During the autumn excavation season of 2013, archaeological work in the tomb complex of princess Sheretnebty (AS 68) continued. A false door was found in the filling of shaft 8 in Sheretnebty’s courtyard. The limestone stela (75 × 49 × 11 cm) belonged to a certain Hetepuni, a hemnetjer- priest of Khentytjenenet, wab-priest of the two hundred of the pyramid Men-nefer-Meryre (Pepi I), great wab-priest and overseer of the department of tenant-landholders of the Great House. The entire decoration of the false door – the hieroglyphic inscriptions, figural representation, lines and a hint of a wooden door with a crossbar in the central niche – was painted in black. At first glance the execution of the hieroglyphs looks neat and calligraphic; a further examination has revealed a substitution of some similarly looking signs. Originally, the whole surface of the stela had been whitewashed. The white colour has the basic composition of pure gypsum, but parts containing powdered barite were found as well (Tab. 1). At least 15 layers of white coating, which indicate repeated whitewashing, were observed. The length of time this activity had been taking place can be estimated at 20 to 60 years. It is probable that the false door was originally placed above the shaft into which it was thrown. A man 40–60 years old was buried in a rectangular burial pit in the burial niche of this shaft. Whereas no remains of burial equipment were found in the burial niche, the filling of the shaft contained fragments of pottery vessels. The majority of analogies to particular vessels are associated with the Sixth Dynasty, especially with Pepi I, however some of them have survived until the reign of Pepi II. Following its analysis, Hetepuni’s false door, whose features date it to the late Sixth Dynasty or the First Inter - mediate Period, illustrates not only the development at the Abusir necropolis but also serves as a probe into one of the burial complexes at Abusir South, i.e. the tomb cluster called the complex of princess Sheretnebty.
The aim of this paper is to discuss a single context from a small mud brick tomb, AS 84b, built immediately south of large wooden boat (AS 80) at Abusir South. This context is exceptional due to the fact that the rela tively small Shaft 2 contained a very large number of fully preserved vessels found in situ at diverse depths of the shaft, as well as hundreds of additional fragments in the general fill. The vast majority of the pottery belonged to a single type, namely beer jars with a tall slender body with a sharp pointed base (Abusir J-1c). Among them, at least half of the examples exhibited an intentional hole made in the base of the jar. This paper also offers a short typological and morphometric study of these beer jars and an interpretation of the deposit as a whole within our current knowledge of diverse funerary contexts.
Exploration of the tomb complex of king's daughter Sheretnebty, which was discovered in 2012, continued in the archaeological season 2013. In October–November, the work concentrated on the underground parts of the tombs, including the burial shafts and burial chambers. In tomb AS 68c, two shafts reached unusually deep; at a depth of 11 m under the ground the burial chambers of a man and a woman were hewn. The man’s chamber contained a large sarcophagus of fine limestone and remains of his burial and his tomb equipment, while the woman’s chamber remained largely unfinished and contained her rather simple burial placed on the floor. The so far discovered evidence indicates that this was the burial of princess Sheretnebty. Another four shafts in the tomb contained four other burials of a female and three males, most probably the couple’s descendants. In addition, the shafts in the two western rock-cut tombs were explored. In the tomb of Shepespuptah (AS 68b), a single shaft was dug in the tomb’s chapel, while the tomb owner was buried in a burial chamber south of the chapel. The shaft in the chapel was large but reached only 1.4 m deep and was never finished and never used for burial. The two shafts in the tomb of Duaptah (AS 68a) revealed bu - rials of two men; the south shaft belonged to Duaptah himself while the north shaft to a certain Nefermin. The burials were mostly very simple, and all of them were disturbed by tomb robbers. The preserved bones might however still reveal important details about the individuals buried in the rock-cut tombs, and they will therefore be studied in order to trace family relationships among the tomb owners.
The paper presents preliminary results of the exploration of another part of the Abusir South non-royal cemetery. Structures AS 66 and AS 69 were partly uncovered in the spring season of 2012 during the exploration of the tomb complex of Princess Sheretnebty, AS 68. During the fall season of 2015 and fall season of 2016, the structures were explored and documented, revealing a mastaba, AS 69, above the rock-cut tombs of Sheretnebty (AS 68c) and Nefer (AS 68d) and an enigmatic area, AS 66, above the rock-cut tombs of Duaptah (AS 68a) and Shepespuptah (AS 68b), which appears not to have been a tomb but perhaps an enclosed open area.
