Anth 309 PPT Lecture 29 Middle Kingdom e

ANT 309:
Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids

(Predyn.–Second Intermediate Period: 5,000-1550 BC)
Lecture 29: Dyn.12:

Middle Kingdom elite & poorer tombs
© Notes & images compiled by Gregory Mumford 2023
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Selected questions regarding private and mostly MK elite tombs:
• What are the various types of Middle Kingdom elite tombs like in Egypt?
• Is there a more common type of tomb that emerges in this period?
i.e., The Old Kingdom yielded more elite mastaba tombs, especially in North.
i.e., The FIP witnessed the emergence of more elite provincial rock-cut tombs?
• What components appear in the affluent Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs?
• Do the components found in MK rock-cut tombs still reflect mastaba tomb
designs?: i.e., Unnecessary structural elements such as pillars & architraves.
• In essence, can one suggest that the later OK rock cut tomb design, which
did derive mostly from OK mastaba tomb components, became the formative
model for later Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs versus MK mastaba tombs?
• What differences emerge between OK & MK elite rock-cut tomb components?
i.e., Are these differences in details, or are there more substantial changes?
• What are the changes and innovations in the details of MK tomb designs,
decorative motifs, funerary artifacts, and mortuary beliefs in comparison to
retained traditions? i.e., ka-statues, false doors, banquet scenes, offering slabs
• How important is the emergence of the Osiris cult and “democratization
of religion” in governing some of these modifications and innovations?
MIDDLE KINGDOM:
Dyns. Mid-11-13:
Architecture & Art

of non-royal
mortuary contexts
&
their furnishings
Dyn.12: Thebes to Lisht → different local traditions for burials.
a. Flatter ground = no rock-cut tombs → mastaba burials at court cemetery
b. Middle – Upper Egypt: provincial elite retained rock-cut tombs.
Dyn.12 Senwosret II
Rock-cut mastaba tombs
Rock-cut mastaba tombs

Middle Kingdom: Mastaba tomb type II.
• Mastaba lacking interior rooms, having decoration on exterior
E.g., Lahun and Dahshur
Solid Mastabas:
• Usually mud brick
core.
• Sometimes rock-cut
bedrock core.
• Limestone slab
facing with texts
and scenes of the
deceased & family.
• Some lengthy texts

(autobiographies)
• Some vaulted roofs

(resembling coffins)
• Some palace façades

(like royal coffins)
Middle Kingdom
Mastaba Type 1:
• interior rooms
• Lisht cemetery
• Memphis tombs
• Poorly preserved
• Usually small
• False door (→E)
• Most walls have
decoration in
relief.
E.g., Tomb of
Vizier Intefiqer
Offering False door base

Scene frag.
Dyn.12: Funerary complex at Bubastis for burials of mayors.
• Each chamber contained one burial
• Family (communal) crypt (on mound in Delta; no cliff faces)
Qaw: Tombs of nomarchs Wah-ka I Qaw: Wah-ka II: fragmentary scene
with female dancers & tumblers.
Tomb
Tomb
chapel
Causeway
Valley temple
Dyn. 12: Funerary complex of Wahka I at Qau in middle Egypt
Note: Terrace (not too different from Montuhotep II at Deir el-Bahari [W. Thebes])
Valley temple, causeway, mortuary temple, and rock-cut burial chambers.
Stone-lined (marked in black), rock-cut, and decorated structure
Grand scale not too far below the reigning monarch.
Qaw: Dyn.12 Middle Egypt: Qaw.
Tomb
of Qaw:
Ibu Tomb
Of
Wah-ka I
Dyn.12 Aswan (Elephantine):
Rock-cut tombs of Serenput I-II
Sarenput I
Sarenput II Sarenput II
Dyn.12
Aswan
Tomb
of
Saren-
put II.
Dyn.12
Aswan
Tomb of
Sarenput II
Artist’s
grid guide
18 squares
from soles
of feet to
the hairline
(Dyns.12-25)
MIDDLE KINGDOM:
Dyns. Mid-11-13:
1. Example of non-royal
tomb & furnishings
Mainly Khnumhotep II
of Beni Hasan (nome):
Beni Hasan:
Khnumhotep II
Dyn.12: Tomb of Khnumhotep II nomarch at Beni Hasan
Plan of exterior forecourt, portico, rock-cut chapel, and shrine,
Note: The family tomb would

be closed & sealed using a
wooden door: family usage only,
and/or professional mortuary cult.
Exterior entrance: tomb owner’s name & titles & offering formula.
“Administrator of the Eastern Desert,” etc.
North side of tomb chapel.
North side of tomb chapel.
Asiatics in
Egyptian art:
Beni Hasan
Tombs
Sinai Serabit el-

Khadim temple
Dyn.12: Tomb of Khnumhotep II nomarch at Beni Hasan.
North Wall of tomb chapel.
North Wall dominated by hunting scenes in desert

Bedouin from Eastern Desert being granted entry to Egypt
Bringing cattle and sheep & goats; Khnumhotep’s dogs, etc.
Top of
Tomb
shaft
Imitation
Granite &
False door
East Wall of tomb chapel, flanking entryway to shrine chamber.
East Wall dominated by hunting scenes in marsh

Beni
Hasan:
Tomb 3
Shrine
of
Khnum-
hotep II
N-Wall: 3 daughters approaching S-Wall: 5 sons approaching:

Khnumhotep II’s rock-cut statue Necht,Khnumhotep,Nehera,
(Bakt; Thent; Meres) Neternecht, Khnumhotep, …
Dyn.12:
Tomb of Khnumhotep II
nomarch at Beni Hasan.
Note:
• The tomb decoration encapsulates
The cosmos of Knumhotep II
(nomarch of Beni Hasan).
• It illustrates Beni Hasan and its

environs from his perspective:
E.g., Agriculture, all four seasons,
hunting, fowling, marshes,
desert, etc.
For more details, see Janice Kamrin,

The Cosmos of Khnumhotep II at
Beni Hasan (London: Keegan Paul,
1999).
South side near entry.
False door
South Wall of tomb chapel.
South Wall dominated by Khnumhotep II banquet scene

