THE TOMB OF QAR

Meryrenefer was an official during Egypt's 5th Dynasty, probably during the reign of Pepi II. He was the "Overseer of the Pyramid Towns of Khufu and Menkaure", the "Inspector of wab-priests of the Pyramid of Khafre" and "Tenant of the Pyramid of Pepi I. However, he is better known to us as Qar (or Kar). He was married to Gefi, who was a "Prophetess of Hathor".Qar's mastaba tomb (G 7101) is located in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza. It lies to the east of the pyramid belonging to Queen Hetepheres and next to her tomb-shaft, sitting side by side with the mastaba of Idu. There may have been a relationship between these two men, but if so, the relationship is unclear.

THE TOMBS OF QAR

The mastaba of MERYRE-NEFER  surnamed QAR 

George Andrew Reisner, the director of the Harvard University - Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) mission to the Giza site, explored an area near the pyramid of Khufu (Kheops) when, on 10 January 1925, he discovered the funerary complexes of Qar (G 7101) and Idu (G 7102). They quickly became indivisible from one another, on the one hand because of their proximity and on the other hand because of the family ties that very probably united their owners.

THE TOMBS OF QAR

 LOCATION OF THE TOMBS OF QAR 

The two complexes are contiguous. Idu is to the east of Qar. They are located a hundred metres from the eastern face of the pyramid of Cheops in the great East cemetery attached to this pyramid. A few meters to the south is the great double mastaba of Prince Kauab, son of Kheops.The superstructures of the two mastabas have almost completely disappeared and only traces of the lowest sections remain. The chapels are both below the level of the ground and their inmost parts are caverns, excavated directly into the rock, under the superstructures. They are reached down a staircase coming from an open-air courtyard. At Qar’s tomb, the reliefs bordering the upper staircase were above ground level (as for Idu’s, we do not know).To consider the two tombs as mastabas is problematic - which Reisner recognized. In particular, it is difficult to imagine how open courts can fit into the plan of a mastaba which, in this case, would be a typical.  Numerous blocks and fragments of blocks were recorded during the Reisner excavations. They are housed in several museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. We will come back to them.

Tomb of Qar