Chapter 13
In This Chapter
● Tracking the development of the tombs
● Identifying tomb variations
● Protecting bodies and treasure from robbers
● Adorning tombs with painting and decoration
● Exploring the Valley of the Kings
Egypt is well known for its burial sites, whether pyramids or the elaboratelу decorated tombs in the Valley of the Kings. This chapter focuses on the history of tombs, while Chapter 14 delves into the secrets of the pyramids.
The Valley tombs are the result of years of evolution brought on by changing religious priorities and increasing security risks.
However, regardless of the tombs’ design, the same fundamental belief in the afterlife is present. The Egyptians saw the afterlife as a place where the deceased was reborn and lived for eternity (see Chapter 10 for more details), the ancient equivalent of paradise. In fact, a belief in the afterlife is suggested in the earliest burials (prior to 3100 BC), before the construction of elaborate tombs, from the simple inclusion of funerary goods.
As religious beliefs became more complex, the tombs grew more elaborate and developed into status symbols - like today’s Porsche!
But above all, these resting places were intended to last for eternity, as a home for the deceased in the afterlife. They were therefore referred to as Houses of Eternity. (It does exactly what it says on the tin!)
Burying the Hardest Egyptians
All civilisations need to dispose of the dead, and in a country as hot as Egypt, decomposition can start immediately. Therefore, in the pre-dynastic period (prior to 3100 BC), burials were simple affairs:
● The deceased was buried individually in a shallow pit dug into the desert edge, a short distance away from the settlements.
● The body was placed into the pit in a foetal position with no coffin or covering of any kind.
● The pit was filled with sand, which fell directly onto the body, preserving it naturally.
Burials were accompanied by a number of grave goods, including pottery vessels and dishes, jewellery, and cosmetic palettes. These objects were clearly connected to a belief in the afterlife and the belief that the deceased would need them again.
Enclosing the dead
Occasionally, animals disturbed the pit burials, uncovering the buried bodies and revealing the natural preservation that had taken place. The bodies sometimes even retained skin and hair, whereas at other times the preservation was not so consistent.
Natural preservation sparked a belief that in order to survive in the afterlife, bodies needed to be preserved. With that, the process of artificial preservation, or mummification (see Chapter 10), began. Artificial preservation also led to the development of tombs as a further effort to preserve bodies for eternity.
The earliest attempts to preserve the body artificially took two forms:
● Enclosing the body in something, such as a clay pot, reed tray, animal skin or linen shroud
● Lining the burial pits in bricks or wood
A number of early cemeteries have been discovered (Hierakonpolis; Minshat Abu Omar, 150 kilometres from Cairo; and Adaima, 25 kilometres north of Hierakonpolis) that include simple pits lined with mud brick. The walls were left undecorated, and the bottom of the burial pit was lined with reed matting tied to wooden strips, which created trays to lay the bodies on. A ledge runs around the top of the inside wall, which supported wooden roofing beams. These pits were then covered with desert rubble in order to disguise the burial locations in the desert plateau.
Tomb 100
Tomb 100 from the pre-dynastic cemetery at Hierakonpolis (around 3685 BC) was the first tomb (and the only one known from the pre-dynastic period) to contain decorated walls. Rather than a simple pit, Tomb 100 features a number of subterranean rooms separated by partition walls. In the burial chamber, these walls are plastered and painted. Depictions of men, animals, and riverboats appear in red, white, green, and black paint on a yellow background.
At least three images in Тоmb 100 relate to more traditional Egyptian art, including imagery often used to represent the role of kingship. For example, one image in Tomb 100 shows a man smiting
three bound captives with a mace; another shows a figure holding two wild animals in his bare hands; and another has a boat holding a figure, probably a chieftain, seated underneath a canopy with a group of men in loincloths worshipping him with their hands outstretched.
Although no texts survived in Tomb 100, these prominent figures suggest that a king, or chieftain, was probably the tomb owner. Sadly, since its discovery in the early 20th century, the location of Tomb 100 has become lost, so further examination of the original paintings is impossible. Photographs and copies of the paintings are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Upgrading the pits
As time went by, the simple brick-lined pits weren’t enough. Egyptians wanted something more impressive as their House of Eternity.
