1 8 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
side, where the retaining walls formed a vestibule or 
chapel, in which offerings were made to the dead. Within 
the mound or tumulus was a small chamber — the serdab — 
" the home of the dead man or of his disembodied spirit," 
an opening in the stela allowing the spirit access to the 
offerings in the chapel. Under the tumulus lay the 
burial chamber, connected with the mound or tumulus 
by a vertical shaft. That is the type of structure which 
had been elaborated in the course of centuries by a highly 
SHAFT 
FROM 
TOMB 
MASTABA 
RETAIN I NG" 
WALU 
Fig. S. — Ground-plan of an ancient Egyptian tomb (Elliot Smith). 
organised and ancient Egyptian community. In the 
Neolithic tombs of Sardinia — the giants' tombs ^ — the 
structure is somewhat simpler (fig. 9). The spirit 
chamber or serdab and the burial chamber are not 
separated ; the common central chamber of the tumulus 
or mound now represents, in the opinion of Professor 
Elliot Smith, the united serdab and burial chamber. 
The supporting walls or mastaba are prolonged on one 
side to form an approaching chamber or chapel. The 
plan of the Sardinian tomb proves of assistance when 
we come to interpret the various parts of the Coldrum 
' See Dr Duncan Mackenzie's article in Mein?tou, 1909, vol. ii. 
