The Development of the Royal Mortuary Complex - INTRODUCTION
As Egypt emerged, from, the Predynastic Period, two power centres, associated with burials arose on the desert sands of Upper Egypt: Abydos in the South and Saqqara in the North. At both sites large tombs from the first two dynasties proclaim the names and wealth of their royal owners.
Not infrequently two tombs bear the name of the same king. Egyptologists have long debated the reason for this and. the actual location of the king's burial. Barry Kemp, an English scholar, solves this problem and most Egyptologists concur: the kings of Dynasty I are buried at Abydos and while the tombs at Saqqara, found by Emery, belong to their officials and nobles who lie buried beside Inb-hd, the "White Wall" which is the Archaic capital of Egypt.
Meanwhile, most kings of Dynasty II are buried at Saqqara, at a location now under the upper temple of Unas. The exceptions are the last two kings of the Dynasty, Peribsen and Kh'asekh-emwy, who 'returned to Abydos for burial.
All of these tombs mark a significant change in construction from those of the Predynastic Period when tombs were simple oval or rectangular graves. Now the body lies in a wooden coffin with a separate chamber for grave goods, and both rest-beneath a mud-brick superstructure consisting of a flat roof and vertical walls. Attached to the exterior is a simple emplacement or small chapel used for the cult of the dead. This new type of tomb is called a mastaba , a modern Arabic word meaning, "bench."
The Abydos tombs are located in an area called Umm el Qa'ab, meaning "Mother of the Pots," but the funerary complex accompanying each tomb is located in another area. One complex, that of Kh"asekh-emwy and known as Shunet el Zebib, marks our earliest standing mud-brick wall. Recently an American Egyptologist who dedicated much of. his life to the excavating the area around Abydos, David O'Connor, uncovered 12 boat pits around Shunet el Zebib. He considers this complex and the boats to be the origin of the pyramids.
Moving north to Saqqara, we find the first attempt at constructing a pyramid. Here the founder of Dynasty III, King Djoser and his architect Imhotep, set a new trend in tomb design and construction. Although they imitated the niched wall of Shunet el Zebib they were the first to use limestone in building construction, and they created the first step pyramid by setting six mastaba superstructures on top of one another. This monumental structure dominates Djoser's huge funerary complex, which includes many other architectural components within the niched enclosure wall.
Over the next 100 years, the design of the Step Pyramid evolved into the well-known true pyramids of Dynasty IV at Dahshur and Giza. The Giza pyramids rise as the best examples, with their fabric of large local stones and casing of fine white Tura limestone. Dynasty IV builders inspire awe by using more and more stone to create larger pyramids and vast funerary complexes outside the pyramid's walls.
One can hardly imagine the number of workmen required for such a huge labour project as building the Giza pyramids. Khufu's pyramid alone required a sufficient number of men to move and place about 2,600,000 cubic metres of stones. Yet the number of artisans required was relatively few. This ratio of stone movers to artisans would change, however, over the next two dynasties as architects decreased the volume of stone using smaller stones, mud-brick or loose rubble fill, while they increased the number of beautiful wall reliefs to create the desired awe-inspiring effect.
For example, it is estimated that the pyramid of Dynasty V's first king, Userkaf, contains only one-thirtieth of the bulk of Khufu's pyramid. Indeed, the 2,600,000 cubic metres of raw stone in Khufu's pyramid is almost equal to all the raw stone of all of the pyramids of Dynasties V and VI. On the other hand, the Dynasty V pyramid of Sahure at Abusir has 10,000 square metres of wall reliefs, according to German Egyptologist Borchardt. At this same time, the so-called Pyramid Texts appear on the inside walls of the pyramid's chambers-the first example being the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara. In the following dynasty, these precise carvings decorate the burial chambers of both kings and queens. I don't believe that the decreasing size of the pyramids and hence, the reduced need for workmen, was economically motivated because the increasing amount of relief would have necessitated hiring many more skilled artisans who commanded a higher wage than the workmen who moved the stones.
Pyramids of the Middle Kingdom have either mud-brick construction throughout or mud-brick walls with a rubble-filled core. All are enclosed limestone and are similar to the Pyramids of the Old Kingdom - with a few modifications. The most significant change is the creation of a maze of chambers and corridors within the pyramid to confuse grave robbers. Middle Kingdom pharaohs, horrified that even the huge pyramids of Dynasty IV had not safeguarded the deceased from thieves, desired a better way to protect their own eternity. Alas, they would suffer a similar fate.
Then in the New Kingdom, Ineni, the architect of King Tuthmosis I initiates a new trend in the tomb construction. Searching the western hills across the Nile from Thebes (modem Luxor) in the well known site of the Valley of the Kings, he cut the king's tomb into the rock and built the upper temple in another location. Believing that he had accomplished his goal of protecting the immortal pharaoh, Ineni inscribed on. the tomb wall: "I built the tomb of my majesty, no one see, no one hear."'
In some ways, Ineni continues the designs of the past. His plan imitates exactly what he saw in the style of the royal tombs at Abydos with the tombs located in one area while the temples sit in another. Ineni also follows the pyramid. design in his selection of Tuthmosis I's tomb site. The King lies beneath a pyramid, not one of human creation, but rather formed by the natural pyramid-shaped peak known as the Qum.
Through the span of multiple centuries some new trends are introduced to accommodate new needs; yet the development of the royal tomb from Dynasty I through the New Kingdom shows the continuation of the pyramid style and its funerary complex.
