Historical publicationV85
Vyse II · p. 85
Missing lid and absence of inscriptions
Checked passage: Statement about inscriptions
The sarcophagus did not bear any inscription or hieroglyphics.
Read alongside the separate p. 83 report of Arabic words and characters on walls and inside the object. Do not paraphrase this as 'no marks of any kind'. See the supplementary context excerpt supplied below.
Checking notes and source context ↗Checked passage: Lid fragments and their reported location
The lid was not found in the sepulchral chamber, but pieces of it were afterwards discovered. […] When the large apartment was finally cleared out, the greater part of the lid of the sarcophagus was found (as I have already stated) near the entrance of the passage descending to the sepulchral chamber; […]
The last segment is a deliberately finite clause; append a visible editorial omission marker after its semicolon. 'The greater part' does not establish one largest fragment. The excerpt does not justify describing the illustrated complete lid as an observed intact lid.
Checking notes and source context ↗Automatically extracted transcription
Uncorrected text. Use the original scan to check quotations and footnotes.
OPERATIONS CARRIED ON AT GIZEH . 85
The sarcophagus did not bear any inscription or hierogly-
phics . The lid had been fixed by two pins in the usual
manner , and also by a dovetail , which was rounded ; and
a plate of metal seemed to have been applied so carefully
underneath it , that in order to insert a lever for its
removal , it had been found necessary to cut a groove
across the rim of the sarcophagus . The lid was not found
in the sepulchral chamber , but pieces of it were afterwards
discovered .
At the bottom of the southern side of the passage ,
leading to the sepulchral chamber , a recess had been
formed (something like that in the lower horizontal
passage in the Second Pyramid ) , and on the opposite side
a flight of seven steps opened into the southern end of a
room , which were three feet below the level of the passage .
( See Plate III , Fig 4. )
. This room was rectangular , but
.
not square with the sepulchral chamber , as it lay 25°
east of north ; a position evidently intended , together
with the above -mentioned recess , to facilitate the removal
of the sarcophagus between this and the sepulchral
chamber . It contained four niches or compartments on
the eastern side , and two on the northern ; one of the
latter , it is to be observed , had an inclined direction ,
apparently for the purpose of receiving some solid sub-
stance of considerable length . This room was half full of
rubbish , and several Arabic characters had been scrawled
on the ceiling . It was probably intended for funereal
ceremonies like those at Abou Simbel , Thebes , & c .
When the large apartment was finally cleared out ,
lid
the greater part of the the sarcophagus was found
of
have already stated near the entrance
as
of
the passage
I
(
)
descending the sepulchral
to
to
chamber and close
it
;