Skip to main content
Diary Transcription:

Diary Translation: begin page 49
Thursday, December 4, 1924 (continued)

(1) [Pyramid G] I-a

Excavation was progressing on Pyramid [G] I-a. They were removing debris of dark soil, limestone chips and rubble. This debris is from the core of the pyramid. It is on top of a layer of dark soil and limestone chips. There are remains of human bones in the bottom layer of debris. They found in the dark soil:
1 lower fragment of an alabaster statuette, with the feet and the cartouche of King Khufu
1 alabaster fragment
1 feet fragment of a limestone statuette
2 fragments of shawabtis
1 flint tool
1 copper piece
1 faience barrel bead
1 faience amulet
1 faience bead
1 faience discoid bead

They uncovered the entrance. They also found a stone block inscribed with a human face to the east of the entrance. Perhaps the people who quarried the core of the pyramid drew this face on this stone block.
Also, Yassin was exposing the foundation platform of the pyramid for drawing.

(2) Mastaba 7101

And some of the people were working on the church [i.e. court] of Mastaba 7101. This crew was divided into two groups. The first group was clearing the stairs. They were removing rubble and stone blocks. Some of these stone blocks are inscribed. They cleared it on the stairs.
They uncovered in the east wall a recess, inside which there is a rock-cut seated statue. Meanwhile, the west wall has a window for the serdab.
The court leads to three chambers; the middle chamber has a row of 5 rock-cut statues. The western chamber has a false door. It is inscribed with hieroglyphs and scenes. The eastern chamber is still filled with debris.
The debris of these three chambers is a layer of silt on top of rubble, limestone chips, mud bricks and stone blocks. The debris was as high as the heads of the rock-cut statues. There is Arabic graffito in the western chamber. We could not read it because it is very dark. We think that the Arabic graffito was left by tomb robbers, who used a small hole in the ceiling to go down the chamber.

We then removed the Roman [i.e. Late Period] silo that was built on top of the stairs. We found in its debris:

End of Page 49

Details

  • Classification
    Documentation-Expedition diary pages
  • Department
    Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Display Page Dates
    12/4/1924