Presented by Erin Smith

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BURIALS

 PREDYNASTIC EGYPT (4400-3000 BC)

 During the Badarian and Naqada I periods, the dead were

placed in shallow holes and buried with food for the afterlife,
jewelry, and slates for preparing eye paint.

 The Naquada II period marked a turning point in which the

afterlife seems more defined as a copy of life on earth. The
elite were buried in large, well equipped tombs with precious
objects.

 Both the poorer tombs and the elite tombs contained the same
kinds of objects: food, jewelry, and cosmetic items.
PREDYNASTIC EGYPT (4400-3000 BC)

 Tomb Naqada 624

 About 3300 BC

 Contained numerous
painted vessels.
EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT (3100-2700 BC)
 The elite were buried in large brick rectangular structures
called mastabas while poorer people were buried in shallow
holes in the ground.

 The dead were placed in a fetal position in the coffin or

hole and a final meal was placed in front of them.

 For the elite, many items of daily use were placed with the
body, including tools, weapons, games, and other items.
The poor had fewer items placed with them
EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT
 During the Early Dynastic
Period, wooden coffins copied
a palace facade.

 This coffin style was in use

until the end of the Old
Kingdom (2686-2181 BC).

 They are early forerunners of

sarcophagi.

 Tarkhan/Kafr Ammar tomb

532.
OLD KINGDOM (2686-2181 BC)
 During the Old Kingdom, the number of burial good was highly
reduced and effort was placed on creating the tombs.

 There was an increase in wall-reliefs in offering-chapels and

corridors of tombs for the elite. The scenes showed provisions of
food and other essential items for the dead. Because of this, the
objects depicted no longer needed to be placed in the tomb

 There is a distinct difference between the tombs of the elite and

the poor. In tombs of the poor, coffins and jewelry were not
common and few vessels were placed in the tombs.
OLD KINGDOM (2686-2181 BC)
 Meydum, tomb 141
(Fourth Dynasty)

 Wooden headrest beneath

skull was the only burial
good.

 Buried in a long linen

garment with no jewelry.
MIDDLE KINGDOM (2055-1650 BC)
 During the Middle Kingdom there were three kinds of burials;
surface graves, shaft graves, and tombs.

 The reliefs and paintings became less important but did not
disappear.

 For the elite, the death mask and anthropomorphic coffins became
commonly used.

 For the poor, figures of desert or river creatures were placed in

tombs and religious texts were written on various objects.
MIDDLE KINGDOM (2055-1650 BC)
 Faience is a term used for
objects made entirely of a
glazed material composed of
crushed quartz with small
amounts of lime and plant ash.

 Faience figures were more

elaborate in the Middle
Kingdom than before, and
included religious figures,
jewelry, and painted or
inscribed vessels.
NEW KINGDOM (1550-1069 BC)
 During the New Kingdom, objects of daily use were
the main burial goods, but funerary papyri and
canopic jars were also included.

 This period had the most range in objects placed

inside tombs. Included in both elite and poor burials
were garments, pottery, and furniture.

 Mummification techniques also improved.

NEW KINGDOM (1550-1069 BC)
 Cosmetic spoon from an
unnumbered tomb in the
shape of an ankh.

 The handle depicts a nude

girl with lute standing in a
boat.

 Nude girl playing a lute

shows a connection between
music and sexuality.
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD (332–30 BC)
 During the Ptolemaic Period, the Greek population
followed Greek traditions, while the Greek ruling
class adopted Egyptian customs for burial.

 Mummies frequently covered with decorated pieces

of cartonnage.

 Coffins or sarcophagus were rough and plain.

GREEK STYLE EGYPTIAN STYLE

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD (332–30 BC)

WORKS CONSULTED
 http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/burialcustoms/i
ndex.html

 http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/egyptperiods/p
/022008MidKingdm.htm

 http://www.spurlock.illinois.edu/collections/artifa
ct/egyptburmask.html