Model of Ka-ni-nisut’s mastaba

The mastaba of the royal official Ka-ni-nisut (I) in the western cemetery at Giza was enlarged to the south to include a chapel with relief-decorated walls. On the plan, yellow designates those parts of the chapel that have been re-erected in the museum. The serdab – a hidden chamber for the cult statue of the tomb owner – lay behind the principal cult niche in the added chapel. A vestibule constructed of mud brick protected the entrance to the chapel. The shaft providing access to the subterranean burial complex was driven down through the core of the mastaba. Ka-ni-nisut’s like-named son, Ka-ni-nisut (II), built his modest tomb on the east side of his father’s mastaba. It, too, possessed a chapel above ground and a subterranean burial chamber. The tomb of the grandson who also bore the name Ka-ni-nisut (III) was located on the north side of the large mastaba. Its plan included a chapel with a large antechamber and two subterranean burial complexes. The increasing modesty of the tombs of Ka-ni-nisut’s de- scendants reveals the declining social and economic status of the family. The chapel of Ka-ni-nisut (I) has been cut out of the model and displayed separately in order to provide visitors a view of its interior. The surrounding mastabas are indicated on the model as slightly raised rectangles. Once they were faced with stone and the interior filled with debris.