Southport : Original Sources in Exploration

The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty (Abydos), Part I 

W.E. Flinders Petrie



THE ROYAL TOMBS OF THE FIRST DYNASTY, PART I.

Chapter 2


DESCRIPTION OF THE TOMBS (Sections 8-19; Plates 60-67).


8. The Tomb of Zet, pl.61. This tomb consists of a large chamber twenty feet wide and thirty feet long, with smaller chambers around it at its level, the whole bounded by a thick brick wall, which rises seven and a half feet to the roof, and then three and a half feet more to the top of the retaining wall. The exact dimensions of these tombs are all given together in sect.19. Outside of this on the north is a line of small tombs about five feet deep, and on the south a triple line of tombs of the same depth. And apparently of the same system and same age is the mass of tombs marked as “Cemetery W," which are parallel to the tomb of Zet. Later there appears to have been built the long line of tombs which arc marked partly Z, partly W, placed askew in order not to interfere with those which have been mentioned. And then this skew line gave the direction to the next tomb, that of Merneit, and later on that of Azab. Such seems to have been the order of construction; but as the great mounds of rubbish, which I have not yet moved, stand close to the east of Zet and Cemetery W, there may be other features beneath them which will further explain the arrangement.






















Plate 61: Plans of tombs of Merneit, Azab, and Zet, and Cemetery W.

The private graves around the royal tomb are all built of mud brick, with a coat of mud plaster over it, and the floor is of sand, usually also coated with mud. The steles found in the graves around Zet are shown in pls.33, 34, and the copies pl.31, Nos. 1-16. The places of such as could be at all identified with the graves, are shown on pl.61 by the name from each being written on the chamber plan. Beside these steles there were often the names inscribed in red paint on the walls; these names are drawn in pl.63, and are written close to the south wails of the plans. These painted names are always on the south wall of the chamber, close to the top of it. A patch of whitewash about eight or ten inches square was roughly brushed on the mud plaster of the wall; on that the hieroglyphs were painted with a broad brush. Some lines are pink, owing to the whitewash working up with the red in the brush. On a few are traces of black also. The form of inscription is much simpler than that of the steles; the ka akh, "glorified ka," only once appears, and there are no titles or offices, only the name. The ka arms often appear; but whether this refers to the ka of Du, A, Si, etc., or is really a compound name, Ka-du, A-kat, Si-ka, is not clear. Probably the latter is true, as the feminine t is added to the ha in two cases, which points to its being in a name. Many of these names were illegible, only fragments of the plaster remaining. Three I succeeded in removing. The few contents of these graves, left behind accidentally by previous diggers, will be fully catalogued in the next Volume; a few jars and beads, and two or three pieces of inscribed stone bowls (each marked with their source in pls.4 and 6), are all that we found.


Plate 62: Section and detailed plan of the west end of the Tomb of King Zet.

9. Tomb of Zet, interior, pls.61, 62, 63. The first question about these great tombs is how they were covered over. Some have said that such spaces could not be roofed, (p.9) and at first sight it would seem almost impossible. But the actual beams found yet remaining in the tombs are as long as the widths of the tombs, and therefore timber of such sizes could be procured. In the tomb of Qa the holes for the beams yet remain in the wails, and even the cast of the end of a beam. And in the tombs of Merneit, Azab, and Mersekha are posts and pilasters to help in supporting a roof.

We must therefore see how far such a roof would be practicable. The clear span of the chamber of Zet is 240 inches, or 220 if the beams were carried on a wooden lining, as seems likely. Taking, however, 240 inches length, and a depth and breadth of 10 inches like the breadths of the floor beams, such a beam of a conifer, supported at both ends and uniformly loaded, would carry about 51,000 lbs., or 2900 lbs. on each foot of roof area. This is equal to 33 feet depth of dry sand. Hence, even if the great beams were spaced apart with three times their breadth between each, they would carry eight feet depth of sand on them; but as the height of the retaining wail is 3 1/2 feet, the strain would be only half of the full load.