the beginning of sulphur ore mining in Swoszowice, having lasted for almost 500 years, goes back to the 15th century when the need for sulphur increased along with the firearm production development. In the Middle Ages alchemists called sulphur the ‘element of flammability’. After the invention of fi rearm sulphur gained big importance. It became an ingredient gunpowder. The real impulse for sulphur mining development in Swoszowice, a village near Krakow, was the publication of two documents: Village Land Act in Swoszowice and Diploma, that permitted mining in Swoszowice and gave a privilege to miners guild (co-partnership extracting sulphur ore) that enabled them to carry out extraction of sulphur in the whole country. It was given in 1415 by the Polish king,Władysław II Jagiełło. In the beginning, the miners guild consisted of well-known Cracow burghers: Michał Fayger, Piotr Słodownik, Mikołaj Sołtys from Stradom and a mineworker Krystian. Then it became a part of goods of Corpus Christi Monastery in Kazimierz and after the partitions of Poland it was a state-owned entity until 1887. Sulphur mining in Swoszowice made Jagiellonian dynasty powerful and influential. It lasted almost continually till 1886. At that time the pit in Swoszowice was the biggest in Europe. In the 18th century 250 workers worked there and 2,5 tones of sulphur were mined each year. In the late 19th century (1871–1876) the mine in Swoszowice covered 80–90 % of sulphur demand in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. There were many reasons for the fall of the sulphur mine in Swoszowice such as: predatory economy, decrease in sulphur ore and increase of production costs, caused for example by the rise of wood prices (wood was needed to make protection systems of the shafts), groundwater floods in the shafts. Miners were also exposed to harmful impact of hydrogen sulfi de. Additionally, the mine business in Swoszowice was negatively infl uenced by ongoing competition, the renewal of sulphur production in Sicilia, cheaper sulphur production from pirytes in Hungary, markdown of tariffs on sulphur carriage as a consequence of the Trade Act between Austria and Italy lowering the duty on imported sulphur from Sicilia. The last attempts to restart the mine in Swoszowice were made during the World War I, in 1917. For that reason the Polish Sulphur Factory consortium was created. It conducted mining works in the area of bathing facilities. Two shafts were deepened: Elżbieta and Piotr. Sulphur ore, with 22–25% sulphur content, was discovered on a depth of 18 meters in the first one. The mining works were stopped though.
The beginning of sulphur ore mining in Swoszowice, having lasted for almost 500 years, goes back to the 15th century when the need for sulphur increased along with the firearm production development. In the Middle Ages alchemists called sulphur the ‘element of flammability’. After the invention of fi rearm sulphur gained big importance. It became an ingredient gunpowder. The real impulse for sulphur mining development in Swoszowice, a village near Krakow, was the publication of two documents: Village Land Act in Swoszowice and Diploma, that permitted mining in Swoszowice and gave a privilege to miners guild (co-partnership extracting sulphur ore) that enabled them to carry out extraction of sulphur in the whole country. It was given in 1415 by the Polish king,Władysław II Jagiełło. In the beginning, the miners guild consisted of well-known Cracow burghers: Michał Fayger, Piotr Słodownik, Mikołaj Sołtys from Stradom and a mineworker Krystian. Then it became a part of goods of Corpus Christi Monastery in Kazimierz and after the partitions of Poland it was a state-owned entity until 1887. Sulphur mining in Swoszowice made Jagiellonian dynasty powerful and influential. It lasted almost continually till 1886. At that time the pit in Swoszowice was the biggest in Europe. In the 18th century 250 workers worked there and 2,5 tones of sulphur were mined each year. In the late 19th century (1871–1876) the mine in Swoszowice covered 80–90 % of sulphur demand in Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. There were many reasons for the fall of the sulphur mine in Swoszowice such as: predatory economy, decrease in sulphur ore and increase of production costs, caused for example by the rise of wood prices (wood was needed to make protection systems of the shafts), groundwater floods in the shafts. Miners were also exposed to harmful impact of hydrogen sulfi de. Additionally, the mine business in Swoszowice was negatively infl uenced by ongoing competition, the renewal of sulphur production in Sicilia, cheaper sulphur production from pirytes in Hungary, markdown of tariffs on sulphur carriage as a consequence of the Trade Act between Austria and Italy lowering the duty on imported sulphur from Sicilia. The last attempts to restart the mine in Swoszowice were made during the World War I, in 1917. For that reason the Polish Sulphur Factory consortium was created. It conducted mining works in the area of bathing facilities. Two shafts were deepened: Elżbieta and Piotr. Sulphur ore, with 22–25% sulphur content, was discovered on a depth of 18 meters in the first one. The mining works were stopped though.
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