Anth 309 PPT Lecture 18 Part 2 Old Kingd

ANT 309:
Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids

(Predyn.–Second Intermediate Period: 5,000-1550 BC)
Lecture 18: Part-2:

Dyns.4-6: Private tombs, cults, burials
© Notes & images compiled by Gregory Mumford 2023
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(Continuing) selected questions regarding non-royal tombs and graves?
• Are there other types of middle-upper class tombs that emerge in OK Egypt?
• Why do such apparently “different” tombs emerge? Are they really so different?
• How did tomb builders and owners try to combat tomb robbery/robbers?
• What sorts of texts and decoration are found in middle-upper class tombs?
• In what ways were these tombs decorated? i.e., Painting? Relief work? Etc.
• How did the Ancient Egyptian artists’ portray various things?
• What sorts of decorative themes have emerged from Old Kingdom tombs?
• What is the significance of the various decoration found throughout the tomb?
• What else can we say about the tomb architecture and its significance?
• What different types of burial chambers are found? Decorated vs. undec.?
• What are non-royal sarcophagi like? i.e., “stone coffins” (rectilinear boxes)
• What are non-royal coffins like? i.e., “wooden coffins” (rectilinear boxes)
• What are the typical mortuary furnishings (burial goods) in elite tombs?
• What do middle class and lower class tombs & graves look like?
→ Summary points from parts 1-2.
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Architecture:
Rock-cut tombs
Old Kingdom elite tombs:
Rock-cut tomb appearance & popularity:
- Rock-cut tombs 1st appear mid-Dyn.4+
- Khafre’s queens & royal family members
were assigned rock-cut tombs in Khufu’s
quarry face at the Giza plateau.
- Other Old Kingdom rock-cut tombs
appear at Saqqara.
- Most rock-cut tombs, however, occur
in the Nile Valley where desert cliffs
flank the Nile Valley flood plain.
- In essence, rock-cut tombs contained all
the components found in mastaba tombs,
simply being a chapel, shaft & burial
chamber cut from bedrock versus being
partly “built-up.”
- Further, rock-cut tombs = more durable:
i.e., People = more apt to reuse blocks
from mastabas, whilst rock-cut tombs
retained chapel components intact.
Dyn.4 Giza: Rock-cut tomb of Khunera (in quarry terraces).
• Interior rock-cut chapel yielded two niches and an offering chapel; tomb shaft.
• Exterior eastern rock-face sculpted into a batter/slope (resembling mastabas).
• Two types: (a) 2-room plan (N-S rm; E-W rm); (b) cruciform plan & E-W rooms.
Rock-cut tomb appearance & popularity:
- Although rock-cut tombs began
as burials for members of the immediate
royal household, some Dyn.4 officials
adopted using rock-cut tombs in
the Nile Valley: e.g., Tehna.
- Rock-cut tombs became more common
for provincial officials by late Dyn.5.
Elephantine rock-cut tomb of Harkhuf

Rock-cut tomb distribution in Egypt:
- Parts of Egypt that lacked available
rock faces, including the delta &
much of W. Desert oases, continued
using mud brick mastabas and stone-
lined burial chambers.
- Some Nile Valley towns lay in areas
lacking nearby cliff faces, such as Edfu
and Dendera, thereby maintaining
mastaba tombs for the elite.
- However, both rock-cut tombs and
mastabas continued side-by-side
throughout pharaonic era.
- In some cases where rock faces were
available, a high official might select
a mastaba tomb:
E.g., One provincial governor at
Deshasha chose a mastaba tomb form,
whilst his predecessors had preferred
rock-cut tombs.
Rock-cut tomb & mastaba components:
- Both rock-cut tombs and mastabas
shared the basic components
required for elite tombs:
(a). A public area: tomb chapel with
1+ rooms.
(b). An offering area for the false door.
(c). An area for the ka-statue

(mastaba = serdab).
(d). A store chamber for supplies.
(e) 1+ shafts leading to a burial chamber.
(f) 1+ burial chambers below the tomb

chapel.
Rock-cut tomb & mastaba components:
- The direct derivation of rock-cut tombs
from elite mastaba tomb designs is
illustrated by the presence of structurally
unnecessary features in rock-cut tombs:
- E.g., Many rock-cut tomb chapel contain
lines of pillars with architraves.
- Such rock-cut architraves and pillars
are entirely unneeded structurally:
Many rock-cut tombs in poor bedrock
would either lose their pillars, or need
to omit pillars, or introduce pillars.
- Pillared halls in both mastabas and
rock-cut tomb chapels often imitate
granite roofing slabs.
- Hence, the concept of a pillared hall
is related more firmly to the notion of
imitating house hallways, rather than
a structural need –i.e., other than roofing
a larger open space in mastaba tombs.
Rock-cut tomb adaptations from mastabas:
- Unlike mastaba tombs, most rock-cut
tombs have 1 main chamber with pillars.
- A fully enclosed serdab chamber could
not be cut from bedrock: Req. a modified
approach: one option = simply building a
wall across a niche to enclose the
ka-statues.
- Most rock-cut tombs, however, simply
adopted including a rock-cut ka-statue
in an open chamber, instead of an
enclosed serdab chamber.
- The very rock-cut nature of the ka-statue
ensured a measure of security from
removal/reuse, other than vandalism.
- Like mastabas, some rock-cut tombs
had many ka-statues:
E.g., Memi at Akhmim had 24 statues
E.g., Kaherptah at Giza had 29 statues
Rock-cut mastaba tombs: Bedrock outcrop
sculpted into a
- Some officials combined both the rock- mastaba tomb
cut & mastaba tomb concept in certain
areas:
- Various rock outcrops are shaped into
a mastaba-shaped tomb superstructure
with sloping/battered sides, a chapel,
and other features.
Less common form of O.K. tomb:

