Egypt Exploration Society

The Sacred Animal Necropolis, North Saqqara: 1975/6

Author(s): H. S. Smith and D. G. Jeffreys
Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 63 (1977), pp. 20-28
Published by: Egypt Exploration Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3856296
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(20)

THE SACRED ANIMAL NECROPOLIS,

NORTH SAQQARA: 1975/6
By H. S. SMITH and D. G. JEFFREYS
1. Introductory

THE Society's expedition started work at Saqqara on September 30, I975. The staff

comprised Professor H. S. Smith, Mrs. H. F. Smith, K. J. Frazer (surveyor), W. J.

Tait (papyrologist), D. G. Jeffreys (excavation assistant), and J. D. Ray (epigraphist),
who joined the expedition in December. The Chairman of the Society's Committee,
ProfessorE. G. Turner, and Mrs. L. Turner visited the site in December for a fortnight,
much to the profit and pleasure of all.
The aims were: (i) to complete excavation of the temple complex by investigation
of Sector 9 (Smith, Frazer, Jeffreys); (2) to prepare drawings and descriptions of the
temple complex for the final archaeologicalreport (Smith, Frazer, Mrs. Smith); (3) to
complete philological work upon demotic literary papyri (Tait, Smith); (4) to prepare
transcriptsof demotic ostraca(Ray); (5) to complete philological work on Greek papyri
and ostraca(Turner). These tasks were carriedthrough with the valuable and courteous
assistance of the Egyptian Government Antiquities Service. The Society is especially
grateful to Dr. Gamal Mukhtar, Head of the Antiquities Organization,and to the late
Dr. Mahmud Hamdi, Director General, whose sudden death early this year all his
colleagues sincerely mourn. Dr. Aly el-Khouly, director of antiquities for Memphis
and Saqqara, and Mr. Said el-Fiki, inspector of antiquities for North Saqqara, who
participatedin the daily conduct of the work, were of constant help in all possible ways.
In seasons I97I/3 G. T. Martin completed the excavation of Sector 7, begun by the
late W. B. Emery in I969/70. He had exposed a light freestone wall east of the Sacred
Way leading from Sector 7 to the South Gate of the Main Temple Enclosure. In 1974/5
further clearancerevealed that at its north end a series of stone pillarsreplacedthe wall.
To investigate this a grid measuring 20 m N.-S. by 30 m E.-W. was laid down south of
the Temple Enclosure and east of the Sacred Way in an areanamed Sector 9. Later, the
work was extended southwards, and a trench excavated to connect it with Sector 7.

D. G. Jeffreys has written sections 2-4 and 6-7 of this report; section 8 is joint work.

2. The mastabas and rock tombs of the Old Kingdom

The earliest structures recovered were mastabas and rock-cut tombs of the Archaic
and Old-Kingdom necropolis. They comprise:
i. Two rock-cut chambers in Squares N-O 5/6, O-P 8/9 (Fig. i). They are cut in the
upper face of the escarpment, and resemble in technique those further to the north

10

BABOON
PRECINCT

./
/

---V

TEMPLE

REFERENC
Mud-brick
* (Tafla)
* (Robbed)
Limestone
Escarpment

Outcrop

Rubble& sand fill

ENCLOSUREi
B

I
I

SCALE
SCALE
2 3 4
o9
I

5
I

7I 8. ...9 10
I

Metres
FIG. I

22

H. S. SMITH AND D. G. JEFFREYS

behind the Temple Enclosure. The cliff edge is badly eroded at this point, and where
the cutting of the chambers had further weakened the rock seams the ceilings had
collapsed altogether. The better preserved of the two, that to the south (Vault J),
had clearly been a simple rectangularvault. In the centre of each chamber a shaft
had been sunk; these had obviously been robbed, and, like others in this Sector,
were not cleared.

2.

To the north in Squares L-N I/4, a mastaba of mud- and tafla-brick (Tomb 3535).
This contains a small cruciformchapel at its south-west corner, and a second adjoining chapel with two or more panelled niches. The tomb runs under the South Wall
of the Baboon Precinct.

