Tomb of Kha and Merit

Coordinates: 25°44′N 32°36′E / 25.733°N 32.600°E / 25.733; 32.600
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Theban Tomb 8
Burial site of Kha and Merit
The tomb of Kha and Merit as discovered in 1906
Theban Tomb 8 is located in Egypt
Theban Tomb 8
Theban Tomb 8
Coordinates25°44′N 32°36′E / 25.733°N 32.600°E / 25.733; 32.600
LocationDeir el-Medina
DiscoveredBefore 1824 (chapel)
1906 (tomb)
Excavated byBernard Bruyère (chapel)
Ernesto Schiaparelli (tomb)
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Theban Tomb 8, abbreviated TT8, is the funerary chapel and tomb of Kha, the overseer of works from Deir el-Medina in the mid-18th Dynasty[1] and his wife, Merit. Kha was a foreman at Deir El-Medina, where he was responsible for royal tombs constructed during the reigns of pharaohs Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III.[2] Their chapel was discovered by Bernardino Drovetti in the early 19th century.[3] Scenes from the chapel were copied in the 19th century by several Egyptologists, including John Gardiner Wilkinson and Karl Lepsius.[2] Their funerary stela made its way to the Museo Egizio in Turin in 1824[4] and the pyramidion of the chapel, reused for a later structure, is now in the Louvre Museum.[5][2] Unconventionally for non-royal Theban tombs, their tomb was cut into the base of the cliffs opposite the chapel and not in the immediate proximity of the chapel itself.[2] Their tomb, initially given the number 269,[6] was discovered in 1906 by Ernesto Schiaparelli on behalf of the Italian Archaeological Mission. Containing around 500 items,[3] this was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of ancient Egypt, one of few tombs of nobility to survive intact.[7]

Kha and Merit

N28
a
Y1
and
mriitB1
[8]
Kha and Merit
in hieroglyphs
Era: New Kingdom
(1550–1069 BC)

Kha was the overseer of works for the village of Deir el-Medina during the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty. He was the architect responsible for the cutting of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings under three successive rulers - Amenhotep II, Thutmose IV, and Amnehotep III.[9] He likely began his career under Amenhotep II as evidenced by a gilded cubit rod with the names of that king.[10] Preparations for his tomb likely began in the reign of Thutmose IV, as his name occurs most frequently as a seal on vessels.[11] Based on the style of his coffins and the juvenalizing art style seen on the painted funerary chests, Kha died in the reign of Amenhotep III, likely in his third decade of rule.[9][12] His attested titles are "chief of the Great Place" (ḥry m st Ꜥꜣ) and "chief of works in the Great Place" (mr kꜣt m st Ꜥꜣ).[13] Little is known of his family but he is thought to have been of modest background, attaining his position through merit.[9] His father is suggested to be Neferhebef, whose name appears on items found in Kha's tomb and in his funerary chapel. Additionally, they have almost identical titles, with Neferhebef called "overseer of works in the Great Place" and "overseer of the works in the royal tomb". If this identification is correct then his mother was likely Tauiun, who appears alongside Neferhebef in the chapel.[14] However, his copy of the Book of the Dead identifies a man named Iuy as his father.[15] Kha received a "gold of honor" reward from at least one king, as he wears a "gold of honor" collar around his neck beneath his mummy wrappings.[10]

Kha's wife was a woman named Merit (sometimes styled Meryt). She is titled "lady of the house",[16] a common title denoting a married woman.[17] They had three known children: two sons named Amenemopet and Nakhteftaneb, and a daughter also named Merit (Merit II).[9] A third son named Userhat is sometimes attributed to them. His name appears on a bronze situla found in the tomb which gives him the title of wab-priest of Mutnofret, mother of Thutmose I. He is unlikely to be their son, as his father is identified in the inscription as Sau, a scribe of grain-keeping. Amenemopet followed his father in his career and his titled "servant in the royal necropolis"; no title is given for Nakhteftaneb.[18] Merit II became a singer of Amun. All the children survived their mother, who likely died unexpectedly at an early age.[9]

Chapel

Location and description

The chapel during Schiaparelli's 1906 excavations

The now-ruined tomb chapel of Kha and Merit is located in a shallow bay at the northern end of the Deir el-Medina necropolis.[19] It has been known since at least 1824, when Kha's funerary stela was donated to the Museo Egizio in Turin by Bernardino Drovetti.[3] The small, slightly rectangular (4.66 by 4.72 metres (15.3 ft × 15.5 ft)) mudbrick pyramid-chapel sits at the back of a rectangular courtyard 12.45 by 7.60 metres (40.8 ft × 24.9 ft) that is surrounded on three sides by tall rocky walls.[20][6] The sides have an incline of 75 degrees, giving the structure a projected total height of 9.32 metres (30.6 ft); the exterior was plastered and whitewashed.[20] The chapel was topped by a whitewashed sandstone pyramidion decorated on all sides with sunk bas-reliefs of Kha worshipping Ra and inscribed with hymns to him at the stages of his journey: the east and damaged north faces adore Ra at sunrise, the south face praises him as he crosses the sky, and the west face worships Ra as he sets. The pyramidion was reused for a small, anonymous pyramid-chapel in the courtyard of the tomb of Pashedu (TT3), a few metres south-east of TT8 and was rediscovered by Bernard Bruyère on February 8 1923.[5]