Subsidiary scene of wife at banquet table
Other scenes of offerings, provisions, etc.
West Wall of tomb chapel.
West Wall dominated by funerary scenes: Ka statue;

funerary dancers; agriculture; carpentry; administration;
granaries; boat-building; threshing; Abydos pilgrimage;
weaving; gardening; making statue/shrine; fishing.
Transcription of “Great Inscription” in dado along wall base of chapel
Note: Khnumhotep at banquet in false-door frame (cavetto cornice top)
NOTE: a false door/banquet scene on S. Wall facing north (NOT East)
False door
Beni Hasan:
• Imitation granite dado (base strip) surrounding base of rock-cut tomb chapel,
bearing “great inscription” of the nomarch: Khnumhotep. 222 columns of text.
Lines 1-13: intent of the tomb.
“The Count, mayor, … Khnumhotep, …, he made (this tomb) as his monument,
its purpose being in adorning his city, that it might establish his name to eternity
and make it endure for ever, as his chamber of the necropolis, also that it might
establish the name of his staff, being arranged according to their rank, the
established ones, his household officers whom he promoted from among his
serfs, every office that he undertook, all craftsmen according to their several
occupations.”
Lines 13-24: Khnumhotep II installed as nomarch of Menat-Khufu (yr. 19 of A-II)
Lines 24-53: Installation of grandfather Khnumhotep I
Lines 54-62: Installation of his uncle Nakht
Lines 63-71: Parentage of Khnumhotep II
Lines 72-79: Inheritance of Khnumhotep II via his maternal grandfather
Lines 79-99: The deeds of Khnumhotep II during his governance
Lines 99-120: Honours provided to him by the king
Lines 121-169: Royal favours bestowed upon his sons Nekht and Khnumhotep III
Lines 170-192: Tomb paralleling father Nehera; summary of his father’s deeds.
Lines 192-221: Building works by Khnumhotep II within his province
Line 222: Bakt, superintendent of treasurers, built the tomb.
2. TOMB
CHAPEL:
Ceiling (as a house)
and other examples
Cross section of interior tomb chapel ceiling and pillars
See following images for ceiling panel decoration (in other tombs)
Dyn.12: Ceiling of the
Tomb of Wahka II at Qaw
• Less obvious geometric

pattern laid out using a
square grid and a
superimposed diagonal
grid.
= imitates roof matting.
• More geometric pattern

with a square grid and a
superimposed diagonal
grid.
• green quatrefoils & squares
= imitates roof matting.
Crete
Egyptian decoration from tomb ceilings
Resembling decoration found in
foreign Keftiu (Minoan) textiles.
Middle Kingdom: Tomb of Hepzefa. Keftiu kilt (from Crete):

Note:
Minoan
maze
• Blue paired helix spirals
→ palemettes.
• Blue scissor-like lozenges
• Red quatrefoils surrounded by

green dots in diamond-pattern
Dyn.12 (temp. Amenemhet II):

Tomb of Ukhhotep at Meir
- spirals in rows
- red lancets
- red quatrefoils
in green sq.
Keftiu (Crete)
Kilt pattern
3. TOMB
CHAPEL:
Ka statue(s)
and other examples
Beni
Hasan:
Tomb 3
Shrine
of
Khnum-
hotep II
Rock-cut Ka statue
Dyn.12: Ka-statue of Sennuwy
Wife of nomarch Hepzefa of Assiut
(removed from tomb → Kerma)
(Above) Dyn.12:
Gabbro statuette
Of queen (UE).
(Left) Dyn.12:
Statue of vizier
Karnak Temple
(usurped in
Dyn.22 → name
lost)
Block ka-statues:
• Introduced in Middle Kingdom
• Represents seated person

(the deceased) wearing a cloak
• Maximizes area for placement of

inscriptions.
• Requires less fine sculpting

(i.e., quicker to produce)
• May have variants, such as

showing the feet, the legs and
arms, a secondary figure, etc.
Dyn.12 Saqqara.
Tomb of Hetep ca. 1975 BC:
• One of the earliest cube
statues and a similar example
from same period.
Maximizes space
for texts; minimal
carving
Middle Kingdom:
Late Dynasty 12
• Cavetto cornice
• Torus roll (framework)
• Kheker frieze (top fringe)
• Eyes (= magical view port)
• Ka statues of treasury
official Amunemhat and
his family.
• Offering formula invokes
Osiris, Lord of Abydos &
Geb, Prince of the Gods
• Interior painted relief with
son serving them (table)
• Originally built into mudbrick
tomb chapel at Thebes
Dyn.11: Limestone Stela of Min-okre Dyn.12: Limestone stela of Nakhte
Many Dyn.11 Thebans buried with bows (Prob. originally from a Theban tomb)
Middle Kingdom funerary models:
• Small wooden statuettes of the tomb owner:
• = Ka-spirit statuettes on a small scale
i.e., less expensive than life size/stone statues
4. TOMB
CHAPEL
DECORATION:
i.e., motifs/genres
Plan of exterior forecourt, portico, rock-cut chapel, and shrine.
• The following detail images are drawn from various nomarch’s tombs
at Beni Hasan to illustrate the range of motifs in elite (and “lesser” tombs).
• In essence, however, the majority represent items found in Khnumhotep II’s

tomb chapel: i.e., there is much duplication of these scenes between tombs.
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
1. Funeral motifs
Khnumhotep II & other examples
Funerary industry and preparations:
• Professional embalmers for elite burials
• Professional mourners; lector priests; etc.
• Some items produced specifically for burials (e.g., the tomb or
grave; mummy; face mask; coffin; spells; shabtis; etc.)
• Other items of daily life placed in the tomb
• Necropolis guards
• maintenance of the funerary cult (ranging from family
visitations to a professional mortuary cult for the king).
Model offering bearers: Bringing provisions to tomb / tomb owner / etc.
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
2.Administration of estate:
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Scribal administration.
• Provincial
administration:
- Recording grain
- Weighing items
- Other records
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
3.Viewing the estate
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Palanquin and sun-shade.
• The elite use carry chairs for transport within towns & country
(e.g., ED-OK scenes of nobles being brought in chairs to attend Sed-festival).
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
4.Building (brick makers)
Brick-making & building:
Source of clay → mud brick
reeds →roofing; huts …
palm → roofing; posts …
Deir el-Bersha: FIP-Dyn.12 tomb of Henu. Model of brick makers.
Magical(?): Ensuring brick production for house & other construction in Afterlife.
Middle Kingdom: “Satire of the Trades”
“I’ll describe to you also the (brick) mason:

His loins give him pain;
Though he is out in the wind,
He works without a cloak;
His loincloth is a twisted rope;
And a string in the rear.
His arms are spent from exertion,
Having mixed all kinds of dirt;
When he eats bread [with] his fingers,
He has washed at the same time”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
5.Viewing cultivation
MK Agriculture: Ploughing fields and sowing grain.
• Produce equipment (i.e., wooden plough; harnessing; etc.).
• Obtain cattle and seed for sowing
• Need knowledgeable labour for handling plough, cattle & sowing
• Land (state; temple; private ownership).
• Market: state, temple, elite, towns, neighbours, self.
“The farmer wails more than the guinea fowl,

His voice is louder than a raven’s;
His fingers are swollen
And stink to excess.
He is weary …
…
He is well if one’s well among lions.
…
When he reaches home home at night,
The march has worn him out.”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
6.Viewing gardening
MK Agriculture: Watering plots of land --plants.
• Produce equipment (yoke; ropes; water containers)
• Knowledgeable supervisor (for planting & crop requirements)
• Unskilled labour to water plants
• Land (state; temple; elite; small-scale)
• Market: state, temple, elite, towns, neighbours, self.
“The gardener carries a yoke,
His shoulders are bent as with age;
There’s a swelling on his neck

And it festers.
In the morning he water vegetables,

The evening he spends with the herbs,
While at noon he has toiled in the orchard.