3. To the south-west of Tomb 3535 on a slightly different alignment, a larger mastaba

(Tomb 3536). This structure has been preserved to a height of 2-5 m (maximum).
The exteriors of the north, south and east walls are decoratedwith a simple recessed
panel motif, while the west wall is plain. The core of the mastaba is of tafla-brick,
but a skin-wall forming the panelling is of fine mud-brick. The east faCade showed
a large niche at its southern end, and a small niche at its northern end. The two
main burial shafts are situated approximately west of the niches; two subsidiary
shafts are situated in the northern corners of the mastaba. The south-eastern corner
had been extensively robbed for bricks, and hollows had been carved out on the
western side, perhaps to form workmen's shelters during the construction of the
Temple Enclosure. Two pits inside the east wall are not datable, but may have been
silos associated with the beginning of the Christian occupation.
4. A complex of subsidiary tomb shafts with partition walls of tafla-brick, sunk in the
angle between Tombs 3535 and 3536. A panelled niche in one wall shows that
miniature mastabas covered some of these, but they have been eroded by wind.
5. To the west of this complex, a small chamber tomb cut just below the rock surface.
In its western compartment were remains of an infant burial.
6. West of the later 'pillaredwall', an irregularcourtyardcut into the rock gave on to a
small chapel or niche on its south-western side (Vault 0). A limestone slab set into
the floor of the niche may have been a pedestal for a statue. A robbed shaft behind
the niche may have been associated. Its dating depends upon the masonry techniques and upon sherds of Old-Kingdom ware (Class Ai) recovered from the
rubble fill of the courtyard.
7. Other unassociated tomb-shafts, two of which were broken into when Vault P
was constructed, and a third by a subterranean robbers' passage into the Falcon
Catacomb.
3. The 'pillared wall', the Late-Period rock tomb and the caches
The 'pillared wall' (pl. IV, i) was fully excavated. Its base consists of horizontally
laid limestone slabs set on irregularly laid courses of local limestone, bonded with

THE SACRED ANIMAL NECROPOLIS, NORTH SAQQARA

23
gypsum mortar. The slabs originally formed a basement for sixteen free-standing
limestone pillars of square section, of which five remainedin situ, at intervals of approximately 45 cm. A setting line for the mason's use runs the length of the basement, under
the centre of which ran a channel, perhaps a drain for rain water. The southern pillar
abuts against a roughly mortared wall, cleared by G. T. Martin in 1971/3, which
certainly belongs to the same feature and building phase. The sequence, however, is
not clear; the respective dimensions of the basement slabs may suggest that the pillared
section was begun from the north to meet the rough wall, already in existence. Both
sections contain fragments of limestone offering tables, evidently from the Temple
Precinct; one such, recovered from the north end of the basement in I974/5, bore a
demotic dedication to Isis, Mother of Apis. The construction of the wall and pillars
therefore postdated the earliest burials of the Mother of Apis,I and most probably
the destruction of these. A rough mud-plaster pavement bedded on sand followed the
bedrock contour down the slope from the foot of the 'pillared wall' to the edge of the
Sacred Way, and was bounded on the north by a brick supporting wall which met
the foundations of the South Gate. Almost certainly, therefore, the 'pillared wall'
and the Sacred Way belong to the same building phase. No building was discovered in
direct association with the 'pillared wall'. Presumably, therefore, it was an enclosure
wall, screening the Sacred Way and the precinct of Sector 7 from the east, with
a pillared portico forming an ornamental feature and allowing controlled access to the
South Gate of the temple.2
In Squares A-C 5/6 a small rectangularbuilding is founded upon the second phase
of brick rubble fill of the courtyard of Vault 0, that contains reused Old-Kingdom
blocks. The floor is mud-plastered, as are the stone walls and a low bench running
along the inside of the north wall. Access appears to have been from the Sacred Way
on the east. The level of the floor and position of the building suggest that it was a
gatekeeper'sor watchman's lodge, controlling access both through the 'pillaredportico'
and through the South Gate of the Temple Enclosure.
Cut into the rock scarp beneath the west face of the 'pillaredportico' was the entrance
to a rock tomb (Vault P); see pl. IV, 2. A curving rock-cut staircaseled down from the
west to the chamber, cutting through an Old-Kingdom shaft, at the foot of which was
found a double burial of a female and small infant; this burial must have been made
subsequent to the cutting of the stairway. The chamber was roughly square in plan
with a sarcophaguschamber on the south. Its east wall had been breached by robbers,
who had made a tunnel by way of various Old-Kingdom tomb chambers into the
Falcon Catacomb; the tomb chamber itself turned out to be that previously designated
as chamber 4/2 of the Falcon Catacomb. This robbery was further attested by a low
retaining wall of bricks across the entrance, and by a deliberate filling of the stair well
with sand, sherds of large amphorae, and large stone blocks, from among which ten of
H. S. Smith, 'Dates of the obsequies of the Mother of Apis' in Rev. Sg. 24, 176 ff.
The suggestion that the pillared wall is at least partly decorative is supported by the fact that it begins in
a direct line with the north fa9ade of Tomb 3536 as approached by the causeway from Sector 7. Thus the
continuous stretch of wall screens the remains of the mastaba while the pillared section gives on to the almost
entirely eroded tomb shaft complex (see 2.4).
I

