Subsequent seasons were spent investigating the areas adjacent to
Horemheb's monument, which is probably the most important of the New
Kingdom tombs in the necropolis. More tombs of the period were found
and in 1986 Dr Martin's original aim was achieved with the discovery
of the tomb of Maya through the tomb-shaft of an adjacent structure.
The Saqqara New Kingdom tombs, unlike their Theban counterparts,
generally consist of free-standing tomb-chapels, in effect miniature
temples, above a complex of funerary chambers hewn out of the rock
which are accessible through deep shafts. The chapel walls were
decorated with limestone reliefs, colourfully painted on plaster. The
tombs can be divided into three main types of construction - a simple
single-roomed chapel; a cult-room flanked by chapels and an open
courtyard; and a more complex 'temple tomb' reserved for the highest
of the elite.
The New Kingdom necropolis has provided a rich source of information
about the citizens of Memphis and their families during this period
and has been the cause of much excitement among archaeologists and
students of Egyptology. Several other teams have since conducted
excavations in the area. Between 1977 and 1988 a University of Cairo
team directed first by Soad Maher, then by Sayed Tawfik uncovered rows
of important tombs along the eastern edge of the necropolis,
excavating around 35 tombs in the area of the Monastery of Apa
Jeremias. Since the 1980s the Mission Archeologique Francais du
Bubastieion under the direction of Alain Zivie have been working to
clear the tomb of Aper-el, the Vizier of Lower Egypt under Amenhotep
III and Akhenaten whose rich burial was discovered by Zivie in 1987.
The Royal Museum of Ontario have also been working towards the
documentation of all objects from Saqqara which are scattered around
the world, providing a context for the numerous artefacts which have
until now had no provenance. Archaeologists of the Leiden Expedition
are also still continuing to clear the tombs of Memphis high
officials.
The following is a brief description of New Kingdom tombs found since
1975, in chronological order of their discovery or clearance.
Tomb of General Horemheb
Horemheb built a tomb for himself at Saqqara while he was a general
and regent of the young Tutankhamun. He was later to be buried in his
royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes (KV57) after
succeeding Ay as the last pharaoh of Dynasty XVIII, leaving his grand
Saqqara tomb for the burials of his anonymous first wife and his
second wife Queen Mutnodjmet. His tomb was excavated over four seasons
between 1975 and 1978 by Geoffrey Martin's expedition, revealing a
vast complex built in three stages of construction, resembling a cult
or mortuary temple. The tomb is approached by way of a once massive
pylon and a paved columned courtyard, but many of the original reliefs
from here were destroyed. A statue room and second courtyard lead to
three chapels at the rear of the structure. Remaining wall reliefs
have provided archaeologists with a huge quantity of information about
the historical situation at the end of Dynasty XVIII and particularly
of Horemheb's military career. Horemheb's tomb has been superbly
restored, with many replica reliefs cast from blocks in museums, but
is not yet generally open to visitors. |
Tomb of Paser
Paser's monument lies immediately to the west of Horemheb's tomb and
was discovered and cleared in 1980, by Geoffrey Martin's team. Paser,
who was an Overseer of Builders and Royal Scribe during the reign of
Rameses II, came from a well-known Memphite family. A large stela of
Paser has been in the British Museum's collection since 1835 and a
replica now stands in the tomb. His tomb was of a fairly simple type,
suggesting that its owner was of middle-rank rather than an important
official and was unfinished at his death. It is known from
inscriptions that Paser had a brother, Tjuneroy, whose tomb has not
yet been found.
Tomb of Raia
Raia's small burial monument was also discovered in 1980 and adjoins
the southern wall of Paser's court. Raia held the title of 'Chief of
Singers' in the Memphite Temple of Ptah and was probably a
contemporary of Paser. Although the tomb-chapel is tiny - consisting
of only a single chamber with two pillars - its well-preserved
decoration in almost complete form has proved extremely informative.
An exquisite inlay of a human face was found with other funerary
furnishings in the burial shaft of Raia's tomb.
Tomb of Tia and Tia
The tomb of a Ramesside Princess named Tia was first discovered in
1982 by the EES-Leiden team. Tia was a sister of Rameses II and
married to a high-status administrative official also named Tia. Their
tomb is situated adjacent to Horemheb's monument and consists of a
paved courtyard leading through a massive pylon gateway to an open
colonnaded court. The underground burial chambers are accessed by a
deep shaft at the west wall of the court. A doorway in the west wall
leads to an antechamber with remains of two columns and a cult-chapel,
where fragments of a huge stela were found. The antechamber and
cult-chapel were mostly destroyed in antiquity, but their remaining
walls are decorated with scenes of the royal family. Another chamber,
known as the Apis chapel, once containing a statue of the Apis bull,
adjoins the south wall of the antechamber and this is better preserved
with many reliefs, especially of animals carved in the Old Kingdom
style. Another intriguing feature of the tomb was a small
partly-preserved (mock) pyramid built behind the offering chamber,
which perhaps echoes the 'pyramid tombs' at Thebes. The Pyramidion
from the tomb of the Tias was brought to England in 1722, recorded in
scientific journals of the time, but has since been lost.
