Middle Kingdom necropoleis (Egyptology)

The paper discusses a largely unpublished collection of model food offerings from an elite Middle Kingdom tomb at Dayr al-Barshā. Part of this set was found in 1900 and was assigned to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, while the remainder was excavated during the 2017 campaign of KU Leuven. The material contributes to a rare type of model food offering, made in a mix of fragile materials such as clay, linen and plaster, so far attested only at Dayr al-Barshā. The objects are brought together for the first time in this paper, and are discussed within the broader context of model food offerings of the Old and Middle Kingdoms.

_____Full reference: Long, G. (2021). A Well-stocked Kitchen. Model Food Offerings from the Middle Kingdom. In: W. Claes, M. De Meyer, M. Eyckerman & D. Huyge† (eds), Remove that Pyramid! Studies on the Archaeology and History of Predynastic and Pharaonic Egypt in Honour of Stan Hendrickx (OLA 305), Leuven: 759-806.

قليلة هي المدن التى يمكنها ان تدّعى لنفسها تاريخًا مديدًا وذائع الصيت كما لأسيوط بوسط مصر. ولأنها ظلت أهلة
بالسكان لخمسة الاف عام، علي اقل تقدير، فهى تصنف ضمن أقدم المراكز الحضرية فى العالم. لكن أسيوط بدأت الأن
فقط فى تلقى الاهتمام الأكاديمى والشعبى الذى تستحقه. وبموقعها على الحدود بين شمال مصر وجنوبها، دافعت “المدينة
الحارسة” عن الجبهة، وكانت دوما أرض المعركة الحاسمة فى صراعات القوى القديمة. وبالرغم من الصراعات، كانت منطقة
أسيوط مركزًا للتجارة والثقافة حيث تم ٳبداع عدد لا يحصى من الأعمال الفنية التي تم تقليدها على مدى ألاف من السنوات.
وقد أدت المشروعات الأثرية التعاونية، ذات الأوجه المتعددة، التي تجرى مؤخرًا في جبانة أسيوط وبلدتي شطب ومنقباد
المجاورتين إلى إلقاء ضوء جديد على تلك المنطقة التى تم تجاهلها ذات يوم. وبتقديمها لكل من الاكتشافات الأثرية والرؤى
المكتسبة من دراسة حضارة أسيوط المادية المحفوظة في المتاحف والمعاهد تهدف هذه المطبوعة ان تتشارك مع القراء حول
العالم في تقدير إنجازات أسيوط الخالدة.
تم دعم هذا العمل من خلال منحة الروابط المؤسسية ، رقم تعريفي 274662441 ، بموجب شراكة صندوق نيوتن - مشرفة.
يتم تمويل المنحة من قبل قسم الأعمال والطاقة والاستراتيجية الصناعية بالمملكة المتحدة والصندوق المصري لتنمية العلوم
والتكنولوجيا وبتنفيذ المجلس الثقافي البريطاني. لمزيد من المعلومات ، يرجى زيارة. www.newtonfund.ac.uk
صورة الغلاف: منظر باتجاه الجنوب للسهل الرسوبى من الجبل الغربى، 2014 ، إلونا ريجولسكى.

Middle Kingdom burial assemblages as well as funerary equipment from the Third Intermediate Period uncovered at the North Asasif necropolis during the recent fourth season of archaeological research in 2017 have provided important insight into the development of the necropolis during the Pharaonic era. Seven Middle Kingdom funerary complexes: tomb of Khety (TT 311), MMA 509, MMA 511, MMA 512, MMA 514, MMA 515 and tomb of Meru (TT 240) were targeted in this fieldwork. At the same time, the presence of a Coptic hermitage inside the tomb of Meru, revealed in the process of cleaning the funerary complex, demonstrated its continued use in the late Roman age.

Few cities can claim as long and illustrious a history as Asyut, in Middle Egypt. Continuously inhabited for at least five thousand years, it ranks among the world’s oldest urban centres, yet only now has Asyut begun to receive the scholarly and public attention it deserves. The ‘guardian city’ straddled the border between Upper and Lower Egypt, defending the frontier, and was often the decisive battlefield in ancient power struggles. Despite the conflict, the Asyut region was a trade emporium and cultural hub, where countless works of art were conceived and replicated for millennia. Recent collaborative, multifaceted fieldwork projects underway in the Asyut necropolis, the neighbouring village of Shutb and nearby Manqabad have shed new light on this once neglected region. Presenting both fieldwork findings and insights gained from the study of Asyut’s material culture preserved in museums and institutions, this publication aims to share an appreciation of Asyut’s outstanding achievements with readers around the world.

