OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY III, 2630-2611 B.C.

Similar tiles were found in the subterranian funerary chamber of King Djoser below the step-pyramid at Saqqara. It is thought that the king's architect, Imhotep, used stone and tile as a more permanent substitute for the wattle and daub, brick, and wood of domestic architecture. For a reconstructed panel of tiles thought to immitate a wattle construction made with reeds, see no. 17 in Saleh and Sourouzian, The Egyptian Museum, Cairo.