Hedvig Győry: Mélanges offerts a Edith Varga „Le lotus qui sort de terre” (Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts Supplément 1. Budapest, 2001)

ANGELA P. THOMAS: The Rediscovery of some Dynasty III Stone Vessels from Reqaqnah

food and drink. These scenes were contained within the mastaba and access to the burial chamber was via a shaft and with little need to provide extensive rooms underground for great quantities of burial equipment. Mastaba 17 of an unknown owner was large and with a stone superstructure, possibly the earliest private stone tomb.

2

' The contrast between the decorated mastabas at Meidum, and the early large panelled brick mastaba at Giza

24 and those excavated by Garstang at Bêt Khallâf and Reqaqnah which span the history of Dynasty III is quite marked in architectural terms and even more so in relation to making provision for the life-after-death. The symbolic depiction of offerings of food and drink meant that the burial equipment for private persons did not need to include so many vessels for their provision. Pottery and perhaps vessels of other materials might still be provided as a security but were not such a major aspect of tomb furnishings. The great early period of stone vessel manufacture therefore drew to a close. The identification of a few stone vessels from Reqaqnah

25 or elsewhere relating to Dynasty III may not seem very significant. However, there are, as discussed above, quite a number of gaps in our knowledge of the royal and private tombs at this time and there are various issues which have given rise to debate and to speculation. In that sense whilst the monuments themselves may benefit from further research, the identification of any evidence from them might also prove to be of use in adding to our knowledge of the period. Eventually they might provide data to evaluate in much more detail the material and funerary history of Dynasty III. Angela P. Thomas, Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, Lancashire, United Kingdom 23 W. M. Fl. Petric-E. Mackay-G. Wainwright, Meydum and Memphis III, London 1910, pp. 3-4. 2J W. M. Fl. Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, London 1907, pp. 7-8, pl. VII. 25 I express my thanks to the School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool and in particular Patricia Winker for help in consulting the Garstang archive and for providing me with photographs, which are published by courtesy of the University of Liverpool.