible exception (Zawiyet-el-
Aryan), these superstructures were of c.b. When the stone mastaba came into use in Dyn. IV the
superstructures were less easily destroyed by weather, and although many examples have suffered by
the theft of stone for various building purposes, the destruction is not so continual and widespread as
that caused by seWJz-digging.
i. THE GRAVE-MOUNDS OF THE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD
I have already explained the reconstruction of the predynastic graves (see pp. 1-5). The excavated
gravel taken from the pit was replaced in the upper part over the
burial and the resulting surplus was heaped up in an oval or rectangular
h-jv.r-\mound over the pit. The oval grave-mound, presumably that of the
/wM---22—-Jife poorer graves, was probably protected by a covering of stones or
I I pebbles, often plastered with mud or gypsum to prevent dispersal.
| I Such a mound would have suffered demolition by the constant plun-
N AG- ED- DER IT /7£: 13 A dering proved for the Predynastic period in addition to damage caused
pIG xby denudation. This oval grave-mound is suggested quite clearly by
the domed mounds found at Tarkhan in Dyn. I and at Naga-ed-Der
in Dyn. II and HI and even later (see Fig. 125). The Tea-doors were often marked in the plaster of oval
grave-mounds.
To the rectangular graves, which are usually richer than the oval graves, I ascribe rectangular grave-
mounds of about the proportions of the early small c.b. mastabas. It is obvious that such mounds must
also have had some sort of retaining wall to preserve them from dispersal. In view of the fact that
none of these mounds have been preserved to us, I conceive that their retaining walls were of a fragile
character, as, for example, wattling or wood. I suggest that the early panelled wooden coffin—the qrst-
coffin—was actually a representation of the old wattle grave-mound of the Predynastic period, and
I reconstruct the rectangular wattle mound on the lines of the grs?-coffin with one or more, probably
two, &«-doors indicated by wooden posts or niches in the wattling on the offering side of the mound
(see Figs. 10, 11, 12). It is possible that the two &«-doors or niches were close together as in the Tarkhan
tombs of Dyn. I.
2. THE EARLY SMALL TWO-NICHED MASTABAS OF DYNASTIES I-HI:
INTRODUCTION OF C.B. MASTABA AS IMPROVED SUBSTITUTE FOR WATTLE
In imagination I reconstruct the larger superstructures (mastabas) of the Predynastic period as
wattle or reed constructions filled with the gravel excavated from the pit. The question which needs
determination is the exact time when the small c.b. mastaba superseded the wattle mastaba. It may be
observed that there is usually a delay between the utilization of a new technique or a new form in the
small tombs, but never a great delay. The earliest mastaba, which is approximately dated, is the great
Naqadah tomb of Queen Neith-hetep, dated to a period extending from the end of the reign of Menes
In addition to denudation, the c.b. mastabas in particular have suffered from their exploitation in
modern times for fertilizing material, highly prized by the peasants of the valley.
No deposit of Nile mud which shows on the surface escapes for long the attentions of the sebakh-
diggers after it has once been observed. Every archaeologist working in Egypt is familiar with the
destruction caused in all the c.b. buildings still preserved within the last fifty years. It is therefore only
from occasional mud-brick mastabas buried in sand and from the remnants of others that the types of
superstructures of Dyn. I and II can be reconstructed, for, with one possible exception (Zawiyet-el-
Aryan), these superstructures were of c.b. When the stone mastaba came into use in Dyn. IV the
superstructures were less easily destroyed by weather, and although many examples have suffered by
the theft of stone for various building purposes, the destruction is not so continual and widespread as
that caused by seWJz-digging.
i. THE GRAVE-MOUNDS OF THE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD
I have already explained the reconstruction of the predynastic graves (see pp. 1-5). The excavated
gravel taken from the pit was replaced in the upper part over the
burial and the resulting surplus was heaped up in an oval or rectangular
h-jv.r-\mound over the pit. The oval grave-mound, presumably that of the
/wM---22—-Jife poorer graves, was probably protected by a covering of stones or
I I pebbles, often plastered with mud or gypsum to prevent dispersal.
| I Such a mound would have suffered demolition by the constant plun-
N AG- ED- DER IT /7£: 13 A dering proved for the Predynastic period in addition to damage caused
pIG xby denudation. This oval grave-mound is suggested quite clearly by
the domed mounds found at Tarkhan in Dyn. I and at Naga-ed-Der
in Dyn. II and HI and even later (see Fig. 125). The Tea-doors were often marked in the plaster of oval
grave-mounds.
To the rectangular graves, which are usually richer than the oval graves, I ascribe rectangular grave-
mounds of about the proportions of the early small c.b. mastabas. It is obvious that such mounds must
also have had some sort of retaining wall to preserve them from dispersal. In view of the fact that
none of these mounds have been preserved to us, I conceive that their retaining walls were of a fragile
character, as, for example, wattling or wood. I suggest that the early panelled wooden coffin—the qrst-
coffin—was actually a representation of the old wattle grave-mound of the Predynastic period, and
I reconstruct the rectangular wattle mound on the lines of the grs?-coffin with one or more, probably
two, &«-doors indicated by wooden posts or niches in the wattling on the offering side of the mound
(see Figs. 10, 11, 12). It is possible that the two &«-doors or niches were close together as in the Tarkhan
tombs of Dyn. I.
2. THE EARLY SMALL TWO-NICHED MASTABAS OF DYNASTIES I-HI:
INTRODUCTION OF C.B. MASTABA AS IMPROVED SUBSTITUTE FOR WATTLE
In imagination I reconstruct the larger superstructures (mastabas) of the Predynastic period as
wattle or reed constructions filled with the gravel excavated from the pit. The question which needs
determination is the exact time when the small c.b. mastaba superseded the wattle mastaba. It may be
observed that there is usually a delay between the utilization of a new technique or a new form in the
small tombs, but never a great delay. The earliest mastaba, which is approximately dated, is the great
Naqadah tomb of Queen Neith-hetep, dated to a period extending from the end of the reign of Menes