He works himself to death
More than all other professions.”

TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
7.Viewing harvesting,
transport & storage
Agriculture: Harvesting crops.
• Equipment: sickle blades (jawbone; flints), bindings, baskets.
• Pack animals (e.g., donkeys)
• Separating the chaff (cattle treading grain in packed clay basin)
• Market: State, temple, elite, towns, neighbours, self.
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Transporting produce.
• Loading a donkey with baskets of grain; winnowing grain

Middle Kingdom
(Beni Hassan):
• Provincial
granary for
long-term
grain storage.
• Ensuring food
supply in death,
commemorative
or both.
GRAIN STORAGE (ash = insecticide) Dyn.11
Tomb of Meketre (Thebes)
Granary being filled
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
8. Viewing food
preparations / processing
Industry: Food preparation.
• Materials: Grain obtained from farms.
• Equipment: grinding stones, grinders, clay platform, pottery,
pounders, bread moulds, etc.
• Producing bread and beer using ovens, fermentation, etc.
• Market: State, temple, elite, town, neighbours, and self.
Bread
Conical loaves Dough

stuffing
mould
Bread and beer production.
• Grinding grain, making dough, adding ingredients, straining, fermenting, etc.
• i.e., Beer = A COMMON BEVERAGE (highly nutritious; about 3-4% alcohol)
Dyn.11: Tomb
of Meketre
(Thebes)
Beer & bread
Bearer bringing
Pots & fowl
Agriculture: Grapes and wine production.
• Equipment: trellis/frame for grapes, baskets, clay treading basin,
• Knowledgeable supervisor (tending grapes & preparing wine)
• Scribes recording harvest (controlling grape harvest)
• Pressing grapes (treading; squeezing)
• Bottling and fermentation → wine (= AN ELITE BEVERAGE).
• Market: State, temple, elite, town (international trade)
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
9. Viewing livestock
fertility, processing, etc.
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan):
• Country scenes with wild animals

and livestock.
• Porters delivering produce to the

nomarch.
• Fecundity of livestock portrayed:

i.e., animals mating (simple scenes
versus magical ensuring of flocks,
by-products, and meat in Afterlife).
Middle Kingdom: Livestock (cattle).
• Dairy products (milk, cheese, yoghurt)
• Meat and other portions
• Draught animals (oxen pulling plough; carts)
• By-products (leather; horn; etc.).
Livestock: raising domesticated and wild animals
• Details of daily life on tomb owner’s estate: E.g., force-feeding oryx
MK Agriculture: Butchery = meat.
• Obtain equipment (i.e.,

flint knife) from flint-
knapper.
• Skilled butcher for

handling cattle, killing,
and skinning.
(apprenticeship).
• Preparation of various
cuts of meat, and other
parts of the carcass.
• Market: State, temple,

elite, others.
Dyn.11: Tomb of Meketre (Thebes)
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
10. Viewing fowling
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Hunters fowling
• using a crook to herd geese
• using a baited(?) woven basket-trap to snare wild birds
“The bird-catcher suffers much
As he watches out for birds;
When the swarms pass over him,
He keeps saying, ‘had I a net!’
But the god grants it not,
And he’s angry with his lot.”

TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
11. Viewing fishing
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Fishing and boating.
• Including daily life hazards (crocodiles), mock battles/fights (ritual vs. play)
Dyn.11: Tomb of Meketre (Thebes)
Papyrus fishing boats
“I’ll speak of the fisherman also,
His is the worst of all the jobs;
He labours on the river,
Mingling with crocodiles.
When the time of reckoning comes,

He is full of lamentations;
He does not say, ‘There’s a crocodile’

Fear has made him blind.
Coming from the flowing water

He says, ‘Mighty god!’”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
12.Viewing craft production
MK Industry: Pottery production & firing.
• Materials: specific clays (marl; silt), temper
(sand; chaff stones), water, etc.
• Skilled labour (apprenticeship)
• Levigate clays (sit in water)
• knead clay (removing air pockets)
• mix in temper (handles need >strength)
• produce vessels on slow/fast wheel
• dry vessels
MK Industry: Pottery production and firing.
• Firing pots in kiln (specialized knowledge temperature & time)
• Market: all levels of society.
False transparency
“The potter is under the soil,
Though as yet among the living;
He grubs in the mud more than a pig,
In order to fire his pots.
His clothes are stiff with clay,
His girdle is in shreds;
If air enters his nose,
It comes straight from the fire.
He makes a pounding with his feet,
And is himself crushed;
He grubs the yard of every house
And roams the public places”
MK industry:
Making flint blades.
• materials (flint etc.)
• Skilled flint-knapper
(apprenticeship)
• Market: butcher,
hunter, various
industries, home.
MK industry: Making bows and arrows.
• Materials (wood; tendons; feathers; bindings; flint/copper/wood

point; etc.) from carpenter?, farmer, butcher, etc.
• Skilled labour to produce bow and arrows (apprenticeship).
• Market: Hunters and Soldiers.

“The arrow-maker suffers much

As he goes out to the desert;
More is what he gives his donkey

Than the work it does for him.
Much is what he gives the herdsmen,

So they’ll put him on his way.
When he reaches home at night,

The march has worn him out.”
“The reed-cutter travels to the Delta to get

arrows;
When he has done more than his arms can do
Mosquitoes have slain him,
Gnats have slaughtered him,
He is quite worn out.”

MK industry: making sandals.
• Obtain materials (i.e., leather; reeds) from butcher, reed-collector
• Obtain equipment: cutting tools, punch, hammer, pot, stand, etc.
• Partly skilled labour to operate tools and produce sandals

(apprenticeship).
• Market: self, neighbours, and higher classes.

“The cobbler suffers much,
Among his vats of oil;
He is well if one’s well with corpses,
What he bites is leather.”

