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DUCKWORTH EGYPTOLOGY

Burial Customs
in Ancient Egypt:
Life in Death for
Rich and Poor

Wolfram Grajetzki

Baca
Depry

Duckworth
 First published in 2003 by
Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.
61 Frith Street, London W1D 3JL
Tel: 020 7434 4242
Fax: 020 7434 4420
[email protected]
www.ducknet.co.uk

© 2003 by Wolfram Grajetzki

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

ISBN 0 7156 32175

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Biddles Ltd, www.biddles.co.uk
 Contents

Preface vil

Early Farmers and State Formation

. Early Dynastic Egypt: The Tomb as a House for the Afterlife
. The Old Kingdom: The Age of the Pyramids
. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom: The
od
Development of a Funerary Industry
. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate
Period: New Magical Rites
. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society
. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials
. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin
Production
. The Late Period and Persian Domination 109
10. Ptolemaic Egypt: The Hellenistic World and Egyptian
Beliefs
BL. Egypt in the Roman Empire

Notes 133
Chronology 147
Glossary 149
Further Reading 151
Figure Sources 155
Index 161
 Alexandria
Tanis
@
e Tell el-Daba

e Bubastis

eTell el Yahudi
Heliopolis
Gizehe
e) Memphis/Saqqar
Pichiee Dahshur
Fayum
e/ Meydum
Lahun/Haragehe
Gurobe

e Beni Hasan
© Deir el-Bersheh
° Amarna

. Matmar
A Badari
e Qau (el-Kebir)

e Akhmim
Naga ed-Deir
© El Mashayikh

Fig. 1. Egypt: the principal sites mentioned in the text. See Fig. 2
for a detailed map of the Memphis-Fayum area.
 Preface

The energy devoted by the ancient Egyptians to their tombs is legendary.

The pyramids of Gizeh and the tomb of Tutankhamun are merely the two
most spectacular examples. No previous book has sought to collect all the
material from the tens of thousands of tombs excavated in Egypt to give a
broad picture of what was placed in these tombs at different times and
throughout society. This is surprising, though, to compensate, there are
many books concentrating on mummies or on particular objects, such as
coffins or amulets. There are also a few studies that investigate the rules
about what went into tombs in particular periods. However, in general
amazingly little attention has been paid to the burial equipment as a unit
— that is, all the objects placed in an ‘average’ tomb at a given time.
This book was not easy to write, primarily because the recording and
publication of finds has varied so much. There are many well-published
tombs of the Old Kingdom, the period that has appealed most to those
Egyptologists interested in archaeology as opposed to art and language.
By contrast, later tombs and burials are often very badly published with
inadequate descriptions; most often, sadly, they are not published at all.
For these later periods, the focus of attention is too rarely the
archaeological context. Instead, typologies have been more important for
research, which has tended to concentrate on single objects, such as
funerary papyri, coffins or pottery.
In writing this book, I have aimed not only to cover all periods as
impartially as possible, but also, and equally importantly, to remove some
widespread and unwarranted assumptions. The first of these concerns the
archaeological record: many people still believe that there are only very
few undisturbed tombs. This is simply not true. The number of
unplundered burials — even for elite officials — of all periods is much higher
than one might expect. Of course there are only a few examples
overflowing with treasure, such as the tomb of Tutankhamun or the
burials of the kings at Tanis. However, there are many well-preserved
tombs with few or no gold objects which have not attracted so much
attention. These are key sources for reconstructing burial customs and
Egyptian culture as a whole.
A second unwarranted assumption is that we do not have the burials of
the common farmers or poor people. Many Egyptologists still believe that
a burial is automatically a sign of the higher status of the deceased.
According to such opinion, the ‘poor’ were simply placed in the desert sand
without any burial objects.! This is not the case. In the area of one
provincial town, Qau, more than seven thousand tombs have been

Vii
 Preface

excavated, most of which must belong to farmers living in small villages

along the desert edge of the region. Similar cemeteries have been found,
excavated and published from other parts of the country: Bubastis, Gurob,
Naga ed-Deir, Saqqara, Sedment. Admittedly, a distinction has to be made
between ‘poor (= not rich) and ‘poor (= destitute)’. We know almost nothing
about the social structure in villages or towns, but this distinction can be
assumed for ancient Egypt from parallels in other comparable societies.
On the one hand there will have been the poorest people, such as beggars
— outcasts from their society, with no property — who probably really have
not left much trace in the archaeological record. On the other hand, there
must have been large numbers of farmers with a small income, just enough
to survive, and some property. These people were certainly buried with at
least some expense. They had a family and work, and so were part of a
supporting social structure. Their relatives must have spent some time
digging tombs and equipping their beloved family members with at least
some funerary objects, even if only a few pots or beads, if that was the
custom of the day.
Population estimates for remote antiquity are extremely vague, but
there is a general consensus that around a million people were living in
Egypt by the time of the Old Kingdom. With four or five generations a
century, this would mean that several hundred million people died and
were buried in pharaonic Egypt. Each burial had its own character; even
though there are points in common, no two burials are identical in layout
and content. The following study can therefore only give an outline,
describing the most typical items placed in tombs. The choice of burials
described is very subjective. I have concentrated on what was ‘normal’ in
each period, rather than what is best preserved or most colourful. Even
specialised researchers often focus too heavily on some well-preserved
monuments, which are sometimes not at all typical of their time. The list
of further reading at the end of the book points the reader to sources of
more detail on particular subjects.
I would like to thank Nicholas Reeves, Deborah Blake and Ray Davies
from Duckworth for all their assistance in publishing this book. I am also
grateful to Stephen Quirke for reading my English and many discussions
on the subject. I would like to thank Christian Loeben for providing me
with some of the more inaccessible literature on coffins, Rita Freed for the
opportunity to study the Reisner records in Boston, and Eberhard
Holzhauer, director of DASS (database of ancient Egyptian coffins and
sarcophagi) for the years I worked for his project, offering me extensive
contact with funerary culture in Ancient Egypt. Finally, I wish to
acknowledge my indebtedness to Stefan Seidlmayer, both for his
publications and for a colloquium he organised at the Freie Universitat
Berlin in 1990. The responsibility for the contents of this book is, of course,
my own.

W.G.
 1. Early Farmers and State Formation

The earliest known farming communities in Egypt are from the Fayum
area, where settlements dating to around 5000 BC have been excavated.
Although the excavators of these sites tried hard to find cemeteries, or at
least some tombs, so far no burial places of these early farmers have been
located. At about the same time in Lower Egypt, the Delta settlement of
Merimde flourished. A Neolithic (stone age agricultural) society, the
Merimde people produced simple pottery including clay figurines,
cultivated wheat and kept domesticated cattle and other animals.
Altogether the settlement was inhabited for about a thousand years. The
inhabitants buried their people within the settlement area. They did not
create special cemeteries; graves were found by the excavators just next to
houses, or sometimes even inside them. Admittedly the archaeological
context is not entirely clear. Were the dead really buried inside or under
habitations, or in buildings that were empty and uninhabited by the time
of the burial? The dead were placed in shallow holes in a contracted
position. There are almost no objects in these tombs and there seems to be
no rule about the orientation of the body. Unlike the later Egyptians, the
Merimde people seem not to be very concerned about their dead.!

e Heliopolis
Abu Rowashe| fi Cairo
e Maadi

Fayum lake

Meydum / Riqgeh
Fig. 2.
The Memphis-Fayum area. Hawara
*\. Lahun
Gurop oe, Abusir el-Meleq
/ Harageh’
ue Js
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Another Neolithic people in

Lower Egypt are known as
the Omari culture, which
flourished around 4600-4400
BC. It is known from only a few
sites, and is contemporary with Fig. 3. Examples of vessels found in tombs of the
the later phases of the Omariculture.
Merimde culture. Cattle, pigs
and goats had been domesticated here, and several kinds of wheat were
cultivated, though metal was not yet known. A settlement has been
excavated near Helwan, today a suburb south of Cairo. The people of the
Omari culture lived in small houses partly cut into the ground and buried
their dead partly inside their settlements in shallow pits. The bodies were
placed lying on their left side with the head to the south in a contracted
position, and with the hands in front of the face. The dead were quite often
laid in mats; there is no sign of any wrappings or other textiles. This is not
simply a question of preservation, as some textiles have survived in the
settlement itself. Evidently the deceased were placed naked in their
tombs. One pot as grave good was normal, with no personal adornments —
these are very typical of many periods and cultures. The pots were often
found filled with sand, possibly a kind of substitute for food. The
impression remains that the Omari people — like the people from Merimde
—did not devote much effort to burying their dead, although there are some
signs that the tombs were marked at the surface.?
From about 4000 BC a third culture developed in Lower Egypt, again so
far identified at only a few sites. This is the Maadi or Maadi-Buto culture.
Like Omari, it is a farming society, but with the sporadic use of copper
(Chalcolithic, or copper stone age) and strong connections to Palestine. At
Maadi, where the culture was first discovered, and at Wadi Digla, not far
away (today both places are suburbs of Cairo), two cemeteries with a total
of more than a hundred tombs have been excavated.
The burials are very simple. The dead are normally
buried in shallow pits in a contracted position, laid g OD
on the right side with the head to the south. V
However, this is not a strict rule: many bodies are
orientated to the north. There are never many, if
any, grave goods. A single pottery vessel is most
common; more than one is quite exceptional. Even
by far the richest tomb has only eight vessels. Other
grave goods are few. Sometimes flint tools are is: 4. Wadi Digla tomb
found, , sometimes ; shells : used to contain cosmetic eh Maadi-Buto
the 8 tipeal bane)
culture.
powder. Copper objects, jewellery and stone vessels The body (sex unknown)
are rare.? Comparison with the excavated is ina contracted
settlement sites, where many fragments of stone Potion. The only grave
good is one vessel
vessels
, age were found, demonstrates
care: that the (marked as a circle on
simplicity of these tombs indicates not poverty, but the plan).

2
 1. Early Farmers and State Formation

a specific cultic habit. Grave goods are again not very important for the
people of the Maadi-Buto culture. However, the vessels — most likely used
as food containers — found in the tombs of the Omari and Maadi-Buto
tombs show that these people did have some expectations of their afterlife.

Badari
In Upper Egypt the picture is rather
different, as can be seen from the key
site of Badari. Here the British
archaeologists Guy Brunton and
Gertrude Caton-Thompson excavated
a series of cemeteries along the desert
edge from 1922 to 1925. Their dis-
coveries span all periods of Egyptian
history, including settlements and
tombs of the earliest farming culture
of Upper Egypt, now named Badarian
after this site. Around 4000 BC the Fig. 5. Badari tomb 5710: burial of a
Badarian people lived in small child about ten years old. The body
villages and buried their people in was wrapped ina reed mat. Next to it
shallow holes at the desert edge, is ee aah caret
separated from their settlements. The neck and wrist were strings of beads.
bodies were placed in a contracted The head was orientated to the south.
position, often on a mat. The head was
usually oriented to the south with the face looking east (towards the rising
sun). Many tombs contained a few burial goods. Pottery is very common,
one or sometimes two vessels being the rule. Other typical grave goods are
cosmetic palettes of stone, used for preparing eye-paint. A pebble is
generally placed alongside for grinding the pigment, together with lumps
of green copper ore to be ground. The Badarian farmers were often adorned
with beads made of a variety of stones and other materials.
The tombs do not vary much in size, suggesting that there are no major
differences in wealth or rank between the people. However, some tombs
contain special objects that might be interpreted as status symbols. In two
instances a man was found with a belt of glazed beads. These are the oldest
examples of glazing known from Egypt. Were these two men perhaps
leaders of a village, or healers, or priests?° In contrast to Omari and Maadi,
these cemeteries give the impression that burials were quite important to
the Badarian people. The tomb pits are cut deeper into the ground and
there is a greater variety of objects placed in them.

Naqada
Remains of the Nagada culture were first excavated by the British
archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie at the place of that name,
@

3
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

where he found some two thousand tombs as well as a large contemporary

settlement. Initially Petrie did not realise the true significance of his finds,
thinking that he had found the traces of foreigners settling in Egypt during
the period between the Old and Middle Kingdoms, around 2000 BC.
However, shortly after Petrie’s discovery the French Egyptologist Jacques
de Morgan published a study in which he demonstrated that the finds from
Naqada belong to a prehistoric culture. From more recent research and
excavations, we can today separate the Naqada culture into three phases
(Naqada I-III), and date these to around 4000-3000 BC. This most
important prehistoric culture is in many ways the foundation of ancient
Egypt. The relation of the early Naqada culture to the Badarian culture
remains a problem. Naqada I may be contemporary with the Badarian
culture, which would then represent just a local variant in northern Upper
Egypt, while the Naqada culture was developing in other parts of Upper
Egypt. It is no great surprise that the burial customs of the Naqada I
people do not differ very much from those of the Badarian people. The dead
are laid in shallow holes in the ground with a few grave goods, such as
pottery or cosmetic palettes.
The breakthrough in development comes with Nagada II, when the
culture achieved major technical advances in arts and crafts, with
evidence of growth of urban centres. Social differences become clearly
visible. There are now tombs
which might belong to a ruling
elite, while others are relatively
poor and clearly belong to the
lower end of society. People of the
Naqada culture still buried their
dead in round or oval holes, but
over time the tendency grew to cut
rectangular holes and finally, at
the end of the Naqada period,
there are many rectangular burial
chambers, deeply cut into the
ground. This parallels the
development from round huts to
rectangular houses in the
settlement sites. A few tombs were
mud-plastered or brick-lined. At
0Cl We i
importa nt centres of the Naqada
culture, such as Naqada itself,
Fig. 6. Tomb U-C at Abydos, The tomb is Hierakonpolis and Abydos, many
built of mud-bricks. It was looted when of these better built tombs (Fig. 6)
found, but still contained a few objects (ivory were found at special cemeteries
fragments, amethyst and lapis lazuli beads) : .
revealing the high status of its owner, who removed from the main burial
may have been an early king or at least a places and clearly reserved for the
very important person of the day. elite of the regional centres. Some
 1. Early Farmers and State Formation

single graves have quite exceptional features, which makes it highly likely
that they belonged to local leaders, the first ‘kings’ of these areas. One
tomb at Hierakonpolis was decorated with paintings depicting human
figures, animals and ships. At Abydos some huge tombs with several
rooms have recently been excavated. The grave goods in one of these
included large quantities of imported Palestinian pottery and the earliest
examples of writing yet found in Egypt.’
In general, Naqada-period burial goods are similar to those of the
Badarian culture, though with a pronounced trend towards placing more
objects in the tomb than before. In the richest tombs at Abydos and
Hierakonpolis more than a hundred pottery vessels were found. In this
context, just one or two vessels must be a clear sign of a person of rather
poor status. Richer graves also contain finely produced stone vessels, a
highlight of contemporary craftsmanship. After the vessels, beads are the
most usual finds, often worn as necklaces and bracelets. Cosmetic palettes
with pebbles remain common, especially in burials of women. Flint tools
and weapons are more typical in burials of men, though inadequate
recording of the human remains in many cemeteries often makes it hard
to determine the sex of a tomb owner. Particularly rich tombs contain a far
greater number and variety of grave goods. Various amulets (clay and
ivory figurines; small bull heads made in different materials) may have
functioned as status symbols as much as for the protection of the dead.
From the limited surviving evidence it seems that the deceased was buried
in ordinary dress, although there are some indications that as early as the

Fig. 7. Tomb 401 from the Naqada culture cemetery at Harageh

containing the body of a man. The burial contains a set of pottery
vessels, one calcite vessel (dotted) and three flint knives (not
shown). The head is orientated to the south.

5
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Naqada period the body was treated, the first step towards the future art
of mummification.* Some bodies were placed on a bed, while other tombs
yielded remains of coffins. In general one has the impression — especially
for the bigger tombs — that many everyday objects were placed in these
burials. Few settlement sites of the Naqada culture have been excavated,
and it is therefore difficult to compare objects used in daily life with objects
placed in tombs: vessels, such as painted jars, might have been produced
specially for burial. However, a poor person would have been forced by lack
of resources to place only essentials in a grave, such as some pottery jars
for food to guarantee nourishment for eternity. In a rich tomb the same
was done but on a bigger scale: the large numbers of pottery vessels found
in some burials may indicate a wish to secure this eternal food supply.
Everything important on earth was still needed for the next life and
therefore placed in the tomb. Gender-specific objects such as weapons for
men and cosmetic objects for women recreate the social identity of the dead
person for the afterlife. Status symbols are important in identifying a
person’s place in the social hierarchy, and so must have been considered
important for the afterlife too.
 2. Early Dynastic Egypt: The Tomb as
a House for the Afterlife

By around 3000 BC Egypt had become a unified kingdom, and had

developed the features today considered typical of an early civilisation.
Writing was introduced, enabling us to know the names of the first
Egyptian kings and their officials. In all probability these kings came from
the Upper Egyptian town of Abydos, where they were buried. About thirty
kilometres to the south of modern Cairo they founded the city of Memphis,
on the border between Middle and Lower Egypt. At this perfect strategic
position the palaces of the elite and the temples of principal deities must
have risen. Directly beside the city, on a desert plateau, the tombs of the
ruling class of the new state were built. This desert cemetery zone is called
Saqqara, after a modern village.
The burial customs of the First Dynasty are in general not very different
from those already known from the Naqada period. The change lies in the
richness of the tombs. At the end of the Naqada period, burial goods and
tomb sizes became more starkly polarised. On the one hand there were
now exceedingly rich tombs, with many burial goods and a complex
funerary architecture, while on the other there were graves of very poor
people with almost no burial goods. Egyptian society had become a class
society, and this is clearly visible in its burial customs.
The typical burial place of a high elite official at this time is the palace
facade tomb (Fig. 8), a funerary complex consisting of two parts. First, the

Fig. 8. Palace facade tomb at Naqada, early First Dynasty.

7
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 9. Chamber filled with storage jars in the palace facade tomb at Naqada, as it was
when found.

underground chambers reserved for the dead. These started out as simply
a deeper shaft, a large hole in the rock. Later, in early Dynastic times,
there might be an underground chamber reached by a staircase. Secondly,
there is the superstructure built above the ground, over the shaft and the
burial chamber. This consisted of a rectangular mud-brick block, with
many rooms often containing storage jars (Fig. 9). The outside of this
building was decorated with a niche pattern, also found on a palace or
temple wall in the city site at Hierakonpolis, and in the design for the
rectangle enclosing the name of the king as Horus. It is therefore generally
assumed that the royal palace was the prototype for the motif, and the
term ‘palace facade’ reflects this assumption. Such niche brick architecture
is also found in Mesopotamia, and it is thought that the motif was
imported from there. The overground part of these tombs included a space
for the cult of the dead, though there are only a few examples of what such
cult places would have looked like. During the burial (or maybe before it)
the tomb was filled with many goods important for survival in the next
world. Significantly, most of these objects seem to be taken directly from
daily life, with only the coffin being specially made for the tomb. It is thus
not surprising that excavators found furniture (Fig. 10) in the richest
tombs, and many with jewellery, games, weapons and cosmetic objects.
Food supply was the dominant concern, and in the biggest tombs there are
literally thousands of jars containing food.
Tomb no. 3503 at Saqqara dates to the first part of the First Dynasty.?
The identity of its owner is not certain, though the name Merneit was
found written on two vessels. This tomb was plundered, but the looting
was not very systematic and it seems likely that only jewellery and metal
objects were stolen. After the robbers left the tomb, it burned and
collapsed, so that everything under the fallen roof was quite well preserved
when the excavators found it. In the middle of the tomb chamber (Fig. 11)
was a massive (2.7 x 1.8 m) wooden coffin. To the left of it —its east side —

8
 2. Early Dynastic Egypt: The Tomb as a House for the Afterlife

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Fig. 11. Saqqara tomb 3503: the burial chamber. Next to the coffin was a set of calcite
vessels (below, centre), one inscribed with the name Merneit, which contained the funeral
meal. Emery identified Merneit with a ruling queen of the First Dynasty and thought this
was her tomb, but most scholars now believe the queen was buried at Abydos. This tomb
may belong to a wealthy person with the same name. North of the coffin (right) was a
massive stock of pottery and alabaster vessels. Their shapes show that they may have
been used as tableware. The small precious stone vessels (centre right) were the most
valuable in the set.
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

several beautiful stone vases, still containing traces of food, were found.
This must have been a meal for the dead as found to the east of the
deceased in many early Dynastic tombs. Around the walls of the burial
chamber were pottery and stone jars, and between them traces of wooden
boxes were found. The contents of the boxes are not known, but the
excavators found one ivory bracelet there, so they may well have contained
jewellery. North of the coffin were three wooden poles, perhaps from
a screen.
The idea of taking everything from life on earth on to life in eternity
went so far that next to some of the big tombs at Saqqara huge mud-brick
constructions for boats? and the burials of servants (subsidiary tombs: Fig.
12) were found. Evidently the people who served a high official during in
his life on earth had also to follow him into his afterlife. There are long
discussions in Egyptological literature about these tombs. Were the
servants killed in order to be placed next to their masters, or did these
burials take place after they died naturally? The question remains open.*
Tombs of subordinates next to the tomb of their master are also found in
later times, but there is no doubt that these later servants died ‘natural’
deaths. The First Dynasty servant burials stand out for their large
numbers (up to three hundred next to the resting-place of king Djer at
Abydos) and the great care with which they were arranged around the
central tomb. In general the burial goods seem not very different from
those in tombs of other people of
jar for grain
the same social status. However,
/ there are two observations to be
made on the specific function of
as these subordinates. The first
5 concerns the type of objects
found in their tombs. In several
subsidiary burials at Saqqara,
objects in the tombs seem to
point to a specific occupation for
the deceased. In one there was a
set of small vessels which once
contained green, red, black and
wine or water jar
yellow paint.® This is an unusual
find, which gives the strong
impression that the burial is that
found in the filling of the tomb of a painter. In another three
Fig. 12. A subsidiary (‘servant’) tomb at model boats were found;*
Saqqara. This undisturbed burial of an oldman Perhaps the tomb owner was a
in a coffin contained several vessels. Typical of ship-builder or a ferryman. For
such tombs are the huge wine or water jarand others it is not so easy to see
the smaller jar for grain. Most of these vessels :
were found empty; the shape of a vessel what profession they once had,
announced its contents, and its symbolic as most flint or copper tools could
presence was evidently sufficient. have been used for various tasks.

10
 2. Early Dynastic Egypt: The Tomb as a House for the Afterlife

A second observation about the servant tombs in Saqqara is the total lack
of personal adornments such as beads or bracelets. There are mainly men
buried in these tombs, and it is true that jewellery in general is not so
commonly found in male burials. Nevertheless, personal adornments are
attested for men at this time, so their absence may have something to do
with the status of the tomb owner: perhaps a servant buried with his
master was not allowed wear jewellery in his tomb. This is only a guess.
In contrast to Saqqara, the Abydos subsidiary tombs did contain some
beads,’ but this is not surprising: inscriptions on stelae found around the
tombs of the kings at Abydos and belonging to ‘subsidiary burials’ show
that queens were also buried here. Jewellery may have been appropriate
to the social status of a queen but not to that of a servant.
In the Naqada period and the First Dynasty one can already identify a
tendency to replace some of the most expensive or large-scale objects with
cheaper, smaller models. Some of the biggest tombs had burials of
full-scale ships next to them, but in other graves there were only models
of ships. Granaries are most important for the food supply of the dead,
indeed a life-size granary was found in one tomb.® However, this is an
exception and many more burials contained models of granaries. In the
beliefs of the Egyptians, a model must have had much the same function
as the object itself.
The burials of poorer people offer a dramatic contrast to those of the
rich. A cemetery of the late Naqada and early Dynastic period with about
two thousand tombs was excavated at Tarkhan.® Many of them are quite
modest in scale and indicate how ordinary people were buried. The less
wealthy Egyptian at this time had to select the objects which would go into
the tomb. The smaller tombs are especially valuable as they reveal what
was seen as absolutely essential for burial. For the simpler graves, mostly
shallow holes sunk into the surface, the typical goods are again pottery jars
around the body. In front of the head of the deceased there was often
tableware offering the eternal meal for the afterlife. Many of the women
and some of the men wore jewellery. As in the Naqada period, cosmetic
palettes are common (though they disappear from burials in the First
Dynasty). Other finds are rare. In some male tombs tools and weapons
were found. In only a few tombs were there other special objects. In one
such example, a box was found containing another box in the shape of the
hieroglyph sa (the sign of protection) with an inscribed comb in it. Coffins
are not very common in these tombs, but do sometimes appear.
During the First Dynasty the architecture of the tombs underwent rapid
development.!° At the beginning of the dynasty some of the bigger tombs
had substantial chambers at ground level with a massive brick funerary
palace, or mastaba, on top. All this must have been built after the death of
the person. With a smaller-scale building this would have been no
problem; but it is not possible to erect a huge funerary palace within a few
days or weeks, the maximum time that could reasonably elapse between
death and burial. In the middle of the dynasty a staircase was therefore

11
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

introduced to give access to the underground parts of the mastaba. This

produced the advantage that the whole funerary complex could be built
while the tomb owner was still alive. Goods and the dead body itself could
be brought into the tomb via the staircase after death. A staircase gave
easier access to robbers too, so it is not surprising that many of them are
blocked with heavy stones. Despite this, modern excavators have found
that most of these tombs were plundered.
In the Second Dynasty the idea of the tomb as a house for the afterlife
was perfected. While the underground parts of First Dynasty tombs
consist mainly of one chamber, sometimes more, the number of chambers
was now substantially increased. The underground parts of bigger tombs
now look like exact copies of houses.!! The burial chamber was the
bedroom, and next to it was a dressing room, while in another room big
water jars were found, which seem to indicate some kind of bathroom.
Several such tombs have been found at Saqqara. In the Second Dynasty
the overground structure of these large tombs became simpler. The
mastaba was no longer occupied by many chambers, but became instead a
solid mud-brick structure. The palace facade was used less and less by the
end of the First Dynasty. Instead two small chapels where the cult of the
dead could be performed are found at the eastern outer side of the facade.
The custom of setting up a stela at the mastaba is already evident in
First Dynasty burials. To start with, their function seems to have been to
announce the identity of the tomb owner, as they are inscribed with name
and title. The most famous are the stelae of the kings found at Abydos, but
there are also several hundred stelae there belonging to the courtiers of
these kings (Fig. 13). In the Second Dynasty the function of the stela
becomes more complex. Next to the name and title appears a list of
offerings important for the afterlife. As noted above, by the First Dynasty
and even earlier some objects in tombs had been replaced by models. The
Second Dynasty went a step further, replacing the object by the written
word. These stelae show the tomb owner sitting in front of an offering table

Qa

Fig. 13. Three stelae from Abydos

giving title and name (left to right):
(1) stela of the ‘controller of the
palace’ Ip; (2) stela of the ‘(female)
servant’ Meres; (3) stela of the
(dwarf) Nefer.

12
 2. Early Dynastic Egypt: The Tomb as a House for the Afterlife

with the offering list next to it. The

words in the offering list are hard to
decipher since at that time hieroglyphic
writing was not yet fully developed. But
comparison with later similar lists
indicates that food, oils and linen are
the objects mentioned. The appearance
of food needs no further comment, while
oil and linen are closely connected with
mummification or related rituals.
The Old Kingdom starts with the
Third Dynasty, which is in many ways
a transitional phase: the goods placed
in tombs are similar to those put into
the burials of the Second Dynasty,
while the tomb architecture, especially
at the court cemeteries, is very similar
to that of the Fourth Dynasty. King
Djoser, the first ruler of the Third
Dynasty, built the step pyramid at
Saqqara — the first pyramid in Egypt. It
was part of a vast funerary complex,
with the focus on the overground parts
of the tomb. Nevertheless, under and
around the pyramid extensive galleries
were found, filled with tens of
thousands of stone vessels. Djoser’s
successors followed his example, but
the size of the galleries was already
reduced by the time of Khaba, who
started to build a step pyramid at
Zawyet el-Aryan. In the Fourth
Dynasty there are no longer any
supplementary storage galleries at all
in the king’s burial, clearly showing a
reduction in burial goods.
Fig. 14. Wooden panel from the mastaba
of Hesyre, showing him sitting at an Similar developments are visible in
offering table. In front of him are elite burials. While the number of
offerings (wine, incense, meat) named in underground chambers becomes
hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs above give
smaller, the tomb stelae become more
his titles and name.
and more important. One notable tomb
is that of Hesyre, who lived in the Third Dynasty under king Djoser. His
tomb is a large mud-brick mastaba in Saqqara North.” The east side — the
side oriented to the Nile — was adorned with a palace facade with niches
containing beautifully carved wooden panels (Fig. 14) showing Hesyre in
various garments and positions. In front of the palace facade was a long

13
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

corridor decorated with paintings. These depict a series of items such as

beds, boxes, chairs, games and other everyday objects. It thus seems that
an important part of the tomb equipment was reinforced or entirely
replaced by drawings of the same objects. The underground chambers in
Hesyre’s tomb are still quite big, and many fragments of furniture were
found there. Apparently Hesyre had both an underground chamber filled
with everyday objects and a mastaba above ground decorated with images
of more or less the same objects. Unfortunately the burial chamber was
looted, so we cannot really compare the list of items depicted with the tomb
equipment. for. One powerful reason to replace real objects by depicting or
mentioning them on stelae was perhaps precisely the looting of tombs,
which must have been plundered from earliest times. People would have
observed how insecure burials were, while objects named on a stela could
not be stolen. Another reason may have been the observation that many
tomb goods very soon decayed. Pictures and written words are thus in a
real sense superior to the objects they describe.
From the Third Dynasty onwards, following the example of the king, the
focus of development fell on the overground part of the mastaba,
particularly its decoration. One important tomb which should be
mentioned belongs to a certain Kha-baw-Sokar and his wife. This tomb has
a small chapel entirely decorated with a picture of the Kha-baw-Sokar,
naming him and giving his titles. Beside him on the walls of this chapel a
long offering list is inscribed, mentioning all the commodities needed for
‘life’ in the underworld. Next to this chapel was another important
innovation of the time, the serdab (an Arabic word originally meaning
‘cellar’). The serdab is a small chamber in the mastaba housing statues of
the tomb owner. This room was in most cases almost totally closed; there
was only a small hole at a certain height in one wall to connect it with the
tomb chapel. Through this hole it was possible for the statue of the tomb
owner to observe what was going on in the chapel. The serdab is an
important feature of many elite tombs of the Old Kingdom.

14
 3. The Oid Kingdom:
The Age of the Pyramids

Before we turn to particular tombs and the development of grave goods,

several objects common in Old Kingdom burials need to be described.
Coffins are typical of elite burials. They are sometimes made of stone and
then more properly called sarcophagi, but more popular are wooden boxes.
Although coffins become a more regular feature at this time, it must be
remembered that most burials, particularly in the provinces and of less
well-to-do people, do not contain one. Even in those that do, most are plain
stone or wooden boxes. Inscriptions are not very common and record just
the name and title of the coffin owner. The dead person was usually placed
full length, lying on its left side with the head to the north. The contracted
position was still very common, however, especially in the provinces and
for people of lower status. Mummification was not yet fully developed;
bodies were often simply wrapped in linen, though there is evidence of
some special treatment in which the body was entirely and very carefully
wrapped in linen, and the shape of the dead person, including limbs and
head, was modelled. There are also examples in which the whole body was
covered in plaster and remodelled in that material.! Canopic jars are
closely connected with these first steps of mummification. For a proper
mummification the entrails were removed, for as the softest part of the
body they would decay most quickly. They were not discarded, but placed
in special jars or in a box. These jars are known as canopic jars and the box
as a canopic box. This custom seems to begin in the Fourth Dynasty. In the
Old Kingdom both mummification and canopic jars are attested mainly for
elite burials at the residence cemeteries.
Old Kingdom elite tombs consisted of several parts. There was the
closed underground burial chamber, entered by a shaft or less often by a
sloping passage. One burial for each shaft was the rule. There was an
overground chapel, which the living could enter. The most common form
such chapels took was a mastaba, a massive brick- or stone-built structure
with one or more rooms for performing the cult of the dead. Some of these
rooms, sometimes all of them, were decorated with pictures showing the
dead person and scenes of daily life (see Fig. 16). These scenes often depict
people preparing food and craftsmen at work. The most important feature
is the false door, showing the tomb owner in front of an offering table which
gives his titles and name. In many less exalted tombs the false door is the
only decorated part. Another common type of elite burial has a chapel cut
into the rock of a hill and sometimes (though not always) decorated. This

15
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

type was popular in the

provinces, although mastabas
are also very common there.
An important part of a
mastaba was, finally, the
serdab with one or several
statues of the tomb owner and
his family. These statues could
stand in for the body of the
dead person in the afterlife if
that body was destroyed.
In the Old Kingdom, Fourth
and Fifth Dynasty burial
customs are very similar. With
the Sixth Dynasty the world of
the tomb changes, and that
period will be covered in the
next chapter. The Old
Kingdom is the first classical
period of Egyptian culture. In
the Fourth Dynasty the great Fig. 15. Three mastabas of the Old Kingdom (not
to the same scale). (1) Neferi at Gizeh (left). The
pyramids at Gizeh were built, mastaba forms one huge block with only small
the sole survivors of the Seven rooms in it, while the main areas for the
Wonders of the World. Sadly, mortuary cult are placed in front. (2)
all the largest pyramids were Userkaf-ankh (right). The mastaba is still a huge
block, although a bigger room for the mortuary
looted in remote antiquity and cult is located inside this block. (8) Ptahshepses
only a few remains of the at Abusir (below). The mastaba is no longer a
contents have survived — solid block but filled with various rooms and an
enough, though, to show that open courtyard. In general the number of rooms
increases over time, but the three mastabas here
the body of the dead king was all date to the Fifth Dynasty.
placed in a hard stone
sarcophagus. In the Fifth Dynasty the pyramids became smaller and less
well built. Their burial chambers have also been very heavily looted, often
leaving only fragments of sarcophagi and canopic boxes. The burials of the
high officials of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasty have fared far better, with
a considerable number of intact burials surviving. Burials of less
important people have been found and excavated in all parts of the
country. It is therefore possible to give quite a detailed picture of the burial
customs of the Old Kingdom.
Major surviving tombs from the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty show
that the development (reduction of burial goods, increase in decorating the
chapel) which took place in the Third Dynasty continued. Meydum is the
location of one of three great pyramids of king Snefru, first king of the
Fourth Dynasty. Some huge mastabas of the highest members of the royal
court were built around the pyramid of the king. The mastabas of two
king’s sons, Rahotep and Nefermaat,? are particularly notable and

16
odio. SOE
ARE Elia | ap
ny KA =

R
Sao AAAap le
Terese

Ptahhotep
of
mastaba
Kingdom
Old
the
in
Scenes
16.
Fig.
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

relatively well recorded. Simply by virtue of its size, the tomb of Nefermaat
is one of the outstanding constructions of the entire Old Kingdom, if not
the largest mastaba of the period. It is a massive mud-brick building
measuring almost 120 x 68 m. At the east side are two chapels, one for
Nefermaat himself and one for Atet, his wife. Both chapels are richly
decorated in a special kind of relief, with silhouettes cut into the stone
casing-blocks and then filled with coloured paste. The reliefs show a
variety of people: working carpenters, farmers ploughing their lands and
servants bringing food. It seems that these scenes show all the things that
were important for the survival of the dead in the underworld. This may
in part explain why the burial chambers of Nefermaat and Atet are quite
small. Although they were plundered and we do not really know what they
originally contained, it is obvious that there can only have been a very
limited selection of objects. It was no longer necessary to place everything
in the tomb chamber, because the chapel scenes show the production of
food and objects which are thus secured for eternity. The naming of the
most important things in the offering list had the same function: securing
the supply of significant items for the afterlife. The tomb of the king’s son
Rahotep is no less impressive, with chapel decoration in raised relief. This
tomb is especially famous for the statues of Rahotep and his wife Nofret,
found in the serdab.
King Snefru built three pyramids in all, one in Meydum and two in
Dahshur. At Dahshur many mastabas dating to the second part of his
reign have been excavated. Their decoration is reduced by comparison to
the slightly earlier ones at Meydum. There are no scenes of daily life, only
servants bringing food for the dead person, who is still shown on the false
door sitting at the offering table.? The underground chambers of these
mastabas have been very heavily plundered, making it impossible to say
whether there were also changes in burial equipment. However, the trend
seems to be clear: the Third Dynasty saw a reduction in burial goods and
their replacement by pictures and the written word. Under Snefru tomb
decoration too was reduced: by the end of his reign there are no more
scenes of farmers or craftsmen.
The development of tomb decoration after the reign of Snefru can best
be followed at Gizeh, where Khufu (Kheops) built the largest pyramid.
Next to this pyramid are the small pyramids and mastabas of his family
and courtiers. The decoration of these tombs is even more reduced, with a
single very fine stela in the offering chapel being the only decorated piece.*
Only a few mastabas had more decorated elements, such as inscribed door
jambs. The stelae depict the dead person and bear a short offering list
mentioning only the most important commodities. There is no serdab.
However, in the shaft of the tomb a single head, known as a ‘reserve head’,
was placed (Fig. 17), always sculpted to a very high standard.® There is
much speculation in Egyptological literature about the function of these
heads. What seems clear is that under Khufu all aspects of tomb
equipment were reduced to the absolute essentials. In the case of statues,

18
 3. The Old Kingdom: The Age of the Pyramids

this meant that they were reduced to the head, the

essential part of the human body. This reduction in tomb
decoration did not last very long, however; shortly after, or
maybe even during Khufu’s reign, mastabas were being
richly decorated with reliefs —as in Meydum — and provided
with full statues.
All limestone-built mastabas around the pyramid fig 17 Reserve
contemporary with Khufu follow the same layout. They head found at
have no inner rooms, but there is a small brick chapel in Gizeh, Fourth
front with the fine stela mentioned above. There is a shaft P¥"sty-
leading from the roof of the mastaba to the underground burial chamber,
in most cases around 3.5 x 3.5 m in area and about 2.5 m high, the walls
and floor covered with slabs of fine limestone. In the floor there is a
rectangular hole, which may once have contained canopic jars, although
this is not certain. In the burial chamber is a superbly cut limestone
sarcophagus. All these tombs have been looted,
and the few objects left can give only a vague
idea of the original contents. The pottery is
most important for revealing belief in the
afterlife, with two main types: vessels of daily
Fig. 18. Sarcophagus of atype use and model vessels. Those of daily use can
Ree ‘7cipeige, Dynasty —_be further divided into two groups: Egyptian
pottery and an amazingly high number of
foreign imports, mostly from Palestine. These show the high status of the
people buried here. Next to the pottery were found many stone vessels
which can also be divided into those of daily use and model vessels.® The
only other common finds in the tombs are flint and copper tools. The flint
reminds us that in the Pyramid Age stone tools are still very common. The
copper tools are often only models. From some slightly later undisturbed
tombs, it will be shown that it is unlikely that these tombs contained many
more objects.
The models of tools and vessels deserve further comment. It has already
been seen that models appeared in tombs in early Dynastic times, when
they often stood in for very large objects such as granaries or ships. In the
Fourth Dynasty objects of modest size, such as pottery and calcite vessels
as well as copper tools, were also replaced by smaller models. This kind of
substitution may have several causes. A model is cheaper than an original
object, although they mostly appear in tombs of those of very high status,
who must have had access to many resources. Another practical reason, as
we have seen, may be that a model was not very attractive to looters,
though, again, even small quantities of copper had their value. This leaves
possible religious reasons, but these are at present invisible in the absence
of explanatory texts.
An important question about tombs of the Fourth Dynasty concerns
canopic jars, which are closely connected to mummification. In Meydum
several tombs were found with a hole in the ground that might have been

19
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

used for depositing the entrails, though there is no real proof of this.’ The
same hole in the ground is found in the tomb chambers of elite burials
around the Khufu pyramid. Here again, there is no direct evidence that
these cavities were made for the entrails. In the tomb of queen Hetepheres
(mother of Khufu) a calcite box was found still containing the entrails. This
is the oldest known canopic box. For the rest of the Old Kingdom there is
some evidence for canopic boxes in other royal tombs. They are in most
cases sunk into the floor of the burial chamber next to the sarcophagus. In
the pyramid of Pepy II the box still contained three broken calcite vases.
In the Old Kingdom calcite or stone canopic boxes are not attested for
private individuals, but there are some examples made of wood. It was
more common to place just four pottery or calcite vases next to the coffin.
These vases are of a simple shape, with flat rounded lids. Canopic jars of
the vizier Kagemni, inscribed with his name and titles, date from the Sixth
Dynasty. Canopic jars are attested for the Old Kingdom only at court
cemeteries (Gizeh, Abusir, Saqqara).®
As stated above, almost all known elite tombs of the early Fourth
Dynasty were found looted. However, there is one important exception.
The burial chamber of Hetepheres, the possible wife of king Snefru and
possible mother of king Khufu, was found almost intact. It was discovered
at the bottom of a deep shaft near the pyramid of the king at Gizeh. The
tomb contained objects of the types already discussed: everyday pottery,
including some foreign types, model pottery, and model and full-size
calcite vessels. There are also some golden vessels, jewellery and a
head-rest. More unexpected is a set of gilt furniture — two armchairs, a
carrying chair, a bed, a box and a canopy. Next to these objects was a
calcite sarcophagus (which was empty) and a canopic box.? The items of
furniture found in the tomb are not everyday objects, as one might expect,
but seem instead to have a specific religious function. The canopy, bed and
head-rest are objects often depicted in tombs of the Old Kingdom; they
seem to have a strong connection with rebirth.!° The two chairs and the
carrying chair might have something to do with the status of Hetepheres
as mother of the king, especially as they are covered with royal and
religious symbols.
The serdab has already been mentioned: the chamber for statues of the
tomb owner, his wife and his family. At the end of the Fourth Dynasty
servant statues made in limestone were also placed in some tombs. The
earliest examples are found in the tombs of queen Meresankh III and
queen Khamerernebti; both date to the end of the Fourth Dynasty. They
show servants concerned with food production: a kneeling woman milling
is very commonly depicted." The scenes on the walls of the chapel were
evidently not considered sufficient, so statues showing the same subjects
were placed in the tomb too. However, such statues do not appear very
often in tombs of the Old Kingdom: not everybody followed this ‘fashion’.
Two or three servant statues are common in tombs which do contain such
figures. The number of twenty-six in the mastaba of Nykaw-Inpu at Gizeh

20
 3. The Old Kingdom: The Age of the Pyramids

Fig. 19. Statues of a miller (33 cm long, from Gizeh) and a potter (said to be from Gizeh).

is quite exceptional. In the Fifth Dynasty the repertoire of statues was

enlarged. There are now not only servants involved in food production, but
also porters, sandal-bearers,!? a servant cleaning a beer jar’? and one
servant sitting next to a potter’s wheel.'t These servant figures normally
show one person alone and are sometimes relatively high quality works
of art.
An undisturbed tomb at Gizeh, dating from around the mid-Fourth
Dynasty, may show a typical elite burial of a person belonging to the royal
court, although this is not confirmed by written evidence. The burial was
found in a chamber under a huge mastaba half carved into the rock and
half constructed from large blocks
0 4m
of local limestone. The dead person
was buried in a massive but
rough-hewn limestone sarcophagus
containing a wooden coffin. Next to
it were some vessels and four
canopic jars. On the west side of the
sarcophagus were many small
model copper tools, model copper
vessels and a full-size washing dish
set. There were also some cattle
bones on the west side. Strangely
the jewellery, in this case a broad
collar, was found lying on the
Fig. 20. The undisturbed burial chamber of
sarcophagus and not inside on the an approximately forty-year-old man at
mummy. The tomb owner is not el-Tarif, Thebes, Fourth Dynasty. The
known. A statue found close to the burial was found at the bottom of a shaft in
tomb belongs to a prince called a massive mastaba almost fifteen metres
long. The tomb owner is therefore highly
Babaf, but it is very likely this was likely to have been a person of great local
brought here later. Sadly the importance. His body was placed on its left
skeleton of the dead person was side, head to the north. The burial goods
include a decorated wine jar and some very
never examined, so it is not known finely made stone vessels (calcite, breccia,
if the burial was of a man or a diorite). The skeleton was surrounded by
woman. Taking into account the chalk.

