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Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie 



[June 3, 



The earliest tombs of the simplest type, such as I have found in 



the cemetery of Dendereh, show only the essential parts. There is 

 a sepulchral chamber under the ground (see Fig. 2) ; a square pit 

 to reach that ; a mound heaped over the pit, either of mere earth 

 held together by a brick wall, or else of mud-brick throughout ; 

 and lastly a doorway figured always on the east face of the mound, 

 at which the &a-bird was ^.supposed to [fly out, and the /i:a-ghost to 

 walk out to receive the food which was offered to it. The essential 

 parts of this door are (1) the lintel or j^rnie/, with a figure of the 

 dead and his name and titles, over the^ door ; (2) the jamhs which 



Fig. 3.— False door. Tomb of Ahat. 



support this ; (3) the niche or entrance between the jambs with a 

 figure of the dead coming forth ; with (4) a round roll or drum, 

 imitated from a log lintel to the door, which generally bore only the 

 name, with perhaps a short title. This doorway for the soul, or 

 *' false door," as it is now commonly called, is a most necessary part 

 of the tomb ; it became developed into a great monument in itself, 

 and finally changed and dwindled down into the mere funeral tablet 

 on a small scale. This whole raised mound and false door is known 

 by the modern name of a mastaba, or " platform " in Arabic. 



But the survivors craved to have some immediate token of the 

 dead, to which their offerings might be made. If the ka, or spiritual 



