time andmemory in Ancient Egyptian Cemeteries The Dynamic History of Ancient Sites By Janet Richards 16 VOLUME 44, NUMBER 3 EXPEDITION

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1 oxbyg7h8d9sowgtnpws f,be-zhyvf5kkslgn When trvelers visit ncient sites in modern Egypt, they experience sttic nd often re-creted snpshot of moment in time from which other episodes of the site s life history hve been tidied wy. Through the processes of excvtion nd development for tourism, sense of these plces s dynmic lndscpes, creted nd experienced sometimes over millenni, is obscured. Ancient Egyptin cemeteries re good exmple of this phenomenon. All too often their originl excvtors were interested in only the most spectculr remins: monumentl grves gurnteed to yield rich hrvest of museum-worthy objects. These erly scholrs pid little ttention, nd devoted no spce in their publictions, to building comprehensive picture of mortury prctices in given cemetery. They rrely considered the implictions of ptterns of use of cemetery spce over time. Questing for drmtic objects or visit-worthy reliefs, such scholrs tended to overlook detils even in spectculr elite grves tht gve clues to the wy these buril sites were used over time. It is precisely these clues tht cn yield the most compelling insights into ncient Egyptin society nd mortury prctice. Such ncient keys re guides into the wys tht subsequent genertions of living Egyptins intercted with these neighborhoods of the ded, s well s into the events of ers of poorly understood politicl history. Deciphering the ncient Egyptin development of mortury lndscpe, nd of specific res nd grves within it, often requires detective work tht goes beyond the excvtion nd nlysis of newly emerging remins. Most mjor cemeteries of the Dynstic er (c B.C.) hve undergone previous episodes of explortion, officil or otherwise. In order to see these sites in totlity, decipherment begins in the publictions of preceding excvtors nd in the museums their work helped to furnish. EARLY WORK IN THE CEMETERY Scholrs hve known since the lte 18th century tht vst nd long-lived cemetery lndscpe existed t the MAP: G. COMPTON; PHOTO: J. RICHARDS. ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT site of Abydos in southern Egypt. For lmost 130 yers nerly constnt strem of ntiquities hunters nd rcheologists worked in different prts of the site, documenting remins from the Predynstic through the Coptic Periods. Prominent mong these erly explorers ws Auguste Mriette, the first director of the Egyptin Antiquities Orgniztion, whose primry gol ws to hrvest stele nd rtifcts for the ntionl museum he plnned to found. In 1860, Mriette s workers excvted the mssive utobiogrphicl inscription of Weni the Elder, Sixth Dynsty governor of Upper Egypt, which hs since been used s key source for the politicl history of the Old Kingdom (c B.C.). Weni s inscription on wht Mriette clled the high hill of the Middle Cemetery, long with those of severl other government officils of the Fifth nd Sixth Dynsties (c B.C.), mrked the existence of n importnt provincil cemetery during crucil period of Egyptin history. Yet given the pucity of detil in Mriette s publictions, nd the reluctnce of subsequent excvtors to excvte in the res worked over by Mriette s men, neither the overll chrcter of this lte Old Kingdom buril ground, nor its exct sitution within the Abydos lndscpe, ws ever known. TOP: Mp of Egypt, showing loction of Abydos in Upper (southern) Egypt; BOTTOM: View of the gret cliffs from the Mriette re The Dynmic History of Ancient Sites time ndmemory By Jnet Richrds in Ancient Egyptin Cemeteries 16 VOLUME 44, NUMBER 3 EXPEDITION 17

