Known as “The Bird Tomb”, because of the great number of fowl engraved or painted on its walls, it is part of a group of eleven burials discovered and searched in 1940 by Abd el-salam Mohammed Hussein. As all the characters having their tomb at the south of the causeway of Unas, Neferherenptah was not a senior official of the state, but belonged to a group of men who were holders of functions appropriate to the sovereign’s personal service. He took care of the king’s hairdressing, his wigs and directed the other hairdressers of the palace.
The tomb presents a complex history and includes three floor levels, of which only one is decorated, and that only partially.
The burial complex was established in several phases during the V th Dynasty, which will be returned to later.
It was never the object of a complete publication, the remaining reference work being the one of Hartwig Altenmüller, the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) having received the authorisation to work in this tomb during the 70s of the last century. The location of the tomb and the general context of the period (end of the Vth Dynasty) was given on Osirisnet in the study of the tomb of Irukaptah. This is just a reminder.
Within the group of tombs which are at the south of the causeway of Unas, the one of Neferherenptah is located at the west end of a sub-group and is positioned higher in relation to those of Irukaptah, Akhethetep and Nyankhra, which are towards the east. As all tombs of this area, it underwent the repercussions of the construction of the causeway of Unas.
TOMB OWNER
Because of an erroneous interpretation of the texts found in the tomb, it has been assigned for a long time to a person named Ptahshepses , which finally proved to be the son of the final owner. The inscriptions of this tomb prove, without possible contestation, that the final owner of the monument was definitely Neferherenptah ((“Beautiful face of Ptah”). He carried the titles of “Head of the Hairdressers of the Great House (i.e. the palace) “, “Supervisor of the wig and hairdressers”, “Known to the king”. Nothing else is known about him nor of his family.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE TOMB
The tomb includes three superimposed levels, with very distinct chambers, which are not visible when one visits the monument, because the middle level and the lowest one are not accessible. These two are also uninscribed. It is necessary to examine the plan established by the German researchers to enable understanding the group of chambers
The lowest level
This corresponds to the sarcophagus chamber which one reaches by a ramp which descends from the middle level. The chamber measures 4.20m (south – north) by 2.10m (west – east) and 2.10m in height. To the west is located a table of offerings measuring 4.20m x 0.80m x 0.78m. The sarcophagus, in thin Toura limestone, is at the east end, its measurements being 2.73m x 1.32m x 0.90m. The side walls of it are 30cm thick, as also is the lid, which had been found out of place on its side. It had no human remains.
The middle level
It is condemned today. All the space at the level is cut into
the rock. The central section, oriented north – south, measures 8.90m x
2.00m x 2.40m (height). It represents a room intended the cult worship
with any precision. It doesn’t include text or decoration. 1.40m to the
south of the northwest corner stood a false door of 2.10m in width,
2.10m in height and 30cm of depth, which has disappeared. Behind it is a
serdab, T-shaped when the entrance is included. The serdab itself is
2.10m wide by 0.70m deep and 1.90m in height.
In ground opposite this false door opens up into a pit of 1.00m x 1.10m and 1.70m in depth, which provides a descent of 2.73m long which links the cult chamber to the sarcophagus chamber of the lower level.
In the northeast corner a corridor of 1.80m long by 0.80m wide and 2.10m in height which extends into a hallway, currently filled with rubble, before continuing to a second area 1m long, which opened up on to the outside. This entry – which was therefore below the present entry – was overhung by a lintel. Both faces of the corridors are lined with limestone blocks (the hallway was probably also).
The upper level
This is the chapel which one visits today, after having climbed a modern set of steps. The total construction is not completely free, the desert sand now regaining the southern part, whilst the north section is included in the base of the Unas causeway . The measurements of original mastaba are estimated at 16.00m by 10.20m, with a height of 4.40m.