It is therefore quite practicable to roof over these great chambers up to spans of twenty feet. The wood of such lengths was actually used, and if spaced out over only a quarter of the area, the beams would carry their load with full safety. Any boarding, mats, straw etc. laid over the beams would not increase the load, as they would be lighter than the same bulk of sand. That there was a mass of sand laid over the tomb is strongly shown by the retaining wail (see pl.62) around the top. This wall is roughly built, not intended to be a visible feature. The outside is daubed with mud plaster, and has a considerable slope; the inside is left quite rough, with bricks in and out (see photographs on pl.64, Nos. 1, 2, 3). Such a construction shows that it was backed against loose material inside it. The top of it is finished off with a rough rounding. At the S.W. corner this retaining wail ceases, and it seems as if this were left thus in order to gain access to the tomb for the funeral. The full thickness of the tomb wail stretches out several feet beyond even the outside of the upper retaining wall.  



Plate 64: Views of the Tombs of Kings Zet and Merneit.

Turning now to the flo
or, the section is given in pl.62, and the view of it in photographs pl.64, nos. 3, 4. The basis of it is mud plastering, which was whitewashed. On that were laid beams around the sides, and one down the middle: these beams were between 9 and 10.8 inches wide, and 7 to 7 1/2 inches  deep. They were placed before the mud floor  was hard, and have sunk about 1/4 inch into it.  On the beams a ledge was recessed 6.5 to 7.7  wide, and 4.7 to 6.0 deep. On this ledge the edges of the flooring planks rested, 2 to 2.4  thick. Such planks would not bend 1/4 inch in the middle by a man standing on them, and  therefore made a sound floor. Over the planks was laid a coat of mud plaster .5 to .7 inch thick. This construction doubtless shows what was the mode of flooring the palaces and large houses of the early Egyptians, in order to keep off the damp of the ground in the Nile valley.  For common houses a basis of pottery jars turned mouth down was used for the same purpose, as I found at Koptos.  

The sides of the great central chamber are not clear in arrangement. The brick cross  walls which subdivide them into separate cells have no finished faces on their ends. All the wall faces are plastered and whitewashed; but the ends of the cross wails are rough bricks, all irregularly in and out. Moreover, the bricks project forward irregularly over the beam line, as outlined in the plan, pl.62. This projection is 4 inches on the north, 4 on the east, and 2 1/2 on the south; and on the east, one of the overhanging bricks had mud on the end of it,  with a cast of upright timber on it. It seems then that there was an upright timber lining to the chamber, against which the cross walls were (p.10) built, the walls thus having rough ends projecting  over the beams. The footing of this upright plank lining is indicated by a groove left along the western floor beam, 3.7 wide between the ledge on the beam and the side of the flooring planks (see plan pl.62). Thus we reach the view of a wooden chamber, lined with upright planks 3 1/2 inches thick, which stood 3 to 4 inches out from the wall, or from the backs of the beams. How the side chambers were entered is not shown; whether there was a door to each or no. But as they were intended to be forever closed, and as the chambers in two corners were shut off by brickwork all round, it seems likely that all the side chambers were equally closed. And thus, after the slain domestics (p. 1.4) and offerings were deposited in them, and the king in the centre hall, the roof would be permanently placed over the whole.  

The height of the chamber is proved by the cast of straw which formed part of the roofing,  and which comes at the top of the course of headers on edge which copes the wall all round  the chamber. Over this straw there was laid one course of bricks a little recessed, and beyond that is the wide ledge all round before reaching the retaining wall. The height up to the top of this course of headers is 89.6 in N.W. chamber, = 90.6 in main chamber, as the floor is 1 inch higher; 93.2 in second chamber N., = 94.2 in main; 90.0 in third chamber S., = 91.0 in main; and 95.3 on mid W. So it varies from 90.6 to 95.3 over the main mud floor. This implies about 92, less 4 for flooring, less probably 12 for roofing, or clear 76 inches height in the chamber. The retaining wall is 38 inches high inside, and 47 high outside.  
 

