Early Dynastic Egypt
Page 33
A pair of stelae bearing the name of the royal owner probably stood in front of the tomb, on the east side, although none was found in situ (Petrie 1900:6).
SEQUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT
The sequence of royal tombs from the first half of the First Dynasty shows rapid and dramatic development (cf. Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:245–60). The tomb complex at the head of the Early Dynastic sequence comprises three elements, two brick-lined chambers (B1 and B2) and an adjacent offering-pit cut into the surface (B0). The complex has been ascribed to a King *Iry-Hor on the basis of seal-impressions and inscribed vessels found in the brick-lined chambers (Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:232–5; this attribution is disputed by Wilkinson 1993; O’Brien 1996:131–2). It has been questioned whether the two brick- lined chambers belonged to the same burial, since ‘one would have expected…that if B1 and 2 were parts of the same tomb they would…have been given the same orientation’ (Kemp 1966:22). This part of the cemetery has suffered greatly from disturbance and mixing of the tomb contents, so that the date and ownership of B0/1/2 must remain in some doubt.
None the less, it seems to have been customary for kings of late ‘Dynasty 0’ to build a tomb composed of two separate chambers. The adjacent chambers B7 and B9 almost certainly belonged to King ‘Ka’, probably Narmer’s immediate predecessor. Narmer himself combined two chambers in one large pit, producing his double tomb B17/18. Some doubts have been expressed as to whether B17/18 really represents Narmer’s tomb. It would seem a rather insignificant monument for so prominent a king, and there are unexplored parts of the Abydos necropolis which might conceal a more impressive tomb. Only by a thorough exploration of the entire Umm el-Qaab can we hope to solve the riddle.
Narmer’s successor Aha seems to have reverted to the earlier custom, building his chambers separately, and on a much larger scale (Kemp 1966:22). His mortuary complex comprises three large chambers (B10, B15 and B19), two smaller pits (B13 and B14) and a series of 34 subsidiary burials (B16), mostly in three parallel rows, spreading eastwards (Petrie 1901: pl. LIX). The graves of retainers which accompany Aha’s tomb appear as a new feature in royal mortuary provision, one that was to remain standard at Abydos throughout the First Dynasty. It was once suggested that the westernmost chamber of the Aha complex, B19, may have been built earlier than the other two. Its attribution to an ephemeral successor of Aha is not supported by any inscriptions and has been rejected as ‘unconvincing’ (Kemp 1966:22). There seems little doubt that all three chambers, B10/15/19, belong to one and the same complex, given their near identical size and other similarities. The slightly different orientation of chamber B10 may indicate that it was built first (Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:219). The two chambers to the west of B19 (B13 and B14) show similarities to Narmer’s double tomb (B17/18): the northern chamber is smaller than the southern, and contained two post-holes, perhaps from a wooden construction within the pit. Hence, chambers B13 and B14 may represent an earlier stage in Aha’s mortuary complex, modelled closely on the tomb of his predecessor. Once the three main chambers had been built, B14 seems to have become the tomb of a person called Benerib (Bnr-ỉb) (Petrie 1901:5).
To the east of Aha’s complex lies a four-chambered tomb, illustrated by Petrie on his cemetery plans but neither numbered nor described by him. Recently designated chamber B50 (Dreyer 1990:68), the tomb has been re-excavated by the German expedition, which found it to be completely empty, but for a small bone label inscribed with some numerals and a few faience beads. Lack of evidence makes the dating and attribution of B50
impossible. None the less, its orientation, the same as B7/9 and B17/18, may be significant. It may have been the tomb of one of Aha’s predecessors; King ‘Scorpion’ has been suggested as a possible occupant (Dreyer 1990:71), although the archaeological and historical indications point to him having been buried at Hierakonpolis (Brinks 1979:148).
Equally mysterious is the adjacent pit, labelled B40 (Dreyer 1990:70). Discovered beneath a deposit of later offering-pottery, B40 showed no signs of any walling material such as mudbrick. It has been mooted as the tomb of ‘Athothis I’, a supposed ephemeral successor of Aha (Dreyer 1990:71).