The interior of Kha and Merit's funerary chapel in 1906

The façade of the chapel is oriented to the northeast and is entered through a single doorway with prominent doorposts. These support a lintel that was likely topped by a sandstone cornice, of which nothing remains. Like other pyramid-chapels in the necropolis, there was probably a niche cut into the face of the pyramid, above the door, into which a small stele was set. The interior of the chapel measures 3 by 1.6 metres (9.8 ft × 5.2 ft) with a vaulted ceiling 2.15 metres (7.1 ft) high; a small relieving chamber was probably present above. The back wall has a central niche which housed the stele now in the Museo Egizio, Turin. This wall is badly damaged, probably as a result of the removal of the stele.[20]

Unusually, the chapel is not directly associated with the tomb itself.[20] In 1924, Bernard Bruyère conducted excavations in the courtyard of the chapel to see if the presence of another burial shaft close to the area was the reason for the separation. On the right side of the courtyard, 3 metres (9.8 ft) from the entrance of the chapel, in the expected location of a burial shaft, he found a pit 0.75 metres (2.5 ft) deep and 1 metre (3.3 ft) wide lined with mudbrick. Schiaparelli suggested that this pit was where Kha's additional copy of the Book of the Dead and other funerary items, known before the discovery of the tomb, were originally deposited. Bruyère suggests the separation of chapel and tomb is instead due to the very poor quality of the rock beneath the chapel and courtyard.[6]

Decoration

Painted motifs found on the upper walls and ceilings of TT8's chapel, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The interior of the chapel is plastered and decorated. Where preserved, the colours are still vibrant. The decoration has drawn attention, having been copied by several Egyptologists in the 19th century, including John Gardiner Wilkinson and Karl Lepsius.[2] The ceiling is covered with stylised floral motifs arranged in geometric patterns. A central band of blue hieroglyphs on a yellow ground divides the ceiling into two halves along its length; the design on each half of the ceiling is different. Another band of text runs around the walls, further dividing the vault from the upper frieze of alternating lotus flowers, buds, and grapes. All of the wall scenes are executed on a yellow background.[20]

The back wall, now badly damaged, is divided into three registers around the stele niche that occupies the centre of the wall. A pair of Anubis jackals with red collars and seated on white shrines face each other across a large bouquet in the uppermost, semi-circular register. Unlike the rest of the decoration, this is executed on a light grey ground. In the second register, two men, one on the left and one on the right, offer bouquets and raise their hand in adoration. The left side of the lowest register shows a seated man and woman, who are identified as Neferhebef and Taoui, with offerings before them and receive ministrations from a man, on the right side of the register, dressed as a sem-priest. He is probably their son but his identity is unknown as the inscription is badly damaged.[20][8]

The left wall is dominated by a depiction of Kha and Merit seated before an offering table. Their daughter, also named Merit, bends to adjust her father's collar and one of their sons presents them with a goose and lotus flowers. The text above this scene gives a list of the offerings given. Below this scene, a narrow register depicts and additional offering of four amphorae, garlanded with flowers and fruit attended by a servant. The rest of the wall is divided into two registers. The upper depicts guests and musicians moving towards the larger scene of Kha and Merit. The lower register depicts a man and two women advancing in the opposite direction, towards a seated couple who are mostly obliterated.[20][8]

Funerary stele of Kha, now in the Museo Egizio, Turin

The right wall has the same layout as the left. The large scene depicts Osiris, enveloped in a red feather-patterned shroud, seated in a raised kiosk; he receives offerings from Kha and Merit, accompanied by their daughter and son. In the two smaller registers, servants approach with offerings of a long-horned goat (upper) and a white ox wearing a floral garland (lower).[20][8]

The chapel was the target of the agents of Akhenaten, with the name of Amun being hammered out wherever it occurred. It was later restored, but in a hasty way that does not match the original text.[20]

Steles

A stone stele dedicated to Kha and Merit once stood in the niche in the back wall of the chapel. In 1824 it was donated to the Museo Egizio as part of the Bernardino Drovetti collection,[3] having been removed from the chapel and purchased by his agents around 1818.[21] The first register depicts Kha adoring Osiris and Anubis, who sit back to back. In the second register, Kha and Merit sit before a table of offerings; their son Amenemopet stands on the far side, officiating.[22]