Tomb of Iurudef
This tomb shaft was discovered in 1984 during excavations in the tomb
of the Tias. Iurudef was first seen in the royal tomb, officiating at
the ritual 'Voyage to Abydos' in funerary scenes and he appears to
have been a trusted steward and scribe in the household of the
princess and her husband. He must have held a privileged position to
own a tomb shaft in such an important tomb and when this was
investigated it revealed entrances to two chambers crammed full of
coffins. The shaft was re-cleared during the next season, descending
to further levels and producing a wealth of funerary equipment of
Iurudef, including shabtis in the names of his wife and other family
members. A stela of Iurudef now in the Oriental Museum at Durham
University suggests that it must have been set up in a chapel of the
royal tomb and so its owner would have derived the benefits from
funerary offerings to the royal couple.
Tomb of Khay
Khay was a technician, a Memphite official during the reign of Rameses
II whose title was 'Goldwasher of the Lord of the Two Lands'. His
small tomb-chapel behind the monument of Tia and Tia was uncovered by
Dr Martin's team in 1986. The southern room of his chapel depicts
valuable scenes of the gold workshops of Memphis showing Khay
supervising gold smelting and craftsmen at work while other walls in
the tomb-chapel mostly illustrate funerary rites.
Tomb of Pabes
Pabes (or Pabasa) owned a tomb behind that of his father Khay, which
was discovered around the same time. The badly preserved tomb contains
three rooms, the central chamber being a cult-room with remains of a
stela against the east wall. In the northern chamber is an interesting
scene depicting the Memphite dockyard (whose location at this period
is still unknown) where produce is being unloaded from ships. Pabes
appears to have been a merchant.
Tomb of Ramose
Ramose held a military title at the end of Dynasty XVIII and was a
contemporary of General Horemheb. His largely destroyed tomb lies
behind that of Tia and Tia and to the north of the monuments of Khay
and Pabes, but its plan shows that it originally consisted of an outer
courtyard, an inner courtyard with the main burial shaft and an
offering chamber flanked by side-chapels. It was from Ramose's burial
shaft that access was finally gained to the much-sought tomb of Maya
in 1986. A stela of Ramose which has been in the Berlin Museum's
collection since the 1820s has now been identified as probably
originating from this tomb.
Tomb of Maya and Meryt
Eleven years after the EES-Leiden Mission first begun their search for
the tomb of Maya, it was discovered at last in 1986 through a robbers
tunnel in the burial shaft in the tomb of Ramose. Upon reaching the
subterranean parts of the adjacent tomb, Geoffrey Martin was
confronted by ' . . . a room full of carved reliefs painted in a rich
golden yellow'. The team was then able to locate and clear the
courtyard and chapels of Lepsius's long-lost tomb of Maya during 1987
and subsequent seasons, revealing remains of magnificent painted
reliefs. Maya, the treasurer of Tutankhamun, died during the reign of
Horemheb, and Meryt was his wife. Although many of the reliefs were
plundered, there are beautiful depictions of Maya and his wife adoring
Osiris on the limestone pylon, and in the burial chambers Maya is seen
worshipping the gods whose figures are painted in golden yellow. A
beautiful statue pair of Maya and Meryt whose description by Lepsius
first inspired Dr Martin's search for the tomb, was found face-down in
the courtyard and is now in Leiden Museum. Blocks from the inner
courtyard had been removed for later re-use, especially in the
Monastery of Apa Jeremias, many eventually finding their way into
museums around the world. It is hoped that they (or at least replicas)
will one day be returned to their place of origin. The subterranean
chambers of the tomb of Maya were also lavishly decorated, though in a
very damaged condition. Work is in progress on the re-erection and
restoration of reliefs of the tomb's burial chambers below the second
courtyard in a more stable strata. Maya's pylon has recently been
consolidated with modern mudbrick.
Tomb of Aper-el
The entrance to the tomb of Aper-el lies in the cliff below the
Antiquities Service rest-house at Saqqara, in an area known as Abwab
el-Qotat (Doors of the Cats) where hundreds of mummified cats had been
interred in earlier tombs. Alain Zivie's excavations with the French
Archaeological Mission of the Bubasteion revealed the tomb of Aper-el
(or Aperia), Vizier under Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, during their
search for cat-burials in 1987. A huge burial complex on four levels
was subsequently cleared and in the lower level, the burial apartments
of Aper-el, his wife Tauret and their son, Huy was found to contain a
large part of their funerary treasure, including the mummified bodies
of the family still in their beautiful coffins - an astonishing find
for Egyptian archaeology and art history. The find was of great
importance, not only because of the treasures revealed, but because
the paintings illustrate art in the time of Akhenaten, not from Amarna
or Thebes, but from Memphis which had remained Egypt's main
administrative capital. A further exciting discovery which came to
light in the 1994-5 season was a bas-relief portrait of the god
Osiris, flanked by Isis and Nephthys in a cult-niche. The portrait of
Osiris was carved over the defaced portrayals of Aper-el and his
family in the niche and it is thought to be completely new at Saqqara.
