Many mastabas are from 30 to 40-feet in height, 150 feet in length, and 80 feet in width; while others do not exceed 10 feet in height or 15 feet in length.

The faces are symmetrically inclined and generally smooth, though sometimes the courses retreat like steps.

The materials employed are stone or brick.

The stone is limestone, cut in blocks about two and a half feet long, two feet high, and twenty inches thick.

Three sorts of limestone were employed: for the best tombs, the fine white limestone of Turah, or the compact siliceous limestone of Sakkarah; for ordinary tombs, the marly limestone of the Libyan hills.