The tomb complex of Djer, Aha’s successor, shows a number of new features. The main burial chamber was provided with a series of recesses, painted red, perhaps early false doors (Petrie 1901:8). The subsidiary burials—numbering 318, the most of any royal tomb at Abydos—were arranged in two groups. One large block is located to the north-east of the king’s tomb, another group surrounds the tomb on all four sides, with a gap to the south-west (Petrie 1901: pls LVIII, LX-LXI).
Many of the subsidiary graves accompanying the tomb of Djet contained crudely inscribed and roughly finished private stelae, giving the name (and sometimes title) of the deceased. In addition, some of the graves were identified by having the names of their occupants ‘inscribed in red paint on the walls’ (Petrie 1900:8). The tomb of Djet was the only tomb on the Umm el-Qaab to preserve evidence of the original superstructure. A retaining wall of mudbricks held in place a tumulus of earth which covered the burial chamber (Petrie 1900:9) but did not rise above the ground surface. Another feature of Djet’s burial, unparalleled in the other First Dynasty royal tombs at Abydos, is the presence of ceramic s3-signs, which were apparently placed in niches in the burial chamber to provide extra protection for the deceased king (B.Adams 1994).
The tomb of Merneith shows great regularity and precision in its construction. A central burial chamber is surrounded by eight store-rooms, and the whole is encircled by a line of subsidiary graves (Petrie 1900: pl. LXI). As in the tomb of Djer, the ring of subsidiary graves is broken at the south-west corner, providing a direct sight-line between the burial chamber and the cleft in the cliffs behind the Umm el-Qaab. The Egyptians may have believed this cleft to be an entrance to the underworld (Patch 1991:56–7; cf. R.Friedman 1994:17).
The tomb of Den was described by Petrie as ‘one of the most costly and sumptuous’ (Petrie 1900:11). It shows several unique features, emphasising Den’s reign as a cultural high point of the Early Dynastic period. The burial chamber was paved with slabs of pink granite from Aswan, the largest use of granite until the Step Pyramid complex of Netjerikhet (Petrie 1901:9). Another innovation is the entrance stairway which gives access to the burial chamber, crossing the east range of subsidiary graves. This must have represented a threat to the security of the burial, and was therefore blocked by a stone ‘portcullis’ slab. Unique on the Umm el-Qaab is the separate annex with its own staircase, located at the south-west corner of Den’s tomb (Petrie 1901:11; Dreyer 1990:76–9, figs 7–8). A limestone block in the furthest room strongly indicates a pedestal, perhaps for a statue. Given the proximity of the annex to the king’s burial chamber, it is unlikely that such a statue would have been other than of the king himself (Dreyer 1990:77). This hypothesis leads to an entirely new interpretation of the annex as a whole. The far room may be seen as a forerunner of the serdab, housing the statue of
the deceased king for his mortuary cult. The staircase leading to the annex has been interpreted as providing not an entrance but an exit for the king’s ka. The two pits in front of the annex may have been the graves of particularly favoured retainers, or alternatively officials connected in some way with the king’s mortuary cult. The orientation of the annex to the south-west is unlikely to have been unintentional, and may be linked to the course of the Great Wadi which connects the Umm el-Qaab and the site of the funerary enclosures nearer the cultivation (Dreyer 1990:78).
The small size and poor, apparently hasty construction of Anedjib’s tomb (Petrie 1900:12) can be explained if it is regarded as an ‘emergency burial’ (Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:251). It is possible that the king died unexpectedly, forcing the rapid completion of a tomb without the necessary time for an elaborate monument. As in the tomb of Den, the entrance stairway approaches the tomb from the east, perhaps oriented to the rising sun.
The tomb of Semerkhet shows a new development: the subsidiary
graves are built immediately adjoining the burial chamber, forming a single, unified structure (Petrie 1900:13, pl. LX). This is of great significance, since ‘it would appear probable that the superstructure covered not only the burial chamber but also the subsidiary graves’ (Emery 1961:85). It follows that the occupants of the subsidiary graves must have been buried at the same time as the king himself. Hence, the tomb of Semerkhet seems to represent the first proven instance of retainer sacrifice.
Plate 7.1 The tomb of Qaa, during re-excavation by the German Archaeological Institute in 1992 (author’s photograph).
