Das Grab des Konigs Ninetjer in Saqqara: Architektonische Entwicklung fruhzeitlicher Grabanlagen in Agypten.

AuthorWegner, M.A. Pouls
PositionBook review

Das Grab des Konigs Ninetjer in Saqqara: Architektonische Entwicklung fruhzeitlicher Grabanlagen in Agypten. By CLAUDIA M. LACHER-RASCHDORFF. Deutsches Archaologisches Institut Kairo, Archaologische Veroffentlichungen, vol. 125. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2014. Pp. 295, 44 pls., plans. [euro]247.

This volume represents an outstanding study of the mortuary complex of the Second Dynasty ruler Ninetjer at Saqqara. It provides a detailed and systematic presentation of the architectural and archaeological evidence associated with the structure as well as thoughtful consideration of the various components of the tomb and the significance of its plan in terms of the development of afterlife beliefs. In this sense, it is a truly "architectonic" study, following from the philosophical foundations of Kant, who emphasized relational logic in the analysis of complex systems and proposed that "the purpose of any member can be derived only from the complete concept of the whole" (Kant 2004: 4: 263).

Second Dynasty tomb architecture links the mastaba tombs of the preceding period to the royal pyramid complexes of the Third Dynasty. The scarcity of architectural remains from the transitional period has compromised attempts to understand this development and its significance. Given the limitations of the available evidence, Lacher-Raschdorff's extensive record of research and publication relating to royal tombs of the Second Dynasty at both Abydos and Saqqara places her in an ideal position to examine the architectural developments that took place immediately prior to the Third Dynasty. Her volume on the architecture of the tomb of Ninetjer sets forth the results of seven seasons of systematic excavation that the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut Kairo carried out between 2003 and 2010.

The publication includes a series of fourteen color-coded plans contained in a folder at the back. These plans depict the diachronic development and features of the Saqqara necropolis as well as the architectural details of the structure of Ninetjer. Plans 10-14 compile architectural data from known tomb structures of the First through Third Dynasties, including both royal and private examples from Saqqara and elsewhere. They identify specific features and trace their occurrence in different contexts. The plans as a group present the data at the heart of the author's analysis of the design principles of Early Dynastic mortuary architecture, and they comprise an...

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