Tomb No. 3035 _ from the reign of Den

Tomb No. 3035 from the reign of Den

 (Possibly belonging to Hemaka)

Clearly the reign of Den must have been the most prosperous of the 1st Dynasty, marking an important step forward not only in funerary architecture, but also in the progress of the State of Egypt as a whole. Tomb number 3503, originally thought to belong to Den, was discovered by Firth, but it was Emery who completed its clearance and published the tomb in 1938.

The tomb is very large, measuring 57.3 by 26 meters. It has a central burial chamber measuring 9.5 by 4.9 meters with a floor dug to a depth of nine meters. The burial chamber was surrounded by three rooms separately dug in the rock and accessible through short doorways at the north and south ends of the western side of the central chamber. Access to the substructure of Den's tomb was gained by a descending stairway that started about nine meters to the east of the superstructure and led directly into the burial chamber. Prior to this burial, the body and the funerary equipment had been lowered through the roof before the completion of the superstructure. This passage was sealed at intervals by stone blocks. They were supported by props until the time came to lower them down perpendicular grooves cut in the side walls. The shaft and the stairway were then presumably filled with rubble and provided with an outer layer of brick.

The superstructure of the tomb contained forty-five rooms, some of which were found intact and containing a large variety of funerary equipment, including vessels made of alabaster, schist and crystal, including a fragmentary schist bowl in the form of a feather. Tools, weapons and games were also discovered, including hard stone game disks, one of which was inlayed with a hunting scene. Other items included a limestone slab with a bull and a monkey painted in black ink, fragments of wooden boxes, bags and textiles, ivory fragments of the leg of a bull and nearly 500 arrows of five different types. The ownership of the tomb is now believed to be evidenced by various ivory labels and seals bearing the names and titles of Hemaka. These items represent the largest single collection of early dynastic objects ever discovered, and while the dishes and vessels were utilitarian, they were produced in elaborate designs that required carving techniques and ingenuity of composition. Furthermore, two rolls of uninscribed papyrus found in this tomb are thought to be the earliest evidence of paper manufacture.