DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49512#0300
264 DEVELOPMENT OF THE SUPERSTRUCTURES OF PRIVATE TOMBS: DYN. I-III, AND SNEFERUW
variations of the type, but all except two are marked with small dummy doors on two or more faces.
There are two other examples, dated to Dyn. Ill, in which the great door has no small dummy niches,
and this form of niche was designated ‘simplified great door’. The great-door niche, which prevails in
Dyn. II and is represented by three examples in Dyn. Ill, occurs in one cruciform chapel, QS 2407,
in the reign of Khasekhemuwy, or perhaps a little earlier:
(1) QS 2407: see Figs. 149, 150; see Quibell, Archaic Mastabas, pl. I; twin mastaba; on south, an interior
SAQQARAH QS 2407 GO. CHAPEL
Fig. 150
cruciform chapel of anomalous form (entrance,
in northern part of eastern wall, not opposite
niche; niche of great-door type in middle of
west wall; exit doorway at south end of long
room); presumably subsidiary facade niche;
on north, deep niche of great-door type, pre-
sumably with subsidiary facade niche; the
doorway in the end of the cruciform chapel
leads southward to a roofed exterior chapel
of seven rooms; an exterior three-roomed
corridor, probably roofed, covers the face of
the mastaba and the exterior seven-roomed
chapel; the corridor chapel is divided into
three sections by doorways, one just south of
the great-door niche on the north, and the
other at the SE corner of the mastaba; and has one doorway in the west wall opening into
the cruciform chapel, and another in the south end of the east wall giving entrance from the
east; the southern corridor room, opposite the exterior seven-room chapel, is subdivided into
three rooms; outside this is another exterior corridor opening on the south into the passage which
leads to the tomb of Hesy-ra; substructure, two burial-places of type IVB (i); many compart-
ments in mastaba filling; area, 1,512 sq. m.; see p. 157; probably Khasekhemuwy.
As far as our evidence goes, this is the earliest example of an interior chapel and is certainly as early as
the reign of Khasekhemuwy. The manner of its construction proves clearly that the great-door niche
in the western wall was a protected substitute for the offering niche in the facade of the mastaba.
(2) The true cruciform chapel
The true cruciform chapel is that form of interior chapel which has a plain compound niche in the
middle of the western wall, and an entrance doorway in the middle of the eastern wall opposite the
niche. The doorway opens from an embrasure in the facade of the mastaba corresponding to the outer
recess of a plain compound niche. The true cruciform chapel is a natural development of the chief
offering-place, the southern niche of the plain two-niche mastaba. The earliest dated example is
FS 3043, dated by a sealing to the reign of Khasekhemuwy. It is the most frequent type of chapel in
Dyn. Ill, during a period when the plain compound niche was the prevailing form of the niches of the
two-niche mastaba.
The examples from the Archaic Cemetery at Saqqarah are as follows:
(1) FS 3043 : see Fig. 151; cruciform chapel and subsidiary northern niche; substructure of type IV B (1);
area, 569 sq. m.; see p. 155; sealing of Khasekhemuwy.
variations of the type, but all except two are marked with small dummy doors on two or more faces.
There are two other examples, dated to Dyn. Ill, in which the great door has no small dummy niches,
and this form of niche was designated ‘simplified great door’. The great-door niche, which prevails in
Dyn. II and is represented by three examples in Dyn. Ill, occurs in one cruciform chapel, QS 2407,
in the reign of Khasekhemuwy, or perhaps a little earlier:
(1) QS 2407: see Figs. 149, 150; see Quibell, Archaic Mastabas, pl. I; twin mastaba; on south, an interior
SAQQARAH QS 2407 GO. CHAPEL
Fig. 150
cruciform chapel of anomalous form (entrance,
in northern part of eastern wall, not opposite
niche; niche of great-door type in middle of
west wall; exit doorway at south end of long
room); presumably subsidiary facade niche;
on north, deep niche of great-door type, pre-
sumably with subsidiary facade niche; the
doorway in the end of the cruciform chapel
leads southward to a roofed exterior chapel
of seven rooms; an exterior three-roomed
corridor, probably roofed, covers the face of
the mastaba and the exterior seven-roomed
chapel; the corridor chapel is divided into
three sections by doorways, one just south of
the great-door niche on the north, and the
other at the SE corner of the mastaba; and has one doorway in the west wall opening into
the cruciform chapel, and another in the south end of the east wall giving entrance from the
east; the southern corridor room, opposite the exterior seven-room chapel, is subdivided into
three rooms; outside this is another exterior corridor opening on the south into the passage which
leads to the tomb of Hesy-ra; substructure, two burial-places of type IVB (i); many compart-
ments in mastaba filling; area, 1,512 sq. m.; see p. 157; probably Khasekhemuwy.
As far as our evidence goes, this is the earliest example of an interior chapel and is certainly as early as
the reign of Khasekhemuwy. The manner of its construction proves clearly that the great-door niche
in the western wall was a protected substitute for the offering niche in the facade of the mastaba.
(2) The true cruciform chapel
The true cruciform chapel is that form of interior chapel which has a plain compound niche in the
middle of the western wall, and an entrance doorway in the middle of the eastern wall opposite the
niche. The doorway opens from an embrasure in the facade of the mastaba corresponding to the outer
recess of a plain compound niche. The true cruciform chapel is a natural development of the chief
offering-place, the southern niche of the plain two-niche mastaba. The earliest dated example is
FS 3043, dated by a sealing to the reign of Khasekhemuwy. It is the most frequent type of chapel in
Dyn. Ill, during a period when the plain compound niche was the prevailing form of the niches of the
two-niche mastaba.
The examples from the Archaic Cemetery at Saqqarah are as follows:
(1) FS 3043 : see Fig. 151; cruciform chapel and subsidiary northern niche; substructure of type IV B (1);
area, 569 sq. m.; see p. 155; sealing of Khasekhemuwy.