Recently reopened in the sprawling necropolis of Saqqara is the 2300 B.C. mastaba (tomb) of Mereruka, the vizier to King Teti, whose pyramid stands nearby. The mastaba’s complex of 32 rooms and passages covers almost 11,000 square feet, making it the largest tomb ever built in the Old Kingdom. The interior is in a remarkable state of preservation, with painted bas reliefs depicting everyday life — girls playing a game, peasants harvesting grain and carrying water to gardens, and men working with molten metal. In one scene, a lioness is killing a cow by biting its mouth and nose to cause suffocation. Another carving shows men in boats spearing three huge hippos that have their mouths open wide and teeth bared. The pillared cult chamber contains a statue of the tomb owner and a huge ring in the floor, perhaps used to tie sacrificial animals.