Plate 63: Tomb of King Zet: elevations of North and South walls with red recesses, and individual names painted on private graves.

Having thus cleared up the central chamber, we should notice those at the sides. The cross walls were built after the main brick outside was finished and plastered. The deep recesses coloured red, on the north side (see pl.63), were built in the construction; where the top is preserved entire, as in a side chamber on the north, it is seen that the roofing of the recess was upheld by building in a board about an  inch thick. The shallow recesses along the south side were merely made in the plastering,  and even in the secondary plastering after the cross walls were built. All of these recesses, except that at the S.W., were coloured pink red, due to mixing burnt ochre with the white. In the outlines of pl.63 the condition of the walls does not profess to be exactly as at present, but more or less broken down, so as to show the plan and detail more clearly. The purport of these recesses is quite unknown; but they can hardly be separated from the red recesses on the walls of the central halls of houses at Tell el Amarna, of the XVIII Dynasty. There was also a red recess, with a scene of worship of the tree goddess painted over it, in a gallery of the Hamesseum. It seemed from that as if these red recesses were false doorways for the worship of domestic spirits. Possibly this may be connected with the red recesses of this tomb. The supposition that these recesses were to hold steles is impossible, in view of the sizes of the steles, and the finishing and colouring of the recesses.   

10. The Tomb of Merneit, pls.61,64,65. This tomb was not at first suspected, as it had no accumulation of pottery over it; and the whole ground had been pitted all over  by the Mission Amelineau making “quelques sondages," without revealing the chambers or  the plan. As soon, however, as we began to systematically clear the ground the scheme of a large central chamber with eight long chambers for offerings around it, and a line of private tombs enclosing it, stood apparent. The central chamber is very accurately built, with vertical sides parallel to less than an inch. It is about 21 feet wide and 30 feet long, or practically the same as the chamber of Zet (exactly 250 X 354 inches to the brick walls, the plaster varying from ¼ to 1 inch). Around the chamber are walls 48 to 52 inches thick, and beyond (p.11) them a girdle of long narrow chambers, 48 wide and 160 to 215 inches long. These chambers are about 6 1/2 feet deep, but the central chamber is nearly 9 feet. Of these chambers for offerings Nos. 1, 2, 5, 7 still contained pottery in place, and No.3 contained many jar stealings. The great stele of Merneit (pl.00) was found lying near the east side of the central chamber; and near it was the back of a similar stele (see photograph, pl.64, No.6), on which the bottom of the neit and r signs remained, and  from which a piece of the top with the top of the neit on it was found lying over chamber 5. 

At a few yards distance from the chambers full of offerings is a line of private graves almost surrounding the royal tomb. This line is interrupted at the S. end of the W. side, similar to the interruption of the retaining wall of the tomb of Zet at that quarter. It seems therefore that the funeral approached it from that direction. In the small graves there are no red inscriptions, as in those belonging to Zet; but steles were found, the names of two  of which are entered on the plan, and the figures are given in pls.31 and 34 Nos.17-19.  A feature which could not well be shown in the  plan is the ledge which runs along the side of these tombs. The black wall here figured is the width of the level edge of the pit, but beyond this a slight edging of brick rises a few inches higher.
 
 11. The Tomb of Merneit, interior, pls.64 and 65. The chamber shows signs of burning, on both the walls and the floor. A small piece of wood yet remaining on the floor indicates that it also had a wooden floor, like the other tombs. Against the walls stand pilasters of brick (see plan 61, photograph 64, No.5); and though these are not at present more than  a quarter of the whole height of the wall, they  originally reached to the top, as is shown by the smoking of the wall on each side, even  visible in the photograph. These pilasters are entirely additions to the first building; they stand against the plastering, and upon a loose layer of sand and pebbles about 4 inches thick.  Thus it is clear that they belong to the subsequent stage of the fitting of a roof to the chamber. Such a roof would not need to be as strong as that of Zet, as there was much less depth of sand over it; so that beams only at the pilasters would serve to carry enough boards to cover it. The pilasters, however, seem to have  been altogether an afterthought, as within two of the corner ones there remain the ends of  upright posts, around which the brickwork was built. The holes that are shown in the floor are apparently not connected with the construction, as they are not in the mid-line where pillars are likely. The height of the chamber is 105 inches, at both E. and S.W., up to the top of a course of headers on edge around it.  At the edge of chamber 2 is the cast of plaited palm-leaf matting on the mud mortar above this level, and the bricks are set back irregularly; this shows the mode of finishing off the roof of this tomb. 

