An Unknown Woman-JE61052

                                         A Short about an Unknown Woman

The Director of the Bouloq museum, Gaston Maspero, c. 1886, About the mummy of Meritamon/Unknown woman "A."

"When the shroud was opened, we found ourselves in the presence of a mummy half stripped of its clothes, and with a peculiar appearance. Her head is leaning on her right shoulder, her jaw hanging, her mouth gaping, and pulled to the right. The chest is lifted violently, the shoulders are contracted, the arms are thrown forward in a stiff gesture, the hands are twisted, the right leg is entwined around the left, the feet are tensed: the entire body is like shaking with the last movements of agony. Is this an accidental fact, or should we believe that at the time the character was prepared for the grave, the custom had not yet prevailed to always place the corpses in an attitude of rest?  People were mummified as the dead took them.

 The Middle Kingdom tombs that I opened at Gebelein in 1886 give us valuable information in this regard. The four intact coffins that they returned to us contained mummies very similar to the mummy that concerns us. They too were in the attitude in which agony had left them, their heads bowed, their mouths gaping, their hands contracted, their legs drawn together.

Add to this other clues, the lightness of the body, the ease with which the skin breaks or detaches into scales, the defleshing of the skull; the mummy, which so resembles the mummies of Gebelien, has almost no resemblance to those of Ahmos I, of Queen Anhapou, of Saqnounri. It would rather be a mummy from the 12th or 13th dynasty, which the guardians would have removed from its tomb to replace the lost mummy of Queen Meritamon." 

Msr. Maspero may have been wrong about this mummy's pedigree, with the mummy actually being a king's daughter named Meritamon and not a replacement for an early 18th dynasty princess, but rather a late Middle Kingdom or Second Intermediate period royal mummy with that name. Little reason to doubt the inscription on her wrappings regarding her name, as most, if not all, the rest of the dockets on the royal mummies are accepted.  The princess's grave may have been found during the necropolis officials' recycling duties in Dynasty 21. Her mummy was removed and added to one of the royal mummy cachets. She may have joined the cache of the Dra Abu el-Naga's late 17th, early 18th dynasty mummies before the cache joined the Valley of the Kings mummies in tomb DB320, or was already there.

Why should there not be a late Middle Kingdom, early 17th-dynasty royal mummy mixed in with the New Kingdom royals?

Egypt's cemeteries are full of mummies from all periods, and it might be more surprising if there were no mummies buried hundreds of years before the New Kingdom royals and their immediate ancestors. Why would a recycled royal cache be completely homogeneous to one period? The ancient priests did not have convenient historical divisions like the New Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, or 12th dynasty, 13th dynasty, or 18th dynasty; these dynasties are of much later origin. It was rather a society that respected the "divine right of kings". A consecutive line of kings, comprising a multitude of competing families, today it's a Memphite king, tomorrow perhaps a Theban or Nubian king.

Mr. Maspero's recollection of the mummy under consideration is clearly that, as his description of the mummy has several inaccuracies, including his description of the position of hands and arms that the mummy does not possess. Msr. Maspero appears to be recalling the mummies he received from Gebelien that same year and sometime before his investigation of Princess Meritamon's mummy. His report on the mummy was written some time later from memory, and it appears that his description confuses details of Meritamon and the Gebelien mummies. Being that the inscription on Meritamon may be accurate, with the Middle Kingdom mummy not a replacement for Meritamon, but her actual mummy. 

With much certainty, when the 21st dynasty officials opened her tomb, it had been violently robbed and Meritamon's mummy torn apart. The officials would almost certainly have realized, stylistically, that they were dealing with a tomb much older than the 16th century B.C., though I am not sure that the age would have made a difference when putting a royal cache together, I am not sure one royal being much earlier would have made a difference to those collecting the belongings of the late 17th and early 18th dynasty royals! 