H. S. SMITH AND D. G. JEFFREYS

24
the pillars from the wall were retrieved. They have been restored to their original
positions.
No artefacts associated with any burial in the tomb were recovered, and it was
completely empty; the masonrywas left in a crude state, and it is very doubtful whether
it was ever finished or occupied. The tool marks in the tomb, and in the unfinished
cutting for a stair shaft near by, indicate the use of iron-clad picks or adzes. For this
reason the tomb is ascribed to the Late Period; it must, however, on stratigraphic
evidence have antedated the Sacred Way and the 'pillared wall' above it. The robbing
of the chamber, on pottery evidence, cannot antedate the Christian period, by which
time the 'pillared wall' had fallen into ruin.
Along the outside of the Temple Enclosure, several caches of bronze figurines of
deities and situlae were found (see 5 below).
4. The despoliation and the Christian dumps
A deposit of windblown sand sealed the Old-Kingdom structures east of the 'pillared
wall' and the Late-Period features west of it. This in turn was covered by a series of
tiplines. The earliest of these comprised a compacted layer of brickdust containing
a high proportion of whole and broken mud-bricks. The distribution of this stratum
showed that it was deposited progressivelyfrom the north-easterncorner of the Sector.
We take this layer to be material from the Baboon Precinct deposited prior to the
Christian rebuilding in the area. There is evidence of robbery and destruction of existing structures preceding the Christian occupation and perhaps partly contemporary
with it. Part of this damage is attributableto the construction of the Temple Enclosure,
for instance the cutting away of the north-western corner of Tomb 3535. But the
robbery of Vault J, during which retaining walls were built round the tomb entrance,
is dated to the third to fourth centuries A.D. by the high proportion of Roman and
Christian pottery and objects in and around the tomb shaft; and the same is true
of the intrusion into Vault P.
Above the brickdust layer, a sequence of strata of wind-deposited brick dust and
sand and of deliberately dumped brick rubble and organic material represents the
later Christian occupation. The uppermost stratum, particularlywest of the 'pillared
wall', comprised the debris of ropes, basketry and reed matting; from this layer came
numerous fragments of papyrus inscribed in Greek hands, provisionally assigned by
Turner to the third to fourth centuries A.D. Demotic ostraca from much earlier times,
including one from the Archive of Hor of the second century B.C.,were recovered from
the dumped material, together with many artefacts cleared from the temple precinct
during the Christian occupation. The presence of these tends to confirmthat there was
a period of extensive destruction after the temples had fallen into disuse.
5. The objects and inscriptions
The head and torso of a limestone funerarystatue of a man, badly eroded by exposure
to wind, and small inscribed fragments from tomb reliefs were the only finds of Old-

THE SACRED ANIMAL NECROPOLIS, NORTH SAQQARA

25
Kingdom date: none were in situ. Fragments of relief from a temple of Ramesses II
were also recovered, but evidently came from elsewhere.
The caches found outside the south wall of the Temple Enclosure were similar in
nature to those found in the previous seasons, and date to the period of use of the
temples. Cache i (Square K 3) yielded two small situlae, figurines of Osiris and Thoth
the Baboon, and a miniature offering table of bronze, with a small green stone figure of
a baboon. Cache ii (Square H 4) produced fourteen bronze situlae. Cache iii (Square F 7)
comprised a bronze Osiris and a fragment of a bronze base(?) with a damaged royal
inscription. In Cache iv (Square L 3) were two bronze figurines of Osiris. Cache vi
(Square G i) contained a fine bronze situla (ht. 26-5 cm) cast in one piece with a fourlegged stand; the scenes are of the usual character. It is uninscribed, and may be of
fourth-century date. With it were a small situla and two miniature bronze figures of
Osiris. Caches v, vii, and viii contained only small bronze situlae and broken objects.
The finest piece of this period, found out of context, was part of a wooden panel,
perhaps from a naos, delicately carved in raised relief with the head and shoulders of a
Pharaoh, possibly of the Saite Dynasty (pl. IV, 3). A small limestone cippus of Horus
and a broken limestone herm appearto be the first objects of their types recorded from
the site. A stela bearing parts of three lines of Carianinscriptionwas recovered,also portions of two Mother of Apis stelae. The Demotic ostraca included one piece inscribed
with the name of a man Alexandros son of ... Pediese, and written by a scribe named
Hstrpny, an interesting combination of names of Egyptian, Persian and Macedonian
origin.
From the Christianlevels came fragmentsof Greek letters and business documents on
papyrus, of the third to fourth centuries A.D.,eighteen of which were registered. They
suggest a date in the fourth century A.D.for the beginning of the Christian occupation
of the temple site. A large quantity of glass, all irretrievablybroken, from the tipped
material included one moulded mask in dark blue glass representing a figure from
Comedy, broken from the body of the vase, see pl. IV, 4. Fragments of basketry,
sandals, loom-weights, tools, corroded copper coins and toilet objects illustrated the
daily life of the Christian community.
6. The Pottery
Very little of the pottery found during the 1975-6 season was from undisturbed
contexts. The Old-Kingdom wares had been removed from their original positions
during subsequent disturbances; the Late-Period wares were mostly found among the
Christian layers, and originally came from the temple site. Similarly, Christian wares
had been discarded over the whole site during and immediately following the Christian
occupation.
Of the Old-Kingdom wares, AI and A4 were both found: Ai was the commoner,
chiefly in closed forms including several intact specimens of the familiar narrownecked storagejar. Ware A4 is representedby one form, a large shallow dish, handmade
and finished on a wheel. It was found complete in connection with an improvised hearth