2 oxbyg7h8d9sowgtnpws f,be-zhyvf5kkslgn THE ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT Since 1995, the Abydos Middle Cemetery Project hs focused on the most likely re for Mriette s high hill. After two sesons of survey (1995 nd 1996), reserch in the Egyptin Museum, nd two sesons of excvtion (1999 nd 2001), rcheologists hve finlly confirmed the loction of this hill. It is the highest prt of the North Abydos low desert escrpment tht overlooks the ncient town. This context includes the sites where Weni s inscription nd severl other objects now in Ciro s Egyptin Museum were originlly found, llowing us to visulize them within their ncient sptil nd mteril setting. Just s importnt, the Abydos Middle Cemetery Project hs opened window into the opertion of time nd memory in the development of the cemetery, nd it hs yielded tntlizing mteril evidence tht my corroborte literry ccounts of drmtic historic events. IDENTITY AND APPROPRIATION: THE NEKHTY COMPLEX In 1996, we documented bdly ruined mud brick mstb (bench-shped) chpel tht we thought might well be the originl context of the Weni inscription. We believed this in prt becuse the chpel ws so bdly destroyed, regrettbly frequent by-product of excvtion in the 19th century. Then, excvtion of this re in 1999 reveled lrge complex focused on the chpel nd number of subsidiry monuments constructed round it in the lte Old Kingdom, the First Intermedite Period, the Middle Kingdom, nd the Lte Period. The primry chpel originlly hd completely LEFT: The Abydos site [fter Kemp 1975]; TOP RIGHT: Nekhty/Idi Complex, originl structures (lte Old Kingdom) nd lter votive nd re-use episodes (in blck); CENTER RIGHT: Overview of the Nekhty/Idi complex, with miniture Middle Kingdom votive chpels in the right foreground, nd smll mstb chpels beyond the min structure. The niche visible in the left hlf of the imge is the originl context of the Sixth Dynsty stel for womn nmed Mezenet, excvted by Mriette in the 19th century nd now in the Egyptin Museum, Ciro. Frgment of Site wll visible t fr left; BOTTOM RIGHT: View down shft of Nekhty/Idi grve to lintel to monumentl doorwy TOP RIGHT: G. COMPTON; CENTER RIGHT: B. BAKER, ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT; BOTTOM RIGHT: K.D. TURNER, ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT TOP: G. COMPTON, D. ANDERSON, J.J. SHIRLEY; BOTTOM: Y. KOBYLECKY AND R. FLETCHER, ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT covered well-built mud brick shft, t the bse of which ly monumentl lintel over the entrnce to buril chmber. Inscribed with the nme nd titles of n individul, Nekhty prince, myor, sole compnion, nd chief priest the lintel nd the grve seemed to belong to person not documented in Mriette s work. We left excvtion of the chmber to the following seson when it becme pprent tht this elite grve hd hd n unusul sequence of ownership. The inscribed lintel discovered in 1999 surmounted n entrnce whose lowest blocking stones were still in plce. These blocks hd closed off n ntechmber of roughly finished limestone, the ceiling of which ws only meter nd hlf tll. Another lintel, more finely executed nd pinted, surmounted the doorwy to the buril chmber itself. (See cover imge.) Curiously, it bore different titles thn those on the outer lintel, nd no nme. The limestone srcophgus dominting the spce in the buril chmber did, however, incorporte Nekhty s nme nd titles on its northern end. The chmber ws precisely constructed of finished Closeup showing Nekhty s nme pinted on plster. Throughout the chmber nd in the interior inscription of the coffin, Nekhty systemticlly plstered over Idi s crved nme nd substituted his own in blue pint. Scrring from the secondry floor is visible in the bottom third of the photogrph; note better-preserved pint beneth the level of the floor. Cemetery nd town: the Weni nd Nekhty/Idi complexes in their broder topogrphic setting THE ABYDOS LANDSCAPE Abydos (ncient 3bdw) lies severl kilometers west of the Nile River in southern Egypt, t the juncture of floodplin nd desert. North Abydos is set ginst the bckdrop of gret by of cliffs, which embrces n extensive sweep of low desert, in some plces 20 meters bove the ncient town. A brod shllow wdi, stretching out to the cliffs, bisects this expnse. On either side of the wdi, the desert rises to steep plteus tht we now cll the Middle nd North Cemeteries. Around 3100 B.C., the first kings of politiclly unified Egypt situted their grves ner n opening in the cliffs thought to be the entrnce to the next world. These grves, together with their ssocited funerry plces on the North Cemetery plteu, dominted scred lndscpe restricted to royl use. From then until the lte Fifth or erly Sixth Dynsty, pproximtely 