21
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

remains of
a wooden box

canopic jars

palette with the names

of the seven sacred
oils written on it
‘eau Ba
U
Vf
he
sarcophagus

4
the canopic jars model tools |7
and bones a tol

pases
4~~
Fig. 21. The undisturbed burial zi ex
chamber of Seshemu at Gizeh. head rest

Seshemu was an official of modest

rank with the title ‘overseer of the
storerooms of the palace’. The
burial chamber contained a
wooden coffin, four canopic jars,
several pottery vessels (twenty
jars), a set of model copper tools Fig. 22. The undisturbed burial chamber of
and a model vessel. There was a Ankh-khaf at Gizeh. He was overseer of the ‘double
gold wire with some beads around treasury’ (‘overseer of the two houses of silver’) and
Seshemu’s neck. thus belonged to the highest level of administration.

Fig. 23. Gizeh shaft

tomb 316. This tomb,
excavated in 1913, was
found undisturbed. It
had a medium-sized
mastaba. The name of
the person buried here
OO
is unknown. The burial
chamber was at the
bottom of a shaft seven
metres deep. Next to
the coffin several
model copper tools and
model calcite vessels
were found (only the
types found are
depicted, not the total
number of vessels).
Two 40 cm high jars
were leaning against
the wall of the tomb
chamber.

22
 3. The Old Kingdom: The Age of the Pyramids

ot eat ————————————

id Ney nacre Wo

Fig. 24. Gizeh tomb 816: calcite

table found on the east side of
the coffin. On the table were Fig. 25. Gizeh tomb 316: the wooden coffin was
pieces of bread and next to it undecorated and contained a second (inner) coffin.
were cuts of beef from cattle. The inner coffin did not have its own cover or base.
These constituted the funeral The skeleton was found lying on its left side, head to
meal. the north, looking to the east.

fact that the burial is the smaller one

of two in the mastaba, it seems likely
that the larger contained the tomb
owner — a high official — and the
smaller his wife.
The developments described so far
are typical of burials of the elite in
residence cemeteries. Burials in the i a a
provinces, far away from the capital,
are slightly different. A good example ee ae ae tomb 316: the jewelley
is the cemetery of Naga ed-Deir, which ate: Se Rade: bay ailae
was excavated and well documented faience bead necklace and a faience
by George Reisner in the early _ bead bracelet.
twentieth century. Mastaba 561 was
found undisturbed. The brick-built structure on top of the burial chamber
was about 10.6 x 5.9 min area, making it one of the largest in the cemetery.
The person buried here must have been a local leader. The underground
part of his tomb could be entered by a staircase, on which two copper
vessels where found: an ewer and a bowl, perhaps left there after some
burial ritual took place.!® The small burial chamber was blocked. Inside,
the dead person was laid on the ground in a contracted position. On the
east side were some stone vessels and a calcite table, the remains of the
funerary meal. The whole burial makes a simple but not poor impression;
the copper vessels and stone vases in particular must have been quite
expensive.!7 The wife of the tomb owner was not buried in the same
mastaba, but another contemporary mastaba was found alongside which
may be her burial place.
Some intact tombs excavated at Gizeh confirm the impression that elite
burials in the Old Kingdom were rather simple. In a shaft tomb about
fourteen metres deep the burial of a young woman was found. Her only
grave goods are necklaces, partly of gold. There were no other objects or
pottery in her tomb.!8 Another tomb at Gizeh was richer. Beside eighty
model calcite vessels, some pots of foreign origin, Egyptian pottery and the
model of an offering table were found. The dead person — a woman — was

23
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

laid in a huge limestone

sarcopagus. Her body was
adorned with jewellery, and
special mention should be
made of a gold crown and a
bead net dress. A unique
feature is a set of ten fingers
made of clay, found with the
mummy.’ A boy about
twelve years old was found
in a wooden coffin. His head
was adorned with a gold
wire necklace and at his left
hand were many model
copper tools and weapons.”°
Going down in social
level, there are many tombs
Fig. 27. Naga ed-Deir N 645: the mastaba (shown in
black) is surrounded by others, which may belong to without any grave goods.
members of the family of the person buried in N 645. Naga ed-Deir N 645 (Fig. 27)
consists of a small mastaba
(5.25 x 3.20 m) with outer
walls built of brick and then
filled with sand and stone.
The small burial chamber
(2.2 x 1.6 m) under the
mastaba is. built in
mud-brick. Inside was a
wooden coffin which filled
the whole chamber. The
body of the dead person —
probably an adult man—was
placed in a contracted
position with the head to the
south. The tomb was found
intact, but there are no
grave goods at all. Despite
its modest size, the
elaborate construction of the
mastaba and the burial
chamber shows that this
0 2m man was not one of the
———_———— poorest.”
A common funerary
Fig. 28. Gizeh tomb 6041 F: the shaft contained the
undisturbed burial of an adult man laid on his left practice was the pot burial
side. The body had once been wrapped in linen; (Fig. 29), in which the body
there are no other objects in the tomb. of the dead person was

24
 3. The Old Kingdom: The Age of the Pyramids

placed in a massive pottery vessel. In

provincial cemeteries in particular, many
people were laid to rest in huge vessels
with lids. Since such vessels cannot have
been very cheap, it can be assumed that
those buried in them were not very poor.
Generally only a few grave goods found
with such burials, reflecting the general
tendency of the time not to deposit many
grave goods in a tomb. ;
Among the cemeteries at Gurob is one 2 Slant Ais amet
which was obviously used by a local child at Gurob. The child was
farming village. 151 tombs are published _ placed on a mat, with the vessel
from this cemetery, most dating to the UPside down over it. The vessel
Fifth Dynasty. . The tombs consist in 26 adigpktimes.
ancient icici omega gall
general of shallow holes in the earth. The
bodies of the dead are principally buried in a contracted position, most
often laid on the left side with the head to the north. There are many
exceptions in which either the body was placed on the right side, or the
head was oriented to the east. There are almost no coffins, but it was
normal to wrap the bodies in a mat. Grave goods do not appear very often;
one pot is exceptional. In some tombs beads were found, but some bodies
had just one bead as the only grave good. Other finds are very rare. In one
tomb a head-rest was found; in another a simple box.”” Altogether, these
tombs give an idea of the burial customs of a farming community. Bearing

0 im
—===——_

Fig. 30. Naga ed-Deir tomb 840 (le/t)

contained only a body. Gurob tomb 149
(right): a burial in a shallow hole. The only
object found with the body was a fine bowl.

Fig. 31. Naga ed-Deir tomb 871: the unplundered

tomb of a man without grave goods. The body was
0 im placed in a white plastered coffin.

25
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

in mind that at this time grave goods are not very common, the people
buried here may not have been the poorest, but simply following the
standards of the time. Sadly, not many other cemeteries that might belong
to farmers have been excavated, making it hard to compare the context
and size of the tombs. However, contemporary tombs in the Qau-
Mostagedda region reflect the same traditions.

26
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle
Kingdom: The Development of a
Funerary Industry

The late Old Kingdom

New religious beliefs had emerged by the end of the Fifth Dynasty, with
the appearance of the god Osiris as the key feature. In later times Osiris
is the main god of the underworld. He is first mentioned in some offering
formulae on false doors of the Fifth Dynasty, and by the Sixth Dynasty he
seems to be fully established as one of the major gods of the afterlife. His
rise coincides with the devotion of more attention to the underground parts
of the tomb from the end of the Fifth Dynasty onwards. The first visible
step is the decoration of the burial chambers of the pyramids. The walls
within the pyramid of king Unas (the last king of the Fifth Dynasty) are
covered with long religious inscriptions known as ‘pyramid texts’. Prayers,
liturgies and various kinds of spell combine to ensure the survival of the
king in the afterlife. To start with, pyramid texts appear exclusively in the
tombs of kings, but later (starting with the reign of Pepy I) queens too had
such texts. The last pyramid with these texts belongs to king Ibi, who ruled
in the Eighth Dynasty. In the First Intermediate Period private persons
too used these or similar religious texts in their tombs, mostly in the
decoration of their coffin interiors, but sometimes as part of the decoration
of the tomb chamber.
There are numerous indications that new burial goods were introduced
in the late Fifth Dynasty. Objects found in Fourth and Fifth Dynasty
tombs at court cemeteries were very often specially produced for burial.
However, these are most often models of everyday objects such as tools
or vessels. In the late Old Kingdom tomb goods were still being
produced specially for burial, but a high number of them were now not
models of everyday objects, but items used in rituals or models of such
items. Unfortunately there is no undisturbed tomb of a high official at
the residence cemeteries to give us a full picture of such a burial.'
Nevertheless, single objects survived in many tombs, offering a general
idea. Some of the earliest burials with new objects come from Abusir,
where most kings, members of the royal family and other high officials of
the Fifth Dynasty built their pyramids and mastabas.’
In the remains of the badly destroyed mastaba of the king’s son
Nakht-ka-re, excavated at Abusir and probably dating to the Fifth
Dynasty,® several calcite boxes in the shape of animals were discovered. In

27
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Gizeh tomb G 4733 E, a set of ninety-five

small calcite models of food offerings was
found, representing dressed birds, meat
pieces, loaves and cakes.* In two burial
chambers of the burial complex of the vizier
Senedjem-ib similar calcite food models
were found, but life-size and hollowed out,
ae ve ane eee . He, so they may once have contained the food
eft & centre) and oi a bir :
prepared for cooling (@ichb anual they represent. Traces of linen show that
at Saqqgara. these food offerings may have been
wrapped.° Similar models were found in two
tombs near the pyramid of Pepy II at Saqqara (Fig. 32)° and in a First
Intermediate Period burial at Dara.’ These tombs date to the very end of
the Sixth Dynasty or even later. Rather more common in the Old Kingdom
are small stone model vessels. These are solid and usually appear in a set
of several models together with the pesesh-kef instrument (Fig. 36), which
was important for the ‘opening of the mouth’ ritual. They clearly have a
ritual function in connection with mummification and related customs.?
Another important type of object which appears at the end of the Old
Kingdom in several tombs is the model boat. Up to the Fifth Dynasty the
custom was to bury one or more real boats next to the king’s pyramid. In
the mastaba of Ptahshepses, a son-in-law of king Niuserre, a huge open
space was found, clearly reserved for a boat. Real boats then disappear
from cemeteries, but in the Sixth Dynasty wooden models of boats start to
appear in some tombs. These became very common in the First
Intermediate Period, when they always have models of the crew on board,
whereas the early models always lack a crew.!°

Examples of late Old Kingdom tombs

The burial at Abusir of a certain ‘sole friend’ Kahotep, son of a Fifth
Dynasty king’s daughter'! was not found intact, but still contained an
amazing quantity of objects. The three hundred finds include numerous
handles from various kinds of model tools (the metal parts of the tools were
often stolen), a flint knife, two wooden tables, many fragmentary or
complete calcite model vessels, a calcite palette with six holes, a similar
palette with the names of the seven sacred oils,’? four limestone canopic
jars (at least one of the jars had not been totally hollowed out, indicating
that it was never actually used), and fragments of boxes. The crucial
evidence for dating the tomb comes from seal impressions, some giving the
name of king Djedkare Isesi, penultimate ruler of the Fifth Dynasty. Two
other finds in the tomb should be mentioned: a reserve head, which is quite
remarkable since they are otherwise known only from the Fourth Dynasty,
and great masses of mummy wrappings, showing that Kahotep was
mummified in a special way. The body was first wrapped in linen and then

28
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

covered in plaster, which made it possible to

amodel the deceased like a sculpture.
Burials of the kind just described, including i|
many models and objects used in ritual, seem
to have been very common at the residential
cemeteries (Gizeh, Abusir, Saqqara) whereas
0 5cm
they are not often found in the provinces.
Nevertheless there are examples of similar ._
: : Oe Fig. 33. Slate objects found in
grave goods in tombs at important provincial Buhastis tomb 161, probably
centres. One such is a burial found in the late Old Kingdom. The
Delta city of Bubastis, belonging to the ‘leader function of these objects is
of the
;
palace’ and ‘sole friend’ Mery-Merenra.: Unown. They may have been
amulets and perhaps reflect
This was found partly plundered, but still jocal burial customs.
contained a set of twelve copper model tools,
some inscribed with the name of the owner. Other objects in the tomb were
a copper mirror and some amulets. The body was laid in a wooden coffin.
A pair of eyes might once have belonged to the coffin or toa mummy mask
placed over the head of the dead person.'? Mummy masks appear at the
end of the Old Kingdom. They are most often modelled in linen and plaster
(a material known as ‘cartonnage’) and present an idealised image of the
dead person.
An fairly recent important discovery is the mastaba of Medunefer,
governor of the oasis, at Balat (Dakhla oasis). Medunefer lived under Pepy
II; several objects bearing the name of the king were found in his tomb.
His huge mud-brick mastaba (18 x 25 m) was already heavily eroded when
excavated, but the essential parts of the burial chambers were found
undisturbed. Although its walls were much destroyed, enough traces were
left to show that the rooms above ground inside the mastaba were once
plastered and painted with the scenes of daily life known from so many
other Old Kingdom tombs. The plan of the whole building, with an open

afm.DW) 7
* -

0 2m
—

Fig. 34. Abydos tomb E21: section and plan. The deceased was buried in an uninscribed
wooden coffin with the burial goods placed to the east. The tomb chamber was closed by a
brick wall.

29
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 35. Abydos tomb E21: three statuettes found lying next Fig. 36. Abydos tomb
to the coffin. E21: a model set showing
the place for the
Fig. 37. Abydos tomb E101: a burial in a chamber of a shaft pesesh-kef tool in the
tomb. The only grave goods are a copper mirror (found on the middle (missing in this
left arm), one pot and three stone vessels. The coffin was tomb) and some small
uninscribed. model vessels around it.

Oe
wr
Senneent HChageqae

on

0 2m

court, a broad hall and four chapels behind it, is reminiscent of a private
chapel or small temple. (Contemporary mastabas at the residence
cemeteries and many places in the Nile valley are different.)
The main underground parts consist of a long corridor with three long
chambers leading off it. The burial chamber of Medunefer, situated on the
south side of the corridor, contained a decayed wooden coffin and a set of
wooden boxes holding calcite vases and copper tools. At the foot of the
coffin many pottery vessels were found. The remains of the almost
completely decayed wooden coffin revealed further important finds.
Several parts of the skeleton were covered with a variety of amulets (Fig.
38), including a simple gold figure of a man and another figure of a man
made of ivory. There was also a gold pendant in the shape of the ‘million’
sign (Fig. 38, bottom right), several wedjat-eyes in different materials, and

30
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

models of parts of the human

body, such as head, hands and
=) legs, often made from
carnelian. Finally, there were
many amulets in the form of
{“) _ animals, such as a dog, lions,
KA oa monkey and birds. The
_ 24 | workmanship, even of the gold
pieces, is mostly rather
Fig. 38. Examples of amulets in various materials
found in the mastaba of Medunefer. clumsy. However, this is one
example of the growing
importance of amulets in tombs. The precise meaning of most of them is
still not known, though some, especially the animals, may be identified
with gods.'* In the Sixth Dynasty many amulets which will become very
important in later burials appear for the first time. They are often made
of metal (notably gold), faience or carnelian. They are first attested in the

0 41m
ee

Fig. 39. (Above) The tomb chamber of Medunefer as it was found (north to the right). The
coffin was already heavily decayed when the excavators found it, so the head-rests and
calcite vessels found in it may originally have been placed on the lid. Next to the coffin
were two wooden boxes and several pottery vessels. (Below) The tomb chamber of
Medunefer, reconstruction showing the open coffin (with head-rest, vessel and two scribal
palettes). One box contained several copper tools: the other, several calcite vessels. The
original arrangement of the pottery is not known.

31
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

provinces, but this might be

an accident of the surviving
records. Numerous examples
have been found in
cemeteries of the Qau-
Mostagedda region, which
include a high proportion of
tombs from the end of the Old
Fig. 40. Part of the mummy Kingdom and the First
shroud found in Medunefer’s
coffin, showing the imprint
Intermediate Period.
of texts. Another notable find in
the remains of Medunefer’s
coffin were little pieces of mummy bandages bearing writing (Fig. 40).
Funerary texts are only attested on mummy wrappings from the late
Seventeenth Dynasty onwards —i.e. more than 600 years later. From close
examination the excavator interpreted these inscriptions as the imprint on
the mummy shroud of texts written on the inside of the coffin. Although it
is not possible to identify the inscriptions from parallels, they are similar
to pyramid and coffin texts, and they are the earliest evidence of longer
religious texts written on a coffin.
In the Sixth Dynasty it also became customary for private persons —
maybe as a result of royal influence — to decorate the burial chamber, the
underground part of the tomb.'* There are two types of such decoration. In
a few burial chambers at Gizeh the tomb owner is shown in a wall painting
sitting in front of the offering table with an offering list next to him. These
paintings are very similar to the decorative scheme found in the
superstructure of the mastaba. In a few other tombs scenes from daily life
are painted on the walls of the burial chamber, just like the scenes shown
in the mastaba decoration. At Saqqara the tomb chambers are covered
with long lists of objects necessary for survival in the underworld, along
with representations of many food offerings (including granaries), and

nnn 92
im 22

p=
retn
ac
wed

bS

Fig. 41. Wall from the decorated burial chamber of Idi, found next to the pyramid of Pepy
II. Objects are depicted on several tables; a short inscription above gives the number of
objects and sometimes also names them (in case their identity is not clear from the picture).

32
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

However, people never appear —the main difference from the underground
decorations at Gizeh. While there are only a few tombs with this sort of
decoration dating from the beginning of the Sixth Dynasty, many date to
the end of the Sixth Dynasty and to the early First Intermediate Period.
Next to the pyramid of king Pepy II at Saqqara South a cemetery of
middle- and high-ranking persons has been excavated. Several of the tomb
chambers had this kind of decoration. At the moment it is not really
possible to give a precise date for each of these tombs, but the cemetery
seems to have started under Pepy II and to have been in use up to the
beginning of the First Intermediate Period, maybe even later. One
example is the tomb of ‘the sole friend’ and ‘scribe in front of the king’ Biu.
His burial was found in a large mud-brick mastaba with several shafts
placed next to one another; each led to a single burial chamber. On the
west side of the building cult chambers were found, adorned with false
doors with offering tables in front of them. One of the false doors belonged
to Biu, another to a certain Pepy and a third to ‘the sole friend’ and ‘estate
manager’ Henu; both these men also have their burial chambers in the
mastaba. Evidently the building did not belong to one important person,
but to several middle-ranking officials buried together. Most of the tombs
in the mastaba are about the same size, though the burial of Biu seems a
little larger and more elaborate than the others, in that his underground
chamber was decorated: three sides bear pictures of various objects, while
the fourth is occupied by the entrance. The south wall of Biu’s chamber
depicts a huge granary, clearly important for food supply in the afterlife.
On the west the seven sacred oils, jewellery, a writing board, a head-rest,
incense and several bags of linen are shown. On the east are the offering
list and several food offerings. The whole decoration was cut into the stone
and painted in bright colours. The sarcophagus was made from a single
block of limestone placed under the floor of the tomb chamber, so that the floor
of the chamber served as the cover of the sarcophagus (compare Fig. 42).'”

Fig. 42. The burial chamber of =

Wash-Ptah, excavated near the
pyramid of Pepy II. The 0 5m
sarcophagus was placed under shaft
the burial chamber so that the
floor of the chamber formed the
sarcophagus cover. At the end of
the chamber is a recess for the ——
canopic jars.

Vg iy
ZOLLLLLLLLZLD
ll

33
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

The mastabas at the Pepy II cemetery no longer include a serdab. The cult
complex of these tombs consists only of the false door, sometimes with the
addition of decorated slabs and an offering table placed in front of the false
door. The statues, often made of wood and quite small in scale, were put
into the burial chamber next to the coffin.
Other big mastabas at this cemetery are in general very similar, but
sometimes have one important tomb shaft as the main burial.
Nevertheless, while in the Old Kingdom each mastaba was normally built
for one person and his wife, it becomes customary towards the end of the
period to build huge structures with many burial chambers. The people
buried here must have been in some way connected in life — for example a
supervisor and his subordinates. This may reflect a change in the social
structures of Egypt at the end of the Old Kingdom. The family was
replaced, at least at high administrative levels, by other ties, for example
colleagues at work, though it could just as easily indicate an expansion of
the afterlife family from nuclear family to larger kinship units.
This focus on the underground parts of the tomb is evident at the end of
the Old Kingdom in all parts of Egypt. An intact burial in Beni Hasan in
Middle Egypt contained a coffin almost two metres long and next to it a
finely carved wooden statue of the tomb owner. The only other finds are
the pottery, placed at the southern end of the chamber. The wooden coffin
itself was very simple, decorated with just a pair of eyes.!8 Statues in the
Old Kingdom, as we have seen, were normally placed in the serdab of the
superstructure, and this holds true for the provinces too. By contrast, in
the Beni Hasan burial the statue stood in the underground part of the
tomb. A similar observation can be made in the tomb of Meryre-ha-ishetef
near Sedment (at the entrance to the Fayum), which contained an
inscribed wooden coffin with a beautiful calcite head-rest in it. At the
bottom of the tomb-shaft leading to the burial chamber a set of
high-quality wooden statues was found including three images of
Meryre-ha-ishetef showing him naked. There is also a statue of a naked
woman and some wooden models showing servants producing food.!9 The
chapel of the rock-cut tomb was undecorated, and there is no serdab. The
whole emphasis was on the underground section. It is not possible to give
an exact date for the burial, but it must belong to the end of the Sixth
Dynasty. The nakedness of the statues requires further comment. From
slightly later texts it is known that people envisaged a sexually active life
after death. The naked statues clearly express a wish for resurrection with
the sexual organs intact.”° This view is supported by the statue of the
naked woman found with the statues. She may have been intended to
function as sexual partner in the afterlife, rather than being an image of
a particular woman in the life of Meryre-ha-ishetef. However, the
interpretation of these statues remains highly problematic.
The wooden models of servants in the tomb of Meryre-ha-ishetef are
some of the earliest of their kind. Such objects became very popular in
burials of the First Intermediate Period and the early Middle Kingdom,

34
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

LoPl- FPRSAL SUN AAS 8)EQS el = ZHU Bh Rf

—_— =

APR

Fig. 43. Two typical coffins of the late Old Kingdom to First Intermediate Period (shown
from the left = east outer side). (Above) The simplest coffin type was an undecorated
wooden box. A common decoration on many coffins is a pair of wedjat-eyes. (Below) More
elaborate coffins have one line of hieroglyphs with an offering formula on each side and on
the cover. The eyes are always on the east outer side of the coffin. Hieroglyphs of
dangerous animals are mutilated to make sure that they cannot harm the dead.

but it is hard to date their first appearance. The examples in the tomb of
a certain Idu in Gizeh are perhaps the earliest in the residential
cemeteries; several badly decayed models, including boats and workshop
scenes, were discovered there.”! The burial seems to date to the very end
of the Old Kingdom.” A more precisely datable example is the tomb of
Hepikem at Meir (Middle Egypt),?° who lived under Pepy II. His models
were placed in a small closed chamber, which also contained the statues
of the tomb owner, and is therefore not unlike the earlier serdab. In most
other tombs the wooden models were put beside and on top of the coffin.
In the Sixth Dynasty a new type of ‘standard’ coffin appeared.” Most
coffins dating from before the Sixth Dynasty are not decorated at all. Even
the highest officials are very often buried in simple stone boxes, in many
cases neither inscribed nor even very well smoothed. During the Sixth
Dynasty inscriptions, especially on wooden coffins, became common, and
very soon a type developed which was used throughout the country. They
bear one inscription on each side and one line of inscription on the lid. On
the east side two wedjat-eyes are painted or carved into the wood. The body
was laid in the coffin on its left side, head to the north and looking to the
east as if to watch the sun rise (Fig. 43).
Moving down the social hierarchy, similar developments can be
identified; more objects are found even in poor burials. Naga ed-Deir tomb
898 clearly belongs to quite a humble woman. Only a few grave goods (a
mirror behind the head, calcite vessels and a seal) were placed next to her
(Fig. 44). However, the seal and the copper mirror are objects not found in

35
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 44. Naga ed-Deir tomb

898: burial of an adult
woman. Some grave goods (a
mirror behind the head,
calcite vessels and a button
seal) were placed in the
burial.

earlier burials. Badari 4903 belongs to another woman who lived in a small
rural community in Upper Egypt. Her body was placed in a fairly shallow
shaft tomb inside a wooden coffin, and may have been wrapped in linen
(conditions for the preservation of such organic material are not very good
at Badari). Next to her head was a mirror; there were some vessels around
the coffin and at the foot of it stood a box containing some cosmetic articles.
Some grave goods, such as the mirror and the cosmetic objects, clearly
relate to the dead person as a woman. Of particular importance is a
necklace with several amulets found on the skeleton. Some of them are
gold and shaped like the hieroglyphic sign for ‘million’ (see Fig. 38, bottom
right).

The First Intermediate Period

In the First Intermediate Period Egypt was divided into several political
units. Local governors in several regions ruled like small kings, more or
less independently of the central government at Memphis. This political
fragmentation resulted in differences in the material culture which
manifest themselves particularly in differing burial customs. Each region
now had its own style in arts and crafts, as is evident from different
regional forms of pottery. There are also regional variations in funerary
culture, particularly clear in coffin production. Almost every cemetery with
coffins is very easy to distinguish from other cemeteries by the coffin style.
Examples from Akhmim (used from the end of the Sixth to the Twelfth
Dynasty) most often have an offering list on the outside next to the
wedjat-eyes. Those from Gebelein present unique forms of many
hieroglyphs (Fig. 45). At Asyut, at the end of the First Intermediate Period,
the text lines on the outside of the coffin start to be doubled, while at
Saqqara the traditions of the Old Kingdom were still very strong in the

36
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

Fig. 45. Inscription on a coffin from Gebelein, First Intermediate Period. Gebelein is
known for its many special hieroglyphs which have not been found elsewhere.

First Intermediate Period, so much so that it is often very hard to

distinguish between late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period.
There are also regional differences in practice concerning the objects put
in tombs. At Sedment it was common to place wooden models next to the
body, even in not very rich tombs. The same custom is also found in the
cemeteries at Qau-Mostagedda, but is not nearly so common. Similar
variations occur even with the smallest objects. At the end of the Old
Kingdom small round seals known as ‘button seals’ came into use, and are
found in almost all the cemeteries of the period. In the Qau-Mostagedda
region, however, they are particularly popular, so much so that some
scholars believe they developed there. At Naga ed-Deir many tombs had a
stela; similar stelae have not been found at Sedment or Qau-Mostagedda.
One wonders if they have all been destroyed, or if the custom was not
practised there at all. Similar stelae were found at Thebes and Gebelein,
giving the impression that it was an Upper Egyptian tradition. At
Denderah huge mastabas adorned with decorated stone slabs were
excavated, revealing another local tradition. At Harageh two tomb
chambers decorated like coffins were found. These chambers contained
early versions of a coffin text spell. At the end of the First Intermediate
Period weapons (commonly bows and arrows) appear at several places in
tombs. Is this a reflection of the unstable political situation of the time?
Burials of the elite in the First Intermediate Period are very similar to
those of the late Old Kingdom and early Middle Kingdom, and will not be
described here. Burials of less well-to-do people in provincial cemeteries,
however, do deserve attention. A good example of a place where a rather
poor farming community buried their people is Gurob, already used above
to illustrate Old Kingdom burial customs. In the First Intermediate Period
the dead were mostly laid in shallow holes, head to the north. Many were

Fig. 46. Coffins were seen as a small version of the world. The lid represented the sky, the
base the earth. This coffin lid underside from Naga ed-Deir shows the sky with several
stars and a circle in the middle containing the hieroglyphic sign for town. This sign could
also be read Nut, the name of the sky goddess.

37
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

placed in simple wooden coffins lying on

their left side. There are amazingly few

(eae grave goods. Many of the burials did not

Onno
CeO even have one pot; a single pot was the
only grave good in other tombs. Graves
Fig. 47. A copper dagger (there were with three vessels are exceptional, and
still traces of leather on it when found) other finds are rare. There are beads in
and copper adze from two tombs at several tombs; in a woman’s grave a
Gurob, First Intermediate Period. mirror was found: in a man’s, a copper

adze. Neither burial contained any vessels, showing that pottery is not
always a marker of status —a copper adze must have been quite a valuable
object. A third tomb, of a man, contained a partly plastered coffin, one
vessel, a string of beads with a silver plate and a copper dagger (Fig. 47).
The dagger must have been a status symbol — perhaps the leader of the
village was buried here. Another exceptional find in another burial is a
small silver pendant in the form of two lions face to face. The pendant is
unusual in its design, and indicates the relative wealth of the woman
buried in the tomb.” The First Intermediate Period tombs at Gurob
contain only a few more objects than burials of Old Kingdom date, but the
choice of objects is different. The dagger and adze are objects used in daily
life; they were not produced specially for burial.
Tombs in the Qau-Mostagedda area of Middle Egypt are relatively rich
and well recorded, but include the same range of objects. About 5,000
burials in this area dating from the late Old Kingdom, First Intermediate
Period and earliest Middle Kingdom have been excavated and published.
Many contained a high quantity of gold finds, showing the wealth of the
region at the time. The richness of these burials has been much discussed,
since it does not fit the conventional picture of the First Intermediate
Period. The few surviving written records portray it as a period of political
instability and social unrest. Amulets such as small gold bird figures,
carnelian legs and hands and button seals are typical finds. They were
most often elements in larger items of jewellery such as necklaces and
armlets (see Figs 48-49). The button seals metamorphosed into scarabs at

Fig. 48. Qau-Badari tomb 696, late

NN a= Old Kingdom or beginning of the
First Intermediate Period: burial
vA of a woman in a simple shaft. Her
grave goods include two pottery
Ne vessels and a set of amulets made
of a variety of materials. The exact
findspots of these objects around
the body are not recorded.

38
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

Fig. 49. Qau-Badari tomb 1735:

burial of a woman found in a coffin
with two pottery vessels (a bowl
placed upside down on a jar) anda
calcite jar at the head. She wore a
necklace with several gold pendants
(wedjat-eye, ibis, lotus) and scarabs
(although the exact findspot of the
latter is not recorded). At the ankles
was a string of beads with carnelian
pendants in the shape of legs.

the end of the period. At the beginning they are very often worn by women,
while at the end of the period the scarabs are worn by men.”’ This suggests,
but does not explain, a shift in function of these objects. Button seals were
often used as jewellery, while scarabs are religious and status symbols
that could be used in the administration of royal or private estates for
sealing goods and letters. Men and women often have different objects
placed in their tombs. The few tools and weapons are mainly found with
men, while jewellery and cosmetic objects including mirrors, often placed
in a box at the foot end of the coffin, are more typical of women. A high
number of tombs contained coffins, but poor preservation mans that it is
not possible to say whether they were decorated. Pottery and calcite
vessels are common, as are grindstones. The latter are again usually found
in tombs of women. It could be argued that grindstones have more to do
with the status of a woman as a person responsible for preparing food in
the home, rather than with the provision of food for the afterlife. Otherwise
one would expect to find them in the tombs of both men and women. Few
traces of food survive in the vessels or elsewhere. Most of the vessels were
clearly functional containers for food, but the food itself was not put into
the burial. A special vessel type, which implied its contents, was enough
to secure a supply of food in the afterlife.

The Middle Kingdom

King Mentuhotep II, the first ruler of the Middle Kingdom, unified Egypt
in around 2050 BC. Burial customs did not change much with unification;
some of the poorer tombs described for the First Intermediate Period may
in fact belong to the early Middle Kingdom. Typical elite tomb equipment
was now a set of wooden models showing scenes of craftsmen and food
production, a small wooden statue of the tomb owner, female

39
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 50. Wooden models from the tomb of

Gemniemhat in Saqqara (see also Figs 51-4),
which was found intact and dates to the end of
the First Intermediate Period or early Middle
Kingdom. The body was placed in two wooden
coffins, decorated on the inside with religious
texts and friezes of objects. His head was
covered with a mummy mask. Next to the coffin
was a canopic box. On the coffin and the canopic
box were several wooden models (others were
placed on the floor of the burial chamber, but
had been destroyed by the dampness in the
tomb): statues of Gemniemhat himself and of
two female servants.

Fig. 51. Models of a granary

(left) and a workshop (right)
including a smith, a potter
with a potter’s wheel, and a
carpenter.

Fig. 52. Model of a building

iV with people spinning and
(ox EeUh Wwe elms weaving; the arches indicate
that the original building had
3 a vaulted roof.

Fig. 53. Two models of

buildings used for food
production: (left) butchery,
brewing and baking;
(right) a brewery.

Fig. 54. Model of a rowing

boat; the tomb once contained
several boat models; others
were placed on the floor of the
burial chamber and have
decayed.

40
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

offering-bearers and a set of model boats. However, there are also elite
burials without these models. There are also wooden models of head-rests
and sandals, most often placed on or in the coffin. Coffins are wooden boxes
decorated both inside and outside. Other objects, such as canopic jars,
staves, jewellery, weapons and cosmetic items appear sporadically.
Mentuhotep II built a huge temple tomb at Deir el-Bahari in Thebes,
but few objects from his burial have survived; those that do include wooden
models and parts of canopic jars. Around the tomb of the king many burials
of his officials were found. In most cases these are rock-cut tombs
decorated with reliefs, paintings or stelae. Sadly, the decorated blocks
were mostly quarried away in the New Kingdom, but the few surviving
fragments demonstrate their high quality. Some parts of these tombs
clearly follow Old Kingdom traditions. The burial chamber of the ‘overseer
of the sealers’ Meru was decorated with friezes depicting objects and
religious texts. His sarcophagus was made of limestone slabs sunk into the
floor with the inner faces also covered with friezes and religious texts.”8
This kind of burial chamber closely mirrors the examples found at Saqqara
near the pyramid of Pepy II. In this period large fully decorated limestone
sarcophagi become typical of the burials of the highest officials. Their
decoration is almost identical to that of contemporary wooden coffins.
Other sarcophagi are undecorated but may have once contained a
decorated wooden coffin. Few burial goods survived the destruction of
these tombs. One exception is a set of perfectly preserved and superbly
executed wooden models found in the tomb of the ‘treasurer’ and ‘high
steward’ Meketre. They were placed in a special chamber, a feature of
some elite tombs of that time.
Wooden models (see Figs 50-4) showing manufacture and agriculture
are a typical feature of many tombs of the First Intermediate Period and
the early Middle Kingdom. They are still attested under Senusret II but
seem to disappear shortly afterwards. The choice of scenes to be placed in
a tomb must have varied over time and from place to place, but some kinds
of models always appear. Other types are attested sporadically or even
only once. The following list is a guide to the possibilities:

boats
rowing boat (Fig. 54)
sailing boat
(these are the most common models)
boat containing the mummy of the dead person

food production
man feeding an ox*?
man leading an ox®!
butchery (very common) (Fig. 53)
man ploughing with a yoke of oxen”
granary (very common) (Fig. 51)

41
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

bakery (very common)

fishing boat
brewery (very common)
woman carrying food offerings (a pair of these women is very common”*)
man carrying food offerings or household objects*4
procession of offering-bearers*°
man carrying a wine jar*®

craftsmen and workshops

metal smith®’
potter*®
spinning and weaving”
carpentry”°
brick-making*!
shoe-making””
laundry*?

others
soldiers**
scribe*
house models*®
inspection of cattle” Fig. 55. Two statues found in a
men holding a sedan chair*® simple burial at Saqqara.

Wooden models were also found in relatively small tombs. A simple burial
in Saqqara excavated next to the Teti pyramid held the skeleton of an
adult placed in a reed mat. The only finds were two wooden statues of a
man (Fig. 55).4° Another burial in a shallow pit at Saqqara contained an
undecorated wooden coffin. The grave goods were a pair of wooden sandals
(only the bases survived) and a simple head-rest. On the eastern side of
the pit was a niche carved into the soft rock and filled with a set of wooden
models. These examples indicate how common these wooden figures were,
even in tombs of people of modest means. These burials also warn against
making simplistic correlations between tomb size and social status of the
tomb owner — a common practice in archaeology to determine the relative
status of people buried in a cemetery. Without wooden material, which under
different conditions would not have survived, both tombs would have been
treated as belonging to the lowest social class, with neither pottery vessels
nor jewellery. Although the people buried here clearly do not belong to the
highest social levels, they could afford at least some funerary goods.

Examples of Middle Kingdom tombs

There are no undisturbed burials of court officials from the Eleventh or
early Twelfth Dynasties. However, there are many tombs of
middle-ranking officials which provide a picture of the burial customs of

42
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

the elite. The tomb of the ‘overseer of the storerooms’ Wah was found next
to that of Meketre, mentioned above. Wah was clearly an official or servant
who worked for Meketre and was buried very close to his master. His
burial was quite simple, with no wooden models, just twelve loaves of
bread, a leg of beef and a beer jug placed next to the coffin. His coffin was
inscribed on the outside, but not decorated on the inside. The mummy was
carefully wrapped in numerous layers of linen, the head covered by a
mummy mask. Next to the body lay Wah’s jewellery: the outstanding piece
is a silver scarab with his title and name as well as a title and the name of
Meketre, maybe a gift from the latter. Under the head was a wooden
head-rest and at the feet a small wooden statue of Wah and a pair of model
wooden sandals. The quantity of linen placed on and inside the coffin is
remarkable.*!
A burial of roughly similar status and about the same date in the
provinces, at Beni Hasan, is that of the ‘sole friend’ Antef. His tomb
contained a simple wooden coffin decorated with inscribed bands on the
outside. The body lay on its left side and was wrapped in linen, but there
was no sign of mummification. Over the head was a mask; next to it were
found both a wooden and a calcite head-rest. At the feet was a pair of
wooden sandals, and on the lid of the coffin a similar pair was found. Both
pairs of sandals are models which were never used in daily life, since they
are made of wood, plastered and then painted. On and next to the coffin
were several wooden models: a granary, two boats (a rowing boat and a
sailing boat), a bakery, a brewery, a figure of a man leading a bull, anda
girl carrying a basket.*? Some pots were also found in the tomb. Only the
head-rests and the pottery could have been used in daily life; all the other
objects seem to have been produced specially for the burial. The tombs of
Wah and Antef show the variety of possibilities within one period. Antef
has a set of wooden models in his tomb, but no special jewellery, while Wah
has a silver scarab and other expensive jewellery; the comparison
reinforces the impression that at least the scarab must have been a gift
from his master Meketre.

