Ancient Egyptian Tombs Research Articles

Artistic Production in a Necropolis in Motion

The present article studies aspects of the artistic production at New Kingdom Saqqara, a necropolis of the ancient Egyptian royal residence city Memphis. Following a brief review of the functions of ancient Egyptian tombs, this article will first set out to scrutinize the tomb-making section of society (e.g., size, membership). Second, the corpus of tombs will be reviewed to uncover the diverse nature of the tomb owners and to investigate access to resources required for tomb making. Third, the article will proceed to place the tombs in spatial and temporal context and reflect on the artistic production in a necropolis in motion.

Vanishing Nubia

As the Nasserist state built a large hydroelectric dam in the south of Egypt in the early 1960s, Egyptian botanists undertook salvage surveys of the area to be flooded behind the dam, known as historic Nubia. Scientists in these surveys searched for a type of palm tree (Medemia argun) well documented in ancient Egyptian tombs but unrecorded “in living condition” since the late eighteenth century. Gathering written and photographic accounts in memoirs, archives, and botanical tracts, this essay charts the documentary traces of the search for Medemia argun and the affective responses that surface along the margins of texts to show how debate over the potential absence or extinction of a “flagship” endogenous plant coincided with two important shifts in botanical knowledge production: transitions in botany as a discipline that employed new research methodologies and located Egypt “geobotanically” as the temporal and spatial origin for world flora; and transitions in botany as an arena of scientific expertise during postcolonial nationalism's reordering of the Egyptian academy. Building on extinction and destroyed landscape studies, this article explores ecological lexicons of absence and practices of “following” in botany.

The The Pharaoh’s Curse: New Evidence of Unusual Deaths Associated With Ancient Egyptian Tombs

A survey of modern-era field Egyptologists reveals a very high incidence of unusual deaths consistent with symptoms of haematopoietic cancer, a scenario that parallels radiation sickness caused by exposure to abnormally high radiation previously reported in ancient tombs. However, the high radiation in tombs is not explained by the ‘natural’ background, which is rare in limestone bedrock. Here, re-examination of Egyptian funerary literature reveals reference to saffron cake in portions of 2-3-5 (yellowcake U-235), giving power by means of an invisible ‘efflux’, and leaving a legacy of hazardous ‘excrements’ (wastes) which were buried in an underground ‘tomb’ called the per D’jet (house of millions of years). The ancient curse warned that those who break this tomb shall meet death by a disease that no doctor can diagnose.

Long-lasting flavor compounds of myrtle and immortelle from ancient Egyptian tombs: A study by analytical pyrolysis

In this work, an approach based on evolved gas analysis-mass spectrometry and double-shot analytical pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was employed to investigate the low and high molecular weight fractions of two aromatic plants, myrtle and immortelle. The method was used to investigate myrtle and immortelle plants from historical herbaria, as well as archaeological samples from garlands found in ancient Egyptian tombs. Analytical pyrolysis allowed us to characterize both the volatile and non-volatile fractions, by sequentially performing a thermal desorption step and a pyrolysis step on the same sample. Volatile components ascribable to the flavor of myrtle and immortelle were detected in the first-shot chromatograms of all samples. These compounds included mono/sesquiterpenoids such as pinene and eucalyptol, and small phenols such as catechol and syringol. The results show that a portion of the volatile compounds of these plants can remain trapped in the lignocellulosic matrix for long times, and that double-shot Py-GC/MS can provide information on the volatile fraction of even archaeological plant samples.

