Thebes in the First Millennium BC

Thebes in the First Millennium BC

Edited by

Elena Pischikova, Julia Budka

and Kenneth Griffin

Thebes in the First Millennium BC,

Edited by Elena Pischikova, Julia Budka and Kenneth Griffin
This book first published 2014
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright 2014 by Elena Pischikova, Julia Budka, Kenneth Griffin and contributors
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-4438-5404-2, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5404-7

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements ...xv
Part A: Historical Background
Chapter One ....3
The Coming of the Kushites and the Identity of Osorkon IV
Aidan Dodson
Part B: Royal Burials: Thebes and Abydos
Chapter Two ..15
Royal Burials at Thebes during the First Millennium BC
David A. Aston
Chapter Three ....61
Kushites at Abydos: The Royal Family and Beyond
Anthony Leahy
Part C: Elite Tombs of the Theban Necropolis
Section 1: Preservation and Development of the Theban Necropolis
Chapter Four ...101
Lost Tombs of Qurna: Development and Preservation of the Middle Area
of the Theban Necropolis
Ramadan Ahmed Ali
Chapter Five 111
New Tombs of the North Asasif
Fathy Yaseen Abd el Karim

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Table of Contents

Section 2: Archaeology and Conservation

Chapter Six ..121
Kushite Tombs of the South Asasif Necropolis: Conservation,
Reconstruction, and Research
Elena Pischikova
Chapter Seven .161
Reconstruction and Conservation of the Tomb of Karakhamun (TT 223)
Abdelrazk Mohamed Ali
Chapter Eight ..173
The Forgotten Tomb of Ramose (TT 132)
Christian Greco
Chapter Nine ...201
The Tomb of Montuemhat (TT 34) in the Theban Necropolis: A New
Approach
Louise Gestermann and Farouk Goma
Chapter Ten .....205
The Funeral Palace of Padiamenope (TT 33): Tomb, Place of
Pilgrimage, and Library. Current research
Claude Traunecker
Chapter Eleven 235
Kushite and Saite Period Burials on el-Khokha
Gbor Schreiber
Section 3: Religious Texts: Tradition and Innovation
Chapter Twelve ...251
The Book of the Dead from the Western Wall of the Second Pillared Hall
in the Tomb of Karakhamun (TT 223)
Kenneth Griffin
Chapter Thirteen .269
The Broad Hall of the Two Maats: Spell BD 125 in Karakhamuns Main
Burial Chamber
Miguel Angel Molinero Polo

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vii

Chapter Fourteen .295

Report on the Work on the Fragments of the Stundenritual (Ritual of the
Hours of the Day) in TT 223
Erhart Graefe
Chapter Fifteen ....307
The Amduat and the Book of the Gates in the Tomb of Padiamenope
(TT 33): A Work in Progress
Isabelle Rgen
Section 4: Interconnections, Transmission of Patterns and Concepts,
and Archaism: Thebes and Beyond
Chapter Sixteen ...323
Between South and North Asasif: The Tomb of Harwa (TT 37) as
a Transitional Monument
Silvia Einaudi
Chapter Seventeen ...343
The So-called Lichthof Once More: On the Transmission of Concepts
between Tomb and Temple
Filip Coppens
Chapter Eighteen .....357
Some Observations about the Representation of the Neck-sash in Twentysixth Dynasty Thebes
Aleksandra Hallmann
Chapter Nineteen .379
All in the Detail: Some Further Observations on Archaism and Style
in Libyan-Kushite-Saite Egypt
Robert G. Morkot
Chapter Twenty ...397
Usurpation and the Erasure of Names during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty
Carola Koch

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Table of Contents

Part D: Burial Assemblages and Other Finds in Elite Tombs

Section 1: Coffins
Chapter Twenty-one ....419
The Significance of a Ritual Scene on the Floor Board of Some Coffin
Cases in the Twenty-first Dynasty
Eltayeb Abbas
Chapter Twenty-two ...439
The Inner Coffin of Tameramun: A Unique Masterpiece of Kushite
Iconography from Thebes
Simone Musso and Simone Petacchi
Chapter Twenty-three .453
Sokar-Osiris and the Goddesses: Some Twenty-fifthTwenty-sixth
Dynasty Coffins from Thebes
Cynthia May Sheikholeslami
Chapter Twenty-four ...483
The Vatican Coffin Project
Alessia Amenta
Section 2: Other Finds
Chapter Twenty-five ...503
Kushite Pottery from the Tomb of Karakhamun: Towards a Reconstruction of the Use of Pottery in Twenty-fifth Dynasty Temple Tombs
Julia Budka
Chapter Twenty-six .521
A Collection of Cows: Brief Remarks on the Faunal Material from
the South Asasif Conservation Project
Salima Ikram
Chapter Twenty-seven 529
Three Burial Assemblages of the Saite Period from Saqqara
Kate Gosford

