Athena Review Image Archive ™
Saqqara: Mastaba el Faraun, 4th Dyn. tomb of Shepseskaf
Mastaba el Faraun at Saqarra, viewed from the east (Denkmaler v.1, 1849) .
This lithograph from the German Expedition shows the Mastaba el Faraun ("Bench of the Pharaoh"), which contained the tomb of Shepseskaf, last king of the 4th Dynasty (ca. 2472-2465 BC). The mastaba measures 100 m in length, 74 m in width, and is 18 m high. The structure consists of two levels, the lowest covered in pink granite quarried in nearby Dahshur, and the upper with Tura limestone.
The entrance to the underground tomb is on the shorter, northern side. A passageway led to a an ante-chamber with a granite roof. This led to the burial chamber with a barrel vault ceiling. Both the ante-chamber and burial chamber walls were covered with unpolished granite. A second passage led south from the ante-chamber to niches for statues.
The mastaba is surrounded by two concentric mudbrick walls. the outermost encircling the burial complex at a distance of 50 m. On the east side of the mastaba was a small funerary temple, where a causeway terminated. This led from a valley temple, no traces of which have yet been found.
At right, in the distance, is one of several pyramids within the large royal necropolis.
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