Mummy's Wrap

From Giza, G4733E, shaft of G4733
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5 (2450-2325 BC)
Stone (Calcite?)
Length approximately 16 cm, Width approximately 7 cm, Thickness approximately 1.5 cm.
1981.1.6
Edward H. and Suzanne Trezevant Little Fund

This tablet, almost identical to the tablet discovered in the same tomb now housed in the Harvard University Museum of Fine Arts (D’Auria, Lacovara, and Roehrig, 1988, p. 81), is divided into seven sections by thinly incised lines, each section with a carved repository for oil in the bottom register. The hieroglyphic script is incised, featuring only the outlines of each hieroglyph. From right to left, the oils are labeled: seti-heb, hekanu, sefeti, ni-chenem, tewat, ash, and tiehenu (D’Auria, Lacovara, and Roehrig, 1988, p. 81). The determinative for the word “oil” is not present at the end of these inscriptions possibly due to the presence of the repositories at the bottom, negating the need for the determinative.

The condition of the tablet is in disrepair. Chips have broken away from the right side of the tablet, and the damage continues down to the bottom right corner where the tablet had been broken. The bottom right corner has been reattached to the tablet, the repaired crack extending through the second trough from the right. A large chip is missing, extending into the first trough, though it does not affect the hieroglyphs. Each circular trough is well executed, having been bored out. Evidence of the boring process is visible by the slight rises at each subsequent level of drilling. In addition, the third and seventh troughs from the right are shallower than the rest. The stone itself is of a white calcite with a layer of orange visible from the side parallel to the carved surface and in some of the troughs. The surface of the tablet is smooth. The upper left corner was smoothed down further than the rest of the tablet during pre-production as the “h3t” lion (Schumann-Antelme and Rossini, 2002, p. 250) of the seventh oil wraps into the curve. Darkened areas, specifically on the bottom edge of the carved surface and in some of the troughs, may be evidence of the oils offered with the tablet.
It is possible these oils were used for anointing the body during mortuary rituals. The small size of the offering tablet may be indicative of the high cost of the oils. Placing small amounts of the oil with the deceased would have been sufficient, with the correct spells for increasing the amount of oil, to assist the deceased through the afterlife. These oils were often represented, if not physically within the tomb, then by the offering lists inscribed upon tomb walls (D’Auria, Lacovara, and Roehrig, 1988, p. 81-82).

Works Cited

D’Auria, S., Lacovara, P., and Roehrig, C. (1988). Mummies & Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt, Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Schumann-Antelme, R., and Rossini, S. (2002). Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook. New York: Sterling Publishing.

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That's a Wrap!

Tags: art museum at university of memphis, artifact, artifact description, ash, calcit, giza, hekanu, hieroplyphic script, mortuary ritual, mummification oils, museum, ni-chenem, offering list, offering lists, oil, old kingdom, sacred oils, sefeti, seti-heb, seven sacred oils, seven sacred oils tablet, tewat, tiehenu, university of memphis, university of memphis egyptology, university of memphis egyptology class, university of memphis egyptology course

This entry was posted by Page Strong on Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 at 09:30 and is filed under Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Egyptology, Museum Studies, Tomb. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.