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ix

Part E: Karnak
Chapter Twenty-eight .549
A Major Development Project of the Northern Area of the Amun-Re
Precinct at Karnak during the Reign of Shabaqo
Nadia Licitra, Christophe Thiers, and Pierre Zignani
Chapter Twenty-nine ...565
The Quarter of the Divine Adoratrices at Karnak (Naga Malgata) during
the Twenty-sixth Dynasty: Some Hitherto Unpublished Epigraphic
Material
Laurent Coulon
Chapter Thirty .587
Offering Magazines on the Southern Bank of the Sacred Lake in Karnak:
The Oriental Complex of the Twenty-fifthTwenty-sixth Dynasty
Aurlia Masson
Chapter Thirty-one ..603
Ceramic Production in the Theban Area from the Late Period: New
Discoveries in Karnak
Stphanie Boulet and Catherine Defernez
Chapter Thirty-two ..625
Applications of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) in the Study
of Temple Graffiti
Elizabeth Frood and Kathryn Howley
Abbreviations ..639
Contributors 645
Indices .....647

FOREWORD
Egypt in the First Millennium BC is a collection of articles, most of
which are based on the talks given at the conference of the same name
organised by the team of the South Asasif Conservation Project (SACP),
an Egyptian-American Mission working under the auspices of the Ministry
of State for Antiquities (MSA), Egypt in Luxor in 2012. The organisers of
the conference Elena Pischikova, Julia Budka, and Kenneth Griffin intended to bring together a group of speakers who would share the results
of their recent field research in the tombs and temples of the Twenty-fifth
and Twenty-sixth Dynasties in Thebes and other archaeological sites, as
well as addressing a variety of issues relevant to different aspects of
Egyptian monuments of this period.
Papers based on the talks of the participants of the conference form the
bulk of this volume. However, we found it possible to include the papers
of a few scholars who could not attend the conference, but whose contributions are pertinent to the main themes of the conference and could enrich the content of the present volume. Therefore, this volume covers a
much wider range of sites, monuments, and issues as well as a broader
chronological span. Discussions of the monuments of Abydos and
Saqqara, along with the Libyan tradition, enrich the argument on interconnections, derivations, innovations, and archaism. The diversity of topics
cover the areas of history, archaeology, epigraphy, art, and burial assemblages of the period.
Aidan Dodson deliberates on chronological issues of the early Kushite
state by re-examining the identity of Osorkon IV and related monuments.
His paper gives a historical and cultural introduction to the Kushite Period
and the whole volume.
The papers of the General Director of the Middle Area of the West
Bank Fathy Yaseen Abd el Karim, and Chief Inspector of the Middle Area
Ramadan Ahmed Ali, open a large section in the volume dedicated to
different aspects of research and fieldwork in the Theban necropolis. They
concern the preservation and development of the necropolis, an incredibly
important matter which assumed a new dimension after the demolition of
the Qurna villages and clearing of the area being undertaken by the
American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) teams. Numerous tombs
found under the houses need immediate safety measures to be applied as
well as archaeological and research attention. The conservation,
preservation, and recording of the elite tombs in the area are amongst the
most relevant issues in the Theban necropolis today.

