by Jessica Izak
El-Sheikh Sa’id is a small village in the governorate of Minya in Upper Egypt, located a few kilometres south of Mallawi on the east bank of the Nile. It is named after a local Muslim Sheikh who is buried there. Near the village are rock-cut tombs where 6th Dynasty officials from Hermopolis Magna were buried. This site is located near Deir el-Bershe and marks the northern boundary of the Amarna Plain, as indicated by the boundary stele ‘X’.
In the 4th Dynasty, mastabas began to evolve into rock tombs, the originally favoured burial form for officials in Giza and Sakkara. These new tombs mimicked the layout of the mastabas and had similar entrances. By the 6th Dynasty, these rock-cut tombs had fully developed and were carved into the steep cliffs at the edge of the valley. Especially in Middle Egypt and other regions of the Nile Valley, where the terrain was unsuitable for mastaba-like structures, these tombs were frequently used. The necropolis at El-Sheikh Sa’id is one of the earliest examples of this type of tomb.
The site includes the tombs of the 6th Dynasty governors of the Hermopolites, including Meru-bebi, Wau and Ankheti. These tombs are relatively simple in design and consist of a funerary chapel, a smaller inner hall and a statue or sacrificial chamber, often with one or more shafts leading to underground burial chambers. During the First Intermediate Period, the use of this necropolis declined as the burial site of the Nomarchs was moved a little further north to Deir el-Bershe.
Bibliography:
- N. d. G. Davies, The rock tombs of Sheikh Saïd, Egypt Exploration Fund, Memoir / Archaeological Survey of Egypt 10 (London 1901)
- N. Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt (New York 1997) 134
- W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. History, Archaeology and Society (London 2006) 109–111