An Early Dynastic Cemetery at Kafr Ghattati

Abstract

In November of 1924 the Harvard UniversityBoston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, under the direction of George Andrew Reisner, was in the midst of excavations at the Giza necropolis. While directing the excavation at Giza, Reisner learned of the existence of a small cemetery at Kafr Ghattati, north of Giza. The cemetery, which lay on a sandy knoll between the Mena House Hotel and Abu Roash, had been discovered the previous summer by local villagers and was in danger of being completely plundered (fig. 1). In an effort to salvage what remained of the cemetery at Kafr Ghattati, Reisner sent a party of twenty men to excavate the site. On November 16 the cemetery was located and the first two graves were cleared. By November 25 the excavation was completed and a total of thirteen graves had been found.2 The graves at Kafr Ghattati, although for the most part completely plundered and devoid of a y artifacts, give us a good illustration of a small Archaic Period cemetery. In addition, some of the major trends in Lower Egyptian tomb dev lopment are also documented. Reisner recognized what he believed was a divergence of tomb types between Upper and Lower Egyptian types (see below). Reconstruction of the actual excavation and