xii

Foreword

David Aston and Anthony Leahy examine the royal burials of Thebes
and Abydos. Both papers present a remarkably large number of burials
related to the royal families of the First Millennium BC. This time period
in the Theban necropolis is traditionally associated with elite tombs, with
the royal monuments often neglected. Research on the royal aspect of
these sites provides a deeper perspective to the study of the elite tombs of
the period.
The papers on the elite tombs of the Theban necropolis address a variety of aspects of work in this group of monuments such as archaeology,
conservation, epigraphy, and burial assemblages, as well as relevant issues
as archaism and innovations of the decoration and interconnections between the tombs of different parts of the necropolis. The areas of archaeology and conservation of the necropolis are presented by the papers of the
Director of the SACP Elena Pischikova, and its leading conservator
Abdelrazk Mohamed Ali. These papers give a summary of the rediscovery, excavation, conservation, reconstruction, and mapping work
done in the tombs of Karakhamun (TT 223) and Karabasken (TT 391)
over a period of eight years, with emphasis on the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
This section is complemented by a paper on the fieldwork in another
forgotten tomb of the South Asasif necropolis, Ramose (TT 132), by
Christian Greco. The archaeological work in the South Asasif necropolis
has resulted in the uncovering and reconstruction of a large amount of new
architectural, epigraphic, and artistic information, some of which is
presented in this volume for the first time.
The new project in the tomb of Montuemhat (TT 34), undertaken by
Louise Gestermann and Farouk Goma, is another invaluable piece of
information which, together with the work of Greco in the tomb of
Ramose, and Molinero Polo in the tomb of Karakhamun, modifies our
understanding of Kushite and early Saite burial compartments and their
semantics within the tomb complex. The paper on the Twenty-fifth to
Twenty-sixth Dynasty tombs of el-Khokha by Gbor Schreiber widens our
perception of the geographic disbursement of Kushite tombs in the Theban
necropolis. The amount of intrusive Twenty-fifth Dynasty burials within
the primarily New Kingdom site of el-Khokha gives confidence that we
may expect similar results from the numerous Qurna missions. Special
attention paid to such intrusive burials in different areas may build a solid
basis for our better understanding of Kushite presence and activities in
Thebes in the future.
The epigraphical studies of Kenneth Griffin, Miguel Molinero Polo,
and Erhart Graefe within the tomb of Karakhamun, and Isabelle Rgen in
the tomb of Padiamenope, concern the reflection of tradition and innova-

Foreword

xiii

tions in the texts of the Book of the Dead, the Amduat, the Book of the
Gates, and the Ritual of the Hours of the Day, as well as their new architectural and contextual environment. The comparative research of these
texts in different tombs will eventually lead to a better understanding of
the reasons for selections of certain traditional texts, reasons for their adjustments, as well as their interpretations in the new contexts of temple
tombs of the period.
Although Kushite and Saite tombs demonstrate a rich variety of architectural, textual, and decorative material they are all interconnected by
certain aspects and concepts. The next group of papers by Silvia Einaudi,
Filip Coppens, Robert Morkot, Aleksandra Hallmann, and Carola Koch
concern such aspects, relevant to most of the monuments. Silvia Einaudi
raises the incredibly important question of interconnections and interinfluences between the tombs of the Theban necropolis, origins of certain
patterns and traditions within the necropolis, and their transmissions from
tomb to tomb. Filip Coppens and Aleksandra Hallmann concentrate on
smaller elements of the tomb complexes, such as a piece of garment or a
single architectural feature, to track it within a group of monuments. Thus,
Coppens traces similarities and differences in the Sun Court decoration in
different tombs, its connection with the temple concept, and discusses its
symbolic and ritual meaning in temple tombs. Robert Morkot discusses the
sources and chronological developments of archaism in royal and elite
monuments. Carola Koch addresses the Saite approach to Kushite monuments by re-examining the phenomenon of the erasure of Kushite names
during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.
A large group of papers on the burial assemblages and other finds in
elite tombs enrich and expend the discussion of the burial complexes of
the First Millennium BC. Eltayeb Abbas, Simone Musso and Simone
Petacchi, Cynthia Sheikholeslami, and Alessia Amenta discuss the issues
of construction techniques, workshops, and iconography of coffin decoration and its ritual meaning. Julia Budka and Salima Ikram discuss finds in
the tomb of Karakhamun. Budka analyses Kushite pottery found in the
burial compartment and its usage in a Twenty-fifth Dynasty temple tomb,
while Ikram remarks on the faunal material from the First Pillared Hall.
Kate Gosford broadens the boundaries of the discussion with some burial
assemblages from Saqqara.
The last section of the volume is dedicated to the new archaeological
research at Karnak presented by Nadia Licitra, Christophe Thiers, Pierre
Zignani, Laurent Coulon, Aurlia Masson, Stphanie Boulet, and
Catherine Defernez. Their papers concern different areas of the temple
complex such as the temple of Ptah, the Treasury of Shabaqo, the palace