Twelfth Dynasty tomb equipment

At the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty the court cemetery moved from
Thebes to Lisht. With a different kind of ground, different local traditions
and lack of adjacent cliffs, rock-cut tombs, common in the court cemeteries
of the Eleventh Dynasty, were no longer used. In their place the mastaba
once again became the main tomb type. The mastabas of the Old Kingdom
and the rock-cut tombs of the New Kingdom are well-known sources for
the court and provincial elite in each period. For the Middle Kingdom there
are rock-cut tombs in Middle and Upper Egypt (Asyut, Beni Hasan, Deir
el-Bersheh, Meir, Qau el-Qebir, Elephantine). These tombs are relatively
well preserved, but they should not be taken as typical of the period. The
normal burial for a court official was a mastaba at a residential cemetery

43
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

SS

Fig. 56. The mastaba of the vizier Intefiger at Lisht (plan: top). Little survived from the
decoration of the Middle Kingdom mastabas. Here only the lower part of the false door
(right), an offering scene (left) and some smaller fragments were found (not shown).

Fig. 57. The fagade of a small Twelfth Dynasty mastaba at Dahshur.

44
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

(Lisht, Lahun, Hawara,** Dahshur). These residential tombs are today

much destroyed and have never received the same attention as the
mastabas of the Old Kingdom. One can therefore give only a rough outline
of their development and appearance.
There are two main types of Middle Kingdom mastaba: those with inner
rooms (Fig. 56)°4 and those without inner rooms® but decorated on the
outside (Figs 57, 58). Examples with inner rooms were found at Lisht and
Memphis. These buildings are often rather small, and decorated with a
false door, similar to those of the Old Kingdom. Most of the walls seem to
be have been decorated with reliefs. Since all these mastabas are very
badly preserved it is hard to say if the decoration of these tombs was
similar to the mastabas of the Old Kingdom and the rock-cut tombs in
Middle Egypt or if there was a reduced decoration programme. These
mastabas seem to be typical of the first half of the Twelfth Dynasty.
Mastabas without inner rooms have been found mainly at Lahun und
Dahshur. They are often built of sun-dried mud-brick and covered with
limestone slabs. The limestone facades are decorated with inscriptions and
scenes showing the tomb owner with his family. There are no scenes of
daily life. At least some of these mastabas were decorated with extensive
autobiographical inscriptions. Some may have had a vaulted roof and two
imitations of beams at each short end of the roof. They are quite similar to
a contemporary coffin or sarcophagus. Some were decorated on the outside
with a palace facade, imitating contemporary royal coffins or maybe even

rock cut tomb of

Khnumhotep

rock cut tomb of Baket

mastaba of an unknown
Official rock cut tomb of Khety

mastaba of the vizier

(| Nebit

mastaba of the vizier

Sobekemhat
r]

Fig. 58. Mud-brick mastabas excavated north of the pyramid of Senusret III, Dahshur
(left) and rock-cut tombs at Beni Hasan, early Twelfth Dynasty (right). The mastabas are
covered with relief decorated limestone slabs and surrounded by a wall. The black squares
are the entrances to the burial shafts, which were placed outside the mastaba brick block.
Some tombs in Beni Hasan are cut into the rock; the interiors are decorated with
paintings. Shafts lead from these chapels to the burial chambers.

45
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 59. Funerary complex

excavated at Bubastis,
Twelfth Dynasty. Each
chamber was reserved for
one burial; some contained
the bodies of the ‘mayors’ of
the town. The unusual
architecture of the tomb
indicates that there were
certainly many local
developments in burial
customs in Egypt of which
we have little knowledge.
This burial-complex is just
one example.

the Djoser complex at Saqqara (the prototype for the royal sarcophagi and
for the king’s mortuary complex in the late Twelfth Dynasty).*°
The coffins of the early Middle Kingdom are quite similar to those of the
First Intermediate Period. Decorated examples have a text line on each
outer side. The inside is often covered with religious texts, friezes of
objects, a false door and an offering list (Fig. 60). At the beginning of the
Twelfth Dynasty vertical columns were added on the outside of the coffin,
producing a coffin type with three columns on the long sides and one
column on the short sides. A little later four columns on the long sides
became common. In the middle of the dynasty a false door was added on
the east outer side, and later coffins of the second half of the Twelfth
a

AlN= Holab, Nou at

He hf g ( Wi WX C AA

Fig. 60. The left interior side of the coffin of the ‘chamberlain’ Nakht, found at Lisht,
decorated with a frieze of objects (bows and arrows, sceptre, etc.), an offering list (below, to
the right), an offering table with food next to it and a painted false door on the left.

46
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

Dynasty were decorated all round with a palace facade. In the Twelfth
Dynasty there are still many local differences in the layout of coffins. The
examples found in Asyut and Rifeh always have double or even triple
hieroglyphic inscriptions, while coffins found at Gebelein are often
decorated with scenes of daily life on the outside, and similar decoration
was found on a coffin from Edfu.*”
Written texts have been always an important part of elite burials. In the
First and Second Dynasties there are the texts on the stela placed at the
mastaba. From the Third Dynasty onwards the mastaba was often
decorated with several scenes combined with various texts. These are
usually found only in the overground parts of the tomb. There are only a
few examples where some kind of text is written in the underground part,
the burial chamber. The only texts appearing there with any regularity are
texts on coffins, and in most cases these are only titles and the name of the
tomb owner. Offering formulae appear just a few times. At the end of the
Fifth Dynasty the burial chambers of kings’ pyramids are decorated with
pyramid texts. The burial chambers of private tombs are sometimes, but
not very often, decorated with friezes of objects. Religious texts, with the
exception of offering formulae, do not appear in the underground parts of
private tombs. They are also absent from the decoration of the mastaba.
Certain religious texts seem therefore to have been particular to kings and
queens. This changes at the very end of the Old Kingdom. At Balat, as we
have seen, inscribed fragments of the mummy shroud were found in the
burial of Medunefer. Few similar texts have survived from the First
Intermediate Period, though there are many in the Middle Kingdom.
These texts are known as ‘coffin texts’ and are often variants of the earlier
body of ‘pyramid texts’, which also continue to appear.
Canopic jars underwent changes in form in the early Middle Kingdom.
At the beginning of the period the first canopic jars with human heads
appeared in the tomb of king Mentuhotep II.°* The head-shaped lids are
made of wood. There are also some lids in the form of contemporary
mummy masks, which may show that the canopic jar could be seen as a
sort of coffin, with the entrails inside equivalent to a mummy. These
masks are always made in cartonnage — like the mummy masks — and
always show a human face® which may represent the dead person. By this
time, maybe even earlier, canopic jars were put under the protection of the
four ‘children of Horus’: Qebehsenuef, Duamutef, Hapi and Amset. In the
early Middle Kingdom Amset was a goddess, always shown with yellow
skin and without a beard, while the others are often shown with a beard
and red skin. Their names appear consistently from the late Eleventh
Dynasty on canopic jars in connection with certain spells. Another type of
canopic jar produced at this time is in the form of a vessel with feet and
arms, or just arms, giving the whole jar a human appearance. Canopic
jars in the Middle Kingdom are often made of clay; high quality examples
(mainly the jars found in the royal cemeteries) are limestone or calcite. A
set of canopic jars is normal in elite burials in the royal necropolis, but not

AT
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

very common in tombs in the provinces. An astonishingly large proportion

of the jars found at provincial cemeteries never contained organs.®! For
those who could afford it, it was evidently the custom to place a set of four
canopic jars, including a canopic box, into the tomb without using them.
These jars can therefore be termed ‘models’ or ‘dummies’. Here a social
class is copying a custom from a higher social level, without having the
resources or even the knowledge to follow this custom through to its end
(proper mummification). Mummification was not fully developed in the
Middle Kingdom; the body was often simply wrapped in linen, though
some special treatment is attested.
Single burials or burials of a man and a woman in one tomb are the rule
in the early Middle Kingdom, but there are exceptions. In Thebes, the
American excavator Herbert Winlock found three mass graves carved into
the rock. One of these tombs still contained the burials of about sixty
soldiers, who must have been killed in a war or campaign. Only two were
placed in an undecorated wooden coffin. All the others were wrapped in
linen, sometimes inscribed with the name of the soldier, and laid directly
into the tomb. Since this mass grave was disturbed, it is not easy to say
what kinds of burial goods were placed in it, but there are at least some
weapons (bows and arrows). The tomb may date to the reign of Senusret I
or slightly later. The find is highly exceptional, and must have something
to do with special circumstances under which these soldiers died, perhaps
in a Nubian campaign under Senusret I. Examination of their bodies has
shown that all were killed or wounded in battle. This gives the impression
that these are soldiers who fought for their king and were then given an
honourable burial.
Most elite burials of the early Twelfth Dynasty are very similar to those
of the Eleventh and do not need further comment. However, certain finds
suggest that at least some tombs contained personal items. Tomb 723 at
Beni Hasan belonged to a man named Sobekhotep and is datable by the
style of his coffin to the end of the Eleventh or early Twelfth Dynasty.®
The burial contained an outer and inner box coffin, two model boats, a
model granary, a model of a butchery scene, a standing female figure, a
standing naked male figure and a pair of sandals. These are all typical
burial goods of the time. Less common are a set of bronze tools and a bow
with feathered and tipped arrows. It is very tempting to assume that
Sobekhotep’s weapons have something to do with his having held some
kind of military position. No title is recorded for him and no one buried at
Beni Hasan with a military title had weapons in his tomb. The connection
between the weapons and the military status of the tomb owner is
therefore no more than a guess, but is supported by the mass burial of
soldiers described above, who were buried with their weapons.
The grave of Mereri at Abusir contained a simple coffin with only one
band of inscription on each outer side. The coffin yielded a head-rest, a
staff and two wooden sandals. These objects are not exceptional. However,
the whole coffin and the burial chamber were filled with emmer (a type of

48
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

wheat). Another tomb at Abusir had undergone the same treatment, which
must have something to do with regeneration and rebirth.® A similar idea
may be expressed in some coffins in which the mummy was placed on a
wooden frame filled with earth. In the New Kingdom wooden frames in
the shape of Osiris filled with earth and growing grain were placed in royal
tombs.®
The main developments in the Middle Kingdom clearly mostly started
in the residence cemetery at Lisht, to be adopted subsequently by the
provincial courts. Two examples serve to demonstrate this. The ‘treasurer’
Mentuhotep, who served under Senusret I, was buried at Lisht in a
sarcophagus decorated with a palace facade.*® Coffins with such decoration
are found in the provinces only in the later years of Amenemhat II.® This
suggests that coffins with a palace facade were introduced at court under
Senusret I and later copied in the provinces. The same development can
also be seen with wooden models. Wooden models in the shape of the solar
boat are first attested at Lisht under Amenemhat II.” Examples from
provincial burials are dated slightly later. Nevertheless, such observations
should be made with caution. The cemeteries at Lisht were heavily looted
and are not yet fully published. It is therefore not really possible to give a
full picture of this development.

The middle of the Twelfth Dynasty

In the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty certain new objects such as
mummy-shaped figures, which will become very important later, appear
for the first time in burials. Some tombs in the provincial cemetery of Deir
el-Bersheh, datable to the reigns of Senusret IT and III, are very important
for these new developments, as they contain these objects and can be
precisely dated. Although some of these tombs were found looted, there
were still many objects in the burials — including a series of superb coffins
— which reveal the burial customs at a rich provincial court. The tombs of
interest belong to local courtiers and are all located in front of the rock-cut
tomb of the mayor Djehutynakht, who governed the 15th Upper Egyptian
nome for Senusret II and III. His courtiers are mentioned in the tomb of
their master and may never have had their own cult chapels; maybe
inclusion among the scenes in their lord’s tomb was enough. Tomb E
belongs to an ‘overseer of troops’ Sep and was found totally undisturbed.
The burial lay in a chamber at the bottom of a shaft. Most of the chamber
was occupied by the large, brightly painted rectangular coffin with inner
anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin. In a side-niche stood the canopic chest.
Next to the coffin were three jars. All other items in the burial were
deposited on the coffin: two big clay plates, a brightly painted wooden table
supporting three cartonnage vessels, a cartonnage offering table (Fig. 61)
painted in bright colours, three model boats, and a model granary. The
boats are of special interest as they are not the common sailing and rowing
boats known from the early Middle Kingdom. Instead they clearly have

AQ
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 61. Offering table

made in cartonnage,
with various offerings
painted in bright
colours.

some kind of direct religious meaning. One of the boats bears a figure of
the mummy of the dead person, another boat contains no people and
presumably represents the boat of a god, maybe even the sun god (Fig. 62).
The third boat contains a few figures of sailors and the dead person
kneeling under a canopy. The meaning is totally obscure.” A faience figure
depicts the dead as mummy and is very similar to later shabti figures (Fig.
63). John Garstang found an almost identical set of objects in the tomb of
the ‘overseer of fields’ Ma in Beni Hasan, precisely dated to the reign of
Senusret II. Next to the coffin were models of two boats, one of them
showing the mummy of the dead person while the other seems to hold the
canopic jar. The only other wooden model was of a granary. In this burial
the body was not placed in an anthropoid coffin, but had a mummy mask.”
In the Twelfth Dynasty the first anthropoid coffins appear. All examples
from this period are part of a coffin set, in which they are the innermost
coffin inside an outer box-shaped one. Most are made of very thin wood, so
not many examples have survived. Often only the metal parts have been
preserved. Two main types can be distinguished: (1) coffins showing the

Fig. 62. One of the wooden boat models (90 cm long) found in the tomb of Sep at Deir
el-Bersheh. The boat may represent the ship of the sun god Re.

50
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

dead person with a wig, with the body coloured

black or white” — this is the earliest type; (2)
coffins showing the dead person wearing a royal
headcloth (nemes) with the body decorated by an
elaborate pattern — some such coffins are
inscribed, giving us the name and title of the
dead. A well preserved and documented burial
with anthropoid coffins is the so-called ‘tomb of
the two brothers’ at Rifeh. It contained two richly
decorated box coffins, each holding an anthropoid
one. Other finds in the tomb included one canopic
box with a set of four jars and several wooden
models. There are two boats, two female servant
figures, wooden statues of the tomb owners and
pottery.” The anthropoid coffins and the palace bt
facade on the box coffins indicate that the tomb orasten
dates from about the middle of the Twelfth Fig. 63. Deir el-Bersheh
Dynasty. This date is confirmed by the wooden tomb D: a human figure
models. There are no carpenters’ workshops, ae foam ade
: : aience. Similar figures
bakery or other models concerning food production. jecome common at the
The tomb clearly belongs to a transitional phase _ end of the Middle
when wooden models began to fall out of use. Kingdom. Some are
Another tomb which may belong into such a pe ae ener
transitional phase was found at Abusir. Four with short religious texts.
inscribed coffins were found in a small chamber. The function of these
Two belonged to men (‘lecture priest’ Inimakhet, sd eee ret-=
‘overseer of the priests at the temple called ae the A oat z
Mensutini and ‘overseer of the temple’, Inihotep),
and two to women (‘lady of the house’ Nekhet, and ‘lady of the house’
Satbastet). The bodies were carefully wrapped in linen with mummy
masks placed over their heads. There are only a few grave goods. On the
coffins were three wooden models of ships, and four pottery vessels were
found next to them. Inside the coffin of Inimakhet there was a finely carved
wooden statue, in the coffin of Satbastet a copper mirror, a bead and a
scarab, while that of Inihotep contained two staves.” As in the ‘tomb of the
two brothers’ at Rifeh, there are not many wooden models and no models
of workshops. Another important point is the number of burials in one
tomb. In the early Twelfth Dynasty the burial of one man and one woman
(most likely his wife) together in one tomb is quite common, but more
burials within a single tomb are rare.

Poorer burials

There is less evidence for burials of poorer classes in the Middle Kingdom
than in other periods. Such tombs have not attracted much attention from
excavators and have been inadequately published. The huge cemeteries at

51
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Qau-Mostagedda mostly date from the First Intermediate Period, with

remarkably few tombs datable to the Middle Kingdom. The burials of that
period must have taken place somewhere else in the area, as Qau was still
very important in the Twelfth Dynasty and it is highly unlikely that it was
less well populated in the Middle Kingdom. The same holds true for Naga
ed-Deir, where most of the excavated tombs belong to the Old Kingdom
and First Intermediate Period.
The poor graves recorded are still quite similar to those of the First
Intermediate Period (see Figs 64-65). The bodies were placed in shallow
hollows or simple shafts. Burial goods normally comprise only a few
vessels and some jewellery, including scarabs; women are sometimes
buried with cosmetic objects. These are all objects taken from daily life, not
specially produced for the tomb. The most notable difference from the
preceding periods seems to be the spread of coffins, though these are in
general plain wooden boxes. Riqqeh is one of few well excavated and
recorded cemeteries with graves of lower-status people, with some richly
equipped tombs as well. The dead were buried in shafts mostly with one
or two chambers, sometimes with none. Each chamber was in general
reserved for one burial, though there are exceptions in which up to four
people were put together. A few individuals were just laid in simple holes
in the ground. Burial goods comprise several types of pottery vessels and
jewellery. One of the humbler tombs is Riqqeh no. 60, the grave of a woman
in a simple shaft containing a mud-brick coffin and two vessels: a flat bowl,
maybe for serving food, and a water jar. Tomb no. 63b was very similar but
contained a drinking cup as well.”
The cemetery of Rifeh is known for its so-called ‘soul houses’. These are
models of offering tables and houses made of clay, found at the shafts of
many tombs not only at Rifeh, but also at other places, mainly in Upper
Egypt. It seems evident that these models marked tombs of people who
could not afford a small mastaba,” although it is not really certain where

olokm
iS
05 (n°

Fig. 64. El-Tarif, burial of the early Eleventh Fig. 65. Qau, tomb 409: burial of a
Dynasty. The buried person must have been of woman in a wooden coffin, c.
relatively low social status. The only grave good Twelfth Dynasty. Two necklaces
is a pot. The body was placed in a white/yellow were found around the neck. The
washed coffin. contracted position of the body is
exceptional for the Middle Kingdom.

52
 4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom

they were placed — above ground, or in the shaft or chamber.” The soul
houses can be divided into several types, but the main distinction seems
to be that some are models of offering tables, whereas others are models
of houses, sometimes two storeys high. However, they are clearly not
copies of real houses, but rather show the most prominent element, such
as acolumned courtyard and the chair in the main hall of the house owner.
The burials of very young children and newborns still require much
more research. From the experience of comparable modern and
pre-modern societies, it is clear that there must have been a high rate of
mortality for babies and young children, but they do not appear in graves
in the cemeteries, even though older children do appear. The burials of
newborn and small babies must have taken place elsewhere; cemeteries of
infants were found at Gurob and Deir el-Medine. These missing graves are
(at least sometimes) to be found in settlements. In one house at
Elephantine the skeleton of a newborn child was found, placed in a vessel
deposited in a room used for dumping rubbish. The body of the child was
covered with ash, maybe to deter flies or other insects.”? In another house
at the same site a similar burial was found under the floor. The only burial
good was a single bead.*°

53
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second
Intermediate Period: New Magical Rites

The late Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties

The reign of Senusret III brought change to all areas of life in Ancient
Egypt. The king seems to have reorganised the whole country. These
changes have long been recognised from the disappearance of the
nomarchs and their magnificent tombs in Middle Egypt, but they must
have gone much deeper. New titles appeared in the administration, some
provincial cemeteries ceased to exist, and other cemeteries seem to
continue only on a smaller scale. The body of the dead person was now no
longer placed on its left side, but laid on its back, hands by its sides.! The
disappearance of coffin texts and wooden models is noticeable. Evidently
in the late Middle Kingdom there was no longer an industry producing
burial goods on the same scale as before. Only a few objects were now
specially produced for burial (e.g. the first heart scarabs, mummiform
figures). In the late Twelfth Dynasty coffins became simpler. The outside
was very often decorated with a palace facade, while there was no longer
any decoration on the inside (Fig. 66). In the Thirteenth Dynasty the
palace facade disappeared, and it seems that at this time developments in
Upper and Lower Egypt went in different directions. In the residence
region (Lisht, Dahshur) coffins are attested with four text columns on the
long sides and religous texts in the space between. In Upper Egypt (Thebes
and Abydos) the number of columns was increased. Some coffins have
eight or nine columns on each long side.
However, there are some elite burials from this period that contain
special objects. These tombs form a group, known as the ‘court type’,

|
x
AN ie }
A 0 02 eees10ng

Fig. 66. Coffin of Ibi decorated with a palace facade, late Twelfth Dynasty.

54
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period

showing that at least at the highest level similar rites and funerary goods
were used. The type is mainly known from several undisturbed tombs of
princesses and noblewomen, found next to the pyramids of the Twelfth
Dynasty. There is enough evidence to show that burials of this kind were
practised almost everywhere, but most often in the residential
cemeteries.” A typical ‘court type’ burial can be described as follows: the
body of the dead person was placed in an anthropoid coffin or adorned with
a mummy mask, which was put in a second box-shaped coffin often covered
with inscribed bands of gold leaf. Finally there was a third outer coffin
made of wood or stone. Inside the coffins, right next to the body of the dead,
were sceptres, weapons and other mainly royal insignia. Royal insignia
were also found in other parts of the burial. The anthropoid coffin or
mummy mask was decorated with the royal ‘nemes’ head-dress and
sometimes even adorned with a uraeus (snake symbol), indicating that the
body was identified with Osiris, ruler of the underworld, who also once
ruled Egypt. Inside the coffin there were often superb works of jewellery
specially made for the burial. Outside the coffin set stood a canopic box
containing the four canopic jars. There was also a box with seven vessels
for the seven sacred oils and a great quantity of pottery, consisting mostly
of very small vessels and plates, more symbolic than practical. In the
burial chamber was a second box containing royal insignia and weapons.
As well as this typical equipment, each ‘court type’ tomb contained a
selection of objects that distinguishes it from the rest. The burial of the
‘king’s daughter’ Neferuptah included a set of three inscribed silver
vessels. The tomb of the ‘overseer of the storeroom’ IJunefer at Hawara
yielded mummiform figures (very similar to later shabtis), and the two
coffins of the ‘chief lector priest’ Sesenebenef, excavated at Lisht, were
covered with religious texts, a custom which was no longer current in the
late Middle Kingdom. ‘Court type’ burials do not appear very often and are
attested only for the highest elite. Almost all the objects found in these
tombs were specially made for burial. The earliest examples belong to
four princesses buried next to the pyramid of Amenemhat II, while the
last known example of a ‘court type’ burial may be princess
Nub-hetepti-khered, placed next to king Hor of the early Thirteenth
Dynasty and doubtless dating to about the same time.
The tomb of king Awibre Hor is quite well preserved (Fig. 67). It is the
earliest royal tomb to survive almost intact. The king was buried in a shaft
next to the pyramid of king Amenemhat III in Dahshur. Since Awibre Hor
reigned for less than a year he cannot have had much time to prepare for
his burial as king. His tomb is therefore highly likely to be a re-used (or
unused) shaft tomb cut next to the pyramid during the reign of king
Amenemhat III. It consists of a small shaft leading to a corridor occupied
by a huge wooden shrine that contains an almost life-size wooden statue
of the king. This image represents his ka, since it has the ka-sign on its
head, although the sign is not shown in the published plan of the tomb and
has perhaps been put on the statue by Egyptologists for display in the

55
 Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt

Fig. 67. Plan of the tomb of king Awibre Hor, Thirteenth Dynasty.

museum. Dieter Arnold has argued that this is a statue type normally
installed in a special chamber, which in this case was put in a corridor
because the king did not have time to build a full tomb.’ The corridor with
the shrine leads to the burial chamber, which was totally occupied by the
sarcophagus containing a partly gilded wooden coffin, in which the
mummy with a mask was placed. The mummy was adorned with several
items of jewellery, and many wooden staves and sceptres were found next
to it (Fig. 68). A long wooden box found beside the shrine contained a
similar range of objects. In a niche at the foot end of the sarcophagus was
a canopic box containing the four canopic jars. The burial of the king is in

Fig. 68. A set of staves found in

the tomb of king Awibre Hor.
Similar staves are common in
all ‘court type’ tombs.

56
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period

Fig. 69. Inscriptions in gold leaf on the coffin of king Awibre Hor. The hieroglyphs of animals
and birds are mutilated, a practice common in burial contexts in the First Intermediate
Period and again in the Late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period.

many respects similar to other ‘court type’ burials of the late Middle
Kingdom, but there are some finds which are not found in tombs of private
persons of the same period. There are two stelae inscribed with religious
texts, unique among Middle Kingdom burials. The larger of the two bears
parts of the so-called pyramid texts, while the smaller one has an offering
formula on it. There is a set of wooden model vessels of a type not known
from other private tombs, and a special vessel only known from royal
tombs.‘
Tombs not belonging to the ‘court type’ contained a different range of
objects, quite often magical items. The combination of these objects varies
from tomb to tomb, and it is hard to distinguish any rules. There are small
statues of animals, most famously faience figures of hippopotami, but also
in other materials and of other animals such as dogs, cats and apes.°®
Tombs often contained stylised figurines of naked women. Finally there
are knife-shaped amulets of ivory, also called ‘magical wands’. These new
types of object appear only sporadically in tombs of the late Twelfth and
Thirteenth Dynasties, and one gets the impression that not everyone

57
 Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt

followed the new customs. Closer investigation reveals that many of these
objects are also well known from settlement sites; these are the magical
objects used in daily life to protect against evil spirits.° Coffins are no
longer inscribed to the same degree with religious texts, and instead some
people put papyrus texts into their burials. These are not always
religious:” many of the known literary compositions of the Middle Kingdom
were preserved written on papyri found in burials. Another major change
is that from single or double burials to multiple ones. Throughout
Predynastic Egypt, the Old Kingdom and the early Middle Kingdom, one
person per burial was the rule. There are already several exceptions from
the Predynastic Period, First Intermediate Period and early Middle
Kingdom, when it became common to place husband and wife in a single
tomb. In the late Middle Kingdom many tombs were used for numerous
burials. They must have been opened repeatedly to insert new coffins,
mummies or just bodies. Objects associated with each burial became mixed
with older items, and the archaeologist thus often finds it hard to tell
which object belonged to which burial. The new custom was not followed
by everyone; there are still many single burials at all social levels.
However, even in the pyramid of Amenemhat II] at Hawara his daughter
was placed next to the king’s sarcophagus. Princesses and queens of
Senusret III were laid to rest together in a big gallery tomb alongside the
king’s pyramid at Dahshur. Only very poor people without the resources
to dig a rock-cut burial chamber seem to have been buried regularly in
single tombs. Finally, there might be local variants. While at some places,
such as Harageh or Thebes, multiple burials are well attested, elsewhere,
such as Qau in Upper Egypt, such burials are not very common.
The relatively well preserved burial of an official of the early Thirteenth
Dynasty has been excavated at Thebes. The ‘great one of the Tens of Upper
Egypt’ Renseneb was laid to rest in a shaft with two chambers containing
at least five bodies. The objects found indicate the high status of these
people. There was a finely crafted box with a depiction of the ‘hall-keeper’
Kemni offering in front of king Amenemhat IV, which may have been a
present from the king to this official. It is not clear whether Kemni was
also buried in this tomb or whether the box was a present from him to
Renseneb or another person. The coffin of Renseneb himself was very
much decayed. The remains showed that it was once painted with yellow
mutilated hieroglyphs, a typical late Middle Kingdom treatment of
hieroglyphic signs for animals and birds (compare Fig. 69). The custom of
mutilating hieroglyphs started under Amenemhat III and is attested
throughout the following period; it was intended to ensure that these
animals could not harm the dead. Renseneb’s mummy lay on its side and
was much decayed. It had a cartonnage mask over the head and shoulders,
with a gilt face. Inside the wrappings a blue faience hippopotamus was
found, while around the neck there was a gold and obsidian necklace and
an amulet in form of a shen-ring (a hieroglyphic sign for protection) (Fig.

58
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period

Fig. 70. Objects found in the coffin of Renseneb.

Hippopotamus figures made in faience are a typical
late Middle Kingdom funerary good. This tomb
provides one of the few examples found in context.

70). Finally there was a bronze mirror, inscribed with the title and name
of Renseneb, with an ebony handle and gold inlay.®
Another example of this type of burial goods was found in Beni Hasan
tomb no. 487, belonging to the ‘mistress of the house’ Seneb, daughter of
Iti. It is not clear from the excavation report whether the tomb was
untouched or only partly looted, but there were certainly many objects left,
which offer an impression of the original contents. As far as one can tell
from the published records, the burial lay in a small chamber. The heavily
decayed coffin was placed on one side of the chamber. Next to it were four
big storage jars, of a shape typical of the late Twelfth Dynasty. At the wall
opposite the coffin stood several boxes containing cosmetic items, as well
as several stone vessels and two clay models of human figures.? On the
mummy (which had a mummy mask) were several items of jewellery: two
fish made of silver and electrum, a scarab, silver bracelets, hon-shaped
silver pendants and several beads made of precious stones.'° Seneb was
obviously not a poor woman. The jewellery is of the highest quality.
However, all objects found in her tomb seem to be objects from daily life,
with nothing except the coffin and the mummy mask especially made for
burial. The only other exception may be the two clay figures, but these are
hardly comparable with the wooden models known from earlier Middle
Kingdom burials. Similar figures, often in limestone, are found in other
tombs of the late Middle Kingdom.
A well preserved multiple burial of some not very well-to-do people has
been excavated at Thebes (Fig. 71). Five undecorated coffins were found in
a small, fairly shallow shaft tomb. A sixth coffin, lying under the others,
was destroyed, indicating that the first burial was quite old when the

59
 Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt

others were placed in the chamber.

Finally there was the burial of a
child without a coffin. Burial goods
were found everywhere; around the
coffins lay many pottery jars and
wooden female dolls with hair in the
form of strings of small mud pellets
(see Fig. 72). The function of these
‘dolls’ is very much disputed. Are
they dolls for children? Are they
concubines for men in the afterlife?
Are they for women, to guarantee
continued sexual function, or for
both sexes, as a general guarantee
of new life? Other finds are rare.
The body of a child was adorned
Fig. 71. Late Middle Kingdom multiple
burial in Thebes. with many amulets and had a set of
miniature furniture placed on the
coffin. In two coffins a head-rest was
found. On some of them lay a
wooden staff, which may have been
a symbol of status. The bodies of the
dead were not mummified but
covered with sheets of linen.1! It is
very hard to say to what social level
these people belonged. There are no
inscriptions which could give us a
title or any other clue. If they were
not part of the administrative elite,
they may have been a family of
craftsmen or farmers.
Few other lower-class tombs or
cemeteries of the late Middle
Kingdom have been excavated and
recorded. The archaeologist
Reginald Engelbach described such
tombs at Harageh but did not
publish them in detail: ‘Wady I and
Wady II are two series of shallow
Fig. 72. Finds from one of the burials (the graves packed tightly into the soft
coffin dotted in Fig. 71). The head-rest
(below) was found on the left side of the sand .... They appear to have been
head of the deceased, who was a tall person, the graves of the poorer classes from
placed slightly contracted in the coffin. At the time of Senusret II down to the
one finger was a ring decorated with the
end of the Hyksos period. They were
pattern shown here (above right). Next to
his coffin and the other coffins were five flat packed as closely as possible, and I
wooden dolls (one shown above left). have had to omit showing many

60
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period

groups of pottery and beads, as, in some cases, it was not possible to
separate the burials.’!”
Other cemeteries of to the late Middle Kingdom and Second
Intermediate Period were excavated at Qau-Mostagedda, where most
graves were reserved for just one person. The dead are most often placed
on their left side with their head to the north in shafts on average only one
metre deep. Burial goods are again few. There are glazed beads and shell
rings and some pottery, although many burials did not contain any pots;
other finds such as calcite or faience vessels are very rare. Coffins are not
very common, but this may be the result of bad conditions for preservation:
any coffin is likely to have disappeared without trace.!3

The Second Intermediate Period

At some point in the Second Intermediate Period (late Thirteenth to
Seventeenth Dynasty) the court moved south from the Memphis-Fayum
area. The political history of the time is still very unclear. During the
Second Intermediate Period many foreigners settled in Egypt — a Middle
Bronze Age Palestinian people, known as the Hyksos in the north;
Nubians in the south. Their burial customs are different from those of
contemporary Egyptians. Tell el-Daba, ancient Avaris, was the capital of
the Hyksos empire or kingdom. Many tombs have been excavated there,
most of them belonging to Palestinian Bronze Age people, some to
Egyptians or Palestinian people buried like Egyptians. One of the latter is
of a young woman placed in a limestone sarcophagus. The only burial
goods are a bead necklace and a calcite vessel placed near the head.
Outside the sarcophagus was a further vessel which may also belong to the
burial (Fig. 73). The sarcophagus indicates that the woman was relatively
wealthy. In stark contrast to such a simple burial are the tombs of the
Palestinian Bronze Age people. The dead are often placed in mud-brick
built chambers. Coffins are not very common but do appear. The tombs are
often richly equipped with burial goods, the most common of which are
various kinds of pottery vessel. Animal bones in the tombs indicate that
food was placed there. For women several kinds of jewellery is attested,
especially scarabs, while men often
have weapons and scarabs too. Burials
of donkeys were found next to some rich
tombs, near the entrance of the burial
chamber. Altogether it might be said
that food supply for the dead (vessels
and animal bones) was the crucial
feature. Other finds such as weapons
and jewellery point to the status and O 1m
function of the deceased in society. =
Weapons are not bina t common 1m Fig. 73. Burial of ayoung woman at
contemporary Egyptian tombs. Tell el-Daba.

61
 Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt

Fig. 74. Tell el-Daba: burial of a

twenty- to forty-year-old man. The
tomb chamber is 3.93 m long and
was undisturbed. With the body
were a scarab and a bronze dagger.
At the entrance of the tomb were
skeletons of donkeys.

Fig. 75. The dagger found on the body shown in Fig. 76. Scarab of the ‘deputy
Fig. 74. treasurer’ Aamu and a vessel
found in his tomb.

Another group of foreign people living in Egypt in the Second

Intermediate Period were the Nubians. Unlike the Palestinian settlers,
they probably came to serve as soldiers under the Egyptians, and most had
rather simple ‘pan-grave’ burials in accordance with their relatively low
status. These graves are normally shallow and round; the body was laid in
them in a contracted position. Pottery and sometimes weapons are placed
in the burial; whereas earlier graves contained almost exclusively Nubian
objects, later ones show signs that these people were becoming
Egyptianised, as several Egyptian objects were found there.
The Second Intermediate Period was a difficult age for Egypt in terms
of political history. Political disunity clearly led to economic decline over
much of the country. Most art and luxury objects of the period are of low
quality. It seems that in this impoverished period there was no capacity to

62
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period

Fig. 77. Two pan-grave burials. Balabish tomb 223 (left); next to the body was a vessel.
The buried person wore shells as personal adornments. Remains of leather and rope show
that this individual may have been buried in everyday clothing. Qau 1307 (right) belongs
to a young man. He was wrapped in linen and had shells as jewellery by his left wrist.

produce objects specially for burial on a large scale, and this holds true for
the elite burials of the Egyptians as well. There are some exceptions,
however. Coffins are clearly made only for tombs, and there are some
canopic boxes (although they do not contain canopic jars) datable to the
Second Intermediate Period. Finally there are many shabti figures dating
roughly to this time, though they may belong to the very end of the period.
They are mainly made of wood with rough hieroglyphic or more often
hieratic inscriptions. The number of these surviving shabtis is relatively
high, showing that they must have been popular. Sadly so far few have
been found in a well documented undisturbed tombs, and their exact date
therefore remains debatable.
In the Second Intermediate Period there are strong signs that burial
customs changed radically. The anthropoid coffin became very popular and
was now, especially in elite burials, the only coffin, although box coffins
were still in use. The commonest anthropoid coffin is the ‘rishi’ coffin,
showing the deceased with a nemes head-dress and a feather pattern
covering the whole body (rishi means ‘feathered’ in Arabic). Tombs were
now filled with objects from daily life, such as furniture, baskets and
pottery. Evidently even in elite burials such objects replaced products of
the funerary industry which still existed in the early Thirteenth Dynasty;
sadly only a few have survived to pinpoint stages in this development.
There are big gaps in our knowledge of the development of Egyptian
burial in the Second Intermediate Period. One reason is that most tombs
of kings and related tombs of high officials have not yet been found and
excavated. Nevertheless, a few important burials are known from Thebes,
and others from Abydos, which was still a major centre. At the beginning
of the nineteenth century the Italian excavator Guiseppe Passalacqua
discovered the burial of queen Mentuhotep, wife of the Seventeenth
Dynasty king Djehuty. Her mummified body was found in an anthropoid
coffin inside a box-shaped one inscribed with an early version of the ‘Book
of the Dead’. The coffin had not been removed from the tomb when found

63
 Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt

=RAIGL
Ee

<Q te eso
ae tro

PSMAStat th

telus NaleslNeinelna| Nia hahay

B)NolaglNo}Ns\Nélna| 8) Nawab
WINaINslNONsININAINA Na Wana
PANGAN WAAL Se

ae ne)
eta
WOUVIYYYVVYV

Fig. 78. The tomb group of Hornakht (end of the Seventeenth Dynasty — reading of name
following S. Quirke), found at Thebes. Hornakht was placed in a rishi coffin. Many objects
of daily use (in this case maybe better termed ‘luxury objects’) were found next to the
coffin. There is a game board (below left), sandals, a head-rest and throwsticks. Some of
these items are re-used or heirlooms. One calcite vessel (centre right) is from the Old
Kingdom.

64
 5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period

and its inscriptions and decoration were later copied by John Gardner
Wilkinson. Other objects from the tomb include a canopic box without jars,
a reed box with some vessels and maybe a silver funerary diadem.'4
Nothing was known until very recently about the burials of court officials
in the Seventeenth Dynasty. The year 2000 saw the discovery of the tomb
of the ‘treasurer’ Teti, an important official at the royal court under king
Nubkheperre Intef. His small tomb chapel was found next to the pyramid
of the king and was adorned with paintings. No information is yet
available concerning its shaft and burial chamber."®
Very few undisturbed Seventeenth Dynasty tombs are known. One is a
burial that Flinders Petrie excavated in 1908/09 at Thebes. It was simply
placed in a hole in the desert, far from other burials — the distance
doubtless helped to keep it intact. The tomb contained the body of a woman
in her late teens or early twenties, wrapped in linen in a partly gilded
coffin. The mummy was adorned with fine jewellery: a gold collar, bangles,
an expertly cut scarab, earrings and an electrum girdle with several pieces
in the form of shells. The coffin itself is a typical rishi coffin. Sadly most of
the inscriptions have faded and the name of the woman remains unknown.
The burial goods were placed around the coffin. On the left side of the coffin
was a wooden stick. On this ten nets had been arranged, containing a
variety of pottery vessels. Most of the latter are types in daily use, but
there are also some Nubian pots (most likely imports) and some calcite
vessels. A wonderful anhydrite bowl found in a basket may be of Middle
Kingdom date. At the foot end of the coffin were a box containing some kind
of ointment, a large pad of linen, two flat stools and a broken chair. Next
to the objects were some items of food, including loaves of bread and fruits.
Another big box found at the foot end contained the burial of a two- to
three-year-old child. The two coffins are the only objects in the tomb made
specially for burial. All other burial goods seem to be everyday objects (see
Fig. 78 for a similar tomb group).’®

65
 6. The New Kingdom:
Death in an Affluent Society

The kings of the New Kingdom created a vast empire, conquering parts of
Nubia and the Near East. Enormous quantities of raw materials and
treasure were brought to Egypt, and this wealth is well reflected in the
burial goods of the time. Tombs are more richly equipped than ever before
or after. In its burial customs the New Kingdom can be divided into two
main periods, with several subdivisions.
The early New Kingdom closely follows the customs of the Second
Intermediate Period. Objects from daily life are still very common, with
only a few items, such as the coffin or shabtis, being specially produced for
burial. However, it is often hard to determine which objects belong to
which category — domestic, religious, or exclusively funerary. To take just
one example, a special type of pottery found in Eighteenth Dynasty tombs,
a small angular bow] with a narrow foot, is very typical of burials. It is so
common in graves of the period that it seems to be not so much a domestic
object as perhaps a container for special food offerings as part of a funerary
ritual. However, the vessel itself may have been used in daily life as
tableware; the special context of the funeral turns it into a religious
object.! Under Hatshepsut/Thutmosis III some essential changes are
visible in the world of the tomb, such as the introduction of a new coffin
type and the introduction of funerary papyri. Objects produced for
burial become very important in elite tombs. The reign of Amenhotep
III saw the introduction of further new classes of objects, e.g. a special
type of shabti and anthropoid sarcophagi of hard stone. The burial
customs of the brief Amarna period are still a mystery, but burials in
the decades that follow seem in many respects very similar to those of
the reign of Amenhotep III. The tombs were filled with objects from
daily life; elite burials had in addition many items specially made for
the tomb.
The big change in burial customs comes under Ramses IJ, when all
objects from daily life disappear from tombs. All objects placed there are
now specially produced for burial: coffins, shabtis, funerary papyri and
amulets, to name just the most important. Poor people, unable to afford
such products, had no burial goods. In terms of burial customs the
Ramesside period is therefore totally different from the early New
Kingdom and closer to the Third Intermediate and Late Period, when the
same categories of objects were placed in tombs.