The face is the mastaba includes two niches, one to the south: 1.10m wide, 40cm in depth and 3.80m in height, and the other to the north: 3.90m wide, 30cm in depth and 3.50m in height – The entry corridor into the chapel is at the same level of the last niche. It measures 0.80m wide, 1.60m long and 3.20m in height, which decreases to 2.80m inside, where there is the roller above the entrance. Below this roller was a door which previously opened towards the left. It should be noted on the photos opposite that the walls are lined with smoothed beautiful limestone plates, but without decoration, and that the roller above the door was not inscribed either.
The chapel measures 6.15m north-south by 1.30m in width (east-west) and 3.50m in height. The chamber is L-shaped due to the presence in the southwest corner of a niche, extending to 40cm from the bottom of the end wall, 2.0m wide and 0.80m in depth, which shelters a incomplete false door. Behind the south wall is a serdab of 5.15m in length by 1.30m wide and 2.50m in height, whose floor is 0.70m above that of the chapel, with which it is connected through a small narrow gap (very visible on the base wall ).
The serdab
The serdab
Katja Lehmann, in 2001, supported her thesis under the direction of Prof. Jan Assmann on the topic “The serdab in the private tombs of the Old Kingdom”. Here is a summary of it:The standard serdab is defined as an oblong or square room for a statue, situated in the superstructure of a tomb, or underground, destined to contain at least one statue of the owner of the tomb. Serdabs have been found in close to 600 tombs of the Old Kingdom, since the first Dynasty until the First Intermediate Period […] One of the results of the survey was to show that it circulates a lot of false ideas in Egyptology of the architecture, the content and the location of the serdab in the tombs. The serdab represented a funeral chamber functionally for the statue of the deceased’s ka. […] Nothing proves that, in the private tombs, the funeral of a statue of the ka was indispensable to the funeral cult: the owner of the tomb chose to integrate, or not, a serdab in his monument, as well as its location – Thus, the private serdab appears as an optional piece, that had an appropriate evolution.
In the Pharaonic tombs, it was indispensable for the funeral of statues of the royal ka.
The shaft
A vertical shaft, which begins at the top of the mastaba and
crosses firstly the masonry of this, reaches the ground level at 5m to
the north outside niche and from there penetrates 12m in the rock of the
plateau. It has a square cross-section of 1.85m on each side. At the
bottom a gallery opens up of 1m in width and height. This extends
northwards and ends, after 2.20m, in an incomplete chamber, of which
only the west wall is levelled.
This room, which was intended to become the sarcophagus chamber, has been left in this state, because, in a fortuitous manner a breach of 50cm was probably open by the chisel of the quarrymen, resulting in the sarcophagus chamber of the lower level the existence of which had been forgotten for an unknown reason.
The
owner of the upper level immediately decided to abandon his initial
project and to exploit the discovery that had just been made. He
connected the three levels and thus he found himself the owner of a tomb
of a larger size, with a sarcophagus already in place. What a chance of
a lifetime for him!
Communication between the upper and middle levels.
In
the floor of the north side of upper chapel (1) a first vertical well
of 1m descends to the height of the ceiling of the chamber below. From
there, a sloping passage of 2m in length proceeds to the north-west
corner of chapel (2) of the middle level.
The connection between the middle and lower levels is made by the descents which have already been discussed.
Significance of the architecture of the tomb
The very complex arrangement of the tomb of Neferherenptah reveals several phases of construction.
• Phase 1
Firstly, a group of rupestrian tombs were created at the level of the quarry which is at the south of the complex of Djoser. Among these was the tomb discussed here, but destined for someone of whom we don’t know anything. As that of its neighbours, it consists of a cult chamber with a hallway and a chamber with – maybe a privilege – a stone sarcophagus.
• Phase 2
This first tomb was never used, because it was going to be included in the causeway leading the pyramid of Unas from his temple of the valley. The ceiling of the hallway towards the chapel, the entries as well as the passages, were demolished. The empty spaces were filled by blocks to serve foundations in the causeway, and all the installation was to be buried under 1.50m of remnants and rubble.
• Phase 3
On this heightened ground, a 3rd phase was going to see the construction of a mastaba. At the time of the planning of the funeral shaft, the workers came across the chamber forgotten from the previous rupestrian tomb. The new owner, Neferherenptah, decided to reuse the stone sarcophagus, which is why he dug two galleries of communication.