Carpentry and furniture production.
• Equipment: wooden handles, bindings, saws, adzes, chisels,
awls, drills, hammers, platforms, vertical vice, etc.
• Materials: various types of wood, adhesives, pegs, bindings,
upholstery, decorative inlay, etc.
• Knowledgeable craftsmen for ornate and functional items
(apprenticeship).
• Diverse workshops and expertise catering to different needs.
• Market: state, temples, elite, towns, neighbours, and self.
Dyn.11: Tomb of Meketre (Thebes) Woodworking shop
“The Carpenter also suffers much
…
The room measures ten by six cubits
(approx. 5 x 3 m)
A month passes after the beams are laid,

…
And all its work is done.
The food which he gives to his household,
It does not suffice for his children.”

Carpentry and Ship building (wrights):
• Equipment: support frame, mallets, levers, wooden handles,
copper axes, awls, and adzes, sanding materials, bindings, etc.
• Materials: diverse woods (local palm wood; imported cedar)
• Skilled shipwrights and apprentices
• Market: State, temple, elite, towns, villages (riverine-sea vessels)
“The carpenter who wields an adze,
He is wearier than a field-labourer;
His field is the timber; his hoe the adze.
There is no end to his labour,
He does more than his arms can do,
Yet at night he kindles light”

MK making fire: Bow-drill technology.
• Materials: wood, cord,

tinder, powder.
• Partly skilled and probably

widespread knowledge
throughout domestic to
industrial levels.
• Applications in all levels

of society, industry, etc.
“The stoker, his fingers are foul,
Their smell is that of corpses;
His eyes are inflamed by much smoke,
He cannot get rid of his dirt.
He spends the day cutting reeds,
His clothes are loathsome to him.”

MK industry: Copper smelting and working.
• Materials: copper ore,
reed tubes, clay tuyeres,
furnace, tongs, etc.
• Skilled smiths to smelt
copper and produce
various utensils
(apprenticeship)
• State, temple and elite
workshops.
• Community workshops
• Market: widespread
- state
- temple
- elite
- towns
- tools for labourers
“… I have seen the smith at work
At the opening of his furnace;
With fingers like claws of a crocodile
He stinks more than a roe fish”

MK Copper smelting.
• Costly materials (i.e., obtained from desert mines)

• Balance scale to obtain proper proportions & control materials
• Supervisors to ensure security of materials maintain work-pace
“The jewel-maker bores with his chisel
In hard stone of all kinds;
When he has finished the inlay of the eye,
His arms are spent, he’s weary;
Sitting down when the sun goes down,
His knees and back are cramped.”

Dyn.11:
Tomb of Meketre (Thebes)
Weaving workshop
“The weaver is in the workshop,
He is worse off than a woman;

With knees against his chest,
He cannot breathe air.
If he skips a day of weaving,

He is beaten fifty strokes;
He gives food to the doorkeeper,

To let him see the light of day.”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
13. Other services …
“The barber barbers till nightfall,
He betakes himself to town,
He sets himself up in his corner,
He moves from street to street,
Looking for someone to barber.
He strains his arms to fill his belly,
Like the bee that eats as it works”

MK Services: washing, wringing, drying & folding laundry.
• Equipment: platform, basins, folding boards, beating sticks, etc.
• Market: State, temple, elite, town, neighbours, self.
Folding cloth
“The washerman washes on the shore
With the crocodile as neighbour;
‘Father, leave the flowing water,’

Say his son, his daughter,
[It is not a job that satisfies]
…
His food is mixed with dirt,

No limb of his is clean
[He is given women’s clothes,

…
He weeps as he spends the day at his washboard

…
One says to him, ‘Soiled linen for you’”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
14.Viewing entertainment
Services: Musicians for state, temple, elite & public occasions.
Female & male harpist
Hathor-headed sistrum
Middle Kingdom
(Beni Hassan):
• wrestling scene
• sequences of wrestling moves
• wrestling often seen in military
training.
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan):
• Young girls playing a game of tossing and catching a ball.
• Games are a popular motif (also seen in Old Kingdom elite tombs)
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
15. Marsh hunting/outing
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Fowling.
• using boomerang (also fowling arrows; clubs; nets)
• A popular genre seen in Old Kingdom and continued on in MK+
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Nomarch harpooning fish.
Note:
Water
running
off fish
being
lifted out
of water.
Middle Kingdom: “The eloquent peasant”
(hunters)
“Lo, you are a hunter who takes his fill,
Bent on doing what he pleases;
Spearing hippopotami, shooting bulls,
Catching fish, snaring birds.
…”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
16. Desert hunting/outing
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Nomarch hunting wild game.
• sport
• some reliance upon wild game
• Nomarch’s hunting dogs
Middle Kingdom: “The eloquent peasant”
(hunters)
“Lo, you are a hunter who takes his fill,
Bent on doing what he pleases;
Spearing hippopotami, shooting bulls,
Catching fish, snaring birds.
…”
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
17. Viewing borders
Middle Kingdom: “Asiatics” entering Egypt
Note: presenting permit to allow them to enter Egypt & water/pasture their flocks.
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
18.Warfare across borders
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Soldiers.
• kilts, headband, shields, axes, bow and arrows
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Siege scene.
• Civil war: Egyptians defending fort; Egyptians attacking fort
• crenulated battlements
• sloping glacis at wall base (protection against battering rams)
• Battering ram with protective covering.
glacis
TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
19.Traveling beyond nome
Middle Kingdom (Beni Hassan): Nomarch’s fleet.
• Boat with sleeping quarters for nomarch
• Kitchen boats (e.g., Meket-re’s model fleet)
• Livestock and produce boats
• Boats to carry troops (escort)
• Many other types of ships and boats.

TOMB
CHAPEL & OBJ:
20.Abydos pilgrimage
Middle Kingdom: Pilgrimage to Abydos in the afterlife.
• Many of the builders of chapels at Abydos, actually resided, died, and were buried
elsewhere in Egypt.
• Cenotaph shrines of diverse social strata allowed deceased to partake in Osiris cult
festivities for perpetuity.
Middle Kingdom: Wooden models popular until Senwosret II.
• Boat model with mummy (less common).
= Abydos pilgrimage (also depicted on tomb walls)
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
& items.
Longitudinal cross-section of forecourt, portico, chapel, & shrine,
One of the tomb shafts

cut from the floor of the
overlying tomb chapel.
Multiple tomb shafts for
nomarch, wife, etc.
Dynasty 12:
Reconstructed burial
Chambers & items:
• Coffins & Canopic chests
• Ritual items (models)
• Provisions in vessels
• Possessions
Late Dyn.11 Beni Hasan
Tomb 723 of Sebekhetepi
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(1). SARCOPHAGUS
Dyn.12: Granite sarcophagus from El-Lisht (probably for Vizier Inyotefokre).
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(2). BOX COFFINS
(including texts)
Middle Kingdom coffins:
Early MK (Dyn.11):
• Similar to FIP with a line of text
along exterior
• Interior Religious texts
Friezes of objects
False door
Offering list
Early Dyn.12:
• Vertical columns on exterior
3-4 columns on length
1 column on width
Mid-Dyn.12:
• False door added to East ext.
Late Dyn.12:
• Entire exterior coffin has
palace façade.
Dyn.12: much variance in coffins