12. The Tomb of Den-Setui, pl.59. From the position of this tomb it is seen to naturally follow the building of the tombs of Zet and Merneit. It is surrounded by rows of small chambers, for offerings, and for burial of domestics; but as I have only partially examined these as yet, no plan in detail is here given. The king's tomb appears to have contained a great number of tablets of ivory and  ebony, fragments of eighteen having been found  by us in the rubbish thrown out by the Mission Amelineau, beside one perfect tablet stolen from that work (now in the MacGregor collection), and a piece picked up (now in Cairo Museum); thus twenty tablets are known from this tomb.  The inscriptions on stone vases (pl.5) are, however, not more frequent than in previous reigns. This tomb appears to be one of the most costly and sumptuous, with its pavement of red granite; the details of it I hope to publish after its clearance next season. 

(p.12) The tomb of Azab-Merpara, pl.61. This is a plain chamber, with rather sloping sides, about twenty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide; the well-plastered face ends at a row of headers on edge, six and a half feet from the floor, and above that the wall slopes out irregularly. The surrounding wall is nearly five feet thick. Thus was included all in one block the lesser and more irregular chamber on the north, which is of the same depth and construction, fourteen feet by nine. This lesser chamber had no remains of flooring; it contained many large sealings of jars, and seems to have been for all the funereal provision, like the eight chambers around the tomb of Merneit. 

Plate 65: Tombs of King Merneit and Azab-Merpaba.

Around this tomb is a circuit of small private tombs, leaving a gap on the S.W. like that of Merneit, and an additional branch line has been added on at the north. All of these tombs are very irregularly built; the sides are wavy in direction, and the divisions of the long trench are slightly piled up, of bricks laid lengthways, and easily overthrown. This agrees with the rough and irregular construction of the central tomb and offering chamber. The funeral of Azab seems to have been more carelessly conducted than that of any of the other kings here; only one piece of inscribed vase was in his tomb, as against eight of his found in his successor's  tomb, and many other vases of his erased by his successor. Thus his palace property seems to have been kept back for his successor's use, and not buried with Azab himself. In the chambers 58, 61, 62, 63 much ivory inlaying was found, figured in pl.37, Nos.47—60. All the tomb contents will be fully described in a future volume. 

Plate 66: Views of the Tombs of Kings Azab, Mersekha, and Qa.

14. The Tomb of Azab, interior, pls.65 and 66. The entrance to the tomb was by a stairway descending from the east, thus according with the system begun by the previous king, Den. Each step is about twenty inches wide and eight inches high; and thus descending ten steps we reach the blocking of the doorway. On these steps, just outside of the door, were dozens of small pots, loosely piled together, of the forms marked Y in pls.42 and 43. These must have contained offerings made after the completion of the burial. The blocking is made by planks and bricks (sec pl.65, lower right hand). Two grooves were left in the brickwork of the passage sides, plastered over like the passage. Across the passage stretched planks of wood about two inches thick, with ends lodging in the grooves. To retain them in place on each other another upright plank was placed against them in the groove, and jammed tight by bricks wedged in.  Then the whole outside of the planking was covered by bricks loosely stacked as headers; these can be seen in the photograph (pl.66, No.2), the planking having decayed away from before them. 

