Death is Only the Beginning Egyptian funerary customs at the Macquarie Museum of Ancient Cultures Edited by Yann Tristant and Ellen M. Ryan The Australian Centre for Egyptology A Division of the Macquarie University Ancient Cultures Research Centre Studies 11 Death is Only the Beginning Egyptian funerary customs at the Macquarie Museum of Ancient Cultures Edited by Yann Tristant and Ellen M. Ryan Photographs by Effy Alexakis With contributions by Susanne Binder, Jacinta Carruthers, Malcolm Choat, Julien Cooper, Victoria Cottle, Mia Dardengo, Aaron de Souza, Leonie Donovan, Christopher J. Davey, Linda Evans, Adam Fazzolari, Eleonora Ferretti, Eve Guerry, Coral Hardwick, Mary Hartley, Rebecca Hibberd, Eva Hoek, Naguib Kanawati, Nicolle Leary, Conni Lord, James Mclellan, Boyo Ockinga, Michael Rampe, Ellen M. Ryan, Olivier P. Rochecouste, Katie Shead, Meredith C. Stewart, Yann Tristant, Mikaila Walker and Alexandra Woods Concept and project development by Yann Tristant and Ellen M. Ryan Graphic conception and design by Leonie Donovan © Y. Tristant and E.M. Ryan 2017. All rights reserved ISBN: 978-0-85668-852-2 Published in England by: Aris and Phillips Ltd. Park End Place, Oxford OX1 1HN Foreword Founded in 1973, the Museum of Ancient Cultures (originally the History Teaching Collection) is now a leading museum at Macquarie University. Since its conception, the museum’s stated vision and continued purpose has been to open the ancient world to the modern mind. Archaeological materials are key to this mission, transcending temporal and socio-cultural bounds through the rich insights they offer into the complexities of ancient societies and those who lived within them. Sharing the knowledge these materials contain and encouraging the academic curiosity in students and the wider public has also formed a central tenet of the museum’s philosophy. The project, Death is Only the Beginning, and this resultant catalogue could not be a more fi tting representation of this vision. It is testament to the ongoing legacy of the museum’s founding members and Macquarie University’s expertise in Egyptian Archaeology, due in no small part to Prof. Naguib Kanawati, founder of both the Australian Centre for Egyptology and the Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology. The project, led by Dr Yann Tristant, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Ancient History and a member of the Ancient Cultures Research Centre, and Ellen Ryan, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ancient History, details 72 Ancient Egyptian artefacts from the museum’s approximated 4700 genuine and replicated artefacts with the use of pioneering technologies such as 3D scanning and online platforms. The catalogue is authored by academic staff and students, showcasing both the expertise of Faculty of Arts academics and burgeoning student scholarship, in an original and innovative approach to creating meaningful learning experiences. More than a mere cataloguing of items, this project is one of exploration that gives extraordinary insight to the practices of Ancient Egyptians and into their inner lives, including their theological and metaphysical conceptions about existence and mortality. The stories told therein are at times individual, at times cultural, but always enthralling in their revelation of foreign and far yet increasingly familiar lives. This catalogue coincides with a new venture for the Faculty of Arts, the building of a new Arts Precinct and the merging of the Museum of Ancient Cultures and the Australian History Museum into one state-of- the-art museum facility. This new facility will see all collections digitized into the EMu collection management system, interactive displays created through digital technologies and online external access to the collections, creating a source of knowledge, ideas, stories and memories to inspire, educate and inform the Macquarie University community, visitors and the wider community alike. Death is Only the Beginning is an exciting preview of the possibilities this new venture will bring through its combination of innovative technology, passionate scholarship and student skill, serving to bring the ancient past ever closer to the modern world. Prof. Martina Möllering Executive Dean Faculty of Arts v Contents Preface The origins of the tomb in Egypt Prof. Martina Möllering, Yann Tristant 40 Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts v ABU RAWASH PROJECT Contents vi Yann Tristant 46 Photographic credits viii DENDARA NECROPOLIS PROJECT Yann Tristant 52 Foreword Dr Ian Plant, Mortuary culture in the provinces: Head of the Department of Ancient History ix the example of Beni Hassan Naguib Kanawati 56 Acknowledgements Yann Tristant and Ellen M. Ryan x BENI HASSAN Naguib Kanawati 66 Introduction Yann Tristant and Ellen M. Ryan 1 MEIR PROJECT Naguib Kanawati 67 PART ONE The tomb of Memi An insight into the use of three-dimensional Naguib Kanawati 68 scanning for the Death is Only the beginning catalogue ‘Art’, aesthetics and the functioning image Jacinta Carruthers, Adam