Early Dyn.12:
Second / outer wooden coffin of Senebtisy,

“Mistress of the House”
Ubiquitous Eye-panel: north end, facing east (towards the sunrise)

Early Dyn.12:
Wooden coffin from Beni Hasan

Mid-Late Dyn.12:
Wooden coffin of Khnum-nakhte from Assiut

False door panel increasingly appears below the eye panel
Texts bearing name and titles of the deceased (+ funerary offering formula)
Dyn.12: Painted coffin of Djehuty-nakht from Deir el-Bersheh (offerings)
Dyn.12:
Painted coffin of Djehuty-nakht
from Deir el-Bersheh (false-door)
Dyn.12:
Wooden coffin of general Sepi
Middle Kingdom coffin: - Guide to Netherworld at base of coffin (2 Ways)
(early MK → late MK decline) - Coffin Texts along lower part of coffin sides
- Frieze of objects along upper part of coffin sides
COFFIN TEXTS: First Intermediate Period to Middle Kingdom:
• Coffin Texts evolve directly from Pyramid Texts
a. Some CT spells taken directly from PT
b. Usurping royal spells to defeat death & afterlife dangers
c. Most spells are new, representing non-royal derivations (e.g., Apophis).
• Non-royal elite inscribing coffins with spells
a. Protecting deceased against perils in the netherworld
b. Enabling an afterlife emulating divine king’s afterlife.
c. Entering the cyclical solar course
• Non-royal (elite) persons could now
a. Ascend to heavens to join deities (transformation spells; scarab beetle)
b. Become, e.g., fire, air, grain, a child, a crocodile, etc.
c. (Every) deceased person now identified with OSIRIS.
• Coffin Texts reveal other matters:
a. Worry about starving and thirsting in afterlife
b. Desire to be united with family members
• Coffin Texts’ content as a corpus:
a. Less focused than the Pyramid Texts in overall theme
b. Diverse focus and viewpoints
c. Relying on magic; lacking humility; expressing grandiose aspirations
d. Osiris: Deceased → Osiris, his helper, or his devoted son (Horus)
e. New concept of a judgement of the Deceased
COFFIN TEXTS: Book of the Two Ways (2 versions = earliest cosmography)
• Found on coffins of nomarchs & high officials in Hare nome (Middle Egypt)
• Related knowledge for dead to navigate successfully through Netherworld
• Texts directed to Dead, with guide map, assisting in orientation & travel.
(1) Begins at sunrise (eastern horizon) → journeying through day
(2) Dangers: Circle of fire (“fiery court”) surrounding sun
Threatening guardians at gates
Obstacles such as walls of darkness & flame, Apophis
Labyrinth/maze of paths
(3) Objectives: Region of Rosetau at the boundary of the sky (holding Osiris)
(i.e., whoever gazes upon the deseased Osiris cannot die)
Field of Offerings (paradise of plenty)
Plurality of skies
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(3). ANTHROPOID
COFFINS
Dyn.12 Mir:
Tomb of Steward,
Hapy-ankhtify.
NEW Inner anthropoid Coffin (placed in rectilinear box coffin)

Anthropoid = “human-shaped” coffin → continues later
- Stylistic developments through time,
- Regional differences throughout Egypt.
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(4). MUMMIES
and fittings:
DYN.11
Elaborate wrapping with linen bandages; mummification of more affluent classes

FIP-Middle Kingdom:
NEW Cartonnage mummy mask
placed on bodies
Some evidence for late Dyn.6?

2 brothers: Nakht-Ankh & Khnum-Nakht
Dynasty 12
Margaret Murray unwrapping the Dyn.12 mummy of Khnum-Nakht in 1908
3D digital reconstruction modelling (via CT-scan) of Dynasty 12 mummies:
Dr. Rosalie David: The Two Brothers: Khnum-Nakht & Nakht-Ankh
Dyn.12: Dahshur Jewellery Cache of Meret
Special Pectoral from reign of King Amenemhet III
Shrine-frame; vulture above cartouche; hawk-headed sphinxes over enemies

Dyn.12
Dahshur:
Burial of
Khnumnet
Amenemhet II
Royal-elite
jewellery:
Floral motif
in petal fringe
Hawk-terminals
Row of various
protective
amulets: e.g.,
deities, sistra,
Eye-of-Horus,
Khnm,stability,
life, air, nsw-bity
Dyn.12
Jewellery
with
Amulets:
Heh-amulet
Cowrie shell
Divine beard
Fish
Lotus
Gold open-
work bangle
Snake
Turtle
Wadjets
2 fingers
Bats
Ankhs
Hare
Baboons
Djeds
Falcons
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(5). CANOPIC JARS:
Dyns.11-12:
Deir el-Bahari Mortuary temple and tomb of King Montuhotep II
New canopic jar style has human heads
1. Qebehsenuef = (Falcon) = intestines *Eating guts
2. Duamutef = (Jackal) = stomach *Greedy jackal
3. Hapi = (Baboon) = lungs *bellowing baboon
4. Amset (Imsety) = (early MK = Liver *imbibe alcohol
goddess)
“The Four sons of Horus”

Middle Kingdom Libation
Canopic equipment: jar
- Box to hold 4 jars
- 4 jars to hold
a. Lungs
b. Liver
c. Intestines
d. Stomach
Lahun
Dyn.12 Saqqara: Inpuhotep’s canopic jars Dyn.12 Sit-Hathor-Iunet
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(6). SHABTIS
(ushabtis; shawabtis)
Dynasty 12 (Middle Kingdom):
NEW shabti servant figurines (continue later).
Shabti spell (CT: 472) appears in wooden coffins:
“To be spoken over a figure of the owner as he was on
Earth, made of tamarisk or sidder wood, and placed in
The tomb chapel of the deceased”
Spell 472:
“O shabti, which has been made for this N [insert name],
if this N is detailed for his duty, or an unpleasant task is
imposed upon him there as a man at his duties, here
we are, you shall say. If this N is detailed for that which
is to be done there, to cultivate the new fields, to irrigate
the riverbanks, to convey the sand of the west to the
east and vice-versa, here we are you shall say”
Late Dyn.12 → S.I.P.:
Although only a few figurines bore this shabti text, their
similarities to contemporary (and earlier) uninscribed
figurines, suggests Dyn.11-12 shabti prototypes.
• Usually made of wood or stone
Dyn.13 Renseneb • Painted white to resemble linen bandages
• Etymology of shabti = “stick” and shabt = “food”
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(7). TOMB OWNER
STATUETTES, etc.:
Early Dynasty 12 El-Lisht:
Model coffin and inscribed ritual figures in mud.