PRACTICAL EXPLORATION OF LOW-COST YET HIGHLY ACCURATE 3D MAPPING TECHNIQUES FOR DOCUMENTATION AND CONSERVATION OF AN EGYPTIAN TOMB (THEBAN TOMB 45)

Abstract. This research presents the initial endeavour to perform geo-referenced 3D reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian tomb located on the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor, evaluating low-cost techniques. This study uses low-cost equipment in conjunction with simple geodetical principles to accurately map a tomb in 3D to empower archaeological teams with limited budgets to efficiently and effectively map their projects. Emphasizing the project goals of both high detail and high accuracy, one of our chosen techniques is photogrammetry with a standard system camera. Additionally, 3D mapping with a modern smartphone was explored in the tomb and was compared with results from the photogrammetry process. Geo-referencing the underground map in a global grid was also part of the project goals. This research shows that, within certain reasonable constraints, the chosen low-cost techniques successfully achieved all goals of producing a highly detailed, highly accurate, and georeferenced 3D map of the selected tomb (Theban Tomb 45). In this first season of mapping the tomb in 3D, various mapping methods were used and tried and where possible compared. Digitally mapping an ancient, underground Egyptian tomb requires a planned approach. In order to better plan when using low-cost scanning equipment, preliminary research was done for mapping a mostly underground, relatively small but complex to survey ancient Egyptian tomb. Data have been collected with the use of both devices and also with a total station, a laser distance meter and a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) datalogger.

Comparison of low-cost techniques for digital cultural heritage preservation of an original Egyptian temple

Abstract. The research covers a method to map archaeological objects (cultural heritage) in 3D in an accurate, detailed way with low-cost equipment. This paper deals with a preliminary step, testing the method on an ancient Egyptian object, the temple of Taffeh (Raven, 1996) in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities) in Leiden, the Netherlands. Mapping the temple is a preparation step for accurately and detailed mapping and geo-referencing an ancient Egyptian subterranean tomb. The research was to compare two different techniques on reliability and precision, together describing the accuracy. The proposed techniques in the method are photogrammetry with a full-frame digital mirrorless camera and using an iPhone with LiDAR capability. For this first step, the mapping of the temple, a third technique was added: a more advanced mobile laser scanner (a ZEB Horizon), not being low-cost but interesting for comparison and possibly validation. Of all three techniques the point density was measured to give a first indication of the level of detail. The research shows the method to be promising for use in Egypt. The photogrammetry model was the most accurate, presenting sub-centimetre details of the object while the iPhone LiDAR model was less accurate and lower in point density but faster.

Re-examining “the Book” through Ancient Egyptian Tomb Walls

This article investigates how the seminal focus placed on portability as the defining characteristic of the book is erroneous and misguided. Based on Western concepts and early-modern bias that ultimately equates codex to book, the notion of portability is inapplicable to all book cultures and deserves re-examination. By redefining the meaning of the book to be an idea, an idea that can then be transposed textually and/or pictorially onto a substrate, scholars can come to understand how in ancient Egypt wall inscriptions and art were considered books, and how stone was a primary and fundamental book medium. Using Western, modern, and even global examples to explain how the book in its original state is a metaphysical entity, the notion of the book as object is in turn discarded because defining the book by its medium causes numerous restrictions – the object is not the book, merely its carrier. The importance of physical portability therefore becomes replaced in favour of metaphysical portability and its various implications. By using ancient Egyptian tomb walls as a case study, the meaning and boundaries placed on the book in book studies will be reframed and redefined by drawing Egyptian cultural practices, literature, ideologies, and the use of stone to establish examples of non-portable books. Any discussion of ancient book cultures primarily remains focused on papyrus or clay tablets (i.e., portable materials), a focus that skews the reality of ancient book cultures and gives rise to bias due to the neglect of other mediums that were far more important for ideological purposes. Egyptian book culture was, in fact, more than papyrus; a variety of materials were used as substrates, not all of which were portable in the conventional sense, but neither their use nor their significance to ancient Egyptian society should be dismissed.