During the same season, the French Mission discovered an unusual
well-preserved statue-pair of a granary supervisor, Merysekhmet and
his wife in a nearby New Kingdom tomb, also said to be the first time
such rock-carved statues have been found at Saqqara.
Tomb of Iniuia
In 1993, to the south of the tomb of Horemheb, the Leiden Expedition
discovered the tomb of Iniuia, who held the titles of 'Overseer of the
Cattle of Amun' and was a 'Chief Steward' during the reign of
Tutankhamun. The tomb's superstructure consists of a simple courtyard
with a chapel at the western end which rose to form a small pyramid
shape, the tip of which is now in the Louvre. Another vaulted chapel
to the north-east contains well preserved paintings of Iniuia offering
to Osiris and other deities. A burial shaft accessed from the
courtyard contained multiple intrusive burials from the Late Period
and leads to two chambers. Iniuia's sarcophagus, presumably from here,
was removed to the Louvre in the early 19th century.
Tomb of Pay
Pay's tomb was found in the Saqqara New Kingdom necropolis by the
Leiden Expedition in 1994. He was the father of Raia, an army officer,
whose tomb had been discovered in 1980 and upon further excavation of
the former's monument it was discovered that Raia had adapted his
father's tomb for his own burial adding a second courtyard and new
gateway to the original structure. Pay's titles were 'Overseer of
Cattle in the Temple of Amun' and 'Overseer of the Harem of Memphis'
during the reign of Tutankhamun. Wall reliefs depict Pay and his wife
Repyt with their family. Pay's burial chamber was found to contain
seven burials, perhaps including the tomb-owner's own mummy.
Tomb of Maia
The French Mission have recently cleared more New Kingdom tombs at the
site known as the Door of the Cats. The most significant of these,
discovered by Alain Zivie in 1997, was the tomb of a lady called Maia
(or Mayet) who held a high position in court, widely believed to be
that of wet-nurse to the infant Tutankhaten (later, Tutankhamun). If
this is the case then this lady may be the nurse portrayed carrying a
baby in a mourning-scene in the royal tomb at Amarna. In a scene in
her Saqqara tomb, Maia is depicted with an infant on her lap, while a
pet dog sits beneath her chair. The lady's relationship to Tutankhamun
could be interpreted from the hieroglyphic text as either 'Nurse of
Tutankhaten' or 'Foster-mother of Tutankhaten'. Excavations are
currently continuing in Maia's tomb and it is hoped that it will
eventually throw light on the early life of Tutakhamun and events at
the end of the Amarna period.
Tomb of Meryre
In February 2001 a joint Dutch-Egyptian team announced the discovery
of the tomb of Meryre, High Priest of Memphis during the reign of
Amenhotep III and Akhenaten. It would appear that Meryre changed his
name from Mery-Neit during Akhenaten's reign, and held the titles
'Overseer of the God Aten,' and 'Overseer of the Fields of Aten',
suggesting that there may have been an Aten Temple at Memphis. It is
hoped that reliefs from the tomb will reveal information about the
early Amarna Period in Lower Egypt, which is so far poorly documented,
although Akhenaten's name and image has been deleted from the tomb.
Tomb of Raya
A new tomb dating from the Amarna Period has recently been discovered
by Alain Zivie in the area of cliff later reused as a cat cemetery.
The tomb belongs to a scribe who worked in the Temples of Aton at
Memphis and Aketaten. The scribe appears to have had two names, Raya
and Hatyiay, probably an indication of a name-change during the Amarna
Period. The tomb decoration, which is characteristically colourful and
naturalistic is executed in Amarna style with the extreme form of art
used during the latter part of that period. Many scenes show themes
pre-dating the Amarna Period, including daily life and funerary scenes
depicting representations of traditional deities, which could suggest
that the older forms of worship had not entirely disappeared outside
Akhetaten. The tomb is well preserved with very high quality reliefs
reminiscent of some of the exceptional artwork seen at Amarna.
New Kingdom burials around the Pyramid of Teti
The Egyptian mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, during
routine clearance work around the Pyramid of Teti at Saqqara, have
recently announced (July 2002) the discovery of seven mudbrick tombs
and a pyramidion, dating to the New Kingdom. Each of the tombs, which
are said to belong to high-ranking priests and officials, consists of
an entrance, an open courtyard containing a burial shaft and a vaulted
chapel at the rear. Artefacts found so far include statues and stelae,
amulets and scarabs and most significantly a limestone pyramidion from
the tomb of Thener, a scribe in the Temple of Ptah. Other owners of
the newly-discovered tombs are named as Djehotemheb, Neferrenpet, Hewi
and Ptahmose. In one of the two unidentified tombs a faience cartouche
has been dated to the reign of Seti I. |