This arrangement was maintained in the tomb of Qaa (Emery 1961:87; Plate 7.1). Initial excavation of Qaa’s tomb suggested ‘hasty and defective construction’ (Petrie 1900:14)—many of the bricks seem to have been used before they had dried completely, leading to the collapse of some walls—but recent re-excavation has shown that the
monument was built in several phases, apparently over a long period of time (Engel, in Dreyer et al. 1996:57–71). The objects recovered from the tomb of Qaa by Petrie indicate that separate chambers were reserved for different categories of tomb equipment (Hoffman 1980:272). A new feature is the direction of the entrance stairway, which is now oriented to the north (Petrie 1900:4). This foreshadows the Second Dynasty royal tombs at Saqqara and the step pyramid complexes of the Third Dynasty which were aligned to the north.
Funerary enclosures
From the reign of Djer onwards, it has been suggested that the ‘twin tomb’ of the late Predynastic and early First Dynasty kings was replaced by a single tomb on the Umm el- Qaab, accompanied by a separate funerary enclosure on the low desert nearer the cultivation (Kaiser 1964:96–102). The internal architecture of the late Predynastic tomb U-j supports the identification of the later enclosures as ‘funerary palaces’ (Kemp 1966:16). Their symbolic and architectural similarities with the Step Pyramid enclosure of Netjerikhet (Kaiser 1969) lend added weight to the hypothesis, although other interpretations have been suggested (Lauer 1968:82–3; Helck 1972). Whilst the long- term function of an enclosure may have been as a focus for the royal mortuary cult (O’Connor 1991:5, 7) and an arena for the eternal pageantry of kingship (Kaiser 1969:17), on a more practical level each enclosure may have served to protect the body of the deceased king until all the burial preparations had been completed. The permanent building identified in the south-east corner of Peribsen’s and Khasekhemwy’s enclosures may have housed the body of the dead king or sheltered his successor during the burial preparations. In addition, the enclosure may have been the location for some of the funeral ceremonies (Kaiser 1969:18–19).
To date, no enclosure attributable to Narmer or Aha has been located. None the less, the existence of further enclosures on the low desert is quite plausible, given the extensive area of largely unexcavated ground south of the Coptic village, Deir Sitt Damiana. First Dynasty funerary remains have been found over a wider area still, extending to the north-west of the village (Kemp 1966:15). Since the tomb of Narmer has no subsidiary burials, his funerary enclosure (if he had one) may, likewise, have stood alone. Without the lines of graves such as those that demarcate the enclosures of Djer and Djet, a possible early enclosure would be very difficult to identify archaeologically (Kaiser 1969:3, n. 3).
It was thought that the great size of the Djer and Djet enclosures precluded their having been permanent constructions of mudbrick (Kaiser 1969:3), but recent fieldwork has uncovered evidence of a mudbrick wall inside the Djer monument (O’Connor 1989, vindicating Kemp 1966:15). From the reign of Den, the enclosures were decorated with simple niches on three sides and more elaborate niches on the side facing the cultivation (Lauer 1969:83, 1988:5). The middle of the First Dynasty also witnessed a sharp reduction in the size of the monument (cf. Kemp 1966: pl. VIII; Kaiser 1969:3). Only at the end of the First Dynasty did funerary enclosures once again approach the size of the Djer and Djet monuments: the massive mudbrick walls of Deir Sitt Damiana may incorporate the funerary enclosure of Qaa (Ayrton et al. 1904:2–3; Kaiser 1969:2). The late First Dynasty seems to have been characterised by a shift in emphasis—and,
correspondingly, in expenditure—from the tomb on the Umm el-Qaab to the funerary enclosure nearer the town (Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:251). The change may reflect a conscious move towards more prominent royal funerary monuments as the visible expressions of divine kingship.
Like the enclosures of Djer and Djet, the structure attributed to Queen Merneith or her son Den (Kaiser 1969:1–2) is demarcated by lines of subsidiary burials. A deposit of First Dynasty pottery found inside the Merneith/Den enclosure (Kemp 1966:16–17) suggests that a building once existed here, as in the enclosures of the late Second Dynasty. The so- called ‘Western Mastaba’ lies immediately adjacent to the Merneith/Den enclosure, and shares the same dimensions and orientation. It is the earliest preserved enclosure to show the two types of niche decoration: simple niches on the north-west, south-west and south- east sides, and a more complex pattern of niches on the north-east wall (Kemp 1966:14). It provides a model for the reconstruction of the Merneith/Den enclosure although, unlike the latter, it is not provided with any subsidiary burials. This suggests that it dates to the latter part of the First Dynasty, when the practice of subsidiary burials was apparently dying out (Kemp 1966:15). It has been plausibly attributed to Semerkhet, penultimate king of the First Dynasty. If the Merneith/Den enclosure is attributed to Den and the ‘Western Mastaba’ to Semerkhet, then the only two rulers of the mid-and late First Dynasty without an identified funerary enclosure would be Merneith and Anedjib. The unique position of the former as queen regent but not monarch in her own right could explain her lack of a funerary enclosure; the absence of an enclosure for Anedjib could be explained by the apparent ‘emergency’ nature of his tomb (Kaiser and Dreyer 1982:254, n. 148).