Initially the pits were modified to include partition walls, which created a number of chambers to store lots of grave goods. The largest discovered pit tomb is tomb Uj from Abydos from dynasty 0 (around 3100 BC; see the Cheat Sheet for chronology). The tomb is 9.10 by 7.30 metres and is divided into 12 rooms, nine of which contained hundreds of pottery vessels and ivory labels. This elaborate tomb most probably belonged to a local chieftain or mayor.
The Egyptians were still not satisfied, however, and wanted to extend their House of Eternity upwards. The sky’s the limit, as they say.
Turning Pits into Palaces: Mastabas
By the start of the Old Kingdom, officials began building superstructures over the pits. The mounds of desert rubble piled over the pits’ wooden roofs were extended upwards, making the tombs distinguishable from the surrounding landscape.
Adding superstructures
The size and design of the materials placed on top of the tombs reflected the status and wealth of the individual and no doubt led to a trend of keeping up with the Joneses - or rather, keeping up with the Amenhoteps.
Smaller, less impressive burials consisted of small uneven mounds of rubble covering the burial pit, whereas more elaborate tombs had rectangular brick superstructures built up to heights of 1 metre above ground level.
These superstructures were bench-like in shape, hence they were named mastaba, from the Arabic word for bench. The outside of the superstructure was painted white, while offering niches along the west wall were painted a dull red. A brick pavement led to the niches and provided a space where mourners could leave food offerings of bread, beer, and vegetables for the spirit of the deceased.
Because these superstructures were built after the burial had taken place, entrances were unnecessary. The lack of entrances meant mastabas were safe from most robbers, but it also meant the tombs couldn’t be re-entered. This was soon to change, as family burials became the height of fashion.
Bigger, better mastabas
By the end of the Old Kingdom (2333 BC), family tombs were common, with elaborate hollow mastaba superstructures being constructed.
These superstructures contained numerous decorated chambers, including areas that functioned as funerary chapels and enabled family to leave offerings inside rather than outside. The deceased were still buried in pits beneath the ground and could be reached via a shaft in the floor of the mastaba.
As the mastabas became more impressive, the kings needed to reassert their status and wealth, which led to the design and construction of step pyramids and eventually smooth pyramids (see Chapter 14).
Stepping up: King Djoser
The first step pyramid was built for King Djoser of the third dynasty (2686 BC). The structure started with a traditional mastaba tomb at Saqqara. The burial chamber was 28 metres below ground at the bottom of a shaft and was lined with granite. This remains under the step pyramid that is on the site today.
Room for 11 more?
Just to the east of the original completed mastaba of Djoser, 11 burial shafts were sunk 38 metres into the ground. These 11 shafts each ended in a large galleried chamber and were the intended burial places of the royal family.
Although the chambers were sadly robbed in antiquity, two calcite sarcophagi have survived, one with a gilded coffin containing the remains of an 8-year-old girl.
Leading from the burial chamber are four corridors, which lead to a suite of chambers and storerooms. Some of these rooms included blue faience (a type of ceramic made from sand) tiles decorated with djed pillars, representative of the god Osiris, which is the only decoration in this burial site. The only human remains found in this step pyramid was a mummified foot, which suggests that a burial took place here.
The mastaba superstructure was constructed of desert rubble and clay, encased in limestone blocks 3 metres thick. The initial superstructure was 63 metres long and 8 metres high, which was in itself no mean feat.
At some point in the mastaba’s construction, Djoser decided he wanted something more impressive and made a number of alterations:
The mastaba was extended lengthways.
Three more structures were placed on top of each other, creating a four-step pyramid.
The base was extended, and two more steps were added, resulting in a six-step pyramid rising 60 metres from the ground.
This was the first building in the world to be built entirely of stone. This tomb structure was thought to be a staircase that the king would ascend to be with his ancestors, who became stars after death.