66
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

The Eighteenth Dynasty before Amenhotep III

As already mentioned, burial equipment at the beginning of the
Eighteenth Dynasty is almost identical to that of the Seventeenth. Many
objects from daily life, such as furniture and several kinds of clothing, form
an important part of elite tomb goods. Alongside these simple household
goods there are some items made for burial which are very typical of the
time. The coffins of elite burials are most often anthropoid, although at the
beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty box-shaped examples are still very
common. Anthropoid coffins which follow the shape of the mummy were
usually painted white with vertical bands of inscription. Coffins of the
early Eighteenth Dynasty often bear scenes showing the dead or a
funerary procession. In the early Eighteenth Dynasty a standard
inscription developed which appeared on almost all the inscribed private
coffins of the New Kingdom. On the box are shown the four children of
Horus, and sometimes Thot and Anubis. The figures are accompanied with
special texts which are also part of ‘Book of the Dead’ spell 151. Under
Hatshepsut ‘white coffins’ were replaced by ‘black coffins’ (yellow or golden
inscriptions on a black background).
The most famous feature of burial developed around this time is the
so-called ‘Book of the Dead’. In the late Middle Kingdom it was no longer
common to place funerary literature in the burial chamber; there are only
a few coffins of the period with religious texts. However, at the end of the
Seventeenth Dynasty funerary texts in tombs again became popular, but
written on linen shrouds, not on the coffin. The coffins of this time were
anthropoid; this shape was not very suitable for long texts,? which may
partly explain why religious literature was written on shrouds instead.
From the end of the Middle Kingdom the corpus of funerary writings had
continued to evolve. This development is hard to follow as not many
religious writings of the Second Intermediate Period have survived. Many
texts on the shrouds are entirely unknown from earlier periods, while
others represent new versions of the coffin texts of the Middle Kingdom.
In essence, coffin texts and the ‘Book of the Dead’ are simply earlier and
later phases of a single continuing tradition of burial texts. Shrouds did
not remain common manuscript material for long: textiles are not a very
good writing substrate. By the first half of the Kighteenth Dynasty (under
Hatshepsut) religious texts were being written on the normal Egyptian
material for written texts, papyrus paper, with these scrolls being placed
close to the mummy in many elite tombs. It is important to remember that
not all elite tombs contained a ‘Book of the Dead’, and that some
compositions were written on other objects in the burial, including the
shabti, as we shall see below.
Other new burial goods under Hatshepsut/Thutmosis III include ‘heart
scarabs’. These had appeared sporadically in the Thirteenth Dynasty, but
are common only from the Eighteenth Dynasty onwards. The flat
underside of these scarabs was inscribed with ‘Book of the Dead’ chapter

67
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

30. The scarab did not replace

the heart of the deceased, as
is sometimes assumed, but
was specially made to protect
it and was placed on the chest
of the mummy.’ Some tombs
also contained four so-called
‘magical bricks’. These are a
set of mud-bricks inscribed
with a short text and
normally placed at the four
sides of the burial chamber,
but there are also examples
where the bricks are
arranged in pairs in niches on
facing walls. On each brick an
amulet was placed: a
djed-pillar, a jackal, a torch
and a shabti-like figure.
These texts and images also
(6) 10m
a —— appear in some ‘Books of the
Dead’ (chapter 151). In the
Fig. 79. Plan and section of the excavated tomb of a middle of the Eighteenth
king’s son called Teti. The chapel is only very poorly Dynasty other new object
preserved, with just small fragments of the painted in elite tombs included
decoration. The mouth of the shaft which leads to hier dao) ee cle dail
the three underground burial chambers is just in = e1s objects Irom dally
front of the entrance to the chapel. life, particularly stone vessels
and scribal palettes. Shabtis
now appear more often in small numbers in elite burials, but are not
common in tombs of less well-to-do people. The mummification process
was further refined; organs and the brain were removed from the body,
which was then dried out in natron, filled with molten resin and packed
with linen. The most accomplished examples of embalming belong to the
New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period.
There is little information about the tombs of high officials at Thebes,
the court necropolis, in the early Eighteenth Dynasty, but the standard
version seems to have included a free-standing chapel, built of mud-brick
and decorated on the inside with paintings (Figs 79-80). Some of these
chapels have been excavated, but there must have been many more of
these vulnerable structures, now either totally destroyed or not yet found.
The burial chambers were reached by a shaft situated next to the chapel.4
Little can be said about the funerary equipment as all of these tombs have
been heavily looted. The decoration of the tomb chapel seems to include
scenes of the burial procession® and of the tomb owner and his family.®
Many of these tombs may have had a stela in the chapel.
The main known burial type at Thebes for a high-ranking courtier in

68
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

the middle of Eighteenth

Dynasty is the rock-cut tomb
(Fig. 81). Hundreds of tomb
chapels were cut into the rock on
the west bank there. Most were
decorated with paintings or in
some cases with reliefs. These
decorated parts were freely ig g0. These and similar fragments of
accessible to the living. By paintings were found in Teti’s chapel, showing
contrast, the burial chamber was that it was once decorated with very fine
closed, located at the bottom of a P@™™"85-
shaft carved deep into the rock and rarely decorated. This tomb type
already appears sporadically in the early Eighteenth Dynasty, but
becomes common under Hatshepsut.
People of lower status also had brick chapels, although again little has
been preserved. Most such tombs found so far have been looted, so we know
little about the funerary goods. Fortunately, some tombs of lower-ranking
people do survive, offering an impression of typical tomb equipment. The
tomb of Ramose and Hatnefer, parents of the famous Senenmut, the most
important official of Hatshepsut, was found undisturbed. The burial was
discovered in a rough rock-cut chamber in Thebes West, not far from the
tomb of their son, and contained several coffins. There were two
anthropoid ones, one for Ramose (Senenmut’s father) and the other for
Hatnefer (his mother). Hatnefer’s belongs to the ‘black coffin’ type and is
partly covered with gold leaf. Ramose’s is by comparison rather simple,
and belongs to the ‘white coffin’ type that was very common in the early
Eighteenth Dynasty.’? Next to the anthropoid coffins of Hatnefer and
Ramose two simple box coffins were found, both undecorated. One

prey tra yt

————L_ ST)
0 20m
Fig. 81. Thebes, two New Kingdom rock-cut tomb chapels, of Ineni (left), a re-used Middle
Kingdom chapel; and of the ‘high priest of Amun’ Ahmes (right). Most Theban chapels
follow this T-shape plan.

69
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

contained two women and two children; the other a woman and a child.
The mummy of Hatnefer was packed with eighteen shawls and sheets of
linen; including a pair bearing the throne name (Maatkare) of Hatshepsut.
A shroud at the head was inscribed with ‘Book of the Dead’ chapters 72
and 17. A gilt mask was placed over Hatnefer’s head. On the breast of the
mummy was found a bundle of funerary manuscripts — two papyri and a
leather roll; the leather roll bearing ‘Book of the Dead’ chapter 100, often
a separate charm. On the mummy the heart scarab and a small mirror
were also found, at its left hand a set of rings and scarabs. The other objects
of daily life found in the tomb probably also belonged to Hatnefer. There
is no real proof of this as they are not inscribed, but Hatnefer is the person
with the most elaborate coffin, indicating that she was the owner of most
of the objects. These other finds include seven baskets containing food,
linen and embalming material, three boxes with linen, three calcite jars,
seven pottery jars and six pottery dishes. More important are a canopic box
(containing the canopic jars, one of them with a jackal head, the others
with human heads), a razor, a pair of sandals, a kohl jar and stick, a pillow,
a set of silver vessels, and a bead necklace.®
Similar multiple burials from the Eighteenth Dynasty have been found
in many parts of Egypt. A well preserved example is the tomb of Maket at
Lahun, a town next to the pyramid of Senusret II at the entrance to the
Fayum. At the end of the Thirteenth Dynasty the settlement was
abandoned, and in the Eighteenth Dynasty an empty cellar in one of the
houses was enlarged and used as a burial chamber. About fourteen coffins
were found, most placed in two layers. Each contained several bodies,
sometimes up to five or six. Most were simple, undecorated boxes; only one
was decorated at the short ends with pictures of Isis and Nephthys. Two
others were anthropoid, but are described by the excavator as of rather
poor workmanship. Many coffins simply contained the bodies of the dead,
but one was exceptionally well equipped. It contained a golden scarab
inscribed in hieroglyphs for the ‘lady of the house, Maket’, a silver and gold
ring, and a silver ring with the name of the same person (Fig. 82). Other
objects found in the coffin are earrings, a bronze mirror, a kohl stick, a
reed which contained musical reed pipes (Fig. 83), a head-rest (without
picture), a vase imported from Cyprus and one other pottery vessel (Fig.
84).°
Farther south, tomb 183 at Beni Hasan belonged to a woman called
Dedet-baget (the reading of the name is not certain). She was perhaps of
similar status to Maket, but was buried alone. Her tomb chamber was very

C9 Fig. 82. Jewellery found in Maket’s coffin;

(right) one of the two earrings found.

70
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

small and contained an uninscribed

wooden coffin. Next to it were found
a small table, a large basket
containing the legs and seat of a |
chair, a wooden head-rest, a large |
reed mat, a leather gourd and a well |
preserved drum. Inside the coffin
the excavator, John Garstang, found
an arrow case containing arrows and
a broken bow. The head of the
mummy was covered by a mummy
mask. Beside these objects were
some fragments of wooden models. |
The date of the tomb remains |
problematic. Pottery would be the
best guide, but no illustration has
been published of the only pot from Fig. 83. Three reed musical instruments, a
this burial. The fragments of the bronze mirror and a kohl stick from
: ; Maket’s coffin.
wooden models point to a date in the
Twelfth Dynasty, but all the other finds suggest a later date, perhaps in
the early New Kingdom. All items apart from the coffin and the mummy
mask are everyday objects typical of the late Seventeenth and early
Eighteenth Dynasties. If we accept a New Kingdom date then the tomb
may have been re-used, with the wooden models remnants of an original
Middle Kingdom burial.'°
At Harageh, not far from Lahun, a small New Kingdom cemetery was
excavated. The tombs found are in general rather poor and illustrate the
burial customs of ordinary farmers at that time. In most cases, the bodies
were placed in holes in the ground, though some people were buried in a
simple shaft or in a shaft tomb with one or two chambers. Many have been
very heavily looted, but there are a few tombs for which more detailed
information is available. Tomb 273 is a Middle Kingdom shaft tomb with
two chambers, re-used in the New Kingdom to hold the remains of five men
and eight women. The few funerary goods comprise four pottery jars, some
beads and two scarabs, one with the name of
Amenhotep I (Fig. 85). Wooden fragments may
be those of coffins. Tomb 363 — a simple shaft —
contained the remains of seven women and six
men. Burial goods include many ‘mud’ pots,
eight pottery vessels, a bronze pin, some beads,
Y a stone vessel, a scarab and a ring bearing the
name of Thutmosis IV."!
There is equally limited information about
Fig. 84. Pottery foundinthe the burial customs of the common people at
pee
the ee
left is an import from oO Thebes.
is i Petrie excavated such a tomb in 1896,
Cyprus. consisting of two chambers, one upper and one

ua
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 85. Object found in Harageh tomb 273. The published excavation report gives only the
types found (e.g. just one bead was published from a string of identical beads). It is
possible that for some of the pottery types several pots were found. The scarab gives the
name of Amenhotep I; a second scarab found in the tomb was not published.

lower, which could each be entered through a separate corridor. Both

corridors and chambers were found full of mummies, as Petrie describes:
‘the upper passage and chamber was closely filled with at least two layers
of bodies, over eighty being packed into it. .... These bodies can scarcely be
called mummies, as they seem to have been buried in wrappings without
any attempts at preserving the flesh by resin, oil, or salts. Hence there was
only a confused mass of bones amid a deep soft heap of brown dust.’!? The
tomb had been plundered, and the only finds were numerous pottery
vessels. The burial was relatively well dated as it was found under the
mortuary temple of king Thutmosis IV, and must therefore be earlier.
Beside the mass and multiple burials there are still many people buried
in simple tombs without chamber or shaft (see Figs 86, 87). It is hard to
decide to which social level these people belong. Multiple burials may often
represent family tombs; they do not necessarily belong to the poorest, who
would not have had the resources for a rock-cut chamber of the required
size. The poor would therefore have been buried mostly in single tombs,
although a multiple burial might well have contained richer and poorer
members of the same family. Multiple burials such as the tomb of Maket
contain valuable objects showing the small wealth of at least some of the
people buried here.
Up to this point all the burials we have discussed have been isolated
examples from across Egypt. For comparison, it is worth examining one

ss Fig. 86. Qau tomb 490:

os WY the undisturbed tomb
> of a man. The only
me WIV) grave good was a
pes scarab found at the left
( hand. The buried
person was in all
probability of quite low
status.

72
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

Fig. 87. Gurob tomb O1: objects found in the burial of a woman (?). The body was covered
with a closely woven mat of grass and was wrapped in another mat made from date palm
ribs. The body itself was mummified. The two vessels (left) were found at the head end of
the burial. The cosmetic objects (mirror, long narrow kohl pot, kohl stick — right) were
found on the chest. Burials with the bodies wrapped in a reed mat clearly belong to the
poorest levels of society and are found in almost all periods and regions of Egypt.

well documented case of an entire Eighteenth Dynasty cemetery. The best

examples come from Lower Nubia, which was conquered and to some
extent colonised by the Egyptians during the New Kingdom. Although it
is unlikely that many Egyptians lived and were buried there, it is clear
that the material culture of Lower Nubia became fully Egyptianised,
though some local variants in pottery production may have existed. The
burial customs may have been different in detail from those in Egypt, but
this remains to be researched. The following burials can be taken as
examples of local or provincial culture in the New Kingdom.
Lower Nubia is one of the best excavated regions in North Africa. In the
early 1960s the Aswan High Dam was built. It was clear that once it came
into use vast parts of Nubia would be permanently under water. For that
reason UNESCO launched a campaign to save monuments and to excavate
settlements and cemeteries in the area to be flooded. One of the rescue
missions was the Scandinavian Joint Expedition, which excavated some
extensive cemeteries. These have been published and are now a prime
source for the burial customs in that region and for the New Kingdom.
One of the cemeteries lies near the modern village of Fadrus. About 680
burials were excavated. Some other tombs may have been lost or unable
to be excavated since parts of the cemetery were covered with modern
houses. With this in mind the burial ground is big enough to have served

73
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

a relatively dense rural community. It flourished mainly in the Eighteenth

Dynasty. The excavators distinguished five social rankings, which we will
follow here. These distinctions are made mainly according to the numbers
of pottery vessels found in each tomb. The poorest (social rank 1) are the
tombs without any finds (23% of the excavated tombs). Social rank 2
consists of burials with one to four pots (48.8% of the excavated tombs).
The third rank contain four or more pots (20% of the excavated tombs).
Together the three lowest social ranks make up more than 90% of the
tombs found. Burials of social rank 4 include both four or more pots, and
metal objects, such as weapons or metal vessels (1.8% of the tombs).
Finally the richest tombs are those with a burial chamber built in
mud-brick. They normally contain several vessels, mummy masks and
metal objects and other objects. 6.8% of the tombs belong to this category.
Tombs of social rank 4 and 5 clearly belong to the social elite buried at
Fadrus.

Social rank 1. The poorest tombs. The body was placed extended on the
left, right or back in a not very deep shaft. There are no grave goods and
there is no coffin.
Social rank 2. An example is
tomb 185:73 (Fig. 88).1° The tomb
belongs to a mature man who was
buried in a shaft. The burial goods
consist of three stone vessels and
some pottery vessels arranged at
the head and at the feet of the dead.
Social rank 8. An example of this
social group is 185:331.'* The burial
was placed in a fairly shallow shaft
tomb in a chamber to the east. The
body was laid in an anthropoid
wooden coffin, which may have
been plastered and painted. There
were some beads found around the
Fig. 88. Tomb 185:75 near Fadrus (Nubia).
neck. The only other finds are five The tomb is a simple shallow shaft.
different pottery vessels arranged
around the coffin.
Social rank 4. An example is tomb 185:196, quite a wealthy burial
arranged in a shallow shaft with a side-chamber (Fig. 89).1° The
side-chamber was once closed with a brick wall. The dead person, an adult,
was lying on its back, hands at its sides. The head was covered with a
partly gilt stucco mask. At the neck were a scarab-like seal mounted in
gold and a gold pendant. Around the body, especially at the head, at the
feet and left of the head/chest were many pottery vessels. The latter clearly
belong to the funerary meal. On the left side of the legs was a bronze axe.
Nothing is really known about the person buried here; it is not even

74
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

Fig. 89. Fadrus tomb 185:196. The burial

/
chamber is 3.3 m long.

possible to say if it was a man or a women. No object bears an inscription,

but the few gold items demonstrate the relative wealth of the tomb owner.
Social rank 5. An example is tomb 185:122, one of the richer burials at
Fadrus (Fig. 90). The body was placed in a vaulted brick chamber with a
coated floor, which was additionally coated with a layer of clay. The head
was covered with a stucco mask, while next to the legs were a bronze axe
and a dagger (Fig. 91). A box must also have stood at the head, since metal
fittings were found there. Concentrated at the head and at the feet were
several pottery vessels. At the ‘head end’ of the chamber was finally a huge
storage jar (Fig. 92). There were traces of a superstructure over the burial
chamber which must have belonged to some kind of chapel.'®

0 2m Fig. 90. Fadrus tomb 185:122. The body was

buried in a vaulted chamber. On the surface
above the tomb was a mud-brick structure which
once belonged to a chapel or even a small pyramid.

75
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Despite imperfect conditions for preservation,

the following common burial goods can be
identified in the cemeteries near Fadrus:
personal adornments, cosmetic equipment (kohl
pots), weapons, tools, stone and metal vessels
and pottery. All these objects are also used in
daily life, but there are items specially produced
for burials, with several coffins and some
elaborate mummy masks. There are no canopic
jars or shabtis, and there is only one heart
scarab. Very few objects are inscribed, implying
Fig. 91. Axe (left) and bronze
dagger (right) from Fadrus that most people buried here were illiterate. In
tomb 185:122. The axe is all these aspects the burials seem not very
13.7 cm long. It was once different from burials of people of the same
fitted into a wooden handle,
of which only traces were
status in Egypt. A difference may be that
found. The dagger is 27.5 cm multiple burials are not so common as in Egypt,
long. The presence of and that even the richest tombs are without
weapons in the tomb may inscriptions, but this might be just an accident of
indicate that a man was
buried here. the surviving record.

CB BS
Fig. 92. Fadrus tomb
185:122: the pottery
found in the tomb. The
two vessels in the top
centre may have
contained gifts for the
tomb owner. The large
storage jar on the right
was probably for
drinking water.

The middle to late Eighteenth Dynasty

The time from about the reign of Amenhotep III to the end of the
Kighteenth Dynasty forms a single period in terms of burial customs,
although there are some important developments. A particularly large
number of undisturbed or only partly disturbed elite burials survive from
the Kighteenth Dynasty. The most famous of these is the tomb of Tuya and
Yuya, parents of queen Teye (wife of king Amenhotep III). The tomb was

76
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

found in the Valley of the Kings and is only partly disturbed.!” An entirely
intact find from the same reign is the tomb of the ‘overseer of works’ Kha
and his wife Meryt, also in Thebes.'8 The tomb of the ‘royal fan bearer’
Maiherperi, only partly disturbed, was again found in the Valley of the
Kings and may date to the reign of Amenhotep II. There is also the burial
of a certain Hatiay together with a woman called Henutwedjebu and the
ladies Siamen and Huy.!° These tombs contain several kinds of objects
already discussed or mentioned for other Eighteenth Dynasty tombs.
Many items found in these high status burials are artworks of the highest
quality. The overwhelming bulk of their funerary equipment consists of
objects from daily life: vessels, furniture, cosmetic objects and even
chariots, proving the extent to which the custom of putting into tombs
objects formerly used in the house was followed, especially at this high
social level. Another focal point of the burial was the coffin. Anthropoid
coffins were most common in the Eighteenth Dynasty. The tombs of some
of the high status people mentioned contained a partly gilded outer box
coffin, in which anthropoid coffins were placed. Other important parts of
the funerary equipment were the four canopic jars in the canopic box, some
shabtis and a papyrus text of the ‘Book of the Dead’. Other mummiform
figures look like shabtis, but do not bear the shabti text and may have a
different function. Dummy or model objects, especially wooden vases,
plastered and painted to imitate stone vessels and dummy scribal palettes
(‘cheaper’ copies of objects from daily life) are also well attested.
The reign of Amenhotep III saw some special developments in funerary
practice. For the first time anthropoid sarcophagi (stone coffins) are
attested. Box-shaped examples are very common in elite burials from the
Old and Middle Kingdom, but for the early Eighteenth Dynasty, before
Amenhotep III, nothing of the kind is securely attested. There may be
several reasons for this. One is perhaps the shape of coffins. The
sarcophagi of the Old and Middle Kingdom copied common wooden box
coffins. In the New Kingdom the anthropoid form of coffin became
common, but always made in wood. To cut an anthropoid sarcophagus
must have been very expensive and needed more specialised stone cutters
than were required for the production of a simple stone box. The few
sarcophagi of the early Eighteenth Dynasty are again in shape of a box
(they belong to the kings of the period and to the officials Senenmut and
the ‘viceroy of Kush’ Nehesi — both very important persons). Under
Amenhotep III the first anthropoid sarcophagi are attested. The ‘viceroy
of Kush’ Merymose — again a very powerful figure at court — had a set of
three sarcophagi, copies in superbly executed granodiorite and red granite
of the contemporary ‘black coffins’. Another very important person of that
time is Amenhotep, son of Hapu, who was in later times worshipped as a
god. Amenhotep had a set of two sarcophagi, an outer box-shaped one and
an inner anthropoid one. Sadly all these were smashed in remote
antiquity. Isolated fragments exist in several collections all over the world.
Wooden coffins from the reign of Amenhotep III also display certain

we
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

innovations. The outer

coffin of Yuya, father-in-law
of the king, is of the normal
‘black type’. However, the
four children of Horus,
formerly almost always
depicted with human heads,
now each have a different
head (falcon, jackal, baboon,
human), as was to become
the norm in the Nineteenth
Dynasty. Yuya’s middle
coffins have a picture of Nut
on the cover, and Yuya
holds in his hands a djed Fig. 93. Shabti of Merymery from Saqqara.
and a tiyet amulet. Both
symbols are again typical of later coffins and appear here for the first time
in this position. Another new object type is the shabti box. In the late
Middle Kingdom shabtis were often placed in model coffins or model (box)
sarcophagi. Under Amenhotep III small shrine-shaped boxes, in which a
shabti was placed, are attested for the first time.?? At the end of the
dynasty these boxes became double-vaulted shrines and were used for
many shabtis. The shabti boxes are very typical of Thebes and found only
sporadically in other cemeteries, where pottery vessels (sometimes
painted) containing shabtis are more common. Another innovation under
Amenhotep III, but one that is not often attested later, are small statues
in limestone showing the tomb owner performing several tasks. These
statues recall the servant figures found in Old Kingdom tombs and it
seems possible that they copied these figures. However, the figures
produced under Amenhotep III show the tomb owner and are therefore
more similar to the shabtis (Fig. 93).
Under Amenhotep III Saqqara, the cemetery of Memphis, became an
important burial ground for high officials. The city must have been the
administrative centre of Egypt throughout the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Presumably because the king was buried at Thebes, all high courtiers were
at first also buried there. Under Amenhotep III, however, many of them
decided to build their tombs at Saqqara. The most famous so far discovered
is that of the northern vizier Aperel; other burials are those of the
‘treasurer’ Meryre, the ‘high steward’ Amenhotep, and members of the
family of the vizier Ptahmose.
Almost nothing is known about the burial customs of the Amarna
period. The few objects from tombs datable to the period give the
impression that only the inscriptions changed (Osiris is not mentioned any
more). Funerary beliefs may have been totally different, but the objects
placed in the tomb are identical with those found in earlier burials. There
are many shabtis datable to the period, though with a different formula.?!

78
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

In the royal tomb fragments of a canopic chest were found, while in a tomb
in the Valley of the Kings (KV 55) datable to the end of the Amarna period,
four canopic jars and four magical bricks were discovered. There are some
coffins datable to the period, and these have a slightly different design.
The coffin of a woman called Ta-aat has the normal mummy shape, but
the scenes on the coffin show the deceased at the offering table or together
with the family, instead of the four children of Horus and Anubis. The texts
mention Aton and Akhet-Aton (the ancient name of Amarna). Fragments
of a similar decorated sarcophagus, and a model coffin from Amarna with
such scenes are also known. Both certainly belong to the Amarna period.”2
The decoration in the tombs of the court officials at Amarna focuses on
scenes of the king adoring the sun. The tomb owner himself becomes
secondary. Similar scenes — although the tomb owner is always very
important — were found in the tombs of high officials under Amenhotep
Hii
Shortly after the Amarna period a new coffin type developed, showing
the deceased on the lid clothed as in daily life (see Fig. 108). This type is
first attested on sarcophagi at Saqqara, but became popular throughout
the country in the early Nineteenth Dynasty. The best preserved examples
are all from Thebes. In the post-Amarna period Saqqara finally became
the most important court cemetery. Only people working in the south (the
southern vizier, the ‘viceroy of Kush’, the Amun temple staff) were still
buried at Thebes. The main tomb type at Saqqara was a temple-like
structure, although there are also some rock-cut tombs. The bigger of these
tombs consist of several columned courtyards and three chapels at the
back with a stela as the main cult object (while in Thebes the main cult
objects were statues). The walls of these buildings were decorated with
reliefs showing scenes of daily life, mainly in connection with the office of
the tomb owner and funerary processions. The chapels at the back of such
tombs are often decorated with scenes from the “Book of the Dead’. These
tombs vary greatly in size. The larger ones are on the scale of a
medium-sized temple. The least imposing often consist of only a small
chamber decorated with reliefs. The burial apartments are reached by a
shaft, and are sometimes quite elaborately decorated. Those of the
‘overseer of the treasury Maya were paved with limestone slabs, decorated
in sunk relief.24 Not much has survived of the burial goods once placed in
these tombs, but the few remains show that they were not very different
from the objects placed in tombs under Amenhotep III. Remnants of
elaborate furniture were found in the tomb of Maya.
The contents of the tomb of king Tutanhkamun need not be described
in detail here. However, his whole burial equipment, with the high number
of everyday objects, falls within the same tradition as the private burials
described above, even if there are several objects of types reserved for royal
burials. A series of wooden gilt statues, showing the king and several gods,
were found in special shrines. Fragments of almost identical statues have
been found in some other New Kingdom royal tombs, from Thutmosis HI

79
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

to the Ramesside period.”° Many amulet

types found on the mummy are attested
here for the first time and appear
hundreds of years later in private
contexts. Other objects exclusive to
royal burials are two ‘guardian statues’
showing the king in larger than life size,
and the ‘Osiris bed’, which is almost
only attested in royal burials in the New
Kingdom. The ‘Osiris bed’ is a wooden
board in the shape of an Osiris figure.
On the board was earth and grain. The
grain started to grow in the burial
chamber or during a ritual, an
impressive symbol of fertility. It is often
hard to say if other objects had a special
Fig. 94. The tomb of Sennefer (A) was function in connection with the dead
the side-chamber of a bigger tomb of a king. Is a ‘throne’ an ‘object of daily use’
mon called Homes Le pon
Hormes was already plundered when
or was it placed into the tomb for some
the excavators found it. The door tothe Special religious reason? Only signs of
chamber of Sennefer was found intact. wear might tell.
The burial is datable to shortly after the The tomb of the ‘servant in the place

ars oo of truth’ Sennefer and his wife Nefertiti

was found in 1928 at Deir el-Medineh in a small chamber. The tomb may
have been lightly robbed on one occasion, but still contained substantial
parts of its equipment.”° It will be presented here as an example of a New
Kingdom elite burial. The mummies of Sennefer and Nefertiti were each
placed in a black coffin, decorated with yellow inscriptions. The ‘black
coffin type’ was still used in the late Eighteenth Dynasty, although other
types such as yellow coffins (coffins with yellow background and colourful
vignettes), coffins showing the dead in everyday dress, and sarcophagi
were more popular for elite burials. A painted shroud lay on Sennefer’s
coffin, showing him in front of an offering table (Fig. 95). On his mummy
was a gilt mask (Fig. 96), while Nefertiti’s mummy had no mask, but was
Fig. 95. Over Sennefer’s
coffin was a pall on which
this painted textile was
found, showing Sennefer
in front of an offering
table.

Fig. 96. Sennefer’s

mummy mask.

80
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

Fig. 97. Sennefer’s burial yielded an abundant variety of flowers, but also contained other
objects: (left to right) five inscribed wooden boards (only one is depicted); one fan; four
staves with flowers of different sizes (only one is depicted); a heart scarab and a pectoral,
both found on the mummy; and a pair of shoes found in a box.

Fig. 98. Range of

furniture: box, chair,
head-rest wrapped in
linen, bed. The box
contained shabtis, the
sandals and two calcite
vessels. aS

Fig. 99. Range of vessels (left:

pottery; above right: metal;
below right: two calcite vases
found in a box).

81
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

adorned with an array of

jewellery, notably two rings,
one in silver and the other in
electrum (gold-silver). A small
box in the tomb contained the
mummy of a child (Fig. 100).
Both coffins were surrounded
by furniture, such as a bed and
boxes, containing various
objects. There were two
shabtis in another box, both
wrapped in linen, and closely
datable to the post-Amarna
period by their style.
Fig. 100. Coffin of the child from Sennefer’s burial,
a shabti and a second shabti wrapped in linen. An example of poorer
interment, although it is not
possible to determine the precise social status, is the burial of a young
woman and a child belonging to the late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth
Dynasty, found at Saqqara near the Teti pyramid (Figs 101-106).?” They

Fig. 101. The ; 5|

<
two clay cobras Cy 0)
found in the Se
Nf,
Saqqara tomb
(one shown
from the front,
the other from 6)
the side).

Fig. 102. Amulets and beads found

in the burial of the child. Some of
the figures (Bes, Taweret, the
magical head) are well known from
the ivory wands of the late Middle
Kingdom. Magical wands and these
amulets had the same function:
protection of mother and child at
Fig. 103. A basket, a stone vessel and a birth.
glass kohl-pot.

bD)
f( Fig. 104. A cosmetic spoon in the
shape of a swimming naked lady.

82
 6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

lay together inside a badly decayed coffin.

Next to the woman’s head had been placed
three dom-palm fruits. At the northern
end of the coffin were a round lidded
basket with a small jug and a glass vessel
in the shape of a palm column inside; a
second basket with a calcite jar; several
beads; a terracotta figure of a naked girl on
a bed; two pottery figures of cobras; and a Fig. 105. Further objects found in
wooden head-rest. At the southern end of the burial: clay figure of a naked
woman lying on a bed, a
the coffin were found a pottery jar and a wedjat-eye, two balls (?) anda
wooden spoon of a swimming girl.?® The stone cup.
burial is of special interest for several
reasons. The combination of a woman and

cae
an infant in one coffin very strongly
suggests the burial of a mother and child.
This places some of the items from the
tomb in a new light. Most of the finds can
be described as cosmetic objects, while the
terracotta figure of a woman on a bed
refers to mother and child. The cobra
figures are especially interesting, because Fig. 106. The pottery found in the
such figures have also been found in tomb.
domestic contexts, where they might have some magical function. They
presumably had a similar function in the burial. All objects in this burial,
except the coffin and maybe the amulets, are objects of daily use or magical
objects normally used in daily life, but they also clearly relate to the sex of
the buried person. The cosmetic objects found fit perfectly with a woman
of some small wealth.

83
 7. The Late New Kingdom:
Reduction to Essentials

The Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties

In the Ramesside period (the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties) new
objects and object groups were introduced into elite burials. The four
canopic jars now each had a different head: ape for Hapi, jackal for
Duamutef, human for Amset and hawk for Qebehsenuef. The number of
shabtis increased, with five to twenty or more not uncommon. They were
often placed in a special box, which could be opened from the top and had
room for two or three shabtis. Several of these boxes, which are usually
brightly painted, are normally found in a single tomb. There are also the
four magical bricks. Finally, a papyrus with the text of the ‘Book of the
Dead’ is common. Several kinds of amulet, such as heart-shaped amulets
with a human head, ‘conventional’ heart scarabs become important.
Objects from daily life, such as furniture or pottery, seem to disappear
slowly, although single examples of these types are still attested at some
places. Almost all the objects placed in tombs are now made specially for
burial (see Fig. 107).
In the Nineteenth Dynasty sarcophagi become common in the highest
ranking burials (Fig. 108) — a list of the owners of sarcophagi of the
Nineteenth Dynasty reads like a ‘who’s who of the royal court at the time.
These sarcophagi show the dead person with arms crossed over the chest,
holding a tiyet and djed symbol. The space under the arms is decorated
with bands of texts and vignettes (small scenes) carved in sunken relief
into the stone. The material of these sarcophagi is often red granite, with
relief decoration which was probably always painted, though
unfortunately the colour has survived in only a few cases. In layout and
shape the sarcophagi of the late Eighteenth Dynasty generally followed
the development of contemporary wooden coffins, but in the Nineteenth
Dynasty the two types of object seem to develop in different directions. The
decoration of the stone sarcophagi is still similar to that of the wooden
coffins, but they become broader in shape. There are some impressively
well made pieces dating from the reign of Ramses II, but by the end of his
reign most sarcophagi are quite clumsy, often with illegible inscriptions.
At Saqqara one such sarcophagus was found containing a wooden board.
There are no parallels, but it is possible that many of these sarcophagi once
contained a better-made wooden coffin. The sarcophagus is now nothing
more than a secondary container protecting both the body of the dead
person and an elaborate decorated wooden coffin. Few sarcophagi can be

84
 7. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials

MOTO
2

= Th

ame
Ba

Fig. 107. Three faience pectorals from Riqqeh,

Nineteenth or Twentieth Dynasty. Amulets and
jewellery especially made for burial are very
important in elite tombs of the Ramesside period.

dated to the Twentieth Dynasty and what examples

there are were very badly made with only a few
inscriptions. Sarcophagi for private people are no
longer in common use.
At about the same time, scenes of daily life
disappear from the chapels. Such scenes are still a if
attested under Ramses II. The tomb chapel of Mose at {=eA@aiens
Saqqara is famous for its long hieroglyphic inscription
describing a court case involving a dispute over land.
A scene in the tomb of the ‘high priest of Amun’ "=2 ZS GUE
Nebwennef shows the priest in front of the king, who * TD SSS :
is standing at the ‘window of appearance’. Tomb
chapels of the later Nineteenth and Twentieth
Dynasties are with few exceptions decorated
exclusively with religious scenes, such as vignettes
from the ‘Book of the Dead’, or scenes showing the
tomb owner and his wife adoring different gods.
The archaeological record of burial customs in the
Ramesside period is very different to that of the Fig. 108. Sarcophagus
Eighteenth Dynasty. While there are many _ lid, late Eighteenth
undisturbed tombs of high-ranking people from the pean Nineteenth
: ? : eit ynasty, showing the
Eighteenth Dynasty, there is almost nothing similar gceased in everyday
for the Nineteenth or Twentieth. The only exception is dress.

85
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

the tomb of the ‘servant of the place of truth’ Sennedjem, which was found
undisturbed in 1886. Multiple burials had become increasingly common,
so it is not surprising that about twenty burials were found in Sennedjem’s
tomb. Many were not even placed in coffins, though the tomb owner and
his son Khonsu had a set of two. Both had an outer box coffin, brightly
painted with parts of the ‘Book of the Dead’. Inside the outer coffin was a
vividly painted ‘yellow’ coffin,! and within the latter a mummy board
showing the dead person dressed as in daily life. The burials of these two
men contained canopic boxes and shabti boxes filled with shabtis.
Sennedjem was also provided with a mummy bed, a chair, a stool, some
pottery vessels, staves and architectural instruments. The wives of the two
men had a simpler set, with just one coffin and mummy board, again
showing the women in daily dress, and some boxes for jewellery. The other
people buried here are either placed in a simple coffin or have no coffin at
all; at least some of them had shabtis.? The burial of Sennedjem took place
under Sety I or in the first years of Ramses II. The exact date of the other
burials is not known, but they may all have taken place within a short
time-span, as all the objects are similar in style. The entrance of the burial
chamber was closed by a wooden door, making it relatively easy to get in
and place new burials in the tomb, at least for a while. The date when this
door was closed forever is not known.
As already mentioned, no undisturbed elite burials of the Ramesside
period are known. Disturbed burials therefore form our source for the
objects placed in tombs at this time. The tomb of queen Nefertari is
well-known for its beautiful paintings. It had been looted, but some objects
were found in it. It was not re-used in the Late Period, in contrast to so
many other New Kingdom tombs at Thebes, so all the items found must
belong to the original equipment of the queen. The most important item is
the largest object to have survived: the fragments of a huge box-shaped
sarcophagus in red granite. There are also several wooden shabtis, most
painted black with details and inscriptions in yellow. Two lids of boxes, one
black and one decorated in bright colours, may belong to shabti boxes.
Finally, there are some vessels and a pair of sandals. The most
outstanding small object was a gilded djed-pillar with faience inlays which
once formed part of a ‘magical brick’. Other fragments of djed-pillars may
have belong to boxes or other furniture. An interesting find is the knob of
a chest bearing the name of the late Eighteenth Dynasty king Eje.? Most
of these objects do not need much comment. However, the number of
everyday objects is very small.
Nefersekheru, ‘deputy of the treasury of the lord of the two lands’, was
an official of some standing, though not at the highest level at court. He
was buried in a rock-cut tomb in Thebes, of which the relatively small tomb
chapel, decorated with brightly painted scenes from the ‘Book of the Dead’,
was quite well preserved. The underground chambers were reached by a
sloping passage, typical of Ramesside tombs in Thebes and in marked
contrast to tomb-shafts of the Eighteenth Dynasty before Amenhotep III.

86
 7. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials

In the burial apartments a few objects from the

original equipment survived, although the
whole tomb had been heavily looted and also
later re-used. There is no coffin preserved for
Nefersekheru, which makes it likely that he was
not placed in a sarcophagus (which would have
had a high chance of survival), but simply in a
wooden coffin. Only small inscribed fragments
of the canopic jars were found, while other parts
of the original tomb equipment include rough
clay shabtis and two fragments of a beautiful
scribal palette, with long religious texts on it. A Fig. 109. Carnelian
carnelian snakehead amulet bears the short snake-head amulet from the
inscription ‘the Osiris Nefersekherw’ (Fig. 109). tomb of Nefersekheru,
bearing his name.
Such amulets were common in the Ramesside
period and were worn around the neck. In the Middle Kingdom they were
called ‘mengebyt’ or ‘mengeryt’ and may have had the function of
supplying fresh air for the dead (it has also been suggested that they may
have had something to do with protection against snakes). An important
funerary object found in the tomb is
the fragmentary funerary papyrus,
on which Nefersekheru is shown
together with his wife. Other
objects include fragments of many
pottery vessels, some baskets, and
sandals. The latter recall the
sandals from the tomb of queen
Nefertari.*
The tomb of the ‘high steward of
Amun’ Amenemope was also very
much looted when found. Only a
few objects of the original burial
have survived. However, his high
status is clear from his huge granite
sarcophagus.® An important part of
Amenemope’s tomb complex was
also a shaft in which four wooden
coffins were found (Fig. 110). They
are of the ‘black coffin’ type, but not
of the highest quality; the
inscriptions are often hard to read
and some of the paintings are very
poorly executed. Two of the coffins
were produced as stock, with the
Fig. 110. The tomb of Amenemope (Theban
Tomb 41). The four coffins in the subsidiary
place for the name of the
tombs are in black. coffin-owner left blank. One of the

87
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

other coffins belonged to the ‘lady of the house’ Huner and the fourth to the
‘head of the working place of Amun’ Nekhu-nefer. These burials are very
likely contemporary with the tomb of Amenemope and it is possible that
the people buried in the shaft belonged his entourage. The ‘high steward
of Amun’ was responsible for the economic institutions of the temple of
Amun, in which the ‘working place of Amun’ was clearly a key part.®
Nekhu-nefer was therefore very likely on the staff of Amenemope. The bad
preservation of many tombs and tomb equipment means that such close
relationships between people working together are not often visible in
burial complexes. However, there is another example at Saqqara, where a
certain Iurudef was buried right next to his master the ‘overseer of the
treasury Tia. Iurudef is depicted in Tia’s tomb as his chief servant.’
As well as the disturbed burials excavated in Egypt, there are also some
groups of objects in museums, which were found in undisturbed tombs in
the nineteenth century. The problem with these is that it is only possible
to assign items with the name of the owner to a particular burial.
Uninscribed objects found in the same burial may be in the same museum,
but it is not possible to assign them with any certainty to a particular
group of burial objects. One example is the tomb equipment of the ‘lady of
the house’ and ‘chantress of Amun’ Henutmehyt, now in the British
Museum. From these titles and the quality of the funerary objects she
belongs clearly to the highest social level. Henutmehyt had a set of two
partly gilded anthropoid coffins. Inside them there was a mummy board
in two parts: a mummy mask and an open-worked mummy board. Both
objects are gilded. There was a simple undecorated canopic box with four
wooden canopic jars in it, each with a differed shaped lid, as was common
in the Ramesside Period. There are altogether forty shabtis and four
brightly painted shabti boxes. The number of shabtis is exceptionally high
and may indicate the high status of Henutmehyt. The burial included four
magical bricks with their incised inscriptions and amulets. Finally there
is a funerary papyrus of ‘Book of the Dead’ chapter 100, naming
Henutmehyt. Women as owners of funerary papyri are not very common
in the New Kingdom. They are normally shown together with their
husbands on their papyri. There is also a box with mummified meat pieces.
This box may belong to the burial, although this is uncertain as it is
uninscribed. Only a description of the nineteenth-century discovery of the
tomb would reveal whether other objects were buried with Henutmehyt;
so far no reliable account is known.
Another trend in burial customs of the Ramesside period should be
mentioned in connection with the tombs of the ruling elite. Most court
officials of the early Eighteenth Dynasty are buried at Thebes, with only a
few exceptions, such as the ‘treasurer’ Nehi, buried in Saqqara/Memphis
during the reign of Hatshepsut. He is well known because he was very
much involved in the Punt expedition. Under Amenhotep III, as we have
seen, Saqqara became more popular with court elite officials, at least as
burial place for the officials who worked and lived there (this was not

88
 7. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials

always the case earlier on; there is even a ‘mayor of Memphis’ who had his
tomb at Thebes). After the Amarna period Saqqara became a very popular
burial place. Almost the whole court of Tutankhamun is buried there: the
‘general’ Haremhab, the ‘overseer of the treasury’ Maya, ‘the high steward’
Nia. Under Ramses II Saqgara is still very popular, but many high officials
built their tombs in the provinces. The tombs of the ‘vizier’ Parahotep and
his wife Huner,® and of the ‘general’ Paser were found at Sedment, the
burial of the ‘overseer of the treasury’ Suti was excavated in Middle
Egypt,° the ‘overseer of the granary’ Zaaset was laid to rest at Asyut,!
while the tomb of a ‘royal scribe of the lord of two lands’ was discovered at
El Mashayikh (near This).!! The tomb of the ‘high steward’ Nefersekheru
at Zawyet Sultan may be of slightly earlier date.'” It is often hard to say
why these officials were buried in these particular places, but the easiest
explanation seems to be that they were born there.
It is possible to follow the changes of the burial customs in the
Ramesside period better in relatively poor burials than in the looted tombs
of the elite. Many well-recorded graves of the less wealthy come from
Bubastis. Between 1968 and 1971 Ahmad E]l-Sawi excavated some 210
burials there, mainly of the New Kingdom. The most striking observation
is the total lack of everyday objects; in particular, the excavators found
almost no pottery. The absence of pottery complicates precise dating of the
tombs, but the few finds in most cases point to the Ramesside period.
Nevertheless it is hard to determine whether the few differences observed
in the burials are variations current at one and the same time or whether
they imply change over centuries.
In general there are only three types of burial goods: jewellery
(including amulets), shabtis and coffins. Most common are amulets on the
body, especially wedjat-eyes and scarabs, but also bead necklaces and
armlets. In nine burials rough clay shabtis were found. They are normally
placed inside pottery jars, positioned at the head or feet of the dead. The
crude workmanship indicates that they do not belong to very rich people.
The only other common burial good is the coffin. Most of the burials found
were put in a rough pottery coffin or in a shaft, while children were often
placed in a big jar. A pottery coffin in a pit is attested only once,'* but there
are some shafts with wooden coffins.'4 Finally, there were nine vaulted
underground chambers which the excavator described as tombs. Some
were used for several burials and may have been family tombs.
The evidence from the cemetery is that poorer people were placed in
either pottery coffins or small shafts. The protection of the body was very
important, as can be seen from the number of amulets; it is possible to
interpret the shabtis in a similar way as helping the dead in the
underworld. Anthropoid pottery coffins are typical for many not very rich
burials; high quality examples copy contemporary wooden coffins in their
decoration.!® These pottery coffins are often also called slipper coffins,
because the whole body of the coffin was formed like a tube; the body of the
dead person must have been ‘slipped’ into it through the lidded top.

