THE PRACTICE OF BUILDING AND DECORATING ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ROCK-CUT TOMBS: THE CASE OF THE TOMB OF NEFERSEFEKHPTAH (LG 79/GE 29) AT GIZA

In: Journal of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS, Heft 4 (18), S. 82-96

Abstract

The rock-cut tomb of Nefersefekhptah (LG 79/GE 29) on the Eastern plateau of the Giza necropolis, like many other tombs at Giza, has traces of incompleteness and reconstruction, which make it difficult to understand the original idea of the builders as well as to determine the typology and time of the construction of the tomb. However, the study of the context of this structure — the cluster of closely adjacent tombs — allows one to find analogies and put forward an assumption about the original intention of the builders. For instance, it seems that, due to a construction error at the initial stage of the construction of the tomb, the builders decided to abandon the idea of making shaft burials in favor of burial niches located on the western wall of the chapel. Based on the presence of construction marks in the shafts of adjacent tombs, the size and location of burial niches, as well as the iconographic features of the reliefs in the chapel, authors assume that the construction of the tomb of Nefersefekhptah took place during the late V dynasty. Paleography of hieroglyphic signs on the reliefs in LG 79/GE 29 suggests that they were made by different craftsmen and, possibly, at different times. The example of the tomb of Nefersefekhptah clearly demonstrates the problems that specialists face when studying the history of individual rock-cut complexes. The making of the rock tomb was a time-consuming project. It's the implementation reflected social institutions, worldview, and practices of labor control, organization, and payment. The authors argue that the keys to reconstructing the history of specific tombs are stratigraphy (archaeological context), building marks and traces of building phases, paleography, iconography, and statistics on other similar complexes. This, in turn, raises a more global question concerning the tasks of publications of similar monuments.