After the construction of step pyramids, the next evolution in pyramid development was to fill in the steps to form a true, smooth-sided pyramid. See Chapter 14 for more on these structures. A number of pyramids at Saqqara and Abusir started as step pyramids and were turned into true pyramids by filling in the steps.
More complex than tomb
All the tombs and pyramids built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms were not isolated monuments, but rather part of larger complexes, consisting of temples and a cemetery for nobles and officials.
The step pyramid complex of Djoser, however, is unique. Ratherthan building a simple temple, Djoser built an entire full-sized kingdom over which he could rule for eternity. This complex covers 146 square metres, and most of the buildings were 'dummies' with no real function.
The complex includes
● The king's tomb-the main, step pyramid.
● Family and dignitary burial tombs, buried in mastaba fields with hundreds of tombs. The closer the tomb was to the pyramid, the more important the individual.
● A pillared hall.
● An open courtyard with altars dedicated to the sun god.
● A festival courtyard where Djoser performed his rejuvenation ceremony, or hebsed, every 30 years. The ceremony involved the king running around markers representing the length and breadth of Egypt to show his strength and vitality.
● Two mansions for the spirit of the king to reside in. The mansions also represented his rule over Upper and Lower Egypt.
● A mortuary temple, which was the focus of the funerary cult of Djoser.
● A serdab, which housed a life-size statue of the king. The statue was able to observe rituals through a hole in the wall.
● Storage rooms to house objects used in the rituals.
The only structures in the complex with real function were the mortuary temple and the burial tombs of Djoser's family and officials. In the afterlife when the king was reborn, the dummy buildings became real and provided Djoser with the luxuries and necessities of a king - including a kingdom to rule.
Hewinq in Rock
During the Middle Kingdom, the mastaba was abandoned and non-royal burials were carried out in rock-cut tombs. These were tombs cut directly into a cliff face and supplemented with a monumental facade, a sloping courtyard, and a colonnade that functioned as a chapel in which the family and friends could leave offerings for the deceased.
The colonnade consisted of a large gathering area and a small statue chamber at the rear. A shaft located cut into the floor of the chapel led to the burial chamber beneath. The walls of these tombs are elaborately decorated with painted scenes of daily life, military training, battles, and hunting scenes.
If it's not nailed down...
Like the pyramids of the Old Kingdom, these elaborate Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs were security risks. Unattended goods and offerings could easily be taken and sold on the open market.
The families that owned the tombs tried to limit the danger of robbery by regularly visiting the tombs to make offerings of food and drink. They also restricted the number of times the tomb was opened for the interment of additional family members. The mummified deceased were therefore stored in houses until an annual, bi-annual, or five-yearly opening of the tomb was due. Families then conducted group funerals for all members of the family who had died during a specific period.
The practice of waiting to inter bodies continued throughout pharaonic history. People were more concerned about robberies than the hygiene issues resulting from a collection of dead bodies in the basement. Today you would be investigated by the police and possibly a psychiatrist for similar behaviour.
Continuing the trend
The concern with security, however large, did not deter the Egyptians from using rock-cut tombs well into the New Kingdom.
A number of the Theban noble tombs - at the Valley of the Nobles (Sheikh abd-el Gourna), Deir el Bahri, and the Assasif - have elaborate facades, which were prominent on the landscape.
A number of these rock-cut tombs were also surmounted by a small pyramid, which had no function other than acting as a status symbol - and serving as a beacon to tomb robbers!
Getting completely shafted: Shaft tombs
In response to the security threat, as well as financial concerns, a number of Middle and New Kingdom officials were buried in shaft tombs. These tombs were dug directly out of the desert floor and consisted of a vertical shaft, which opened into a subterranean burial chamber. If the deceased was wealthy, the subterranean burial chamber was elaborately decorated or consisted of a suite of rooms.
Eternal rest for provincial governors
The site of Beni Hasan in Middle Egypt has the best collection of Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs. There are 39 tombs here, all carved into the rock face of the cliff. At least four of the tombs belonged to local governors of the region from the end of the 11th and early 12th dynasties, and were impressive statements of their wealth and status.