a rock-cut mastaba
Dyn.4+ leap in concept:
Presumably in quarrying stone for
private mastaba tombs, somebody
suggested “why not simply cut the
tomb from the quarry”: → save time!”
The advantages of rock-cut tombs:
- The distinct advantage for rock-cut tomb
lay in their not requiring any stone
from quarries.
- In fact, rock-cut tombs were special
quarries, generating some stone for
diverse uses elsewhere.
- Otherwise, all required stone elements Elephantine: rock-cut tombs
could & would be cut from the bedrock.
- For areas containing poor quality
bedrock, this could be plastered and
painted, or even carved with scenes in
incised/relief work.
- For some rock-cut tombs placed in
very poor bedrock, higher quality
stones were used to line the chapel
to enable the carving of scenes.
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Tomb robbery:
security measures
Tomb robbery:
- The frequency of tomb robbery led tomb
architects to add new features at times
to secure the burial chamber & contents.
E.g., Tomb of Hem-Min at Akhmim:
- This tomb’s burial chamber incorporated
a false burial chamber with a rock-cut
sarcophagus (at end of 10 m passage).
- A 10 m deep burial shaft & lower burial
chamber lay concealed in corner of the
completed upper decoy burial chamber.
- 3 officials copied his decoy chamber,
but these innovative features failed to
deter tomb robbers, who appeared
to know exactly where to look.
- In fact, Hem-Min’s tomb was apparently
robbed before the final sealing of the
lower chamber and shaft (presumably
by the hired burial party).
Tomb robbery:
-Other tomb robbers cut tunnels straight
to the subterranean burial chambers of
other mastaba tombs, revealing that
they knew their exact locations.
- In situations where sarcophagi lids were
too tricky to remove, tomb robbers often
cut through the sarcophagus’ head end,
Robbing the dead for “treasure”
removing the deceased’s head to get the
neck jewellery: some bodies reveal that
heads were removed soon after burial.
- Almost all private tombs = robbed,
most being plundered following burial.
- The evidence suggests that the tomb
robbers were closely associated with
the workers who cut & built these tombs,
and presumably had links with the
necropolis guards as well.
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Design changes.
Tomb feature chronology:
- Naturally, over time new features appear
and form datable components in the
overall tomb design:
- From early Dyn.5 to early Dyn.6, elite
mastaba tomb chapels tend to maximize Dyn.5: Mastaba tomb
interior space: i.e., more rooms appear. of Vizier Ptahshepses
- In late Dyn.5 & later, false doors receive
a torus moulding & cavetto cornice at the
top, which becomes a standard feature. N
- In Dyn.5, the rectilinear offering room
tends to lie along a north-south axis.
- In early Dyn.6 (Teti), the offering room
changes alignment to an East-West axis.
- At the end of Teti’s reign, & later, tombs
adopt either a N-S or E-W axis in their
offering chambers.
- Mastaba tombs adopt a staircase to the
roof top briefly in late Dyn.5-early Dyn.6.
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Tomb
scenes & texts:
Tomb scenes, texts, and artisans:
- The scenes adorning mastaba & rock-
cut tomb chapels had / probably had
practical applications:
(a). Various specific elements were
definitely present to aid the deceased
achieve and maintain their afterlife.
(b).Other more generic elements appear OK siege warfare
to commemorate the tomb-owner’s
diverse achievements in life.
Artists and craftsmen:
- The realm/profession of art+sculpture
was definitely restricted to males in
Ancient Egypt (in professional areas).
- The state, temple, and mortuary artists
appear to have followed set rules and
conventions regarding themes,
image layout, and other stylistic
conventions. Dn.6 Tomb of Pepyankh: painting statue
Tomb artisan training & works:
- This apparent rigid training to mass-
produce particular conventions & themes
was aimed at persons who usually had
minimal natural artistic tendencies, but
also had some variously gifted artists.
- Since most occupations were hereditary,
from father to son, and divided along
social lines, the art schools had to
employ many workers who had minimal
art skills, but still needed to achieve
a certain standard in form and style.
- From this restricted pool of workers & “The painter Seni says:
artists, they always did find a few It was I who decorated
exceptional artists, whose work is the tomb of Count Knehi,
recognized & appears in various and it was I also who
private tombs.
decorated this tomb,
I being alone.”
Dyn.6 Tomb of Kaihep at Hawawish
- By using master artists & architects to
lay out the placement of themes,
designs, inscriptions, and other aspects
of the tomb chapel decoration, the less
skilled artists and workers = able to
concentrate upon more labour-intensive
chores:
- Cutting back surfaces in relief work,
- Painting colours within figure outlines,
- Other things (under strict supervision),
- Often multiple persons worked on one
figure, or composition, i.e., a single wall
scene, a single statue, etc.
- Most figures and sculptures were
stereotypical, with only the faces,
especially for prime figures, requiring
special artistic abilities.
- These sculptors and painters formed
a special sub-section in the scribal
school, especially since producing
sculpture, painting & inscriptions formed
integral parts of most compositions.
- In fact, Ancient Egyptian painters had
the title Sesh qedwet, which translates
literally as “scribe of the shapes/forms,”
demonstrating that they = considered
part of the scribal school.
- Despite the regular use of many artists
to produce the scenes and texts in
many private-royal tombs, ...
- some tombs contain the boasts of
their individual artists who were Old Kingdom:
specifically commissioned: Seated statuette of a scribe
with his kilt stretched taut, forming
SEE PREVIOUS SLIDE a writing platform on which papyrus lies
(scribal statues look down at papyrus)
In the Dyn.6 Tomb of Kaihep, at
Hawawish, a brief text and figure of the
tomb artist appears near the tomb owner:
“The painter Seni says:
It was I who decorated
the tomb of Count Knehi,
and it was I also who
decorated this tomb,
I being alone.”
- Hence, the Ancient Egyptians definitely
acknowledged & desired the work of
individual master artists, who worked
within the cultural conventions & themes,
- However, such artists could still achieve
high levels of individual achievement
and innovation, especially within the
details and the treatment of secondary
figures & scenes
(= more freedom of expression here).
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Decoration:
Relief & painting.
Decorative techniques in tombs:
- The elite tombs reveal a preference for
having scenes & text carved in relief
(which required quality Tura limestone).
- The simple painting of scenes is
obtained by less affluent tomb owners,
who could not afford the more time-
consuming & expensive low relief
CARVED
figures & texts: But art = still excellent.
slab-stela
- In tombs containing poor quality stone, Wepem-
the plaster coating ranged from Nofret D4
(a). a fine gypsum/lime plaster, Painted plaster
to
(b). a cruder thick gypsum plaster.
Dyn.4 Meidum geese (Nefermaat & Atet)
Painted outlines & compositions:
- The initial figures would be sketched in
red pigment.
- The master artist would correct any
errors in black pigment.
- The apprentice artists would colour-in,
or begin to incise/sculpt, the appropriate
parts of the outlined figure.
- The master artist would next add the
final black outline around the figure
and the details within the figure.
Old Kingdom elite tombs: Techniques for cutting raised relief
Relief work included:
(a). Incised lines: a cut outline with
a few in interior details.
An excellent technique for contrasting
light & shadow
Used in exterior scenes.
(b). Sunken relief: an incised outline
(body) with modelled/sculpted
interior details.
Excellent for controlling light & shadow
Found primarily in exterior
compositions
(c). Raised relief: The surface is cut back
around each figure & hieroglyph,
with everything projecting from the
surface & being modelled.
It was very labour intensive.
This type of carving best suited for
interior work.
Carved and painted raised relief on Tura limestone
Colours/pigments:
- The Egyptian colour palette was
relatively limited, but they achieved
a broader range by increasing
or decreasing water content.
Iron oxides produced red-brown &
yellow
Copper frit produced blue & green
Whitewash produced white
Soot/charcoal produced black.
The % of water added → created broad