• Phase 4
The final phase was linked to the closing of the mastaba. Under Unas, the foundations of the causeway would be raised to its present level, so that the north corner of the mastaba disappeared in this causeway and the entry of the tomb was buried. It is even possible that the entire mastaba disappeared under the rubble, a fate common to all other neighbouring tombs which are located to the south of the causeway (of which is the one of Irukaptah) .
DATING OF THE TOMB
The mastaba of Neferherenptah constitutes a good tool of analysis for the Unas causeway, just as this causeway can serve as a dating element for the tomb.
So the rupestrian tomb of the first stage, quickly buried, could date from the 1st half of the 5th Dynasty (Kanawati suggests the reign of Niuserre), whereas the mastaba of the following phase had been constructed during the reign of Unas, last king of this Dynasty. Did the closing of the tomb take place during the construction of the causeway of the pyramid, therefore later, under Unas, towards the end of the reign (?)
THE TOMB DECORATION
The walls of the very early rupestrian tomb didn’t receive any
decoration. In the sarcophagus chamber and the descents, are found three
graffiti carrying the name of Neferherenptah and his title of “Head of the hairdressers of the great house”.
Although all of the limestone blocks which constitute the walls of the upper chapel have been prepared by smoothing, the decoration is exclusively on the north and west walls.
One of the special characteristics of the chapel is its incompleteness: no scene is entirely finished, which allows one to observe the different phases of the work. The colours were applied on the smooth areas, as well on the engraved areas (even though the engraving was not finished). The reason for this is not obvious: maybe by superstition (the fearful owner thought that the end of the decoration induced his own end…). Perhaps more probably, because of the urgency, Neferherenptah would have left a minimalist decoration thus significant for him.
Another characteristic of the tomb is the great many representations of birds, flying freely, caught in a net or contained by in a cage. The other scenes are also appropriate to the farming life: raising of the animals, wine-harvests, picking and maintenance of the gardens. It doesn’t have a cult scene, except for two representations of funeral priests, and no member of the deceased’s family is represented. The scenes of handicraft, of the butcher’s shop or ritual are missing completely. Maybe they were to take place on the walls which have remained blank.
In the restricted sphere, which evolves the deceased, that is to say his tomb and those of the other courtiers which are located around their king’s pyramid, these agricultural scenes have a double function. This is to bring him the certainty that he won’t lack provisions for the mouth and to bring into his tomb the outside world, so that he can enjoy some in his new life of the beyond (Allen).
The preliminary sketches and drawings are comparable with those of other tombs of the Old Kingdom, but they are of such a wealth of details that they deserve a special homage. All characters and objects have outlines drawn at first in the red ink, then overdrawn with black ink. Every line is clean and precise, achieved freehand. For the human figures, only one line of contour was sufficient to the painter. There are only the curly wigs which the artist coloured entirely. For the animals, especially the pigeons, of which the wings and the tails were produced by back brush-strokes, it can be noted that the plumage was depicted by coloured spots, producing half tones, which gives to the paintings a particularly original aspect.
The decoration is limited therefore to the north and west walls, each being 3.50m in height. The decorated area begins 1.35m above floor level and occupy an area of 2.10m from the top. It is divided into five registers of 43m to 44cm each. At the top is a frieze which is formed of triangles and vertical bars, but only drawn in outline . Finally, it should be noted that the ceiling is painted in red with black points, to imitate the precious granite of Asswan.
The north wall
The decoration, dominated by the raising of cattle, begins 50cm after the entry. There is no trace of coloured paint and three areas remain incomplete. The following description is from top to bottom and from left to right.