The chamber was floored with planks of wood laid flat on the sand, without any supporting beams as in other tombs. These planks are 2.0 inches thick where best preserved.  They were cut to order before fitting into the tomb, and hence in several places they were slightly too long. This has been roughly remedied by chopping away the mud wall near the bottom so as to let in the ends (see pl.66, No.1), or scraping down so as to jam the board down into place.

The support of the roof was by wooden posts, as in the tomb of Merneit; but here they were not cased round or supplemented by brick piers. The base of one post remained in place at the N.E. corner (see pl.65): it was 4 X 17 inches, and stood free on the floor, not let in at all, 3 inches from the N. and 1 inch from the E. sides. That this was not accidental in place is shown at the N.W. corner, where the N. wall has been much chopped away in order to let back an irregularly bent post. Beyond this there are no traces, either from attachment or from burning, of uprights or divisions, or of pilasters on the walls.

(p.13) The roof must have been about six feet over the floor, as the walls are finished up to 78 inches high, and then are rougher and more sloping above that. The plastering went on simultaneously with the building: this is shown by a course of headers on edge  at 48 inches, up to which the plastering has been done at once, while above that the plastering  was separate. The highest part of the wail is 89 inches high, the ground at the top step being 97 inches. The roof broke in at the middle of the south end, and let sand run in enough to fill the chamber at that end. Thus only the two corners were left exposed to the fire in the burning of the roof. 

15. The Tomb of Mersekha-Semempses, pl.60. This tomb is 44 feet long and 25 feet wide, a pit surrounded by a wall over five feet thick. The surrounding small chambers are only three to four feet deep, where perfect; while the central pit is still 11 1/2 feet deep, though broken away at the top.

 Few of the small chambers still contained anything. Seven steles were found, the inscriptions of which are marked in the chambers of the plan: the photographs, pls.35 and 36, show these in Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 46; and other steles on these plates were also found here, scattered so that they could not be identified with the tombs. The most interesting are two steles of dwarfs, 36, 37, which show the dwarf type clearly; with one (chamber M) were found bones of a dwarf. Another skeleton of a dwarf was in chamber L; probably the other stele had belonged to this. In a chamber on the east was a jar and a copper bowl (pl.12, No.11); this last is the only large piece of metalwork  that we found; it shows the hammer  marks, and is roughly finished, with the edge  turned over to leave it smooth. We here have a good example of the rude state of metal-work at that time. The ivory leg of a casket (pl.12, No.9) was found loose in the rubbish before the door-way of the tomb, and had doubtless been part of the royal furniture. The small compartments in the south-eastern chambers were probably intended to hold the offerings placed in the graves: the dividing walls are only about half the depth of the grave.


Plate 60: Plans of the Tombs of King Qa and Mersekha-Semempses.

16. The Tomb of Mersekha, exterior, pls.60, 61, and 62. The structure of the interior is at present uncertain. Only in the corner by the entrance (pl.66, No.4) was the wooden flooring preserved: several beams (one now in Cairo Museum) and much broken wood was  found loose in the rubbish. M. Amelineau states that the tomb was entirely burnt, and the floor carbonized, but there are few traces of fire about the wails. The floor, where it yet remains, is made like others; beams, 8 inches wide and 10 high, form the frame on which the planks of the floor rest on recessed ledges (see pls.60 and 67). There has been a wider and shallower cutting also at each side of the corner, as if some skin of finer wood had been laid over it. The corner plank has two holes through it, and the sign meht, "north" cut on it. This shows that the woodwork was prepared else-where, and brought here ready; and this was also seen in the tomb of Azab, by the chopping of the walls to fit the wood. This piece of floor is not symmetrically placed, being 50 inches from the N. end, and so agreeing nearly  to the 56 inches projection of the pilaster at the  S. end (see pl.66, No.3), whereas it is only 19  inches from the entrance wall. At about a third of the length from the S. end was a soft hole in the sand floor, which may be the place of a pillar. The span of 24 feet is too great to suppose it roofed with single beams across, and the pilaster at the S. end suggests that the beams were supported or divided in the middle.  Hence it seems likely that the places of the main beams were about the lines dotted in the plan, pl.60. There is no sign of holes for the beams, and no evidence as to the roofing level. 

