Inside the Tomb of Queen Meresankh III under the Shadow of the Great Pyramid

Meresankh III was one of the most famous Queens in the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.

She lived approximately 2600 BC. Her grandfather was Pharaoh Khufu, an important ruler in the Fourth Dynasty, who is well known as the builder of the largest pyramid on the Giza plateau.

Meresankh was buried in a mastaba in the eastern cemetery at the base of King Khufu’s pyramid. A mastaba is an Ancient Egyptian tomb, which consists of a rectangular, flat roofed structure above ground and a burial chamber below ground.

The burial chamber below ground holds a stone sarcophagus, or burial box. A wooden coffin containing the mummified body of the deceased was placed into the stone sarcophagus which was in the underground burial chamber inside the mastaba.

Offerings were made to the gods in the offering chamber portion of the mastaba above ground. In the wall of the mastaba above ground there was also a particular structure known as a false door. It was thought that the soul of the deceased would return through this door to view the offerings there.