The Rhind Tomb, as it is now known, was built around 1290BC and reused for over 1000 years.

It was constructed in the great capital city of Thebes (modern Luxor) at the height of the ancient Egyptian empire, just shortly after the reign of Tutankhamun. It was built for a Chief of Police and his wife, and a beautiful statue of the pair is the only surviving object from their burial. It was built onto a courtyard originally created for the tomb of a group of princesses, which contained a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian craftmanship.

As Egypt's wealth declined, several hundred years after the Tomb was built, small, roughly carved chambers were added to the upper level to hold additional burials. Repeated looting over time left behind a jumble of broken coffins and scattered burial items, including stelae and jackal and falcon guardian figures.

The Tomb's final use occurred soon after the Roman conquest of Egypt, when it was sealed intact with the remarkable burial of an entire family. The unique objects from their burials combined new classical influences with traditional Egyptian funerary practices. Most of the family were mummified in plain wooden coffins with vaulted lids, but high official Monsuef was buried in a plain granite sarcophagus. A funerary canopy was used to protect his body during its transportation to the Tomb. Montsuef wore a traditional gilded funerary mask and a classical-style gold wreath. He and his wife Tanuat were buried with unique, personalised funerary papyri dated to 9 BC, which reference their son and daughter.

The Tomb was excavated in 1857 by Alexander Henry Rhind and a team of Egyptian excavators led by foreman Ahmed Abd er-Rasul. However, it was lost again as a village grew up over it. Today we are still learning about ancient Egyptian burial practices through objects found in the Tomb and Rhind’s detailed records of the excavation. Because Montsuef and Tanuat’s burials can be dated to 9 BC specifically, the Tomb’s artefacts are particularly important for understanding and dating other Roman-era funerary objects.