500 yers lter, no privte ctivity took plce on the low desert plteus of North Abydos. At tht time, importnt officils gined ccess to the Middle Cemetery for buril, while the North Cemetery remined off limits. The relxtion of royl exclusivity on the Middle Cemetery my hve been prt of n overll reconfigurtion of the Abydos lndscpe to reinforce the power nd legitimcy of the centrl government. This ws ccomplished through extensive development of the Osiris temple nd with the construction of mssive grves for stte officils. By the Middle Kingdom (c B.C.), both the Middle nd North Cemeteries were given over to privte use. 18 VOLUME 44, NUMBER 3 EXPEDITION 19

3 oxbyg7h8d9sowgtnpws f,be-zhyvf5kkslgn EGYPT IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM B.C. Egyptin history fter the Erly Dynstic Period (which sw the consolidtion of the Egyptin Nile Vlley into unified stte) is generlly divided into kingdoms versus intermedite periods. Kingdoms nd intermedite periods ech include number of dynsties, or groups of rulers relted in some wy. The primry difference between these two brod ctegories is in the degree of centrlized government chieved nd mintined by the royl court. Kingdoms possessed strongly centrlized uthority, were territorilly expnsive, were chrcterized by unified ideologies of kingship nd hierrchy, nd reveled extensive royl building progrms. Intermedite periods, by contrst, hd n internlly frgmented uthority, experienced competing ideologies of rule, sw enhnced socil mobility, nd sserted little outwrd ggression or internl building. The strong centrliztion of power nd resources of the Old Kingdom slowly unrveled throughout the Fifth nd Sixth Dynsties s provincil elites wrested incresing utonomy. The estblishment of high officils grves t Abydos nd elsewhere my hve represented n ttempt to reestblish centrlized control. By the beginning of the First Intermedite Period, however, the provinces were effectively ruled by their locl elites, leding to series of struggles between fctions in Upper nd Lower Egypt. The struggles culminted in the reunifiction of the stte in the Middle Kingdom. This politicl uphevl my be wht is documented in the rcheology of the Abydos Middle Cemetery. Interior of Nekhty/Idi coffin, showing wedjt eyes inly. A powerful symbol of regenertion, these eyes re locted t the hed end of the coffin; the mummy of the decesed would be plced on its side, seeing through these eyes est towrd the rising sun. limestone blocks nd roofed with mssive slbs of the sme mteril. The south, est, nd west wlls of this room were covered with very fine rised decortive relief nd inscriptions, on which much of the originl pint survives. A horizontl line of inscription circled the chmber just under the ceiling, including the titles Royl Tresurer, Lector Priest, nd Overseer of Priests, plus Nekhty s nme. Given the qulity both of execution nd mterils, construction of this grve clerly involved significnt expenditure of effort nd resources, nd ccess to royl workshops. Yet why ws secondry floor lter instlled tht covered the lowest 60 centimeters of decortion on the wlls of this costly fcility? Why ws Nekhty s nme simply pinted over plster wherever it occurred on the chmber wlls when ll other inscription in the room ws beutifully crved? And why ws Nekhty s nme pinted in prticulr shde of blue tht did not occur elsewhere in the decortive scheme? MEMORY AND HISTORY We relized then tht Nekhty s nme ws pinted over the inscribed nme of the originl owner of the grve, Idi, lector priest, royl tresurer, nomrch (locl leder or chief dministrtor) nd governor of Upper Egypt. The secondry floor seems to hve been delibertely lid to cover numerous repetitions of tht originl nme, which occurred t the bottom of the est wll. Reconsidertion of the pinted interior lintel reveled tht the rough limestone blocks of the ntechmber wlls hd been put in plce delibertely to cover Idi s nme t the edge of tht lintel nd t the bck of the exterior lintel, s well s its ssocited doorjmbs, nd the entire decortive scheme of the ntechmber s originl wlls ws lmost completely hidden. Additionlly, we found the lid of G. COMPTON, ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT the srcophgus to be five centimeters shorter in length thn its bse. It ppered tht Nekhty s workers shved wy n erlier inscription to plce his new inscription on the coffin exterior. Inside the coffin, Nekhty s nme ws gin pinted on plster over the originl grve owner s nme; nd n elborte pir of wedjt eyes, inlid into plster inside the srcophgus, might ctully overly n originl inscribed relief. This expensive grve ws originlly built for Idi nd then either given to or pproprited by Nekhty. The identity shift ws ccomplished both prcticlly nd mgiclly by the substitution of one nme for nother where esily done, or the covering of Idi s nme where substitution would hve been time consuming or visully too overt. Did Idi hnd over his exceedingly well-built funerry monument willingly, for instnce, if he ws promoted to the cpitl nd grnted second grve there? Or ws Idi evicted in provincil power ply, his prestigious buril fcility co-opted s prt of usurping politicl event? At wht point in Egyptin history might either of these scenrios hve tken plce? Idi s nme nd titles, combined with epigrphic evidence for fmily reltionships with known historicl individuls from elsewhere in his complex, indicte Sixth Dynsty dte for the construction nd originl ownership of this grve. Additionlly, the decortive scheme of the grve chmber is very similr even in the smllest detils to tht of the nerby grve of Weni the Elder (see pge 22). It seems likely the two chmbers were constructed t the sme time, with their relief decortion perhps even executed by the sme hnd. Nekhty s nme nd titles, in contrst, suggest dte closer to the First Intermedite Period, round B.C., s does the vivid blue pint used for his nme. At Abydos, such blue pint is color more chrcteristic of stele dting to the First Intermedite Period or lter. Finlly, the use of wedjt eyes in the decortion of coffins, documented inside the Nekhty/Idi srcophgus, is lso decortive nd symbolic feture more common to the First Intermedite Period or the Middle Kingdom. Seidlmyer hs suggested tht locl rulers during the First Intermedite Period often bore the title Overseer of Priests, one of Nekhty s titles, nd tht these overseers combined this cultic function with the seculr responsibilities of the nomrch, which ws one of Idi s titles (Seidlmyer 2000). Cermic frgments from fill beneth the secondry floor indicte dte for reuse of the grve tht flls within the rnge of the lte Old Kingdom into the First Intermedite Period. It is possible tht the usurption occurred s sttement of, or s result of, the pproprition of power by locl officils during the First Intermedite Period. This ction my well be ttested to in literry text, The Teching for Merikre, set during tht decentrlized time. One line of the text seems eerily pertinent: Destroy not the monuments of nother; build not your tomb chmber from ruins (trns. Prkinson 1997). The nerby mssive grve of Weni the Elder, lso excvted during the 1999 nd 2001 sesons, seems lso to hve felt the impct of politicl events hundred yers fter his buril. In Weni s cse, his grve chmber ws burned, possibly deliberte strtegy to obliterte his memory ( destroying tomb chmbers in destruction of deeds, Ibid.). Further, his surfce inscriptions were bricked over t some point, nd the sttues in his serdb deposit (hidden surfce chmber) were crushed, perhps s prt of the sme strtegy. TIME AND MEMORY Yet despite these indictions of turbulence, the Abydos cemetery continued to grow throughout the lter Old Kingdom nd seemingly without interruption into the First Intermedite Period. Burils were mde in simpler nd smller fcilities surrounding the contested elite grves. The Weni grve ws the focus of simple shfts nd surfce burils rditing out from its northern side. A CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT EGYPT Predynstic Period B.C. Erly Dynstic Period B.C. Old Kingdom B.C. First Intermedite Period B.C. Middle Kingdom B.C. Second Intermedite Period B.C. New Kingdom B.C. Third Intermedite Period B.C. Lte Period B.C. Ptolemic-Romn Period 332 B.C. A.D VOLUME 44, NUMBER 3 EXPEDITION 21

