The Tomb of Maya and Meryt: Preliminary Report on the Saqqara Excavations,1990–1

Abstract

This report outlines the results obtained by the joint EES-Leiden Expedition in the tomb of Maya at Saqqara during the 1990 and 1991 seasons. A series of intrusive shafts associated with the main tomb were excavated, and much contexted funerary material and skeletal remains were found. Inscriptions provide evidence of interments dating to the Ramesside Period, the Late Period, and the early Ptolemaic era. Work was advanced on pottery, skeletal remains, and objects deriving from these and previous seasons. Full-scale drawings of reliefs and texts from the substructure of Maya's tomb, with the exception of Room H, were completed for publication. An epigraphic record was also made of Old Kingdom blocks found re-used in the masonry of the tomb, as well as reliefs and fragments from the decoration of the tomb of Horemheb and the Tias, retrieved from subsidiary shafts inside and outside the Maya complex. The mud-brick architecture of Maya's tomb was extensively restored, and preparations were made for the re-erection of the lintels over the pylon entrance.