The entrance is 9 feet wide, and was blocked by loose bricks, flush with wall face, as seen in (p.14) the photograph of pl.64, No.4. Another looser walling further out, also seen in the photograph, is probably that of plunderers to hold back the sand. The section of the side wall of the entrance is given on pl.67. 

On clearing the entrance, the native hard sand was found to slope down to about four  feet above the floor, and then to drop to floor level at about two and a half feet outside of the  outer wall of the tomb. Here the space was filled to three feet deep with sand saturated with ointment. The fatty matter was that so common in the prehistoric times, in this 1st Dynasty, and onward in the XVIII Dynasty; hundredweights of it must have been poured out here, and the scent was so strong when cutting away this sand that it could be smelt over the whole tomb. In clearing this entrance was found the perfect ivory tablet of king Semempses (pl.12, No.1 and pl.17, No.26); and his identity with the king Mersekha of this tomb was proved by the sealing No.72, pl.28. 

17. The Tomb of King Qa, pls.60, 66, 67. This tomb, which is the last of the Dynasty, shows a more developed stage than the others. Chambers for offerings are built on each side of the entrance passage, and this passage is turned to the north, as in the mastabas  of the III Dynasty, and in the pyramids.  The whole of the building is hasty and defective.  The bricks were mostly used too new, probably less than a week after being made. Hence the walls have seriously collapsed in most of the lesser chambers; only the one great chamber was built of firm and well-dried bricks. In the four chambers along the passage, l6, 18, 23, 24, the walls have had to be strengthened by thickening them, so as to leave wide ledges near the top, shown by the outlines in the plan: in chamber 23 the south side had crushed forward with its weight, and so taken a slice off the chamber width. And the wall had slipped away sideways into chamber 12, and was thus left ruined. In the small chambers along the east side the long wall between chambers 10 and 5 has crushed out at the base, and spread  against the pottery in the grave 5, and against  the wooden box in grave 2. Hence the objects must have been placed in those graves within a few days of the building of the wall, before the mud bricks were hard enough to carry even four feet height of wall. The burials of the domestics must therefore have taken place all at once, immediately the king's tomb was built; and hence they must have been sacrificed at the funeral. 

The graves still contained several burials, and these are all figured in position on the plan; five have the head to the north, and only one  to the south; all are contracted. Thus the attitude was that of the prehistoric burials, also found in the III Dynasty at Medum, and in the V Dynasty at Deshasheh. But the direction is that of the historic burials. Hence the customs have a greater break between the prehistoric and the 1st than between the 1st and the V Dynasty. The boxes in which the bodies were placed vary from 36 to 45 inches long, and 18 to 27 inches wide; the average is 38 x 22. The height is usually 16 or 17 inches, in one case only 9 inches. The boards are 1.2 inches thick. The sides appeared to have been slightly pegged together, and they were found  as merely loose boards much decayed. The interior and space around the coffin were filled with perfectly clean white sand, which must have been intentionally filled in. But the  coffins can hardly have been made separately  to fit the bodies; in grave 8 the body is bent back-outward, naturally, but the head has been twisted round so as to bring the face to the  back; perhaps it was actually cut off, as the atlas was an inch beyond the foramen.  

There were no personal ornaments or armlets found in any grave, though I carefully cleared every coffin myself. The pottery placed in the chambers is all figured in position in the plan; and the forms will be seen, with the references to (p.15) the chambers, in pls.40 to 43. In the S.E corner of chamber 9 were some baskets, of which one and part of another could be removed. 

