
Click on the logo to visit the shop |
Egyptian Dreams Ancient Egypt Discussion Board
|
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Osiris II Vizier

Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 1752
|
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I remember waaaaay back in my first visit to Egypt (I think it was in 1985) the pits were not completely excavated as they are now. It was much safer for the tourist in the Unis area. They had a smaller hole dug down to the Persian tombs, with access by a long, winding spiral stair-case. I'm slightly disabled, and walk with a cane. It was fairly easy for me to go down the stairs, but coming back up--I was sure I would die and become a skeleton for the excavators to discover! When I FINALLY reached the top, I think I kissed the ground!
Saqqara is a great area just to wander around in and explore! It's really unbelievable how very much in there. There is hope for us all--there's years and years of excavation work to be done! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
Daughter_Of_SETI wrote:
Quote: | When I was looking it up on *** a while back, I don't think I even noticed the northern pits that you have marked on that image. |
I did notice those features back when you and I were first trying to find the location of that deep pit, and I admit to wondering if they were holes as well, but I was never certain enough. In Google Earth the shadows can be tricky to figure out and I decided to myself that they were part of the southern constructs of Djoser's complex (i.e., the South Tomb).
I'm glad carla straightened us out and it's great to know what those two features are. Now I'm also wondering if the pit from YouTube is in fact the one at the northeast tip of Unis' pyramid or the one just inside Djoser's southern wall?
Oh, man, will it ever end!
carla wrote:
Quote: | That's correct here on this site's there is some information about the Tombs; |
Daughter_Of_SETI and I had used a couple of those websites when we were researching the location of the pit from the YouTube video. Thanks for sharing the links with us.
Note that the first sentence in the second link says: "The Persian Shafts are found south of the Pyramid of Unas." The third one pinpoints the large, deep trench on the southwest side of Unis' pyramid.
LOL Now please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all of the pits and the trench located to the north of Unis' pyramid? Come on, I was in the Boy Scouts and the army--I know my compass points!
Anyway, thanks for more wonderful photos, carla, and the links to the QuickTime videos. I'm going to download those right now. _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Osiris II wrote:
Quote: | 'm slightly disabled, and walk with a cane. It was fairly easy for me to go down the stairs, but coming back up--I was sure I would die and become a skeleton for the excavators to discover! |
I didn't realize you could walk down into that trench! I thought the people in carla's photos were excavators, but I can see how unnerving it might be. I'm not disabled and I'd be afraid of tripping and falling into the abyss!
My skeleton would join yours, and together our bones could puzzle archaeologists of the future.
Hmm, sounds like something out of a Preston and Child novel.
Quote: | Saqqara is a great area just to wander around in and explore! It's really unbelievable how very much in there. There is hope for us all--there's years and years of excavation work to be done! |
It's hard to imagine how much is left to be discovered in Saqarra alone. It's my own favorite necropolis in Egypt. And this says nothing of the tombs that were discovered in the Nineteenth Century and were reburied by the sands--it's a literal treasure trove!
LOL I envy all of you who've actually been there and explored the necropolis. If I'm lucky enough to be able to go to Cairo with my sister in December, she's going to get awfully sick of me saying, "Let's go back to Saqarra again!"  _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
carla Scribe


Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 122 Location: Netherlands
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: | Oh, man, will it ever end! |
NO because I ask my friend who's leaving friday to Egypt, to take some pictures of the mastaba of Unas-Ankh and he agree
Send him also the air picture with the lokation you made kmt-sesh
He's also at this forum as Ochytoe, so he can post them by himself when he's back, I can't hardly wait for them
So now we have to wait I will post another picture of my dear friend who lives in Sakkara and sames to have enough of all that pictures taken of him
And to stay on topic a picture of the Rock Cut Tombs in the Unas area:
These Tombs are at the left side of Unas Causeway.
These are beside/in the Trench that goes all around Djoser's complex. _________________ www.egypt-kemet.com |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Daughter_Of_SETI Divine Adoratrice

Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 2563 Location: Hull, UK
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
kmt_sesh wrote: | Note that the first sentence in the second link says: "The Persian Shafts are found south of the Pyramid of Unas." The third one pinpoints the large, deep trench on the southwest side of Unis' pyramid... |
I noticed the same thing, too. In fact, I think that was what made it so difficult to locate the pits in the beginning, was the fact that there was so much contradicting information. If you remember, we were scouring the area below the Unis pyramid for ages thinking that website was correct!
carla wrote: | I will post another picture of my dear friend who lives in Sakkara and sames to have enough of all that pictures taken of him... |
He is a very cute camel. He likes to get his face in all your photos, though, doesn't he?!  _________________
In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this - Terry Pratchett. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
carla wrote:
Quote: | ...I ask my friend who's leaving friday to Egypt, to take some pictures of the mastaba of Unas-Ankh and he agree |
Whoohoo!
That's very kind of your friend to do and I appreciate his efforts. Of course now I'm really excited to see what he comes up with!
Please do thank him for me.
Quote: | I will post another picture of my dear friend who lives in Sakkara and sames to have enough of all that pictures taken of him |
That sure is one photogenic camel. What a face! He must be one of the most popular employees of the Egyptian tourism department.
Thanks for the new photos, carla. When you say those tombs are to the left side of the Unis causeway, do you mean north side or south side?
Daughter_Of_SETI wrote:
Quote: | I noticed the same thing, too. In fact, I think that was what made it so difficult to locate the pits in the beginning, was the fact that there was so much contradicting information. |
Okay, so I'm not the only one who was confused by that. * Whew * Imagine that, something on the internet wasn't 100% reliable!
Quote: | If you remember, we were scouring the area below the Unis pyramid for ages thinking that website was correct! |
I'm glad carla set us straight because I felt like going over there and looking under each grain of sand. You can imagine how much of a waste of time that would've been! _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
carla Scribe


Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 122 Location: Netherlands
|
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
Ochytoe is back from Egypt and was in Saqqara and made pictures of the Mastaba ( or what is left) from Unas-Ankh
He will put them at the forum himself soon, he promisted  _________________ www.egypt-kemet.com |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
That's great newsd, carla. I'm so excited to see the photos!  _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Ochytoe Citizen

Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Netherlands
|
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 3:13 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Sorry for the delay, my computer crashed (again ).
First I post the photo with the view of the area. The arrows and numbers show the directions of my photographs.
1. The entrance of the tomb
2. To rhe right the entrance of the tomb, on the left the tomb of Nebet
3. The first entrance to the left is the tomb of Iynefert, the second to the left is Unas Ankh. Further to the left is the complex of Djoser.
4. The grey/white square left of the centre of the picture is on the roof of the tomb of Unas Ankh. The tomb in the centre of the picture is that of Iynefert.
5. The rectangular in the centre of the picture (with the grey/white square in the lower left corner) is the tomb of Unas Ankh. The "tent" is on the roof of the tomb of Idut.
I hope you have an idea of where the tomb is located. i have also have some pictures of surrounding area that I can post if you want. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 9:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks so much for the wonderful photos, Ochytoe! I appreciate the time you took to shoot them.
We have the mastaba of Unis-Ankh reconstructed at the Field Museum, but I've never been sure if the reconstruction is meant to be accurate or more conceptual. I can see some discrepancies right off--it looks like most of the mastaba still have its roof, for instance. The reconstruction at the Field does not have the roof, giving one the impression that it has collapsed. The entrance of the reconstruction also has Unis-Ankh's name and titles inscribed in hieroglyphs, but I can see the real tomb entrance doesn't have that. I've always suspected as much.
I do have a question about your Photo 5, although I'm not sure if you can answer it. Just off to the right side of the "tent" on the roof of Idut's tomb are a couple of hollow cavaties where the roof is missing. Do you know if these hollow areas are part of Unis-Ankh's mastaba? Do you know if there's any kind of doorway leading from the hollow areas into the roofed mastaba of Unis-Ankh?
At the Field we do have the actual antechamber and offering chapel (with the huge false door) as part of the reconstruction, so I'm wondering if these hollow areas are where the two actual rooms used to be before they were shipped overseas in the early 1900s. The antechamber is a very small room, but the offering chapel is long and fairly wide and would seem to fit within the longer hollow space, closer to the tent.
Quote: | I hope you have an idea of where the tomb is located. i have also have some pictures of surrounding area that I can post if you want. |
I definitely have a better idea now of where the tomb is located. Also, I noticed the red outline you placed around the tomb's roof in the aerial photo. Thanks again so much, Ochytoe!
I'd gratefully welcome any photos you have of the surrounding area. You and carla have been so helpful in my understanding of the site.  _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Ochytoe Citizen

Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Netherlands
|
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: | I do have a question about your Photo 5, although I'm not sure if you can answer it. Just off to the right side of the "tent" on the roof of Idut's tomb are a couple of hollow cavaties where the roof is missing. Do you know if these hollow areas are part of Unis-Ankh's mastaba? |
No, I don't know (sorry ). If I remember it correctly, the tomb only has two rooms. One at the entrance and another one to the left. I don't remember any blocked doorways in one of the rooms, but if you look closely at the aerial photo it looks like the tomb is not rectangular but L-shaped. So, it is possible that the tomb has more rooms than the two I've seen.
Quote: | Do you know if there's any kind of doorway leading from the hollow areas into the roofed mastaba of Unis-Ankh? |
Not that I remember, but if you examine photo 5, just under the lower right corner of the white square, that could be a blocked doorway.
Quote: | At the Field we do have the actual antechamber and offering chapel (with the huge false door) as part of the reconstruction... |
I think you're right. The empty space to the north of the tomb is the only place the offering chapel could fit. Does the museum has a photo of the reconstruction on their website? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks for replying, Ochytoe. Your help is greatly appreciated and I wasn't really expecting you to know particulars about the tomb, but I thought I'd ask.
The Field Museum's website does have photos of the mastaba reconstruction but they're not going to help you much with understanding its layout. However, I prepared this diagram for a website I used to have:
The plan is not to scale, mind you, but it's fairly accurate. The entrance of the reconstruction does face south, as the actual tomb does in Saqqara, but most of the rest of it is probably mostly conceptual to give visitors the idea of how mastabas look, in a general sense. The parts of the plan marked "Antechamber" and "Offering Chapel" are the real parts of the tomb that were brought to Chicago around 1908. About all I know of the real Saqqara tomb is that it does not contain a serdab, although the reconstruction does--again, just to show visitors this common feature of Old Kingdom tombs.
I think you're right that the hollow, roofless space to the immediate north could be the original location of the offering chapel. This room and the antechamber were definitely once part of the tomb but, having never seen the remains of the real tomb, it's hard for me to judge size and space in the photos. I do believe that the way they're laid out in the reconstruction at the Field (see my plan above), is how they were laid out in the real tomb. Maybe it's possible that both the antechamber and offering chapel were in that hollow space to the north, if there's enough room there.
On your Photo 5 there's that short, narrow room coming off the longer hollow space and pointing straight toward the north, and I'm not sure how that relates to Unis-Ankh's tomb, if at all.
About the only other thing I can post is a couple of archival photographs. They were taken a hundred years ago and it's tough to make sense of them spatially, but they're scenes of the excavation of the prince's mastaba and, if nothing else, are pretty neat to look at.
Both of these photos are of the excavation of the offering chapel. In the first photo the large and slightly recessed stone at the right end is the top of the false door (it's actually seven feet tall). It's hard to tell in the photos but all the walls in the room are elaborately carved, as are the walls in the antechamber--I believe these were the only decorated portions of the tomb. In the second photo you can see the false door dislodged and off to the right, all wrapped up and bundled with rope. Comparing these old photos with those provided by you and carla, it's hard to believe this is the same site.  _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
carla Scribe


Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 122 Location: Netherlands
|
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Nice pictures Och I can see now that the picture I placed with my friend the camel, is right behind the Mastaba of Unas-Ankh.
I can't waite to go back to Saqqara Can't we arrange a Forum meeting there ??  _________________ www.egypt-kemet.com |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
kmt_sesh Moderator


Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 7099 Location: Chicago, IL
|
Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: | Can't we arrange a Forum meeting there ?? |
Count me in, carla!
That is, assuming Kevin is picking up the tab.  _________________
Visit my blog! |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|