Middle Kingdom necropoleis (Egyptology)

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.

In the present contribution, the statues found in Sarenput II's funerary complex are analyzed. One of them (BM 98 & BM 1010) was found by Budge inside the chapel; the second one was unearthed by Edel in the exterior and attributed to this governor. However, new data coming to the neighboring tomb QH33 permit us to suggest that in reality this statue was originally prepared to Heqaib III or Ameny-Seneb

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.

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.

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.

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.

The use of satellite images has seen considerably advancement
over the past ten years. However, the increasingly
popular utilization of remote sensing tools
demands some caution, because in the past various
cases of hypotheses followed by announcements in
the media about new discoveries have been rather
carelessly promoted. Despite the skepticism that has
occasionally been generated, the use of this method
of detection is highly valuable especially for the preliminary
observations and planning stages of new archaeological
survey and excavation work. In addition to providing high-resolution images of Egypt, online and free of charge, the well-known Google Earth© software offers the possibility to
‘move back in time’ and to obtain different images of
the same site over a period of about ten years. The
comparison of all these images often shows to what
extent the very recent urban and agricultural developments
have affected and frequently obscured the
archaeological remains, but it should not be limited
to the evaluation of the impact of recent destructions
and occasional looting activities.
During some monitoring activity carried out in
the region north of the Dahshur lake, the comparison
and partial enhancement of about twenty satellite
images has led to the discovery of a recurring and important
anomaly probably corresponding to the harbor
of the mortuary complex of Amenemhat III in the
southern Dahshur necropolis (Fig. 1), which might be
the first basin discovered in association with a pyramid
complex for the Middle Kingdom.

In 2009 the shaft of governor Djehutinakht IV or V at Dayr al-Barshā was re-excavated. This tomb with its well-preserved funerary equipment had been discovered by George Reisner in 1915, and most of its contents are housed at the MFA in Boston. While the primary objective was the documentation of the architecture of the tomb, a deposit was found inside the shaft that had not been touched by Reisner. Bones belonging to ducks and cranes and pottery inside this deposit form the sole surviving remnants of food offerings in the burial of this Middle Kingdom governor. In addition, a number of human remains that had been carefully placed in the eastern side chamber of the shaft may have belonged to the governor’s wife, also named Djehutinakht.
Publication in 2 parts, second part to appear as: De Meyer, M., V. Linseele, S. Vereecken, and L.J. Williams, 'Fowl for the Governor. The Tomb of Governor Djehutinakht IV or V at Dayr al-Barshā Reinvestigated. 2: Pottery, Human Remains, and Faunal Remains,' JEA 99 (2013).

Although mummification is assumed to have been a common practice during the mid-late Middle Kingdom, there are no confirmed examples of so-called " embalming deposits " – intentional deposits of waste created during the mummifica-tion process – from cemeteries of this period. The only Middle Kingdom deposits of this type date to the early Middle Kingdom and come from the The-ban necropolis. This paper examines the archaeology of a hitherto overlooked group of intentional cemetery deposits from the mid-late Middle Kingdom and explores the possibility that the deposits might represent an alternative tradition of embalming or deposition of embalming waste.

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.

The main aim of the present communication is to publish a preliminary study of a group of new graffiti found at Garb Aswan South during the Archaeological Mission carried out in November 2005. As will be seen, the range and the date of the graffiti are heterogeneous; many of them are dated to the Predynastic period, but others are Pharaonic and even later. We shall also report on and discuss some undated depictions.

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).

Middle Kingdom Theban Project. Documentation and publication of late Eleventh Dynasty and Middle Kingdom tombs at Thebes.
The Middle Kingdom Theban Project will focus on the conservation, reconstruction and management of the tombs of Henenu, Harhotep and Ipi (TT 313, TT 314, TT 315): landscape, architecture, decoration, texts, and findings from each tomb, etc. We will also focus on the role of the tomb owners in the historical circumstances of Thebes at this time. The project aims at the documentation, study and publication of the three monuments.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

A number of Late Middle Kingdom monuments (mostly stelae) from Abydos can be attributed to the residents of Antaeopolis. Supposedly, the stelae were carved in Antaeopolite workshops, then brought to Abydos, some 90 km south of Antaeopolis, and installed in the Abydene votive zone. Stylistic and palaeographic grounds for such an attribution are provided by the study of Qaw el-Kebîr rock-tombs, objects provenient from excavations at Qaw el-Kebîr and a number of stelae known to belong to officials from Antaeopolis. The following features are characteristic of the workshops of Antaeopolis: the offering table depicted on the stelae has massive bolsters at the bottom and at the top of its stand; the sign Z4 is represented by two vertical lines || (especially in such words as jmꜢḫj and Nmtjwj); neither of the stelae has wḏꜢt-eyes in the lunette; chairs depicted on the stelae often have straight legs; lotus-flowers have elongated S-shaped stems. Six sets (i. e. workshops) of Abydene monuments from Antaeopolis with distinctive features are proposed.