Few steles were found, only three in all, but these were larger than those of the earlier graves. One is hardly legible (pl.31 and 36, No.47), being faintly hammered on the stone face;  it shows the hare un, and nothing else is certain.  The other stele, No. 48, is the longest and most important inscription known of this age; it is carefully reproduced on pl.30. The general surface is hammered out, but has never been finished by graving; the full lines are the traces of the black ink drawing, and the red lines show the first sketch. The description of it is given more fully in dealing with the private steles, sect. 20. The stele of the king Qa was found lying over chamber 3; it is like that found by M. Amelineau, carved in black quartzose stone. Photographs have not yet been taken of it, so it will be reproduced in the following volume. Near it, on the south, were dozens of large pieces of fine alabaster bowls, and one of diorite with the inscription for the "Priest of the temple of King Qa" (ix. 12), showing that the shrine of offerings for Qa was  probably on this side.

Among various objects found in these chambers should be noted the fine ivory carving from chamber 23, showing a bound captive (pl.12, Nos.12,13; pl.17, No.30), described on p.23; the large stock of painted model vases in limestone in a box in chamber 20 (pl.38, Nos.5,6); the set of perfect vases found in chamber 21 (pl.38. No.8); the fine piece of ribbed ivory (pl.37, No.79); a piece of thick gold foil covering of a hotep table, patterned as a mat, found in the long chamber west of the tomb; the deep mass of brown vegetable matter in the N.E. chamber; the large stock of corn between chambers 8 and 11; and the bed of currants, ten inches thick though dried, which underlay the pottery in chamber 11. In chamber 16 were large dome-shaped jar sealings with the name of Azab, and on one of them the ink-written signs of the “king's ka" (pl.32, No.35). 

The entrance passage has been closed with rough brick walling at the top. It is curiously turned askew, as if to avoid some obstacle, but the chambers of the tomb of Den do not come near its direction. After nine steps the straight passage is reached, and then a limestone portcullis slab bars the way, let into grooves on either side; it was moreover backed up by a buttress of brickwork in five steps behind it.  All this shows that the rest of the passage must have been roofed in so deeply that entry from above was not the obvious course. The inner passage descends by steps, each about five inches high, partly in the slope, partly in the rise of the step. The side chambers open off this stairway by side passages a little above the level of the stairs.

18. The Tomb of Qa, interior, pls.60, 66, 67. The structure of this tomb is rather different from any other. Instead of the timber being an entirely separate structure apart from the brick, the brick sides seem here to have been very loosely built against the timber sides. All around the chamber were great beams 10 to 13 inches deep, and 9  inches wide, recessed to hold the ends of the flooring planks, and with deep mortice holes at intervals to hold upright posts. The beam section and place of holes is seen on pl.67, and the ends of the posts still in place in the photograph of pl.66, No. 6. The brickwork close to  the chamber sides is so loose and rough that it  has nearly all fallen away, but on the west side  of the doorway it remains, projecting over the  beam, and evidently filling in originally up to the plank lining. This lining must have been fastened on to the upright posts, and was absolutely essential if we look to the very rough loose brickwork, which was certainly so constructed because it was hidden. 

Plate 67: Section of the tomb of King Mersekha-Sempempses, and section and plan of the tomb of King Qa.

Some detail yet remains of the wooden floor (p.16) planned on the lower part of pl.67. There were two grooves or troughs across it, and two planks running at right angles to the others. There seems no reason to assume that the chamber was all one, without subdivision; probably these grooves are the places for fittings or panels.

The roofing is distinct in this tomb. Large holes for the beams remain in the walls, with red burning round each, and in one a mud cast of the rough hewn end of the beam. These beam holes are marked on the plan (pl.60), and are not opposite to one another. This implies that there was an axial beam, and that the side beams only went half across the chamber. A hole in the floor still retained part of an upright post; this was not in the true axis, but as much to one side as the post at the side of the doorway. Probably therefore the axial beam ran rather to one side of the chamber, as dotted on the plan. The greater depth of the beam holes on the east side would imply that about an equal length of beam was used on either side. As this is the only tomb with the awkward feature of an axial doorway, it is interesting to note how the beam was placed out of the axis to accommodate it. There is no evidence that the axial beam was a ridge beam, on the contrary the holes seem to show that the side beams were horizontal. Above the side  beams is a plastered wall with a moderate  batter, probably to retain the coat of sand  over the roof, as in the tomb of Zet. The thin white lines left in the brickwork of the plan show the place of finished faces in the brickwork. 

