Iru Ka Ptah Tomb at Saqqara

The Iru-ka-Ptah tomb is in the Unis (Unas) cemetery. This is one of a group of late Fifth Dynasty tombs lying immediately south of and nearly ten metres below the Unis Causeway. These tombs as well as the causeway were ail discovered by the Egyptian architect Abd el-Salam Mohammed Husseind during his excavationsi n 1938-39. The tombs are of more than usual interest for several reasons:

First, they are well preserved, having been buried and thus protected as a result of the construction, not long after they were completed, of the causeway during the reign of Unis.

Second, the tombs in this area are largely rock-cut, unlike most of the tombs at Saqqara which are mastabas constructed of stone blocks.

Third, the owners did not bear high offices in the civil administration but appear to have personally served the king within the royal palace.

Iru-ka-Ptah's main titles are 'Master butcher' and 'Overseer of the
breakfast of the king'. His tomb consists only of two rooms, an entrance court partly constructed in stone and partly rock-cut and a narrow corridor chapel hewn into the native rock. The court shows no evidence of decoration but in the chapel two walls and a false door have painted relief decoration, with the bright colours in a good state of preservaiton. The most remarkable feature, however, is the large number of high relief statues, a total of 14, cut into the native rock. Rock-cut statues are very rarely found at Saqqara, presently attested in only four other tombs at that site. That an official with relatively modest titles would be able to have such an unusual tomb is unexpected, and presumably reflects favours gained by Iru-ka-Ptah through his close personal service to the king.

Source - The Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology, Newsletter No. 63, January 1998.