Tomb HMK30 at Saqqara
Description:
Adapted from Jorgensen-2002, pp 72-73:In the winter of 1921-1922, the English Egyptologist C. M. Firth was in the process of clearing an area immediately to the north of the Pyramid of King Teti (6th Dynasty) at Saqqara. Here he discovered the tomb of Gemniemhat which consisted of a vertical, rubble filled shaft and small, walled up burial chamber six metres down in the limestone subsurface. The ceiling of the chamber sloped from 1.9 m. at the front to 1.2 cm at the back, and the floor measured 2.5 m. x 1.7 m. There was, in addition, a niche in the east wall with a depth of about 25 cm.At ground level the tomb was originally marked with a solid mastaba of sun-dried mud-brick, 4 x 6 m. in area, but the building had already disintegrated by the time of the excavation. In its remains, however, lay an almost perfectly preserved limestone false-door, which had originally fitted into the east wall of the building.
The burial chamber was intact and untouched by robbers when Firth opened it. The coffins and the canopic chest had been positioned by the west and the south walls respectively. In addition, the chamber contained a number of tomb models, two statuettes of the tomb owner and a statuette group of two offering-bearers all of which were found standing on the lids of the outer coffin and the canopic chest. On the floor in front of the coffins stood several jars and a bowl containing the bones of a calf which had been sacrificed at the burial.
Literature concerning the excavation: Firth and Gunn, Teti Pyramid Cemeteries (1926) 52-54, 187-188, 227-231, 272, pl 22-31.
Date of the tomb: Arnold, Early Twelfth Dynasty (1991) 5-48.
Excavation Report
Firth-Gunn-1926a