xiv

Foreword

of the Gods Wife Ankhnesneferibre in Naga Malgata, and offering magazines as well as the new evidence of ceramic production at Karnak in the
chapel of Osiris Wennefer. Another Karnak paper introduces a new technology, with Elizabeth Frood and Kathryn Howley describing the use of
Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) as a means of studying graffiti
at the site.
Most of the information included into this volume is being published
for the first time. We feel that the research presented here brings together a
range of current studies on royal and elite monuments of the period, putting them into a wider context and filling some gaps in First Millennium
BC scholarship. This time period is still one of the least researched and
published area of study in Egyptology despite the numerous recent developments in field exploration and research. The present volume offers a
discussion of the First Millennium BC monuments and sites in all their
complexity. Such aspects of research as tomb and temple architecture,
epigraphy, artistic styles, iconography, palaeography, local workshops,
and burial assemblages collected in this publication give a new perspective
to the future exploration of these aspects and topics. We hope that the
present volume will inspire new comparative studies on the topics discussed and bring First Millennium BC scholarship to a new level.
.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim and
the Ministry of State for Antiquities for their support in organising the
conference Thebes in the First Millennium BC in Luxor in October 2012
and permission to work in the South Asasif necropolis. We are grateful for
the support our Egyptian-American team, the South Asasif Conservation
Project, has received over the years from Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled,
Director of the Department of Foreign Missions MSA, Dr. Mansour
Boraik, Director General of Luxor Antiquities until 2013; Ibrahim
Soliman, Director of Luxor Antiquities; Dr. Mohamed Abd el Aziz, General Director for the West Bank of Luxor; Fathy Yassen Abd el Kerim,
Director of the Middle Area; Ramadan Ahmed Ali, Chief Inspector of the
Middle Area; Ahmed Ali Hussein Ali, SCA Chief Conservator and
Director of the Conservation Department of Upper Egypt; Afaf Fathalla,
General Director of the Conservation Department of Upper Egypt; the
MSA conservation team; and all our team members and volunteers. We
are very grateful to our sponsors, IKG Cultural Resources, directed by
Anthony Browder (USA), and the South Asasif Conservation Trust, directed by John Billman (UK). Without all this help and support we would
not have been able to accomplish the field work and research included in
the present volume.
Special thanks to the participants of the conference, particularly to our
Luxor colleagues Nadia Licitra, Christophe Thiers, Pierre Zignani, Laurent
Coulon, Claude Traunecker, Isabelle Rgen, Louise Gestermann, and
Farouk Goma who showed their sites to the participants.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
KUSHITE AND SAITE PERIOD BURIALS ON
EL-KHOKHA
GBOR SCHREIBER

Etvs Lornd University Budapest

Abstract: The New Kingdom tombs on the southern slope of the el-Khokha

hillock, situated in the centre of the Theban necropolis, accommodated numerous

intrusive burials between the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Dynasties. Besides
secondary burials in shaft tombs cut in the cult chapel of New Kingdom mortuary
monuments, large hypogeum-type tombs with brickwork superstructures also
appeared at the base of the hill. The study gives a brief overview of these
interments, relying mostly on the results of the on-going Hungarian excavations in
this area.

Compared to the Asasif, the zone of the Ramesseum, and Medinet Habu,
the Khokha hillock ranks among the peripheric areas of the Theban necropolis during the Twenty-fifth/Twenty-sixth Dynasties, yet its tomb
groups have still much to offer to the archaeologist to develop a balanced
overall picture of the contemporary Theban burial system. The southern
slope of el-Khokha, situated in the centre of the vast Theban cemetery, is
distinguished by the presence of the oldest local rock-cut tombs dating
from the late Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period.1 After a
phase still difficult to characterise in detail over the Middle Kingdom and
the Second Intermediate Period,2 the heyday of the el-Khokha cemetery
came in the early New Kingdom, during the reign of Thutmose III. Due to
the proximity of this area to the mortuary temple of Thutmose III, the
entire southern slope of el-Khokha became dotted by new mortuary
monuments in the first half of the fifteenth century BC. The tombs in
question were typically of modest size, constructed for a middle-ranking
1
2

See recently Soliman 2009, 1228; Fbin 2011, 4353.

Fbin, in Bcs et al. 2009, 5560.