H. S. SMITH AND D. G. JEFFREYS

among the Old-Kingdom material removed during the cutting of the stairway to
Vault P.
Of the Late-Period pottery, the Christian dump and robbers' fill of Vault P yielded
many sherds of the common 'Animal Necropolis Ware' (Gi) and the white ware (H5)
among others.
The Christian wares were the best represented. Many sherds and a few intact and
nearly complete examples of the Roman/Coptic amphoraware (J3) and medium-coarse
bichrome painted ware (J5, 6) were found; also, in the later Christianlevels, many fragments of the fine 'AfricanRed Slip' ('Imitation Sigillata', Ki) with stamped, impressed
decoration. Most examples were of the fourth century A.D.forms (I22) and (332).
One ware as yet unrecorded in the North Saqqara corpus was found among the
surface material in T2: a fine white ware made with a soft paste, represented by only
one form, a thin-walled straight-sided cup or small bowl. This ware was certainly an
import to the site.
Finally, several rim and shoulder sherds of amphorae of the Christian imported
ware (LI), made in Alexandria,were found, almost all of which carriedred ink inscriptions in cursive Greek.
26

7. Sector 7. Trench T2 and the Christian burials

An east-west trench (T2), 2 m wide, was laid out, extending from the east side of the
Late Period wall through the centre of the Christian cemetery to the buildings of
Sector 7. Its purpose was to examine the stratigraphyand to determine whether there
were any remains of a causeway or enclosure wall to the east of Sector 7. Two adjacent
tomb shafts cut into the bedrock and a rock-cut panelled niche indicated the existence
of an Old-Kingdom mastaba, of which the brickworkhad been completely weathered
away, I2 m from the 'pillared wall'.
Immediately above the Old-Kingdom remains lay a sealing layer of wind-deposited
sand containing light inclusions of brick dust. Above this, two successive terraces of
compacted rubble tafla had been laid, each with a surface of stamped mud plaster,
levelling the natural gradient of the bedrock. This terracing was quite solid and contained few artefacts, but the scanty pottery evidence from it suggests a Late-Period
date. It may conceivably be connected with the large terraces to the north and west in
Sector 7.
Through this terracing,burials of the Christianperiod had been cut. These included
some already excavated during an earlier season, but most were disturbed. The burials
conform to the pattern of those in the rest of the cemetery: a simple unlined cavity,
the corpse laid full length on a palmwood plank with the head pointing westwards, the
body either bound in strips of coarse sacking or covered with reed matting. Occasionally the same cavity had been used for a second interment (Graves 29c, d). Crude
superstructuresof brick or stone were raised over most burials; in some cases a single
superstructurerepresented two or more burials.
The section T2 yielded no trace either of the South Sacred Way or of any other road
into Sector 7.

THE SACRED ANIMAL NECROPOLIS, NORTH SAQQARA

27

8. Sector 9. Summary of the stratification

The sequence of the Old-Kingdom structures on the site seems to have been:
I. The mastabas 3535 and 3536, which should be assigned to the Third Dynasty on
the basis of their architecture;
2. The shafts subsidiary to them;
3. The rock-cut chamber and shaft tombs (Vault J and its neighbour), and in all
probability the courtyard and niche tomb (Vault 0); though there are no strict

criteria for their date, these should belong to the late Old Kingdom.

