Abstract
Abstract The first part of this chapter deals with some of the general problems in dating and distinguishing different styles and local traditions within the New Kingdom Book of the Dead material, with a special focus on the Ramesside era. The second part is devoted to the special case of Deir el-Medina, where it can be shown that this rather closed community not only developed its own specific iconographic tradition, which is quite obvious in the decorational program of their subterranean burial chambers with mainly Book of the Dead themes, but also a textual one. In other words, the versions of Book of the Dead texts and illustrations found on tomb walls, as well as those on papyri and other items of funerary equipment from Deir el-Medina, differ significantly from comparative versions produced outside this particular community, even within the Theban necropolis. These variants clearly point to a specific editing center for the Book of the Dead in Ramesside Deir el-Medina. Such factors can therefore also provide new criteria for more accurate dating and establishing a provenance for New Kingdom Book of the Dead papyri.
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