236

Chapter Eleven

stratum of the elite, such as a scribe of the mat (TT 182, Amenemhat), a
scribe of the treasury (TT 365, Nefermenu), a counter of grain in the
granary of the divine offerings (TT 179, Nebamun), royal butlers (TT 205,
Djehutymes and TT 238, Neferweben), and holders of various priestly
offices (TT 241, Ahmose and TT -64-, Amenhotep).3 In the same period,
another cemetery of shaft tombs, constructed for military men probably
participating in the foreign campaigns of Thutmose III evolved at the base
of the hill, of which a sample has been excavated in the zone of TT 32.4
Later, in the Nineteenth Dynasty, a few monumental tombssuch as those
of Djehutymes (TT 32), Nebsumenu (TT 183) and Nefermenu (TT 184)
were constructed in the first and second necropolis-streets, wedged between the already-existing tomb chapels. The construction of new monuments continued, if on a modest scale, into the Twentieth Dynasty, together with the reuse of Thutmosid chapels that were repainted, and new
burial chambers accessible from a sloping passage added to their original
structure (e.g. TT -59-, Bakenamun and TT -61-, Amenhotep).5 Based on
the material excavated by the Hungarian Mission in TT -61- and -400-,
these Twentieth Dynasty tombs were clearly not only intended for the
tomb owner and his spouse alone, but transformed into multiple, probably
family, burial grounds shortly after the original interments. The reuse of
New Kingdom tombs extended into the Twenty-first and Twenty-second
Dynasties, when new burial chambers cut at the terminus of the sloping
passage were added to several Ramesside funerary apartments.6
The presence of Twenty-fifth/Twenty-sixth Dynasty material proved
also to be symptomatic in all the contexts that have been investigated so
far. What makes the evaluation of this corpus somewhat complicated is its
poor and highly fragmentary state of preservation, with the inscribed
wooden objects that might have provided a sound basis for the reconstruction of the equipment being almost completely destroyed in most cases.
Given the more or less general lack of prosopographical data as well as
firm textual and stylistic evidence for dating, one is usually forced to rely
on the study of pottery and small finds to give approximate dates and form
some general conclusions.
3

Note that tomb designations such as TT -64- refer to Kampps numbering system.
See Kampp 1996.
4
Cf. Schreiber 2008, 3237; Schreiber 2010, 89.
5
Schreiber, in Bcs et al. 2009, 7172.
6
Schreiber 2008, 51. See also Aston 2009, 164. On the history of the site between
the Twenty-second and early Twenty-fifth Dynasties, see Schreiber 2009.

Kushite and Saite Burials Period on el-Khokha

237

The best preserved Kushite Period burial equipment from el-Khokha is

that made for one (Jmn)-pA-sdnw and Jwty-aA-r-Wsjr, excavated by Maha
Farid Mostafa in the Ramesside tomb of Neferhotep and Meh (TT 257).7
An interesting feature of this burial ensemble, constructed for father and
son, both holding the title Chamber Supervisor of the Divine Adoratrice
of Amun (jmy xnt n dwAt-nTr n Jmn),8 is that it represents an unusual
blend of Twenty-second and Twenty-fifth Dynasty styles. In accordance
with the new coffin style of the Kushite Period, both persons were
provided with outer coffins of the qrsw type,9 however, their innermost
coffins were actually cartonnage cases decorated in the style of the
Twenty-second Dynasty.10 The finds also included a large fragment from
the shabti box of (Jmn)-pA-sdnw,11 which shows resemblance to Astons
Type VII boxes inscribed with the shabti spell (BD 6).12 Besides these
burials dated to the second half of the eighth century BC, TT 257 also
accommodated the funerary equipment of a certain PA-dj-BAstt, who held
the title jry aA pr-Jmn (Doorkeeper of the Temple of Amun).13 Based on
the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure associated with this interment, Padibastets
burial is datable to the seventh century BC.
The intrusive Kushite burials on el-Khokha were deposed in newly cut
shaft tombs. This kind of shaft usually has a square opening and their
depth varies between 2.5 and 4m. It seems as if there was a preference to
position these intrusive shafts in the axial halls of the New Kingdom tomb
chapels. This is at least the case with the Kushite to early Saite burial
shafts found in TT 23,14 32,15 and -400-.16
However, not all the contemporary burials were deposed in shaft
tombs. Already in the late nintheighth century BC, tombs with brickwork
superstructures and subterranean burial chambers appeared at the base of
the hill, which are likely to have formed an independent cluster within the
7

Mentioned in Aston 2003, 149; Schreiber 2009, 472.

On the title, see Graefe 1981 II, 3638.
9
Mostafa 1995, 7981, pls. XX, XLIXLIII [obj. nrs. 8485].
10
Mostafa 1995, 8586, pl. XLVI [obj. nrs. 122123].
11
Mostafa 1995, 81, pls. XIX, XLIII [obj. nr. 88.1].
12
Aston 1994, 3334, pl. 6.4; Aston 2009, 371372.
13
Mostafa 1995, 7778, pls. XIX, XL [obj. nr. 75]. On the title, see JelnkovReymond 1953; erny 2001, 161; Leblanc 2011, 115117.
14
Personal observation.
15
Schreiber 2008, 51, pl. LXXXV.
16
Currently excavated by the Hungarian Archaeological Mission, South Khokha
Project.
8

238

Chapter Eleven

cemetery, occupying the plain area framed by el-Khokha on the north and
the west, the mortuary temple of Thutmose III and the farmland on the
south, and the outcrop dividing el-Khokha and Asasif on the east. Out of
the two tomb buildings excavated by the Hungarian Mission, Tomb B is
the older and larger one (figs. 11-1ab).17 This tomb consists of an open
forecourt, a vaulted vestibule, a vaulted descending corridor, and burial
chambers hewn out of the bedrock and arranged along an L-shaped corridor.