Most of the tombs follow a similar construction of an outer portico and a larger inner chamber with at least two pillars and a statue niche. The scenes on the tomb walls focus on military training, including wrestling, stick fighting, and weight lifting using sand bags. There are also scenes of warfare, with the Egyptian army laying siege to fortified buildings. Some researchers believe that these scenes depict the civil war between northern and southern Egypt during the early 11th-dynasty unification battles of King Mentuhotep II.
The tomb of Khnumhotep II includes a particularly interesting scene in which a trading party from Syria-Palestine is bringing eye-paint to Egypt. The party leader Absha is titled heka haswt, from which the term Hyksos developed (see Chapter3). The depiction is one of the earliest images of the people known as the Hyksos.
The advantage of a shaft tomb was that after the burial had taken place and the shaft filled with desert rubble, it was impossible to locate, because no superstructure advertised the tomb’s location.
Shaft tombs were used for the rest of the pharaonic period. Today, these tombs are often discovered intact, because even well-trained robbers couldn’t find them.
Sinking to their level: New Kingdom tombs
From the start of Egyptian history, tombs evolved architecturally and ideologically - and did much more than simply provide a place to dispose of the dead.
The ideological significance of the tombs was never more apparent than in the sophisticated New Kingdom. The New Kingdom tombs were divided into three parts
● The upper level or superstructure represented the realm of the sun god. This level was represented by a small niche, a stela (a stone slab with a curved top and an inscription), or a small pyramid.
● The middle level included the internal offering chapels and represented the juxtaposition between the realm of the living and that of the dead.
● The lower level included the burial chambers and represented the realm of the dead.
The kings of the New Kingdom, however, chose to build tombs that had no visible superstructure, as a means of preventing robberies. During this period, the construction of upper levels was only applicable to non-royal tombs. The royal offering chapel (middle level) was situated some distance from the tomb in the desert on the edge of the cultivated land closer to the Nile, while the royal burials (lower level) took place in the Valley of the Kings.
Interring the Divine
The Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes (Luxor) is separated into two valleys:
● The Eastern Valley, which contains 63 tombs numbered in the order in which they were discovered. KV (for King’s Valley) 63 was discovered in February 2006.
● The Western Valley, which contains five tombs.
The development of the Valley of the Kings in the New Kingdom brought about a number of innovations in tomb design. All the tombs in the Valley of the Kings are rock cut, but rather than being built into the sides of cliffs with elaborate facades, the entrances are carved directly into the floor of the Valley - or, if the entrances are carved into cliffs, they are inaccessible and hidden.
Each individual tomb is different due to a number of design features:
● The bent axis tomb was introduced by Amenhotep II and consisted of a long corridor that turned 90 degrees before reaching the burial chamber. This style was used for 130 years.
● The jogged axis tomb was introduced by Horemheb and consisted of a long corridor that ended in the burial chamber. However, the axis was not entirely straight and jogged to one side after the first hall.
● The straight axis tomb was introduced by Ramses IV and was a long, straight corridor cut into the floor of the valley, which ended in the burial chamber.
● The oval burial chamber was introduced by Thutmosis III and was representative of a cartouche, an oval that surrounded the royal name. Surrounding the royal burial with the same shape offered the same protection in death as the ruler received in life.
● The shaft burial was used throughout the period of use of the Valley of the Kings and consisted of a vertical shaft that opened out into the burial chamber at the bottom. See ‘Getting completely shafted: Shaft tombs’, earlier in this chapter, for more information.
Would you like a flake with your cone?
An architectural feature used in the upper level of New Kingdom non-royal tombs was a frieze of funerary cones. Funerary cones were about 15 centimetres long and made of pottery. They were rounded at one end and pointed at the other. The round end was stamped with the tomb owner's name and titles, as well as those of his wife and family.
The frieze was constructed using up to 300 identical cones in a tomb, embedded into the external wall with the stamped, rounded end visible and flush with the wall. (Archaeologists use these cones to identify any missing tombs; if the cones exist today, then the tomb must have also existed at some point.)