Paddle Dolls have been interpreted variously as concubines for the dead, as children's toys, or as figurines embodying the concept of fertility and rebirth. This article argues on the basis of eight lines of evidence that they were representations of specific living women, namely the Late Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom khener-dancers of Hathor at Deir el-Bahari. Paddle dolls have been recovered from secure archaeological contexts at very few other sites and only in small numbers, but they are frequently found at Asasif. Their tattoos resemble those found on women buried in the precinct of the mortuary temple. Likewise, their bright, patterned outfits are strikingly similar to those of one particular Theben khener-troupe of Hathor depicted in the tomb of Kenamun (TT 93). The figurines were often interred in groups, and these groups could include a young girl figurine, just as khener-troupes often included girl trainees. The figurines are also found in statistically significant numbers with clappers, harps, and mirrors, all equipment typical of khener-women. The shape of the figurines, it is argued, consciously echoes that of a menat-counterpoise, the sacred fetish of Hathor, and it is suggested that the marked emphasis on the pubic triangle is due to the role of the khener-women in reinvigorating the dead king, which they undertook in the same manner as Hathor had revived her own father, the god-king Re, in the Contendings of Horus and Seth. It is secondarily argued that virtually all of these lines of evidence also apply to the truncated female figurines typical of the Twelfth Dynasty. Hathor, "Lady of the Vulva" (nbt Htpt) and with the protection offered by this mother goddess in matters of both birth and rebirth. 9 Most commonly, however, paddle dolls are rather generically seen as "a repository of the power of human sexuality and fertility" 10 and as a potential aid for enjoying both in the next life.

El artículo presenta un estudio del complejo funerario que el visir Dagi (XI Dinastía) ordenó construir en la necrópolis tebana (TT 103), centrándose en su evolución morfológica y funcional. Para ello el trabajo se ha organizado en torno a cuatro objetivos principales: estudiar la figura del visir Dagi y caracterizar el complejo funerario en su contexto original desde una perspectiva arquitectónica, estilística y paisajística; identificar y describir las estructuras originales a partir de los restos arqueológicos conservados; reconocer los distintos usos y transformaciones del monumento a lo largo de la historia y elaborar un estudio recopilatorio del conjunto de intervenciones arqueológicas y de prevención efectuadas en el yacimiento, desde la llegada a la tumba de los primeros investigadores a finales del siglo XIX hasta la actualidad.

The toponym njw.t n.t nHH is typically translated as “City of Eternity” and its meaning accepted as synonymous with the term Xr.t-nTr “necropolis.”  However, further examination into this toponym indicates that such a generic translation is misleading, as njw.t n.t nHH, at least during the Middle Kingdom, refers specifically to the necropolis and cenotaph area associated with the Osiris-Khentyimentiu temple complex at Abydos.  Through tracing the occurrence of the toponym njw.t n.t nHH, we witness its evolution: from the original meaning denoting a specific locality to becoming synonymous with the term “necropolis,” gradually losing its specificity along the way.  This re-interpretation is especially important in the context of Middle Kingdom texts, in which the significance of the texts are altered when we consider that, rather than any necropolis, this specific Osiris-Khentyimentiu temple necropolis is the intended reference, thus incorporating previously undetected Abydene allusions into these texts.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

A recent field survey of the elite Middle Kingdom cemetery at Beni Hassan has revealed many unusual animal motifs, including examples of creatures that are rarely attested in the artistic record and entirely new scenes. Two case studies are presented to illustrate the rich zoological repertoire at the site and its potential to enlighten our understanding of the Egyptians’ intriguing relationship with the animal world. These are confirmation of a tame Egyptian mongoose represented in the Eleventh Dynasty tomb of Baqet I (no. 29) and a new image of a pelican in full color in the Eleventh Dynasty tomb of Baqet II (no. 33).

A collection of previously unpublished objects in the Manchester Museum prove to be from El Arabah Tomb E.1 discovered during Garstang’s first season of excavation in Egypt. This paper examines those objects in detail and considers their dating in comparison with comparable material. The context of the tomb within Garstang’s Cemetery E in the North Cemetery at Abydos, is discussed with the conclusion that some Intermediate Period tombs, so-called by their early excavators, may date to a transitional period between the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties and that this cultural continuity indicates that this part of the necropolis was in use for longer than has been suggested.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

Review of a very famous MK stela belonging to a "Master-sculptor" who worked in Abydos during the reign of Senwosret I, 12th dynasty.
Thanks to the long list of names, probably of his relatives or colleagues, it is possible to suggest a link with stela CGC 20063.
Read also (papers which I had not at my disposal when I had to deliver my text): Zs. Végh, Counting the Dead: Some Remarks on the Haker Festival, in Current Research in Egyptology 2009, London 2011; R. Landgrafova, It is My Good Name that You Should Remember, Praha 2011, pp. 124-126 (nr.40).

