The second tomb of Inerkhau
Text and documents come from the Bruyère reports (see bibliography) because nothing else exists to my knowledge on this completely inaccessible monument. Inerkhau had two tombs, as Bruyère showed. The only one which remains accessible today is the burial chamber TT359, but at the time of the campaign of excavations of 1927, Bernard Bruyère cleared tomb TT299, which had already been located in 1922-23 according to the reports of Lepsius. He was confronted with a big technical problem, notably a rock of about twenty tons which threatened to destroy some structures which were of unknown owners. The problem was enormous and had to be resolved before excavations could begin in this complex zone of the necropolis.
The courtyard, like the chapel, has a south-east to north-west orientation (from courtyard entrance to chapel/s frontage). It would be logical to consider the courtyard entry wall as being the "east" wall. The courtyard measures 9.15m from the northerly edge to that at the "south" and 6.87m from the entrance to the frontages of the chapels opposite. Its walls were mostly carved into the rock, and the rest being constructed from large stones. The courtyard of Inerkhau is entered by a door towards the south-east, in the middle of the "east" section of the surrounding wall. The doorway into the chapel would normally be along the axis of the courtyard entry, but this is not the case, because directly opposite was already the entry to an anonymous tomb which forbade this extension. It was therefore necessary to displace the chapel further to the north. This makes the courtyard, as well as the chapel of Inerkhau's tomb, tend more towards the courtyard and chapel of Khabeknet TT2. The chapel entrance is located in the "north-west" corner of the courtyard. It was preceded by a large peristyle 1.65m high by 3.60m in length and raised 25cm in relation to the courtyard. In the "north" and "west" walls are the cavities which supported the roofing beams. The facade had height of 4 to 5 metres. There are still traces of filler and limestone based whitewash.
Three chapels open up on to this courtyard. • To the south is a chapel consisting of two rooms : the first arched in bricks; the second, currently reduced to a cavern with a flat ceiling and vertical walls dug into the rock. No decoration. • At the centre is a unique room with an arched vault carved into the rock and of which all of the walls, except the one to the east, are constructed in bricks and in stone. A now closed well shaft was dug into the rock floor in the south-west corner. • To the north is the chapel of Inerkhau, which consists of two rooms. - The first, roughcast with plaster on vertical walls and a horizontal ceiling, preserves a few traces of decoration. These are red sketches of human-sized characters. On the north wall stands a man looking to the east, in long white skirt, facing a standing god, dressed in a spotted vestment. On the east wall stands another god facing the same way, but in a loincloth tightened by a belt with a Isis-knot buckle. He holds a was-sceptre and an ankh-sign. The is no text. The heads of the characters are missing. - The second room is 4.60m long and 1.90m wide. It is roughly cut like the first and has no decoration on its flat ceiling or its vertical walls. A brick-lined well shaft is located in the western end and descends to the chambers.
The brick-lined well shaft of TT299, is situated in the northern chapel and is only 2 metres in depth. It leads to three successive rooms, each one leading to the other by a shaft and steps. The descending path to the chamber also opens up into a chamber of TT2 - Khabekhnet. The first room has vertical walls and a flat ceiling entirely charred, the second and the third are arched with a flattened top. The third chamber This final chamber measures 5.30m in length, 2.75m in width and 2.50m in height. This chamber is oriented on a north-south compass axis, the entrance being at the north end of the east wall. This is the only chamber to have an internal construction of bricks, which have collapsed in large places under the pickaxe of the pillagers. The decoration of the third room includes no paintings between the arch and the floor : the walls are vertical and painted white. The arch is divided into eight rectangular sections by a central lengthwise band of text and three crosswise bands.
• The south-east and south-west sections represent the deceased kneeling in front of a group of squatting mummiform genii. • The four centre sections are all destroyed. • The north-east section represents a falcon on a pedestal protected by the raised uraeus, wearing the pschent-crown. This pedestal is the sign of the west, at the foot of which Isis and Nephthys face each other, on their knees, with their hands raised in a sign of worship. • The north-west section represents the winged goddess Nut, standing and holding in both hands a ewer from which pours a stream of water. Nut is raised on a platform laying on a pedestal under which, at its centre, is an oblong basin containing the water of the Nun. The whole stands on a ringed shaft. Of either side of the shaft, the kneeling deceased receives in his hands, held to his mouth, the liquid poured by the goddess. • A band of text effectively runs all around of the room, surrounding the subdivided ceiling. It starts at the centre of the north wall (at either side of the central text band) and proceeds as two inscriptions down the opposiing sides, meeting again on the south wall (again, at either side of the central text band). • Under the side wall bands of text, is a frieze composed of two rows of rosettes bordered, upper and lower, by a band of swirls representing surging waves. The edge, on which this whole design sits, is a hieroglyphic representation of the sky, which contains a long row of stars. This representation of the starry sky under the decorated arch clearly indicates that the so-called arch represents the nocturnal underworld sky of the kingdom of Osiris. It is special to the chambers which are designed as the image of the Duat. The north and south end walls contain, in their tympanum, representations of the goddess Isis and Nephthys seated on the hieroglyphic nbw-sign of gold. They are framed on either side by reclining Anubises on mastabas. In spite of the damage to these two scenes it is still possible to make out the details.
As indicated in the general survey of tomb TT359 (page 1), it is reasonable to think that tomb TT299 corresponds to the one which Inerkhau made for himself after his accession to the station of work-team leader, and which in essence he headed. However his mummy and his coffins have not been recovered from there.
|
)
)
)