A second stele is housed in the British Museum. The large upper register depicts Thutmose IV making offerings of floral bouquets and incense to an enthroned Amun and the deified Ahmose-Nefertari, who stands behind him; Kha kneels in adoration below them on the second register. However, the donation text of the stele states that his wife is a woman named Henutdjuu. On the basis of style it is either assigned to the Eighteenth or Nineteenth to Twenty-second Dynasties. The stele was likely originally made for Kha and later restored and adapted by another Deir el-Medina foreman, Inherkau (whose name can be abbreviated to Kha), owner of TT299. The image of Amun had been hacked out during the Amarna Period and later restored, along with the profile of Ahmose-Nefertari. The updating also included adding the name and titles of Inherkau's wife in an ink inscription, unlike the existing text which was incised.[23]

Tomb

Discovery and investigation

The entrance to TT8 at the time of its discovery

The partially ruined chapel was what drew Ernesto Schiaparelli's attention to this area. It was known to date to the Eighteenth Dynasty, based on the content of the scenes, and the erasure then restoration of the name of Amun.[6] He noted that the rubble below the opened and looted Twentieth Dynasty tombs in the cliffs to the north of the chapel was unlikely to be the product of the construction of these tombs alone. The excavator reasoned that "presumably other older tombs had been dug at the bottom of the mountain but were not visible because of being hidden by the debris."[24] Excavation began at the mouth of the valley and proceeded towards the end. More than 250 workers, divided into several gangs, excavated for four weeks, uncovering "openings or doors of tombs, shaft and chamber ones, but they had all been violated"; the discoloured limestone fill was mixed with bone, pottery, and cloth. At the end of February 1906, after clearing two thirds of the valley, and 25 metres (82 ft) north of Kha and Merit's chapel, an area of clean, white limestone chip was encountered.[24][25] A further two days of digging uncovered an irregular opening with a set of stairs that "descended steeply into the bowels of the mountain."[24] An intact blocking constructed of stones cemented with mud plaster was encountered at the bottom of the stairs. Wanting to make sure that the tomb was as intact as it appeared, a hole was made and the reis (foreman) Khalifa wriggled through it "and an immediate exclamation of joy on his part assured us that our hopes would not be dashed."[24] Evening was falling so work was suspended for the day; that night the tomb was guarded by the supervisor Benvenuto Savina and Count Alessandro Casati.[24]

The following morning, 15 February 1906,[26] with the Inspector of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, Arthur Weigall, in attendance, the first wall was demolished, revealing a horizontal corridor. Less than 10 metres (33 ft) ahead was another intact blocking wall.[24] This opened into a taller, carefully cut passage.[27] This corridor contained overflow from the burial chamber, these items included Kha's bed with bundles of persea branches underneath, a large lamp stand, baskets, jars, baskets of fruit, a wooden stool, and a whip with Kha's name written on it.[24][27] The passage was sealed by a wooden door which "looked for all the world as though it had been set up yesterday" and locked with a wooden lock; the spring for the bolt was carefully sealed with clay.[27] A thin saw was inserted between the two planks of wood and used to cut the crossbars on the back of the door, allowing entry into the burial chamber and preserving the lock.[24]

The entrance corridor to TT8

Weigall was the first to enter the room, followed by Schiaparelli, Francesco Ballerini, Count Casati, Professor Lucarini, Savina, and the dragoman Ghattas. The newly revealed burial chamber was rectangular, with smoothed and plastered walls, painted yellow but otherwise undecorated. The contents, which "looked new and undecayed" were carefully arranged, "everything was in perfect order in the chamber, just as the relatives of the deceased had arranged it before leaving the tomb."[27][24] Kha and Merit's black wooden sarcophagi were placed against the back and right walls respectively, both were covered with linen palls still "soft and strong like the sheets of our beds."[27] Against the left wall was Merit's bed, "made up with sheets, blankets, and two headrests."[24] At its foot was her toilet box, and near it was her large wig box. Opposite, garlanded and standing on a chair, was a wooden statue of Kha. The rest of the space was filled with stools piled with linen, tables laden with bread, sycamore, and persea branches, pottery, alabaster, and bronze jars on stands and tables, stacked boxes, nets of doum palm fruit, and another lamp stand, similar to the one found outside the room.[24]

The tomb and its contents were recorded, photographed, and cleared in only three days, likely due to fear of theft. A single plan drawing was made which noted the locations of eighteen key objects, and few photos of the interior were taken. Schiaparelli's publication used a different plan which did not show the positions of any of the contents and only three photos of the burial chamber. This has led to confusion regarding the positioning of objects not included in the plan or seen in photographs such as the senet box and slatted table.[28] On 18 February 1906 the contents were transferred to QV55, tomb of Amun-her-khepeshef before being shipped to Cairo and ultimately to Italy.[4][29]