"The main point is that when one takes into account what we know about ancient Egyptian mathematics (based primarily on the Rhind Papyrus) and what we know about the system of measuring lengths in terms of "cubits," "palms," and "fingers" , everything involves  the number 7 and its multiple.

Die Reste von Schiffsfahrt-Darstellungen im Grab des Gaufürsten Sarenput I., das in der Zeit Sesostris' I. in der Nekropole auf der Qubbet el-Hawa (Nr. 36) bei Assuan eine neue Tradition großer Felsgräber begründete, 1 wurden von HANS WOLFGANG MÜLLER in seiner Monographie zu dort angelegten Gräbern publiziert. 2 Seinerzeit hat er sie mit der Darstellung der Abydosfahrt in Verbindung gebracht, 3 die vor allem von den thebanischen Gräbern geläufig ist. Wie ausgehend von meiner Bearbeitung der Abydosfahrt-Darstellungen gezeigt wird, 4 sind zwar Anhaltspunkte für eine solche Deutung nicht zu leugnen, 5 vermögen aber auch nicht völlig zu überzeugen. Mit den hier vorgetragenen Überlegungen wird der Versuch unternommen, in eine andere Richtung vorzustoßen. Diesem vorausgeschickt werden soll eine ausführliche Beschreibung, in der die Beobachtungen von H.W. MÜLLER und JACQUES VANDIER ergänzt und weitergeführt werden. Für ihre kritische Durchsicht des Manuskripts danke ich SILKE ROTH und CAROLA VOGEL. 1 Vgl. FRANKE, Heiligtum des Heqaib, 21 m. Anm. 64. Die Ausführung der Grabdekoration erfolgte wahrscheinlich im dritten Jahrzehnt der Regierungszeit Sesostris' I. Vgl. zu den Inschriften vor allem EBD., 210-214, spez. 213, und OBSOMER, Sésostris I er , 316 m. Anm. 19-20. 2 H.W. MÜLLER, Felsengräber, 38-40, Abb. 12-13, Taf. 13-14. Vgl. auch VANDIER, Manuel V, 912-914. Eine kurze Beschreibung gibt bereits DE MORGAN, Cat. des Mon.

Ouvrage disponible en libre accès sur la page de l'éditeur : https://books.openedition.org/momeditions/193

En Égypte ancienne, la mort semble être une préoccupation constante. Pour affronter cette étape tant redoutée, le dogme prévoit une existence dans l'au-delà, mais celle-ci demeure conditionnée au maintien de la mémoire des individus parmi les vivants. Chaque personne va donc tenter, en fonction de son statut et de ses capacités, de développer certaines stratégies pour rendre son propre culte éternel et garantir ainsi son immortalité.
Cette étude, fondée principalement sur l'analyse des pratiques post-inhumatoires, souhaite mettre en évidence les différents leviers qui sont utilisés en vue de pérenniser les cultes mémoriels : le choix du lieu, celui des supports et enfin – peut-être surtout – l'intégration à de multiples matrices sociales complémentaires. Car le maintien de la mémoire est avant tout affaire de société. L'individu, pour exister, se doit d'interagir avec la communauté, qu'il soit vivant ou bien mort.

La conferencia presenta una visión diacrónica de la evolución morfológica y funcional del complejo TT 103 (Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Luxor) a lo largo de los últimos cuatro mil años. Esto es, desde su construcción en el siglo XXI a.C. hasta la actualidad.
Para ello, se ha decidido plantear una exposición lineal estructurada en dos apartados principales. En una primera sección, se abordan la localización y estudio de las características y disposición del monumento en su contexto paisajístico e histórico original: complejo funerario del visir Dagi (Dinastía XI). En la segunda parte de la presentación, se procede a efectuar un análisis cronológico pormenorizado de las modificaciones estructurales y cambios en el uso de los espacios documentados en el yacimiento, haciéndose hincapié en la fase de reutilización copta del entorno entre los siglos VII y VIII, y en las alteraciones ligadas a las variadas intervenciones arqueológicas desarrolladas en el enclave a lo largo de los últimos 150 años.
De esta forma, se busca presentar un estudio de caso del complejo TT 103, que permita explicar el fenómeno de reutilización y transformación simbólico-funcional de los espacios en el siempre cambiante paisaje cultural de la necrópolis tebana.