Funerary cones were first introduced in the 11th dynasty and continued to be used until the 25th dynasty, although they were most popular in the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom. There has been some debate as to their ritual function, including the suggestion that they represented loaves of bread to nourish the deceased in the afterlife.
Not one of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings is actually finished. Indeed, no tomb in Egypt is complete. Some are carved completely out of the rock and are waiting to be decorated, whereas others have the outlines drawn, ready for carving. Some tombs appear to be complete, but have missing inscriptions, or the painting of the images isn’t complete. The most likely reason for this is the death of the intended recipient, forcing the workmen to halt their work. Also, to finish a tomb would be to admit perfection, and that the tomb was suitable to house a god. What architect could ever seriously make that claim?
The number of incomplete tombs is, to a certain extent, useful, because it allows archaeologists to record the methods of carving and decorating the tombs.
Taking a trip to the King's Valley
The Valley of the Kings is one of the most visited sites in Egypt, and consists of 63 elaborately decorated tombs. However, the name Valley of the Kings is somewhat misleading, because not all the 63 tombs in the Eastern Valley are royal. In fact, only 23 of the 63 tombs in the Eastern Valley are tombs of kings - all the New Kingdom kings from Thutmosis I to Ramses XI (see the nearby sidebar for the complete list).
The other 40 tombs are of unknown and named princes, officials, pets, and unknown individuals.
Officials
Some revered officials were also buried at the site, both in rock-cut and shaft burials. Burial in the Valley of Kings was a great honour for any official. At least seven tombs were built for officials:
● KV13 belongs to the Chancellor, Bay, from the reign of Sety II and Siptah.
● KV36 belongs to Maiherperi, a Nubian fan-bearer from the 18th dynasty. The title of fan-bearer was one of great status, because it enabled the individual to be in the king’s company and privy to all his secrets.
● KV45 belonged originally to an official called Userhet from the 18th dynasty, although it was reused in the 22nd dynasty.
● KV46 was the intact tomb of Yuya and Thuya, the parents of Queen Tiye, who was the husband of Amenhotep III and mother of Akhenaten.
● KV48 belongs to an official called Amenemopet, commonly known as Pairy, from the reign of Amenhotep II.
● KV60 belongs to Sitre-in, the wet nurse of Queen Hatshepsut, and contained a female body that has been identified as either Sitre-in or Hatshepsut.
Those who would be king
The Valley of the Kings also accommodated the tombs of some queens and princes - some kings wanted their entire family close by.
● KV3 was the tomb of an unnamed son of Ramses III.
● KV5 is the biggest tomb in the Valley of the Kings and was intended for the burials of the sons of Ramses II.
● KV14 was originally built by Queen Tawosret for her and her husband Sety II, but this was usurped by King Setnakht, who extended the tomb and removed her body.
● KV19 was built for Montuherkhepshef, a prince who later became Ramses VIII.
● KV42 was constructed for Hatshepsut Merytre, a wife of Thutmosis III.
Even though these tombs were for the royal family, being buried in the Valley of the Kings was still a privilege, because the closer someone was buried to the king, the higher status he or she held. These burials show that these wives and children were highly praised by their husbands or fathers. In the 19th and 20th dynasty, the Valley of the Queens, south of the Valley of the Kings, was constructed as a place solely for members of the royal family and contains 75-80 tombs.
Who's who in the Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings may be chock full of tombs, but who's who in this upmarket resting place?