Fig. 11-1a: The superstructure of Tomb B ( L. Mtyus).

Fig. 11-1b: 3D model of Tomb B (Survey and plan by Zs. Vasros;

3D rendering by . Psztor).
17

On Tomb B, see Schreiber and Vasros 2005; Schreiber 2008, 6477.

Kushite and Saite Burials Period on el-Khokha

239

Figs. 11-2ab: a Cartonnage of Bw-jrw-Hr; b Wooden door, probably

cut out from the frontal body field of a coffin, from Tomb B (authors
drawings).

It seems that the first occupants of Tomb B were provided with anthropoid wooden coffins and inner cartonnage cases of a style that is typical of
the later Twenty-second to the early Twenty-fifth Dynasty. One of the
occupants was a certain Bw-jrw-Hr, Hunter of Amun (nw Jmn), whose
name has been preserved on his cartonnage coffin (fig. 11-2a). Burials,
however, continued in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, as indicated by coffin
fragments with the pennant writing of the name Osiris, which gained acceptance only after 720 BC.18 Recurrent elements of the burial ensembles
were bead nets with a funerary scarab and the sons of Horus, coarse quality Nile silt ushabtis, and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures. Tomb B also yielded a
significant concentration of ceramic vessels which appear to date from
18

See Leahy 1979.

240

Chapter Eleven

between the early eighth century and the mid-seventh century BC, thus
signifying that the occupation continued until the end of the Twenty-fifth
Dynasty or even beyond. The most remarkable find from Tomb B was an
elaborately decorated wooden door, probably originally cut out from the
frontal body field of a coffin, installed into the doorway between the superstructure and the descending corridor of the tomb (fig. 11-2b).19 Since
the colouration and style of this object require comparison with Twentyfifth Dynasty coffins, it most likely dates from the time of a second generation of owners, who were interred there in the Kushite Period. The preserved inscriptions mention four individuals, namely PA-ym, Servant of
the Palace (Smsw n aH), Jx-nts, Ns-pAwtj-tAwj, Cultivator of the nesj-plant
in the Domain of Amun (jrw nsj n pr-Jmn), and her mother !r-jry,
Mistress of the House (nbt pr).

Fig. 11-3: Plan and section of Tomb G (Survey and drawing by Zs. Vasros).
19

Schreiber 2008, 66, 7577, pl. LIX, photo pl. XXIV [nr. 2.2.2.5.1]. Cf.
Schreiber, in Bcs et al. 2009, 118119 [cat. nr. 54].

Kushite and Saite Burials Period on el-Khokha

241

The other hypogeum-type tomb excavated by the Hungarian Mission,

Tomb G, has a different layout (fig. 11-3).20 Unlike Tomb B, it did not
have a forecourt and vestibule but was provided with a descending staircase, probably vaulted. The original burial chamber was accessible
through a shaft with a square opening. Based on the pottery finds, the
tomb was constructed in the late Kushite Period, but burials seem to have
continued into the second half of the seventh century BC.
It is as yet unknown whether the construction of similar hypogea, either in an unchanged or modified form, continued on el-Khokha into the
Saite Period. What seriously speaks against such an assumption is the
apparent increase in the number and volume of Saite intrusive burials
deposed within re-used New Kingdom monuments at this period. The
contemporaneous burials were placed either in small, loculus-like chambers accessible from a shallow entrance shaft,21 or, more frequently,
normal shaft tombs with a sizable burial chamber that could house more
than one burial. The latter is nicely illustrated by Shaft 4, a Saite intrusive
shaft cut into the floor of the statue-room of TT -61-, a Twentieth Dynasty
tomb chapel constructed for one Amenhotep, Chief Physician in the Domain of Amun.22 Although the contents of this shaft were burnt when TT
-61- became looted, it can be inferred from the preserved objects that four
individuals had been buried there, each furnished with small, coarse-quality Nile silt ushabtis and bead nets with tripartite funerary scarabs and
other suspended amulets. A dating for the burial shaft to the Twenty-sixth
Dynasty, and, more precisely, to around the middle of the sixth century BC
was established on the basis of the pottery finds. These included a cup
with incurved rim, two ledge-based bowls, six bowls, two medium-sized
jars, a bag-shaped jar with spiral white decoration, a shouldered jar (fig.
11-4a), a large bottle (fig. 11-4b), and a two-handled bag-shaped jar of
Marl A4 fabric (fig. 11-4c). It is to be noted that some of the large closed
shapes were intentionally pierced and have incised pot-marks applied postfiring. Another chronological anchor for dating Shaft 4 is presented by a
Type D Clazomenian amphora retrieved from the same context (fig. 114d). Since amphorae of this type, produced in the hinterland of
Clazomenae, probably at Teos, have a time span between 600 and 525
20