Recent studies of Meritamon's mummy have demonstrated she may have died of a heart attack, with some suggestion that she died suddenly and was discovered sometime later when rigor mortis had already set in. Rigor mortis sets in after a couple of hours but typically lasts up to 48 hours, as decomposition begins to take hold. While embalming takes time, it is long after rigor mortis has passed. I am never really convinced when the position of a mummy, including the so-called screaming mummies, has anything to do with rigor mortis, but more likely is a lazy embalmer doing a sloppy job, and no one will ever know, at least not for many years after the embalmer is dead and forgotten.

Notes:

The Royal Mummies by G.Elliot Smith, pgs. 6-7, JE61052 Mummy of unknown woman "A."

(Translations of Gaston Maspero quote)- Google Translate

External Resources:

National Museum of the Egyptian Civilization-Mummes Hall

Screaming Mummy

How Cool is This a Tomb for Thutmosis II

 Back in 2022, in a valley off the tourist track known as Wadi "C," The New Kingdom Research Foundation Mission led by Dr. Piers Litherland, in affiliation with the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, in a joint venture with the Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities in the Western Wadis. Wow, that's a mouthful, but luckily, they still had time left over to excavate! The excavation is not done, so details are still to come. 

This discovery has been a noticeable missing link for more than a century, particularly in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. The missing tomb of Thutmosis II would be the earliest in that valley though the original tomb carved for his father Thutmosis I by Ineni is unknown a good candidate may be the Valley of Kings tomb KV20 generally associated with his daughter Hatshepsut the sister-wife of Thutmosis II would mean that Hatshepsut added herself including a recarved quartzite sarcophagus for her father to her father's tomb and with only one foundation deposit attributed to Hatshepsut no telling when the tomb was at least partly carved and if the deposit was added later like Hatshepsut's mummy. Being close to KV 20 tomb KV 60, I have also wondered if it was the tomb described by Ineni, with no one seeing no one hearing, and not terribly impressive, which may have been why Hatshepsut desired to rebury her father with more dignity. Or maybe it was carved as a needed storeroom for the valley workmen to carve KV20.

Valley of the Kings tomb KV42 has also been suggested. Although the foundation deposits say a queen of Thutmosis III, Hatshepset Meryet-ra. Non-royal canopic material found in the tomb indicates an inappropriate occupant of a royal tomb. Howard Carter believed that this material had been washed into the tomb and that nothing of Thutmosis II's funerary furniture had been found there.

I must say, I thought there was a good chance Thutmose II's tomb would be discovered in the foundations of Hatshepsut's Valley Temple at Deir el-Bahri; perhaps it will be there, having been relocated from the flooded Wadi "C" tomb. 

Notes:

1. Theban Mapping Project

2. Dr. Chris Naunton

3. Egypt Museum

4. Archaeology News

5. Thutmosis II

Photographs and Stereoviews of Felix Bonfils

 Here is a self-portrait by 19th-century photographer of Middle Eastern scenes, Felix Bonfils.  He was one of the earliest commercial photographers of the monuments of Egypt, Greece, and Palestine, with this article's focus being on Egyptian monuments. The cards in question are from about c.1875, free of tourists, and many of these sites are unexcavated. These cards are known as stereoviews, which were meant to be viewed with a stereoscope. The era of the stereoscope is from approximately c.1860 to c.1939. Felix Bonfils' images were available as tourist souvenirs as individual photos and in books, as well as stereoviews. I have not corrected spelling from the quotes.

                                Card 42). Temple of Denderah, The Temple of Tentyris

The description on the back provides information that the temple was a relatively late construction, begun in the Ptolemaic era and completed by Nero, with the portico being built under Tiberius. 19th-century Egyptologist M. Maspero says of the goddess Hathor, for whom the temple is for, "represents beauty, order, and harmony; it is through her that all is renewed and subsists."