The Middle- and New-Kingdom periods are represented only by the sand fill which
accumulated between the denudation of the mastabas and the construction of the
Late-Period features. This fill is substantially deeper on the west of the sector, where
the gradient forms a natural trap for sand carried by the prevailing westerly winds.
The earliest Late-Period construction was Vault P, which must have antedated the
building of the 'pillaredwall', as the foundation level of this wall was above the accumulated fill in the stair-well to the Vault. The 'pillared wall' and the Sacred Way should
belong to the same constructional phase, since a mud-plaster pavement with revetment
connects them. By inference, the watchman's hut belongs with them, as the Sacred

Way leads through the South Gate and connects with the causeways to the temple
shrines. On the evidence of architectural elements inscribed with the cartouches of

Nectanebo II, the erection of these features is assigned to the mid-fourth century B.C.
An enclosure of low brick revetment walls above the mud-plaster pavement west of
the 'pillared wall' may belong towards the end of the occupation of the temple site.
Between the abandonment of the temples and the beginning of the Christian occupation, wind-blown sand accumulated; the depth of this deposit confirms evidence from
other parts of the temple enclosure that the interval was considerable, perhaps from the

first to fourth centuries A.D.

The tiplines of theChristianPeriod apparentlytestify to the learance of the Baboon
Precinct for rebuilding. West of the 'pillared wall', the earlier Christian strata were
broken through by the robbers of Vault P. This robbery presumably therefore took
place late in the Christianoccupation. The latest Christiandeposits, confinedto Squares
A-D 2/5, lie over robbers' fill, which included the pillars thrown down from the wall.
Above these strata was a dump of matting, rope, and organic materials, probably
deposited at the end of the Christian occupation or during post-Christian ransacking
of the site. Above this, an accumulation of drift sand indicated lack of any later activity.
9. Clearance in Vault A.II
In I974/5 the vaults in the rock behind Sanctuary A within the Temple Enclosure
had been partially cleared, and shown to have been Old-Kingdom chambers, though
the presence of brick walling indicated later reuse. In them had been found a mass of
cow-bones, evidently from the plundering of Mother of Apis burials. As these were at

28

H. S. SMITH AND D. G. JEFFREYS

some distance from the main catacomb, the question was raised whether further
Mother of Apis vaults, perhaps of the early period, might yet await discovery in the
scarp below Sanctuary A. A deep shaft in Vault A.II offered a chance of testing this,
but was then too dangerous for descent.
After restorationworks carriedout this season in co-operation with the architects of
the Antiquities Service, descent of the shaft revealed only a robbed and empty OldKingdom tomb chamber on the west at a depth of 12 m. From this chamber there was
a break-through into a second robbed Old-Kingdom chamber on the north, with its
own shaft, but it was clear that neither shaft had been used by robbers to obtain access
to Mother of Apis burials. However, the north wall of Vault A.II itself had been
broken through into another rock-tomb (Vault D.IV). The entrance of this was near
to that of Vault D.I, whence a robbers' passage led into Vault 3 of the main Mother
of Apis Catacomb, so that it is probable that the presence of cow-bones in Vaults A.I
and A.II and Sanctuary A, room 3, were the results of robberies carried out by this
route. Present evidence concerning these robberies suggests that they took place after
the desertion of the temple complex but before the Christian reoccupation of the site.
10. State of Work in the Sacred Animal Necropolis
This season's work brings to an end the investigation of the temple enclosure and
catacombs found by W. B. Emery, and their environs. Final archaeological reports
and publications of the objects and documents found since I964 are in preparation,but
will require much further work both on and off the site. The Sacred Animal Necropolis
and the temple towns of the first millennium B.C. at Saqqara are, however, far from
exhausted, and North Saqqaracan make many further fascinating contributions to the
history of Memphis and its cults. The Society hopes to combine new investigations
with its commitment to the publication of Professor Emery's work.

PLATE IV

i. The 'pillaredwall' seen from the west with the South Gate
and SacredWay in the foreground

2. Entrance to the Late-Period rock-tomb (Vault P) beneath

the west face of the 'pillared wall'

3. Wooden panel, showing head and shoulders of a Pharaoh

in bas-relief

THE SACRED ANIMAL

NECROPOLIS,

4. Blue glass mask from vessel representing a figure

from Comedy

NORTH

SAQQARA, 1975-6