Site description:
The burial area Sheikh Said contains tombs belonging to officials and governors of the Hare Province interred during the 6th Dynasty.. The necropolis of Sheikh Said is one of the earliest examples of fully constructed rock-cut tombs. The burial structures were simple in design and included tomb chapel, small interior hall and an offering chamber, most contained shafts that led to subterranean burial chambers.
Type of site:
Tombs; mastabas
Timeframe:
Tombs (Old Kingdom); mastabas (Old Kingdom)
Excavation season:
Relevant publications:
Meyer, Marleen de 2011. Two cemeteries for one provincial capital? Deir el-Bersha and el-Sheikh Said in the fifteenth Upper Egyptian nome during the Old Kingdom. In Strudwick, Nigel and Helen Strudwick (eds), Old Kingdom, new perspectives: Egyptian art and archaeology 2750-2150 BC, 42-49. Oxford: Oxbow Books.