Contents

The tomb's contents were carefully laid out within the burial chamber, with Weigall commenting that "even the order in which the objects were arranged suggested a tidying-up done that very morning."[30] Its unrobbed state preserved a greater variety and quantity of objects, albeit of lesser quality, than the near-contemporary tomb of Yuya and Thuya, the parents of Queen Tiye.[31] This tomb has the distinction of being the singular example of an intact middle class burial from the height of the Egyptian empire.[32]

Personal possessions

Tunics and a clothing chest of Kha

The personal items belonging to the couple were found neatly stored in various boxes, chests, and baskets. Most of Kha's personal possessions were contained within a single large chest. These included tools he would have used in his work including a folding wooden cubit rod in a red leather pouch, scribal palettes, a tablet with an erasable writing surface, a drill, chisel, an adze, and a tool that may be a type of level, and cosmetic items such as five bronze razors of various shapes inside a leather bag, a wooden comb, and tubes of kohl. Also present in the chest were items used for preparing and serving drinks, including a white clay funnel with designs of lotus flowers, two strainers (one of silver, one of bronze), a silver jar, and faience bowls. In the base of the chest was bricks of salt and a cement-like substance, assorted pebbles, and three pairs of sandals. His clothing, marked with his monogram, was stored in several further boxes and a bag. All were made of linen and consisted of fifty loincloths, seventeen tunics, four shawls, and twenty-six sashes or kilts; seven of these were knotted together with loincloths to form sets of clothing. Other objects belonging to Kha were distributed around the tomb, such as four sticks (two with decorative bark inlay), and a traveling mat, folded on a net of doum palm nuts.[33]

Gilded royal cubit rod of Kha, bearing the names of Amenhotep II

Several items within the tomb were likely gifts to Kha from others. A cubit rod covered entirely in gold leaf and bearing the cartouches of Amenhotep II was likely part of his "gold of honour" award from that king. Another royal gift was a large dish with the cartouche of Amenhotep III inscribed on the handle. A large situla bears the name of Userhat, a priest of the funerary cults of Mutnofret, wife of Thutmose I, and Sitamun, daughter of Ahmose I. One of Kha's two scribal palettes dates to the reign of Thutmose IV and belonged to an overseer of the treasury named Amenmes. Two sticks belonged to men named Neferhebef and Khaemwaset respectively. Kha's senet board had two previous owners: Neferhebef and Benermeret.[34][35]

Toilet box and vessels of Merit, containing various cosmetics such as kohl

Merit's personal possessions were much fewer that Kha's, and were placed beside her bed, near the door.[36] Meskell considers this difference in the quantity of items to be a reflection of the inequality between the sexes at the elite level of ancient Egyptian society.[37] A large wooden cabinet, 1.10 metres (3.6 ft) tall, contained her wig which "still shines with the perfumed oils that were applied to it."[36] It is one of the best examples to have survived from ancient Egypt and represents the 'enveloping' style of wig that was common during the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Dynasties. It is made of human hair, plaited when wet to give a crimped effect; the ends of each section tightly twisted into tiny ringlets. At the back, the wig forms three thick plaits. It would not have been thick enough to entirely cover Merit's own hair when worn and would have been an addition to her own styled hair. Investigation using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry indicated the presence of plant oils and "balsam". As no fixative is present on the wig, it is suggested that the oils are a perfumed moisturizing treatment meant to keep the hair in good condition.[38][39] Two smaller baskets contained personal effects such as needles, a razor, bone hairpins, combs, spare braids of hair, a tool possibly used to curl hair or wigs, and dried raisins. A large sheet, stained with oil but carefully stored, was considered by Schiaparelli to be Merit's dressing gown.[40][41] Merit's cosmetics were stored inside a box likely made especially for the funeral, with funerary inscriptions and painted in imitation of inlay. They consisted of a wooden comb and vessels of alabaster and faience holding ointments and oils; two objects were of multi-coloured glass - a small jar for oils and a kohl tube.[40][42]

Furniture and furnishings

View of the burial chamber showing the carefully arranged contents, including the chair, stools, and lampstand in front of the sarcophagi