Register N°1 (upper)
A line of text, which makes reference to Neferherenptah and to his son, occupies the upper part of the register: “Property of the head of the hairdressers of the palace, confidant of the king, Neferherenptah, which for him has managed his son, the judge and director of the scribes, Ptahshepses”.
on the left, a seated herdsman feeds by hand an ox, with the following commentary: “fattened by the cattleman”
in the middle, two bovines, facing in the opposite direction to each other, are situated one above the other in two sub-registers. A braid covering is placed on the back of the one at the top; the lower one drinks milk from a bowl, which the text confirms: “drinking milk”.
on the right the scene is badly preserved and difficult to photograph. Two naked drovers are fighting, watched by two spectators. One has got the upper hand over his opponent, and clamps the head of his opponent between his knees. The commentary, difficult to translate, says something like: “his defeat is imprisoned in the tomb”. The spectator on right, is a foreman according to the fact that he wears a loincloth and leans on a cane staff. The one of left adopts a well known position of the day, expressing respect, his left hand clutching his right shoulder.
Register N°2
This shows the daily life of the herdsman and bird-catchers who are held under a shelter, the roof of which is supported by five posts, which delimit four sections, the left three of which are subdivided into two. All the men are clothed in a short loincloth and present an alopecia of type androgenic, a scorer of a lower social condition. Only one wears a wig.
From top to bottom and left to right are found:
a) – a herdsman cleans a mat, on which he kneels .
b) – a herdsman produces a mat from papyrus, with the inscription: “plaiting the papyrus”. The two objects on the right, in the shape of horizontal 8’s, are difficult to identify.
c) – a herdsman kneads dough, which he creates in a large vessel. This man is located overlapping the upright post. His text states: “kneading the dough”. Simultaneously, the man opposite him bakes two rolls of bread over a charcoal fire, which he kindles with a fan. The text states: “bake (in the ashes) “.
d) – a bird-catcher prepares (or repairs) a net; text states: “knotting the net, by the bird-catcher”; it seems that there is a seat in front of him with a non plucked bird attached to the back of it.
e) – a large variety of vegetables, fruits, breads, jars of beverage and perhaps pickles are in a storage area .
f) – a cook roasts a bird on a skewer, whilst kindling the fire with a fan. Commentary: “roasting a bird by the cook/butler”.
g) – this scene occupies the full height of the register, on the right . It shows a supervisor resting on a comfortable seat, holding in one hand his staff of office, whilst of the other he holds to his mouth a large jar to drink the contents from it (probably milk). He is assisted by a man who stands leaning towards him. This man is the only one to have a wig and shown to be standing. There is no text in this scene. Several pieces of meat are suspended from the ceiling: cutlets, a rib-basket and plucked or not plucked poultry.
Register N°3
Next to a drover, nonchalantly leaning on a staff, who indifferently attends two spectacular scenes. These include, on the left, the copulation between an ox without horns and a cow which has beautiful raised lyriform horns. The legend is temperate: “covered by the bull”. On the right, is seen the consequence, in a damaged scene, in it the cow provides the world with a calf, with a kneeling drover’s help who pulls it by the forefeet, the text stating: “delivering the cow with (its) birth”. Standing behind the cow and the drover (separated by a damaged area), a supervisor observes the process, spreading his left hand in a magic gesture. He giving an advice – as always in this kind of representation – but this text is largely lost: “Deliver well…”.
Register N°4
This is surmounted by an inscription which occupies the whole length of the scene: “The domain of the supervisor of the hairdressers of the palace, supervisor of the wigs and hairdressers, Neferherenptah, rich in cattle, which his son administered for him, (he who is) judge and foreman of the scribes, Ptahshepses”.
On the left, a man is milking a cow which, turning its head towards him, licks his hair, whilst its calf is between its paws. The text states: “the process of milking”. The second scene is identical, as well as its legend, but cow and calf seem indifferent and face forwards, not interested in the fact that the cow is being milked.
On the right, a standing man pours milk into a jar which is held by his kneeling fellow worker. The word “milk” is hardly sketched. They are approached from the right by two men. The one at the rear, who has a curly wig, holds two containers of milk. He is accompanied by one with a hairy and little tidy shepherd. The herdsman makes a gesture, which could signify that this milk is from his own production . It would therefore be a delivery to the deceased.
