Papers by Veronika Dulíková
Scientific Reports, 2024
Men with writing proficiency enjoyed a privileged position in ancient Egyptian society in the thi... more Men with writing proficiency enjoyed a privileged position in ancient Egyptian society in the third millennium BC. Research focusing on these officials of elevated social status ("scribes") usually concentrates on their titles, scribal statues, iconography, etc., but the individuals themselves, and their skeletal remains, have been neglected. The aim of this study is to reveal whether repetitive tasks and maintained postures related to scribal activity can manifest in skeletal changes and identify possible occupational risk factors. A total of 1767 items including entheseal changes, non-metric traits, and degenerative changes were recorded from the human remains of 69 adult males of welldefined social status categories from the necropolis at Abusir (2700-2180 BC). Statistically significant differences between the scribes and the reference group attested a higher incidence of changes in scribes and manifested themselves especially in the occurrence of osteoarthritis of the joints. Our research reveals that remaining in a cross-legged sitting or kneeling position for extended periods, and the repetitive tasks related to writing and the adjusting of the rush pens during scribal activity, caused the extreme overloading of the jaw, neck and shoulder regions.
Variability in the Earlier Egyptian Mortuary Texts, 2023
A decorated wooden coffin inscribed for a woman called Setib was discovered during the excavation... more A decorated wooden coffin inscribed for a woman called Setib was discovered during the excavation of mastaba AS 79 conducted by the Czech archaeological mission in the 2015 autumn season at Abusir South. The coffin made of cedrus libani has a standard late sixth dynasty shape and decoration style. The rectangular box with a flat lid bears a horizontal band of text around the exterior perimeter and a pair of wḏꜣt-eyes on the east wall. The wḏꜣt-eyes are aligned with the palace façade decoration at the head-end of the interior east wall, while the rest of the side is covered with an offering list. The names of the seven sacred oils are situated on the interior north wall above which a ḥtp di҆ nśwt formula is partly preserved. The body of a middle-aged (35–50 years) female was originally placed in the coffin in an outstretched position. Numerous items of the burial equipment were found in her burial chamber, including a travertine headrest, two travertine vessels, jewels and several ‘cakes.’ Setib’s burial shaft was part of a tomb that was probably owned by Setib’s father, i҆my-rꜣ pr, ‘overseer of the house,’ Khemetnu. The burial of Setib is dated to the sixth dynasty, and her coffin represents a typical product of that period. This article discusses the burial context, the technological details as well as the decoration of the coffin, thus putting it into the context of burial containers of that period.
Prague Egyptological Studies, 2022
Anthropological research has been going on at the archaeological concession of the Czech Institut... more Anthropological research has been going on at the archaeological concession of the Czech Institute of Egyptology in Abusir for nearly 60 years. The first burials dated to the Old Kingdom, more specifically to the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties (2510–2365 BC), were found in 1976. Nevertheless, it has taken almost to the present time to gather more than two hundred skeletons needed to carry out a comprehensive study of the
Abusir skeletal sample. This task was preceded by the creation of the AnuBase, an extensive and detailed database of anthropological data, and by the acquisition of a suitable depository space where the human skeletal remains are stored. The present study focuses mainly on the paleodemographic profile of the individuals buried in Abusir cemeteries and the metric analysis of the skeletons dating to the Old Kingdom. The results revealed a lower number of buried females compared to males and very few subadults. Very pronounced sexual dimorphism was noted between the male and female skeletons in both skulls and the infra‑cranial skeleton. Male crania are longer but lower than female crania, while females were characterized by higher faces. Although male long bones were longer and more robust than female ones, they do not differ in the proportionality of the upper and lower extremities. High sexual dimorphism in body height is consistent with the presumption
of the higher status of individuals buried in Abusir.
The results of both anthropological and paleodemographic analyses show a connection with the social status of the individuals in question. The low number of females buried in the cemeteries of Abusir and the almost missing subadults could indicate specific burial strategies in the area governed by strict rules. Future research should address these issues in detail.
Gracia Zamacona, C. – Ortiz García, J. (eds.), Handbook of Digital Egyptology: Texts, 2021
The sophisticated administration in the age of the pyramid builders offers a remarkable time span... more The sophisticated administration in the age of the pyramid builders offers a remarkable time span for research and a unique opportunity to analyse the dynamics of a complex society in a diachronic perspective. Contrary to traditional approaches relying on statistics and logic, we will present an overview of our achievements in society development reconstruction covering structural aspects using complex network analysis (CNA). Our research is based on diachronic occurrences of titles held by officials of various social status. The presence of a social stratification structure can be demonstrated by specialized bipartite (people – titles) network visualizations. Results aimed at reconstructing the structure of Old Kingdom top-level society and at the detection of powerful dignitaries using CNA and particularly community detection methods are also discussed. The approaches are exemplified by selected case studies on influential persons from the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties.
