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Burial customs: mastabas
Egyptologist use the Arabic word 'mastaba', meaning 'bench', for the massive rectangular structures found above many tombs in Saqqara, Gizeh and other places. They often have rooms for offerings inside which are decorated with reliefs or paintings. In the Old Kingdom (about 2686-2181 BC) they had a separated room 'serdab' in which one or more statues of the tomb owner and his family were placed. The earliest mastabas are found at Tarkhan, Saqqara and Gizeh. They are structures decorated with a palace facade. They did not have any entrance.
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early mastabas: |
In the Second Dynasty the facade of the mastabas became simpler. There are now two false doors at the east outside. They might have been decorated with a stela showing the tomb owner sitting in front of an offering table. In the Third Dynasty these false doors developed to small chapels with elaborate decorations.
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Mastaba of the Third Dynasty
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Mastaba of the early Fourth Dynasty
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In the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasty (about 2600-2181 BC) the rooms inside of the mastabas became more complicated. There are some mastabas with many relief decorated rooms.
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there are not many mastabas of these types in Digital
Egypt;
but compare |
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Mastabas are mainly attested at Saqqara and Gizeh, but must have been common in the Old Kingdom (about 2686-2181 BC) at many other places. Many mastabas in Saqqara and Gizeh are build in stone. The mastabas in the provinces are mainly build in mud brick. Mastaba at certain places (Abydos) are only known from fragments of reliefs, which might come from them.
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mastabas at Elkab
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Old Kingdom mastabas at other places: |
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Mastaba in the First Intermediate Period
Mastabas have often many shafts. The chapel becomes smaller. The decoration is reduced, often to just a false door and inscribed door lintels and jambs (the development is described by Seidlmayer 1990: 399-412).
Mastabas in the Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC)
There are now two primary types of mastabas.
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mastaba with interiors rooms
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solid mastabas with exterior decoration
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After the Middle Kingdom the tomb type mastaba disappears.
further reading:
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