Fazzolari, in ancient Egyptian elite tombs Coral Hardwick and Olivier P. Rochecouste 6 Alexandra Woods and Nicolle Leary 74 PEDESTAL Thebes in the New Kingdom Michael Rampe 9 Boyo Ockinga 84 The Egyptian collection in MACQUARIE THEBAN TOMBS PROJECT the Museum of Ancient Cultures at Boyo Ockinga 87 Macquarie University Yann Tristant and Ellen M. Ryan 12 Unwrapping mummifi cation techniques in Ancient Egypt The origin of the Egyptian collection of the Jacinta Carruthers 88 Australian Institute of Archaeology Christopher J. Davey 18 STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND Yann Tristant 98 Ancient Egyptian concepts of death and the afterlife Animals in Ancient Egypt: roles in life and death Boyo Ockinga 22 Mary Hartley, Conni Lord and Linda Evans 100 The Osiris myth Funerary texts Boyo Ockinga 34 Julien Cooper 110 THE PRINCIPAL GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT 39 vi PART TWO: CATALOGUE Cat. 38. Stela of the scribe Kaemwaset Pottery Cat. 39. Limestone fragment with a Aaron de Souza 124 Hymn to Amun Cat. 40. Fragment of a stela Cat. 1. Ovoid Black-Topped jar Cat. 41. Relief of Anubis Cat. 2. Black-Topped beaker Cat. 42. Stela of Ta-Aru Cat. 3. White Cross-Lined bowl Cat. 43. Stela of a priest in the temple of Amun Cat. 4. Decorated jar at Karnak, Nefertem Cat. 5. Globular vessel Cat. 44. Fragment of a stela Cat. 6. Decorated Wavy Handle jar Cat. 45 and 46. Funerary cones Cat. 7, 8 and 9. Cylindrical jars Cat. 47. Funerary cone of Merymose Cat. 10. Wine jar Cat. 48. Inscribed panel of a wooden shabti box Cat. 11. Beer jar Cat. 49. Sarcophagus panel Cat. 12. Beer jar Cat. 50. Statue of Osiris Cat. 13. Elongated jar Cat. 51. Lid of a coffi n Cat. 14. Flaring neck jar Cat. 52. Lid of an ibis coffi n Cat. 15. Piriform bottle Cat. 53. Heart scarab amulet Cat. 16. Rough ware cup Cat. 54. Papyrus fragment section of Cat. 17. Squat jar Chapter 125, Book of the Dead Cat. 18. Squat jug with loop handle Religion and magic Funerary equipment Eve Guerry 250 Susanne Binder 162 Cat. 55. Amulet of Anubis Cat. 19. Head of Memi, governor of Akhmim province Cat. 56. Amulet of Thoth Cat. 20. Statue of Memi, Cat. 57. Amulet of Sobek governor of Akhmim province Cat. 58. Amulet of Nephthys Cat. 21. Face fragment from a statue of Memi, Cat. 59. Amulet of a cat governor of Akhmim province Cat. 60. Necklace with Amulets Cat. 22. Figurine Cat. 61. Amulet of a Pataikos Cat. 23. Ceremonial scepter (Sekhem) Cat. 62. Amulet of Bes Cat. 24. Wooden shabti Cat. 63. Mould for the production Cat. 25. Apis-bull headed shabti of a faience amulet Cat. 26. Shabti Cat. 64. Taweret fi gurine Cat. 27 and 28. Shabtis Cat. 65. Apis bull Cat. 29. Fragment of a stone coffi n Cat. 66. Votive statuette Cat. 30. Necklace of faience beads Cat. 67. Bronze bust of Isis Cat. 31. Necklace Cat. 68. Inscribed plate Cat. 32. Necklace of Faience tubular beads Cat. 69. Frog oil lamp Cat. 33. Cartonnage fragment Cat. 70 and 71. Papyri from mummy cartonnage Cat. 34. Hand cartonnage Cat. 72. Coptic ritual codex Cat. 35. Textile Chronology and Map of Ancient Egypt 292 Funerary texts Ellen M. Ryan 200 Bibliography 294 Cat. 36. False-door jamb of Niankhre Cat. 37. Stela of a family of potters vii Unwrapping mummification techniques in Ancient Egypt Preserving the physical body for the afterlife is one of the most fundamental aspects of ancient Egyptian ideology. Despite the relative wealth of bioarchaeological evidence, there are relatively few textual and pictorial sources that explicitly document the post-mortem physical and chemical alterations made to the human body during the mummifi cation process. Recent scientifi c analysis of bioarchaeological material, experimentation on modern specimens, and the application of computerised tomography (CT) technology, have provided valuable insights into the principal preservation techniques of excerebration,1 evisceration2 and desiccation of the body. The study of mummifi cation techniques reveals a development of methods over time, often with multiple processes being practiced simultaneously. Furthermore, advancements in artifi cial mummifi cation techniques are accompanied by increasing ideological complexity surrounding the preservation of the body, the afterlife, and the funerary assemblage required to transport the individual to the afterlife. Sources and Limitations of Evidence Mummifi cation is thought to have been practiced in Egypt for a period of nearly 5000 years, yet surprisingly, no contemporary textual or pictorial evidence detailing the post-mortem surgical procedures involved in the mummifi cation process have been found.3 Textual sources dating from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, however, do provide some insight into the mummifi cation process. The Rhind Magical Papyrus and two Theban hieratic papyri commonly referred to as the ‘Ritual of Embalming’ provide a number of details about rituals performed during the mummifi cation process.4 Rare scenes of mummifi cation can be found on the wooden coffi ns of Djedbasteriufankh from el-Hibeh dating to approximately 500 BCE (Fig.