Architectural features of the Ancient Egyptian rock-cut tomb of Kaemnefret (LG 63) on the Eastern Field of the Giza Necropolis

The article analyses the structural and planning aspects of the ancient Egyptian rock-cut tomb of royal official Kaemnefret (LG 63) in the Eastern Field of the Giza Necropolis, including two hypotheses of plan development, characteristics of the burial shafts, possible reasons for the absence of “false doors”, purpose of the two passages from room 63A to room 63B and identity of the four statues. The distinctive feature of the tomb is the location of the mouth of a burial shaft outside the chapel, which is not typical for rock-cut tombs and may be an imitation of a mastaba, as proved by the design of some burial shafts. The main question addressed in the article concerns the order in which the two groups of shafts located in rooms 63A and 63B were constructed. Thus, two hypotheses on the development of the tomb were suggested. The main hypothesis supports the idea of the primary construction of the shafts in room 63B and only the subsequent emergence of additional burial shafts in room 63A. The alternative hypothesis is based on the idea of a reverse sequence. The absence of a false door in the tomb is most possibly related to its destruction during the reconstruction process; previously, it had probably existed in place of one of the two passages to room 63B. As a result, most of the architectural criteria allow to date the tomb fairly broadly to the V–VIth Dynasties and only a few details allow to narrow the dating to the late Vth – VIth Dynasties.

Life Histories of Theban Tombs: Transdisciplinary Investigations of a Cluster of Rock-Cut Tombs at Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qurna Edited by Andrea Loprieno-Gnirs (AUC Press Archaeological Reports). Cairo: American University in Cairo Press 2021. Pp. 200. $79.95. ISBN 9781617979910 (paper).

<i>Life Histories of Theban Tombs: Transdisciplinary Investigations of a Cluster of Rock-Cut Tombs at Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qurna</i> Edited by Andrea Loprieno-Gnirs (AUC Press Archaeological Reports). Cairo: American University in Cairo Press 2021. Pp. 200. $79.95. ISBN 9781617979910 (paper).

Curated Desertscapes in Ancient Egyptian Tombs and Investigating Iconographies of the Wild

Because of a long-standing bias toward examining human representation in Egyptian art, scholars have overlooked many details of how wild animals are rendered, at least until recently. Usually, the stylistic differences between animals and humans in ancient Egyptian art are emphasized to support the argument that animals and their environs encapsulate ancient Egyptian ideas of “chaos”, while humans and their cultivated world encapsulate “order”. A closer look at animal representations shows that the same artistic restraints were placed on both human and animal representation, such as with the use of the canon of proportions, strict register lines, and iconicity. This article examines predynastic and early dynastic material and surveys representations of desert animals from Egyptian tombs from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom to demonstrate that their artistic treatment is still rule-bound and conforms to a sense of visual order. This paper challenges some of the scholarly interpretations, which assert that dichotomous ideas of chaos and order were represented stylistically and iconographically.

Monumentalizing ritual texts in Ancient Egyptian pyramids

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion of the relationship between manuscript and epigraphic traditions in premodern cultures by addressing aspects of the monumentality of writing in the context of Ancient Egyptian tombs near the end of the third millennium BC (the late Old Kingdom). Ritual texts inscribed on the walls of subterranean chambers of kings' and queens' pyramids at Saqqara are known as 'The Pyramid Texts', the earliest known mortuary corpus of any civilization. The texts, which are inscribed in hieroglyphs, are carved, decorated, and painted in green. They are laid out in columns and cover surfaces up to three metres high in the main chambers and in the passages leading to the entrances of the pyramids. While the texts were performed during rituals and recorded in writing in contexts that are now lost, the carved hieroglyphic forms in the pyramids make it possible to glimpse the extent of manuscript culture and scribal practices of this period. The process of inscription involved not only reconfiguration from manuscript to wall, but also reinterpretation of the texts in terms of the spatial, architectural, and symbolical context of the tomb. This paper investigates the idea of monumentality in relation to the way these texts were reconfigured in the pyramids.