● KV38: Thutmosis I, father of Hatshepsut
● KV20: Hatshepsut (refer to Chapter 3 for more on the life of Hatshepsut)
● KV34: Thutmosis III (Chapter 4 has more details of Thutmosis III)
● KV35: Amenhotep II
● KV43: Thutmosis IV, who set up the Dream Stela at the sphinx at Giza (see Chapter 14)
● WV (Western Valley) 22: Amenhotep III, the father of Akhenaten
● WV25: Akhenaten (Chapter 4 has more about Akhenaten)
● KV55: Smenkhkare-Akhenaten's successor
● KV62: Tutankhamun, the famous boy king (see Chapter 4)
● WV23: Ay, the uncle and successor of Tutankhamun
● KV57: Horemheb, Ay's successor
● KV16: Ramses I, a general of Horemheb who ruled for a short period
● KV17: Sety I,the father of Ramses II
● KV7: Ramses II (referto Chapter 4)
● KV8: Merenptah, the 13th son and successor of Ramses II
● KV10: Amenmesse, possibly the son of a daughter of Ramses II
● KV15: Sety II, husband of Tawosret and father of Siptah
● KV47: Siptah, who ruled alongside his mother until he became an adult
● KV14: Tawosret and Setnakht - the tomb was started by Tawosret and then completed by Setnakht and is one of the only tombs with two burial chambers
● KV11: Ramses III (referto Chapter4)
● KV2: Ramses IV, son of Ramses III
● KV9: Ramses VI, son of Ramses III
● KV1: Ramses VII, son of Ramses VI
● KV6: Ramses IX, who reigned Egypt for 18 years
● KV18: Ramses X, who reigned for between three and nine years
Furry and feathered friends
Like many pet owners today, the Egyptians loved their pets. A few tombs in the Valley were constructed solely for the burial of these beloved family members.
● KV50 housed the pets of Amenhotep II, including the mummified remains of a dog and a monkey.
● KV51 contained the burial of three monkeys, one baboon, three ducks, and an ibis; however, the owner of this menagerie of animals is a mystery.
● KV52 contained the mummified remains of a monkey, although again the owner is unknown.
These burials and others discovered in other cemeteries tell us what types of pets were kept by the Egyptian kings - primarily monkeys, dogs, cats, and ducks. Many of these burials consisted of a mummified animal within a coffin, and some even contained funerary goods as well. The burial of pets was not exclusive to royals, and a number of pet mummies have been discovered, including horses, cats, and birds.
Considering unknown owners
Details of the ownership of 20 of the 63 Eastern Valley tombs have not survived, and the ownership of one of the Western Valley tombs is unknown.
Based on tomb style, researchers can sometimes identify the period when a tomb was built. All the tombs were robbed in antiquity, and priests moved a number of bodies to a store in the 21st dynasty to protect them from further violation, so many of the tombs do not contain bodies or grave goods. The priests re-wrapped the bodies before placing them in the store, but they may have confiscated the riches wrapped against the body as a means of boosting the flagging economy.
Still not exhausted
As the recent discovery of KV63 suggests, the Valley of the Kings still has discoveries to offer. In February 2006, an American team discovered a tomb shaft 5 metres from the tomb of Tutankhamun. This tomb had been identified using sonar survey by the British-run Amarna Royal Tomb Project in 2000, although it took six years for the tomb to be uncovered.
The tomb was approached by a 5-metre-deep shaft, which then leads into a rectangular, undecorated burial chamber measuring approximately 4 metres by 5 metres. The tomb contained seven wooden sarcophagi and 27 large storage jars dated to the reign of Tutankhamun, identified by a seal bearing the name of his wife Ankhesenamun.
Before the tomb was cleared, a lot of publicity and speculation focused on who the tomb
belonged to - suggestions included Nefertiti, Kiya, and Ankhesenamun (the stepmother, mother, and wife of Tutankhamun, respectively). Imagine everyone's disappointment when the coffins and storage jars contained only the remains of an embalmer's workshop - a lot of linen, natron, pillows, miniature vessels, resin, chaff, and floral collars. Of course, these materials raise a number of questions, as embalmers' caches are normally remains from a burial. Whose burial does this cache belong to?
In July 2006, the Amarna Royal Tomb Project announced results of further sonar surveys that indicate another possible tomb in the same region as KV63 and KV62 (Tutankhamun). Perhaps the embalmer's cache in KV63 is the remains of the burial in KV64. Who knows?
A tomb fit for kings
The largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings-and indeed the whole of Egypt - is KV5, built by Ramses II for the burial of his numerous sons (for more on Ramses II, see Chapter 4). The tomb was originally discovered prior to 1799 and then recorded in the 1820s, although only the first court was entered and deemed not worthy of excavation.