89
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Burial no. 174 at Bubastis belongs to a child, placed in a jar in a

contracted position with the head to the east. The only burial good was a
vessel containing five shabtis; four were in the normal mummy shape, one
in everyday dress. The last may be some kind of overseer for the whole
group. The clay shabtis are uninscribed and rather crude.'® Burial no. 195
was placed in a pottery coffin. The body is on its back with its head to the
north. Near the left hand was a scarab with the inscription setep-en-amun,
‘chosen one of Amun’. At the foot of the coffin were two vessels; one of them
contained eleven shabtis.'”
An identical impression of burial customs after the Eighteenth Dynasty
is gained from several burials recently excavated at Saqqara. One coffin,
so decayed that it was not even possible to determine its shape, contained
two skeletons: one young person and a child. Most of the burial goods found
with them were jewellery — earrings, rings and amulets. One of the rings
bears the name of king Sety I, so the tomb cannot be earlier than his reign,
though it might be much later. There was only one bronze vessel and
fragments of one pottery jar.!® Other graves at this cemetery did not have
any burial goods at all, but their relatively elaborate coffins show that
their owners were not poor people. There are, for example, burials in a set
of two anthropoid and decorated coffins without any additional objects.
These graves are hard to date, but taking all the evidence together, they
must be later than the Eighteenth Dynasty and therefore most likely belong
to the Ramesside period.'? Better dated are some graves found at Abusir and
Saqqara, in which coffins survived, whose types are known from other places.
Several burials were placed here in oval pits or shallow holes. The coffins in
them belong to the type which shows the owner in everyday dress. While most
of these are from Thebes, many simpler versions were excavated in the
Saqqara/Memphis region. The lids of these latter coffins are often quite flat,
while the hand, legs and garment are carved into the wood. Only the head is
specially attached to the lid. The box is always undecorated; finds in these
coffins are not very common. They belong to the Ramesside Period, although
it is not really clear when the use of this type stops and there are signs that
this kind of decoration continued until the Twenty-Second Dynasty.”
The evidence from the burials of the poorer classes is not a surprise. In
the Ramesside period nearly all objects put in tombs were specially
produced for burial. The tombs of noblemen must have been relatively
richly equipped. Poorer persons were forced by lack of resources to
concentrate on a few essential items (jewellery and amulets, already used
in daily life?), the coffin and a few cheap shabtis and amulets. The very
poor were buried without any grave goods. This is a major difference from
other periods. In the Middle Kingdom most elite tombs also contained only
objects produced for burial, but at that time poorer people, who could not
afford such items, placed everyday objects in their tombs instead. This did
not happen in the Ramesside period. New religious beliefs seem to have
affected all social levels, and many parts of the country.
Although generally objects of daily use, particularly pottery, become

90
 7. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials

rare in burials of the late New Kingdom, there are still some burials which
contain them. At Amarna an undisturbed burial was found, in which the
body was placed in a nicely painted yellow coffin. At the head end were five
pots, the only burial goods. The elaborate coffin shows that the deceased
must once have belonged to a higher social class.”! At Tell el-Yahudiyeh
Francis Llewellyn Griffith excavated several burials in features he called
‘tumuli, but which may have been natural rather than man-made
mounds. Many pottery coffins and some scarabs with kings’ names of the
late New Kingdom were found. Numerous pottery vessels were placed next
to the burials, although it is not easy to establish an accurate picture from
the published excavation report.”? Both the Amarna and Tell el Yahudiyeh
finds serve as warnings. There are doubtless local developments in burial
customs around the country. At many places the use of pottery and
everyday objects in burials ceases; at other places at least pottery was still
placed in tombs.
Very little is known about the burials of the Twentieth Dynasty, though
some can be dated to that time. Our picture of tombs and burial customs
is heavily influenced by good preservation conditions at particular sites in
Upper Egypt, but these may not be typical. In Lower Egypt, in the Delta,
different tomb types were developed. At Bubastis a family tomb belonging
to the ‘viceroy of Kush’ Hori was excavated (Fig. 111). The tomb is sunk
into the ground with three vaulted chambers leading off each side of a
central corridor. Four of these six chambers contained massive, roughly
worked sarcophagi. The tomb had been looted. The few remaining burial
goods included pottery and many shabtis.
Nothing is known about the superstructure
of this tomb, but there must once have been
some kind of chapel for worshipping the
dead, since chapels seem always to have
been an important part of elite burials.”*
Two similar tombs were found at Esna, but
they were so badly looted so that it is hard
get a clear picture of them. They were built
of mud-brick, though one had a
stone-covered chamber in which parts of a \\
statue of the Hathor-cow were found. The
other Esna tomb is rather better preserved.
The superstructure is almost like a square
mastaba, with a single room in the middle.
On the north side of this room there is a
staircase leading down to five underground
chambers. The biggest contained two |
eee;
roughly carved uninscribed sarcophagi. The
name of the tomb owners therefore remains
unknown.” r i Fig. 111. Family tomb excavated
More conventional tombs of high officials at Bubastis.

91
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

of the Twentieth Dynasty are attested elsewhere. At Aniba the ‘deputy of

Wawat’ (Lower Nubia) Pennut had a rock-cut tomb decorated with sunken
relief. The tomb is datable to the reign of Ramses VI.” The tomb of the high
priest of Nekhbet at Elkab dates to Ramses III-Ramses IX;76 at Saqqara
some free standing chapels, very similar to those of the Nineteenth
Dynasty, were excavated;?’ similar chapels were found next to the
mortuary temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu.”* At Heliopolis a lintel of
the ‘high steward’ and ‘overseer of the double granary Khaemwaset was
found, dating to the reign of Ramses III, which may have come from the
funerary chapel of that official.2® There are only a few rock-cut tombs at
Thebes datable to the Twentieth Dynasty, and it is still not clear where
most of the high officials of the Twentieth Dynasty were buried.
A good example of a multiple burial complex for the less wealthy at the
end of the Twentieth and early Twenty-First Dynasty was excavated at
Saqqara, offering a perfect view of the burial customs of rather poor
inhabitants of a large city at the end of the New Kingdom. These burials
were placed in the tomb of Iurudef, a middle-ranking official under
Ramses II who has already been mentioned above. The tomb consists of a
shaft with seven chambers
over two levels, filled with
seventy-two burials; twenty-
seven are in anthropoid
coffins, ten in rough
rectangular coffins, eight
simply in palm-rib mats, and
finally there are about
nineteen burials without any
protection. The whole burial
complex was plundered, but
the robbers did not disturb it
very much, perhaps dis-
appointed by the lack of
precious objects. The single
bodies are placed almost
haphazardly in the chambers
with only a few grave goods.
Some jewellery was found with Fig. 112. (Top left) shaft tomb
the children’s bodies. There of Iurudef; (top right) plan of
are a few amulets and some the first level; (below right)
pottery. Most coffins are not three of the chambers with the
coffins found inside; (below left)
very well made, in many cases the coffin (dotted on the plan to
only the cover is decorated. the right) is very simply made
The paintings on them are, and also quite crudely painted.
with few exceptions, The inscription is in
imitation-hieroglyphs. Late
awkwardly executed. There Ramesside or early Third
are only a few inscriptions on Intermediate Period.

92
 7. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials

the coffins, mostly written in imitation hieroglyphs (illegible inscriptions

executed by people who could not write; Fig. 112). The whole impression
is that this is the burial ground of the ordinary people of Memphis. These
people put all their efforts into buying a coffin. The protection of the body
was clearly more important than burial goods and usually included some
kind of cheap mummification and, for the richer individuals, a wooden
coffin.*°
It is not possible to identify the social level to which the individuals in
this multiple burial belonged. However, some of them were laid to rest in
decorated coffins and cannot therefore be the very poorest. Multiple
burials of very low status people were found at Abusir, just north of
Saqqara. A tomb with ten bodies was excavated in the pyramid temple of
Niuserre (Fifth Dynasty). No coffins or any other protection of the bodies
were found. There are only a few finds, such as some jewellery made of
shells, a glass bead and a few amulets. Another mass burial was found not
far away in which no objects at all were discovered. Only one of the bodies
was placed on a palm mat 2.15 m long.*! This is similar to the mats
discovered in the tomb of Iurudef, so this mass grave may be more or less
contemporary, although this is far from certain.

93
 8. The Third Intermediate Period:
The Peak of Coffin Production

After the death of Ramses XI, last king of the Twentieth Dynasty and of
the New Kingdom, a new line of (most probably Libyan) kings began to
reign in Tanis: the Twenty-First Dynasty. A related military family took
power at Thebes, with its head assuming the title ‘high priest of Amun’ to
legitimate their rule; they governed almost independently in the south,
although the Tanis kings of the Twenty-First Dynasty were regarded in
official inscriptions as the true kings. After over a century of this
arrangement, a new family of Libyan descent took direct control of all of
Egypt as the Twenty-Second Dynasty, but in the middle of that dynasty
the political unity of the country disintegrated. In terms of burial customs,
the period can be divided into two phases. The Twenty-First Dynasty
seems to be very similar to the late New Kingdom. In the Twenty-Second
Dynasty new developments can be seen.

The first half of the Third Intermediate Period

Elite burial customs at the end of the New Kingdom are still obscure, since
not many tombs are preserved, whereas burials from almost all social
levels are recorded from the Twenty-First Dynasty, including some
undisturbed tombs of kings. In 1891 a tomb at Thebes, now known as Bab
el-Gusus, was discovered. This burial place is often referred to as the
‘second cache’ (the ‘first cache’ being where many of the reburials of New
Kingdom kings were found). It is a corridor about 90 m long, leading to a
second slightly shorter one. At the end of the first corridor were two
chambers. Both corridors and both chambers were full of coffins and other
funerary material; 153 burials were found. The tomb had been opened
repeatedly over a long period to insert additional coffins and related goods.
Most of the burials consist of more than one coffin; altogether, 660 single
coffin parts (e.g. lids, boxes, mummy boards) were found. Beside these
coffins were other burial goods. There are 110 shabti boxes filled with
shabtis, seventy-seven Osiris figures which mostly contained a papyrus,
one Isis figure and one Nephthys figure. Thirty-two baskets were found
containing provisions, and there was one bed and six boxes. More than a
hundred funerary papyri were found, many placed in the Osiris figures,
others found in the wrappings of the mummies. A typical burial contained
two papyri, one a ‘Book of the Dead’ and one a text known as ‘Amduat’.!
Not all the mummies have yet been unwrapped, so the exact number of

94
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Production

papyri placed in this tomb is not yet known. There are

surprisingly few canopic jars (only sixteen), some vessels
and eight wooden stelae. An average set of equipment in
this mass burial therefore consists of a set of two coffins,
a mummy board, a shabti box containing shabtis, a
papyrus placed in the wrappings of the mummy and an
Osiris figure with a papyrus in it. The people buried here
belonged to a high social level, though not to the highest.
Most of them are members of the Amun temple, with
administrative and religious titles, precisely datable,
because the mummies often had leather braces bearing
the name of the king under whom the person was buried.
The Osiris figures are typical of Theban burials of this
period. Only a couple of examples survive from the
Ramesside period, in which a wooden Osiris figure was
hollowed out and used to contain a papyrus. This became
standard practice in the Twenty-First Dynasty, while in
the mid-Twenty-Second Dynasty funerary papyri and
Osiris figures disappeared from elite tombs (see Fig.
113). The Osiris figures should not be confused with the
similar statues showing the composite funerary god
Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. The latter, which were not used as
papyrus containers, are found in elite burials from the
eighth century BC to Ptolemaic times.? Fig. 113. The
A coffin set of the Twenty-First Dynasty usually Osiris figure of
consists of a pair of coffins with a mummy board; in 7@nctamun.
poorer burials a single coffin is common. They belong to the ‘yellow coffin’
type (Fig. 114), in which several scenes in small vignettes were painted in
bright colours on a yellow ground. This type was developed in the
Eighteenth Dynasty, but at that time the vignettes were quite large and
often only single figures or simple groups of figures were shown. In the
Twenty-First Dynasty the painted scenes become smaller and more
complex. It has been suggested that these vignettes and scenes replace
paintings in tomb chapels, for there are almost no decorated chapels
datable to the Twenty-First Dynasty. The coffins of the Twenty-First
Dynasty are certainly among the most beautiful ever produced in Egypt.
The same holds true for the funerary manuscripts placed next to many of
these coffins. The ‘Book of the Dead’ and the ‘Amduat’ are the standard
compositions, but there are also series of illustrations of religious motifs,
such as the scene of Nut over Geb (these series are often called
‘mythological papyri). Shabtis, with increasing numbers in each set, are
also very common, but their quality is often rather low, even for people of
high status. They are generally made in blue faience, with inscription
giving the title and name of the deceased; the shabti spell appears on only
a small proportion of them.
As stated above, the people buried in the ‘second cache’ do not belong to

95
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

nN the highest social level. The

‘O} pace, ruling family is buried in

another cache — known as
the first or royal cache —
which also contained many
burials. At the end of the
Twentieth Dynasty the
Egyptian state became
relatively poor through the
loss of foreign territories
and civil war, and the
highest officials started to
authorise the opening of the
New Kingdom royal tombs.
The Valley of the Kings thus
began to be mined for its
treasures systematically
and under state control.?
The amazing wealth found
in the tombs was used by
the state, some of it going to
the new royal burials in
Tanis, while the royal
mummies were reburied
elsewhere, sometimes
several times. Eventually
most found their final
resting place (at least for
3,000 years) in a tomb at
Deir el-Bahari.* Not only
kings were buried here, but
also many high priests of
Amun and some members of
their families. The burial
Fig. 114. Coffin of the Twenty-First Dynasty. equipment is similar to that
in the ‘second cache’: two
coffins, a mummy board, shabtis and shabti boxes, funerary papyri and
stelae. The superb quality coffins, often gilded, demonstrate the high
status of the dead. Other funerary goods such as metal vases are
exceptional. Two wooden boards belonging to a certain Neskhons, wife of
the high priest of Amun Pinodjem II, are also of special interest. They
contain a decree by the god Amun stating that the shabtis were paid for
and will only work for the owner of these boards.
Not everyone was buried in such mass burials. Tomb no. 60 at Deir
el-Bahari is a rather small rock-cut chamber, 3 x 4 m. Originally three
female members of the family of the high priest Menkheperre were laid to

96
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Production

rest here: Henettawy, daughter of the high priest Pinodjem I and sister of
Menkheperre; Djedmutesankh, who may have been the wife or daughter
of the latter; and finally a second Henettawy, daughter or granddaughter
of Menkheperre. The whole burial was found robbed, although some
objects were still in place. The mummy of the latter Henettawy had been
stuffed with sawdust to fill it out and glass inlays had been placed in the
eyeholes. Seven canopic packages were found inside the body, four with a
wax figure of one of the children of Horus. This was the usual way organs
were treated in the Third Intermediate Period —i.e. being returned to the
body after mummification; as a result, canopic jars became less common,
though they are still attested for people of very high status. A pectoral had
once been placed over the chest and several amulets (djed-pillars,
wedjat-eyes, a scarab) were found in the neck area. Between the thighs
was a papyrus scroll with the text of the ‘Amduat’ and inside a crude Osiris
figure a “Book of the Dead’ was found.®
Many bodies in mass burials ascribed to the end of the New Kingdom
may in fact belong to the Third Intermediate Period. The burial customs
of poorer people did not change very much. Others are buried in simple
decorated coffins placed as isolated graves in the desert sand. These
burials are often very hard to date. The wooden coffins are normally much
decayed and of low quality. The only funerary goods are amulets (which
are common in child burials, but do not appear very often with adults) and
there is no pottery (see Fig. 115). Burials of this type seem to be common
up to Roman times.
The burial customs at Tanis, where the kings of the Twenty-First
Dynasty were interred, are slightly different. The funerary complexes of

Fig. 115. Burial of a

twelve- to thirteen-
year-old boy ina
coffin, found at
Saqqara. His body
was wrapped in a
linen shroud and
protected by a bundle
of reeds. On the feet
was a basket
containing pieces of
amber or resin, of
unknown function. At
the neck and around
the wrist were
amulets. The burial is
datable by the coffin
type to the end of the
Twenty-First or
beginning of the
Twenty-Second
Dynasty.

Si
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

the kings, their families and some high officials have been excavated
inside the Amun temple complex there. Only the underground chambers
of these tombs were found; nothing of the overground chapels survived.
Through the protection of the temple complex, many of these tombs were
found undisturbed.® There are single small chambers, one for each person
buried, with contemporary coffins and re-used Old, Middle or New
Kingdom sarcophagi. Each person had a set of at least one sarcophagus
and several coffins, although because of the dampness of the ground in
Tanis only metal parts of the coffins survived. The mummy itself was
covered either with a mummy board or with a mask, and richly adorned
with jewellery and amulets. Other funerary goods, placed outside the
coffin, included shabtis and canopic jars and chests. Many gold vessels
were found in the burials. No other objects survive. As with the royal cache
at Thebes, high officials were buried in the same tomb complex next to the
king.
The burial of the ‘high steward of Khonsw’ and ‘overseer of troops’
Wendjebaendjed (a man of about fifty years of age) may be given as an
example. It was found inside the burial complex of king Psusennes in a
separate chamber. Wendjebaendjed must have been a close friend or
relative of Psusennes, since several objects in his burial have a dedication
inscription naming the king and in the sarcophagus of the king himself a
short sword bearing Wendjebaendjed’s name was found. His small burial
chamber was decorated with several scenes from the ‘Book of the Dead’. It
was virtually filled by a huge red granite sarcophagus, which was
inscribed with the titles and name of an official of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
On the north side of the chamber four human-headed canopic jars were

cS
Oo & @& &

Fig. 116. Wendjebaendjed’s sarcophagus and

four canopic jars.
rf
Fig. 117. Beard and

fie
amulets from
Wendjebaendjed’s
sarcophagus.

Fig. 119. From the

third, innermost coffin
only some silver
Fig. 118. Amulets from fragments, the beard of
Wendjebaendjed’s gilt the coffin, and amulets
coffin. once placed in the
hands on the lid

98
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Production

Fig. 120. The gold face of the Fig. 121. Golden covers for fingers and toes of
mummy mask found over Wendjebaendjed’s mummy.
Wendjebaendjed’s head.

Fig. 123. Several small golden statuettes of gods and

goddesses were found in Wendjebaendjed’s tomb.

99
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Sooo OY . :
Sanaem® : :

esWao
srl tesexe [>

‘s RS

Fig. 125. Few objects in Wendjebaendjed’s tomb could be called objects of daily use, but
these four golden bowls belong to this category.

100
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Production

found; they may have been re-used, though their inscriptions refer to the
‘general’.
The sarcophagus had been plastered, gilded, and then reinscribed for
Wendjebaendjed; the face was adorned with a beard, and two amulets for
the hands were attached. Inside the sarcophagus was a gilded coffin, of
which there survived only fragments of the thin gilding and the amulets
the mummy held in its hands. Inside the gilded coffin a coffin made of
silver was found, not in very good condition, with only the beard and the
amulets intact. The few preserved fragments show that the coffin was
decorated with vignettes and inscriptions. Its decoration must have been
quite similar to that of the ‘yellow coffins’ from Thebes. The mummy itself was
covered with beads, so far the earliest attested bead net cover, later to become
very popular. Fingers and toes were adorned with gold covers. On the head
was placed a mummy mask, of which only the golden face has survived.
The whole mummy was covered with an array of jewellery. Special
mention should be made of a set of small gold figures, including a
Sakhmet, an Isis figure, and a Ptah figure in a shrine. Inside the inner
coffin were also found some weapons and a set of four silver and gold
vessels, which were presented by the king to Wendjebaendjed.’ These
objects — including maybe some of the jewellery — are the only items in the
tomb which seem not to have been produced specifically for the burial,
although a ritual function cannot be excluded for the metal vessels and
weapons. All the other objects were specially made or reworked for the
burial of the ‘general’. As a result of the bad preservation conditions at
Tanis no organic material has survived. We do not know if there was a
‘Book of the Dead’ placed next to the mummy, which was normal in the
contemporary Theban tombs. Other objects, such as shabti boxes, would
also have been utterly destroyed by the ground water.

The second half of the Third Intermediate Period

The second half of the Third Intermediate Period saw a drastic change in
burial customs. In the Twenty-Second Dynasty many items typical of the
Ramesside Period and the Twenty-First Dynasty disappeared (shabtis,
the ‘Book of the Dead’). At the same time a new type of mummy cover was
introduced. Mummy masks and mummy boards were replaced by mummy
cases made in cartonnage, which covered the whole body. Cartonnage was
a cheap material produced from layers of gummed linen and plaster; in
Ptolemaic times scrap paper — old papyrus — was used. The linen version
appears first for mummy masks and other smaller funerary objects in the
First Intermediate Period, but in the Twenty-Second Dynasty examples
the whole body was enveloped from head to foot. They were brightly
painted and used throughout the country; traces have been found at Tanis
and complete examples at many other places.* They were always used in
connection with a coffin or within a set of coffins.
The yellow coffins disappeared and were replaced by other coffin types,

101
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

while the outer coffin was now often rather simple, with almost no
decoration and only one line of inscription. Funerary papyri, so popular in
elite burials of the Twenty-First Dynasty, started to fall out of use. The few
‘Book of the Dead’ scrolls datable to the Twenty-Second Dynasty belong to
its first century. Other funerary objects also fell out of use or at least
became less common, notably shabtis and shabti boxes. The few examples
datable to this time are rather crude. Canopic jars were no longer in
general use by the Twenty-First Dynasty, and they were now sometimes
replaced by a set of dummy jars: models of canopic jars that are not even
hollow. Tomb chapels are very rarely attested for the Twenty-First
Dynasty, but there is plenty of evidence for them in the second part of the
Third Intermediate Period. At Thebes many mud-brick chapels were
erected on the west bank. These chapels filled the space between already
existing funerary temples of kings and were also built into them. The best
preserved examples were found in the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple
of Ramses II in Thebes. Similar chapels have been excavated at Abydos.’
Although multiple burials are common for all social strata, there are
still many tombs for single persons. In the area near temple of Ptah in
Memphis several Twenty-Second Dynasty graves of the ruling elite of this
town were excavated.!° The tombs were built as underground limestone
chambers. It is not known if any of them had an overground chapel. At
least one of the burial chambers was decorated in sunken relief with scenes
and chapters from the ‘Book of the Dead’. This is the tomb of Sheshongq,
the high priest of Ptah and son of king Osorkon II, and it was found intact.
The body of Sheshong was placed under a huge stela of the Eighteenth
Dynasty, which must have been used as some kind of coffin lid. Nothing
has survived of its coffin box, which may have been made of wood and
therefore totally destroyed by damp. From the short excavation report it
is hard to obtain a clear picture of the arrangement of the objects in the
single tomb chamber. The publication gives a list of finds, but does not
describe their position within the tomb. There are four canopic jars and
about two hundred shabtis, many displaying high quality workmanship
(Fig. 128). In the Twenty-Second Dynasty canopic jars and shabtis are no
longer common burial goods, and found mainly only in the tombs of
persons of the highest rank. A small stela showing Horus and Bes is of
special interest, being the earliest known example of a type called the
‘Horus stela’. These later became very popular as everyday amulets, but
they are not typical grave
goods. The mummy was
richly adorned with gold.
Fingers and toes had
specially made gold covers,
as did the sidelock — a typical
attribute of the high priest of
Ptah — and the penis (Fig. Fig. 126. Gold penis cover and side-lock
126). There are many _ cover from Sheshonq’s mummy.

102
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Production

amulets of Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and

Taweret; sixteen gold wedjat-eyes and
sixteen wedjat-eyes made of lapis lazuli
and agate. Two Hathor heads, one in
gold, one in lapis lazuli, and a heart
scarab were found on the remains of
mummy (Fig. 127).!' No pottery is
published from the tomb. The burial is
first and foremost remarkable for the
quantity of amulets found in it. A large
number of amulets had previously been a
mark of kingship. Here they appear on
the same scale in the tomb of a person
other than the king. Fig. 127. Hathor face made of lapis
lazuli and gold, found on Sheshonq’s
Tombs had been re-used since earliest mummy. Its function is unknown.
times. Already in the Old Kingdom there
were many mastabas re-used by later burials eral changed part of the
decoration and placed the name of the new body there. Especially in
densely occupied cemeteries, it must often have happened been the case
that older tombs were found by accident when a
new shaft was dug. At Thebes there is clear
evidence that many Middle Kingdom tombs
were occupied again in the early Eighteenth
Dynasty. From the Third Intermediate Period to
the Ptolemaic period there seems to have been a
general tendency to use older shafts or to carve
new shafts in already existing burial complexes;
most of the New Kingdom burial chambers in the
rock-cut tombs at Thebes were now used for
secondary burials. The individuals buried there
sometimes have high positions and are known
from monuments at other places, indicating that
this was not only a practice of lower status
people.!? Although decorated tomb chapels are
well attested for this period, there are not many
cases where the older tomb decoration was
changed. The re-use of shafts was obviously
enough for these high-status people. The
funerary rites and the cult of the dead may have
been performed at a different place.
In the Twenty-Second Dynasty people started
to bury their dead in the storerooms of the
Ramesseum, as part of a huge Third
Intermediate Period cemetery that sprang up at
Thebes. Some of the burials were accompanied
Fig. 128. One of the shabtis
from Sheshonq’s tomb. by small decorated chapels, paved with painted

103
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

limestone slabs showing scenes of the tomb owner adoring gods. Burials
were placed in shafts all over the area. One intact example is that of the
‘god’s father’ and ‘door opener at Karnak’ Nakhtefmut. A shaft led to two
disturbed burial chambers, one of which was connected to a deeper shaft.
At the bottom of this, two coffins were found, both oriented with the head
to the north. On the west side of the east coffin four figures of the children
of Horus were found. On the north side stood an uninscribed wooden stela
(compare Fig. 129). The east coffin was quite rough and contained a second
coffin and then the mummy.
The west coffin belonged to Nakhtefmut; two wooden boxes containing
shabtis were found next to it. The outer coffin had a jackal on the lid, while
inside was a second coffin with a wooden hawk placed on it. Finally there
was a third coffin covered with flowers in which the mummy, placed in a
cartonnage case, was found. The cartonnage with its gilded face is brightly
painted with different scenes showing gods and symbols (Fig. 1380).
Between the mummy and the cartonnage was a leather brace bearing the
name of king Osorkon I, providing an exact date for the burial (Fig. 131).
Next to the mummy there was a “Book of the Dead’ and around the neck a
necklace consisting of various amulets. On the chest lay a scarab with

Fig. 129. Painted wooden stela of Pafdiu. Similar stelae have been
found in many burials of the Third Intermediate Period in Thebes.

104
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Product
ion

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Hi oO slag i Ly 3

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BMD
7
ES
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Fig. 130. Cartonnage of Nakhtefmut, Twenty-Second Dynasty.

silver wings and below it the uninscribed heart scarab. The title ‘god’s
father’ and ‘door opener at Karnak’ point to Nakhtefmut’s having held a
middle position in the administration of the Amun temple at Thebes. His
burial is quite rich, if one considers the gilded face of the cartonnage and
the high quality of its workmanship; it did not contain any canopic Jars,
but there is still a funerary papyrus. The burial therefore belongs to a

105
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

transitional phase: the tomb equipment is a

mixture of new (cartonnage) with older items
(leather braces, funerary papyrus, shabtis).’°
Another intact tomb also dating to the reign of
king Osorkon I was excavated in 1901 in the Valley
of the Kings at Thebes and provides a second
example of an elite burial, although the buried
persons seem to be less wealthy than Nakhtefmut.
At the bottom of a small shaft a sealed chamber was
found containing three coffins covered with a mass
of flowers. Two of the coffins were painted black,
with inscriptions executed in yellow. A third coffin
was rough, to use the excavator’s description, but
contained a beautiful cartonnage case showing the
dead in everyday dress. Coffins showing the dead in
everyday dress are well known from the late
Eighteenth Dynasty, and still sporadically attested
in the Twenty-First Dynasty. This cartonnage case
is a good example of how the decoration of a coffin
might be applied to new material. All three
mummies were carefully wrapped in linen, but only
the last one had leather braces with the name of
Fig. 131. Leather brace king Osorkon I placed on the mummy itself. There
found on Nakhtefmut’s —_are no other burial goods: no shabtis, no canopic
nee ange ot jars and no amulets. The titles of the dead give an
in whose reign "idea of their social status. In one coffin was the
Nakhtefmut was buried. ‘singer’ Iufaa, the second contained the ‘chantress
of Amun’ Karmama, and the woman with the
beautiful cartonnage was the ‘mistress of the house’ Tjenetqeru-sherit.'*
These titles may well indicate some middle-ranking status in the temple
administration. All three may have been relatives, but any relationship
between them is not stated. The high quality of the cartonnage points to
the wealth of the lady buried there. The absence of other burial goods, such
as shabtis, could simply reflect the burial customs of the day, but might
also be explained as a sign of poverty or lack of resources.
A burial which dates a little later and may belong to people of a similar
or slightly lower status was excavated in Deir el-Bahari, Thebes. An open
court gave access to two tomb chambers. One was very small and contained
only a set of two coffins for a certain Padiamun. The other chamber was
relatively large and contained eight coffins, of which the most elaborate
belonged to a woman called Irtu, daughter of Amenhotepeniuf and of the
‘lady of the house’ Nanun. She was placed in a single coffin which was
painted with different scenes on the outside and a large Nut figure on the
inside. The mummy was wrapped in linen and at the head there was a
garland of leaves, adorned with flowers. Inside the wrappings were found
five wax figures: the four children of Horus and a benu-bird (Fig. 132).

106
 8. The Third Intermediate Period: The Peak of Coffin Production

All the other coffins in this burial were relatively

simple. They were painted black with yellow A>
inscriptions and yellow painted decoration. The
mummies were wrapped rather carelessly in linen.
The only object, apart from the many flowers laid on
the coffins, was a scarab found next to the elbow of one
mummy. There are no other burial goods, no shabtis,
canopic jars or ‘Books of the Dead’. The social status
of these people is not known. Irtu’s coffin is quite well Fig. 132. Wax figures
made and inscribed, indicating that she belonged to found on Irtu’s
the literate elite, and as we have seen her mother was U7
described as ‘lady of the house’. The other persons seem to be of lower rank,
and it is only possible to guess who was buried here. Considering their
status, it seems more likely that these are members of her household
(servants) rather than of her family.
Cemeteries excavated around Matmar and Qau-Mostagedda contained
many burials most likely of farmers or at least of not very wealthy people
from the countryside or a provincial town (see Figs 133-135). Luckily most
of them were found undisturbed. The exact date of a single burial is often
hard to determine, since few datable objects were placed in them. Most
graves are single burials in shallow shafts without further chambers. The
dead are laid on their back, head to the west, in anthropoid coffins with
only a few grave goods: pottery and calcite vessels are rarely attested, more
common are bead necklaces or strings of cowries, finger-rings, scarabs and
amulets which were often found in child burials. It is therefore no surprise
that Bes-figures are particularly common (Bes was the god who offered
protection in childbirth). There are some graves without coffins and

Fig. 133. Qau-Badari tomb 1531: burial of a man without a coffin in a shallow shaft. The
only burial good is a dwarf figure; the exact findspot of the figure within the tomb is not
recorded.

107
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

without jewellery. Bad pre-

servation often makes it
impossible to determine
whether the bodies were
mummified, although the
presence of linen is well
attested in many tombs. Some
people may have been buried in
their everyday costume plus a
few personal adornments. The
Fig. 134. Matmar tomb 1225: burial of a man in coffins are the only specifically
an anthropoid coffin placed in a shallow shaft. funerary objects, but again it is
The only other grave good is a scarab mounted on not possible to assess the
a bronze ring.
quality of their workmanship
from the surviving record. There are no shabtis or canopic jars in these
graves. In general the burial customs here are similar to those of the late
New Kingdom. Multiple burials are not common, in contrast to Thebes and
Saqqara.'®

OS 0@
Fig. 135. Objects from Matmar tomb 726 (not to scale): burial of a
woman in an anthropoid coffin — one of the better equipped burials.
The scarabs were found at the hands, the vessels (only fragments)
under the head. Cowries (not pictured) were the other items of
jewellery found; they appear frequently in burials of the Third
Intermediate Period.

108
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

The fragmented political history of the last century of the Twenty-Second

Dynasty is still a mystery, but in the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Egypt was
conquered by the kings of Napata (in modern Sudan). The exact nature of
their rule over Egypt is still under discussion, but it brings an increase in
building activity and wealth, interrupted by the Assyrian invasions of
Egypt. Psamtek I, originally governor for the Assyrians, gradually
achieved independence as first ruler of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. With
this dynasty a strong line of kings again ruled over the whole of Egypt, and
this is generally considered the start of the Late Period. The new stability
had a very positive effect on the prosperity of the country. There is almost
no other period with such a quantity of high quality large-scale royal and
private monuments, though the bulk of them were Lower Egypt, where
most have disappeared. In many parts of the country vast private tombs
were built, but most of the finest sculptures and reliefs come from the
north. The capital of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty was Sais in the Delta, but
the city and its cemeteries had been entirely quarried away by medieval
times. Other major cities include Memphis and Heliopolis, and important
tombs are known from both. Thebes lost its influential position, although
there are also some impressive monuments of this period there. The
Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth Dynasties were a time of revival.
Especially in the arts, older periods often inspired the producers of new
monuments.

The late Third Intermediate Period

Before discussing burials and tombs of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, some
graves of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty will be described. They all belong to a
transitional phase between customs of the Third Intermediate and Late
Period. In Thebes, at Abd el Gurna, a group of chapels was excavated, part
of a huge Third Intermediate and Late Period cemetery stretching from
Deir el-Bahari down to Medinet Habu. These are temple-like mud-brick
structures with a pylon (a gateway with two tower-like structures) and
three sanctuaries at the back. Burial shafts were found leading from the
chapels, and an undisturbed tomb was found in one of these. Of the chapel
itself not much has survived, but the few remains show that it once must
have had three sanctuaries at the back (Fig. 136). The burials of two men,
Meh-amun-peref and his son Peteramun, both titled ‘servant of Amun’,
were found in the shaft, which leads from the middle of these sanctuaries
at the back of the chapel down to a small burial chamber. The outer coffin

109
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

of Meh-amun-peref was box-shaped with a

vaulted lid and four corner posts (compare
Fig. 140). Inside were found two
anthropoid coffins, both sadly very much
decayed when excavated. His son
Peteramun was placed in only one
anthropoid coffin, which was wrapped in a
mat. His mummy was decorated with a
bead net. On the chest was a big faience
scarab with wings, under which were
0 40m visible the four children of Horus, made in
beads. Between the legs of the deceased
was placed a part of the body, maybe the
Fig. 136. Burial chamber (dotted) of ' liver. At the head of the coffin was a box
Meh-amun-peref inside the chapel. with the picture of a ship on the lid. Inside
The mud-brick built
partly preserved.
chapelisonly —_th hox was another mummified part of a
human body. Apart from one box and the
coffins nothing was found in the burial chamber, not even a shabti. The
box with the organ cannot be called a canopic box; one gets the impression
that for some reason there was no space left in the mummy to replace the
organ and that it was therefore placed in a box which happened to be
available.!
At Tarkhan several shaft tombs were found, probably dating from the
end of the Third Intermediate Period to the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. Most
often these consisted of two or more chambers at the bottom of small
shafts. These chambers, in general quite small, yielded a large number of
painted wooden anthropoid coffins, each enclosed in a box coffin with
vaulted lid and corner posts. Most of the coffins did not have inscriptions,
and the only other finds are Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures which are in most
cases rather crudely sculpted.
Pottery was not very common in
these tombs and the few examples
seem to contain embalming
material. One tomb of this
category was found well preserved
(Fig. 137). It contained, in three
chambers, several box coffins with
anthropoid coffins inside. Some of
the coffins are inscribed, giving
the name of the owners. The
people buried in this tomb belong
to a local elite, although no titles
are recorded. The few funerary
goods include some pottery and 0 3m
several Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures SS ee
(Fig. 138). There are also some _ Fig. 137. A shaft tomb found at Tarkhan.

