Who was buried in the grave?
The burial is rich and it is thought that the woman and child
were members of the royal family at Thebes, although there is no
inscription which actually says who they are. The contents of the
burial have interested researchers ever since they were discovered
but the identity of the two people in the grave still remains a
mystery.
The drawings here show the reconstructed face of the Qurna queen
with differing skin tones.
Where was the burial found?
The burial was discovered in the first valley to the north of
the road to the Valley of the Kings. A letter from Petrie dated 18
January 1909 to an unnamed correspondent gives an insight into the
discovery of the burial.
“We have been about six weeks at Thebes. Our main purpose was to
search the northern valleys, where it is was reported that there
might be tombs. We settled therefore at a small hill north of the
road up to the Kings Tombs where some rock-tombs served for our
workmen and my wife and myself, while some brick huts were built
for dining rooms and bedrooms.
"Though we have cut innumerable trenches about the valleys, and
on one spot kept 24 men and boys for over a month, yet only one
tomb has been found in the desert valleys. That is a perfect burial
of about the XVII dynasty. There was no valuable article in it, but
the whole was an unusual and good group.
"A coffin of the Aahmen style, ten
pots in beautifully made string mats, most of which have more
or less preserved with collodian. A blue marble dish with four
apes. A horn with ivory bird-head spout.
An obsidian and an alabaster khol pot of fine work. Two bead net
pouches with handles. A head rest with
inlaid stem of ivory and ebony. Two baskets, and sundry…”
What period was it from?
The exact date of this burial is not known, however
it must be either the late 17th Dynasty or extremely early 18th
Dynasty.This is some 250 years before Tutankhamen was buried!
Adult female coffin
Dimensions: L 206cm x W 47cm x D
24.5-27.5cm
Made from: Two single pieces of wood, tamarisk
for the lid and sycamore fig for the case, joined using four dowels
of acacia and sidder. It has been plastered with fine gesso and
painted, including gilded details.
Description
A tall coffin with decoration in the rishi-style. The
trough is painted in blue on the exterior, while the lid has
feathered patterning painted in blue with black details on a yellow
ground. The owner’s face is framed by a striped linen nemes-cloth,
a beaded collar with falcon terminals, and a vulture-pectoral.
Throughout these features the decoration is highlighted with
gilding. The interiors of both trough and lid are undecorated.
Associated material
The coffin contained the mummy of a slender woman, about five feet
tall, aged about 18-25. The mummy wore a magnificent collar of gold
rings, a pair of gold earrings, two
pairs of gold bracelets, and a girdle of fine electrum rings as
well as a scarab and an electrum button.
Other items in the coffin included an acacia headrest inlaid with ivory and ebony, and a
basket containing, in particular, a sceptre-head in the form of a
flail.
Around the coffin were three stools, various ceramic vessels,
and a rod strung with ten pouches to hold more vessels, including
six eggshell-thin Nubian Kerma-ware
pots. Another basket contained a stone and an oil-horn inlaid with
ivory and ebony.
Child's coffin
The white-painted rectangular coffin of a 2-3 year old
child.
Dimensions: L 95cm x W 32cm x D 27cm. A
white-painted coffin, formed as a simple rectangular box from
planks of sycamore fig and cedar of Lebanon, with the whole covered
in fine gypsum-plaster.
Associated material
The child’s mummy wore
a necklace of gold rings, a pair of gold earrings, a girdle and
pair of anklets made from blue-glazed rings, and three ivory
bangles, two on the left arm and one on the right.
Why is this a royal burial?
It was excavated in an area where other royal
burials had already been found, the grave goods are so rich and
thirdly and the length of the inscription is so long that it
suggests being interpreted as ‘Kings Great Wife’. The inscription
has been damaged and the text that would reveal the identity of the
adult female is gone - we can only suggest who she might have
been.
Who was she?
Looking at records, the kings with King’s Wives at Thebes during
the 17th Dynasty were thought to be as follows:
Rahoptep = ?
Sobkemsaf I = Nubkha’as
Inyotef V =
Inyotef VI = Sobkemsaf
Inyotef VII = ? Ha’ankhes
Sobkemsaf II = Nubemhat
Senakhtenra = Tetishery ?
Taa = ? Ahhotep (+ Sitdgehuty + Inhapy)
Kamose = ? Ahhotep II
Ahmose = Ahmose-Nefertiry
The queens not identified in modern times are: Nubkha’as,
Sobkemsaf, Ha’ankhes, Nubemhat, Tetishery and Sitdgehuty. We also
know that a papyrus Leopold II/Amherst indicates that the body of
Nubkha’as was ripped apart by tomb robbers about 1100 BC, Sobkemsaf
was apparently buried at Edfu, Tetishery was buried at Abydos well
to the north of Thebes and Sitjehuty was a member of the Theban
royal family at birth.
Our queen could be Ha’ankhes or Nubemhat, both of whom
correspond well with the dating of the material from the burial.
She could of course be the wife of Rahoptep or Inyotef V. We cannot
be certain who the queen was until we uncover more factual
information.
Was there a Nubian connection?
The burial suggests a connection of the queen with
Nubia. Some of her grave goods would be gifts from a Nubian ruler
to the Theban royal family. The woman could have be ethnically
Egyptian or from many other ethnic backgrounds. Alternatively,
there could have been a dynastic marriage whereby the woman would
be a Nubian princess given as a wife to the King of Thebes.
What did she look like?
Examination of the skeleton has been used to make a facial
reconstruction. Initially a reconstruction was created in clay and
subsequently a version has been cast in bronze. Ancient and modern
population data indicate that there would normally have been a
marked difference in skin colouration between an ethnic Egyptians
and an ethnic Nubian.
The coffin is the only contemporary portrait of the face but
because it is stylised and gilded, it is no guide to her appearance
in life. Three drawings of the reconstructed face are identical
except for the differing skin tones. One mimics the redder skin
used for Egyptians, one mimics the yellower skin charactistic of
Libyan people and the Near East and one mimics the browner skin of
people from Nubia.
What else do we know about her?
Bone examination of the queen reveals she was a slender woman in
her late teens or early 20s. There are no signs of degenerative
change, damage or deformation in any of her bones, except the left
ulna where there was some new bone formation caused by an abcess or
ulcer.
She was left handed and not involved in any hard duty. Dental
examination reveals that she has a relatively coarse diet and there
are signs of tooth decay, which is rare for Egyptians as their
normal diet contained little sugar.
Who was the child?
The bone examination of the child suggests an age
of two or three at death and there is no cause of death evident in
the bones.
Although the presence of the woman and child in the same grave
suggests a family, this has not yet been proved.
Life as a Great Royal Wife
Kingship was essentially a male activity in Ancient Egypt but
queens always had an important role to play. In the New Kingdom the
queen became much more prominent and powerful. She acquired her own
right secular and religious titles that carried with them genuine
jobs to do and estates with land, servants and administrators. She
would have her own source of money which gave her a considerable
degree of independence.
Our queen would have had a great deal of leisure time which
included being bathed, attending the wigmaker, manicurist or
make-up artist. Egyptian women loved to adorn themselves with
make-up and fine clothes.
As ‘Great Royal Wife’ she would also be expected to take part in
royal functions, state events and ceremonial religious duties.
There is evidence from the bone examination that our queen spent a
great deal of time kneeling which suggests her extensive religious
duties!