Abusir and Saqqara in the year 2020, 2021
The personage of Ptahshepses, who held the vizieral office in the mid-Fifth Dynasty, is well-know... more The personage of Ptahshepses, who held the vizieral office in the mid-Fifth Dynasty, is well-known to Egyptologists. Through marriage to Princess Khamerernebty, Ptahshepses became the king’s son-in-law and pledged his loyalty to the ruler, Nyuserre. Like a handful of his contemporaries, Ptahshepses reached the peak of what was possible in contemporary society. His mastaba, however, has no parallel when compared to others. Ptahshepses’ extraordinary position was reflected in his tomb’s location, vastness (2,375.60 sq. m), architectural concept, decoration, impressiveness and equipment. In accordance with the spatial tomb distribution of Old Kingdom officials, which mirrored the social and administrative system of society at that time, Ptahshepses’ exceptional position was also expressed in the rare materials used for the burial items. So far, it is known that the king provided him with a sarcophagus made of red granite, a material only some royal family members and selected high-ranking dignitaries could afford in the Fifth Dynasty. Other objects from his burial equipment have not been presented and published yet.
Prague Egyptological Studies, 2021
The depiction of the family of Menihy on a lintel found at Abusir South attracts attention due to... more The depiction of the family of Menihy on a lintel found at Abusir South attracts attention due to a component present in the compound personal names of his children. All but one of them have names including the element tjenenet, which is remarkable in the context of previously found mentions of the tjenenet sanctuary at Abusir South. The lintel belongs to the Sixth Dynasty finds discovered at the Czech archaeological concession that had originally been part of tombs or cult places and were destroyed already in antiquity. Some reflections on the function of the tjenenet are included.
Addressing the dynamics of change in Ancient egypt: complex network analysis, 2020
Egyptology is becoming a strategic scientific discipline in that it is instructive for contempora... more Egyptology is becoming a strategic scientific discipline in that it is instructive for contemporary civilization and makes it possible to avoid critical mistakes in its development. However, classical Egyptology tools need to be supplemented by modern procedures that are more efficient in terms of the speed of the production of results and the processing of much more extensive data volumes, delivering more accurate and reliable evaluation of the findings. Since the time of Plato, cybernetics has been providing methods by which models based on observations of the environment or sensor data are created to reflect the properties of systems and environments, and actions that change the environment are generated. Many of these practices, which include elements of learning and deduction techniques, are developed within the field of artificial intelligence. Methods that specialize in analyzing relationships that can be modeled by graph theory are now widely developed within the framework of complex network analysis. To emphasize the increasing rate of application of these scientific methods to cover new challenges in processing ancient Egyptian data, the concept of cyber-Egyptology has been introduced recently. Cyber-Egyptology deals with the interpretation of ancient Egyptian data and Egyptologists’ observations using techniques based on the principles of cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and complex network analysis that might be modified to cope with a limited amount of complex structures containing uncertainties and missing entries. We offer an overview of a selected set of such methods and their application to Old Kingdom data.
Kings of the Sun. Studies, 2021
The article describes trends and general rules in the burial customs of the ancient Egyptians in ... more The article describes trends and general rules in the burial customs of the ancient Egyptians in the Old Kingdom period.
ANCIENT EGYPT 2017: PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH, Warsaw – Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2020
The paper deals with the reign of Nyuserre, one of great Old Kingdom rulers who ruled in the mid-... more The paper deals with the reign of Nyuserre, one of great Old Kingdom rulers who ruled in the mid-Fifth Dynasty. The gradual transformation of Egyptian society took place during this crucial period, and a number of innovations came about in various spheres (religion, society, administration, tomb architecture, etc.), mirroring a change in the participation in power. This situation was reflected primarily in dignitaries’ tombs dated to the given period, which became indicators of the transformation of society. The research is focused on an analysis of more than 100 tombs of high-ranking individuals and their family members, and particularly of their titulary, offering formulae, false doors, etc.
This treatise uses representative cases from social, administrative and religious areas to illustrate the innovativeness of the period of Nyuserre’s reign and the climate in which the concatenation of many changes came to pass, in order to provide a framework for a better understanding of the changes, innovations and processes which occurred.
Piacentini, P. – Delli Castelli, A. (eds.). EDAL VI. Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology 7. Proceedings of the international conference. Universita degli Studi di Milano, 3–7 July 2017, pp. 226–237, pls. LXII–LXVIII., 2019
By focusing on the development of the administration and its changes and turning points during th... more By focusing on the development of the administration and its changes and turning points during the Old Kingdom period, this contribution proposes a dynamic model of bureaucratic evolution at that time punctuated by several ground-breaking changes which can be viewed as adaptations to the social dynamics. Endeavouring to find a way and method of visualizing this major observation, we focus on the stratified vizieral titulary, since it was directly related to the society’s development and reflected all major shifts and modifications. The Hidden Markov Model method has been adjusted in a way that enables its robust application to a limited volume of input data. As a consequence, its results make it possible to quantify the development of the administration structure in ancient Egypt. The numerical results are interpreted and compared to the state-of-art knowledge in Egyptology. In particular, several landmarks matching the perspective of the ‘punctuated equilibrium’ theory are discussed.