110
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

deep shaft tombs at

Tarkan. The chambers of
these were filled with
mummies but without
coffins. Uninscribed
shabtis were found in
only two of these tombs.?
In the Third Inter-
mediate Period there is
evidence that people
again began to place
some everyday objects in
their tombs. Weapons
and golden vessels found
in the Twenty-First
Dynasty tomb of
Wendjebaendjed have Fig. 138. The coffin of Merneith, found in a box
already been mentioned coffin (dotted on the plan in Fig. 137), and two
in Chapter 8, but the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures found in the same tomb. The
most important recorded original findspots of these figures inside the chambers
: ; are not recorded in the publication.
example is the burial of
the lady Tadja in the cemetery of Abusir el-Meleq, most likely dating to
the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty. The burial was placed in a small chamber at
the end of a shaft about three metres deep. Within lay the body of a young
girl in an outer rectangular and an inner anthropoid coffin. Around the
coffin were found numerous objects: a faience box, a faience vessel
imitating a basket, twenty-nine faience rings, a vessel in the shape of a
duck, two head-rests and a set of musical instruments. Finally there were
two statues, one of a naked woman and one of a man. Inside the coffin was
a second small statue of a naked woman. Some of these finds raise special
questions. One might speculate that Tadja was a particular lover of music
because of the set of musical instruments. However, other burials show
that it was not uncommon to place musical instruments in a tomb. Of the
three small statues in the burial, two are of a nude woman. One of them
might represent Tadja at an age she never reached, embodying the wish
that she might become an adult woman in her next life. A similar
explanation might be given for the statuette of a man placed in the tomb,
who might represent her husband in the next world.’ Finally the third
statue may represent the child that she might bear in the afterlife. More
or less contemporary tombs excavated at Lahun present similar burial
customs. There are few undisturbed tombs from the cemetery, but the
surviving burial goods include many amulets and, more importantly, there
are pottery and calcite vessels. In one tomb two iron spear-heads were
found (Fig. 139). The calcite vessels may be part of women’s cosmetic
equipment, while the spear-heads belong to burials of men. Maybe they
are some kind of status symbols or personal items, worn in daily life by

tii
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

these people and placed into

their burials to keep their
identity as man or woman, or
placed there by family
members. These finds appear
occasionally, they are not very
common. The tombs excavated
at Lahun belong most likely to
ae people of average status. The
Fig. 139. Iron spear-head and few coffins found are simple,
calcite vessels from two tombs at and there are no shabtis or
Lahun, Third Intermediate Period. canopic jars.*

The Twenty-Sixth Dynasty

Funerary customs of the elite in the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty sometimes
followed older models. Canopic jars and shabtis, rare in the second part of
the Third Intermediate Period, became popular again. A set of around four
hundred shabtis (one shabti for each day of the year and one to control each
group of ten) is standard for elite burials. The ‘Book of the Dead’ was also
reintroduced; only a few examples of papyri are known from this period,
but the formulae are common on coffins.> A painted wooden figure of the
composite funerary god Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, quite frequently found in the
Third Intermediate Period, is now common. The normal container for the
mummy of a high official is a heavy anthropoid sarcophagus, often
inscribed with pyramid texts, ‘Book of the Dead’ chapters and other
funerary texts.®° The early examples are quite similar to sarcophagi of the
New Kingdom.’ The later ones became very broad, with a
disproportionately big head. The largest sarcophagi are those found in the
Saqqara shaft tombs, where they occupy almost the whole tomb chamber.
They have a rectangular outline, with an interior anthropoid hollow to
receive an inner sarcophagus. Inside the inner sarcophagus was a wooden
coffin containing the mummy. The mummy was covered with a bead net
incorporating many amulets, and the face had a gilt mummy mask.
Mummy masks are often found only in these court elite tombs. By the end
of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty cartonnage fell out of use, and was replaced
by a wooden inner coffin. Elite coffins of the Twenty-Fifth and
Twenty-Sixth Dynasties are decorated all over with religious texts and
scenes.
Burials of people of slightly lower status (but still belonging to the elite)
are of course simpler. In the Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth Dynasties
box coffins were used as outer container. They have a distinctive
appearance with a high vaulted lid and four corner posts (Fig. 140), and
are probably representations of the burial-place of the underworld god
Osiris. Not surprisingly, therefore, figures of the mourning Isis (sister and
wife of Osiris) and of Nephthys (sister of Osiris) were often arranged

112
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

=
eli
pasEAN
TSR

SPR
eS
FE
CIES
Ste

bel
SRNR
fice e
IT
AH
Ke
EK
aN
25,
OS
DD.
SICH
29K
5h
We

Fig. 140. Box and anthropoid coffin of Pestjenef,

approximately Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, probably from
Thebes. The vaulted box coffin is an elaborate example of a e™=
tS
SACI"
Sh
type very common from about 750 BC.

around them. Similar wooden figures are occasionally known from burials
dating from the Ramesside period® up to the Ptolemaic period. Before that
time images of these goddesses were often painted on the coffins. The inner
coffins —if not replaced by a cartonnage mummy case — were elaborately
decorated with figures of gods and sometimes relatively long religious
texts (Fig. 140). A typical feature of Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth
Dynasty coffin inscriptions is an extended genealogy of the deceased. The
family relations of the elite of this time are therefore well-known. A
wooden anthropoid (inner) coffin is common. The mummy within was
covered with a bead net and several amulets. Shabtis appear in the same
high number as in elite burials, but they are often very crudely molded in
faience and uninscribed. A Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure is common.
Very few tombs of middle-ranking officials were found undisturbed, and
fewer still have been published. Burials of high officials are most often
single burials. Less well-to-do people were often placed together in small
burial chambers, although single graves in the sand or in shaft tombs are
also common. There are not many grave goods found with these burials,
normally just a rough coffin and few amulets. In some cases a huge pottery
vessel which contained embalming material was placed next to the burial.
In general the burials of the poor in the Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth
Dynasties were not very different to those of the Third Intermediate
Period or the Thirtieth Dynasty. Therefore they will not be described in
detail.
The kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty were buried in Sais. Little is
known about their tombs, but the Greek historian Herodotus saw them

113
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

when he visited Egypt in the

fifth century BC. They must
have been similar to the
royal tombs at Tanis, since
Herodotus describes them as
lying in the temple enclosure
of Neit, the main deity of
Sais.
The tombs of high officials
of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty
0 50m are of various types. In
NT Saqqara huge shaft tombs, to
be described later, are
Fig. 141. The ‘burial palace’ of Padihorresnet at common in this period. Shaft
Thebes. Similar and even larger funerary :
complexes were built at Thebes in the Twenty-Fifth tombs of this date have also
and Twenty-Sixth Dynasties. been excavated at Heliopolis,
where the usual type consists
of a rather small shaft leading to a decorated tomb chamber. Other tombs
at Heliopolis have massively wide but not very deep shafts and contain big
sarcophagi.? Rock-cut tombs have been discovered at Saqqara, an
outstanding example being that of the vizier Bakenrenef. A similar tomb
is known from Gizeh.'° In Saqqara there is also a temple-tomb attested, of
a type very similar to the New Kingdom structures at the same place."
Finally, there are some huge rock-cut tombs at Thebes, of a type and scale
not known from earlier periods, with numerous decorated chambers cut
into the ground (Fig. 141). Most of these tombs have been looted, but a
number of shaft tombs from Saqqara and Abusir were found intact, giving
a good impression of the burial customs of the highest officials at these
places.
The main feature of the shaft tomb type in Saqqara are the huge burial
shafts, up to 30 m deep and measuring as much as 8 x 10 m. At the bottom
is a limestone built burial chamber. Within this was placed a huge set of
sarcophagi: a rectangular outer and anthropoid inner sarcophagus. The
burial chamber, its floor often completely occupied by the sarcophagi, was
in many cases decorated with religious compositions such as ‘pyramid
texts’.
The types of objects found in such tombs are still quite limited. They are
all connected with the protection of the dead:'2

1. Four canopic jars often placed in niches on either side of the

sarcophagus.
Shabtis made of faience or other materials.
Staves and sceptres.
Jewellery and amulets, such as wedjat-eye, ankh-sign and djed-pillar.
oS In some tombs a set of tools for the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony
were found.

114
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

6. Wooden images of Osiris, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris and other deities.

7. Four ‘magical bricks’, which were placed in small niches at the four
sides of the burial chamber.

The tomb of the ‘overseer of the treasury of the residence, overseer of the
royal ships’ Hikaemsaf was found at Saqqara, close to the pyramid of Unas
(Fig. 142). His huge tomb is a typical example of the burial of a high court
official in the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. At the bottom of a large shaft the
vaulted burial chamber was cut. The shaft was filled after the burial with
loose desert sand. Any potential tomb robber would therefore be forced to
empty it in order to reach the burial chamber. Next to this huge shaft was
a second smaller one, evidently used for bringing the burial goods and the
mummy into the tomb. The walls of the burial chamber were covered with
funerary inscriptions, mainly pyramid texts. These may not have been
directly copied from a single Old Kingdom pyramid burial chamber, but
the idea was evidently taken from there. The chamber was almost filled
by the massive limestone sarcophagus. At the west end of it were the
canopic jars. Inside the outer sarcophagus an inner granite one was found,
and inside that a badly decayed wooden coffin. Hikaemsafs mummy was
protected by numerous amulets, many in gold. Over the face was a gilt
mummy mask, there was a bead necklace, while the whole body was
covered with a bead net.'*
The tomb of Tjanehebu is similar to that of Hikaemsaf (Fig. 142). The
burial chamber at the bottom of the deep shaft housed the massive
limestone sarcophagus; both chamber and sarcophagus were inscribed
with religious texts. The mummy in the sarcophagus was adorned with a
gilt mask and covered with a bead net (Fig. 148) incorporating gold
figures of the four children of Horus, images of Isis, Nephthys, Nut, and
inscribed gold plates. Around —

the neck was a broad collar

incorporating a number of |
amulets. Most of these gold ea
amulets are rather convent-
ional, including ba-birds,
djed-pillars and wedjat-eyes.
Others are so far without aoe y |
known parallel: a palm-tree, i; r i
two baboons adoring an [=
atef-crown, and two baboons
0 10m oO = Oo 3
adoring a djed-pillar with an
atef-crown (Fig. 146). Most of 5, 149. (Right) tomb of Hikaemsaf. At the
the remaining finds in the bottom ofa huge shaft is the burial chamber
burial chamber are typical of (dotted) with the etcaexon st aed eaiior
< 1 4

the period. here ane ia Cae ae eh niles in layout

shabtis, the four magical and size to that of Hikaemsaf. The burial chamber
bricks and the four canopic was found intact.

115
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 143. Bead-net found Fig. 144. Wooden model of

on the mummy of the Anubis symbol
Tjanehebu including a imy-wet’ (about 37 cm
broad collar, a mummy high). A similar object is
mask, and gold plaques known from a Twelfth
of Nut, Nephthys, Isis Dynasty burial at Lisht,
and the four children of and another from the tomb
Horus. of Tutankhamun.

Fig. 145. Two wooden

staves (left) from a varied
set; a wooden model of a
cattle leg and a wooden
model of a vessel. Similar
staves are also known from
tombs of the late Middle
Fig. 146. Two monkeys Kingdom. The model cattle
worshipping a crowned leg and vessel, of which the
djed-pillar. Gold and tomb contained several
lapis lazuli, found as examples, are known from
part of the broad other places but mainly
necklace. made in faience.

jars. A set of wooden objects is more surprising, and consists of some staves
(Fig. 145), two flails, two was-sceptres, model boats, a bow with arrows in
a quiver and two of the objects known as ‘imy-wet’, symbols of Anubis (Fig.
144). The whole group is strongly reminiscent of similar wooden objects
found in Middle Kingdom tombs. One gets the impression that Tjanehebu
copied a Middle Kingdom burial, at least in part."
Each of the tombs discussed was built for one person, although many,
especially the Theban ‘burial palaces’, were used in later times for large
groups of bodies. There are many tombs known from Saqqara and other
places, which are simpler than the huge tombs of the court officials, but
contain broadly similar objects to those already described. At Saqqara,

116
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

shaft tombs with one to five small burial chambers are known. Most of
these were found disturbed, and the remains (broken wooden coffins,
shabtis, wooden figures, amulets) are in many cases disappointing. As a
result not many of these tombs are well recorded or published. At Saqqara
some simple mud-brick structures were found in connection with such
tombs. They may belong to some kind of superstructure such as a chapel.
One of the disturbed tombs, consisting of several chambers, is that of the
‘general’ Ankh-wahibre-zaneit, which still contained a wooden coffin, 384
shabtis, four canopic jars, a rectangular box with a falcon on it and pottery,
including one vessel with an inscription. In another chamber of the same
tomb 367 shabtis of another person were found. From this and other
evidence it seems that each chamber was used for a different person,'é
though the looting of the tomb makes it rather difficult to reconstruct the
original arrangement of the tomb contents.
A bigger Late Period multiple burial was found in 1991 south of the
Unas pyramid at Saqqara. The tomb was entered from a shaft about five
metres deep and consists of a 10 x 3 m chamber with several side-chambers
in which single burials were placed. In the floor of two of the side-chambers
an anthropoid-shaped hole was carved and used as a container for a
mummy. The tomb had been looted but still contained shabtis, vases with
Bes-faces (very typical of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty) and numerous small
faience figures. Several hundred beads from a bead net were found on one
mummy. Altogether, the remains of thirty-six individuals were recorded.
The burial chamber was evidently reopened several times. Two torches
found may be not burial goods, but rather tools of funerary workers."
Burials with few or no funerary goods are very hard to date, and in
many cases we do not have any idea of the social level to which they belong.
At Saqgara and Abusir many late burials were found simply buried in the
sand. The bodies were often placed in simple anthropoid coffins. Others
were placed in sets of coffins. There are few inscriptions preserved on these
coffins to reveal the social position of the people buried here. Nevertheless
there are some quite rich burials with gold objects, which might belong to
people of reasonably high social status. Pot burials are well attested for
children (Fig. 147).
The period of the first Persian domination
remains something of a mystery for
archaeology in Egypt. There are very few
monuments and even fewer tombs that can be
securely dated to this time. At Saqqara a stela
executed in a mixed Persian-Egyptian style
has been excavated, showing the dead person
on a bed with Anubis, Isis and Nephthys in
one scene, and in the other dressed in Persian
style. The stela was found in connection with Fete rads aneqncls nscddor
a burial in a mummy-shaped pit carved into purials of children (right: 69
the desert rock, and had been re-used as cover cm high).

BLT
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

for this pit tomb.'® Its original provenance is not known. From Saqqara
South there is a group of pottery coffins dated to Persian times. These
coffins are mostly in rough anthropoid shape with an undecorated box and
a cover on which a crude human face is modelled. Most of the coffins are
uninscribed but some have an Aramaic inscription carved on the’ lid,
usually giving just the name of the dead. There are only very few grave
goods. Some of the dead had some kind of garland of plants. A pottery jar
was found with only two coffins.'® From the Aramaic (the main language
of the Persian empire) inscriptions one may conclude that the people
buried here were Persians living in Egypt.

The Twenty-Eighth to Thirtieth Dynasties

With the Twenty-Eighth to Thirtieth Dynasties Egypt again became
independent. This is the last period in which indigenous Egyptian kings
ruled the whole country. The rulers of these Dynasties were buried in the
Delta cities of their families. Their tombs have been destroyed, but a few
huge box-shaped royal sarcophagi have survived, some being moved to
other sites in later ages. Not many tombs of court officials of the Thirtieth
Dynasty are known. At Saqqara, the shaft and tomb chapel of the ‘overseer
of the magicians of Selket’ Wennefer was excavated; he was an important
person in the Thirtieth Dynasty and member of an influential family (Fig.
148). His tomb chapel consisted of a temple-like building decorated with
reliefs and biographical inscriptions, very similar in its layout to the
temple tombs of the New Kingdom. The shaft leading to the tomb chamber
was placed in front of the chapel and
contained an impressive sarcophagus in
hard stone, inscribed with extended
religious texts.?°
Also at Saqqara an already looted
gallery was excavated with several
burials of large stone sarcophagi belong-
ing to Padineit, vizier of king Nectanebo
I, and his family. The funerary complex
was built into the tomb of the vizier
Bakenrenef, who lived in the Twenty-
Sixth Dynasty. It is not known if
Padineit was related to Bakenrenef, or if
he chose this place because he held the
same title as the earlier high official. All
the sarcophagi, which were mostly of fine
limestone, were placed in niches in the
Fig. 148. Tomb chapel of Wennefer gallery. Only that of Padineit was made
ee eearin ere eae in black basalt. They were all box-shaped
reconstruction of a sketch published | With a slightly trapezoidal outline and a
without scale. vaulted lid, inscribed in some examples,

118
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

while the interiors were mummiform. Other remains include many

shabtis, amulets and a bead net, which must have been placed on a
mummy. Inscribed mummy bandages are of special interest.2! The custom
of inscribing mummy shrouds with chapters of the ‘Book of the Dead’ is
first attested at the end of the Seventeenth/beginning of the Eighteenth
Dynasty; later New Kingdom examples are rare. In the Thirtieth Dynasty
and in the Ptolemaic period, the linen on the mummy was again inscribed
with chapters from the ‘Book of the Dead’, but this time on the narrow
bandages wrapped directly around the body. Most of the known inscribed
bandages are not from controlled excavations and are therefore hard to
date. The examples in the tomb of Padineit constitute one of the few cases
in which they were found in context and are therefore datable; others
belong on prosopographical grounds to the Ptolemaic period.
Sarcophagi are not securely attested for the Persian period, but they
appear again in the Thirtieth Dynasty. At the moment it is very hard to
date them more precisely. It is often impossible to assign a single
sarcophagus (or coffin) securely to the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, the
Thirtieth Dynasty or early Ptolemaic times. In general it can be said that
the examples of the Thirtieth Dynasty and early Ptolemaic period are
made in hard stone. The head becomes bigger than ever, giving the
features a slightly distorted appearance (Fig. 149). In the Thirtieth
Dynasty huge box-shaped sarcophagi appear, covered with vignettes of
underworld books such as the Amduat or the ‘Book of the Dead’. Some
follow the model of royal sarcophagi of the
New Kingdom, giving the impression that
these older prototypes were directly copied.
One important undisturbed burial of the
Thirtieth Dynasty or early Ptolemaic period
was found in Thebes in the Twenty-Sixth
Dynasty burial palace of the ‘high steward’ SSq EBACE
Ankh-Hor. The tomb of Ankh-Hor is a vast eit MS SS >

monument belonging to one of the most Pile pe

influential people in Upper Egypt at the time.
After the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, maybe even
shortly after the burial of Ankh-Hor, other
people came here to bury their dead. Most of
these later burials have been plundered and
only a few remains of coffins and other objects
have been found. Only one of the later
intrusive burials was found intact, that of the
‘priest of Amun-Re lord of the thrones of the
two lands’ Wahibre. It was placed in a small
chamber just big enough for the coffin. This
chamber was covered with a massive
limestone block on which most of the burial Fig. 149. Granite sarcophaghus
goods were placed. The main find was a group found at Gizeh.

to
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Fig. 150. Set of amulets. The arrangement with the winged

scarab in the middle placed on the chest of the mummy is
typical of the Late Period.
of 374 shabtis (many preserved only in fragments), which lay in no clear
order on the middle of the limestone block. Next to these were some pottery
vessels and copper tools, which might have been used for the
mummification. There were two wooden statues, one of the mourning Isis,
the other of Osiris. Remarkably there were seven animal mummies placed
at the end of the chamber: two falcons, two ibises, a cat and two young
dogs. Examination of their bodies revealed that some of the animals died
very young; they were presumably killed for this burial, and it is therefore
unlikely that they were pet animals. Other finds in the chamber include
one mould-like object, which contained embalming material and a tile with
a seal impression.
Under the huge limestone block on which these objects were found were
Wahibre’s two anthropoid coffins. Both were decorated all over with small
pictures of gods, though the decoration is imperfectly preserved. The inner
coffin was simpler; under a broad collar ran several lines of hieroglyphs of
‘Book of the Dead’ chapter 72, a very common spell on coffins at this time.
The mummy itself was adorned with a partly gilded mummy-cover
made of cartonnage, under which was found a bead-net cover adorned with
many amulets, including a winged scarab and the four children of Horus
(compare Fig. 150). Under the mummy cover there was also a ‘Book of the
Dead’ scroll placed in the area of the lower torso. The mummy itself lay on
its back, hands on chest. In the mummy bandages gold leaf was found,
especially covering the fingers and the toes, maybe also the eyes, the legs
and the forehead. Wrapped in with the bandages were many amulets,
mainly made of faience. These included small figures of various gods,
scarabs, a few animals, which might also represent gods, parts of the body

120
 9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

(heart, phallus, wedjat-eyes), and djed-pillars and tiyet-signs. An amulet

in the form of a head-rest was found at the neck.?
At Abydos Petrie excavated several tombs of broadly the same period,
although it is almost impossible to give an exact date. He found several
vaulted chambers with many burials. Each of the excavated chambers
seems to belong to one family with the burials of several relations together.
Tomb G 50 was dated by Petrie to the Thirtieth Dynasty, because one
person placed in the tomb was named Djedher (Teos), the name of a
Thirtieth-Dynasty king, but also popular later. The burial chamber was
completely filled with clean sand, maybe on purpose to protect the bodies.
Four sarcophagi were found in the chamber. One contained only a
mummy, without any ornaments or jewellery. A second belonged to
Djedher. His mummy was placed inside the sarcophagus on a wooden tray.
The mummy itself was adorned with many amulets similar to those
mentioned above with Wahibre. Under the head was placed a bronze
hypocephalus, i.e. a disc decorated with religious texts and images. Next
to the sarcophagus two boxes filled with shabtis were found. They
contained 198 and 196 figures respectively, while several quite rough
shabtis were found just lying around. Another sarcophagus contained two
wooden coffins, one inside the other. The mummy was decorated with
partly gilded elements of cartonnage. A ‘Book of the Dead’ was placed on the
mummy and a hypocephalus was found under the head (compare Fig. 151).

Fig. 151. This ais Zz

Fe
{k
hypocephalus was
placed under the
head of the deceased
as an amulet. It
bears symbols and
scenes of the sun god.
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

The fourth sarcophagus belonged to Nebtaihyt, wife of Djedher. It

contained an outer wooden coffin and a wooden statue of Osiris. The statue
contained a bundle of papyrus, maybe a substitute for a more expensive
‘Book of the Dead’. An inner coffin had almost totally rotted away when
Petrie found it. The mummy was again covered with different cartonnage
elements and the head lay on a hypocephalus.”?
At Saqgara burials were found placed in coffins and then laid directly
in the sand, with one concentration at the pyramid complex of Teti, an area
partly occupied in the Late Period by some huge temples. 123 burials were
excavated here by the Egyptian Exploration Society, but similar groups
were found at several other places at Saqqara. The limited datable
material points to a period of about 400-300 BC for these graves. Most of
them consist of a simple painted coffin with one line of inscription. The
coffins are made of wood, but some parts of them are plastered in mud.
They are painted, showing the dead person with a wig and a broad collar.
On the body of the lid the four children of Horus sometimes appear, while
the box is normally not decorated. Only very few of the bodies buried in
these coffins have been mummified, maybe indicating that the people did
not have great resources. The only finds are amulets strung and worn as
necklaces, but even these are not common and mostly placed in the burials
of children (Fig. 152).?4 The social status of the people buried here is not
really known. However, the use of coffins — although very simply made —
shows that these people were not the very poorest. The lowest social
classes are perhaps to be found
elsewhere: some burials at Abusir
evidently belong to them. They show that
poor people also started to re-use older
“i i funerary goods, although this is not
3 ti ail 2 exclusively a sign of impoverishment: in
many cemeteries it is well attested that
objects found in older tombs — maybe
even in the course of digging a new tomb
— were placed in the new burial. A poorly
prepared mummy, oriented with its head
to the west, was found under the lid of a
typical Late Period coffin, without the
box.” The date of the burial is uncertain,
but the coffin lid can be dated exactly to
the late Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, since the
name of king Apries appears on it. The
burial itself could date from any time
Fig. 152, Burial of a child, «. 400-350 {fom the late Twenty-Sixth Dynasty to
BC, Saqdara. The body in the eon Ptolemaic times. There are no other finds
was adorned with amulets. around to help fix a date.

122
 10. Ptolemaic Egypt:
The Hellenistic World and Egyptian Beliefs

After the conquest of Egypt by

Alexander the Great, un-
precedented numbers of Greeks
came to Egypt and settled there.
The new capital, Alexandria, must
have been a purely Greek city in
early Ptolemaic times, though it
was to become more and more
Egyptian. It is no great surprise
that Greeks in Egypt buried their
dead according to their own
traditions. In Alexandria many
entirely Greek-style funerary
stelae have been uncovered,
inscribed in Greek and decorated Fig. 153. Urn burials under a small
in relief or painting with a scene mausoleum in the necroplis of Shatbi
: Alexandria.
showing the dead person. The
main difference must have been in the treatment of the body — embalmed
in the Egyptian tradition, but cremated in the Greek. Numerous funerary
urns have been found in excavations in the city, demonstrating the
popularity of this distinctly un-Egyptian burial style at least for the
Ptolemaic period (Fig. 153). In other places in Egypt the Greeks buried
their dead in wooden coffins decorated in fully classical style, showing that
not all these immigrants chose cremation.
The Egyptians went on burying their people in fully Egyptian style, to
the extent that it is often impossible to determine whether a burial belongs
to the Thirtieth Dynasty or the early Ptolemaic period. These Egyptian
burials of the early Ptolemaic Period show no Greek influence. There are
still shabtis, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures, canopic boxes, amulets,
hypocephali, and funerary papyri (Fig. 154). Elements covering the body,
including mummy masks, now became very popular, and there are still
many coffins in Egyptian style. But by the end of the Ptolemaic period most
of these objects had disappeared. There are no more shabtis, canopic jars
or Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures, demonstrating a dramatic change in burial
customs. There are still problems in charting the development in detail.
Very few burials and tombs of this period have been carefully excavated
and published. Almost no elite burials have been found intact and

123
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

Ce wee
oaeiale

mY. ff
iiq

rl ale
y vem em Oh

Be)
i \

Fig. 154. Two examples from the ‘Book of the Dead’ of Neshorpre, Ptolemaic Period. (Left)
Vignette to chapter 16, with the adoration of the sun. (Right) part of the vignette to
chapter 110, showing the dead ploughing in the fields of the Underworld.

recorded.! Only a few examples can therefore be given here to illustrate

what is known about this period.
Mummy masks, mummy coverings and coffins are the most remarkable
objects of funerary production in Ptolemaic times. The mummy masks,
now more common than before, are in general still purely Egyptian. For
the coffins the same holds true, though one has the impression that finely
decorated coffins became less important, while attention was very much
focused on the mummy mask and other elements placed directly on the
wrapped body. There are many well produced early Ptolemaic sarcophagi,
mainly anthropoid and made of limestone, similar to examples of the
Thirtieth Dynasty. By contrast, there are almost no decorated sarcophagi
in late Ptolemaic times, and coffins at this time became generally rather
crude. Coffins and (decorated) sarcophagi were often placed inside a rough
limestone outer sarcophagus. In many cases the mummy was just put
directly into such a roughly worked stone box. The mummy itself was
adorned with a mummy mask and panels of cartonnage, or fully enclosed
by a cartonnage cover. These elements are often very fine; the focus of
artistic production was clearly on these parts of the burial. Late Ptolemaic
coffins and mummy cases sometimes display unusual iconography
showing the dead with many royal attributes.? The underlying idea is
presumably that the dead person was identified with Osiris, ruler of the

124
 10. Ptolemaic Egypt: The Hellenistic World and Egyptian Beliefs

underworld. There are many different styles in funerary culture attested

at this time. Some of these differences may reflect change over time, but
there are also doubtless contemporary local traditions, with each regional
centre developing its own style.
Not much is known about chapels or tomb architecture. There are still
numerous stelae from burials, but it is not clear whether they were placed
next to the coffins in the burial chambers or in some kind of chapel above
single burials. Painted burial chambers are documented from some places
such as Abydos or Atfih.* Their precise date is often uncertain.’
One closely datable burial group was found in the 1820s in Thebes and
belongs to a priest of Amun named Hornedjitef, who lived under Ptolemy
III (245-222 Bc). It can be taken as a good example of an elite burial of the
early Ptolemaic period. The burial consisted of an outer and an inner
coffin, the mummy, adorned with a mummy mask and partly gilded
mummy coverings enclosing the body from the shoulders to the feet, a
hypocephalus placed under the head, a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure, a canopic
box and a ‘Book of the Dead’ scroll. The shrine-shaped box decorated as a
canopic box contained only potsherds, while the mummy still had its
internal organs; the box therefore seems to be dummy canopic equipment.
It is one of the latest known examples.® The ‘Book of the Dead’ remained
very popular in the Ptolemaic period; several hundred can be dated to this
time. Many of them come from Thebes, others from Saqqara, and a handful
from other sites such as Akhmim.
Not all elite burials were placed in specially prepared burial chambers.
In Abusir the intact grave of a certain Khet-Hap was found. His coffin,
decorated on the lid with a long inscription, was placed directly into the
ground between two Old Kingdom walls. The mummy itself was covered
with elements of gilt cartonnage: on the head there was a mask, on the
chest a broad cartonnage collar and under it a seated figure of Nut. Other
cartonnage pieces showed the four children of Horus, Isis and Nephthys.
The mummy was wrapped in thick linen, the arms crossed over the chest,
the head oriented to the west.® As in many similar cases, it is not possible
to give an exact date for this burial. The gilding of several parts of the
equipment demonstrates Khet-Hap’s wealth.
A cemetery used throughout Ptolemaic and Roman times has been
excavated at Qau el-Kebir in Middle Egypt. Several hundred tombs were
found. Most of them had already been heavily looted when excavated.
However, together they give a fair impression of the burial customs of a
provincial community in both periods. Some burials belong to relatively
wealthy people, the ruling elite of this provincial town. The body of a
certain ‘overseer of the oil makers’ (?) Petosiris was placed in a rough
box-shaped sarcophagus, of which only the head end was rounded. An
inner sarcophagus was made of limestone and bore an inscription. Inside
were traces of the mummy with faience amulets over it. The whole group
was placed in a chamber together with six other bodies, four in similar
box-shaped sarcophagi, two placed only in anthropoid coffins. Another

125
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

tomb (no. 234) contained four rough box-shaped sarcophagi; two contained
an anthropoid sarcophagus, one of which bore a painted inscription. The
bodies inside the sarcophagi were mummified and protected with amulets.
This set of coffins, found undisturbed, was placed at the bottom of a shaft.
No other burial goods were found beside the sarcophagi. Both tombs are
hard to date, but an early Ptolemaic or even Thirtieth Dynasty date seems
plausible. At this site many coffins, but also mummies on their own, were
placed in rough stone sarcophagi. These sarcophagi, mummy-shaped on
the inside, are typical of the Ptolemaic period and are found at many places
in Egypt, often in great numbers in tombs, showing that multiple burials
are still very common.
Most other burials at Qau el-Kebir are simpler. Pottery coffins with
round ends are common. In many cases they were covered with bricks or
even only with rough stones. The bodies of the deceased were often found
mummified; some were found as skeletons and it is not clear whether this
is just the result of bad preservation (the ground is very damp in Qau
el-Kebir), or whether there was really no treatment of the body. The
mummies were sometimes adorned with a cartonnage mummy mask and
a separate foot case made of the same material. The only funerary goods are
faience amulets placed on the mummy. Although many of the dead buried
here do not belong to the poorest classes, there are no signs of shabtis or
canopic chests. The only other funerary objects found were some roughly
made stone offering tables. One of those excavated was placed directly on the
coffin, but the others were found without context, making it impossible to say
whether the one example is an exception, or whether this was the normal
place for the offering table. Such tables were originally used in the cult of the
dead and one would expect to find them standing on top of a burial.7
Well preserved cemeteries of Ptolemaic date have also been found in
Lower Nubia, which was at this time a border zone between Egypt and the
kings of Meroe in the Sudan. A cemetery excavated in 1908-9 contained
several burials, each placed in a small chamber entered by a short sloping
passage. The richer examples contained a rough stone sarcophagus with a
decorated wooden coffin. The mummy within was in a cartonnage casing
or covered with separate panels of this material. Some of the tombs
contained more than one burial. Clay coffins are sometimes found in place
of a sarcophagus; some of the clay examples are roughly painted with floral
patterns. The tombs do not contain many grave goods. In one of them the
mummy of a calf was placed next to the dead person.® The publication of
these tombs is much abbreviated, so it is not possible to say whether the
mummies were adorned with amulets, as found in Qau el-Kebir. Poorer
tombs contained a mummy on its own, without any coffin or cartonnage.
These mummies are simply wrapped in linen and placed into the small
chamber. It is impossible to say how common such burials are. The short
publication focuses on the richer tombs. Only one example is given of such
poorer tombs, and it is not stated whether it is typical or exceptional.?

126
 11. Egypt in the Roman Empire

In 30 BC Egypt was conquered by the Romans and became a part of their

empire. In the Ptolemaic period, funerary culture had remained, at least
for the Egyptians, almost entirely traditional. Under Roman rule,
Egyptian elements became rare, and were steadily replaced by stylistic
elements from the Mediterranean world or by objects in a new hybrid style.
Much recent research has been devoted to funerary culture in Roman
Egypt, but with a focus on individual aspects, such as the well-known
painted Fayum portraits and mummy masks. There has been less
attention to the broader picture of burial customs in general. As a result
we are well informed on some details of elite burials, while other important
features are totally unexplored. It is therefore hard to give more than a
rough outline of development of the time.
At the beginning of the Roman period, mummy masks and cartonnage
cases covering the whole body were in general still executed in Egyptian
style, and it is in most cases not possible to distinguish them from late
Ptolemaic examples.! The first century AD saw the introduction of masks
in the tradition of classical Greek and Roman art. The first step in this
direction was the appearance of one or two elements, such as curls over the
forehead — a feature borrowed from classical art — while all other parts of
the decoration remained purely Egyptian.? Also in the first century AD
mummy portraits were introduced. These are wooden panels painted with
a depiction of the head and shoulders of the deceased, as in Roman art,
executed using the Roman encaustic technique (mixing pigments in wax),
and showing a more or less naturalistic image of the dead person. The
custom of placing painted portraits on a mummy is found at cemeteries in
the north (Marina el-Alamein, 100 km west of Alexandria), around the
Fayum, where most have been found, and at some sites in Middle Egypt,
such as Antinoopolis. At none of these cemeteries were the painted
portraits very common: Petrie recorded that at Hawara he found on
average only one or two per hundred mummies. The custom was therefore
evidently restricted to relatively few people. Even less common are linen
mummy shrouds painted in Roman style with a life-size picture of the dead
person. A burial at Hawara in which a mummy mask and portraits were
found together suggests that the mask was more expensive, since the man
was found with a gilded mummy mask (Fig. 155) whereas the children and
wife were buried with painted portraits. Roman-period mummy masks
have been found in all parts of Egypt and seem to have been more common
than the painted portraits, although their better chances of survival may
be distorting the picture. There is also a group of cartonnage cases found

127
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

at Akhmim and Abusir el-Meleq,

showing the deceased in everyday
Greek-Roman style dress. Other
examples from Akhmim are formed in
Egyptian style (ike a mummy) with
only a few Greek elements. These
mummy cases may date to around 50
BC to 50 AD, although an exact dating
is not possible at present.*
The development of anthropoid
coffins is far less clear; at some point
they ceased to be produced, but it is
not known when. There are some
examples showing the dead person in
everyday dress, but these are
exceptional.> The elaborate mummy
masks and cartonnage cases evidently
Fig. 155. Gilt plaster mummy mask — took over the function of coffins, and
found at Hawara. The man is depicted in
classical style. Three painted portraits most ssh speesgmici adorned with masks
were found together with this mask, or placed inside a cartonnage case
proving that painted portraits and were found without a coffin. The few
mummy masks were used side by side. Roman-period coffins from E ates

in most cases rectangular, and at least till the second century AD they still
have hieroglyphic inscriptions and scenes executed in Egyptian style.®
Many of them have a plaster head attached at the lid. This seems to be
some kind of echo of the tradition of anthropoid coffins of earlier periods.’
The marble relief sarcophagi popular elsewhere in the Roman empire seem
not to have been generally adopted in even the most Hellenised cities of Egypt
such as Alexandria, although a few examples have been found there.
The ‘Book of the Dead’ was replaced by short funerary compositions
such as the ‘Book of Breathing’, attested from the mid- to late first century
BC to the second century AD.* The mummified bodies in the so-called Soter
group (a family burial found at Thebes, early to mid-second century AD)
were each equipped with two small sheets of papyrus bearing such texts,
one for the head and one for the feet. There may be some funerary papyri
that are later in date, but in general the tradition of placing a text in the
tomb next to the mummy stopped at this time.®
Amulets made of faience are still attested, but no longer common, and
seem also to disappear in the first century AD, while gilded wax amulets
strung on deep reed frames seem to have continued in production into the
second century. Shabtis and canopic jars are not attested at all. However,
everyday objects appear again in many tombs. These are often small
luxury articles, for example cosmetic items such as glass vessels are
common in burials of women. Sometimes women were adorned with
personal jewellery, such as ear-rings and finger-rings.!° These are typical
products of the Roman world and do not look much different from jewellery

128
 11. Egypt in the Roman Empire

found in other parts of the Roman empire. At some cemeteries the custom
of providing the dead person with a coin (for the ferryman in the
underworld — a Graeco-Roman custom) is widespread." At other places
people did not place coins next to the dead. One might surmise that the
former cemeteries contained more Hellenised people. Research into
Roman-period burials has concentrated on the equipment of mummified
bodies, but there must also have been quite a high number of burials of
poorer people who could not afford mummification and who were just
buried, maybe in everyday dress, in shallow holes in the ground. Other
people may have decided for cultural or religious reasons not to be
mummified. One such burial was found near Tarkhan and contained the
body of a woman with a gold ring and a golden necklace of high quality.
Next to her some alabaster vessels were found. She was certainly not of
low status, and one wonders if she was a Roman or Greek lady, who did
not want to follow Egyptian burial customs.”
There is a wide range of burial customs in Roman Egypt?® reflecting
many local traditions. One group of graves at Denderah can be quite
closely dated. They were placed, like the Ptolemaic graves discussed in
Chapter 10, in small chambers reached by a staircase. Most of the tombs
had been heavily looted. Nevertheless there are important remains left,
such as stelae showing the deceased in front of gods of the underworld.
Many mummies also had a small label, also known from many other sites,
with the name and affiliation of the deceased and, in a few instances, a
date, showing that some of the deceased were buried in early Roman times
(early to mid-first century AD).!4 The amulets found are quite important,
since they are among the latest glazed examples produced in Egyptian
style. Although they are only loosely connected with the dated mummy
labels, it seems that all burials that can be dated to later periods do not
have any glazed amulets.
The extensive cemeteries at Qau el-Kebir also yielded many tombs
dating to the Roman period. Although the graves had been heavily looted,
the whole site gives a fair impression of burial customs in a provincial
corner of the Roman empire. The return of everyday objects to the tombs
is the most distinctive feature (though the custom is attested in the
Ptolemaic period, but seems then to be restricted to the Greek population).
In many burials various kinds of pottery (including lamps), glass and
faience vessels were found. There are several buildings at Qau el-Kebir
which might be termed mausolea. At the edge of the fertile land a chain of
small buildings was erected. They are quite similar, being two metres
square and built of mud-brick. The walls are plastered white; many of
them must have been vaulted. There is quite often a niche in one of the
walls, which may have contained a lamp, though this is only a guess. Many
of the buildings did not have an entrance. Others had an entrance and
were decorated with paintings in entirely Roman style showing a standing
figure of the owner of the chapel. Burials were placed under these chapels.
In one of them many skeletons were found just under the floor. In another,

129
 Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt

oa & BF) X

: Safe

Fig. 156. The coffin of Padiimenipet from the Soter family

burial, decorated entirely with Egyptian motifs. The inside
of the lid (left) bears a painted figure of Nut.

just one burial was excavated in the middle of the room in a pottery coffin,
without any further objects.
Such mausolea are relatively common in Roman Egypt. However, they
differ from place to place, suggesting that there were particular local styles
and developments. At er-Rubayat (ancient Philadelphia) a number of
stone-built underground burial places were found. One of them was round
with a circular central hall and several burial chambers arranged around
it. At Hawara several chapels were excavated. The burials were placed
under the floor. The buildings themselves were sometimes decorated with
paintings. At Abu Billo the tombs were rectangular or square with a
barrel-vaulted roof. Some of these tombs were painted, and many of them
had a niche on the east side, usually containing a stela in Roman style.
Similar tombs have been excavated at Saqqara.!® At Douch (Dakhla oasis)
underground burial chambers were found in which the dead person was
placed on a funerary bed."”
The Soter group, mentioned above in connection with papyri, is an
assembly of coffins found in a Ramesside Theban tomb. The dead were
placed in box coffins painted with traditional Egyptian motifs and zodiacs
(Fig. 156). The mummies themselves were wrapped in shrouds with a

Fig. 157. Padiimenipet’s

mummy.
 11. Egypt in the Roman Empire

frontal picture of the deceased. On the chest

was placed a cartonnage element in the shape
of a seated winged Nut and a bead net with a
winged scarab and the four children of Horus,
all made in beads (Fig. 157). Next to the
mummies were placed two sheets of papyrus
with funerary compositions. The traditional
funerary equipment is here reduced to the
coffin (and, in other examples, the mummy
masks), the bead net and two short funerary
papyri. Some everyday objects were also found,
such as necklace or comb.!®
One last example of burials in Egyptian style
may be presented here. A cemetery developed
in the mid-second century AD at Deir el-Bahari.
Most of the burials found here were placed
directly in the sand in re-used coffins or
massive pottery vessels. Only some of them are
mummified. A few are well prepared, with a
mummy mask, though this was not a common
feature among these burials (twenty-six
mummy masks are known so far from the
cemetery — the total number of burials is not
known). The mummies were found completely
swathed in linen and adorned with many Fig. 158. Mummy cover found
flowers. The mummy masks show the deceased at Deir el-Bahari (mid-third
in Roman dress with Roman jewellery and often century AD).
holding a glass vessel. At the bottom of these masks traditional Egyptian
motifs of two jackals, flowers and a Sokar bark (Fig. 158) are depicted,
while the rest of the decoration is more Roman.'®

I end my short description of 5,000 years of burial customs in Ancient

Egypt here, at the beginning of the third century AD. Strong connections
to Pharaonic traditions did persist in some areas in later times, but in
other areas Pharaonic culture became less important, making this a
reasonable end point for our survey.

131
 Oe » pt)
wa paaeae OE i
 Notes

Abbreviations
The abbreviations used here are those adopted in the Lexikon der Agyptologie (LA)
(Wiesbaden), with the exception of the following:

itch nts Tombs II= W.B. Emery, Great Tombs of the First Dynasty IT, London
1954
Emery, Archaic Egypt = W.B. Emery, Archaic Egypt, Edinburgh (1961)
Garstang, Burial Customs = J. Garstang, The Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt,
London (1907)
Hayes, Scepter I= W.C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt I, New York (1953)
Jéquier, Tombeaux de particuliers = G. Jéquier, Tombeaux de particuliers
contemporains de Pepi IT, Fouilles 4 Saqqarah, Cairo (1929)
Jorgensen, Catalogue Egypt I= M. Jorgensen, Catalogue Egypt I (3000-1550 BC)
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen (1996)
Junker, Giza J = H. Junker, Giza [. Die Mastabas der IV. Dynastie auf dem
Westfriedhof. Wien/Leipzig (1929)
Mummies & Magic = 8. D’Auria, P. Lacovara & C.H. Roehrig (eds), Mummies &
Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt, Boston (1988)
el-Sawi, Tell Basta = A. el-Sawi, Excavations at Tell Basta, Prague (1979)
Tooley, Egyptian Models = A. Tooley, Egyptian Models and Scenes, London (1995)
Willems, Chests of Life = H. Willems, Chests of Life, Mededelingen en
Verhandelingen van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap ‘Ex Oriente
Lux’ XXV, Leiden (1988)

Preface
1. This attitude seems to me the typical view of a modern upper-class person
(the Egyptologist) of the lower classes in antiquity, and goes along with such views
as the idea that farmers in ancient Egypt were very happy to join in building the
pyramids — they would have enjoyed doing a boring or arduous job, however slight
the material reward.