Register N°5 (bottom)
Nine characters head toward the inside of the tomb. All have a
curly wig and an overlapping kilt, as well as sandals on their feet. It
should be remembered that Rodna Siebels showed that the wearing of sandals had nothing to do with social status, sex or the sacredness of the place: whoever wished to could wear them whenever and wherever.
All
these nine are porters, of which the three last are only sketched. Each
carry in varied positions one or two vases of wine. Above the
procession can be read the text: “Bringing wine by the mortuary priests of the estate (“pr-Dt”) , to the overseer of the hairdressers of the palace, Neferherenptah, for the offering of the deceased (?) “.
• The per-djet
(Manuel de Codage : pr-Dt), literally the “domain of eternity” or “house of eternity”
Here is what Bernadette Menu wrote concerning fundamental possessions in the Old Kingdom, (however, translated into English) :
“During the Old Kingdom, one essentially observes three phenomena with regard to the holding of the lands by individuals:
1) Allocation of a certain quantity of lands as part of an official position; income obtained from the exploitation of the land permitted to cover the “expenses of working” and to ensure the remuneration for the holder of the office. The lands, being attached to the function and not to the person, changed holder at the same time as the responsibility passed to another official.
2) constitution of assigned domains “intuitu personae” to dignitaries of high rank, to allow them to lead their life style and, maybe (but nothing is less sure), to appropriate the necessary fundamental endowments for the maintenance of the funeral equipment: construction and equipment for the tomb, installation of a department of offerings. The companions of the king and the high officials of the State enjoyed these domains (“per-djet”) during the time of their existence, whatever was the events during their career (promotions, travels).
At the death of the beneficiary, the “per-djet”, a sufficiently large area of land to include some villages, presumably returned to the administration which could have it again. Note that “djet”, during the Old Kingdom, implies a notion of private usage of property or services (the “djet” of a funeral foundation is the attracted servant, a hierarchical superior is in a way his “homme liege”).
3) Hereditary transference of lands whose income was allocated to life in the beyond. The properties acquired in this way were definitely to a private title, so that one can consider the funeral property as the only real form of private property in the Old Kingdom; his property is however moderated by two restrictions: the exercise must be confirmed by royal charter and the properties are passed on in joint possession “to only one son”. The founder of a funeral cult severely forbid his heirs alienation, global or partial, for free or for a fee, of lands and other properties which were allocated to the service of the deceased”.
Per-djet also indicates a type of funeral architecture, a grouping of tombs protected by an outer wall.
The west wall
This wall, a total of 6.15m in length, includes three parts (starting at the south base wall) : a small uninscribed segment of 40cm, a recess of 2m in width, thus giving the chamber a horizontal L-shaped form, and finally a section of 3.75m in length which is the only one to be decorated. The scenes are distributed on five registers. The themes are once again agricultural, related to the gathering of fruits, grape harvesting, the market-garden cultivation, the birds, the harvest of the papyrus (the scenes are to be read from right to left). On some drawings accentuation has been started, the others, notably on the left side, are only sketched. Because of the lack of space, it is impossible to have a general view of the scenes – and a plan of the wall doesn’t exist (unless one hasn’t been found).
Register N°1 (upper)
This shows the capture of birds and the harvest of fruits on trees in a cultivated garden.
a) – Scenes 1 and 2
This represents a cloud of birds, among which only orioles are easily identifiable, are being caught in a net stretched over a tree. A bird catcher crawls under the net to seize them. The scene has the legend “capturing the orioles”. To the left of the tree stands a second bird catcher accepts the birds passed to him by the other
b) – Scene 3
In two superimposed sub-registers, is seen how the captured orioles are placed in cages. In each of the two inter-registers, a bird-hunter sits (upper image) and kneels (lower image) before a cage. The upper one receives a bird offered to him by the team member from the scene just described. Above the cages can be seen orioles whose wings are impeded by being fastened together.
c) – Scene 4
After the capture in the trees, comes a classic scene of the capture of the birds in a net between two undergrowths of papyrus.
