Tomb of Ninetjer v1

Description

Type of resource	three dimensional object

Creators/Contributors

Creator	Sullivan, Elaine A.

Bibliographic information

Contained on project page	Title Model Metadata: Dynasty 2
ORIGINAL OWNER OR SPONSOR OF STRUCTURE (Owner/Builder)	Title Ninetjer
TYPE OF MONUMENT (Type)	Title Mastaba; Chapel
TEMPORAL PERIOD OF ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION (First Period)	Title Early Dynastic
DYNASTY OF ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION (First Dynasty)	Title Dynasty 2
ROYAL REIGN OF ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION (First King)	Title Ninetjer
SITE	Title Saqqara
MODERN SCHOLAR/EXPLORER FIRST DOCUMENTING STRUCTURE (Discoverer)	Title Hassan
YEAR OF REDISCOVERY IN MODERN TIMES (Years)	Title 1938.0
TYPE OF STRUCTURE (3D Model Type)	Title Custom model
DATE OF MODEL CONSTRUCTION OR UPDATE (3D Model Date)	Title 2015.0
NAME OF 3D MODELER	Title Elaine Sullivan
SOFTWARE USED FOR MODEL BUILD	Title SketchUp Pro
COPYRIGHT (Copyright)	Title UC Regents, 3D Saqqara Project
SOURCES/REFERENCES FOR 2D BASE DATA (Citation)	Title Polygon data from Bresciani and Giammarusti (2003) added to and emended by GIS Supervisor and Senior Surveyor Emanuele Brienza (2010)
COMMENTS ON 2D DATA (Annotation)	Title Possible area of superstructure for tomb of Ninetjer; polygon based on placement suggested in Lacher-Raschdorff (2014: Abb. 74)
BASEMAPS/IMAGERY UTILIZED FOR GEO-REFERENCING 2D BASE DATA (Maps Used)	Title Lacher-Raschdorff (2014: Abb. 74)
DESCRIPTION – ORIGINAL HEIGHT OF STRUCTURE IN METERS (Height Original (m))	Title Version 1: 10.5 (hypothesized)
DESCRIPTION – ORIGINAL LENGTH OF STRUCTURE IN METERS (Length Original (m))	Title Version 1: 83.2 (hypothesized)
DESCRIPTION – ORIGINAL WIDTH OF STRUCTURE IN METERS (Width Original (m))	Title Version 1: 41.6 (hypothesized)
SOURCES/REFERENCE USED AS BASIS FOR 3D MODEL CONSTRUCTION (3D Data Source)	Title Claudia Lacher-Raschdorff, Das Grab des Königs Ninetjer in Saqqara: architektonische Entwicklung frühzeitlicher Grabanlagen in Ägypten, Archäologische Veröffentlichungen (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Abteilung Kairo) 125 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2014); Mark Lehner, The Complete Pyramids (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997)
DESCRIPTION – ORIGINAL EXTERIOR DECORATION	Title Version 1: Niched facade, Domed roof, White Plaster (hypothesized)
DESCRIPTION – ORIGINAL ENCLOSURE WALL DIMENSIONS	Title Version 1: 83.2x 21.9 (hypothesized)
DESCRIPTION – ORIGINAL EXTERIOR MATERIAL (3D Texture)	Title Version 1: Mud-brick (hypothesized)The niched facade on the west interior wall of the court was included as a detail based on the Lacher-Raschdorff plan; the enclosure wall was given a generic mud-brick texture, the other structures were left white (without texturing), as it is unclear whether they would have been white plastered or left as mud-brick, similarly the mortuary temple was left highly schematic as a block with no details
UNCERTAINTY LEVEL FOR 3D MODEL CONSTRUCTION	Title 4.0
Elevation - placement in model ASL IN METERS	Title 55.5
Discussion of virtual reconstruction and interpretative choices	Title No remains of the superstructure remain in modern times, and these are fully hypothetical reconstructions, based on 1 of 5 potential architectural types suggested by Lacher-RaschdorffVersion 1: The basic ground plan and size of model was based on Lacher-Raschdorff (2014: Abb. 68); Lehner (1997: 84-85) was used for comparative information on shape, proportion and highly hypothetical building heightsLacher-Raschdorff does not suggest possible heights for this suggested reconstruction type, so heights from Djoser's step pyramid complex (which this hypothetical reconstruction is based on) were used in the 3D model, Djoser's enclosure wall is 10.5m, with the dome of the south tomb reaching to approximately this height, as reconstructed by Lehner (1997: 84-85), with the chapel of the south tomb reaching slightly lower, Ninetjer’s tomb heights and the dome of the tomb superstructure are thus modeled after these proportions and shapes; the massive Dynasty 2 funerary enclosures at Abydos (with walls 5m thick and surviving heights past 11m) suggest that the ~4m thick hypothesized walls of the tomb’s main superstructure could have supported buildings around the Djoser height, especially as these were filled with a sand and not hollow like the Abydos enclosures; the model palace is visualized at only 5m high, as the walls reimagined by Lacher-Raschdorff’s drawing (2014) were significantly thinner and thus suggest this would not have had the height of the tomb, the enclosure wall at the same height as the palace (also due to the thinner nature of the walls)Version 2: The superstructure of the mastaba was based on the form of the tomb of Shepseskaf, adjusted to reflect Lacher-Raschdorff 's suggested size (2014: Abb. 74); Lacher-Raschdorff suggested the structure was limestone, with a limestone facing, and a mud-brick enclosure with two doorways (west and east) and a mud-brick mortuary temple; no height designations were suggested by Lacher, so a height similar to those used in version 1 of the model (10.5m for the superstructure) was also utilized here; the mortuary temple was left highly schematic as a block with no detailsThe tomb disappears in the model in Dynasty 5, as scholars believe that the tomb superstructure may have been dismantled by king Unas, in order to construct his pyramid complex and causeway nearby: Claudia Lacher, “The Tomb of Ninetjer at Saqqara,” in Egypt at Its Origins 3: Proceedings of the Third International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt,” London, 27th July - 1st August 2008, ed. Renee Freedman and Peter Fiske (Leuven: Peeters, 2011), 215-217
Part of publication	Title Sullivan, Elaine A. Constructing the Sacred: Visibility and Ritual Landscape at the Egyptian Necropolis at Saqqara, Redwood City: Stanford University Press 2020, http://doi.org/10.21627/2020cts
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/tf586ns7950

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Copyright

Stanford University, 2019.

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND).

Collection

Constructing the Sacred Archive

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