Coffin measures 8 ½ inches
Middle Kingdom funerary models:
• Small wooden statuettes of the tomb owner:
• = Ka-spirit statuettes on a small scale
i.e., less expensive than life size/stone statues
Dyn.11: Tomb of Qn. Neferu
Wax & mud shabti-figures
& coffin (near Montuhotep II’s
tomb at Deir el-Bahari).
Dyn.12-13:
“Fertility figurines” from
tombs, houses, shrines …
Fertility aspects? (in afterlife)

5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(8). FURNITURE
& LINENS / etc.:
Dynasty 12:
Bed linen & headrest: estate manager Wah
Furniture from a tomb at Mir.
(a) Small stool with remnants of rush seat
(b) Folding stool with a leather seat
Furniture & linens for the afterlife

5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(9). ADORNMENT
& COSMETICS:
Middle Kingdom jewellery: gold, amethyst, carnelian, glazed paste, etc.
i.e., More mundane jewellery for everyday usage (prob. Some amuletic appl.)
Adornment in the afterlife

Dyn.12 Thebes: Steward Kemu-ny cosmetic box (Anhydrite jars from Girgeh)
Looking good in
the afterlife
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(10). GAMES:
i.e., Entertainment.
Dynasty 12 Thebes:
Tomb of Reny-soneb:
- Game of Hounds and
Jackals in wood and
ivory.
(temp. Amenemhet IV)
Games in the afterlife

5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(11). PERSONAL &
PROFESSIONAL ITEMS:
Music & writing in the afterlife Middle Kingdom: scribal equipment.
Late Middle Kingdom
Bow harp (Thebes)
= a knee harp
(played vertically)
Painted red
Originally covered by
a rawhide drumhead
Bridge split in past &
mended by owner.
5-7 strings of twisted
gut
Dynasty 12: Possessions & hunting in the afterlife
Middle Kingdom shield braces, boomerangs, bent staves, clubs, self-
bows (longest bow = 67 inches).
Dynasty 12: Possessions (warfare) in the afterlife
Middle Kingdom battle axes from various sources
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(12). MODELS:
(i). PERSONAL &
PROFESSIONAL ITEMS:
Middle Kingdom:
Functional daggers in copper and wood
& funerary model daggers in painted wood
Possessions, hunting,
& working in the afterlife
Middle Kingdom model tool chest

5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(13). MODELS:
(ii). housing …
Housing for afterlife
MK “Soul House” emphasizing house portico & pool.

5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(14). MODELS:
(iii).perishable foods
Dyn.12 El-Lisht: Faience models Food for afterlife
of food offerings
Dyn.12 offering slab Deir Rifeh
Dyn.12
El-Riqqeh
limestone
offering
Table
17 ½ “
5. BURIAL
CHAMBER:
(15). MODELS:
(iv). Afterlife aims/rites
Middle Kingdom: Wooden models popular until Senwosret II.
• Boat model with mummy (less common).
= Abydos pilgrimage (also depicted on tomb walls)
Spiritual concerns for the afterlife

Middle Dyn.12: Solar boat model
from private tomb at Lisht
Kingdom:
Spiritual concerns for the afterlife
Numerous
types of
models in
middle to
upper class
tombs
Dyn.11 (Thebes): Meketre’s

