The Minor Cemetery at Giza, Unpublished Manuscript, Chapter II: Mastaba Types and Construction, p.023

Diary Transcription:

Unpublished manuscript transcription: begin page 23

side of the shaft when practicable, and sometimes at the east when to place them at the west would have interfered with some existing chamber or have involved the sinking of too deep a shaft. The chambers were square and of sufficient size to contain a large wooden coffin. Later in the various corridor types a pit was often sunk in the floor to contain the body, and then roofed after the interment with stone slabs. In the chamber A of G 3008, a beginning was made to cut the rock around the edge of the pit in the form of a rim (cf. Pl. 36). The smaller mastabas often had hurriedly cut chambers probably intended to be rectangular but left with unfinished corners and ends. [Insert pages 23a-b] The method of quarrying was exactly the same as used in the shafts. After the door opening was cut, vertical grooves were cut first to cur out the central mass and then following the lines of the walls. All

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