DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0197
K III, THE TOMB OF PRINCE HEPZEFA
137
(2) The contents of the burial chambers, k hi b and c
There can be no doubt from the structural relations of the two chambers, K III B and
C, that they once contained the main burial of the tumulus. Like all the other main cham-
bers of the great tumuli, they had been completely cleared out by plunderers, and were
found by us filled partly with disturbed debris thrown about by the thieves and partly
with drift-sand. The burial may have been plundered soon after the funeral, but the plun-
dering which had left the tomb in the state in which we found it, had taken place later at
a time when the spoilers could work quite undisturbed and without fear of punishment.
During the excavation, a large number of fragments of faience boat models (with
crews, etc.), of statues and statuettes, of alabaster and faience vessels, and so forth, were
recorded from the disturbed debris about rooms B and C. Very little was found in the
rooms themselves, and indeed their contents must have been scattered over the ground
about the excavations made by the plunderers and over their dump-heaps. The fact that
objects were found in the disturbed debris in the chambers has therefore little significance.
As the subsidiary graves had also been plundered and objects from them scattered in the
disturbed debris, the problem is forced on us of distinguishing between those things which
came from the main burial and those from the subsidiary burials. The same problem
presents itself under exactly parallel conditions at each of the four great tumuli, K III,
K IV, K X, and K XVI, and may be dealt with here, once for all. Among the subsidiary
graves a number were found intact and a great many in which a considerable part of the
burial and the outfit remained. From these, the classes of objects which were used in
subsidiary graves are fixed with certainty, except perhaps those of precious metals for
which both main and subsidiary graves were ransacked and which do not come into con-
sideration in the present problem. It is obvious that many of the classes of objects found
in the subsidiary graves may have been placed in the main burial chambers as well, and
in the case of such objects found in the disturbed debris about the main chambers, the
provenience must remain in doubt, a matter of no consequence. But the objects found
in the disturbed debris about the main chambers which are entirely unlike the classes
found in any subsidiary grave cannot reasonably be ascribed to such graves. The atten-
tion is at once fixed by the statuettes, the boat-models, and the faience vessels, as objects
of which there is no trace in the subsidiary graves. When now the fact is considered that
these same classes occur in large tumulus after large tumulus, in the disturbed debris about
the utterly empty main burial chambers, and never in the subsidiary graves of any of them,
the conclusion is inevitable that the statues, the boat-models, and the faience vessels formed
part of the outfit of the main burial in each of the large tumuli. Statuettes and boat-models
are among the usual equipment of Middle Kingdom graves in Egypt, and faience vessels
are really of the same functional class as the stone vessels which are common in both Egypt
and Ethiopia. From this point, from the conclusion that three classes of objects which must
have come from the main burial chambers are found in the disturbed debris, the further
principle may be laid down that objects from this debris which excel in size, material, or
workmanship in a marked degree are probably also from the main burial, although of the
same classes as those occurring in the subsidiary graves.
The objects found in the debris of the corridor, the rooms B and C, and the surrounding
debris were carefully recorded day by day in the registers of the expedition, but no useful
137
(2) The contents of the burial chambers, k hi b and c
There can be no doubt from the structural relations of the two chambers, K III B and
C, that they once contained the main burial of the tumulus. Like all the other main cham-
bers of the great tumuli, they had been completely cleared out by plunderers, and were
found by us filled partly with disturbed debris thrown about by the thieves and partly
with drift-sand. The burial may have been plundered soon after the funeral, but the plun-
dering which had left the tomb in the state in which we found it, had taken place later at
a time when the spoilers could work quite undisturbed and without fear of punishment.
During the excavation, a large number of fragments of faience boat models (with
crews, etc.), of statues and statuettes, of alabaster and faience vessels, and so forth, were
recorded from the disturbed debris about rooms B and C. Very little was found in the
rooms themselves, and indeed their contents must have been scattered over the ground
about the excavations made by the plunderers and over their dump-heaps. The fact that
objects were found in the disturbed debris in the chambers has therefore little significance.
As the subsidiary graves had also been plundered and objects from them scattered in the
disturbed debris, the problem is forced on us of distinguishing between those things which
came from the main burial and those from the subsidiary burials. The same problem
presents itself under exactly parallel conditions at each of the four great tumuli, K III,
K IV, K X, and K XVI, and may be dealt with here, once for all. Among the subsidiary
graves a number were found intact and a great many in which a considerable part of the
burial and the outfit remained. From these, the classes of objects which were used in
subsidiary graves are fixed with certainty, except perhaps those of precious metals for
which both main and subsidiary graves were ransacked and which do not come into con-
sideration in the present problem. It is obvious that many of the classes of objects found
in the subsidiary graves may have been placed in the main burial chambers as well, and
in the case of such objects found in the disturbed debris about the main chambers, the
provenience must remain in doubt, a matter of no consequence. But the objects found
in the disturbed debris about the main chambers which are entirely unlike the classes
found in any subsidiary grave cannot reasonably be ascribed to such graves. The atten-
tion is at once fixed by the statuettes, the boat-models, and the faience vessels, as objects
of which there is no trace in the subsidiary graves. When now the fact is considered that
these same classes occur in large tumulus after large tumulus, in the disturbed debris about
the utterly empty main burial chambers, and never in the subsidiary graves of any of them,
the conclusion is inevitable that the statues, the boat-models, and the faience vessels formed
part of the outfit of the main burial in each of the large tumuli. Statuettes and boat-models
are among the usual equipment of Middle Kingdom graves in Egypt, and faience vessels
are really of the same functional class as the stone vessels which are common in both Egypt
and Ethiopia. From this point, from the conclusion that three classes of objects which must
have come from the main burial chambers are found in the disturbed debris, the further
principle may be laid down that objects from this debris which excel in size, material, or
workmanship in a marked degree are probably also from the main burial, although of the
same classes as those occurring in the subsidiary graves.
The objects found in the debris of the corridor, the rooms B and C, and the surrounding
debris were carefully recorded day by day in the registers of the expedition, but no useful