The tomb contained many items of furniture including stools, footrests, tables, and beds. The most obvious was a single high-backed chair, on which was placed a statuette of Kha. It was likely made for the funeral, as it has a funerary inscription, uses paint instead of costly inlay, and lacks wear on the strung seat. Fourteen stools of various forms were placed in the tomb; these were all items used by Kha and Merit in life. The most unusual example is a folding stool with a leather seat and legs ending in duck heads inlaid with ivory. The tables found in the tomb were simple, either of wood, or constructed of papyrus. A single small table had more elaborate construction, being made of wooden slats; it held Kha's senet box when found, which may have been its usual purpose. The largest pieces of furniture belonging to Kha and Merit were their beds, each with a strung cord mattress. Kha's bed was placed in the corridor outside the burial chamber due to lack of space within the room. Merit's was made up with sheets, blankets, and two headrests, one of which was entirely wrapped in fabric. Thirteen chests of varying sizes and styles made up the rest of the furniture placed within the tomb. All were of wood, plain or white-washed but five were painted in imitation of inlay and of these, three bore scenes of Kha and Merit receiving offerings from their sons.[43][44]

The two wooden lamp stands are the only examples of their kind from ancient Egypt. They are made in the shape of papyrus stalks with open umbels and approximately 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) tall. Only the example found inside the burial chamber had a bronze lamp, variously identified as having the shape of a leaf,[45] bird,[46] or bulti-fish;[47] it had been left half-full of fat and the wick burning when the tomb was closed.[48][49]

Food and drink

The tomb was stocked with numerous foodstuffs including bread of "a more varied and plentiful assortment than has been discovered in any other tomb or exists in any museum"; amphorae of wine; roasted and salted birds and fish; flour; bowls of minced and seasoned greens; baskets of cumin seeds and juniper berries; bundles of garlic and onions; fruit such as grapes, dates, figs, and nets of doum palm nuts. Also included was oil for cooking and the fuel needed for the kitchen fire, in the form of dried cow dung.[50][51]

Sarcophagi and coffins

The large sarcophagus or outer coffin of Kha

The largest items within the tomb were the two outer coffins (sarcophagi) containing the mummiform coffins and mummies of Kha and Merit.[52] Both were covered by large linen sheets, the fabric covering Kha's being approximately 15 metres (49 ft) long and 2 metres (6.6 ft) wide.[53] The two sarcophagi are similar in style and construction, although they differ in size (Kha's is larger),[54] the form of the lid (arched for Kha and pitched for Merit), and base (Kha's with sledge runners and Merit's without). Both are made of black-painted sycamore wood without any additional decoration.[54] Although referred to as "bitumen" in Schiaparelli's publication, the black coating is made mainly of Pistacia resin and small amounts of other plant-derived products.[55] Similar sarcophagi with additional gilded or painted text and figures were found in the tombs of the approximately contemporary nobles Yuya, Thuya, and Maiherpri, but Schiaparelli remarks that sarcophagi of this type must "have been common to all high-ranking dignitaries, princes, and princesses" having found fragments of such boxes during his excavations in the Valley of the Queens.[53][54] Given their large size, they were brought into the tomb in sections and reassembled; marks made on the edges of each piece assisted in this task.[53]

Portrait of the gilded inner coffin of Kha

Kha's sarcophagus contained a further set of two nested coffins in human shape. They are "superb examples" of the wealth and technically brilliant workmanship of the arts during the reign of Amenhotep III.[1] They are of identical type to those of the nobles Yuya, Thuya, and Maiherpri[56] and Forbes considers Kha's outer mummiform coffin to be of equal or superior workmanship to that of Yuya, if of smaller size. The outer coffin has a black-based design but "the face, hands, alternate stripes of the wig, bands of inscriptions and figures of funerary gods in gilded gesso."[1] When revealed, it was covered almost entirely by Kha's copy of the Book of the Dead, one of the earliest known, "perfectly conserved and as supple as if recently made."[57][3] Underneath, the neck of the coffin was draped with a garland of melilot leaves, cornflowers, and lotus petals. The innermost coffin was entirely gilded.[57] The eyes and eyebrows are inlaid with quartz or rock crystal and black glass or obsidian with blue glass for the eyebrows and cosmetic lines all set into bronze or copper sockets. Across his chest is a broad collar with falcon-head terminals and below his arms are crossed in the manner of Osiris, god of the dead. Below is the goddess Nut as a vulture with outstretched wings grasping two shen-signs in its talons.[1] Across the chest of this was placed a similar floral garland. The red-dyed flax ropes used to lower the inner coffin into the outer were still in place around the ankle and neck. Additionally, the inner coffin sat on layer of natron inside the outer coffin. The lids of the coffins were closed with small wooden dowels.[57]