travelling & kitchen boat
in a fleet of model boats.
MIDDLE KINGDOM:
Dyns. Mid-11-13:
Non-elite, “poorer”
tombs & burials
and their furnishings
Poorer burials from the early through later Middle Kingdom:
• The MK has relatively fewer excavated poor burials than other periods.
• The MK poorer burials retain many similarities to preceding FIP: Bodies
placed in rectilinear grave shafts or shallow pits, with a few pottery containers,
sometimes daily life jewelry (e.g., scarab amulets), periodically cosmetic items
for females, sometimes plain wooden coffin, and pottery soul houses (*Rifeh)
Poor, working-class burials from late MK Thebes W. Grajetski
2003: 59-60.
• A group burial with six plain wooden coffins
(1 = lost) and a child burial (lacking a coffin).
• Many pottery vessels; wooden “paddle dolls”
(function?: concubines vs. ‘dolls’; fertility?);
many amulets occur on the child burial; some
model furniture on coffin; headrest (2 coffins);
wooden staff (few); linen covering bodies.
Thebes:
No trace of mummification
2003
Middle Kingdom: poorer lower through middle class burials at Abydos, etc.
• N. Abydos has yielded 1000s Abydos North Cemetery
of Middle Kingdom surface &
shaft graves, enabling more North
analysis of MK funerary rites.
• Abydos reflects a provincial
town & cemetery in contrast
to main urban centers.
• Abydos population increased
in late Old-Middle Kingdoms.
N. Cemetery = main MK focus
• Mainly simple MK shaft burials,
spreading from North to South
including Dyn.13+ graves …
• 1000s of graves estimated in
the 500 years of Dyns.12-13. South
• More late, Dyn.11 shaft graves
have small chapels (with texts)
plus also some surface graves:
& greater wealth in MK burials.
• In contrast to Middle Kingdom burials elsewhere
(i.e., where people tended to have many pottery
vessels in their burials), the Abydos population
tended to include fewer pottery vessels, while
having rel. more wealth/status items in burials.
• This may reflect the local populace’s special &
anomalous links with the cult of Osiris, its many
festivals, pilgrimages, affiliated resurrection, etc.
& a potential, reduced need for placing pottery
with beverages & food in graves (versus elsewhere).
• The 1988 project excavated 60 bodies, of which
20 could be dated fairly securely to the MK, and
added to prev. excavation projects in the area.
• Most graves were oriented to “local north”;
• Grave shafts ranged 1-8 metres in depth;
• Shafts had 1-3 chambers at their base;
• Chambers usually had room for only 1 coffin;
• The wooden coffins display a plaster finish or
multi-coloured painting;
• Most bodies extended, facing E: rising sun (re-birth)
• The North Cemetery also had surface
graves, which yielded either wooden
coffins or cloth wrapping for interments.
• Their orientation deviated more, but in
general they display a local north focus
Superstructures:
• A number of shaft graves display some
surface architecture, including:
i. Small, solid, rectilinear brick mastaba
ii. Small chapel with vaulting: ‘mini-mastabas’
• A small mudbrick chapel contained
a stone slab with a funerary text, but
the chapel could reflect reusage.
• At Abydos:
Pottery vessels are rare;
• Faience beads/amulets: 30% of burials
• Other items and materials = rare, but
this could reflect tomb plundering.
• The small sample of confirmed Dyn.12 Burial 10 data: Dyn. late 11-12.
bodies (n = 23) at North Abydos (1988) Female, 30-35 years of age;
display very poor health overall: Curly black hair left on skull;
i. Developmental issues: e.g., tooth 159.75 cm in height;
enamel hypoplasias (nutrition stress) Pathologies:
ii. Degenerative problems: e.g., hard Hypoplasias;
labor creating repetitive stress in Periostitis;
long bones+joints → deterioration Porosity & erosion of clavicales
arthritis; etc. (right scapula and first ribs);
iii.Traumatic issues: e.g., 35-year old Vertebral degeneration (arthritis);
female exp. much abuse in life. Cribra orbitalia;
iv. Infectious lesions: e.g., The same Mild porotic hyperostosis.
female suffered from fractures not See Richards 2005: 212-13, fig. 107
healing, infections, & a final stabbing Surface burial (in sand):
(see Richards 2005: 168). Originally wrapped in cloth
v. Three people lived to 50+ years.
• Overall health was abnormally poor in
Finds:
comparison to other Egyptian and Deteriorated wood
Nubian populations elsewhere. Sherds from water jar
Offering vessel
• No great distinctions between quality of Sherds from jar
burials: surface versus shaft tombs.
North Abydos Chapel 2, Dedu text
Dedu and his burial appear to be middle class,
but he commissioned a funerary text for his small chapel.
Middle class had options: E.g., Dedu. 50+ year old male beside young female adult
Text: “(Long) live the Horus Ankh Mesut, (long) live the king of the southland and northland, Kheperkare (Senwosret I), living forever.
An offering which the king gives to Beg, Osiris, lord of Djedu, Khenty-amentiu, lord of Abydos, Wepwawet <lord of> the necropolis,
That he (sic) may grant a voice offering of bread and beer, your thousand cattle and fowl, your thousand alabaster and linen comprising
Incense and libations, one truly praised of his lord, who performs what he praises throughout the course of every day, the honored
Dedu born to Renesankh.” Translated by W. K. Simpson (1995) on p.167 in J. Richards, 2005. Society and Death in Ancient Egypt.
SUMMARY:
Some basic architectural designs/forms for Middle Kingdom elite tombs:
• Like in the OK, Middle Kingdom elite tombs subdivide into two basic types,
namely a rectilinear “mastaba” tomb, a rock-cut tomb, but now see more
hybrid variants, such as a combination between a rock-cut & built-up tomb.
• These basic types contain their own sub-types, with further variance in details:
MASTABAS:
(a). A solid mud brick-built, or rock-cut, mastaba tomb with a decorated facing;
A rock-cut passage/shaft and burial chamber lay below the (ext.) chapel.
(b). A built-up mud brick, or stone, mastaba tomb with interior chambers.
A rock-cut passage/shaft and burial chamber lay below tomb chapel.
(c). A mud brick, multi-chambered superstructure (“mastaba”) with multiple
tomb chambers: i.e., above ground in delta (owing to high water table).
HYBRID MASTABA – ROCK-CUT TOMBS:
(d). A combined rectilinear mastaba tomb and rock-cut chapel;
ROCK-CUT TOMBS:
(e). A simple-complex rock-cut tomb with varying layouts for the tomb chapel;
ROCK-CUT TOMBS WITH OTHER (PYRAMIDAL) FEATURES:
(f). A combination of a rock-cut tomb and a built-up outer complex, including
a terraced & built mortuary chapel, a causeway, and a valley temple;
Basic regular fittings and features within Middle Kingdom elite tombs:
• Depending upon an individual’s economic means, rock-cut & mastaba tombs
would require the regular features found in Old Kingdom elite tombs chapels:
(a). Ka-spirit statue, which could be sculpted independently or be rock-cut.
(b). A false door stelae & offering slab, also either independent or rock-cut.
• The burial chamber usually required some form of housing for the body:
(c). Sarcophagi: i.e., stone container for the wealthiest private person’s body.
(d). Coffin: i.e., wooden container for most elite - middle class persons’ body.
• Depending on individual elite economic means, mummification would require:
(e). A canopic chest: i.e., Stone or wood, to hold 4 canopic jars for elite.
(f). 4 canopic jars: i.e., Stone or wood containers holding the entrails for elite.
• Should an individual be able to afford further space, decoration, texts, etc.:
(g). Various texts: Add. funerary formula, name, titles, and other information.
(h). Relief-cut or painted scenes with a wide range of genres (many like OK).
i.e., Often religious scenes, daily life scenes, and accompanying captions.
• Sufficient wealth also enabled the provision of various other funerary items:
(i). Various aids to rebirth & afterlife: diverse old-new types of ritual items.
(j). Personal possessions: i.e., personal-professional items from daily life.
• The MK saw the retention of OK features, MK modifications to OK features,
and some entirely new MK additions in each of the aforementioned things.
It is mainly in details of traditional categories that MK innovations occur:
• The mostly new elite Middle Kingdom tomb forms include:
(a). Elaborate rock-cut & built-up tombs with terraces, causeway, valley temple;
(b). Solid rock-cut mastabas (really a variant on ED solid mud brick mastabas);
(c). Surface multi-chambered burial complex (really delta variant on mastabas);
• New type of MK ka-statue includes cube-statue, which continues in NK+:
(a). Minimizing body details; maximizing space for texts; variance within type.
• A new type of MK coffin includes its decorative and inscriptional details:
(a). The inclusion of Coffin Texts to aid in the resurrection of deceased (int.);
(b). The inclusion of Guide Maps to the Underworld on the coffin interior base;
(c). The frieze of objects required in the afterlife, and other scenes (int. top);
(d). Other decoration: banquet scene, offering list, name & titles, etc. (on int.);
(e). Placement of an eye-panel, & increasingly a false door, at ext. head end;
• Many elite MK rectilinear wooden coffins contain a further body casing:
(a). Anthropoid (i.e., human-form shaped) wooden case inside rectilinear coffin;
• A new addition to the preparation of elite body wrappings includes:
(a). An overlaid cartonnage mummy mask attached to an upper torso plate;
• The OK canopic jar changes in form to four human headed lids in the MK:
(a) The “Four Sons of Horus” (guardians of stomach, lungs, liver, & intestines);
• Specialized ritual figures made specifically for MK+ burials appear:
(a). Shabti figurine emerges in the Middle Kingdom, being made of various
materials (wood; wax; clay; faience; stone; metal) being mostly mummiform
usually having digging implements (e.g., digging hoe and basket), and
normally bearing a spell to ensure it would substitute its labour for the
tomb owner should its owner be called on to do corvee work in afterlife.
(b). The aforementioned figures sometimes had their own coffins, or a box,
separate model tools, and vary in design and surface details over time.
(c). A specific type of female figurine appears in many MK tombs (later var.),
but is debated regarding its function: Fertility? Concubine? Dancer? Etc.
(d). A “Soul House” appears in the Middle Kingdom, set in an offering tray:
may functions like a combined ensured dwelling & provisions: food & shelter
(e). Funerary amulets become increasingly popular in the FIP-MK:
Protective & curative devices for the body, spirit, etc. (during life & death);
The name bead (seweret) emerges in funerary jewelry: identity of deceased
(g). Special MK models (augmenting traditional usage of models in OK):
Abydos pilgrimage boat carrying deceased & priests to Abydos in Afterlife
(is also matched by tomb scenes depicting such desires to go to Abydos,
where the deceased wished to benefit from daily & festival rites of Osiris).
• The decoration of tomb walls sees some changes in technique & genre:
Techniques:
(a). An 18-square grid is adopted for laying out the standing figure of the tomb
owner and other major figures, in an attempt to ensure a more standardized
rendition of the human form following Egyptian traditions: “twisted profile.”
(this artistic canon of proportions continues into the New Kingdom & 3IP).
(b). Much regional variance occurs in Middle Kingdom art, but certain things
do become increasingly more standardized in their overall form and genre,
especially at the court and for the wealthiest members of society.
Decorative and other genres:
(a). The Abydos pilgrimage scene becomes quite popular (often on W. Wall),
showing the seated tomb owner, or tomb owner & spouse, and/or body,
being transported in a boat that is being towed by a sail boat to Abydos.
Otherwise:
• Many daily life scene types are found in the Old Kingdom, with some newly
attested or more popular genres emerging:
E.g., wrestling sequence scenes; civil war & siege scenes; etc.
• Wooden & other models become especially popular in Middle Kingdom,
but are known in the Old Kingdom: food; servants; tools; industries; boats; etc.
Summary of various aspects of the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts:
• Coffin Texts = Middle Kingdom, middle-upper class spells deriving directly from
many late Old Kingdom royal Pyramid Texts.
• Coffin Texts = incorporate many NEW spells in late FIP - Middle Kingdom.
• Normally placed inside wooden coffins, along lower side wall (vertical columns)
• In essence, these spells enabled the deceased to be re-born, have safe
passage to Afterlife, and reside in safety & comfort in var. Afterlife destinations.
• One could - go to the heavens, Plurality of Skies, etc.;
- become a supernatural being, or another entity;
- become identified with/as an OSIRIS in the afterlife (ALL);
- go to Field of Offerings (Osiris); Region of Rosetau (Osiris);
• These spells express many fears and the desire to be reunited with one’s family
• These spells contain much more variety and differences, including regionally,
than the Pyramid Texts: i.e., Coffin Texts are not as focused as the PT.
• The Coffin Texts rely on magic;
• They incorporate a NEW concept of a Judgment of the Deceased (in Afterlife);
(= later depicted in the subsequent 2IP-NK Book of the Dead);
• CT are aided in their objectives by a Guide Map placed on the bottom of the
wooden coffin’s interior: navigating hazards, gate-keepers, etc. to get to Afterlife
Selected sources on
Dynasty 12 (MK)
elite tombs, burials,
funerary beliefs, cults,
and related aspects …
Selected sources on Middle Kingdom elite tombs, burials, funerary beliefs
2021
1988
2007
Selected sources on Old Kingdom Egypt: Elite mortuary cults, personnel, etc.
2008
1973
1977 1978
2009
2003
2019
Summary:
“The Cosmos of Khnumhotep II offers a
detailed study of the tomb chapel of
Khnumhotep II. Kamrin painstakingly
charts the various levels of meaning
buried in the scenes, ornaments, and
texts that adorn Khnumhotep II's chapel,
and provides a detailed analysis of the
organizational structure of the tomb.
She argues that the tomb chapel should
be interpreted as a model of the cosmos,
integrating the realms of the living and
the dead. An abundance of new
evidence suggests that various cult
structures may be regarded as
cosmograms, schematized
representations of the Egyptian cosmos
that reflect the powers and operations of
the universe.”
1999
2014
2010
2001
1979
2005
2014

