17 Mummies Discovered

A very interesting discovery at an animal necropolis south of Cairo at the Minya archaeological site. Among the mummies is also one that appears intact, complete with a garland on top of the shrouded body.

The apparent lack of offerings may point to the mummies being from the Third Intermediate Period or later. Many of the mummies appear to be quite deteriorated. Most of the bodies are without coffins, though there is at least one stone and one terracotta sarcophagus.

Notes:

Egypt Today

Classic: Intact Old Kingdom Tomb

Back in July of 2008, came the discovery by Miroslav Barta and the Czech Institute of Egyptology the discovery of an intact Old Kingdom tomb at Abusir. Such a discovery of an intact tomb of that age had not happened in 50 years.

The 4400-year-old burial has likely brought much knowledge in the past decade. Since then, Miroslav Barta and the Czech Institute have had many more exciting days, but this important discovery is clearly the rarest of finds.

Sources:

Radio Praha by Jan Velinger
Photo: Czech Institute of Egyptology

Perfume Bottle of Hatshepsut

Many people will remember this perfume bottle in Germany's Bonn University Egyptian Museum from an article in 2009 about recreating the perfume by deconstructing the residue of its contents. There was a big fanfare about it belonging to King Hatshepsut, and that the bottle was found among her belongings. I know of no excavation in which Hatshepsut's belongings were found except for her tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which, to my knowledge, contained mostly damaged funerary goods.

The photo presents a good view of the bottles outline which bears no symmetry that I would expect from a royal vessel. A finer craftsman would have worked the simple bottle to a much sharper finish. An object with a cartouche on it does not mean that it belonged to a king, other than the technicality that everything belonged to the king. But, if you were Hatshepsut and wanted to reward a courtier for their loyalty, would you give this shabby production?

This is not suitable for a Queen's dressing table. Can you see this thing on Queen Victoria's dressing table or Queen Elizabeth's? I might suggest that the lord of the two lands would likely be furnished by the royal workshops and not with provincial mediocrity, as is presented here. I would also suspect that such a vessel for a queen's boudoir might be made out of gold or silver, such as Tutankhamun's double cartouche scent box.

In the tomb of Tutankhamun were found many vessels carved from alabaster, including two shaped like lions, and though many of the vessels may be seen as gaudy, all of them are the creation of the finest carvers. The Hatshepsut bottle in Bonn does not belong in the tradition of any of Tutankhamun's alabaster vessels. The bottle in Bonn does not belong to a royal tradition.

This tradition can be found in numerous examples of cosmetic vessels predating Hatshepsut from the Middle Kingdom, in which some examples have even been carved of obsidian. A much more challenging medium to carve in than alabaster. This tradition of quality in cutting stone vessels goes back to the earliest dynasties, leading up to the Old Kingdom.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has an amazing alabaster scent bottle in the form of a cat, much more worthy of a royal boudoir. Unfortunate that the object is without provenance.

I have little doubt that the Bonn bottle and its contents are indeed ancient, and as a bottle without the cartouche that it would have had very little value as a souvenir. Carve Hatshepsut's cartouche on it, and it becomes a royal object worth many, many times more than without. A definite motive for deception.

So what's wrong with the Hatshepsut cartouche?

The three characters include the elements of Hatshepsut's throne name, including the element in the center of the goddess Maat, below the goddess, we find the upraised hands of the Ka element, and lastly, on top, the sun disk of the god Re. The hieroglyphs are correct; it is the spacing here that is in question.

It seems that the engraver started with the cartouche outline, followed by the Ka element, which dominates almost half the space in the cartouche, causing the Maat and Re elements to be crammed into the remaining space above. This element is also not centered. The flat base of the cartouche, the goddess, and the Re element have been drilled uncomfortably deep, and even the cartouche outline is scratchy in appearance.

It is, for me, however, the patina within all these engraved elements that is not right. If anything, these details should be darker than the body, yet there are signs that the color of the patina has been damaged in the area of the cartouche, as these engravings appear at least from this photograph to be lighter than the surface of the bottle itself. It is, of course, impossible to fully judge a work of art from one photograph, as in this case, the object appears to have been photographed with a light source above the bottle, and this may interfere with the patina in the cartouche as photographed.

Whether I am right about the cartouche being fake or not, the bottle's manufacture is beneath a royal purpose after all, the king is citizen number one and as such worthy of the finest products the workshops produced, and for this reason alone, it is unlikely that Hatshepsut ever came in contact with this meager object.

Notes:

Photograph Courtesy of Bonn University Egyptian Museum
Bonn University
Article on the bottle from National Geographic by Christine Dell'Amore 
Photo of Tutankhamun's waving lion bottle: Tour Egypt
Cat Cosmetic Vessel: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Links to more Perfume Bottles;
18th Dynasty perfume bottle: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Trussed ducks bottle: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Harry Burton photographs of vessels in Tutankhamun's tomb: The Griffith Institute, Oxford University

Royal Egyptian Box in Scotland

     "A result like that which it exhibited when I gained an entrance, if not altogether unexpected, could not be otherwise than vexatious." (1)

This luxurious wooden and ivory perfume box belongs to Scotland's National Museums and was found in a box containing unidentified objects collected by the late archaeologist Alexander Henry Rhind in the National Museum of Antiquities in the late 19th century. It has been speculated that the tomb, which was excavated, contained the mummies of the daughters of King Thutmosis IV found by Mr. Rhind while excavating at Thebes in about 1857.

Where exactly the smashed box bearing the name of the father of Thutmosis IV, King Amenhotep II, was found is not clear; however, the late great Egyptologist Cyril Aldred suggested it was among the finds from the tomb that contained the destroyed burial of the princesses. The tomb contained mummies, fragments of tattered cloth, and a number of crude wooden mummy tags. These tags were at one time attached to the destroyed mummies to keep their names with the bodies during processing and burial in ancient times.

     "The floors were strewn with bones, torn bandages, fragments-but these not numerous-of mummy-boxes, and (in the lower chamber) with mummies themselves, their wrappings ripped up along the throat and breast. A careful search, which I caused to be made among the debris, only produced fourteen small tablets made of thin wood, about two inches and a half long by two broad, and rounded at the top, each pierced with a hole for the purpose of attaching it to the body."(2)

In his 1862 publication, Thebes: Its Tombs and Their Tenants, Mr. Rhind is assisted by the eminent Samuel Birch in the translation of the tags, some of which I present here.

     "No. 1. The Princess Neferu amen. No.2. The Princess Han en annu. No.3. The Princess Ptah meri, or Meri en ptah. No. 4. The Princess Uai. No.5. The Princess Sat [en] Hara. No.6. The Princess Pet pui. No.7. The Princess Pet pui surname Ta ...en aui. No.8. The Princess Pet aha, of the sun, placer of the world [Thutmosis III.]. No.9. In the year 27 the 11th day of the month Pharmuthi, the Princess Neb tu aa, daughter of the Princess Sat [en] atum. No.10. The Princess Ta enti of the sun, the placer of creation, of the house of the royal family who are after her (or behind her)"(3)

It is unlikely that the exact find spot will ever be identified, even though Mr. Rhind was decades ahead of fellow archaeologists in his recording of his excavations. The box is of royal craftsmanship from the late 15th century or early 14th century BC.

Notes:
Photo: National Museums Scotland 

1. Alexander Henry Rhind: Thebes; its Tombs and Their Tenants, pg 87
2. pg 84
3. pg 85

News from Art Daily on recent findings of other pieces of the Amenhotep II box.