Schreiber 2008, 7781.

E.g. a secondary tomb opening in the transverse hall of TT 32. Schreiber 2008,
pl. LXXXV.
22
TT -61- will be published by the author. For an overview of the excavation, see
Schreiber, in Bcs et al. 2009, 33, 6364, 7172.
21

242

BC,

Chapter Eleven

23

the same broad date range may be applied to the burials found in
Shaft 4, with a preference for the second half of the sixth century BC.

Figs. 11-4ad: Shouldered jar, large bottle, bag-shaped jar, and

Clazomenian amphora from Shaft 4 in TT -61- (Drawing by B. Tihanyi).

Another, roughly contemporaneous and relatively coherent burial set

has been excavated in an intrusive shaft cut in the portico of a Middle

23

Cook and Dupont 1998, 155, fig. 23.3g.

Kushite and Saite Burials Period on el-Khokha

243

Kingdom saff-tomb in the fourth necropolis-street of el-Khokha.24 The

shaft, 2.5m in depth and articulated with a square aperture, gives access to
a single chamber where, besides coffin and cartonnage fragments,25 and
two dummy canopic jars of the later Twenty-second to Twenty-fifth
Dynasty,26 a shabti box with 184 figurines, fragments of another box, three
bead nets, fragments of a fourth bead net, and pottery, including three
Clazomenian amphorae were found. The funerary figurines were all made
of Nile silt, the gang was, however, composed of different types, with
bearded and beardless figurines equally represented in the same set.27 The
decoration of the rectangular box is much weatherworn, with only traces
of the yellow background being preserved.28 This feature as well as the
size and shape of the box point to similarities with Astons Type VII and
VIII boxes.29 Of the bead nets, two are of Silvanos Type A30 with amulets
made of gilded wood and faience, respectively,31 while the third and the
much fragmentary fourth examples were sewn of small faience beads
especially typical of the Saite Period.32 The three Clazomenian amphorae
represent different variants of Duponts Type A,33 and all three were
apparently reused in the context of the tomb as containers of
mummification material. Taken together, the finds are suggestive that this
shaft tomb, probably constructed in the later eighth century BC, was reused
for at least two interments during the Saite Period, most probably somewhere around the later seventh to early sixth century BC.
The Saite burials on el-Khokha reveal few of the novelties that appear
in contemporary elite burials and testify much more to a continuation of
conservative, older local traditions. Although tomb looting has eliminated
nearly all textual data concerning the tomb owners, it seems, based on the
composition of the burial equipment, that members of a lower-ranking
stratum of local officials might have been buried here. It is also evident
that all the tombs were intended and used for multiple, quite obviously
family, burials over fairly short periods of time. The few preserved coffin
24

Fbin 2009, 89.

Darvas 2010, 79.
26
Fbin, in Bcs et al. 2009, 101102 [cat. nrs. 3738].
27
Cf. Darvas 2010, fig. 6; Nmeth 2010, 2122.
28
Darvas 2010, 10, fig. 5.
29
Aston 2009, 371372, fig. 47.
30
Silvano 1980, 8488.
31
Nmeth, in Bcs et al. 2009, 110113 [cat. nrs. 4647].
32
Cf. Nmeth 2010, 19, 24, figs. 45.
33
For a photo, see Fbin 2009, fig. 9.
25