changes in tone.
- The Egyptian artists could use tone
variation/shading to indicate shadowing
on the body, shading, giving some
indication of depth. Dyn.6: Seankhuiptah’s tomb: shading
Dyn.4: Tomb of Nefermaat and Atet: Some special paste-filled incised figures.
-Sufficiently accurate paintings to identify a particular species of migratory
geese non-indigenous to Egypt (“Meidum geese”).
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Decoration:
Art styles.
Old Kingdom elite tombs: Tomb of Ti:
Tomb art styles and motifs: showing a
- The artists drew each body part using person in
the most recognizable view/feature profile, yet
on a component-by-component basis. attempting
- Hence, figures did not actually appear to retain ea.
as one might see them in real life, element in
but as a composite whole of various regular view
parts one would recognize individually.
- Other items would also be drawn as
one might recognize them most easily:
E.g., A pool surrounded by trees would
be drawn as a aerial view of a pool
(as one might look down at it), with
each tree laid out in profile on each side
- In the last example, the Egy. would
never have had such an aerial view of
the pool (other than from a house top),
but anyone viewing the drawing would
know what each symbol meant, and
thereby could recognize the whole. Typical pharaonic view of garden pool
Tomb art styles and motifs:
- The primary figures also governed the
placement & size of surrounding items:
(a). The main figure was the most
important & thereby the largest
figure (i.e., échelon perspective).
(b). The main figure could not be
obscured, requiring that any
secondary figure beside it
might have part of it obscured
by the main figure:
i.e., a rough “rule” for overlapping
items, that is applied poorly → well
(the artist here dealt poorly with trying
to show the couples seated together).
Tomb figure perfection vs. affliction:
- The male tomb owner was normally
shown in an ideal physical form.
- Male tomb owners could also often
appear in a more elderly-affluent stage
in life, with a sagging breast and
bulging stomach.
- Perhaps in an effort to augment
recognition by the ka-spirit, various Dyn.6: Mereruka in two different
male tomb owners incorporated stages in life: youth versus elderly.
a set of figures of themselves in the
2 main stages in life: youthful & elderly.
- In contrast, female tomb owners, and/or
wives, very rarely had themselves shown
in anything other than an ideal physical
state.
i.e., portrayals of elderly elite females
are quite rare (for the primary figure).
Tomb figure perfection vs. affliction:
- However, the secondary figures in
private tombs = portrayed much more
realistically:
(a). Old age
(b). Baldness
(c). Disabilities
(d). Numerous different postures
(e). Wit and humour Dyn.4:
- Regarding primary figures & sculptures,
they would be produced within the broad
conventions of the Old Kingdom/culture,
BUT they would attempt to display the
main traits characterizing the
tomb owner, wife, etc.:
E.g., A large nose; prominent lips;
chin shape; etc.
Canon of proportions, etc.:
- Major figures & some secondary figures
were laid out using a vertical guide line,
and 8 horizontal guide-lines in
Old Kingdom art:
1. Crown-of-head line
2. Hair line
3. Neck-shoulder line
4. Arm pit line
5. Elbow line
6. Mid/lower buttocks line
7. Knee line (just below kilt)
?. (Mid-lower leg line)
8. Register line lies below feet level
E.g., Dyn.6: Sneferuhotep (at Giza)
E.g., Dyn.6: Nedjetempet (Teti cem.) ? ?
Dyn.5 Saqqara:
Tomb Chapel of Akhethotep
Note: artist’s guidelines (in red).
Dyn.6: guidelines to assist in laying out figures & maintaining proportions
Giza Tomb of Sneferuhotep (Dyn.6).
Canon of proportions, etc.:
Skin, garments, and other tones:
- Male skin-tone is painted red-brown
- Males placed overlapping in a row
alternate between darker & lighter skin.
- Female skin-tone is painted yellow.
- Females placed overlapping in a row
alternate between darker & lighter skin.
- Nubians have darker brown skin tones.
- Asiatics have lighter reddish-yellow skin.
- Textiles will vary in colour & patterning,
but linen is common and white.
-Thin/semi-translucent linen = indicated
by diluting the white until underlying
skin tones show through linen garment. Crocodile hide indicated by shading
- Animal skins, hides, fur, feathers, scales,
etc. is shown as accurately as possible,
including texturing.
Applications of register lines:
- Most wall scenes contained registers of
similar heights.
- Registers could be subdivided into
smaller rows to enable simultaneous
events to be portrayed beside a larger
primary, or a more important figure.
- Some register lines are short and allow
a small scene to be inserted within a
higher register row and scene.
- Some tomb wall scenes = arranged
logically by topics:
e.g., Agriculture; riverine activity;
recreation.
- Other tomb wall scenes = seemingly
random selections of different genres.
- The only uniting component tends to
be the adjacent large figure of the tomb
owner observing such activities/themes.
Applications of register lines:
- Some registers enable the depiction of
a series of stages in an activity:
e.g., ploughing; sowing; reaping; etc.
- OK scenes often indicate initial stages
in a series of actions in upper register.
- Some upper registers may indicate the
distance away from the viewer, via an Background
adjacent figure of the tomb owner who
spans several registers.
- Many drawings are quite accurate,
showing details such as:
(a). Feathering, scales, etc. Foreground
(b). Texture of hides,
(c). Sufficient details to identify species
- Egy. art tends to leave little empty space,
filling the upper parts of scenes with text:
E.g., Identifying captions: names, titles,
and dialogue.
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Decoration:
Themes on walls.
Tomb decoration themes/genres:
- It is not certain how the text & scenes
were selected for each tomb.
- Presumably the tomb owner decided:
considering both his financial means &
the required-optional genres that could
fit within his specific tomb chapel.
- In all likelihood, costs could rise or fall
depending on desired quality & quantity
of scenes: i.e., time, materials, & labour.
- Regarding the final selection of particular
scenes & genres, it is likely that the tomb
owner, & poss. son completing the tomb,
consulted with the tomb’s architect,
priests, artisans & other advisors, to see
how best to decorate the tomb.
- It is also poss. that existing tomb chapel
dec. may have influenced one’s choice,
including imitations of well-liked chapels. Selecting scenes & text for the chapel:
Size of area, dec. quality, cost & time
- Some scene genres appear to be
generic to most time periods and
cemeteries throughout pharaonic Egypt
(a). Rural life scenes
(b). Fishing scenes
(c). Fowling scenes
(d). Hunting scenes
(e). Funeral scenes
- Although these common genres
continue with similar compositions,
many vary in their specific details.
- Hence, no scene really duplicates
another in specific details, revealing that
the artists followed gen. expectations /
subject matters, rather than a set scene
from a pattern book.
Old Kingdom elite tombs: Dyn.6: Wife
Tomb decoration themes/genres: playing harp
- The various broad genres of scenes for husband
found in tomb chapels include:
(1). The tomb owner (with his family),
Scenes with family affection.
(2). Rural life scenes:
Peasants;
Fruits and vegetables;
Caring for animals.
(3). Outdoor sports:
Fishing;
Fowling;
Water games;
Desert hunting.
(4). Professions & industries: Dyn.6: Tomb of Shedu at Deshasha
Carpentry;
Metalworking;
Wine production;
Brewing and bread-making;
Leatherworking & pottery production;
Old Kingdom Society and Economy: Elite viewing his estate.
Economic unit - Agriculture (crops; grape pressing; livestock)
- Hunting in desert; Fishing in marshes
- Industry: Boat-building
- Recreation (games; boating competitions)
Dyn. 5 (Tomb of Ptahhotep): Ptahhotep viewing daily activities on his estates.