Door Construction of Ancient Egyptian Rock-Cut Tombs at the Eastern Plateau of the Giza Necropolis

On the basis of extensive material obtained during the work of the Russian archaeological mission, a generalization of the structural design of doors in Ancient Egyptian rock-cut tombs on the Eastern Plateau of Giza was carried out. The analysis showed that the size and structural design of the doors are directly related to the time of the chapel construction, the wealth of the tomb owner and natural or artificial features of the rocky area. Thus, the first rock-cut tombs whose owners had a high social status, which began to be built from the middle of the V dynasty on the eastern edge of the Eastern Plateau, are distinguished not only by their large size and extensive pictorial program of chapel decoration, but also by wide passages, inserted drums of better stone and well executed door fastening places. While towards the end of the Old Kingdom, when the Necropolis became compact and generally impoverished, there was a marked tendency not only to reduce the size of the passages to the chapels, but also to simplify the door arrangement and even to abandon the doors in most of the tombs. The development of gentle rocky areas and areas of poor rock quality in V–VI dynasties, leads to the appearance of steps to descend into the chapel, open courtyards and reduced dimensions of the passages to maintain their strength. Statistical analysis of the width of the passages and drums height in the chapels of the 72 currently available rock-cut tombs has demonstrated the existence of stable dimensional standards at the beginning of the development of the rock massif (c. mid V dynasty). For example, the tombs that appeared first in the tomb groups had an opening width of 10 or 12 ancient Egyptian palms (76–80 or 90–98 cm) and a drum height of 4 or 7 palms (30 or 52 cm). But towards the end of the Old Kingdom the width of the passages is reduced to about 8 palms (about 60 cm) and the height of the drums above the passages to 17 cm, and in many cases they disappear from the decoration of the entrances.

The Body Language of Some Female Servants in the Ancient Egyptian Private Tomb Scenes

The Body Language of Some Female Servants in the Ancient Egyptian Private Tomb Scenes

LATE POTTERY FROM THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN TOMB OF NESEMNAU IN GIZA AND FEATURES OF THE FORMATION OF THIEVES’ DEBRIS IN BURIAL SHAFTS

The ancient Egyptian rock-cut tomb of Nesemnau in the north-eastern part of the Giza Necropolis was explored by the Russian Archaeological Mission of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS in 2015–2017 and 2020. Archaeological study of the three tomb shafts revealed repeated violation of the filling layers due to the numerous robberies; as a result, the original burials of the Old Kingdom were destroyed, and later pottery (827 out of 2602 ceramic samples) and artifacts entered these complexes. Pottery analysis dating from the New Kingdom to the beginning of the 20th century allows speculating on the formation of thieves’ debris in the burial shafts of this tomb. Obtained data indicates repeated human intervention into the tomb, occurring apparently in the Late Period (possibly in order to create secondary burials), in Ptolemaic and Byzantine times, in the Middle Ages and in Modern times (during the robbery). Fragments from the same vessels are present in the fillings of all the shafts in Nesemnau’s tomb; therefore, they ended in these burial complexes at the same time as a result of the one and the same group of robbers’ activities. The latest ceramic fragments belonging to the zir-jars of the 19th — early 20th centuries indicate terminus ante quem of plundering. It is probable that the increase of tourism and the beginning of large-scale archaeological excavations in Giza Necropolis at that time intensified the thieves’ activity at the ancient site.

Small WORLD: Ancient Egyptian Architectural Replicas from the Tomb of Meketre

The paper presents a study of the context, functions, and rationale behind architectural replicas sealed off in ancient Egyptian tombs, the finest exemplars of which having been excavated in the Theban tomb of Meketre (ca. 2000 B.C.). The analysis is preceded by clarifications regarding the terminology used, the point of view from which they have to be considered, and the developments that led to their presence in the funerary assemblage. It is suggested that in the sealed ‘replicas chamber’ or burial chamber in which they were deposited, it was mainly the winged ba, a connective agent between the worlds of life, death, and eternity, that was meant to enter the imaginary realm of the replicas and feed the deceased in order to revivify him.

