mastaba

plural mastabas · alternative mastabah

1. A wide stone bench built into the wall of a house, shop etc. in the Middle East.

   A wooden shutter which closes down at night-time, and by day two palm-stick stools intensely dirty and full of fleas, occupying the place of the Mastabah or earthern bench, which accomodated[sic] purchasers, complete the furniture of my preceptor's establishment.

   1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, Dover, published 1963, page 68

2. architectureA rectangular structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides, built during Ancient Egyptian times above tombs that were situated on flat land. Mastabas were made of wood, mud bricks, stone, or a combination of these materials. Some are solid structures, while others can contain one or more rooms, sometimes decorated with paintings or inscriptions.

   The pyramids at Giza are flanked by large cemeteries containing hundreds of mastabas.