Dyn.5 Saqqara: Tomb of Ti. Flute player entertaining harvesters.
- The various broad genres of scenes
found in tomb chapels include:
(1). The tomb owner (with his family),
Scenes with family affection.
(2). Rural life scenes:
Peasants;
Fruits and vegetables;
Caring for animals.
(3). Outdoor sports:
Fishing;
Fowling;
Water games;
Dyn.6: Ptahhotep’s tomb at Saqqara
Desert hunting.
(4). Professions & industries:
Carpentry;
Metalworking;
Wine production;
Brewing and bread-making;
Dyn.5 Saqqara: Tomb of Ti. Workshop scene with statue carving.
Carving in
wood
Dyn.5 Saqqara:
Tomb of Ti.
Carpenters sawing lumber.
Middle Kingdom wooden

model: detail of sawing wood
Dyn.5 Saqqara: Tomb of Ti. Producing staffs (pressure-bending).
(4). Professions & industries (cont.’):
Spinning and weaving;
Bee keeping (honey production);
Warriors and warfare;
Doctors and medicine;
Scribes and writing;
Market scenes.
(5). Recreation:
Music and dancing;
Board games.
(6). Funerary rites:
Embalming;
Processions;
Opening of the mouth rite
Funerary meal;
Security (of the tomb)
Dyn.5 Saqqara: Tomb of Ti. Punishment scene.
(4). Professions & industries (cont.’) :
Spinning and weaving;
Bee keeping (honey production);
Warriors and warfare;
Doctors and medicine;
Scribes and writing;
Market scenes.
(5). Recreation:
Music and dancing;
Board games.
(6). Funerary rites:
Embalming;
Processions;
Opening of the mouth rite
Funerary meal;
Security (of the tomb) Dyn.6: Pepyankh tomb: funerary rites
(7). Afterlife scenes:
Scenes of the afterlife (rare in OK)
(8). Incidental themes:
Siege warfare
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
Decoration
Significance:
Old Kingdom elite tombs: Early Old Kingdom: Giza burial chamber
Significance of tomb decoration: of Seshemu “Overseer
of the storerooms of
Burial chambers: the palace”
- The burial chamber is decorated mostly
by various high-ranking officials in
late Dyn.5 through Dyn.6 (& later).
- Otherwise, most burial chambers
remained undecorated in this period.
CONTENTS:
Coffin
4 canopic jars
20 pottery jars
Set of model copper tools
Dyn.6: Burial chamber of Idut at Saqqara Necklace: Gold wire with
(one of a relatively few decorated ones) beads (at his neck).
Late Dyn.5 Giza: Tomb of Kakherptah.
Deceased before banquet table and offering list.
Is the duplication & subsequent transfer of some chapel scenes to the burial
chamber based on observed deterioration in tomb chapels? Extra insurance?
Significance of tomb decoration:
Kaemankh’s Tomb at Giza (Dyn.5):
(a). North Wall (burial chamber):
- Sailing and transportation boats;
- Geese, birds; processing birds for food;
- Baking bread & brewing beer;
- Large numbers of storage jars.
(b). West Wall (burial chamber):
- Agricultural activity; Dyn.5 Giza: Kaemankh W & N wall
- Tending to livestock;
- Storage of various materials;
- Boat building scenes;
- Gathering papyrus.
(c). South Wall (burial chamber):
- Manufacturing a bed and furniture;
- Music and dancing;
- Killing oxen;
- Heaps of offerings.
(d). East Wall (burial chamber):
- Offering bearers & offering list.
Kakherptah’s Tomb at Giza (Dyn.5):
(a) East Wall (burial chamber):
- Seated tomb owner at banquet table;
- Adjacent offering list with 100 items;
Ankhmahor’s Tomb Teti Cem. (Dyn.6):
(a) North Wall (burial chamber):
- Offering table;
- Pile of food offerings;
- An empty chair with the name &
title of the deceased above it.
Dyn.6 bur-chamber dec.-observations:
- In later elite burial chambers, apparently
decoration switched to many food types,
but avoided showing living beings
*
(i.e., NO humans or live animals). Dyn.6 Ankhmahor: note empty chair
- Hence, elite burial chambers first
became extensions of tomb chapels, Burial chamber
but soon omitted scenes of living beings. → shift to lifeless scenes!
Late Dyn.6: Mehi’s burial chamber at Saqqara.
Note: The exclusion of any living being, human or animal: now = simply offerings
Nullification of dangerous elements:
- The burial chambers also reveal the
purposeful mutilation of certain
potentially dangerous hieroglyphs,
particularly snakes (i.e., the letter “f”),
presumably to prevent harm to the
tomb owner in the burial chamber.
- Similar mutilation of potentially harmful Horned viper
hieroglyphs is noted in Pyramid Texts in
the burial chambers of kings & queens.
- Hence, late Old Kingdom burial
chambers apparently became restricted
to non-living scenes and items, with an
emphasis upon removing potentially
harmful elements.
horned viper hieroglyph = “f”
Simple to detailed hieroglyphs included

potentially highly dangerous elements
Development of wooden coffins in the Old Kingdom:
Dyns.3-5: Most wooden coffins are undecorated
Elite officials often have plain stone sarcophagi
Dyn.6+: Wooden coffins commonly bear inscriptions