Side view of the coffin of Merit showing the gilded lid and black-based trough

Merit's sarcophagus contained only a single coffin wrapped in a linen shroud. Merit's coffin combines features of Kha's outer and inner coffins, with the lid being entirely gilded and the trough having a black-based design.[58] Her coffin is of lesser quality than Kha's and is less costly.[59] The texts align across the lid and base, but Forbes suggests that they were not intended to go together as the treatment of the wig is different between the two halves.[60] A large figure of the goddess Nut is painted on the interior of the coffin trough.[61] The coffin was not made for Merit as the inscriptions only name Kha. Additionally, it is much too large for her mummy. Merit likely died unexpectedly, resulting in a coffin made for her husband being used for her burial.[62]

Mummies

The wrapped mummies of Kha and Merit were found undisturbed within their coffins. Schiaparelli decided against unwrapping them so the pair have been investigated with non-invasive methods. They were first x-rayed in 1966 and again in 2014 (digital x-ray),[63] and CT-scanned in 2002 at the Institute of Radiology in Turin.[16] Neither had undergone a mummification procedure typical for the Eighteenth Dynasty; their internal organs were not removed, explaining the absence of canopic jars.[64] The lack of organ removal has led to suggestions that the bodies were treated using a shorter procedure, with little care,[65] or that they were not embalmed at all[59] despite their relative wealth at death. However, their organs, including their eyes and optic nerves, are excellently preserved. Chemical analysis of textile samples from their mummies indicate that they were both treated with an embalming recipe. Kha's consists of animal fat or plant oil mixed with a small amount of aromatic plant extract (balsam), plant gum, and conifer resin. Merit's is different, consisting of an unusual oil (fish) mixed with plant balsam, plant gum, conifer resin, and beeswax; similar results, with the addition of Pistacia resin, were obtained from a sample of the red shroud that covered her mummy within the coffin. Both of these embalming recipes were made of costly ingredients that were hard to obtain, some of which were imported into Egypt, and would have had effective anti-bacterial and anti-insecticidal properties. Natron, the main desiccating agent used in mummification, was also utilized within Kha's coffin and appears as white spots on the surface of Merit's wrappings. This study indicates that, contrary to previous opinions, their bodies were embalmed at significant effort and cost. That the methods used differ from the royal mummification method is not surprising given the difference in status and economics of Deir el Medina; Bianucci and co-authors suggest that few in Deir el Medina would have been mummified in the typical fashion and poorer individuals were simply wrapped in fabric before burial.[66]

Kha

The wrapped mummy of Kha

The mummy of Kha is wrapped in many layers of linen and covered with a linen shroud. The shroud is secured by a double layer of linen bandages running down the centre of the body. This is crossed by four narrow bands at the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. A nylon net was used to consolidate the outer layers of linen weakened by a previous fungal attack.[67] His body is 1.68 metres (5.5 ft) tall and lies on his back with his arms extended; his hands are placed over the pubic area.[68]

Kha was fifty to sixty years old at the time of his death with an estimated height of 1.71 metres (5.6 ft).[69] He had an aquiline profile. Kha was in reasonably good health at the time of his death. His teeth were in poor condition, having lost all the premolars and molars in the upper jaw and several molars in the bottom jaw. He had osteoarthritis in his knees and lower back[70] and many arteries show signs of calcification.[69] His gallbladder contained fourteen gallstones, judged to most likely be pigment stones.[71] His right elbow had an inflamation (enthesopathy) at the insertion point of the triceps brachii.[72] CT examination identified that Kha had fractured his first lumbar vertebra, an injury which left it flattened.[69] Later x-ray analysis considers this injury to have occurred after his death.[72] No attempt was made to remove his organs, which are still in place and, although dehydrated, are excellently preserved. There is a large air-filled gap between Kha's torso and the bandage layers, suggesting his body was not fully dried before wrapping.[65] His cause of death is unknown.[72]

Kha's body is equipped with metal jewelry, likely of gold. Around his neck is a single-stranded necklace of large gold discs known as a "gold of honour" collar. This item of jewelry was given by the king as a reward for service. It is well known from ancient Egypt, being depicted in many statues and tombs of nobility including those of Sennefer, Ay and Horemheb. He wears a pair of large earrings, one of the earliest known ancient Egyptian men to do so.[73] These may also have been part of his royal reward, as similar earrings are depicted, albeit more rarely, in "gold of honour" reward scenes.[74] Kha wears six finger rings; three have fixed oval bezels, one has a fixed rectangular bezel, and two have swiveling bezels of either faience or stone.[75] Further jewelry is purely funerary in nature. These consist of a stone heart scarab on a gold wire, a stone or faience tyet amulet, and a gold foil bracelet around each upper arm.[69] On his forehead is a stone snake head amulet, likely in carnelian or jasper. The usual location of this amulet is around the neck, where it assists in the deceased's ability to breathe in the afterlife. Its placement on his forehead is possibly in imitation of the royal uraeus worn by kings, signalling the villagers considered Kha the "king" of Deir el-Medina.[75][76]