The men have their loincloths rotated towards the rear, in order to be at ease, thus exposing their genitalia, which permits to note that they were circumcised. They wear short, curly wigs, which is rather astonishing in this kind of activity. Indeed, they can be seen clutching the rope which is going to serve to close the trap, the artist knew how to represent the tension which precedes the moment where the order to pull awaits to be given In the net and above are located an unbelievable number of birds, to which three bird-catchers are interested. The abA-bird is mentioned in the text: “The abA-birds caught by means of a net by the bird-hunters of pr-dt” has been identified as being the Streptopelia turtur, the turtle-dove, very widespread in Egypt
d) – Scene 5
By one these abridgements which the Egyptian artist loved, the result of hunt is represented at the same time as this. This is how one sees a standing man who holds by the neck in every hand three birds. There is no doubt that he was to look for them under the net. To his left, the register is divided into two with, in each sub-register, the placing in a cage of the fowl, the final stage of the hunt. The character at the top holds with both hands a turtle-dove, which he places in a cage Above this one waits for another bird, incapable to escape, because its wings are attached to each other. On the lower sub-register, a bird-catcher turns toward his standing team member and says to him: “Give and I take!”, signifying by this that they must co-ordinate their gestures to put the agitated fowl, that is trying to escape, into the cage.
e) – Scene 6
This concerns the harvesting of the sycamore fruits (“nqawt” in hieroglyphs)- Two peasants pick the fruits which they place in a wicker basket which hangs from their wrist in order to climb more easily. The men also have turned their loincloths turned towards the rear. The accompanying text, above the man on the right, states: “picking of the nqawt fruits”. The neqawt fruit are figs produced by the sycamore tree, which require to be cut to develop. The same text can be read above the gardener occupied picking the fruits on the tree to the left.
Register N°2
This is dedicated to the harvest of fruits of wildly grown trees, which are away from the garden.
a) – The grape-harvest of the wild vines
Four grape pickers virtually disappear under the disorganised foliage from which the fruit and pile in baskets. The men are difficult to distinguish, because the work of the sculpture is far from being finished and lacks detail. To the left of the pickers can be seen two men transporting very full baskets
b) – More picking
Two men pick the fruits of a wild unidentified tree and place them in small baskets. Immediately to the left is an identical scene, but only one of the pickers is engraved, the rest of the scene is only sketched
c) – Harvesting of the fruit from the nbs-plant
Two men harvest the fruits of this spiny plant identified as Paliurus spina christi (better known under the name “bush of thorns of Christ” or “Jerusalem thorn”). The text inscription mentions “Picking the fruit from the nbs-plant”. The plant produces edible fruits which have a shape of a Chinese hat
d) – Harvesting of figs
The inscription “picking of the figs”, placed next to each of them, doesn’t leave any doubt as to the fruits which the two standing men pick before placing them in a basket. They are helped by a naked child (not circumcised) that has climbed into the tree.
e) – The juniper
Following the previous picking scene, is drawn “picking of the berries of the juniper”. Two men are to work. At the foot of one of the men, a large basket would be used to contain what is placed in the smaller baskets used by the men for picking.
f) – Picking of figs
The scene is identical to the one seen in d), above.
Register N°3
Here, on the left, is maintained vegetable garden, whilst on the right is the harvesting of the papyrus planted into a pond (and not wild) that is represented.
a) – The harvesting of the papyrus
This is therefore located in a pond and the men have their legs in the water up to mid-calf. Right and left, two among them pull out the large upright stems, whilst the character in the middle collects them together so that he will bring on to the bank. The workers wear curly wigs and aprons. They distinguish themselves, their more official dress, from the simple farm worker, who harvest the papyrus in the channels or the marshes. The text states: “the pond of the wAD-papyrus and the mnHj-papyrus of pr-dt”. It can be assumed that this papyrus represents the varieties of the plant destined for the manufacture of the writing papyrus sheets. In any case, M. Erroux-Morfin writes: “the wAD, mnH and Twf plants seem identical and designate the Cyperus papyrus The three names begin to be used as synonyms as early as the New Kingdom and are in the texts of offering of the papyrus”.
b) – The vegetable garden
The beginning of the scene, on the right-hand side, is sculpted: a man heads towards the left, two crocks of water in his hands with a partial inscription where can only be identified the word “… fruit…”.