Offering formula: a line of text on each side and on the lid
Dangerous creatures mutilated in text (→ harmless)
East Side: pair of wadjet-eyes (painted or carved)
Body laid on left side, head to north, looking east
Note:
Potentially dangerous
snake drawn / carved
without its head,
nullifying its potential
danger to the tomb
Owner; some Pyr.Texts
Not all coffins do this
(personal beliefs?)
- How did the burial chamber and the
tomb chapel texts and scenes aid
the tomb owner in his/her afterlife?
- It has already been demonstrated
that the Ancient Egyptians believed
that written and recited inscriptions
could enable figures/items to become
a reality, namely a depicted person / fig.
could consume food effectively for
the ka-spirit of the deceased.
- Regarding other tomb scenes, however,
many Egyptologists have theorized that
the same principle also applied:
i.e., scenes of agriculture, livestock,
fishing, fowling, etc., enabled the tomb
owner to have a permanent food supply.
Banquet table:
- Although there may be truth to this idea,
the only constant required tomb scene
is that of the tomb owner seated
before a banquet table.
- In fact, the banquet scene is often the
only scene in less affluent tomb chapels.
- The singular importance of the banquet
scene is emphasized by its appearance
multiple times throughout larger tombs:
(a). On the false door (focal point),
(b). On one or more tomb chapel walls
(c). On a funerary stela (in undec. tombs)

Giza plateau: Old Kingdom
Typical false door stela with the
banquet scene panel at the top.
Banquet table:
- The banquet scene also bears the
offering formula:
“An offering which the king gives and
Osiris/Anubis (gives) ... (i.e., foods) …
May an invocation offering come forth
for (titles and names of tomb owner).”
- A caption frequently lies over the
banquet table:
“A 1000 of bread, a 1000 of beer, Dyn.5 Werirenptah’s false door and
a 1000 of fowl, a 1000 of oxen, etc. …” his wife, Khentkaues’, false door.
- The importance of the banquet table in
Pharaonic Egypt is also emphasized by
its early appearance throughout
Dyns.1-3 and continuation onwards.
- This focus on the banquet table reveals
that it is the crucial scene required for
elite through less affluent tombs.
- Banquet scenes form a base requirement
for mortuary cults and offerings, namely
provisioning of the deceased’s ka-spirit.
- In addition, although statuettes form the
‘preferred’ transitory/backup housing for
ka-spirits, 2-dimensional representations
also provided equally suitable media
through which the ka could ingest food.
- The preference for ka statues by some
elite aided the inclusion of a ka-statue in
some false door niches before the altar.
(in addition to/instead of banquet scene).
- Hence, the proven exclusive funerary
function of banquet scenes suggests that
the optional & less common appearance
of daily life scenes in elite tombs reflect
(a). A commemorative function?
(b). Back-up insurance of food supply?
(c). Another function? →
- Since the tomb owner is depicted
watching such additional (optional)
scenes of daily life, it has been
suggested that these scenes reflect:
(a). Daily life in the afterlife (with very
strong arguments against this idea). Dyn.5: Tomb of Ptahhotep watching
(b). Afterlife visits to the land of the living;
(c). Symbolic estates enjoyed in life;
(d). Commemoration of life time;
(e). The deceased watching daily life
scenes.
- In all likelihood, these scenes appear
to be showing the tomb owner’s
activities in life, both observing and
participating in them.
Dyn.6 tomb of Pepyankh at Meir:
The tomb-owner portrayed as
actively participating in fishing.
- However, the meaning behind such
scenes is conjectured:
i.e., For the enjoyment of the ka?
- A reminder of a good life?
- To impress one’s descendants/
visitors?
- For instance, if harvest scenes could
guarantee food supplies, WHY did many
tombs omit such genres? Simply cost?
GM: Possible back-up insurance for those
who could afford to have it depicted?
- The actual reasons for such additional
genres is enigmatic in various ways,
BUT tomb models also emphasize food
production, entertainment, etc.
- It remains to point out that the vast
majority of Old Kingdom tombs,
including dec.-ones, LACKED
such additional daily life scenes.
The funeral scene:
- The funeral scene is a particularly odd
inclusion in tomb chapels since OK
Egyptians avoided portraying their
Scenes of corpse/mummy = omitted!
actual corpse and mummification
process in tombs (vs. anthropoid coffin;
wrapped mummy).
- Perhaps depictions of the coffin, statue,
etc., being brought to the tomb actually
represent an opening of the mouth
ceremony conducted during the tomb-
owner’s lifetime, but excluding the body
i.e., preparing tomb fittings for use.
- Some funeral procession scenes even
actually suggest that this ceremony
is being enacted for items that would
be used later in this rite.
The funeral scene (cont.’):
= THEORY that this ceremony is being
enacted for items that would be Dyn.6: towing Kheni’s funerary boat
used later in this rite.
Activating(?) the
Kheni’s coffin transport scene in his Ka-statue prior to
tomb at Akhmim: the future funeral?
The tomb owner is depicted both
in the sailing boat, and
in his own funerary papyrus boat
(being towed by the sailing boat).
→ Is this the Ka Statue & the coffin?
Pepyankh/Henikem coffin transport
scene in a rock-cut tomb at Meir:
“Behold, it is the escorting of the
honoured one (to be repeated)
a second time after a very happy
old age.” Private wooden coffin of Nebhotep
→ MORE QUESTIONS EMERGE ! (type R1) from Asyut, Dynasty 6.
The funeral scene (cont.’):
- Hence, Kanawati suggests that
the seeming contradiction of …
(a). Showing a “funeral procession,”
(b). Yet avoiding depicting the tomb
owner’s death
→ may be explained as a portrayal of
an enactment of the future funerary
procession in tomb owners’ lifetime.
- In essence, Kanawati suggests that
coffin & ka-statue(s) are placed in the
tomb prior to the burial, which does
makes sense since other elements,
such as massive stone sarcophagi,
= placed in tombs during construction,
and the statues for the serdab chamber
needed to be installed before these
chambers were walled/roofed.
Unfinished versus finished scenes:
- Many tombs contain what appear to be
purposefully unfinished scenes, which
are often only a small section of a
composition that is otherwise entirely
finished.
- One theory suggests that tomb owners
may have left a small portion, or selected
portions, of their tomb unfinished rather
than complete their tomb early:
i.e., avoid having a completed tomb
ready for immediate occupancy!
- This might indicate an unstated
superstition about not tempting fate
into providing one with an
early/premature death.
Old Kingdom elite tombs: Dyn.6:
Significance of tomb decoration: Tomb of
Unfinished versus finished scenes: Nikauisesi
- Regardless of the interpretation, it is at Saqqara
evident that many tomb owners (Teti cem.).
deliberately left a small portion of the
tomb unfinished. Four rooms
= decorated
- Of interest, many of these incomplete completely,
scenes tend to be funerary processions:
E.g.,OK tomb of Tjeti at Akhmim; A fifth room
OK tomb of Pepyankh/Henikem, Meir was left
undecorated
- In contrast, NONE of the tombs built by,
or completed by sons or relatives (for Only one item
their deceased parent(s)) contain such in the entire
incomplete scenes. tomb was left
unfinished:
- Hence, it appears that tomb owners
deliberately left selected parts of the This partly
tomb decoration unfinished in their carved figure
lifetime, whilst their offspring did not of Nikauisesi
have any qualms about completing their which was
parent(s)’ tomb entirely after their death. painted!
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite tombs:
SOME
CONCLUSIONS:
MORTUARY ARCHITECTURE: Dynasties 3 – late 5 (Old Kingdom).
Dyn.3: Transitional phase between Early Dynastic and Dyn.4+ (Old Kingdom)
Mortuary architecture closer to Dyn.4, especially at court cemeteries.
King: Extensive subterranean galleries to house 10s of 1000s of items.

