The Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Theban Mortuary Temple of the Vizier Nebneteru, Reused by Khonsuirdis and Others

The Third Intermediate Period temple tomb, or mortuary temple, of Nebneteru, most often referred to as the tomb of Khonsuirdis, was described by Petrie as ‘one of the most prominent landmarks of the western side of Thebes’, yet remains little discussed in the scholarly literature. It was excavated by Petrie in the 1890s and more fully by an Italian team in the 1970s, but never fully published. The scattered references to archaeological and textual evidence for the monument and those interred within it are surveyed in this article, including new evidence from the University of Arizona Egyptian Expedition’s excavations at the adjoining site of the Tausret Memorial Temple. In light of recently updated understandings of Third Intermediate Period material culture, an argument is made for a revised early Twenty-Fifth Dynasty dating of the monument. The mortuary temple of Nebneteru, though little known, offers a rare and interesting glimpse into the funerary belief and practice of the Egyptian high élite in the early Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.

Two Egyptian Heart-Scarabs from Sicily and a Parallel from Berlin

Two Egyptian heart-scarabs, both connected to the city of Cefalù, are presented here: the first one, at Palermo, Museo Archeologico Regionale, was published in 1942 by E. Bacchi, as one of the few heart-scarabs found outside Egypt, on the rock of Cefalù. Its text has been checked and some new readings are proposed. Inscribed for a Chantress of Bastet, it shows a peculiar decoration on the first register, looking like a lunette, then the traditional beginning of Chapter 30B of the Book of the Dead, typical for heart-scarabs, combined with a rare variant. It had remained a unicum until July 2020, when a parallel in the Berlin Museum came to our knowledge, and this is published here as well: the same decoration in the first register and the same text, although shorter. Mainly on the base of prosopographical data, a date to the Twenty-second Dynasty seems appropriate for the Berlin scarab, and consequently for the one in Palermo, which could even belong to a member of the same family. The owner of the scarab in Berlin shows a set of priestly titles that are typical of Per-Sopdu/Saft el-Henna, which therefore may be an indication of its origin. The second “Sicilian” scarab, held at Cefalù itself in the collection of Enrico Pirajno Baron of Mandralisca, after whom the Museum is named, is unpublished. Its owner was another Chantress, serving Amun-Re, and nearly contemporary: it is to be dated to the early Third Intermediate Period, Twenty-first – Twenty-second Dynasty. In the Appendix at the end, notes and remarks on the provenance of the two scarabs in Sicily, documenting mainly the discovery of the Palermo scarab. ملخص تظهر هنا قطعتان تمائم جعران القلب المصرية، ترتبط كلاهما بمدينة تشِفالو: القطعة الأولى، معروضة في المتحف الأثري الإقليمي في مدينة باليرمو، نُشِر عنها في عام 1942 من قبل إ. باكي كاحدى جعران القلب الفرعونية النادرة التي وُجدت خارج الأراضي المصرية. تَحدّث المؤلفون عن ظروف اكتشافها، تحققوا مرة أخرى من النص واقترحوا بعض القراءات الجديدة. كانت تملكها مطربة باستيت، وهو لقب لم يتم تناوله ضمن المنشورات الحالية لمجموعة جعران القلب. إنها على غرار جعران القلب التي لم ينشر عنها ومحفوظة في برلين، من المدهش أنها تنتمي على الأرجح إلى شخص من نفس أفراد تلك العائلة، تعود غالباً إلى تاريخ الأسرة الثانية والعشرين. كانت تنتمي جعران برلين إلى والد الإله أنوبيس وإلى الكاهن بتاح-ون، وهو لقب خاص لبير-سوبدو / سفت-الحنا. تميمة جعران القلب الثانية الموجودة في جزيرة صقلية، محفوظة في نفس موقع تشِفالو، في متحف ماندراليسكا، لم يُنشر عنها أي مقال: مرة أخرى شاءت الظروف أن تكون مالكتها مغنية، لكنها كانت تخدم آمون رع. تعود القطعة أيضاً إلى أوائل فترة الإنتقال الثالثة.