4 oxbyg7h8d9sowgtnpws f,be-zhyvf5kkslgn To the south, series of smller mstbs nd shfts extended nd continued prllel to the Nekhty/Idi complex. These chpels were mostly decorted with pinted plster, nd ssocited with simple, shllow shfts cut into the desert subsurfce. The res excvted recently disply no evidence for pproprition or destruction, suggesting such symbolic cts were imed t prticulr higher-rnking individuls nd their more visully prominent buril fcilities. Adding the evidence from British excvtions in the erly 20th century, we cn see tht over time the cemetery grew westwrd beyond Mriette s high hill towrd the gret by of cliffs, ultimtely covering s much s 40 hectres. In the Middle Kingdom (c B.C.), 500 yers fter the construction of Idi s nd Weni s grves, the primry buril ground shifted to the North Cemetery, cross the gret wdi (dry wterwy) bisecting the low desert in North Abydos. This newly ccessible lndscpe, which hd previously been restricted to royl use for nerly thousnd yers, developed into one of the lrgest privte cemeteries in the Egyptin Nile Vlley. An extensive votive zone ws lso initited ner the floodplin temple of Osiris, representing widening ccess to the divine. Here, privte individuls from ll levels of society could dedicte stele nd sttues, shring in offerings to Osiris t the time of this funerry god s festivls. At the sme time, the site of the Erly Dynstic royl tombs t the cliffs ws identified s the buril plce of Osiris. Honoring the ncestors being centrl to estblishing legitimcy, 12th Dynsty kings subjected the site to n excvtion nd restortion cmpign. As of the 1999 seson, we hd documented tht this royl commemortive ctivity t Abydos ws echoed on the privte level mong the grves of locl ncestors, the builders of the lte Old Kingdom mstbs. In the re of the Nekhty/Idi complex, 50 centimeters bove the originl use surfce of the cemetery, nd locted both in ssocition with the primry chpel nd the smller mstbs, miniture chpels were erected, ment to contin votive figures or stele. In one of these smll chpels, ligned netly with the Nekhty/Idi complex but not directly ssocited with ny buril, bslt pir sttue of mn Intef nd his wife It still stood. The style of the sttue, TOP: Pir sttue of Intef nd his wife, It, lter 12th Dynsty, in situ. Intef nd It dedicted this votive sttue in one of the smll chpels oriented towrd the lte Old Kingdom grve of Nekhty/Idi. This privte commemortive ctivity in the nonroyl cemeteries t Abydos echoed the royl ideologicl emphsis on honoring the ncestors prevlent during the Middle Kingdom; CENTER: Sttue of Weni s boy. Weni the Elder s mssive grve included serdb feture, n interior seled chpel tht originlly contined more thn 30 wooden sttues of the decesed nd of workers on his estte. The entire deposit ws bdly destroyed t some point; this limestone sttuette ws excvted from within jumble of wooden debris; BOTTOM: Burning in the Weni chmber K. D. TURNER, ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT TOP: G. COMPTON; BOTTOM: K. D. TURNER, ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT the nmes of the individuls, nd ssocited pottery confirm 12th Dynsty dte for these votive chpels (c B.C.). A nerby plster-processing re suggests the possibility tht prtil excvtion nd refurbishment of this elite cemetery went hnd in hnd with royl ctivities t the remote erly royl buril site ner the cliffs, perhps s wy of repiring the destruction of monuments in the cemetery during the First Intermedite Period nd rehbilitting the memory of the trgeted individuls. These individuls monuments becme kind of cult center in their own right, echoing the votive re ner the Osiris temple. Throughout succeeding periods, while widespred recycling of Middle nd New Kingdom grve fcilities took plce in the North Cemetery, the trdition of respect for the centrl Old Kingdom buril ground persisted. No intrusive burils took plce there until 1,000 yers lter, when buril vults were crefully situted mong these ncestrl structures during the Site Period (c B.C.). The plcement of these grves demonstrtes cler knowledge, perhps gined through ncient excvtion, of the loction of the Old Bslt pir sttue of Intef nd It, detil Kingdom mstbs. Our own excvtions hve estblished tht these Site vults were either erected very close to Old Kingdom structures