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).

Die umfassende Monographie führt erstmals alle heute bekannten Belege von Darstellungen in Gräbern, die sich chronologisch vom Alten Reich bis zur griechisch­römischen Epoche erstrecken, mit den Werken antiker Autoren und modernen medizinischen Erkenntnissen zusammen und zeichnet einen idealtypischen Verlauf eines altägyptischen Bestattungsrituals nach. Als Grundlage dienen Darstellungen aus 278 Grabstätten.

Der erste Teil umfasst die Bearbeitung des Bestattungs­rituals vom Tod eines Individuums bis zur Grablegung. In diesem Abschnitt wird auch das im zweiten Teil dargebotene und chronologisch geordnete Material ausgewertet. Als Ausgangsbasis wird ein Einblick in die verschiedenen Quellen und die Entstehung der Mumifizierungstechniken von der Vorzeit bis in die Koptische Epoche Ägyptens geboten. Der Kern des ersten Teiles rekonstruiert den idealtypischen Ablauf und geht auf die zahlreichen Varianten ein. Ebenso folgt eine Übersicht über die beteiligten Priester sowie die vorhandenen Belege, die Preise für eine Bestattung nennen. Hiernach wird auf die Dauer einer Bestattung eingegangen. Wird für diese gewöhnlich eine Zeitspanne von 70 Tagen genannt, ergibt ein genauerer Blick auf die zur Verfügung stehenden ägyptischen Quellen das Bild einer mindestens 74 Tage dauernden Prozedur vom Tod bis zur Grablegung, wobei ebenso Belege zur Verfügung stehen, die für eine noch weitaus längere Prozedur sprechen.

Die Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse zeigt deutlich, welche Teile der verschiedenen Riten im alten Ägypten als essen­tiell wichtig erachtet wurden und andere Partien Pars pro Toto vertreten konnten.

The Roman town of Antinoopolis preserved an ancient monument, a temple built by Ramesses II. During the last century many scholars tried to identify a place-name for a Pharaonic settlement, without substantial results. From the Ptolemaic period the existence of a settlement is very probable, but it was surely not that shadowy Besa, which cannot be found. No useful indication in the temple itself, which shows a very high number of gods, from the sorrounding provinces and national gods as well, mostly from Heliopolis. The actual meaning of the temple has to be searched for, and as it was built in a place where only some quarries and small cemeteries from the Proto-dynastic period and the Middle Kingdom are (so far) extant, a name for a little settlement, if any, could be found only by chance.

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.

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.

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.

There are a lot of archeological discoveries, which can be listed as proof for a large number of dateable pyramids at the end of the Middle Kingdom or the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period. Some of these were already mentioned and identified by Karl Richard Lepsius. Unfortunately only a few owners of these pyramids are known, who are attested by philological sources. Nevertheless, these tombs are certainly dateable to the thirteenth dynasty. Some other sepulchres can apparently be dated to the successive time of the twelfth dynasty based on a typological comparison between the subterranean tructures and the pyramids of the last rulers of the Middle Kingdom. The present article collects all of the so far attested tombs and pyramids alloted to the thirteenth dynasty and seeks to collect and sort the various sources, which can help to attribute the tombs to this dynasty or reassign them to another period.

The necropolis of Asyut has provided one of the most abundant ranges of wooden funerary material dating from the early Middle Kingdom; the quality and distinctive features of these products support the hypothesis of a regional artistic school. Today, the Asyutfindsare mainly dividedacross three large European Egyptological collections (British Museum, Louvre, and Museo Egizio in Turin).Together they shed new lighton a major craft activity in early second millennium BC Egypt. Combining the study of manufacturing techniques, materials and stylistic features of this production, the local specificities will be examined in order to highlight its evolution, to define dating criteria, and to assess the origin of thecraftsmen.

Preliminary account of a research dealing with the so-called 'writing-board stelae', wooden tablets with painted decoration and a formula for the god Sokar in hieratic writing. The A. supports their dating from the early Middle Kingom.
See now G. Rosati, 'Writing-board Stelae' with Sokar- formula: A preliminary account, in G. Miniaci, W. Grajetzki (eds.), The World of Middle Kingdom Egypt, vol. II, London 2016.

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.

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.