The interior of the chamber is 208.8 and 209 inches across between the floor beams, 410 and 412 in length between beams. This was doubtless the size of the wooden chamber, as the posts are set back 2.0 to 2.4 from the beam face, and that is about the usual thickness of planks in these tombs. The height from the top of the floor planks to the base of the beam holes, where is a row of headers on edge, 101 1/2 inches; the  foot of the plastered upper wall is 115 1/2, and the  top of that wall 162 inches. So the chamber was intended to be 10 x 20 cubits, and 5 cubits high. 

19. For convenience of reference the principal measurements of the tombs (in inches) are here placed together.


Tomb of Zet; see sect. 9:

Length inside extreme .     N. 470.0 S. 481.5
Breadth inside extreme     E. 369.5 W. 309.0
Length inside over beams    mid. 360.2
Breadth inside over beams    E. 241.7 W. 240.5

Chambers. Walls.
Along N. side, from W.    70.5         15.5
50.5         15.5
43.0         16.5
26.0         17.0
28.5         17.5
31.0         15.5
31.5         16.0
27.5         17.0
31.0

Along E. side, from N.    68.          16.5
56.5         16.5
59.5         17.
57.          16.
62.5

Along S. side, from E        39.5        17.
53.0         17.5
65.5         16.9
73.2        18.0
21.0         14.7
64.7         15.9
33.4         11.2
20.0

Height 89.6 to 95.3.

Deducting 2 x 6.8 from the dimensions over beams in order to find actual dimensions in wooden chamber, we have 352.6 X 228.l or 226.9 for the chamber; or 17 cubits of 20.74 and 11 cubits of 20.73 to 20.63.


(p.17) Tomb of Merneit; see sect.11:

Inner chamber, E. and W. 354; N. and S. 250.
Inner chamber high, 105.

Offering chambers, over all, W. 557; N. 454; S. 457.
Offering chambers, lengths, 160 to 215.

Cubit, 20,63 to 20.83; average, 20-75.


Tomb of Azab; see sect.14:

Length at base          E. 258 W. 257.2
Breadth at base          N. 165 S. 163.5
At top these dimensions are 7 1/2 to 20 larger.

Offering chamber:
Length at base          N. 161 S. 161
Breadth at base          E. 97 W. 98
At top these dimensions are 13 to 23 larger.

Stairway width 63 wide below to 76 above.
By tomb chamber cubit 20.44 to 20.64, mean 20-57.


Tomb of Mersekha; see sect. 16:

Length inside          E. 656 W. 651
Breadth             N. 291-4 S. 293-1
at 60 up     295-2 mid. 296-0
Along S. side         E. 130-4 31-5 pil. 131-2 W.
Along E. side         S. 523-0 107 door 26 N.

Wall. Chamber. Wall. Chamber. Wall

On N. side         59     71        10    60
E. “                67     50         16     64     16
S. „                 60     94         0     0     0
W                 62     46         16     42     10

Greatest height 139, but incomplete.


Tomb of Qa; see sect. 18:
Length inside of beams     E. 410, W. 412-5.
Breadth inside of beams     N. 208-8, S. 208, mid. 209-2.
Depth from sand 110 under beams, 124 slope to 170.
Depth from floor lOl 1/2 under beams, 115^ slope to 161 ½.

Wall. Door. Wall. Door. Wall.
Along E. side passage 76     26     109     28     8
Cubit 20.5 to 20.88, mean 20.72.


Every chamber was measured, and the details of positions of objects drawn at the time of clearing; but it seems needless to state all the figures, as they are plotted in the plans. The above dimensions are the only ones from which any deductions are likely to be required. The mean values of the cubit are 20.70, 20.75, 20.57, 20.72 inches. Probably 20.72 was the standard cubit of that age.

       





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