However, in 1987, Kent Weeks, while working on the Theban Mapping Project (see Chapter 15 for details of the project and Chapter 19 for the low-down on Dr Weeks), entered the tomb to assess the damage of a leaking sewage pipe and discovered the potential of KV5. Due to numerous flash floods over the centuries, the tomb was filled to the ceiling with compacted desert rubble, which sets to the consistency of concrete. Weeks and his team have systematically removed rubble and revealed more than 120 chambers and corridors on three levels. More chambers are uncovered each season, and the total number of chambers is likely to exceed 150 over the coming years.
So far, six of Ramses's sons have been discovered buried here. However, the wall decoration depicts more then 20 sons, so many more may be awaiting discovery. There are many years of work still left on this tomb, and no doubt other surprises await Weeks and his team.
A couple of these mystery tombs have stood out from the rest due to remains that were discovered within them. Although these details bring researchers no closer to identifying the tombs’ owners, the remains are fascinating none the less:
● KV56 is referred to as the ‘Gold Tomb’ because a collection of 19th-dynasty gold jewellery was discovered within it.
● KV58 is known as the ‘Chariot Tomb’ because a number of chariot fragments were discovered here. The chariot or chariots were most likely moved from King Ay’s tomb in the Western Valley and dumped here, probably by ancient robbers.
● KV63 was discovered in 2006 and was an embalmer’s cache - although which burial this cache is connected to is unknown.
Other houses for the royal afterlife
Although the Valley of the Kings is the most famous burial site, kings of other periods favoured different cemeteries:
The early Old Kingdom kings favoured burial at Abydos, the mythical burial place of the god Osiris.
● The late Old Kingdom kings favoured the Cairo region (Saqqara, Memphis, and Giza).
● The Middle Kingdom kings favoured the Faiyum (Hawara, Lahun, and Dashur).
● The earlier New Kingdom kings were buried at Dra Abu el Naga on the West Bank at Thebes.
● Akhenaten was buried at Amarna in Middle Egypt.
● Amenhotep III and Ay were buried in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings, and Akhenaten started building a tomb here before he moved the capital city to Amarna (see Chapter 4).
● Those in the Tanite (22nd) dynasty were buried at Tanis in the Delta.
Embellishing Tombs: Decoration to Die For
Many burial places from the pre-dynastic period onwards contain decorative paintings that have some function in the afterlife and are supposed to make the eternal survival of the tomb owner more bearable.
Entertaining the robbers
The burial of a baboon and a dog in KV50 is not in itself remarkable. However, when the archaeologists were excavating the tomb in 1906, the placement of these animals caused some amusement, which was attributed to an ancient robber with a sense of humour!
Theodore Davis, the excavator, describes the scene:
I went down the shaft and entered the chamber, which proved to be extremely hot and too low for comfort. I was startled by seeing very near me a yellow dog of ordinary size standing on his feet, his short tail curved over his back and his eyes open.
Within a few inches of his nose sat a monkey in quite perfect condition; for an instant I thought that they were alive, but I soon saw that they had been mummified, and unwrapped in ancient times by robbers. Evidently they had taken a fragment of the wooden monkey box on which they seated the monkey to keep him upright, and then they stood the dog on his feet so near the monkey that his nose almost touched him... lam quite sure the robbers arranged the group for their amusement. However this may be, it can fairly be said to be a joke 3,000 years old.
Well, they say the old ones are the best.
The earliest decorated tomb was Tomb 100 from Hierakonpolis, built around 3685 BC, which is the only decorated tomb from this period. There was a gap of 1,000 years or so before the next decorated tombs, which appeared in the third dynasty in the non-royal mastaba tombs, and the fourth dynasty pyramid of King Unas, which contained the Pyramid Texts. (See Chapter 14 for more on the pyramid and Chapter 10 for more on the texts.)
Even during the early Old Kingdom, which was the beginning of the tombdecorating trend, artisans relied on certain themes that remained popular throughout the pharaonic period for both royal and non-royal tombs. Only the artistic representation of these themes changed (see Chapter 11).
