as in the time of the Ancient Empire, the communication was by a
sloping or vertical shaft.--A.B.E.




I.--Mastabas.


The most ancient monumental tombs are found in the necropolis of Memphis,
between Abû Roash and Dahshûr, and in that of Medûm;[27] they belong to the
mastaba type (Note 12). The mastaba (fig. 113) is a quadrangular building,
which from a distance might be taken for a truncated pyramid. Many mastabas
are from 30 to 40-feet in height, 150 feet in length, and 80 feet in width;
while others do not exceed 10 feet in height or 15 feet in length. The
faces are symmetrically inclined and generally smooth, though sometimes the
courses retreat like steps. The materials employed are stone or brick. The
stone is limestone, cut in blocks about two and a half feet long, two feet
high, and twenty inches thick. Three sorts of limestone were employed: for
the best tombs, the fine white limestone of Tûrah, or the compact siliceous
limestone of Sakkarah; for ordinary tombs, the marly limestone of the
Libyan hills. This last, impregnated with salt and veined with crystalline
gypsum, is a friable material, and unsuited for ornamentation. The bricks
are of two kinds, both being merely sun-dried. The most ancient kind, which
ceased to be used about the time of the Sixth Dynasty, is small (8.7 X 4.3
X 5.5 inches), yellowish, and made of nothing but sand, mixed with a little
clay and grit.

[Illustration: Fig. 113.--A Mastaba.]