After a totally blank area, where the imagery has been lost – corresponding, according to Altenmüller, to the irrigation of a field – follows an area which is drawn only in outline, although the hair of the men has been infilled.
The peasant farmers work in fields, delimited in the register by black lines. The one at the bottom probably contains lettuce plants (the Roman variant). It is interesting to notice that worker uses a dibble. The man at the top seems to dig up the alliaceae plants, which a man, standing on the left, awaits for them to be passed to him. Among the alliaceae plants is found garlic, chives, shallots, onions, leeks, etc. On the right, another peasant waters the plants with the help of a vessel
On the left, the standing character who stretches out his left hand toward the peasant of the top scene, passes a lettuce with his other hand to one of his squatting companions, who looks at him at the same time as he stacks the different products of the harvests in a large basket. In the sub-register above this one, another man also arranges a basket.
At the extreme end of this register, a man heads towards the left (and therefore toward the false door) whilst transporting some of the products from the gardens in an enormous basket, and even some stems of papyrus, which hang from the bled of his arm. He turns his head towards his fellow workers and announce to them: “I shall return when I have carried it away”
Register N°4
a) – The grape harvests
On the right is found a curious representation in the growing style of the grapevine, which is this time attached to a structure, unlike the wild grapevine already seen in the second register. The direction of growth of the stems are controlled here.
The standing grape-pickers, are here dressed in loincloths and wear wigs with ringlets. They harvest the bunches of grapes in baskets, which then emptied into other larger baskets – A man on the knees, which the artist represented with a tremendously stretched out right arm, grabs one of the large baskets to transport it toward the press – This is how one sees another man carrying on his shoulder an enormous basket, heading toward the left – From here, the quality of the sculpture degrades: the man emptying his different shaped basket into the press is represented more briefly and, for example, doesn’t have any ringlets on his wig; in the same way the grapes which flow from the basket are not detailed.
b) – The wine press
Two groups of three men face each other. They trample the grapes whilst holding on to a wooden bar above the heads and holding the waist of the man in front of them.
The scenes of the two men beating time in a circle
This is only found in two mastabas of Saqqara, the one of Neferherenptah and the one of Mereruka. In context of treading the grapes in a press, can be seen two men who face each other, one knee on the ground and who strike two pieces of wood together, to make a clapping sound. The legend of the scene is similar in both cases “to give the rhythm (with small boards) “, even though the writing is different from that of Mereruka, with the verb “maH”, Hickmann, a great specialist of Pharaonic music, studied the scene (see bibliography p.3). For him, it represents idiophone instruments, clapping boards, which constitute one of the groups of the most primitive musical instruments (one finds the sistrum, the cymbal, and also castanets…) : “the entrechoc rhythmic stick has the same musical significance as the clapping of the hands, but also the same sense of magic”.
It seems therefore that the two men give the rhythm to the treaders who raise and lower their feet alternately in the press. It should be noted that, in Mereruka, the two men have a scarf across their chest: therefore was it perhaps about priests acting in the setting of a ritual? On the other hand the reason of the presence of the circle remains a mystery.
c) – Pressing of the must
The must of the grape is transferred into bags made of canvas which are pressed by twisting with the help of a pole, until the last drop. Five people, two on the right, two on the left, one to the middle takes care of this work. The juice extracts flows out into a jar, placed under the bag.
d) – Storage
At the extreme left of the register one can guess that there are six sealed containers, very difficult to see, placed on two superimposed sub-registers
Register N°5
This contains only sketches of the procession of the funeral priests who, carrying jars of wine, head towards the false door. At the head of the cortege, the more official one carries a container at height. He was followed of eighteen other characters, but now only traces of twelve of them are visible.
The false door
This is in a large non-decorated niche of 2.0m wide by 0.80m deep and 3.50m in height (the full height of the chamber) located 40cm from the south wall. It imitates a facade of a palace, but is extensively incomplete and didn’t receive any inscriptions.
gamelyan eldien 