A catalogue record for this book is avaiable from the British Library Front cover: Model of a scribe from shaft 16L25/1C (2710/144) at Deir el-Bersheh, compare colour plate XIII All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as

The decorative program of the Chapel of Hatshepsut in the temple of the queen at Deir el-Bahari, has often been compared to that in the sanctuaries of the pyramid temples of an earlier date. In the paper the depiction of the offering procession is examined, one of the components of two symmetrical offering scenes placed on the lateral walls of the Chapel. Evidence is presented for the treatment of this element in a conceptual manner, involving the inclusion of atypical elements. Their location on the walls of the Chapel can be interpreted by comparison with contemporary Eighteenth dynasty T-shaped tombs in the Theban necropolis, and in the context of the chronological sequence of the ritual acts in the Offering Ritual and the spatial disparity of their location.

ABSTRACT: This lecture aims at providing an overview of mortuary practices, customs, and beliefs during the Middle Kingdom, with a main focus on middle class to especially upper class tombs.  The lecture begins by providing a brief overview on the various basic types of Middle Kingdom elite tombs, such as mastaba tombs and rock-cut mastabas in flat areas and desert plateau tops, rock-cut tombs in the Nile Valley, and some group burial complexes on mound tops in the delta.  The lecture continues by furnishing an example of tomb chapels, their architectural components, fittings, decoration, decorative placement, various components, genres, and their significance and meaning, using the Dynasty 12 tomb of the nomarch (governor) Khnumhotep II as the main example, but adding further illustrations of ka-spirit statues, offering tables, and the Ancient Egyptian (biased) scribal views on various professions and industries in the Satire of Trades.  The last part of the lecture looks at burial chambers and their fittings, including sarcophagi, box coffins (including different styles, decoration and inscriptions, Coffin Texts, guide maps to the afterlife, etc.), anthropoid coffins, face masks, mummies, canopic jars and chests, funerary jewellery (i.e., with protective/ritual amulets), shabti figurines, statuettes, furnishings, adornment (non-ritual jewellery), cosmetic kits, games, professional and personal items (e.g., musical instruments; tool kits; hunting equipment; weaponry), models (e.g., weaponry; housing [i.e., soul houses; house model]; food; offering tables; Abydos pilgrimage boat [with a reference to tomb chapel decoration]).  The lecture ends with a series of summary text slides. UPDATED: 15 April 2023: Adding more slides/images, editing/revising, re-formatting, and adding in a section on poorer burials (Thebes; Qau; Abydos; Buhen), plus a selected bibliography at the end.

The early Middle Kingdom mortuary complexes of Khety and Meru continued to be the main research target of the Polish Archaeological Mission to North Asasif in the two winter seasons of 2018/2019 and 2020. The rubble dump on the eastern side of Khety's forecourt, left over from the 1922/1923 excavation, was now explored, leading to the discovery of hundreds of objects-fragments of wooden statues and models, cartonnages and coffins, shabti figurines and pottery-shedding light on the Middle Kingdom burial assemblages as well as the later usurpation of the tomb, mainly in the Third Intermediate Period. Conservation objectives included treatment of the decorated burial crypt and sarcophagus in the tomb of Meru and stabilization and cleaning of the plaster decoration in the mortuary cult chapel of Khety. The season in 2018/2019 was also devoted to a reconnaissance of the underground structures and protection of tomb MMA 507. Specialists studies of finds from the excavations, both recent and earlier, were continued.

In the third season of the Polish Asasif Project at the North Asasif Necropolis in West Thebes archaeological fieldwork concentrated on six of the Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs: MMA 508/TT 311, MMA 509, MMA 512, MMA 514, MMA 515 and MMA 517/TT 240. The corridors and chambers were cleared and the architecture documented and restored. A surface survey was carried out on the slope. Of greatest interest among the finds are Middle Kingdom stone-mason's tools and cartonnages from the Third Intermediate Period.

In this article, the author deals with a small inscription on a stone, discovered by Gustave Jéquier in Saqqara. This stone possibly bears the name of the owner of the so far unnamed pyramid Lepsius XLVI at the south of Saqqara. It is argued, that the pyramid was built by king Djehuti.