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ANT 309:

Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids

Lecture 29: Dyn.12:

(2). Take notes on lectures, etc. …

(4). Ask questions during the class if

(5). Complete optional materials:

Architecture & Art

Rock-cut mastaba tombs

• Some lengthy texts

• Some vaulted roofs

• Some palace façades

Offering False door base

Note: The family tomb would

Sinai Serabit el-

North Wall dominated by hunting scenes in desert

East Wall dominated by hunting scenes in marsh

N-Wall: 3 daughters approaching S-Wall: 5 sons approaching:

• It illustrates Beni Hasan and its

For more details, see Janice Kamrin,

South Wall dominated by Khnumhotep II banquet scene

West Wall dominated by funerary scenes: Ka statue;

• Less obvious geometric

• More geometric pattern

Middle Kingdom: Tomb of Hepzefa. Keftiu kilt (from Crete):

• Blue scissor-like lozenges

• Red quatrefoils surrounded by

Dyn.12 (temp. Amenemhet II):

• Introduced in Middle Kingdom

• Represents seated person

• Maximizes area for placement of

• Requires less fine sculpting

• May have variants, such as

• In essence, however, the majority represent items found in Khnumhotep II’s

“I’ll describe to you also the (brick) mason:

“The farmer wails more than the guinea fowl,

There’s a swelling on his neck

In the morning he water vegetables,

While at noon he has toiled in the orchard.

More than all other professions.”

• Loading a donkey with baskets of grain; winnowing grain

Conical loaves Dough

• Country scenes with wild animals

• Porters delivering produce to the

• Fecundity of livestock portrayed:

• Obtain equipment (i.e.,

• Skilled butcher for

• Market: State, temple,

“The bird-catcher suffers much

As he watches out for birds;

When the swarms pass over him,

He keeps saying, ‘had I a net!’

But the god grants it not,

And he’s angry with his lot.”

When the time of reckoning comes,

He does not say, ‘There’s a crocodile’

Coming from the flowing water

• Materials (wood; tendons; feathers; bindings; flint/copper/wood

• Skilled labour to produce bow and arrows (apprenticeship).

• Market: Hunters and Soldiers.

“The arrow-maker suffers much

More is what he gives his donkey

Much is what he gives the herdsmen,