religion 147
gate. a funerary relief was also found in the square. the excavators found
a cella with an entrance to the east and three small adjoining rooms on
the south side. the east entrance is a vestibule of 4 × 3 m, which leads
to the 4.50–4.80 m wide and 15 m deep cella. the adjoining rooms in the
western half of the south side cella were accessible though the cella. their
interpretation by researchers as vestry, treasuries, or tombs is controver-
sial, as none of these rooms was further excavated.87
on the side opposite of the entrance was a 40-cm-high pedestal of plas-
tered mud bricks. the statue of a seated couple as well as several statu-
ettes were located on top of this pedestal. to the left a separate pedestal
protrudes into the room, upon which was a statue, on its own base, of a
standing man. particular mention should be made of the 50-cm-high brick
course along the inner north wall. it is interpreted as a bench on which
offerings could be placed.
the statue of a seated couple (80 cm high, 88 cm wide, 43 cm thick) is
carved out of a single stone slab (pl. Viii). the couple is sitting on a bench.
the man is wearing a garment with a thick rolled hem and no headdress.
the woman, who is wearing crown and dress, resembles the later statue
in the northern mortuary cult complex. she also wears two necklaces and
a bronze choker with a crescent-shaped pendant.88 the hands of both fig-
ures rest on their knees. compared to the female statues from the north-
ern and southern mortuary cult complexes, the cups held in the figures’
right hands becomes smaller over time until it is completely absent in
the statue of a seated couple. this lack of vessel can be explained neither
by the assumption that the hands originally held only the stems of cups,
which were later smashed, nor by the notion that the cups were placed on
the closed fist for certain cultic rituals. it should be noted that a libation
bowl was found in front of the altar, perhaps making superfluous libation
vessels in the hands of the couple. the unnamed couple is in all probabil-
ity a royal couple of guzana, who were deified after their death.
left of the pedestal with the statue of a seated couple was another
pedestal, this one almost square, which held the statue of a standing man.
this statue is 1 m tall and is anchored to a large and heavy basalt slab with
a pin (pl. ix).
87 in the summer of 2007 W. orthmann rediscovered the cult room; cf. orthmann 2009
and id. 2011: 366–369.
88 cf. Martin 2010b: 224 with fig. 552, 231.