1. Early Farmers and State Formation

1. J. Eiwanger, LA IV, 94-5.
2. F. Debono & B. Mortenson, El Omari, Archaologische Veroffentlichungen 82,
Mainz (1990), pp. 73-7.
3. I. Rizkana & J. Seeher, Maadi IV: The Predynastic Cemeteries of Maadi and
Wadi Digla, Archaologische Veréffentlichungen 81, Mainz (1990), pp. 69-93.
4. Rizkana & Seeher, op. cit., p. 89.
5. G. Brunton & G. Caton-Thompson, The Badarian Civilisation, BSAE 46,
London (1928), pp. 14-15 (tomb 5705, 5735), pls VII-VIII, XXVII.
6. J. de Morgan, L’age de la pierre et les métaux, Recherches sur les origines de
PEgypte I, Paris (1896).

133
 Notes to pages 5-20

7. G. Dreyer, Um el-Qaab I, Archaologische Veréffentlichungen 86, Mainz

(1998).
8. R. Friedman, JARCE XXXVI (1999), pp. 6-7; J.H. Taylor, Death and the
Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, London (2001), p. 47, fig. 19.

2. Early Dynastic Egypt:

The Tomb as the House of the Afterlife
1. K. Bard, From Farmers to Pharaohs, Sheffield (1994); T. Wilkinson, State
Formation in Egypt: Chronology and Society, BAR International Series 651,
Oxford (1996), pp. 69-85.
2. Emery, Great Tombs IT, pp. 140-2.
3. Emery, Archaic Egypt, pp. 56, fig. 17, 133, fig. 78, pl. 18.
4. R. Stadelmann, Die dgyptischen Pyramiden, Mainz (1991) (2nd ed.), p. 20, n.
56 (with further literature).
5. Emery, Great Tombs II, pp. 146-7.
6. Emery, Great Tombs II, pp. 147-8.
7. W.M.F. Petrie, The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty I, London (1900), p. 8
(‘a few beads’); Petrie, The Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty I, London (1901), pl.
XXXVIII.9-29. One of the tombs with beads (W51) belonged to a woman called
Aha-Neith (Petrie, op. cit., pl. XXVI).
8. Emery, Archaic Egypt, p. 82, figs 43-45.
9. W.M.F. Petrie, G.A. Wainwright & A.H. Gardiner, Tarkhan I and Memphis
V, BSAE 23, London (1913); W.M.F. Petrie, Tarkhan IT, BSAE 25, London (1914).
10. G.A. Reisner, The Development of the Egyptian Tomb down to the Accession
of Cheops, Cambridge (19386).
11. A. Scharff, Grab als Wohnhaus in der dgyptischen Friihzeit,
Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
philosophisch-philologische und historische Klasse 1944/6, Miinchen (1947).
12. J.E. Quibell, Excavations at Saqqara (1911-12): The Tomb of Hesy, Cairo
(1918).

3. The Old Kingdom: The Age of the Pyramids

1. N. Tacke, MDAIK 52 (1996), pp. 307-36.
2. Y. Harpur, The Tombs of Nefermaat and Rahotep at Maidum, Prestbury,
Cheltenham (2001).
3. N. Alexanian, Dahschur I, Das Grab des Prinzen Netjer-aperef. Die Mastaba
II/1 in Dahschur, Archaologische Veréffentlichungen 56, Mainz (1999).
4. Junker, Giza J, pp. 23-38 (on the stelae); A.M. Roth, JARCE XXX (1993), pp.
33-55; A. Bolshakov, Man and his Double in Egyptian Ideology of the Old Kingdom,
Agypten und Altes Testament 37, Wiesbaden (1997), pp. 37-9 (on the changes in
general).
5. F. Tefnin, Art et magie au temps des pyramides: l’enigme des tétes dites ‘de
remplacement’, Monumenta Aegyptiaca 5, Brussels (1991).
6. Junker, Giza I, passim, especially, pp. 100-31.
7. W.M.F. Petrie, E. Mackay & G.A. Wainwright, Meydum and Memphis (IID),
BSAE 18, London (1910), p. 26, pl. 18.
8. B. Liischer, Untersuchungen zu dgyptischen Kanopenkdsten, Hildesheimer
Agyptologische Beitrage 31, Hildesheim (1990), pp. 2-4; J.H. Taylor, Death and the
Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, London (2001), pp. 66-7; C.M. Firth & B. Gunn,
Excavations at Saqqara, Teti Pyramid Cemeteries I — text, Cairo (1926), p. 126 (the

134
 Notes to pages 20-28

Sens on Kagemni’s canopic jars); royal inscribed examples: Cairo CG

9. G.A. Reisner, A History of the Giza Necropolis II, The Tomb of Hetep-Heres
the Mother of Cheops: A Study of Egyptian Civilisation in the Old Kingdom,
Cambridge, Massachusetts (1955).
10. V. Vasilijevic, Untersuchungen zum Gefolge des Grabherrn in den Grdbern
des Alten Reiches, Beograd (1995), pp. 105-9; E. Brovarski, in Studies in Honor of
William Kelly Simpson, edited by P. der Manuelian, Boston (1996), pp. 117-55.
11. For a typology and discussion of these statues, see M. Hill, Egyptian Art in
the Age of Pyramids, edited by D. Arnold, New York (1999), pp. 386-95.
12. Cairo CG 111; Tooley, Egyptian Models, p. 24, fig. 14.
13. Cairo CG 113.
14. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 10628, 10645.
15. The tomb is discussed by S. Rzepka, MDAIK 56 (2000), pp. 353-60 (she
comes to the conclusion that not Babaf, but an unknown woman was buried here).
16. N. Alexanian in Stationen, Beitrdge zur Kulturgeschichte Agyptens, Rainer
Stadelmann gewidmet, H. Gusch & D. Polz (eds), Mainz (1998), p. 19, no. 8.
17. G.A. Reisner, A Provincial Cemetery of the Pyramid Age, Naga-ed-Dér III,
Oxford (1932), pp. 212-13.
18. S. Hassan, Excavations at Giza, 1929-1930, Oxford (1932), p. 44.
19. S. Hassan, Excavations at Giza, 1930-1931, Cairo (1936), pp. 141-50; good
colour photographs of some of the gold jewellery are published in C. Aldred, Jewels
of the Pharaohs, London (1971), pls 4-5.
20. S. Hassan, Excavations at Giza IIT, 1981-1982, Oxford (1941), pp. 240-1.
21. Reisner, op. cit., p. 242.
22. G. Brunton & R. Engelbach, Gurob, BSAE 41, London (1927), pp. 6-7, pls
IV-VII.

4. The Late Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom:

The Development of a Funerary Industry
1. The tomb of a certain Impy found at Gizeh is not yet fully published.
2. Many other mastabas of the elite were still built at Gizeh and Saqqara. In
the Old Kingdom courtiers were not always buried next to the king they served;
A.M. Roth, JARCE XXV (1988), pp. 201-14.
3. M. Verner, ZAS 124 (1997), p. 77, pl. V.3.
4. Mummies & Magic, p. 93, no. 25 (the burial is datable by seal impressions to
Djedkare Issesi).
5. Mummies & Magic, pp. 93-4, no. 26 (the date is not secure).
6. Jéquier, Tombeaux de particuliers, pp. 26, 28-9, fig. 29.
7. W. Seipel, Agypten: Gotter, Grdber und die Kunst, 4000 Jahre Jenseitsglaube,
Linz (1989), p. 71, no. 40a&b.
8. This kind of food container is sporadically found in later periods too (Middle
Kingdom tomb/cenotaph of Senusret III at Abydos, also made in calcite) but is only
regularly part of the tomb equipment in the New Kingdom (and then made of
wood). After the New Kingdom they seem to disappear.
9. Mummies & Magic, p. 81, no. 11; R. Van Walsem, OMRO 59 (1978-9), pp.
193-249.
10. Jéquier, Tombeaux de particuliers, p. 57, fig. 63.
11. L. Borchardt, Das Grabdenkmal des Kénigs Ne-user-re, Leipzig (1907), pp.
126-34 (the tomb);M. Verner, The Mastaba of Ptahshepses, Reliefs I/1 Abusir Ih.
Prague (1977), p. 44, no. 45; p. 45 n. 13 (about the family of Kahotep).
12. For similar palettes see S. Tawfik, GM 30 (1978), pp. 77-87.

135
 Notes to pages 29-42

13. el-Sawi, Tell Basta, no. 161.

14. M. Vallogia, Le mastaba de Medou-nefer, Balat I, FIFAO 31, Cairo (1986).
15. Vallogia, op. cit., 74-8; On the importance of these texts: H. Willems, Chests
of Life, p. 245.
16. G. Lapp, Typologie der Sdrge und Sargkammern von der 6. bis 13. Dynastie,
SAGA 7, Heidelberg (1993), pp. 30-1.
17. G. Jéquier, Tombeaux de particuliers, pp. 94-104, pl. XII; A. Tooley,
Egyptian Models, pp. 53-4; earliest crew: models of Idu (H. Junker, Giza VIII, Der
Ostabschnitt des Westfriedhofs II, Wien (1947), pp. 91-6), for the date: B. Schmitz
(ed.), Untersuchungen zu Idu II, Giza, Hildesheimer Agyptologische Beitrage 38,
Hildesheim (1996), p. 42.
18. Garstang, Burial Customs, pp. 31-2.
19. W.M.F. Petrie & G. Brunton, Sedment I, BSAE 34, London (1924), pp. 2-3,
pls VII-XII.
20. Jorgensen, Catalogue Egypt I, p. 94.
21. H. Junker, Giza VIII, Der Ostabschnitt des Westfriedhofs II, Wien/Leizig
(1947), p. 92, pls XVI-XVII.
22. B. Schmitz (ed.), Untersuchungen zu Idu IT, p. 42; possibly contemporary is
the burial of Ikhekhi, which also contains wooden models: E. Drioton & J.-P.
Lauer, ASAE 55 (1958), pp. 216-17, pls X-XII.
23. Jorgensen, Catalogue Egypt I, pp. 96-7, no. 35; J. Bourriau, Pharaohs and
Mortals, Cambridge (1988), no. 90; A. Tooley, Egyptian Models, pp. 9-10, fig. 10; p.
22, fig. 12; p. 24, fig. 15; Most of the models are now in Cairo, CG 236-54.
24. H. Willems, Chests of Life, p. 50.
25. G. Brunton & R. Engelbach, Gurob, BSAE 41, London (1927), pp. 7-8, pls
X-XII. My first idea, that this pendant is Minoan, was not confirmed by further
research. I am grateful to Robert Schiestel (Vienna) for bringing Egyptian
parallels to my attention.
26. See S. Seidlmayer’s discussion in J. Assmann, G. Burkard & W.V. Davies
(eds), Problems and Priorities in Egyptian Archaeology, London/New York (1988),
pp. 175-217; Seidlmayer, GM 194 (1988), pp. 25-51.
27. Ulrike Dubiel, Studien zur Typologie, Verteilung und Tragesitte der
Amulette, Perlen und Siegel im Alten und Mittleren Reich anhand der
Graeberfelder der Region zwischen Qau el-Kebir und Matmar, forthcoming.
28. R. Lepsius, Denkmdler, II, Bl. 148.
29. Tooley, Egyptian Models, passim.
30. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 126, fig. 123; Mummies & Magic, p. 118, fig.
60.
31. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 62, fig. 48.
32. Hayes, Scepter I, p. 266, fig. 173.
33. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 87, fig. 77, p. 95, fig. 85; W.M.F. Petrie & G.
Brunton, Sedment I, BSAE 34, London (1924), pl. XXVI; H.E. Winlock, Models of
Daily Life in Ancient Egypt, New York (1955), pls 30-1.
34. Tooley, Egyptian Models, pp. 23-4, fig. 15.
35. Winlock, op. cit., pl. 32.
36. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 76, fig. 64.
37. Jorgensen, Catalogue Egypt I, no. 54.
38. Jorgensen, Catalogue Egypt I, no. 54.
39. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 133, fig. 181; Mummies & Magic, p. 113, fig.
61; Hayes, Scepter I, p. 265, fig. 172; Winlock, op. cit., pls 25-7.
40. Mummies & Magic, p. 114, fig. 62.
41. Tooley, op. cit., p. 45, fig. 43.
42. Tooley, op. cit., pp. 46-7, fig. 45.

136
 Notes to pages 42-50

43. Tooley, op. cit., pp. 47-8, fig. 46.

44. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 158, fig. 158; p. 161, fig. 164.
45. Mummies & Magic, p. 116, fig. 72.
46. Winlock, op. cit., pls 9-12.
47. Winlock, op. cit., pls 13-16.
48. W.M.F. Petrie & G. Brunton, Sedment I, BSAE 34, London (1924), pl. XVI;
A. Tooley, Egyptian Models, pp. 56-7, fig. 59.
Ad. K. Sowada, T. Callaghan & P. Bentley, The Teti Cemetery at Saggara. IV,
Minor Burials and Other Material, Australian Centre for Egyptology: Reports 12,
Warminster (1999), 13 (94/2).
50. Sowada, Callaghan & Bentley, op. cit., 15 (94/10).
51. Hayes, Scepter I, pp. 303-5.
52. Garstang, Burial Customs, pp. 54-65, 211; pl. VII (no. 1).
53. E. Fiore-Marochetti, JEA 86 (2000), pp. 43-50.
54. J.-E. Gautier & G. Jéquier, Mémoire sur les Fouilles de Licht, Cairo (1902),
p. 98, fig. 115, 101, fig. 123.
55. J.-E. Gautier & G. Jéquier, op. cit., 65, fig. 76; J. de Morgan, Fouilles a
Dahchour. Mars-Juin 1894. Vienne (1895), p. 16, fig. 18.
56. E. Fiore-Marochetti, GM 144 (1995), p. 49.
57. K. Michalowski, Ch. Desroches, J. de Linage & J. Manteuffel, Fouilles
Franco-Polonaises III, Tell Edfou 1939, Cairo (1950), pp. 70-1, 324, pl. XLVII (16).
58. D. Arnold, Der Tempel des Kénigs Mentuhotep von Deir el-Bahari III: Die
koniglichen Beigaben, AV 23, Mainz (1981), p. 49, pl. 62a.
59. W.C. Hayes, Scepter I, pp. 322-3, fig. 210; Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 93,
fig. 83; Mummies & Magic, 111.
60. Mummies & Magic, p. 111, fig. 56 and J. Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in
Ancient Egypt, London (2001), p. 68, fig. 34; V. Raisman & G.T. Martin, Canopic
Equipment in the Petrie Collection, Warminster (1984), no. 3 (two similar canopic
jars of the ‘overseer of the sealers’ Wahka; against the statement of the two
publications the provenance of the jars is not known, the assignment to Qaw
el-Kebir is made only on the basis of the name Wahka, which is also very common
at other places of the Middle Kingdom).
61. Garstang, Burial Customs, pp. 92-3.
62. H.E. Winlock, The Slain Soldiers of Neb-Hetep-ré’ Mentu-hotpe, New York
(1945); Franke, BiOr 45 (1988), p. 102; R. Miller-Wollermann, Discussions in
Egyptology 13 (1989), p. 110 (on the dating).
63. Willems, Chests of Life, pp. 64-5.
64. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 237; pictures of the arrows: pp. 159-160, fig.
161-2.
65. H. Schafer, Priestergrdber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des Alten
Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ni-user-re, Leipzig (1908),
pp. 99-100, 152-64.
66. Lady William Cecil, ASAE 4 (1903), pp. 69-70; H. Willems, The Coffin of
Hegqata, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 70, Leuven (1996), p. 362.
67. M. Raven, OMRO 63 (1982), pp. 7-34.
68. D. Arnold, Antike Welt 3 (1991), p. 156, fig. 8.
69. Willems, Chests of Life, pp. 161-4.
70. Hayes, Scepter I, 272, fig. 178; for the dating compare W. Grajetzki, Die
hochsten Beamten der dgyptischen Zentralverwaltung, Berlin (2000), pp. 130, 248.
71. G. Daressy, ASAE 1 (1900), pp. 26-32; Similar boats are depicted on the
pyramidion of king Khendjer (Thirteenth Dynasty); G. J équier, Deux pyramides
du moyen empire, Fouilles 4 Saqgarah, Cairo (1933), p. 21, fig. 17.
72. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 225, tomb no. 500.

137
 Notes to pages 51-58

73. Hayes, Scepter I, p. 312, fig. 203 (Hapy-ankhtifi, from Meir); pp. 311-12
(Nebet-hut, from Meir); Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 175, fig. 181, J. Taylor,
Egyptian Coffins, London (1989), p. 25, fig. 16; J. Bourriau, Pharaohs and Mortals,
Cambridge (1988), no. 72, pl. III. 3 (Userhet, from Beni Hasan); L. Bares, ZAS 118
(1991), pp. 94-6 (a burial at Abusir).
74. W.M.F. Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, BSAE XIII, London (1907), 12, pls XA-E;
M. Murray, The Tomb of Two Brothers, Manchester (1910).
75. H. Schafer, Priestergrdber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des Alten
Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ni-user-re, Leipzig (1908),
pp. 18-39.
76. R. Engelbach, Riggeh and Memphis VI, BSAE 25, London (1915), pl. XL (the
tomb register in the publication provides only the types and not the numbers of
vessels found).
77. For well preserved small mastabas see D. Randall-Maciver & C.L. Woolley,
Buhen, Philadelphia (1911), pl. 82.
78. W.M.F. Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, BSAE XIII, London 1907, pp. 14-20, pls
XIV-XXII.
79. C. von Pilgrim, Elephantine XVIII, Untersuchungen in der Stadt des
Mittleren Reiches und der Zweiten Zwischenzeit, Archaologische
Veroffentlichungen 91, Mainz (1996), p. 174.
80. von Pilgrim, op. cit., 165; Similar burials are also known from other periods:
A. Herold, Agypten und Levante IX (1999), pp. 85-100 (early Ramesside).

5. The Late Middle Kingdom to the Second Intermediate Period:

New Magical Rites
1. J. Bourriau in Social Aspects of Funerary Culture in the Egyptian Old and
Middle Kingdom, edited by H. Willems, Leuven, Paris, Sterling (Virginia), OLA
103 (2001), pp. 1-20.
2. ‘Court type’ burials: four princesses near the pyramid of Amenemhat II: J. de
Morgan, Fouilles d Dahchour 1894-1895, Vienna (1903), pp. 46-74; Senebtisi: A.C.
Mace & H.E. Winlock, The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht, New York (1916; reprint
1973); Iunefer: W.M.F. Petrie, G.A. Wainwright & E. Mackay, The Labyrinth,
Gerzeh and Mazghuneh, BSAE 21, London (1912), p. 36; Zawadjet: R. Engelbach,
Rigqqeh and Memphis VI, BSAE 26, London (1915), pp. 23-5, 29; Neferuptah: N.
Farag & Z. Iskander, The Discovery of Neferwptah, Cairo (1971);
Nebuheteptikhered, Hor: J. de Morgan, Fouilles @ Dahchour Mars-Juin 1894,
Vienna (1895), pp. 87-115; Sesenebef: J.E. Gautier & G. Jéquier, Mémoire sur les
Fouilles de Licht, Cairo (1902), pp. 74-9; Zatwerut: Arnold, Egyptian Archaeology
9 (1996), pp. 38-9. ‘Court type’ burials in general: B. Williams, Serapis 3 (1975-6),
pp. 41-55; C. Lilyquist, Serapis 5 (1979), pp. 28-9.
3. D. Arnold, Der Pyramidenbezirk des Kénigs Amenemhet III. in Dahschur. I,
Die Pyramide, Archaéologische Veréffentlichungen 58, Mainz (1987).
4. J. de Morgan, Fouilles a Dahchour, Mars-Juin 1894, Vienne (1895), pp.
88-106; the finds from the tomb are now in the Cairo Museum, the tomb is
discussed in detail in S. Aufrére, BIFAO 101 (2001), pp. 1-41; For pottery found in
royal tombs of the Middle Kingdom, see D. Arnold, MDAIK 38 (1982), pp. 57-8; S.
Allen in C. Eyre (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of
Egyptologists, OLA 82, Leuven (1998), pp. 39-48.
5. Hayes, Scepter I, p. 224, fig. 140.
6. J. Taylor in S. Walker & M.L. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits
from Roman Egypt, London (1997), p. 11.

138
 Notes to pages 58-77

7. S. Quirke in A. Loprieno (ed.), Ancient Egyptian Literature, History and

Forms, Probleme der Agyptologie 10, Leiden/New York/Kéln (1996), p. 390.
8. Earl of Carnavon & H. Carter, Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes,
London/New York/Toronto/Melbourne (1912), pp. 54-5; the tomb is briefly
discussed by J. Bourriau, in S. Quirke (ed.), Middle Kingdom Studies, New Malden
(1991), pp. 19-20.
9. Garstang, Burial Customs, p. 146, fig. 144.
10. Garstang, Burial Customs, pp. 113-14, pl. V.
11. Anthes, MDAIK 12 (1943), pp. 6-15.
12. R. Engelbach, Harageh, BSAE 28, London (1923), pp. 2-3.
13. G. Brunton, Qau and Badari IIT, BSAE 50, London (1930) p. 10.
14. N. Reeves, Ancient Egypt: The Great Discoveries London (2000), p. 27. The
tomb is discussed by Winlock, who doubts that the coffin and the canopic box
belong together, JEA 10 (1924), pp. 270-1.
15. D. Polz, Antike Welt 2002 (3), pp. 289-95.
16. W.M.F. Petrie, Qurneh, BSAE XVI, London (1909), pp. 6-10, pls XXII-XXIX.

6. The New Kingdom: Death in an Affluent Society

1. C. Naser in B. Arnst, I. Hafemann & A. Lohwasser (eds), Begegnungen:
Antike Kulturen im Niltal, Leipzig (2001), pp. 373-8; Gift-giving was a common
economic principle in Ancient Egypt; J. Janssen, JEA 68 (1982), pp. 253-8.
2. There is at least one anthropoid coffin with the ‘Book of the Dead’: A. Grimm
& S. Schoske, Im Zeichen des Mondes, Munich (1999), p. 19.
3. S. Ikram & A. Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, London (1998), p. 143,
fig. 160 (X-ray of a mummy with a heart scarab); M.-P. Vanlathem, CdH LXXVI
(2001), pp. 48-56.
4. C. Lilyquist in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Near East: Studies in
Honour of Martha Rhoads Bell, edited by J. Phillips, San Antonio, Texas (1997),
fig. 3.
5. Lilyquist, op. cit., figs 4-5, 10-11.
6. Lilyquist, op. cit., figs 6-7. Other similar tombs: D. Polz, MDAIK 51 (1995),
pp. 207-25; Polz in J. Assmann, E. Dziobek, H. Guksch & F. Kampp (eds),
Thebanische Beamtennekropolen, SAGA 12, Heidelberg (1995), pp. 25-42; maybe
also R. Mond, ASAE 6 (1905) pp. 80-1.
7.M. Barwik, Etudes et Travaux XVIII (1999) pp. 8-33 (typology and dating of
the ‘white coffins’).
8. A. Lansing & W.C. Hayes, BMMA XXXII (1937), Ja. sect. I, pp. 4-39; PM I,
2 (2) pp. 669-70.
9. W.M.F. Petrie, IJlahun, Kahun and Gurob, London (1891, pp. 21-4, pls
XXVI-XXVII.
10. Garstang, Burial Customs, pp. 218, figs 114-15, 117a, 128, 155-6, 159-61.
11. R. Engelbach, Harageh, BSAE 28, London (1923), pl. LXIII (273 is here
wrongly ascribed as 272); for further information on tomb 273 compare the tomb
card (published on a CD-Rom by the Petrie Museum).
12. W.M.F. Petrie, Six Temples at Thebes 1896, London (1897), p. 8.
13. T. Save-Séderbergh & L. Troy, New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites: The Finds
and the Sites, The Scandinavian Joint Expedition 5: 2-3. Uppsala (1991), p. 256.
14. Save-Sdderbergh & Troy, op. cit., p. 271.
15. Save-Sdéderbergh & Troy, op. cit., p. 264.
16. Save-Séderbergh & Troy, op. cit., p. 259, pl. 157.
17. T.M. Davis, The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou, London (1907; reprint 2000);
TM. Davis, The Funeral Papyrus of Iouiya, London (1908; reprint 2000).

139
 Notes to pages 77-89

18. E. Schiaparelli, Relazione sui lavori della Missione Archeologica Italiana in

Egitto (anni 1903-1920). Vol. II: La tomba instatta dellarchitetto Cha nella
necropoli di Tebe, Turin (1927).
19. G. Daressy, ASAE 2 (1901), pp. 1-13.
20. D. Aston, OMRO 74 (1994), pp. 21-54: a typology of shabti-boxes. Type I (p.
22) is attested earlier; but it is in fact a box-shaped model coffin.
21. G.T. Martin, MDAIK 42 (1986), pp. 109-29.
22. B. Bruyére, Rapport sur les fouilles de Deir el Médineh (1933-1934), Cairo
1937, FIFAO 14, pl. X.1, XII; compare W. Grajetzki, GM 150 (1996), pp. 68-9; and
J. Taylor in Colour and Painting in Ancient Egypt, edited by W.V. Davies, London
(2001), p. 178, nn. 37, 39.
23. Compare the scenes of the sed festival in the tomb of Kheriuef: Epigraphic
Survey, The Tomb of Kheruef, Theban Tomb 192, OIP no. 102, Chicago (1980), pl.
AT.
24. G.T. Martin, The Hidden Tombs of Memphis, London (1991), pp. 178-85.
25. F. Abitz, Statuetten in Schreinen als Grabbeigaben in den dgyptischen
Kénigsgrdbern der 18. und 19. Dynastie, Wiesbaden (1979).
26. B. Bruyére, Rapport sur les fouilles de Deir el Médineh (1928), Cairo (1929),
pp. 36-73.
27. Other parts of this New Kingdom cemetery: C.M. Firth & B. Gunn,
Excavations at Saqqara: Teti Pyramid Cemeteries I — text, Cairo (i926), pp. 66-83.
28. K. Sowada, T. Callaghan & P. Bentley, The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara. IV,
Minor Burials and Other Material, Australian Centre for Egyptology, Reports 12,
Warminster (1999), p. 13 (94/8).

7. The Late New Kingdom: Reduction to Essentials

1. The first yellow coffin may be datable to the reign of Amenhotep III; A.
Dodson, in Deir el-Medina in the Third Millennium AD, R.J. Demarée & A. Egberts
(eds), Leiden (2000), pp. 89-100.
2. For good colour photographs of some objects see E. Hornung & B.M. Bryan
(eds), The Quest for Immortality: Treasurers of Ancient Egypt, Munich/London/
New York (2002), pp. 143-53, nos 61-8.
3. M.A. Corzo (ed.), Nefertari, Luce d’Egitto, Rome (1994), pp. 191-7, nos 49-57;
H.C. Schmidt & J. Willeitner, Nefertari, Mainz (1994), pp. 94-9.
4. KE. Feucht, Das Grab des Nefersecheru, Theben II, Mainz (1985), pp. 125-48
5. T.G. James in J. Assmann, Das Grab des Amenemope (TT 41), Theben III,
Mainz (1991), pp. 267-73.
6. D. Polz in Assmann, op. cit., pp. 244-67.
7. G.T. Martin, The Hidden Tombs of Memphis, London (1991), p. 111, fig. 73.
8. J.-L. Chappaz, CdE 61(1981), pp. 32-40.
9. M. Chaban, ASAE II (1901), pp. 137-40; G. Brunton, Mostagedda and the
Tasian Culture, London (1937), p. 136 (190), pl. LXXIX. There is the tomb of an
offcial serving Tutankhamun at Akhmim: B.G. Ockinga, A Tomb of the Reign of
Tutankhamun at Akhmim, ACER 10, Warminster (1997).
10. A. Kamal, ASAE 16 (1916), pp. 73-4, 79.
11. B.G. Ockinga & Y. al-Masri, Two Ramesside Tombs at El Mashayikh I,
Warminster (1990), p. 36.
12. J. Osing, Das Grab des Nefersecheru in Zawyet Sultan, Archaologische
Veroffentlichungen 88, Mainz (1992).
13. el-Sawi, Tell Basta, no. 57.
14. el-Sawi, Tell Basta, nos 16, 23, 30, 80, 144, 153, 175, 182, 139, 149.
15. Mummies & Magic, 160-61, nos. 112-13; Farid, ASAE 61 (1978) pp. 22-4.

140
 Notes to pages 90-98

16. el-Sawi, Tell Basta, pp. 84-5, fig. 206-7; a summary on shabtis in lower-class
burials is given by F. Poole in Egyptological Studies for Claudio Barocas, edited by
R. Pirelli, Naples (1999), pp. 95-113.
17. el-Sawi, Tell Basta, pp. 90-1, figs 221-4, 219.
18. K. Sowada, T. Callaghan & P. Bentley, The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara. IV:
Minor Burials and Other Material, Australian Centre for Egyptology, Reports 12,
Warminster (1999), pp. 24-5 (95/41).
19. Sowada, Callaghan & Bentley, op. cit., pp. 34 (95/77), 37 (95/90).
20. My own observation on the Munro excavations at Saqqara in 1995/6; Unas
causeway: J. Leclant & G. Clerc, Orientalia 66 (1997), p. 263; for a good picture of
such a coffin, see M. Verner, Abusir III: The Pyramid Complex of Khentkaus,
Prague (1995), pl. 3, figs 13-14.
21. J.H. Taylor & A. Boyce in B.J. Kemp, Amarna Reports III, Occasional
Publications 4, edited by A.J. Spencer, London (1986), pp. 118-46.
22. F.L. Griffith, Mound of the Jews and the City of Onias, London (1890), pp.
42-8.
23. L. Habachi, Tell Basta, Supplément aux Annales du Service des Antiquités
de lEgypte, no. 22, Cairo (1957), pp. 97-102.
24. D. Downes, The Excavations at Esna 1905-1906, Warminster (1974) pp.
18-24.
25. See recently M. Fitzenreiter, in B. Arnst, I. Hafemann & A. Lohwasser (eds),
Begegnungen, Antike Kulturen im Niltal, Leipzig (2001), pp. 131-59.
26. For good colour photographs see Egyptian Antiquities Organization, El Kab
(no date and no place of publication).
27. J. Malek, SAK 12 (1985), pp. 44-60.
28. PM I(2), 2nd ed., pp. 773-4, pl. XVI.
29. Mummies & Magic, p. 159, no. 110.
30. M. Raven, The Tomb of Iurudef, A Memphite Official in the Reign of
Ramesses IT, London (1991).
31. H. Schafer, Priestergrdber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des Alten
Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ni-user-ré, Leipzig (1908),
pp. 113-14, pl. 1.

8. The Third Intermediate Period:

The Peak of Coffin Production
1. The papyri are discussed by A. Niwinski, Studies on the Illustrated Theban
Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries BC, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis
86, Freiburg/Géttingen (1989); compare in general A. Niwinski, 21st Dynasty
Coffins from Thebes, Chronological and Typological Studies, Theben 5, Mainz
(1988).
2. M. Raven, OMRO 59-60 (1978-79) pp. 251-96.
3. N. Reeves, Valley of the Kings: The Decline of a Royal Necropolis,
London/New York (1990), pp. 277-8; K. Jansen-Winkeln, ZAS 122 (1995), pp.
62-78.
4. Recent summaries: Reeves, op. cit. in n. 3, pp. 183-92; K. Jansen-Winkeln in
Deir el-Medina in the Third Millennium AD, edited by R.J. Demarée & A. Egberts,
Leiden (2000), pp. 163-70.
5. Mummies & Magic, pp. 162-3 (n. 115). The whole tomb was still being used
in later times and finally became a mass burial. For a discussion of these
Osiris-figures see: D. Aston, JEA 77 (1991) pp. 95-107.
6. This is a common burial place for kings, members of the royal family and high
officials in the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period; J. Spencer, Excavations

141
 Notes to pages 101-112

at Tell el-Balamun 1995-1998, London (1999), pp. 70-2; D. Aston, Egyptian Pottery
of the Late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period (Twelfth-Seventh
Century BC), SAGA 13, Heidelberg (1996), p. 40.
7. P. Montet, La nécropole royale de Tanis II: Les constructions et le tombeau de
Psousennés a Tanis, Paris (1951), pp. 69-89.
8. Mummies & Magic, pp. 166-8.
9. Asummary on the later tombs in the Ramesseum: F. Hassanein, G. Lecuyot,
A.M. Loyrette & M. Nelson, Studien zur Altdgyptischen Kultur, Beihefte 2, Akten
des Vierten Internationalen Agyptologischen Kongresses Miinchen 1985, edited by
S. Schoske, Hamburg (1991), 181-97; compare H. Guichard & M. Kalos, Memnonia
11 (2000), pp. 47-69. The Abydos chapels: D. Randall-Maciver & A.C. Mace,
El-Amrah and Abydos 1899-1901, EEF XXIII. London (1902), pp. 77-81, pls
XXV-XXVIII.
10. Other tombs in a temple where found at Tell Moqdam, H. Gauthier, ASAE
21 (1921), pp. 21-7.
~ 11. A. Badawi, ASAE 54 (1957) pp. 153-77; the nearby tomb of Petiese contained
a re-used sarcophagus of the Nineteenth Dynasty and a silver coffin, Badawi,
ASAE 44 (1944), pp. 181-2, pl. XXI.
12. M.F. Mostafa, Das Grab des Neferhotep und des Meh (TT 257), Theben 8.
Mainz am Rhein (1995), pp. 79-80, no. 84; example from Saqqara: S. Hassan,
Mastabas of Ny-‘ankh-Pepy and Others (General Organisation for Government
Printing Offices Cairo 1975) pp. 80-3, 103, pls LV-LX, LXII, LXXXII.
13. J.E. Quibell, The Ramesseum, The Tomb of Ptah-hotep, BSAE II, London
(1898), pp. 10-11.
14. H. Carter, ASAE 2 (1901), pp. 144-5; A good colour photograph of the coffin
can be seen in N. Reeves & J. Taylor, Howard Carter before Tutankhamun, London
(1992), p. 69.
15. Earl of Carnavon & H. Carter, Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes,
London/New York/Toronto/Melbourne (1912), pp. 24-6; for the dating: Reeves &
Taylor, op. cit., p. 90.
16. G. Brunton, Matmar, London (1948), pls LIV-LVI (tomb register).
Discussion of the date: Aston, Cahiers Céramique Egyptienne 4 (1996), pp. 35-6

9. The Late Period and Persian Domination

1. Recently discussed in E. Graefe, Sat-Sobek und Peti-Imen-menu. Hamm
(2001), pp. 23-42.
2. W.M.F. Petrie & E. Mackay, Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa, BSAE 24,
London (1915), p. 33; for the dating of these tombs: D. Aston, Egyptian Pottery of
the Late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period (Twelfth-Seventh
Century BC). SAGA 13, Heidelberg (1996), p. 36.
3. The burial of Tadja is not yet fully published; for a summary with some good
pictures see R. Germer, Das Geheimnis der Mumien, Ewiges Leben am Nil, 2nd ed.,
Minchen/New York (1998), pp. 144-5; some objects are published in photographs
or are at least mentioned in W. Kaiser, Agyptisches Museum Berlin, Berlin 1967,
nos 613 (erroneously described there as from Thebes), 698, 701, 951 and in S.
Schoske, B. KreiBl & R. Gremer, ‘Anch’ Blumen fiir das Leben, Schriften aus der
Agyptischen Sammlung 6, Miinchen (1992), nos 104, 133, 137, 157.
4. W.M. F. Petrie, G. Brunton & M. Murray, Lahun II, BSAE 33, London (1923),
p. 36, pl. XLVIII (tomb register) for the dating: D. Aston, Egyptian Pottery of the
Late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period (Twelfth-Seventh Century
BC), SAGA 138, Heidelberg (1996), pp. 37-9; for other contemporary tombs with

142
 Notes to pages 112-122

pottery and some few daily life objects see W.M.F. Petrie & E. Mackay, Heliopolis,
Kafr Ammar and Shurafa, BSAE 24, London (1915), p. 35.
5. Fully published examples: U. Verhoeven, Das Saitische Totenbuch der
Iahetsnacht P.Colon.Aeg. 10207. Payrologische Texte und Abhandlungen 41, Bonn
(1998); U. Verhoeven, Das Totenbuch des Monthpriesters Nespasefy aus der Zeit
ee I, Handschriften des Altaegyptischen Totenbuches 5, Wiesbaden

6. M.-L. Buhl, The Late Egyptian Anthropoid Stone Sarcophagi, Copenhagen

(1959), pp. 178-9.
7. A. Awadalla & S. El-Sawy, BIFAO 90 (1990), pp. 29-39.
8. W. Seipel, Agypten, Gotter, Grdber und die Kunst, 4000 Jahre Jenseitsglaube,
Linz (1989), p. 158, no. 124.
9. H. Gauthier, ASAE 33 (1933), pp. 27-53; a summary of the cemetery of
Heliopolis at that time: S. Bickel & P. Tallet, BIFAO 97 (1997), pp. 67-90. Similar
monuments were found in all parts of the country Gust a few examples): H. Abou
Seif, ASAE 26 (1926), pp. 32-43.
10. W.M.F. Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, BSAE XIII, London (1907), pp. 28-29, pls
er gpa W. el-Sadek, Twenty-Sixth Dynasty Necropolis at Gizeh, Vienna
1984).
11. Tomb of Nes-Thot (reign of Psamtek I), PM 2,2 (III), pp. 669-70.
12. L. Bares, Abusir IV, The Shaft Tomb of Udjahorresnet at Abusir, Prague
(1999) pp. 26-27, n. 50.
13. A. Barsanti, ASAE 5 (1904), pp. 69-78; G. Maspero, ASAE 5 (1904), pp.
78-83.
14. The tomb has been republished in E. Bresciani, S. Pernigotti & M.P.
Giangeri Silvis, La tomba di Ciennehebu, capo dell flota del re, Pisa (1977).
15. M. Basta, ASAE 59 (1966), pp. 15-22, especially 20-1.
16. M. Chaban, ASAE 17 (1917), pp. 177-82.
17. H.D. Schneider, JEA 77 (1991), pp. 12-13.
18. I. Mathieson, JEA 81 (1995), pp. 23-41.
19. G. Jéquier, Deux pyramides du moyen empire, Fouilles 4 Saqqarah, Cairo
(1933), pp. 49-52, pls XI-XII. ;
20. D. Arnold, in C. Berger & B. Mathieu (eds), Etudes sur l’Ancien Empire et
la nécropole de SaqqGra, dédiés & Jean-Philippe Lauer, Orientalia Monspeliensia
IX, Montpellier (1997), pp. 31-54; similar tombs were found in other parts of the
country; see for example M. Sabottka, ASAE 69 (1983), pp. 147-51.
21. E. Bresciani, S. el-Naggar, S. Pernigotti & F. Silvano, Galleria di Padineit,
Visir di Nectanebi I, Saqqara I, Tomba di Boccori, Pisa (1983).
22. M. Bietak & E. Reiser-Haslauer, Das Grab des Anch-Hor II, Wien (1982),
pp. 183-224, 285-9.
23. W.M.F. Petrie, Abydos I. 1902, EEF 22, London (1902), pp. 37-8, pl.
LXXVI-LXXIX, 1-5; LXXX (G 50).
24. L. Giddy, The Anubieion at Saqgara II: The Cemeteries, with a preface and
contributions by H.S. Smith and an chapter by P.G. French, EES 56, London
(1992); Similar burials are also known from other areas at Saqqara and Abusir:
J.E. Quibell & A.G.K. Hayter, Teti Pyramid North Side, Cairo (1927), pls 1, 6; E.
Strouhal & L. Bare’, Secondary Cemetery in the Mastaba of Ptahshepses at Abusir,
Prague (1993); F. Janot, C. Bridonneau, M.-Fr. de Roziéres, L. Cotelle-Michel & C.
Decamps, BIFAO 101 (2001), pp. 249-91.
25. H. Schafer, Priestergrdber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des Alten
Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ni-user-re, Leipzig (1908),
pp. 122-4 (Sp 14).

