http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96243 Issue 15 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:07:07 GMT 2026-04-07T13:07:07Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97083 The miraculous rise of the Fifth Dynasty – the story of Papyrus Westcar and historical evidence; ; ; The decline of the powerful Fourth Dynasty and the rise of a new royal line, the Fifth Dynasty, have for a long time been shrouded in mystery and have become the stuff of legends. These events are referred to in the tale of the miraculous rise of the first three kings of the Fifth Dynasty, recorded on the Papyrus Westcar. However, relevant historical sources relating to the ascension of the new dynasty have for a long time been only few and ambiguous. The mystery surrounding the ascension of the Fifth Dynasty has now been altered fundamentally by new archaeological discoveries, in particular in the course of the research of the pyramid field in Abusir. These discoveries and the role played by three royal mothers named Khentkaus in the events at the end of the Fourth and the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty, are discussed in the cited article. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97083 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97025 Archaeological excavation of the mastaba of Queen Khentkaus III (tomb AC 30) in Abusir; ; ; During the autumn of 2014, the Czech Institute of Egyptology continued its archaeological research of the southern part of the Abusir royal pyramid necropolis. In Nakhtsare’s cemetery, tomb AC 30 was unearthed, which appeared to belong to a hitherto unknown queen, Khentkaus III. Much damaged by stone robbers, the tomb consists of a north-south mastaba, 16.12 × 10.70 m large THE MASTABA OF QUEEN KHENTKAU S I I I ( AC 30) PES XV/2015 41 with a rather simple layout, including an L-shaped chapel in the superstructure and a vertical shaft and a burial chamber in the substructure. In the tomb’s substructure part of the burial equipment was found (travertine model vessels, copper models of tools or fragments of wooden objects) as well as fragments of a mummified female skeleton, which might have belonged to the tomb owner. The identification of the previously unknown “wife of the king” and “mother of the king”, Khentkaus III, as the tomb owner was made thanks to the numerous masons’ inscriptions documented on the tomb masonry in the subterranean part of the tomb. This discovery opens new avenues into the investigation of the situation in the royal family at the beginning of the second half of the Fifth Dynasty. The analysis of the pottery used in the fill of the mastaba’s core masonry is methodologically very important as it has been used as the major dating criterion post quem. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/97025 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96911 Damage and repair of the Old Kingdom canopic jars – the case at Abusir; ; ; Archaeological excavations in the Abusir South officials’ tombs have revealed several sets of canopic jars that bear traces of large surface damage and plaster patches filling the holes and chippings. Deeper research into the canopic jars of the Old Kingdom unearthed during earlier excavations in the area of Abusir yielded more examples, and therefore questions arose concerning the origins of this damage and subsequent repair. The author of the present study brings to light the so far recognized evidence and outlines several paths of interpretation. The quality of limestone used for the production of all these canopic jars was not the reason for this damage, which would have occurred during the production process. Therefore, the author comes to the conclusion that they must have been used in a kind of pre-burial activity, most probably connected with mummification. Such activity thus caused the surface chippings, and the jars must have been restored (in one case twice). Later on, the jars were put into the burial apartment – all probably empty, as a symbol of post mortal treatment of the body, which probably did not include evisceration. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96911 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96819 Burial shafts and chambers of Nefer and Neferhathor in tomb AS 68d. A comparative evaluation of the ceramic finds; ; ; The aim of this paper is to compare two sets of ceramic finds from the two southernmost shafts uncovered in tomb AS 68d, namely Shaft 1, belonging to the main tomb owner named Nefer, and Shaft 2, which very likely belonged to his wife, Neferhathor. These shafts are interesting due to the fact that although both their burial chambers were robbed and thus the shafts must have been disturbed, a large number of typologically and metrically similar vessels and their fragments were uncovered in the fills. In both shafts, we were able to uncover a large amount of fragments belonging not only to certain ceramic classes (especially stands, platters and jars) but also to the same groups, such as the tall hour-glass stands or the low ring stands. Also, numerous examples from both shafts were able to be glued together to at least full profile, if not to full diameter. Thus it is possible to assume that these shafts were back-filled with either their original contents or at least an unknown fraction of it, and the ceramic finds uncovered in them were originally part of intentional burial shaft deposits. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/96819 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z