E.g., King Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex; King Sekhemkhet.
Elite: Many/large subterranean chambers to contain numerous items.
E.g., Hesyre’s mastaba at Saqqara North.
Royal-elite trend: Size & number of underground galleries decreasing

paralleling a shift in emphasis away from interring 1000s of
containers for provisions (and other items) for the afterlife.
Dyn.4: King: Cessation of supplementary subterranean storage chambers.

Definite reduction in burial goods (mainly food containers).
Elite: Similar trend, witnessing reduction in subterranean chambers
and the number of food containers & other items interred.
D.3-4+ Royal-elite trend: attention transfers to superstructure → chapel.

Looting & perishable nature of wealth, body & food → change:
Food, items, body supplemented by texts, depictions, models
Citation/representation of items central to survival in afterlife.
DYNASTIES 3 – 6:
Private
Mortuary Architecture
and furnishings.
North Saqqara Dyn.3: Hesy-re
Dyn.3 Type II Stairway & shaft
tomb (Memphite type).
Saqqara
Mastaba of Hesy-re.
North Saqqara Dyn.3: Hesy-re.
Palace façade niches: wooden panels
Plastered and painted corridors.
North Saqqara Dyn.3: Hesy-re.
Palace façade niches: wooden panels
Plastered and painted corridors:
-portraying wooden posts and matting
that composed the homes represented
in mud brick by the mastaba tomb.
North Saqqara Dyn.3:
Hesy-re depicted on wooden panels, sporting a well-trimmed moustache.
Saqqara Dyn.3: Mastaba tomb and chapel of Kha-baw-sokar.
• 19 x 63 metre rectilinear mastaba tomb superstructure.
• Introduction in private tombs of Serdab chamber and serdab statue.
• Two underground chambers accessed by a stairway.
Limestone door
Serdab statue
chamber
Traces of painting.
Dyn.6: Limestone model of a house-style mastaba tomb
The model has a false door, banquet-scene, offering list, name & titles, etc.
DYNASTIES 4 – 6+:
Non-royal Mortuary Architecture.
Undecorated and Decorated

Burial Chamber in
mastaba tombs
and
Rock-cut tombs
N.Saqqara Dyn.3: Hesy-re.
Subterranean chambers were
looted, but yielded some items:
• stone vases
• pottery containers
• Fragments of furniture
• Flint blades and knives
• Inlay & items of bone & ivory
• Sealings of Netjerikhet/Djoser
Early Old Kingdom:
Giza burial chamber of
Seshemu
“Overseer of the
Storerooms of the
Palace”
• Coffin
• Four canopic jars
• 20 pottery jars
• Set of model copper tools
• Necklace: Gold wire with

beads (at his neck).
Late Dyn.5 Giza: Tomb of Kakherptah.
Deceased before banquet table and offering list.
• Is the duplication and subsequent transfer of some chapel scenes to the burial
chamber based on observed deterioration in tomb chapels? Extra insurance?
DYNASTIES 5 – 6:
Private
Sarcophagi and coffins from
Mastaba tombs
and
Rock-cut tombs
EARLY OLD KINGDOM COFFINS / SARCOPHAGAI:
Royal-elite burials:
Sarcophagi (stone “coffins”) kings, queens, various elite.
Coffins (wooden) Often elite burials (becomes more common).
Inscribed coffins/sarcophagi Rare (name and titles).
Mainly court cemeteries (Giza; Saqqara; Abusir)
General populace:
No coffins Most of the population lacks coffins.
Matting, etc. Often matting or another cheaper covering.
BODY ARRANGEMENT:
Royal-elite burials: Generally full length, left side, head north.
General populace: Near court/main cemeteries:

Many burials becoming full length (as above).
Provincial/lesser cemeteries:
Many still retain contracted/flexed position.
Semi-flexed and other directions/exceptions.
Dyn.5: Private granite sarcophagus with erased hieroglyphic texts (Giza).
Probably usurped.
Palace façade panelling with two niches on its eastern side.
Length 2.25 metres.
J. Taylor (2001: 218 fig.158)
Late OK: Private limestone sarcophagus of Weta from Giza –Type Sg
Plain rectilinear box with flat lid; lifting lugs left intact.
Texts with deceased’s name and titles.
Old Kingdom: ramp installation of sarcophagus lid
Dyn.6:
Burial chamber
of Mereruka
Stone ramp for

positioning the
sarcophagus
lid.
DYNASTIES 4 – 6:
Private
Mortuary Architecture.
Wooden coffins from

Mastaba and
rock-cut tombs
Private Old Kingdom coffin types:
• Short wooden coffins for contracted (flexed) burials continued into Dynasty 4.
• Long wooden coffins begin at least in Dyn.3 for fully extended burials.
• Relatively few full length private wooden coffins survive.
• Dyns.5-6 has yielded various examples: e.g., many plain ones with flat lids.
Dyn.6: Private wooden coffin of Nebhotep (type R1) from Asyut.
Unusually displaying incised text; normally painted name and titles.
Dynasty 5-6 wooden coffins usually plain exteriors & flat lids.
OK: single line of text.
Late OK: pair of eyes
added (body on left side)
Dyn.6: coffin interior has
texts, lists, false door.
DYNASTIES 4 – 5:
Private
Mortuary furnishings from

mastaba and
rock-cut tombs
North Saqqara Dyn.3: Mortuary items from the tomb of Hesy-re (temp. Djoser).
Old Kingdom:
Wooden headrest
Important element
within burial and
depiction on walls
of tomb chapel
Old Kingdom chest
Old Kingdom jewellery:
Faience bead bracelets
Faience bead necklace
Gold headband
Late Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom to First Intermediate Period amulets:
to First Intermediate
Period amulets:
• Limited repertoire in OK
• Most burials with
amulets have a
wadjet-eye.
• Burials 10-15 amulets
• Most burials lack
amulet types seen in
later periods.
Dyn.5 Deshasheh:
Wadjet eye
Bee (royal protection?)
Leopard head
Jackal head (Anubis)
Frog amulet (Heket)
Double lion amulet
Djed-pillar on throat/chest
Old Kingdom:
Amulets from burials:
E.g., Heh-figure symbolizing “one million” expressing the desire to live
a million / millions of years during the afterlife.
Note: efficacy of “gold” = symbolic of everlastingness (does not tarnish / age)
Old Kingdom:
Amulets from burials:
• Carnelian / chalcedony amulet of leg –often on an anklet attached to leg
→ preservation of limbs or ensuring mobility in afterlife.
• Carnelian / chalcedony amulet of hand –often on a bracelet

→ preservation of hands or ensuring usage in afterlife.
Note: efficacy of colour red on certain amulets = symbolic of blood / life.