Egyptian Scholars, Priests and Temples between Autonomy and State Authority

Egyptian temples and priests reshaped the Egyptian legal system throughout the first millennium BCE, as a result of both temple autonomy and state authority. In the early Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069–850 BCE), royal enforcement of laws diminished, and temples filled this vacuum by extending the use of judicial oracles, both to resolve disputes, and to document transactions. In the late Third Intermediate Period (c. 850–664 BCE), the temples decreased the use of judicial oracles, and introduced temple notary contracts to document transactions. Temples thereby established that written documentation took precedence over verbal witnesses, and they also developed systems of legal procedures employing these temple notary contracts. In doing so, the temples encouraged individuals to invest in private property. In the Saite and Persian Periods (664–332 BCE), resurgent royal and later imperial authorities brought uniformity to the forms of temple notary contracts, and to the system of legal procedures employing them. The temples may have produced codes of laws and legal procedures at this time, if they had not done so already in the late Third Intermediate Period. Priests also introduced the practice of antiquarian legal scholarship, to establish ancient legal precedents. Finally, in the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE), the royal authorities continued to regulate temple courts and temple notaries. Nonetheless, they accepted at least some claims based on antiquarian legal scholarship by priests.

Middle Kingdom tombs from the North Asasif cemetery: field seasons 2018/2019 and 2020

The early Middle Kingdom mortuary complexes of Khety and Meru continued to be the main research target of the Polish Archaeological Mission to North Asasif in the two winter seasons of 2018/2019 and 2020. The rubble dump on the eastern side of Khety’s forecourt, left over from the 1922/1923 season, was now explored, leading to the discovery of hundreds of objects—fragments of wooden statues and models, cartonnages and coffins, shabti figurines and pottery—shedding light on the Middle Kingdom burial assemblages as well as the later usurpation of the tomb, mainly in the Third Intermediate Period. Conservation objectives included treatment of the decorated burial crypt and sarcophagus in the tomb of Meru and stabilization and cleaning of the plaster decoration in the mortuary cult chapel of Khety. The season in 2018/2019 was also devoted to a reconnaissance of the underground structures and protection of tomb MMA 507. Specialists studies of finds from the excavations, both recent and earlier, were continued.

Two houses from the Third Intermediate Period settlement at Tell el-Retaba: a case study of activity-area analysis

In 2019, the Polish–Slovak Archaeological Mission in Tell el-Retaba continued the excavation of a Third Intermediate Period settlement in Area 9. The paper presents two houses, {1095} and {3111}, in detail. Activity-area analysis is employed to determine the main occupations of the inhabitants in successive phases. The analysis is based on the archaeological assemblage recorded from these features, including small finds, pottery, and installations.

The human remains from Tomb MMA 514 in North Asasif

The tombs of the North Asasif Necropolis have been the subject of archaeological excavations for more than a century. Mainly dating to the Middle Kingdom, the majority of these tombs were excavated for the Metropolitan Museum by H.E. Winlock in the early 20th century. The Asasif Project, directed by Dr. Patryk Chudzik, has been revisiting these tombs since 2013. In many cases, Winlock left behind a significant amount of archaeological debris, including detritus from the tombs’ original use in the Middle Kingdom and material from the Third Intermediate Period, when many of these tombs were reused. One of these tombs, MMA 514, was reused at least twice, and has yielded a wealth of remaining material, including a significant number of human remains. The human remains have been fragmented, damaged, and scattered by centuries of looting, as well as by Winlock’s excavations, but some information may still be gathered from these remains. Over the course of two field seasons, an inventory of the human remains was conducted, the results of which are presented here. All age ranges are present in the human remains, and both males and females are represented.

The Third Intermediate Period

This chapter gives a brief overview of the character of the Third Intermediate Period reflecting on the north–south divide, the changes in religious beliefs and the growth of archaism, before concentrating on the history of the period. Scholarship on the history of the Third Intermediate Period is in a state of flux owing to the recent discoveries of new kings, and a number of new theories discussing the moving of kings from one dynasty to another, as well as changing the order of some of them. The chapter does not summarise the narrative history of the Third Intermediate Period but highlights specific historical problems and issues.