                                                         Card 47). Triumphal Gate

"The statues of Rameses are buried in sand up to the breast, "and are very much mutilated, like most statues of this description are. They are sitting statues and seem to have a total height of 13 meters." The scenes and inscription on the pylon refer to a campaign of Rameses and give a date more than 100 years before modern Egyptologists give for the reign of Rameses II.

                                     

                                              Card 56).  Dromos - Basement-Hall and Obelisk

"The gate of the second vestibule is 20 meters broad and 60 meters high; it opens on the great basement hall, or hall of pillars, constructed in the reign of Seti, father and predecessor of Rameses II. It is the largest that exists in any of the Egyptian monuments." The vertical walls of 30 meters high are decorated with religious pictures. The sculpture of this imposing vestibule belongs to the reign of Rameses II." We are again given an inaccurate date for the reign of this king.

                                              70.  Great Temple of Medinet-Abou

"The way to the (Kings' Gate) (Biban-el-Molouk) branches off to the left from a point where four roads meet, about a hundred meters north of the temple of Kournak. The plain is bounded here by ranges of steep calcareous hills, the rocky slopes of which have been roughly shaped into walls and pierced by numerous rows of sepulchres. These excavations are generally of small dimensions and decorated with sculpture. Their openings look, from a distance, like the windows of an immense building."

                                              79. Thebes - Second Hall of the Ramesseum 

"This hall is 41 meters wide and 31 meters deep. It is entered by three gates of black granite. The lateral walls are in ruins. The ceiling was supported by 48 columns arranged in 8 lines, but only five of these lines have remained upright. The ceiling was painted with golden stars on a blue ground."

                                                     84. Thebes - Rock Cut Sepulchres

"The great temple of Medinet-Abou, which is the work of Rameses III, was, like the temple of Tutmes, dedicated to Ammon, the solar God of Thebes. The first pylon, obstructed by ruins, leads to a court, 34 meters wide by ..." (Wrong description), while the number on the front and back of the card is 84, clearly this is a description of the temple of Ramesses. Sadly for me, this descriptive mistake is on perhaps my favorite of the stereoviews. The subject is one of the Theban cemeteries, probably Sheik-abd el-Gourna. Fun to see how it looked back in the late 1860s, early 1870s,s. Sure doesn't look like that anymore. Love it!

                                                     107. Propylon of The Temple of Isis

In my incomplete collection, I am particularly rich in cards from the Island of Philae. "The temple of Isis was begun in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285 - 247B.C.) and finished by his successor Ptolemy Euergetes (247 - 222 B.C)" "An inscription traced under its gate in 1799 informs us that the French army under Desaix, pursuing the Mamelucks, after the battle of the pyramids, reached Philae on the 13th of Vendemiaire in the year VII of the Republic (Oct. 4th, 1798). Fragments of obelisks and lions in red granite lie scattered about in front of the gateway."

                               114.Front and 115. Back; General View of the Temple of Phylae

"The worship of Isis maintained itself here as late as the close of the Sixth century after Christ. A Greek inscription of the chamber of Osiris, on the terrace of the great temple, proves that in the year 453 of our era, the goddess Isis still had her college of priests there. It was only in 577 that the worship of Isis was abolished and the Christian religion took its place. Bishop Theodore placed the Temple under the patronage of St-Stephen."

                                      132. Nubia - Perspective of the Temple of Kalabcheh

A number of these stereoviews are missing their back descriptions, including this card again, another favorite. A Roman-period construction, which in the 1960s was the temple of Kalabcheh, was rescued from the rise of the waters of Lake Nassar with the help of  Germany, and, in gratitude, the Egyptian government gave one of the temple's gates to Germany, which is somewhere in a museum in Berlin.

                                           136.Front and 135. Back, Temple of Dakkeh

"It was founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus by Ergamenus, King of Ethiopia, and continued by Philopator, Euregetes, and Augustus. Here, Petronius, in his march on Napata (B.C 23), defeated the troops of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. The sculptures were covered with mud, which preserved them. In this temple was found a very curious monolith, an inscription relative to the gold mines of the desert.