Old Kingdom: small model calcite vessels:
→ They were probably considered magically functional
They were safer from robbery (non-functional in real life)
Old Kingdom: Models of copper vessels: Plate, dish and cup.
Old Kingdom: Copper basin
with a
handle.
Copper pouring
vessel
Old Kingdom:
Red slipped and burnished Egyptian
Nile silt bowl and pouring jar.
Imported foreign pottery:
Early Bronze Age III vessel (= OK)
(Canaanite store jar)
WINE for the afterlife
Impression from a cylinder sealing
across pottery vessel (later broken
into the potsherd below)
Old Kingdom:
Calcite containers in the
shape of the items they
may have enclosed.
Many such containers are

empty → symbolic offerings.
Solid calcite models of various

cuts of beef, etc., enabling the
preservation of provisions.
Note: Depiction and listing of

such desired provisions.
Late Old Kingdom: Inclusion of ritual kits used in mummification & resurrection
rites, ensuring continuation of key rites in the afterlife: e.g.“Opening of the mouth”
Palette listing 7 sacred oils used in rites

DYNASTIES late 4 - 5:
Private
Funerary servant figures from

Mastabas and rock-cut tombs
Old Kingdom models (substituting for real provisions).
Late Dyn.4:
• Limestone servant statuettes placed in tombs
Qn. Meresankh III
Qn. Khamerernebti
• Servants portrayed participating in food production

e.g., Kneeling woman grinding grain
• Tombs with servant statuettes generally yield 2-3 figures.

• Tomb of Nykaw-inpu at Giza yielded 26 figurines.
Dynasty 5:
• Servant figurine repertoire expands in Dynasties 5-6.
• Servant figurines still include food preparation.
• New figurines include: e.g., porters, sandal bearers, potters,
beer jar carriers, etc.
Late Dyn.4: Servant figures in tomb of Queen Meresankh III.
• Limestone figure of female grinding grain
(i.e, food production)
• Other figurines involved in food production.
• Is this a later evolution of the Dyn.1 “sacrificial” retainer burials?
Dynasty 5+: Models with food preparation
Servant figurines involved with
food preparation (in addition to
depictions in tomb chapel).
Late Dyn.4-5+: Models of workers.
Food preparation Butchery
Mash for beer
Dyn. Late 5-6+:
Models of
workers:
• Porter bringing
provisions.
• Potter making
pottery.
• Harpist:
• Female playing
harp.
Late Dyn.4 – Dyns.5-6:
Models of workers, boats, etc.
• Inclusion of model boats in tombs replacing real boats.
DYNASTIES 3 -8:
Middle Class tombs

and lesser private
tombs and burials
in the provinces.
Mastaba-tombs Khufu’s pyramid
associated Queens’ pyramids
with Khufu
Harbor
Causeway
basin
Valley temple
Industrial
installation
Khufu’s
Wall of the Crow
palace
(pyramid precinct)
Workmen’s Nile
cemetery
Workmen’s Dyn.4
settlement Town(s)
Dynasty 4:
Giza cemetery for workers &
overseers building royal-elite
tombs (pyramids; mastabas)
Upper cemetery: overseers
Lower cemetery: workers

Giza, Dyn.4: workers’ burials.
• Spines often reveal stress (labour)
• Medical care:
- Setting broken bones; successful
leg amputation; brain surgery.
• Frequent bone fractures (arms-legs)
Many flexed; head → North; face → East

Reqaqnah Dyn.3: mastabas.
Tomb R.66.
Two niches on east side.
Tomb
R.66
Reqaqnah Dyn.3/4: Royal Wab-priest Samery.
Dynasty 4:
El-Tarif, Thebes.
• Mastaba 15 m long
• Locally important person
• Body on left side and
head to the north.
• Surrounded by chalk.
• Burial goods include:
-Pottery
-Painted wine jar
-Stone vessels
(calcite; breccia; diorite) Mastaba plan:
15 m long
El-Tarif
(Thebes)
Early Old Kingdom:
Naga ed-Deir
Provincial cemetery
• Well-made mud
brick mastaba tomb
5.25 x 3.20 metres
• Burial chamber =
2.2 x 1.6 metres
• Wooden coffin niche
• Male(?) adult body

contracted / flexed
left side; head to
Naga ed-Deir
south; facing west.
• No grave goods
• Moderate status
otherwise.
Simple late Predynastic – Early Dynastic and later tumulus-graves
Old Kingdom Cemetery at Gurob:
Mainly Dynasty 5.
• 151 tombs from a farming community
• Shallow pits
Gurob
• Bodies primarily in contracted position.
Usually head to north; on left side;
facing east.
• Mostly without coffins (rare).
• Bodies frequently wrapped in matting.
• Funerary goods are rare; one pot is rare.
• Some beads appear in tombs:

• e.g., some bodies yielded one bead.
• Other items are rare: e.g., headrest.