143
 Notes to pages 124-128

10. Ptolemaic Egypt:

The Hellenistic World and Egyptian Beliefs
1. The Ptolemaic and Roman levels, even at cemeteries, are always the top
levels. These were therefore the first tombs opened when travellers interested in
buying Egyptian antiquities arrived in Egypt in the nineteenth century.
2. J. Taylor in: S. Walker & M.L. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits
from Roman Egypt, London (1997), pp. 34-35; M. Pohl, in B. Arnst, I. Hafemann &
A. Lohwasser (eds), Begegnungen, Antike Kulturen im Niltal, Leipzig (2001), pp.
407-8, figs 1-5; Kischkewitz, in: Agyptisches Museum Berlin, Edited by K.-H.
Priese, Mainz (1991), pp. 214-15, no. 131. The exact datings of these pieces is not
known, they are perhaps already early Roman.
3. W.M. F. Petrie & E. Mackay, Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa, BSAE 24,
London (1915), p. 38, pls XLI-XLIV.
- 4, A. Abdalla, Graeco-Roman Funerary Stelae from Upper Egypt, Liverpool
(1992), p. 5, pl. 76.
5. S. Walker & M.L. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman
Egypt, London (1997), pp. 29-80.
6. H. Schafer, Priestergraber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des Alten Reiches
bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ni-user-re, Leipzig (1908), pp. 119-22
(Sp 12).
7. H. Steckeweh, Die Fiirstengrdber von Qaw, Veroffentlichungen der Ernst von
Sieglin-Expedition in Agypten 6, Leipzig (1936), pp. 55-72.
8. The publication gives only a photograph, which is not clear.
9.C.M. Firth, The Archaeological Survey of Nubia, Report for 1908-1909, 2 vols,
Cairo (1912), I, pp. 30-4; II, pls 22-31 (cemetery 89).

11. Egypt in the Roman Empire

1. S. Walker & M.L. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman
Egypt, London (1997), pp. 84-5, no. 74.
2. Walker & Bierbrier, op. cit., pp. 77-9, nos 54-6; R. Germer, Das Geheimnis der
Mumien, Ewiges Leben am Nil, 2nd ed., Miinchen, New York (1998), pp. 146-7, figs
151, 152; S. Ikram & A. Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, London (1998), p.
188, figs 220-1.
3. B. Borg, ‘Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt ... Agyptische Portratmumien,
Sonderhefte der Antike Welt, Mainz (1998), pp. 19-20.
4, Walker & Bierbrier, op. cit., pp. 30-6; O. Rubensohn & Knatz, ZAS 41 (1904),
pp. 10-18, figs 8, 10, 11.
5. Walker & Bierbrier. op. cit., p. 36, no. 10; H. Kischkewitz in Agyptisches
Museum Berlin, edited by K.-H. Priese, Mainz (1991), pp. 214-15, no. 131.
6. Late ‘semi’-anthropoid example: C. Riggs, JEA 86 (2000), p. 136, pl. XVIII, 1:
‘early second century’; a similar coffin: E. Brunner-Traut & H. Brunner, Die
Agyptische Sammlung der Universitat Tiibingen, Mainz (1981), pp. 234-3, pls
156-7 (said to come from Memphis).
7. D. Kurth, Der Sarg der Tetiris, Mainz (1990).
8. S. Quirke in W.V. Davies (ed.), Studies in Egyptian Antiquities: A Tribute to
T.G.H. James. British Museum Occasional Paper no. 123, London (1999), pp.
83-98; M. Coenen, JEA 86 (2000), pp. 81-98.
9. Quirke in Davies (ed.), op. cit., pp. 83-98; Coenen, op. cit., pp. 81-98.
10. W.M.F. Petrie & E. Mackay, Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa, BSAE
24, London (1915), p. 38.

144
 Notes to pages 129-131

11. S. Farid, ASAE 61 (1973), p. 25; A. Hamada & S. Farid, ASAE 48 (1948), p.
330 gives a list of coins found at Kom el-Karaz (East Delta), they date from
Cleopatra VII to Marcus Aurelius. The list is ambiguous since not all coins were
found in clear context next toa mummy. At Abou Billou they range from Cleopatra
VII to Constantine I (A. Abdalla, Graeco-Roman Funerary Stelae from Upper
Egypt, 7;S. El-Nassery & G. Wagner, BIFAO 78 (1978), p. 234); coins from burials
of the Ptolemaic period: Mummies & Magic, pp. 195-6, no. 142.
12. W.M.F. Petrie & E. Mackay, Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa, p. 38
(tomb 99). The evidence is uncertain. Perhaps the woman was mummified, but
nothing survived from the linen; however, the conditions for preservation of
organic material in Kafr Ammar are good. A mummification would surely have
been mentioned in the publication.)
13. A. Abdalla, Graeco-Roman Funerary Stelae from Upper Egypt, Liverpool
(1992).
14. W.M.F. Petrie, Dendereh 1898, EEK 17, London (1900), pls XXVIA-B;
translations in G. Vittmann, ZAS 112 (1985), pp. 153-68.
15. Petrie, op. cit., pp. 31-3.
16. J.E. Quibell & A.G.K. Hayter, Teti Pyramid North Side: Excavations at
Saqgara, Cairo (1927), pl. 3.
17. E. Castel & F. Dunand, BIFAO 81 (1981), pp. 77-110.
18. The burial of Padiimenipet is now fully described in F.R. Herbin,
Padiimenipet fils de Séter, Paris (2002).
19. C. Riggs, JEA 86 (2000), pp. 121-44.

145
 i,

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Pekan saints3 fete Bos bes

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 Chronology

This list includes only dynasties and kings mentioned in the text.

. 5200-4000 BC Fayum Neolithic

. 4800-4200 BC Merimde
. 4600-4400 BC Omari
. 4400-4000 BC Badari
- 4000-3500 BC Maadi-Buto
. 4000-3500 BC Naqada I
. 3500-3200 BC Naqada II
. 3200-3000 BC Nagqada III
. 3000-2700 BC Karly Dynastic Period
QD
Se
AQ
OQ
OQ
OS
9 . 2700-2200 BC Old Kingdom
: Third Dynasty
Djoser
Fourth Dynasty
Snefru
Khufu
Fifth Dynasty
Djedkare Isesi
Unas
Sixth Dynasty
Pepy I
Pepy II
c. 2200-2050 BC First Intermediate Period
Kighth Dynasty
Ibi
c. 2050-1650 BC Middle Kingdom
Eleventh Dynasty
Mentuhotep II
Twelfth Dynasty
Amenemhat I
Senusret I
Senusret II
Senusret III
Amenemhat III
Amenemhat IV
Thirteenth Dynasty
Hor
c. 1650-1550 BC Second Intermediate Period
Fifteenth Dynasty (Hyksos Period)
Seventeenth Dynasty
Djehuty
Antef Nubkheperre

147
 Chronology

c. 1550-1070 BC New Kingdom

Eighteenth Dynasty
Hatshepsut
Thutmosis III
Amenhotep II
Thutmosis [IV
Amenhotep III
Akhnaton
Tutankhamun
Hye
Nineteenth Dynasty
Sety I
Ramses II
Twentieth Dynasty
Ramses III
Ramses VI
Ramses XI
c. 1070-664 BC Third Intermediate Period
Twenty-First Dynasty
Psusennes
Twenty-Second Dynasty
Sheshong I
Osorkon I
Osorkon II
664-525 BC Late Period
Twenty-Sixth Dynasty
Psamtek I
Apries
Twenty-Seventh Dynasty (Persian Domination)
Thirtieth Dynasty
Nectanebo I
Thirty-First Dynasty (Second Persian
Domination)
310-30 BC Ptolemaic Period
Ptolemy III
30 BC — AD 395 Roman Period

148
 Glossary

Amduat: ‘What is in the Underworld’ — text and images describing the journey of
the sun-god Ra through the underworld each night. In the New Kingdom the
composition is found mainly on the walls of kings’ tombs. In the Third
Intermediate Period it is often written on papyrus and placed in elite tombs. In
the Late Period the text also appears on sarcophagi.
ankh-sign: hieroglyphic sign and amulet meaning ‘life’.
atef-crown: crown with two feathers, often worn by Osiris.
ba-bird: a bird with a human head, representing one aspect of the human soul,
especially after death. The ba was able to fly freely to and from the body.
benu-bird: sacred bird (heron) of the sun god Ra, symbolising rebirth.
Bes: god in the shape of a lion-faced dwarf. He offered protection at childbirth and
is therefore often depicted on monuments connected with mother and child.
‘Book of Breathing’: Egyptian title of a funerary composition of the late
Ptolemaic and Roman period.
‘Book of the Dead’: modern name for a group of about two hundred funerary
texts, known in Egyptian as the ‘Formulae for Going Out by Day’. Selections are
found in elite burials from the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty to Ptolemaic times, and
in New Kingdom kings’ tombs. The best known copies are on papyri buried with
the dead person. The single chapters have been numbered by modern scholars.
button seal: small round seal, in common use in the First Intermediate Period.
canopic box: box for the entrails, or the vases containing the entrails (canopic
jars).
cartonnage: layers of gummed linen and plaster, most often put together to form
mummy masks and mummy cases. In the Ptolemaic period scrap paper was
used instead of linen. The word cartonnage is also used to refer to whole body
mummy cases made out of the material.
djed-pillar: hieroglyphic sign amulet meaning ‘duration’.
false door: essential part of Old Kingdom mastaba decoration. On the false door
the tomb-owner is shown sitting in front of an offering table receiving food for
the afterlife. The false door was also the place from which the ba (see above) of
the dead person could leave the tomb.
heart scarab: scarab bearing the text of ‘Book of the Dead’ spell 30, placed on the
mummy’s chest. Heart scarabs appear for the first time at the end of the Middle
Kingdom and are quite common in the New Kingdom. They were used until the
Ptolemaic period.
Horus: god of kingship, son of Isis and Osiris.
Isis: goddess, wife of Osiris.
ka: in Egyptian religion, the essential part of the human being, roughly translated
by ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’. While the body in tombs could decay, the ka lived on and
could occupy statues.
kohl: Arabic for galena (a lead ore), commonly used for eye-paint. Cosmetic vessels
in which it was kept are called kohl pots.
Libya: neighbour of Ancient Egypt to the west. Ancient Egyptian kings were often
at war with Libya. Most rulers of the Third Intermediate and Late Period are
of Libyan origin.

149
 Glossary

magical bricks: four bricks inscribed with a special spell and placed in many New
Kingdom and Late Period elite tombs.
mastaba: mud or stone building, often almost solid, on top of a burial chamber.
Mastabas of people of high status are often decorated with reliefs and statues.
Smaller mastabas can be quite small and simple.
mummy board: mummy-shaped board placed on many mummies from the
Nineteenth to the early Twenty-Second Dynasty.
mummy mask: mask placed over the head of the mummy. Mummy masks appear
first at the end of the Old Kingdom and are very popular in the First
Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom. In the New Kingdom and Late
Period they appear sporadically, while they are again very popular in Ptolemaic
and Roman times.
natron: naturally occurring cleaning agent, a compound of sodium salts. Used to
dry the body in mummification.
Nubia: neighbour of Ancient Egypt to the south.
Nut: goddess of the sky.
offering list: written list on stelae, in tomb chapels, on coffins and other places,
naming important items for the underworld. Written words replace the objects,
principally items of food and drink.
opening of the mouth: ritual performed with statues and mummies to bring
them to life.
Osiris: god of the underworld.
palace facade: the mastabas of elite tombs belonging mainly to the First Dynasty
are decorated with a brick-built niche structure, assumed to copy contemporary
palace facades. A similar pattern is found as painted (and sometimes relief)
decoration on coffin and sarcophagi of the Old and Middle Kingdom
sarcophagus: coffin made of stone. The first box-shaped examples appear under
Djoser. Sarcophagi are very common in the Old and Middle Kingdom for highest
elite burials. In the Eighteenth Dynasty, with few exceptions, they are attested
only for royal burials, but become quite common in the Nineteenth Dynasty.
The New Kingdom private examples are mostly anthropoid, while the royal
sarcophagi are box-shaped. Sarcophagi became common again in the Late
Period and Ptolemaic times.
sed-festival: principal festival of kingship.
serdab: room for statues in the overground part (mastaba) of Old Kingdom tombs.
Serdabs are not common after that time.
seven sacred oils: essential part of elite burials in the Old and Middle Kingdom.
They are either placed in seven vessels in the burial or named in the tomb
decoration, on the coffin or in the offering list.
shabti-figures: small — often mummy-shaped — figures. A special spell on the
figures expresses their function, namely, to carry out heavy manual tasks on
behalf of a person in the afterlife.
Sokar bark: the bark of Sokar, god of the cemetery of Memphis (Saqqara).
solar boat: the boat in which the sun god Ra travels across the sky by day and the
underworld by night.
tiyet: amulet, also often called ‘blood of Isis’. Symbol of the goddess Isis, its original
meaning is uncertain.
vignettes: small illustrations on coffins or in papyri.
wedjat-eye: the eye of Horus, which plays an important role in Egyptian
mythology. Wedjat-eyes are very common amulets.

150
 Further Reading

Abbreviations follow the Lexikon der Agyptologie, Wiesbaden.

General
Sue D’Auria, P. Lacovara & C.H. Roehrig (eds), Mummies & Magic: The F unerary
Arts of Ancient Egypt, (1988)
W. ie & S. Quirke, Hieroglyphs and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, London

S. Ikram & A.Dodson, The Mummy in Ancient Egypt, London (1998)

N. Kanawati, The Tomb and Beyond: Burial Customs of Egyptian Officials,
Warminster (2001)
W. Ane Agypten: Gotter, Grdber und die Kunst, 4000 Jahre Jenseitsglaube, Linz
1989
A. J. Spencer, Death in Ancient Egypt, Harmondsworth (1982)
Taylor, J.H., Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, London (2001)
See also Digital Egypt for Universities on the web:
http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/digital_egypt/Welcome.html

Burial customs in specific periods

J. Bourriau, “Patterns of change in burial customs’, in S. Quirke (ed), Middle
Kingdom Studies, New Malden (1991), pp. 3-20
J.-L. Podwin. ‘Position du mobilier funéraire dans les tombes égyptiens privées du
Moyen Empire’, MDAIK 56 (2000), pp. 277-334
S.J. Seidlmayer, Grdberfelder aus dem Ubergang vom Alten zum Mittleren Reich,
Studien zur Archaologie und Geschichte Altagyptens 1, Heidelberg (1990)
St. T. Smith, ‘Intact tombs of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Dynasties from
Thebes and the New Kingdom burial system’, MDAIK 48 (1992), pp. 193-231

The ‘Book of the Dead’ and funerary papyri

T.G. Allen, The Book of the Dead or Going Forth by Day, Chicago (1974)
I. Munro, Untersuchungen zu den Totenbuch-Papyri der 18. Dynastie. Kriterien
ihrer Datierung, Studies in Egyptology, London/New York (1988)
I. Munro, Die Totenbuch-Handschriften der 18. Dynastie im Agyptischen Museum
Cairo, Wiesbaden (1994)
E. Naville, Das Agyptische Totenbuch der XVIII. bis XX. Dynastie 1, Berlin (1886)
A. Niwinski, Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and
10th Centuries BC, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 86, Gottingen (1989)

Coffins
M. Barwik, ‘Typology and dating of the “white” type anthropoid coffins of the early
XVIIIth Dynasty’, Etudes et Travaux XVIII (1999), pp. 8-33
M.-L. Buhl, The Late Egyptian Anthropoid Stone Sarcophagi, Copenhagen (1959)

151
 Further Reading

G. Lapp, Typologie der Sarge und Sargkammern von der 6. bis 13. Dynastie,
Studien zur Archaologie und Geschichte Altagyptens 7, Heidelberg (1994)
A. Niwinski, 21st Dynasty Coffins from Thebes, Chronological and Typological
Studies, Theben 5, Mainz (1988)
A.M. Donadoni Roveri, I Sarcofagi Egizi dalle Origini alla Fine dell’ Antico Regno,
Rome (1969)
J.H. Taylor, Egyptian Coffins, London (1989)
J.H. Taylor, ‘Patterns of colouring on ancient Egyptian coffins from the New
Kingdom to the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty: an overview’, in Colour and Painting in
Ancient Egypt, edited by W.V. Davies, London (2001), pp. 164-81
R. van Walsem, The Coffin of Djedmonthuiufankh in the National Museum of
Antiquities at Leiden: Technical and Iconographic/Iconographical Aspects,
Leiden (1997)
H. Willems, Chests of Life, Leiden (1988)
H. Willems, The Coffin of Heqata, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 70, Leuven
(1996)

Canopic jars and chests

D.A. Aston, ‘Canopic chests from the Twenty-First Dynasty to the Ptolemaic
Period’, Agypten und Levante X (2000), pp. 159-78
A. Dodson, The Canopic Equipment of the Kings of Egypt, London and New York
(1994)
B. Lischer, Untersuchungen zu dgyptischen Kanopenkdsten, Hildesheimer
Agyptologische Beitrage 31, Hildesheim (1990)
V. Raisman & G.T. Martin, Canopic Equipment in the Petrie Collection,
Warminster (1984)

Shabtis and shabti boxes

D.A. Aston, “The shabti box: a typological study’, OMRO 74 (1994), pp. 21-54
L. Aubert, Les statuettes funéraires de la Deuxiéme Cachette a Deir el-Bahari. Paris
(1998)
G.T. Martin, ‘Shabtis of private persons in the Amarna period’, MDAIK 42 (1986),
pp. 109-29
F. Poole, ‘Social implications of the shabti custom in the New Kingdom’, in
Egyptological Studies for Claudio Barocas, edited by Rosanna Pirelli, Naples
(1999), pp. 95-113
H.D. Schneider, Shabtis I-III, Leiden (1977)
H.M. Stewart, Egyptian Shabtis, Princes Risborough (1995)

Figures in Late Period tombs

D.A. Aston, “Two Osiris figures of the Third Intermediate Period’, JEA 77 (1991),
pp. 95-107
M.J. Raven, ‘Papyrus sheaths and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris statues’, OMRO 59-60
(1978-9), pp. 251-96

Corn mummies (‘Osiris bed’)

M.J. Raven, ‘Corn mummies’, OMRO 63 (1982), pp. 7-38

152
 Further Reading

The ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony

E. Otto, Das dgyptische Mundéffnungsritual, Wiesbaden (1960)
A.M. Roth.., ‘Fingers, stars, and the ‘opening of the mouth’: the nature and function
of the NTRWJ-blades’, JEA 79 (1993), pp. 57-79
R. van Walsem, “The pss-kf: an investigation of an Ancient Egyptian funerary
instrument’, OMRO 59 (1978-9), pp. 193-249

Hypocephali
E. Varga, ‘Les travaux préliminaires de la monographie sur les hypocephales’, Acta
Orientalia XII (1961), pp. 235-47

Inscribed mummy bandages

A. De Caluwe, Un ‘Livre des Moris’ sur bandelette de momie, Bruxelles (1991)

Roman Egypt
B. Borg, Mumienportrdats: Chronologie und kultureller Kontext, Mainz (1996)
E. Doxiadis, The Mysterious Fayum Portraits: Faces from Ancient Egypt, Singapore
(1994)
G. Grimm, Die rémischen Mumienmasken aus Agypten, Wiesbaden (1974)
K. Parlasca, Mumienportrdts und verwandte Denkmdler, Wiesbaden (1966)
K. Parlasca, H. Seemann (editors), Augenblicke: Mumienportrdts und dgyptische
Grabkunst aus rémischer Zeit, Munich (1999)
S. Walker & M.L. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt,
London (1997)

153
 Be Mees 2
se a
fh save hips hk Aer
‘ % Bet 4 a
 Figure Sources

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155
 Figure Sources

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Fig. 47: after Brunton & Engelbach, op. cit., pl. XII.
Fig. 48: after G. Brunton, Qau and Badari II, BSAE 45 London (1928), pls LII,
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Fig. 49: after Brunton, op. cit., pls LXVI, XLVII.
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Fig. 58: after D. Arnold, Egyptian Archaeology 9 (1996), p. 39.
Fig. 59: after Ch. van Siclen, HI, BSAK 4, p. 188, fig. 1.
Fig. 60 Gautier & Jéquier, op. cit., pl. XXVII.
Fig. 61: G. Daressy, ASAE 1 (1900), p. 27, fig. 2.
Fig. 62: Daressy, op. cit., p. 32, fig. 1.
Fig. 63: Daressy, op. cit., p. 28, fig. 1.
Fig. 64: after D. Arnold, Graber des Alten und Mittleren Reiches in El-Tarif, AV 17,
Mainz (1976), p. 39, pl. 39, no. 8.
Fig. 65: after G. Brunton, Qau and Badari III, BSAE 50 London (1930), p. 1, pl. II.
Fig. 66: G. Kminek-Szedlo, Saggio Filotogico per l’apprendimento della lingua e
scrittura egizina Bologna e la interpretazione delle iscrizione geroglifiche che si
sy sut monumenti del Museo Civica di Bologna, Bologna (1877), p. 33, pl.
, lig. 3.

156
 Figure Sources

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91, fig. 211; 96, figs 221-5; 101, fig. 241; compare W. Grajetzki, GM 166 (1998)
for the arrangement of the inscriptions.
Fig. 70: after Earl of Carnarvon & H. Carter, Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes,
London/New York/Toronto/Melbourne (1912), pp. 54-5.
Fig. 71: after R. Anthes, MDAIK 12 (1943) p. 6, figs. 2-3.
Fig. 72: after Anthes, op. cit., pp. 8-10, figs 5, 10.
Fig. 73: after M. Bietak, Tell el-Da‘a V, Ein Friedhofsbezirk der Mittleren
_ eaigeeel mit Totentempel und Siedlungsschichten I, Wien (1991), pp.
-4,
Fig. 74: after Bietak, op. cit., pp. 51-60.
Fig. 75: after Bietak, op. cit., fig. 26.
Fig. 76: after Bietak, op. cit., fig. 26.
Fig. 77 (left): after Wainwright, Balabish, London (1920), pl. XV; (right) after
Brunton, op. cit. above Fig. 65, p. 5, pls V, X.4.
Fig. 78: Monuments divers recueilles en Egypte et en Nubie, texte par G. Maspero,
Paris (1889), pl. 51.
Fig. 79: after C. Lilyquist in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Near East: Studies
in Honour of Martha Rhoads Bell, edited by J. Phillips, San Antonio, Texas
(1997), 312, fig. 3.
Fig. 80: after Lilyquist, op. cit., 323, fig. 11.
Fig. 81: after B. Engelmann-von Carnap, Die Struktur des Thebanischen
Beamtenfriedhofs in der ersten Halfte der 18. Dynastie, ADAIK 15 (1999), p. 70,
fig. 48A (the plans are not oriented).
Figs 82-4: after W.M.F. Petrie, lahun, Kahun and Gurob, London (1891), pl.
XXVI-XXVII.
Fig. 85: after R. Engelbach, op. cit., pp. 13-14, pl. XIII.
Fig. 86: after Brunton, op. cit. above Fig. 65, p. 13, pl. XXII.
Fig. 87: after L. Loat, Gurob, together with M.A. Murray, Saqgara Mastabas J,
BSAE X, London (1905), p. 2.
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Fig. 92: after R. Holthoer, New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites: The Pottery,
Scandinavian Joint Expedition 5:1, Uppsala (1977), passim.
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Jenseitsglaube, Linz (1989), p. 207, no. 183.
Fig. 94: after B. Bruyére, Rapport sur les fouilles de Deir el Médineh (1928), Cairo
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Fig. 95: after Bruyére, op. cit., pl. III (the coffin is published with a good colour
photograph in G. Andreau (ed.), Les artistes de Pharaon (exhibition catalogue),
Paris (2002), p. 303, no. 253; a good colour photograph of the painted textile can
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Fig. 96: after Bruyére, op. cit., pl. V
Fig. 97: after Bruyére, op. cit., p. 68, fig. 34, pls VIL, VIII, X; Les artistes de Pharaon,
p. 155, no. 100; 160-1, no. 108.
Fig. 98: after Bruyére, op. cit., p. 61, fig. 31, 67, fig. 33, 69, fig. 35.
Fig. 99: after Bruyére, op. cit., pl. VII; Les artistes de Pharaon, p. 157, nos. 14a-b.
Fig. 100: after Bruyére, op. cit., pls X, XI; Les artistes de Pharaon, p. 292, no. 237.
at
Figs 101-6: after K. Sowada, T. Callaghan & P. Bentley, The Teti Cemetery

157
 Figure Sources

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XXII; copyright Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College
London.
Fig. 108: V. Schmidt, Sarkofager, Levende og dode i det gamle Agypten,
Copenhagen (1919), fig. 651.
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XLI, no. 122.
Fig. 110: after F. Kampp, Die Thebanische Nekropole, Theben 13 Mainz (1996), p.
PANT. itis, By,
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de momie égyptienne conservée d Paris, Paris (1825), p. 10.
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Fig. 128: after Badawi, op. cit., pl. XIIIa.
Fig. 129: after W. Seipel, Agypten: Gétter, Grdber und die Kunst, 4000 Jahre
Jenseitsglaube, Linz (1989), p. 342, no. 518.
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Fig. 131 Quibell, op. cit., pls XVII, XVIII, copyright University College London,
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Fig. 134: after G. Brunton, Matmar, London (1948), pl. LXIII.
Fig. 135: after G. Brunton, op. cit., p. 75.
Fig. 136: after R. Anthes, MDAIK 12 (1943), pl. 4.
Fig. 137: after W.M.F. Petrie & E. Mackay, Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa,
BSAE 24, London (1915), pl. XXXIV.
Fig. 138: after Petrie & Mackay, op. cit., pl. XXIX, 3, 4.
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London (1928), pl. L.
Fig. 140: H. von Minutoli, Reise zum Tempel des Jupiter in der Libyschen Wiiste
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158
 Figure Sources

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Tjanenehebu, Barsanti, ASAE 1 (1900), p. 263
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Fig. 144: after Bresciani, Pernigotti & Giangeri Silvis, op. cit., pl. LII.
Fig. 145: after Bresciani, Pernigotti & Giangeri Silvis, op. cit., pl. XLVIII.
Fig. 146: after Bresciani, Pernigotti & Giangeri Silvis, op. cit., pl. LXIII.
Fig. 147: after H. Schafer, Priestergrdber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des
Alten Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ni-user-re, Leipzig
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Fig. 148: after D. Arnold in C. Berger & B. Mathieu (editors), Etudes sur l’Ancien
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Fig. 149: A.E. Mariette, Les mastabas de l’ancien empire, Paris (1889), p. 555.
Fig. 150: Brunton, op. cit. above Fig 65, pl. XLIV.
Fig. 151: W. Pleyte, Chapitres supplémentaires du Livre des Morts 162 a 174 I,
Leiden (1881), pl. between pp. 60 and 61.
Fig. 152: after L. Giddy, The Anubieion at Saqqdra II: The Cemeteries, with a
preface and contributions by H.S. Smith and a chapter by P.G. French, EES 56,
London (1992), pl. 44, 48, 75.
Fig. 153: after E. Breccia, La necropoli di Sciatbi, Catalogue Général des Antiquités
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Fig. 154: Description de l’Egypte A vol. II, pls 62-3. ,
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Fig. 156: F. Cailliaud, Voyage a Méroé, au Fleuve Blanc, au-dela de Faézoql dans le
midi royaume de Senndr, & Syouah et dans cing autres oasis, fait dans les années
1819, 1820, 1821 et 1822, vol. IV. Paris (1827), pl. LXVII.
Fig. 157: Cailliaud, op. cit., pl. LXX.
Fig. 158: after Riggs, JEA 86 (2000) fig. 1.
*

All drawings, if not otherwise stated, are by Wolfram Grajetzk1.

159
 Ped ade Sadatatin ee ae
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 Index

Aamu 62 Aperel 78
Abd el Gurna 109 Apries 122
Abu Billo 130 Aramaic 118
Abusir 16, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30, 48, 49, Arnold, Dieter 56
Bulls SO Sei, The alae Aes as) Assyrian 109
Abusir el-Meleq 111, 128 Aswan 73
Abydos 4, 5, 7, 9-12, 29, 30, 54, 63, Asyut 36, 48, 47, 89
HOA A225 atef-crown 115
Ahmes 69 Atet 18
Akhet-Aton 79 Atfih 125
Akhmim 36, 125, 128 Aton 79
Alexander the Great 123 Avaris 61
Alexandria 123, 127, 128 Awibre Hor 55, 56, 57
Amarna 91
Amarna period 66, 78, 79, 80, 82, 89 Bab el-Gusus 94
Amduat 94, 95, 97, 119 ba-bird 115
Amenemhat II 49, 55 Babaf 21
Amenemhat III 55, 58 Badari 3, 36, 38, 39, 107
Amenemhat IV 58 Badarian culture 3, 4
Amenemope 87, 88 Bakenrenef 114, 118
Amenhotep 78 Baket 45
Amenhotep I 71, 72 Balabish 63
Amenhotep II 77 Balat 29, 47
Amenhotep III 66, 76, 77, 78, 79, 88 Beni Hasan 34, 48, 45, 48, 50, 59, 70
Amenhotep, son of Hapu 77 benu-bird 106
Amenhotepeniuf 106 Bes 82, 102, 107, 117
amulets 5, 29, 30, 31, 36, 38, 58, 66, Biu 33
68, 80, 83, 84, 85, 89, 90, 97, 98, ‘Book of Breathing’ 128
100, 101, 103, 104, 106, 111-15, ‘Book of the Dead’ 63, 67, 68, 70, 77,
d7-23 1251126, 128; 129 79, 84, 85, 86, 88, 94, 95, 97, 98,
Amun 95 101, 102, 104, 107, 112, 118-22,
Amun (in titles) 79, 85, 87, 88, 94, 96, P20F022, 124, 125; 128
106, 109 brace 95, 104, 106
Amun-Re (in title) 119 Brunton, Guy 3
Amun temple 88, 95, 98, 105 Bubastis 29, 46, 90, 91
Amset 47, 84 button seal 37, 38, 39
Aniba 92
Ankh-Hor 119 Cairo 2, 7
Ankh-khaf 22 canopic box (chest) 20, 51, 55, 56, 63,
ankh-sign 114 65, 70, 77, 79, 86, 88, 98, 110, 123,
Ankh-wahibre-zaneit 117 2S elo wlZ6
Antef 43 canopic jars 15, 20-2, 28, 41, 47, 51,
Antinoopolis 127 55, 56, 63, 65, 70, 76, 77, 79, 84, 88,
Anubis 67, 79, 116, 117

161
 Index

95, 97, 98, 102, 104-8, 112, 114-17, Gebelein 36, 37, 47
1239128 Gemniemhat 40
cartonnage case 104, 105, 106, 112, Gizeh 16, 18, 20-4, 28, 29, 32, 35, 114
128 granary 11, 40, 41, 43, 49, 50
Caton-Thompson, Getrude 3 Greek 113, 123, 127, 128, 129
chariot 77 Griffith, Francis Llewellyn 91
‘coffin texts’ 32, 37, 47, 54, 67 grindstones 39
coin 129 Gurob 25, 37, 38, 53, 73
contracted position 1-3, 23, 24, 25, 52,
62, 90 Harageh 5, 58, 60, 71, 72
cosmetic objects 6, 8, 36, 59, 76, 77, Haremhab 89
82.60, bit Hapi 47, 84
cosmetic palette 3, 4, 5, 11 Hathor 91, 103
court type burial 54-7 Hatiay 77
-Cyprus 70, 71 Hatnefer 69, 70
Hatshepsut 66-8, 88
Dahshur 18, 44, 45, 54, 55, 58 Hawara 45, 55, 58, 127, 130
Dakhla oasis 29, 130 heart scarab 54, 67, 68, 70, 76, 81, 84,
Dara 28 99, 1038, 105
Deir el-Bahari 41, 49, 96, 106, 109, 131 Heliopolis 92, 109, 114
Deir el-Bersheh 43, 49, 50, 51 Helwan 2
Deir el-Medine 53, 80 Henu 33
Dedet-baget 70 Henutmehyt 88
Denderah 129 Henettawy 97
djed-pillar 68, 78, 84, 86, 97, 114-16, Henutwedjebu 77
121 Hepikem 35
Djedkare Isesi 28 Herodotus 113, 114
Djehuty 63 Hesyre 13, 14
Djehutynakht 49 Hetepheres 20
Djedmutesankh 97 Hierakonpolis 4, 5, 8
Djedher 121, 122 hippopotamus figures 57-9
Djer 10 Hikaemsaf 115
Djoser 13, 46 Hori 91
Douch 130 Hornakht 64
Duametef 47, 84 Hornedjitef 125
Horus 8, 102
Edfu 47 Horus stela 102
Hye 86 Huner 88, 89
Elephantine 43, 53 Huy 77
El-Sawi, Ahmad 89 Hyksos 61
Emery, Walter 9 Hyksos period 60
Engelbach, Reginald 60 hypocephalus 121, 122, 123, 125
Esna 91
Ibi 27, 54
Fadrus 73, 74, 75, 76 Idi 32
false door 15, 27, 38, 34, 45, 46 Idu 35
Fayum 1, 34, 70 Ineni 69
four children of Horus 67, 79, 97, 104, Inimakhet 51
106, 110,-115, 116) 122, 126,131 Inihotep 51
furniture 8-10, 20, 60, 79, 81, 86 Intefiger 44
Ip 12
Garstang, John 50, 71 Irtu 106, 107
Geb 95

162
 Index

Isis 94, 101, 103, 112, 115, TDG aT, Meres 12

L200 25 Meresankh III 20
Iufaa 106 Merimde 1-3
Tu-nefer 55 Merneit 8, 9, 111
Iurudef 88, 92, 93 Meroe 126
luya 76, 78 Meru 41
Mery-Merenra 29
ka 55 Merymery 78
Kagemni 20 Merymose 77
Kahotep 28 Meryre-ha-ishetef 34
Karmama 106 Meryt 77
Karnak (in title) 104, 105 Mesopotamia 8
Kemni 58 Meydum 16, 18, 19
Kha 77 model 10, 11, 19-23, 27, 28, 29, 37,
Khaba 13 39-43, 48, 49; 50, 53, 54, 57, 71, 102
Kha-baw-Sokar 14 de Morgan, Jacques 4
Khaemwaset 92 Mose 85
Khamerernebti 20 Mostagedda 26, 32, 37, 38, 52, 61, 107
Khet-Hap 125 mummy board 86, 88, 94, 95, 96, 98,
Khety 45 101
Khonsu 86 mummy case 101
Khonsu (in title) 98 mummy mask 29, 43, 47, 50, 55, 56,
Khnumhotep 45 58, 59, 70, 71, 74, 75, 76, 80, 88, 98,
Khufu (Kheops) 18-20 OO MOI 2. 11. 11Gset23 424,
AAS IIDC) IAT WAS) aba
Lahun 45, 70, 111, 112 mummification 48, 60, 63, 68, 72, 93,
Libyan 94 Cie lOUS moO s1205 1225 W26s12ORrs
Lisht 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 54, 55, 116
Lower Nubia 73, 92, 126 Napata 109
Naqada 3, 4, 7, 8
Ma 50 Naqada culture 3, 4, 5, 6
Maadi 2 Naqada period 7, 11
Maadi-Buto 2, 3 Naga ed-Deir 28, 24, 25, 35-7, 52
magical brick 68, 79, 86, 115 Nakht 46
magical wand 57, 82 Nakhtefmut 104, 105, 106
Maiherperi 77 Nakht-ka-re 27
Maket 70, 71, 72 Nanu 106
Marina el-Alamein 127 Nebit 45
el Mashayikh 89 Nebtaihyt 122
mastaba 11-16, 18-24, 28, 29, 30, 33, Nebwennef 85
BAmolpaa-0, 02,103 Nectanebo I 118
Matmar 107, 108 Nefer 12
Maya 79, 89 Nefermaat 16, 18
Medinet Habu 92, 109 Nefersekheru 86, 87, 89
Medunefer 29-32, 47 Nefertari 86, 87
Meh-amun-peref 109, 110 Nefertiti 80
Meir 35, 438 Nefri 16
Meketre 41, 43 Nefruptah 55
Memphis 1, 7, 36, 78, 89, 90, 93, 109 Nehesi 77
Menkheperre 96, 97 Nehi 88
Mentuhotep 49, 63 Neit 114
Mentuhotep II 39, 41, 47 Nekhet 51
Mereri 48 Nekhu-nefer 88

163
 Index

nemes head-dress 51, 55, 63 Ptah 101, 102

Jephthys 94, 103, 112, 115-17, 125 Ptah temple 102
eshorpre 124
Tad Ptahhotep 17
Neskhons 96 Ptahmose 78
Nia 89 Ptahshepses 16, 28
Niuserre 28, 93 Ptah-Sokar-Osiris 95, 110, 112, 113,
Nofret 18 IZ P25
Nub-hetpti-khered 55 Ptolemy III 125
Nubia 73, 74 pyramid texts 27, 32, 47, 57, 114, 115
Nubian 48, 62, 65
NJubkheperre Intef 65 Qau 26, 32, 37-9, 43, 52, 58, 61, 63, 72,
NJut 37, 95, 106, 115, 116,125, 130, 107
131 Qau el-Kebir 43, 125, 126, 129
Nykaw-Inpu 20 Qebehsenuef 47, 84

offering list 13, 14, 18, 33, 46 Rahotep 16, 18

offering table 13 Ramesseum 102, 103
Omari 1, 2, 3 Ramose 69
‘opening of the mouth’ 28, 114 Ramses II 66, 84, 85, 86, 89, 92, 102
Osiris 27, 49, 55, 78, 80, 87, 94, 95, 97, Ramses III 92
103, M2 Ad AOI 22 124 Ramses VI 92
Osiris bed 80 Ramses IX 92
Osorkon I 104, 106 Ramses XI 94
Osorkon IT 102 Reisner, George 23
Renseneb 58, 59
Padiamun 106 reserve head 18, 19, 28
Padiumenipet 130 Rifeh 47, 51, 52
Padihorresnet 114 Riqqeh 52, 85
Padineit 118, 119 rishi coffin 63-5
Palestine 2, 5, 19, 61, 62 er-Rubayat 130
Pafdiu 104
pan-grave 62 sa-sign 11
Parahotep 89 Sais 109, 113, 114
Passalacqua, Guiseppe 63 Sakhmet 101
pectoral 99 Saqgara 7-13, 20, 28, 29, 32, 33, 36,
Pennut 92 40, 41, 42, 46, 78, 79, 82, 84, 85,
Pepy 33 88-90, 92, 97, 112, 114-18, 122, 130
Pepy I 27 sarcophagus 15, 19, 21, 20, 22, 24, 33,
Pepy II 20, 28, 29, 32, 33-5, 40 41, 56, 61, 66, 77, 79, 84, 85, 87, 92,
Persian 117, 118, 119 98; 101, 1120194) 2152118; 149:
pesesh-kef 28, 36 121, 124, 126, 128
Pestjenef 113 Satbastet 51
Peteramun 109 scarab 39, 43, 51, 52, 59, 61, 62, 65,
Petosiris 125 71, 72, 74, 89, 90, 91, 97, 104, 107,
Petrie, W.M. Flinders 3, 4, 65, 71, 121 J 108, 110, 111, 120
UPA ND scribal palette 68
Philadelphia 130 Sedment 34, 37, 89
Pinodjem I 97 Selket 118
Pinodjem II 96 Seneb 59
pot burial 24, 117 Senedjem-ib 28
pottery (clay) coffin 89, 90, 118, 126 Senenmut 69
Psamtek I 109 Sennedjem 86
Psusennes 98 Sennefer 80-2

164
 Index

Sensuret I 48, 49 Teye 76

Senusret II 41, 49, 50, 60, 70 Thebes 21, 37, 41, 43, 48, 54, 58-60,
Senusret III 45, 49, 54, 58 63-5, 68, 69, 71, 77-9, 86, 87, 89, 90,
Sep 49 94, 98, 101-4, 106, 109, 113, 114,
serdab 14, 18, 20, 34, 35 £16,119, 125, 128; 130
servant statue 20, 21, 34, 39, 40, 42, This 89
43, 78 OOS Zap lOmin 19321228 2 ASG
Sety I 86, 90 Thutmosis III 66, 67, 79
Sesenebenef 55 Thutmosis IV 71, 72
Seshemu 22 Tutankhamun 79, 89, 116
shabti 50, 55, 63, 66, 68, 77, 78, 81, Tia 88
82, 84, 88, 89, 90, 91, 95, 96, 102, tiyet 78, 84
106; 107; 108, 110-15, 117-21, 123, Tjanehebu 115, 116
128, 129 Tjenetqeru-sherit 106
shabti box 78, 86, 94-6, 101, 102 Tuya 76
shen-ring 58
Sheshong 102 Unas2 i Lib. ihe
Siamen 77 uraeus 55
Snefru 16, 18, 20 urn 123
Sobekhotep 48 Userkaf-ankh 16
Sobekemhat 45
Sokar bark 131 Valley of the Kings 77, 79, 96, 106
soul house 52, 53
Soter 128, 130 Wadi Digla 2
stela 12-14, 18, 19, 37, 57, 79, 95, 96, Wah 43
HOZ MOA tT. 123 1125. 1295130 Wahibre 119, 120, 121
Sudan 109, 126 Wash-Ptah 33
Suti 89 wax 97, 106, 127, 128
weapon 5, 6, 8, 11, 37, 39, 48, 55, 61,
Ta-aat 79 62, 74, 76, 100, 101, 111
Tadja 111 wedjat-eye 30, 35, 97, 103, 114, 115,
Tanetamun 95 IAL
Tanis 94, 96, 97, 101, 114 Wendjebaendjed 98-101, 111
el-Tarif 21, 52 Wennefer 118
Tarkhan 11, 110, 111, 129 Winlock, Herbert 48
Taweret 82, 103 Wilkinson, John Gardner 65
Tell el-Daba 61, 62
Tell el-Yahudiyeh 91 Zaaset 89
Teos 121 Zawyet el-Aryan 13
Teti (king) 42, 82, 122 Zawyet Sultan 89
Teti 65, 68, 69

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