Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
First Intermediate Period restoration activity at Dayr al-Barshā, or how the
burial of Henu ended up in an Old Kingdom tomb
Marleen De Meyer
Since 2004 the Belgian mission of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven has been
conducting research in the Old Kingdom rock tombs on the south hill of Dayr al-
Barsha. 35 This necropolis consists largely of small undecorated rock cut chambers in
which square shafts were hewn out. In four tombs in this area restoration texts dating
to the late First Intermediate Period have been found, which were all written by the
governor Djehutinakht, son of Teti. 36 An initial objective of the mission has been to
excavate all these tombs with restoration texts to determine whether any traces of
actual restoration activity remained. So far three of these tombs have been excavated.
The first was tomb 15J15/1, in which an intact Old Kingdom burial was found, but
no traces of restoration. 37 The second was the tomb of An-Ankhy, in which hardly any
Old Kingdom or First Intermediate Period funerary remains were present due to its
intense reuse by Coptic hermits. The third was the tomb of Uky, which is located high
up on the south hill. This tomb originally consisted of one chamber with two square
shafts, and a number of rock cut statues adorning the rear wall. In these square shafts
several remains of the Old Kingdom burials could be recovered. At a later point in
time a second room was added to the tomb, which was excavated in 2007. In this
annex likewise two shafts are present, one of which turned out to contain the intact
burial of Henu. In the burial chamber a wooden box coffin was found, on top of and
next to which several well preserved wooden tomb models were located. The mummy
of Henu was found in the classic pose inside the coffin, placed on his side with his
head oriented to the north and his gaze turned to the east. This burial offers a unique
insight into provincial burial customs at the end of the First Intermediate Period, and
sheds new light on what the governor Djehutinakht meant by restoring the tombs of
his ancestors.
(a) Debating the reasons for the demise of monumentality in the Old Kingdom
Aloisia De Trafford
From the early mastaba tombs and royal enclosures, to the mortuary complex and
step-pyramid of King Djoser at Saqqara, and most eloquently the Fourth Dynasty
pyramids of Snefru and those of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure on the Giza plateau,
Egyptian kings expressed their power and divinity through constructions on a
35
For the first preliminary reports of the mission, see H.O. WILLEMS, M. DE MEYER, D. DEPRAETERE,
C. PEETERS, S. HENDRICKX, T. HERBICH, D. KLEMM, R. KLEMM, L. OP DE BEECK, and M. DEPAUW,
‘Preliminary Report of the 2002 Campaign of the Belgian Mission to Deir al-Barsha’, MDAIK 60
(2004): 237-283; H.O. WILLEMS, D. DEPRAETERE, C. PEETERS, L. OP DE BEECK, B. VERECKEN,
VERREPT, and M. DEPAUW, ‘Preliminary Report of the 2003 Campaign of the Belgian Mission to
Deir al-Barsha’, MDAIK 62 (2006), 307-339.
36
M. DE MEYER, ‘Restoring the Tombs of His Ancestors? Djehutinakht, Son of Teti, at Deir al-Barsha
and Sheikh Said’, IBAES 5 (2005): 125-135.
37
M. DE MEYER, ‘In the Shadow of the Nomarchs: New Excavations in the Rock Tombs of Deir al-
Barsha’, in: J.-C. GOYON and C. CARDIN (eds.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of
Egyptologists, Grenoble, 6-12 September 2004, edited by; OLA 150 (Leuven, 2007), 421-7.
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