e.g., box / chest.
OLD KINGDOM
Dyns. 3 – 6 (2700 -- 2200 BCE)
Elite – common tombs:
OVERALL
CONCLUSIONS:
SUMMARY: Old Kingdom elite tombs.
• Mastabas = “houses” for eternity: home of the body, ka, (ba).
- Components: burial chamber, shaft, surface chapel (serdab;
serdab statue[s]; false door & altar; sometimes other scenes).
South niche & shaft for husband; North niche & shaft for wife.
Wife sometimes had separate tomb, or = excluded from main tomb
• False door: banquet scene panel; offering formula; niche for ka-spirit; altar
• Serdab: Ka-statue(s) of deceased sealed in a chamber beside offering
hall; note: ka-stateus and images often elsewhere in tomb.
• Tomb entry: Appeal to the living (invocation offerings); summary of life’s
achievements; warnings against tomb defilers & tomb robbers.
• Religion: Belief in Ka, body, name, shadow, Ba, and Akh.
Ka = spirit-double in life & death; it needs food and its body.
Ba = “power”/“soul” in death; it has more mobility; still needs body
Akh = “excellent spirit”; the ultimate state to which one aspired.
• Mummification: body desiccated; entrails removed and placed in 4 canopic
jars in a box; individual limbs wrapped in linen and often clothed
externally; making the mummy look like the deceased –especially
the face (modelling; painting; etc.).
• Funerary cult: = Opening of the mouth ceremony by a lector priest, enabling
the deceased & his ka-statues/images to be reunited after death:
to live, breathe, eat, drink, see, hear, speak, etc.
• Funerary banquet & offering list: = the deceased (ka) is shown seated before
a table laden with food offerings, accompanied nearby by a list
of further desired sustenance, clothing, etc. for the deceased.
These materials were made effective via bringing real items,
or by reciting the offering formula (symbolic magic).
• Mortuary cult: - Normally the eldest son, often the family, and also privately
contracted mortuary priests took care of the mortuary cult:
Replenishing offerings daily & drawing a salary from pious estate
• Other scenes & texts in the mastaba chapel: - may be magical ensuring
of food, clothing, etc., production for the deceased’s afterlife.
It is debated whether these are magical, commemorative, etc.?
• Tomb biography etc.: = the deceased often placed at least a list of his titles
and name, and more details on his achievements in life.
Sometimes some illustrations appear: e.g., siege scene.
• 3 mastaba types:
(1) A simple exterior South chapel on east side of mastaba,
(2) A corridor chapel along the east side, enclosing S & N niches
(3) An interior tomb chapel, from single to multiple rooms.
• Rock-cut tomb: Containing all the elements of a mastaba, but with a
rock-cut ka-statue in accessible offering hall.
• Location: Normally assigned a plot & tomb size based upon rank & relationship
to the king; tomb size & quality varied according to means.
Late OK shift of officials to provinces: esp. governors & their staff.
• Tomb scenes: Most tombs decorated by groups of artists under master artists
Some tombs decorated only by a master artist.
Quality varies from painted plaster, incised outlines, sunken relief,
and raised relief. Poorest mastaba tombs remained undecorated.
• Portrayals: Deceased males & females often given an idealized youthful form
Men sometimes have a portrayal of themselves as older & fatter.
Women very rarely have anything other than a youthful image.
Men normally shown darker skinned (‘tanned’; outdoors work, etc.),
Women are normally lighter skinned (‘untanned’; indoors work).
Effort placed attempting to portray face, albeit within conventions.
• Tomb scene genres:
(1) the tomb owner (& family); (2) rural life; (3) outdoors’ activities;
(4) professions & industries; (5) recreation; (6) funerary rites.
• Burial chamber scenes: Some mastaba tombs have decorated burial chambers
in Dyn.5, including banquet scene, etc.; this shifts to excluding any
living beings and having only funerary offerings in Dyn.6 burial rms.
• Superstitions: Some tomb owners nullify potential hazards to them in the
Afterlife, such as omitting heads from the snake-hieroglyph on the
coffin in private tombs (also omitted from some Pyramid Texts).
• Funerary procession: Tomb owners appear to leave a small aspect of the tomb
unfinished, especially in funerary scenes, revealing a superstition
against completing a tomb early and possibly dying prematurely too
(Note: tombs begun/completed for deceased parents = finished!).
• Funerary furnishings:
- Wealthiest tombs had (stone) sarcophagi with wooden coffins
- Middle-Upper classes had wooden coffins; poor had no coffins.
- Late Old Kingdom coffins had brief text with name and titles
Dyn.6 coffins included eye panel (for deceased to peer out)
• Funerary goods:
Some pottery jars for food and drink (much less than in ED Egypt).
Wine jars from Egypt & Canaan (for consumption in afterlife)
Small symbolic set of model vessels (eating, etc.): deter robbery.
Ewer and basin for hand and foot washing (various qualities)
Head rest of varying quality placed in coffin (i.e., bed for eternity)
Boxes and chests to hold linens, cosmetics, jewellery, & other items
Jewellery often placed around the mummy; also in boxes.
Amulets for protection, ensuring eternal afterlife, & other benefits.
Embalming and ritual kit: seven sacred oils, etc.
Servant figurines in late Old Kingdom: ensuring food production, etc.
• Lower – middle class tombs:
Increasingly smaller versions of mastaba tombs until reaching the
poorest persons who had simple pit-graves and few possessions.
Trends: ED-OK increasing focus on tomb chapel & symbolic magic for food;
decreasing focus on real food, etc. (i.e., taken by robbers; +)
Selected sources on
Dynasties 4-6
(Old Kingdom):
Elite mortuary cults,
lands, personnel, and
affiliated aspects …
Selected sources on Old Kingdom Egypt: Elite mortuary cults, personnel, etc.
2011
2016
2016
2008
2003
1987
2001
2018
2010
2009
2001
2012
2014
2014
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ANT 309:

Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids

Lecture 18: Part-2:

(2). Take notes on lectures, etc. …

(4). Ask questions during the class if

(5). Complete optional materials:

Elephantine rock-cut tomb of Harkhuf

(b). An offering area for the false door.

(c). An area for the ka-statue

(d). A store chamber for supplies.

(e) 1+ shafts leading to a burial chamber.

(f) 1+ burial chambers below the tomb

Less common form of O.K. tomb:

Whitewash produced white

Soot/charcoal produced black.

The % of water added → created broad

Dyn. 5 (Tomb of Ptahhotep): Ptahhotep viewing daily activities on his estates.

Middle Kingdom wooden

Simple to detailed hieroglyphs included

Dyn.6+: Wooden coffins commonly bear inscriptions

(b). On one or more tomb chapel walls

(c). On a funerary stela (in undec. tombs)

King: Extensive subterranean galleries to house 10s of 1000s of items.

Royal-elite trend: Size & number of underground galleries decreasing

Dyn.4: King: Cessation of supplementary subterranean storage chambers.

D.3-4+ Royal-elite trend: attention transfers to superstructure → chapel.

Undecorated and Decorated

• Flint blades and knives

• Inlay & items of bone & ivory

• Four canopic jars

• Set of model copper tools

• Necklace: Gold wire with

General populace: Near court/main cemeteries:

Stone ramp for

Wooden coffins from

Mortuary furnishings from

• Carnelian / chalcedony amulet of hand –often on a bracelet

Note: efficacy of colour red on certain amulets = symbolic of blood / life.

Many such containers are

Solid calcite models of various

Note: Depiction and listing of

Palette listing 7 sacred oils used in rites

Funerary servant figures from

• Servants portrayed participating in food production

• Tombs with servant statuettes generally yield 2-3 figures.

Middle Class tombs

Upper cemetery: overseers

Lower cemetery: workers

Many flexed; head → North; face → East

• Wooden coffin niche

• Male(?) adult body

• Mostly without coffins (rare).

• Bodies frequently wrapped in matting.

• Funerary goods are rare; one pot is rare.

• Some beads appear in tombs:

• Other items are rare: e.g., headrest.

Elite – common tombs:

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