t the level of the originl use surfce (for instnce, on the estern sides of both the Nekhty/Idi nd Weni complexes), or built nested into the exterior wlls of Old Kingdom structures, s in the cse of the smll vult wedged between Weni s southern wll nd subsidiry mstb. The owners of these lter grves did not hesitte to qurry the exterior surfces of older structures for The Weni nd Nekhty complexes over time; note Site period structures (in blck nd purple) crefully situted ner Old Kingdom structures. FOR FURTHER READING Kemp, Brry Abydos. In W. Helck nd B. Otto, eds., Lexikon der Agyptologie I. Wiesbden: Hrrssowitz, O Connor, Dvid The Cenotphs of the Middle Kingdom t Abydos. In Melnges Gml Eddin Mokhtr. Ciro: Institut frnçis de l rcheologie orientle, Prkinson, Richrd The Tle of Sinuhe nd Other Ancient Egyptin Poems, B.C. Oxford: Clrendon Press. Richrds, Jnet Quest for Weni the Elder. Archeology, My/June: Richrds, Jnet The Archeology of Individuls t Abydos, Egypt. Kelsey Museum Newsletter, Fll: 4 7. Seidlmyer, Stephn The First Intermedite Period (c B.C.). In I. Shw, ed., The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt Oxford: Oxford University Press. 22 VOLUME 44, NUMBER 3 EXPEDITION 23

5 oxbyg7h8d9sowgtpw LEFT: Recycling with respect: the mortr processing re southest of Weni s mstb. The Site period vult is between the Weni southern wll nd the smller mstb; RIGHT: Jnet Richrds with Reis Ibrhim Mohmmed, Excvtion Foremn, nd Adel Mkery Zekery, Supreme Council for Antiquities Inspection building mterils. For instnce, bricks from the southest corner of Weni s mstb were processed into mortr for nerby Site vult. However, the builders of tht period never demolished the interior structures of their ncestors grves, even when they used the interior spce. A smll cemetery of coffin burils distributed round the mouth of Weni s shft were crefully positioned mong the more thn 500 beer jrs tht hd been deposited t the erlier time of Weni s funerl. This persistence in memory of the importnce of the ncestors, 1,500 yers fter they built nd furnished their grves, speks volumes both of the strength of locl trditions nd networks, nd of the powerful connection ncient Egyptins experienced between the worlds of the living nd the ded. In succeeding periods, respect for these erlier remins eroded. Lter grves were built without regrd to the loction nd preservtion of the Old Kingdom fcilities, in mny cses directly bove them. However, the long-stnding snctity of tht prticulr component of the Abydos mortury lndscpe hd lredy ensured level of preservtion in the cemetery tht is perhps unprlleled elsewhere t the site, nd llows us to decipher the complex strtigrphy of this importnt provincil cemetery. Jnet Richrds is ssistnt professor of Egyptology in the deprtment of Ner Estern Studies nd ssistnt curtor for dynstic Egypt t the Kelsey Museum of Archeology, University of Michign. She specilizes in the rcheology of the Egyptin Nile Vlley from B.C. (the lter Old through Middle Kingdoms). Her current reserch interests re mortury lndscpes, the rcheology of individuls, nd the reltionship between textul nd rcheologicl dt. She directs the Abydos Middle Cemetery project on behlf of the University of Michign nd in coopertion with the Pennsylvni Yle Institute of Fine Arts/New York University Expedition. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Funding for the 1999 nd 2001 sesons ws provided by the Ntionl Geogrphic Society, the University of Michign (Office of the Vice Provost for Reserch, Kelsey Museum of Archeology, Horce Rckhm Grdute School, Deprtment of Ner Estern Studies), the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, Terry Rkolt, nd n nonymous donor. The uthor would lso like to thnk Dr. Zhi Hwss nd officils of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, Egypt; the codirectors of the Penn Yle Institute of Fine Arts/New York University Expedition, Dvid O Connor nd Willim Kelly Simpson; nd Dvid Silvermn, curtor in chrge, the University of Pennsylvni Museum. Finlly, the work would not hve been possible without the Herculen efforts of the Abydos house nd field crews. ABYDOS MIDDLE CEMETERY PROJECT 24 VOLUME 44, NUMBER 3 EXPEDITION