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Artifacts
Burial
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The nose and mouth from a mask |
Mummy wrappings |
Coffin fragments |
The owners of the pyramids at Tombos were buried with all
hallmarks of a contemporary Egyptian. We found evidence for
coffins; unfortunately all were highly fragmentary due to
termites. We may yet find better-preserved remains of coffins
in future excavations.
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Eye, in situ |
Ushabti figurine |
Ushabti in situ |
Scene of the dead working
in the afterlife |
We also found Ushabti figurines. This example was found right
next to the coffin, probably where it had been thrown by looters
thousands of years ago. The Egyptian name for these funerary
figurines, Ushabti or Shawabti, means answerer, indicating
that they would magically answer when called to perform work
for the deceased like you see in this tomb painting from Thebes.
(The Egyptians believed that the gods required the dead
to work tilling and harvesting the celestial fields, as in
this scene from the tomb of Sennedjem. But who wants to work
away your afterlife? So some enterprising grave goods salesman
came up with the idea of Ushabtis. Just to make sure, they
started recommending that their clients get more than one
- after all, what if it got sick or tired? Eventually they
ended up with 365, one for each day of the year. But what
if the right Ushabti didn't show up? Not to worry, for an
extra fee you could have one overseer for every ten workers,
for a grand total of 401.)
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