Merit

The collapsed and damaged mask of Merit soon after discovery

After raising the lid, Merit's mummy appeared like a vision, her head and part of the chest covered by a fine gilded mask and the head and body leaning slightly to the left, in the arms of the goddess Nut, painted on the inside of the box, in the languid and weary pose of a person resting and dreaming. The large frozen eyes of the mask, filled with an anguished expression, seemed to be staring at all of us standing around her, as if imploring us to leave her in peace.[62]

Merit's coffin, intended for Kha, is much too large for her and the space around her body was packed with fabric bearing her husband's monogram. A sheet of linen was folded into a pad placed under the mummy and the space under her feet and around her body was filled with eight rolls of bandages.[77] No padding was placed at the head end as the closed coffin would have been placed upright to receive funerary rights so there was no danger of it sliding towards that end. When found, her body lay slanted to her left within the coffin, likely having moved during transport to the tomb.[78] The mummy was wrapped in a further sheet of linen over the top of the shroud, the end of which was tucked under her gilded mummy mask. Her white shroud is stitched up the back with an overcast stitch using a thick cord.[77] In 2002 her mummy was sewed into a custom-dyed nylon net in to consolidate the fabric.[76]

The restored mummy mask of Merit

Unlike Kha, Merit's mummy is fitted with a cartonnage mask. The mask is constructed from eight layers of linen covered in layers of white stucco primer. It has inlaid eyes, of which only one original remains, made of alabaster and obsidian with cosmetic lines and eyebrows of blue paste. The surface is covered in gold leaf now tarnished to a reddish colour, and the striped wig is coloured with Egyptian blue. The broad collar is composed of alternating bands of carnelian, dark blue paste imitating lapis lazuli, and turquoise. The pectoral below the collar is decorated with a blue and red painted vulture on a yellow ground. The mask was probably intended for Kha and was donated by him for his wife's burial. The mask is much too big for Merit's head and had collapsed at the back and sides once in the coffin. The mask was previously restored in 1967 but had degraded quickly and further restoration was carried out in 2002. It was placed on a new padded mount in 2004. The back of the mask could not be restored as it was found detached underneath the mummy and had soaked up the oils and resins and flattened by the weight; it is now stored separately.[76]

Merit lies with her arms extended and hands nearly crossed over the pubis. Her age at death is estimated to be between twenty-five and thirty-five.[65][79] Her body is 1.47 metres (4.8 ft) tall and estimates for her height in life vary between 1.48 metres (4.9 ft)[65] and 1.60 metres (5.2 ft).[79] She likely had a prominent aquiline nose.[80] Her head is turned slightly to the right. This is suggested to be the result of the method of wrapping her head, in which a right handed embalmer pulled on the left side of the bandges to tighten them as he wrapped.[76] Her teeth have little wear but some molars, premolars and a canine have been lost and others have cavities. She is less well-preserved than her husband, with many of her ribs and vertebrae broken and displaced due to postmortem damage to the torso. No attempt was made to remove her brain or other internal organs. Given that she was buried in a coffin intended for Kha, she likely died unexpectedly but her cause of death is unknown.[81][65]

A gold ring in the Walters Art Museum with a similar design to the ring found behind Merit's mask

Like Kha, her body wears metal jewelry. Around her neck is a triple-strand necklace of fine gold beads; the strings have broken and the beads have scattered, with some being seen by her ankles. Across her chest and shoulders is a gold and stone broad collar similar in design to one from the burial of three foreign wives of Thutmose III. Her ears are double pierced and she wears two pairs of ribbed hoop earrings. She wears four gold rings on her left hand; a further ring is seen behind her shoulder on X-ray and CT images. This ring has either been displaced from her finger by postmortem damage[82] or was intended for her right hand and forgotten during the wrapping process, being slipped into the shroud before burial.[83] A second gold ring was found during conservation work, stuck to the back of her mask in the embalming resins. The bezel is incised with an image of a Hathor-cow wearing a menat necklace and standing on a boat under a palm tree. This design is similar to a ring found on the body of Nefertity in Theban Tomb 1159a.[83] Around her waist is a beaded girdle of metal cowrie shell-shaped beads interspresed with strings of small non-metal beads. Cowries are associated with fertility[83] and similar girdles are known from the burials of Sithathoriunet and three of Thutmose III's foreign wives. On each wrist are ten-stranded bracelets of metal and non-metal beads with a sliding catch. They appear to have the same design as the necklace and girdle and probably formed part of a set.[82][83] Merit was not equipped with any funerary amulets, possibly due to her unexpected death.[82]