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Chapter Eleven

fragments, such as the one made for one Hor from TT 32,34 faithfully
reproduce the style of contemporary elite coffins, with scenes arranged in
a multiple-register style on the frontal body field, painted in polychrome
over yellow background. Inscription panels painted on black and set
against alternating background colours are also known from several seventh century BC burials.35 That the old custom of replacing the internal
organs into the body cavities continued in the Kushite Period and probably
even beyond is confirmed both by anthropological evidence36 and the
presence of objects such as a wooden son of Horus figurine from Tomb
G37 and dummy canopic jars from the shaft in Saff 138 that can be associated with this mummification protocol. The burials were also equipped
with bead nets, typically of Silvanos Types A and Ba, which continued
until the end of the sixth century BC in the Khokha cemetery. Bead nets in
which the suspended amulets are also made of small faience beads are rare
and confined to the later sixth century.39 The same coherent pattern
emerges from the study of ushabtis, which, as a rule, are always made of
Nile silt and covered in a coloured wash in imitation of faience prototypes.40 In more than one case, the ushabti gangs were composed of different types, usually of the workman type, with bearded and beardless figurines equally represented within a single set. Shabti boxes associated with
these late burials were few in number, representing bottom-end quality
variants of Astons Types VIIb and VIII.41 This type of ushabti set
continued, practically unchanged, from the Twenty-second Dynasty to the
later sixth century in el-Khokha cemetery. Based on the presence of
wooden rams horns, shuty-headdresses and akhom-birds in several contexts,42 Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures might also have been a recurrent element
of the burial equipment.

34

Schreiber 2008, 5253, pl. XLIX, photo pl. XI [nr. 2.1.1.4].

E.g. Schreiber 2008, 7980, pl. LXXIII, photo pl. XIV [nr. 2.3.5]; Darvas 2010,
89, fig. 4.
36
Cf. Fthi and Bernert 2010, 40, 43 (mummification techniques detected in
Tombs B and G).
37
Schreiber 2008, 7980, pl. LXXV, photo pl. XV [nr. 2.3.16].
38
Fbin, in Bcs et al. 2009, 101102 [cat. nrs. 3738].
39
Cf. Nmeth 2010, 19, 24, figs. 45.
40
See the case of Shaft 4 in TT -61- and the finds from Saff 1. Cf. Schreiber 2008,
6870, 79 (ushabtis from Tombs B and G).
41
Darvas 2010, 10, fig. 5; Schreiber 2008, 6970 [nr. 2.2.2.2.26].
42
See e.g. Schreiber 2008, 7677 [nrs. 2.2.2.5.26], 80 [nrs. 2.3.910].
35

Kushite and Saite Burials Period on el-Khokha

245

Figs. 11-5ab: Attic brush-banded amphora and Samian amphora with

embalming material from TT -400- (Drawings by G. Schreiber and B. Tihanyi).

The pottery corpus associated with these burials consists of almost exclusively locally-made vessels. In burials dated between the eighth and the
later seventh century BC four classes of closed shapes, i.e. sausage jars, red
burnished shouldered jars, pots with spiral white decoration, and carinated
jars of Marl fabric predominate.43 It is only in the early sixth century BC
that a new repertoire of vessel shapes, composed of new types and the
derivatives of Kushite models, appeared with any notable frequency in elKhokha tombs.44 Another remarkable feature of these late Twenty-sixth
Dynasty contexts is the presence of Greek, usually East Greek, transport
amphorae that had been re-used in the tombs as embalmers pots destined
to store the leftover of mummification. The corpus so far excavated and
studied includes a Chian amphora from TT 32,45 three Type A Clazomenian amphorae from the intrusive shaft in Saff 1,46 an Attic brush
banded amphora (fig. 11-5a),47 a Samian amphora (fig. 11-5b),48 and a
Type A Clazomenian amphora from TT -400-,49 as well as a Type D
43

See e.g. the pottery set from Tomb G: Schreiber 2008, 78, 8081, pls. LXXVI
LXXIX.
44
A good example is provided by the pottery from Shaft 4 in TT -61-.
45
Schreiber 2008, 83, pl. LXXXI [nr. 2.4.2.22].
46
Fbin 2009, fig. 9.
47
2011.C.116. Unpublished.
48
2011.C.050. Unpublished.
49
2012.C.016. Unpublished.

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Chapter Eleven

Clazomenian amphora50 and a Lesbian amphora from TT -61-.51 Although

the widespread presence of Greek imports in Theban contexts of the sixth
century BC has already been noted,52 the large number of re-used Greek
amphorae found on el-Khokha militates in favour of thinking that this
commodity was a highly preferred, if not a mandatory element of the burial equipment during the reigns of Apries and Amasis.
The later, Persian Period, history of the site is still difficult to reconstruct in detail. Finds excavated in the lower rooms of TT -61- and -400are, however, indicative of the fact that some tombs remained in use also
during the fifth and fourth centuries BC, thus bridging the gap between the
well-documented Saite and early Ptolemaic tomb groups on el-Khokha.53

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