In the present paper, the main objectives and preliminary results of the Project Qubbet el-Hawa: Tomb 33 are detailed. During the first campaign (2008), a topographical planning of the hill was designed. The excavation focussed on the exterior of the tomb and it was excavated partially; the interior was also documented. Additionally, a geological study of the hill was carried out in order to determine the stability and design strategies of conservation. Finally,a study of the paintings of Qubbet el-Hawa was done

Investigations in the North Asasif necropolis, conducted by a team of Polish archaeologists in 2015, focused on three Middle Kingdom complexes: MMA 508/TT 311, MMA 511, and MMA 517/TT 240. A surface collection of finds from the courtyards was studied and prepared for storage, and artifacts from inside the tombs were documented. The overall picture of illicit penetration of the complexes in later periods and their reuse, mainly in the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period, is supported by the finds. Moreover, proof of the presence of Coptic monks was found in tomb MMA 517/TT 240.

Excavations in the area of tomb MMA 1152 at Sheikh Abd el-Gurna, conducted since 2003, have uncovered a substantial set of faience objects coming from burials made there during the later Pharaonic Period, before the tomb became a hermitage for Coptic monks. Analysis of the material points to several episodes of reuse of the original Middle Kingdom structure in the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period.

In the 2013/2014 season, a Polish team from the University of Wrocław started work in the northern part of the Asasif necropolis, near the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari. An archaeological survey was carried out on the Asasif slope. Cleaning work and documentation were undertaken of the architecture of four private tombs: MMA 509/TT 312, MMA 512, MMA 513/TT 314 and MMA 514, as well as the archaeological finds thereof. The rock-cut tombs belong to a Middle Kingdom necropolis and were all reused in later times, especially in the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period.

In the Late Predynastic/ Early Dynastic renderings of carrying chairs, the persons seated in them are identified
as female members of the royal family. Opposite to it, during the Old Kingdom, out of few dozens of the
attested non-royal owners of carrying chairs, only four were women. The scene representing Sesh[seshet], in the
tomb of her husband Remni at Saqqara was scrutinized. The re-examination of iconographic distinction between
two types of carrying chairs, Sitzsänfte and Hocksänfte, resulted in identification of the woman’s cube-seat as a
carrying chair. The elements the scene consists of, its composition and relationship to other themes in the
decoration of the tomb, all point to the work of a highly accomplished artist.

ABSTRACT: This lecture examines mid-late Dynasty 11, starting with Montuhotep II, the conflict with the rival northern kingdom (the Herakleopolitans), and reunification.  The lecture poses and attempts to address various questions: Why did the Theban kingdom feel the need to reunite all of Egypt? (i.e., a return to glory days of ED-OK Egypt? Ancestral linkage to OK? Abydos?); How did the Theban kingdom (i.e., Montuhotep II) reunify all Egypt? ca.2040 BC?; What territories did the northern enemy kingdom control? Middle Egypt only?; What evidence is used to recreate this process of re-unification? Texts? Archaeology?; Having re-unified all Egypt, what else did Montuhotep II do, if at all, to recreate/draw upon the “Old Kingdom”?; (i.e., subduing frontier peoples; grand building projects; adopting Old Kingdom art forms); How did Montuhotep II reward his followers? loyal officials within Southern Egypt?; How did Montuhotep II treat the defeated enemy ruler(s) & northern governors?; What evidence do we have for preferential treatment of Southern Egyptians?; What major innovation occurs regarding Montuhotep II’s mortuary complex? (i.e., How is it similar to and dissimilar to Old Kingdom pyramid complexes?); What evidence do we have for the last rulers of Dynasty 11? Montuhotep III-IV?; How does Dynasty 11 end? Why does it disintegrate? No heir? Civil war? Etc.; What important data can we glean from the surviving Middle Kingdom literary sources? (i.e., Using diverse textual sources appropriately as “historical sources”).  The Heqanakht papers/letters provide a reference to famine and cannibalism (to the south of Thebes), and also daily life intrigues, household administration, and farming practices in southern Egypt. The lecture also provides an example of some Coffin texts using the tomb of Nakht-Ankh, and summarizes important pieces of Middle Kingdom literature, with a focus on two pieces for student reading (e.g., Tale of the Eloquent Peasant [i.e., regional trade; justice; law]; Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor [sailing; Red Sea; Punt]). UPDATED: April 7, 2023: This lecture was edited, reformatted in some areas, and had a few new slides added (especially in a selected bibliography at the end).

Dès les premières dynasties, des recensements ont été entrepris par le pouvoir pharaonique. Ces dénombrements concernaient différentes denrées, productions et main-d’œuvre. La documentation du Moyen-Empire signale l’existence de bureaux et de fonctionnaires responsables de ces actions. En parallèle, des opérations de grande envergure furent menées à travers le pays, sous la surveillance de hauts fonctionnaires envoyés par le roi en province, dans le but d’inventorier certaines ressources.