  • The outer anthropoid coffin of Kha
    The outer anthropoid coffin of Kha
  • Inner coffin of Kha
    Inner coffin of Kha
  • Portrait of the inner coffin of Merit
    Portrait of the inner coffin of Merit
  • The mummy of Merit with cartonnage mask, wrapped in her outer shroud
    The mummy of Merit with cartonnage mask, wrapped in her outer shroud
  • The mummy of Merit
    The mummy of Merit

Other funerary equipment

Wooden statuette of Kha, placed on a chair, as it was found in the tomb, wrapped with a floral garland

Kha's copy of the Book of the Dead, some 13 metres (43 ft) long, was found laid out atop his outer mummiform coffin. It is one of the earliest copies known,[84] and the only one found in Deir el Medina dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty.[85] It features colourful vignettes in which Kha is depicted generically, showing less customization than in the copies of Yuya and Maiherpri. It is written in cursive hieroglyphs which are closer in style to Maiherpri's than Yuya's.[84] However, on the basis of composition it is most similar to Yuya's. It is unique within the known Eighteenth Dynasty examples for including Chapter 175, which features the origin of Heliopolis and the myth of the divine cow. A second copy of the Book of the Dead belonging to Kha is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris but its provenance is unknown.[85] It may originally have come from the pit Bruyère found in front of their chapel. This copy was likely intended for Merit as her name appears more often than Kha's, a unique instance in the Eighteenth Dynasty of a woman being provided with her own copy. Alternatively, it could be a separate copy which ultimately went unused and was put aside for reuse.[86]

A wooden ka statuette was placed in the tomb, standing on a chair. The statuette depicts a youthful Kha wearing a kilt, striding forward. The wood is even in colour and tight-grained, and the surface is polished with no other treatment. The eyes are painted, and the column of text down the front of his kilt is filled with yellow pigment. The inscription asks that his ka may receive "all that appears on the table of offerings to Amun, king of the gods."[87] Around the shoulders of the figure was a garland of melilot leaves; another was folded at its feet.[87] The rectangular base is also inscribed with an offering formula ensuring Kha received the standard bread, beer, ox and fowl with the additional alabaster, linen, wine, and milk.[4] This item is not without parallel as there are occasional examples from other contemporary non-noble Theban tombs. However, given the number of similar wooden statuettes in collections worldwide, often with unknown contexts, this practice was likely much more common.[88] Such figures are absent from the tombs of Yuya, Thuya, and Maiherpri[78] although, if present, may have been made of valuable metal and looted by ancient robbers.[88]

Kha was provided with two ushabti for his use in the afterlife. One is of faience and the other is of wood and was provided with its own miniature sarcophagus and agricultural tools. These were place immediately behind and in front of the statuette. Merit was not given any ushabti. This discrepancy is probably not unusual as the near contemporary noble Yuya was provided with fifteen ushabti while his wife Thuya had four; Maiherpri had none.[87][78]

Location of objects

Following the discovery, Gaston Maspero, director of the Antiquities Service, awarded the vast majority of the contents to the excavators. They are housed today in the Museo Egizio in Turin. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo retained only one large object from the tomb - one of the two lamp stands.[89] Cairo kept a number of smaller items, consisting of loaves of bread, three blocks of salt, and nineteen pottery vases.[4] Dennis C. Forbes suggests that perhaps Maspero considered the contents of TT8 to be already well represented in the museum's collection. Space may have been another consideration, with the contents of KV46, tomb of Yuya and Thuya, discovered the year prior, and of KV36, tomb of Maiherpri, discovered eight years earlier, occupying a good deal of exhibition space.[89]

Gallery

  • Plan of the chapel of TT8
    Plan of the chapel of TT8
  • Plan of the tomb of Kha and Merit
    Plan of the tomb of Kha and Merit
  • The blockings to the entrance of TT8
    The blockings to the entrance of TT8
  • Kha's inner coffin, adorned with a vulture goddess below the hands
    Kha's inner coffin, adorned with a vulture goddess below the hands
  • Merit's inner coffin, also decorated with a vulture pectoral
    Merit's inner coffin, also decorated with a vulture pectoral
  • Bowls, vases and jugs from the Tomb of Kha
    Bowls, vases and jugs from the Tomb of Kha
  • Merit's wig, styled by being plaited while wet and unplaited once dry to give a crimped effect
    Merit's wig, styled by being plaited while wet and unplaited once dry to give a crimped effect
  • Kha's bed
    Kha's bed
  • Merit's bed, around which many of her personal belongings were found
    Merit's bed, around which many of her personal belongings were found
  • The original wooden door to TT8's burial chamber
    The original wooden door to TT8's burial chamber

See also

Citations

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  7. ^ Peacock, Lenka (2008). "Turin Museum: The Tomb of Kha". xy2.org. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
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  9. ^ a b c d e Bianucci et al. 2015, pp. 4.
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References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to TT8.
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