The Impact of The Natural Environment in Upper Egypt on Scenic and Set Design of “Nagaa Almawta” Movie

Nagaa Almawta is a novel written by Dr.Hussein Al-Sayed,released in 2016,the events take place in an imaginary framework in Upper Egypt,and it deals with the horror related to the opening of the ancient egyptian tombs,and local myths in a contemporary reality that responds to these myths. The research aims to focus on scenic design for movies at the local level, through different media and by exploiting the effect of the natural environment on the design, the researcher has chosen the novel and designed some of its important sites through several media, including designing sites at a scale 1:1 and through another medium, using the miniature model,then filming it and compositing it,as one of the problems facing filmmakers is that when it is necessary to obtain a natural site with certain specifications that correspond to the script,the real site is depicted but it doesn’t meets dramatic requirements. The researcher relied on the historical,descriptive,an analytical methodology, and through the research and designs that she developed,she reached several results,the most important of which are:Commitment to the design stages necessary to to reach the final form of the design before the final implementation,and the abundance of resources and references.Which can be used to simulate the reality that appears on the screen,the most important of which are:the natural environment and the ancient Egyptian civilization,miniatures and their digital integration has a great role in scenic design for movies due to the tremendous potential it provides in obtaining the spatial specifications required for the locations of events.

Fit for the Job: Proportion and the Portrayal of Cattle in Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdom Elite Tomb Imagery

Depictions of the natural world are an intrinsic feature of Egyptian visual culture, with the vast array of imagery documenting animals a testimony to the fundamental role they played. Despite the significance of animals in Egypt, an anthropocentric bias still exists in research on the methods used by practitioners during initial scene composition. To help bridge the divide, the author herein undertook an investigation to determine if proportional guides were in place when rendering animal figures in ancient Egyptian elite tomb imagery of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. A notable outcome of the proportional analysis was the identification of two distinct body-types for domestic cattle (Bos taurus taurus). The aim of the current paper is to further examine these proportional differences to explore if variations in physique (namely the distance between the chest floor and withers) were rendered by Egyptian practitioners to reflect the conditions in which they appeared by considering two overarching factors: (1) biological factors and (2) contextual factors. As such, the study will employ proportional analysis to challenge the prevailing perspective of a deregulated approach when illustrating fauna in elite tomb imagery, highlighting the significance of animals within ancient Egypt.

Visual reasoning and the perception of forms

Whenever a new device enables our senses to access an uncharted sensible world, our experience needs to be widened to be able to embrace it. Many animals don’t recognize themselves in mirrors. Thus, mirrors found in ancient Egyptian tombs bear witness to a device that involved a widening of human experience. While by then reflectors were commonly believed to hold the spirit of their beholder, they also provided the motivating force for use of geometry as a logical framework, rather than the form of the outer world. Euclid of Alexandria conceived of geometric constructions and their rules as the connecting link between visual world and hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Yet, he didn’t have a clue about receivers. In our view the problem of linking received information in an image format to a mathematical space cannot be solved once and for all, but rather needs to be posed and understood afresh once in a while. All the more so in an information and telecommunication era, when the techniques of acquisition and rendering of visual information have been extended well beyond the domain of optical instruments, and the language of mathematics has advanced to a different level of proficiency.

Mummified baboons reveal the far reach of early Egyptian mariners.

The Red Sea was witness to important events during human history, including the first long steps in a trade network (the spice route) that would drive maritime technology and shape geopolitical fortunes for thousands of years. Punt was a pivotal early node in the rise of this enterprise, serving as an important emporium for luxury goods, including sacred baboons (Papio hamadryas), but its location is disputed. Here, we use geospatial variation in the oxygen and strontium isotope ratios of 155 baboons from 77 locations to estimate the geoprovenance of mummified baboons recovered from ancient Egyptian temples and tombs. Five Ptolemaic specimens of P. anubis (404-40 BC) showed evidence of long-term residency in Egypt prior to mummification, consistent with a captive breeding program. Two New Kingdom specimens of P. hamadryas were sourced to a region that encompasses much of present-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, and portions of Somalia and Yemen. This result is a testament to the tremendous reach of Egyptian seafaring during the 2nd millennium BC. It also corroborates the balance of scholarly conjecture on the location of Punt.

3D contour detection: a non-photorealistic rendering method for the analysis of Egyptian reliefs

This paper presents the results of a non-photorealistic rendering technique applied to three different types of reliefs from the ancient Egyptian tomb of Meryneith at Saqqara.