The Search for Senenmut

 The supposed success with finding King Hatshepset's mummy has brought to light many new questions about the location of the mummy of her foremost courtier, Senenmut. The thought that he may be among the unidentified royal mummies is intriguing. Although the discovery of Hatshepsut was made possible by the presence of a tooth, there is still considerable faith being placed in DNA, perhaps not with mummified tissue, but with bone or teeth.

Fortune has played its hand with the discovery of the intact tomb of Hatnofer and Ramose in the courtyard of their son Senenmut's prominent tomb at Sheik Abd el Qurna, TT71. Senenmut's tomb was explored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's expedition in 1936, with the prize being a smashed brown quartzite sarcophagus. However, because it was unfinished, this has led some to believe that it was never used by Senenmut.

Though if it was used by Senenmut, hopefully his mummy was not in it at the time of its thorough destruction. The DNA of Hatnofer and Ramose may well identify their son out of the unknown royal mummies if his mummy has been found, though the chances of discovery of this individual are very remote

As it happens, Senenmut's father Ramose was a skeleton when found and was probably not mummified, while his mother was mummified, but since the excavation has become mostly a skeleton as well. This is good, as little damage will occur to their remains for DNA tests to find their famous son.

Among the male mummies from the cache tombs DB 320 and KV 35, which appear not to be direct family members of the Thutmoside king's families. Perhaps the best choice must be the mummy in the coffin inscribed for Nibsoni and known as "Unknown man C". Described in his 1912 "Mummies Royal" G. E. Smith refers to the mummy as "tall, vigorous man", "must have seemed a very giant amongst them, and is hardly likely to have sprung from such puny stock".

Mr. Smith makes this statement about the XVIII Dynasty kings found in the cache with our unknown man "C". He says little more about this mummy other than the mummy had been rifled in modern times before the official discovery of the tomb. Unfortunately, the research on this individual is sparse, though Mr. Smith believed the mummy's arm position suggests he dates before Thutmosis II.

A contender from around the correct period of the early Thutmoside king's including the reign of Hatshepsut. A couple of thoughts have come to me in that the king's cache tomb DB 320 held a box with the name of Hatshepsut, though the body of that king was not found in that cache. The box seems to be all that was collected from its find-spot unless it was found, and came into DB 320 with one of the mummies found there.

It has come to my notice that many, if not most, of Senenmut's statues are in good condition, suggesting that he and his statues did not face a thorough damnatio memoriae after death, and that might make the smashed sarcophagus an anomaly that could have occurred hundreds or even thousands of years after Senenmut's passing.

From the king's cache at Deir el-Bahari was found the small box that contained the tooth belonging to the mummy identified as Hatshepsut, found in Valley of the Kings tomb KV 60. Somehow, the box became separate from Hatshepsut's burial. Hard to believe that the reburial commission would take the box and leave the king's mummy behind. There has to be the thought that her mummy was already gone by the time the reburial commission entered whichever tomb the box was found in. Perhaps removed by Thutmosis III, Hatshepsut's successor.

Senenmut had two choices for his burial, including a tomb inside the Hatshepsut quarry near her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari. The tomb, when found by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's excavations, was completely empty. It suggests that he was buried in his extremely prominent hilltop tomb at Sheik Abd el-Qurna, where the smashed sarcophagus was found, and where his parents were buried.

Still, he may have died before Hatshepsut and been buried in her tomb. Thutmosis III or his successors may have removed the queen to KV 60 and left Senenmut and the box still in the tomb when found by the reburial commission, and as such, both mummy and box may have ended up together in tomb DB 320.


Notes:

Photo of TT358 by Edal Anton Lefterov
The Mummies Royal
Photo of Sarcophagus: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Photo of Senenmut statue in the Brooklyn Museum by Keith Schengili-Roberts
The Royal Mummies, G.E. Smith
Senenmut TT71