A possible enclosure dated to the reign of Den has been identified at Saqqara, in addition to his putative funerary enclosure at Abydos. A group of graves excavated near the Serapeum (Macramallah 1940) has been interpreted as demarcating a ritual area (Kaiser 1985a). However, the burials are not all contemporary and the rows are not aligned at 90 degrees. The purpose of the feature is unknown, but one suggestion is that it was used for the embalming of the deceased king—assuming that he died at Memphis— before the body was taken south to Abydos for burial. Other similar enclosures of the First Dynasty have not yet come to light at Saqqara, although there are large unexcavated areas in the north-western part of the site, and it is quite possible that others may have existed along or on the edges of the Wadi Abusir. Alternatively, the Den installation could have been used by subsequent kings of the late First Dynasty, and this could account for the later dating of some of the graves (Kaiser 1985a). The proposal that the graves are subsidiary burials surrounding a large First Dynasty mastaba (Swelim 1991:392) seems unlikely since resistivity work in the area has uncovered no traces of any structure (Jeffreys and Tavares 1994:150 and n. 43).
Second dynasty
Saqqara
GALLERY TOMBS
The kings of the early Second Dynasty chose to abandon the ancestral royal cemetery of Abydos in favour of a new location overlooking the capital. This change in location must be significant, but the underlying reasons remain obscure (cf. Roth 1993:48). Not only did the tombs of the early Second Dynasty kings inaugurate a new royal cemetery, they also present an entirely new conception in royal mortuary architecture, both in terms of their size and layout (Kaiser 1992:182; cf. Munro 1993:49). Gone are the lines of subsidiary burials so characteristic of the First Dynasty royal tombs and funerary enclosures at Abydos. The practice of retainer sacrifice seems to have died with Qaa, a short-lived and no doubt wasteful experiment in absolute power. The two Second Dynasty royal tombs at Saqqara identified with certainty now lie beneath the causeway and pyramid of Unas (for example, Spencer 1993:105, fig. 80). Both tombs comprise a series of galleries, with blocks of store-rooms opening off a central, descending corridor hewn in the bedro
ck. Sealings found in the western gallery tomb bore the names of Hetepsekhemwy and Nebra. The eastern gallery tomb contained numerous sealings of Ninetjer, third king of the dynasty, identifying him as the probable owner.
The entrance section of the Hetepsekhemwy complex, open to the air after its initial construction, was subsequently covered by large limestone blocks (Munro 1993:49). The first series of magazines opens off the descending corridor, but access to the second series of magazines is blocked at the bottom of this corridor by a large granite portcullis slab. Three further slabs block the corridor at intervals (Stadelmann 1985:296). The published plan of the complex (Lauer 1936:4, fig. 2; Fischer 1961:46–8, fig. 9; Spencer 1993:104, fig. 79) ‘differs somewhat from the detailed verbal account given by the excavator’ (Roth 1993:43; cf. Barsanti 1902). In particular, the layout of the chambers is ‘by no means as regular and right-angled as depicted’ (Dodson 1996:22). In plan, the Hetepsekhemwy complex is very similar to contemporary private tombs (Roth 1993:44). The suite of rooms at the southern end of the galleries includes a large chamber to the west of the central axis, comparable to the burial chamber in Second Dynasty private tombs, and a more complex group of chambers to the east, reminiscent of the bedroom- lavatory-bathroom combination found in private tombs. The layout of the innermost chambers clearly imitates the private apartments of a house (Munro 1993:49; Roth 1993:44) and indicates that the tomb was conceived as a house for the ka of the deceased.