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Dating the dead: Chronology and context at Saqqara’s sacred animal necropolis.
The Sacred Animal Necropolis at Saqqara consists of a series of catacombs and temples dating from different periods. Professor Paul Nicholson and Dr Henry Bishop-Wright of Cardiff University describe their project, which aims to get an overview of the site and determine how it developed over the centuries.
One of the most important excavations of the 1960s was undertaken by Professor W B Emery (1903-1971) at what came to be known as Saqqara’s ‘Sacred Animal Necropolis’ (SAN). One might therefore wonder why the work is now so little known, despite a renewed interest in animal mummies.
The main reason that Emery’s work is now chiefly known only to Egyptologists is the fact of his untimely death during the 1970-1971 season of excavation at the site. His aim had not been to unearth an animal necropolis, but rather to find the location of the burial site of Imhotep, architect of the Step Pyramid of pharaoh Djoser (c.2667-2648 BC). Emery reasoned that, since Djoser reigned during the Thir
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