Decorating for the plebs
From the Old Kingdom mastabas to the New Kingdom rock-cut tombs, the non-royal themes in paintings focused on
● Nourishment
● Daily life
● Banquets
● Funerals
These themes were in use for hundreds of years, and never lost their meaning and importance. Only the artistic style changed - but the main purpose was consistent.
Nourishment
Scenes showing rows of servants carrying piles of food to offering tables before the tomb owner provided the deceased with nourishment for the afterlife. Agricultural scenes showing food production include animal husbandry, sowing, harvesting, winnowing, vineyard tending, fishing, and bird hunting. Some New Kingdom examples of agricultural scenes show the tomb owner actively participating in farming, indicating that the deceased will always be able to provide themselves with food.
Other scenes show the deceased residing in the Field of Reeds, the ancient equivalent to paradise. The Field of Reeds was an exact copy of Egypt, but Egypt at its best, with abundant crops, lots of water, and beautiful flora and fauna peppering the landscape. The deceased are often seen in their best frocks, tending the land and harvesting the constant crops.
Daily life
Scenes showing the life of the tomb owner are based on the deceased’s occupation:
● For a vizier, whose role was to oversee all the workshops attached to the palace, scenes show detailed images of a number of these crafts, including jewellery making, carpentry, stone masonry, brick making, and metal crafts.
● For a military individual, the tomb included images of battles, campaigns, and training.
● For an agricultural overseer, many of the agricultural scenes described in the previous section were used.
By the New Kingdom, these everyday life scenes, especially those dealing with agriculture, are associated with the cycle of life and rebirth.
Banquets
Banquets are often depicted in non-royal tombs and show the tomb owner and his wife seated before a heavily laden offering table with a number of guests, segregated by sex, being served by servants. The servants adorn the guests’ necks with floral collars and their heads with perfume cones, and keep their food and wine topped up. Singers, musicians, and dancers are often shown entertaining guests.
These banquets can represent one of two things - a depiction of the funerary feast that occurred after the funeral, or the Beautiful Festival of the Valley, a Theban funerary festival at which the dead were remembered. (During this festival, processions on the West Bank were followed by people visiting their ancestors’ tombs to participate in a feast with the dead.)
Funerals
Images of funerals show the procession into the tomb, consisting of a number of servants carrying boxes of goods. The contents of the boxes include jewellery, clothes, weapons, statues, and furniture.
The procession is often accompanied by a group of professional mourners - a group of women hired to wail and throw dirt over their faces in an open display of grief.
The funerary rituals are also often depicted, including the opening of the mouth ceremony (see Chapter 10), which enabled the deceased to breathe, speak, and eat in the afterlife, as well as the ceremony of the breaking of the red pots, an ancient ritual of unknown meaning or origin.
Decorating for the royals
The themes of royal tomb decoration are not as flexible or diverse as the non-royal tombs. Instead, royal tomb art focuses on religious rather than personal scenes. These religious themes do, however, vary from tomb to tomb and include
● Scenes from funerary texts (see Chapter 10), which primarily focus on the 12-hour nocturnal journey of the sun god. The king accompanied the sun god on this journey and faced the same dangers. These funerary texts protected the king and the god until dawn and rebirth.
● Scenes of the king making offerings to various gods, including Re-Horakhty, Osiris, Ptah, and Hathor - all deities associated with death and rebirth.
● Scenes of the gods embracing the king and welcoming him to the afterlife. Often the gods are seen holding the king’s hand, leading him to the realm of the dead.
One variant on this theme can be found in the tombs of the sons of Ramses III, where the king is shown leading his sons into the afterlife and introducing him to the gods.
Although kings, queens, and princes had little room to deviate from these themes, they could choose from a number of funerary texts with a large canon of images. Additionally, royals were able to change artistic representations, colours, and techniques, which allows each royal tomb to be unique despite the simple themes available. It seems that all people, ancient or modern, manage to work within the boundaries and still express their individuality!