P. Piacentini and A. Delli Castelli, eds., EDAL VI. Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology. Proceedings of the international conference. Universita degli Studi di Milano, 3-7 July 2017, 26-41, 2019
Until relatively recently, the prevailing opinion had it that the sacred institution of kingship ... more Until relatively recently, the prevailing opinion had it that the sacred institution of kingship had nothing or very little in common with the profane world of the Ancient Egyptians. As a consequence, limited attention was paid by the mainstream scholarship to mutual interconnections between the royal and non-royal world. As many official texts and two- and three-dimensional representations of the Old Kingdom rulers were bearing testimony of the divine king and his exceptional position, and thus offering multiple choices of attractive research, there was only limited desire for a more conceptual approach that would explore the kingship as an integral part of the society of the day. This was happening despite the fact that some prominent Egyptologists were fully aware of the imbalance of attention paid to the royal and non-royal documents. Nowadays, after a few decades of an intensified interest in complex approach to the Ancient Egyptian society, there has been an increasing number of studies considering and evaluating both profane and sacred aspects of the kingship and their interdependence. What has been emerging more and more clearly is that any reliable understanding of the long-term processes governing Ancient Egyptian society requires a detailed evaluation and study of literary, archaeological, iconographic and environmental data and their meaningful synthesis. Without such a concept, many specific features of the past may remain isolated, devoid of their proper context and retain their biased understanding.
As a contribution to the effort to combine as many sources of evidence as possible and seeing Ancient Egyptian society as a dynamic and multifaceted process “punctured” with principal discontinuities signalling major and abrupt periods of profound change with a prominent historical significance, this study shall focus on the analysis of the role of the concept of Maat during the Old Kingdom, with a specific attention given to the Fifth Dynasty. It will be demonstrated that it was during this particular period when Maat made the most imposing impact on the society of the day.
Prague Egyptological Studies, 2018
A new tomb (AS 98) of Ankhires, inspector of hairdressers of the Great House, was excavated at Ab... more A new tomb (AS 98) of Ankhires, inspector of hairdressers of the Great House, was excavated at Abusir South in the autumn seasons of 2016 and 2017. The stone-built mastaba is preliminarily dated to late Fifth Dynasty, from the reign of Nyuserre to Djedkare. It has an unusual architectural plan, consisting of a corridor chapel, Rooms 1 and 2, an L-shaped chapel, two serdabs and Shaft 1. It was obviously built in two phases. The extension gave the mastaba the area of 413 m2. In view of several facts, the tomb represents a new phenomenon not only at the Czech archaeological concession but also at the Memphite necropolis. It was surrounded by several structures including tombs (AS 101, AS 102), a technical(?) structure (AS 100) or a cultic installation (AS 99), which were also partly excavated. The work has brought to light many interesting finds, being it remains of the original wall decoration, remains of wooden statues or ecofacts. An analysis of the animal bones assemblage is also incorporated in the present study.
Pražské egyptologické studie, 2018
The paper deals with the reign of Nyuserre, one of the great Old Kingdom rulers who ruled in the ... more The paper deals with the reign of Nyuserre, one of the great Old Kingdom rulers who ruled in the mid-Fifth Dynasty. A gradual transformation of Egyptian society took place during this crucial period, and a number of innovations came about in various spheres (religion, society, administration, tomb architecture, etc.), mirroring a change in the participation in power. This situation was reflected primarily in dignitaries’ tombs dated to the given period, which became indicators of this transformation of society. The research is focused on an analysis of more than 100 tombs of high-ranking individuals and their family members, and particularly of their titulary, offering formulae, false doors, etc. In order to provide a framework for a better understanding of the changes, innovations and processes which occurred, this treatise uses representative cases from social, administrative and religious areas to illustrate the innovativeness of the period of Nyuserre’s reign and the climate in which the concatenation of many changes came to pass.
Pražské egyptologické studie, 2018
Tomb of a faceless man. Preliminary report on the excavations of the tomb of Ankhires (AS 98), th... more Tomb of a faceless man. Preliminary report on the excavations of the tomb of Ankhires (AS 98), the inspector of hairdressers of the Great House
During the autumn season of 2016, the tomb of an inspector of hairdressers of the Great House, Ankhires (AS 98), commenced excavation. The works were finished in the autumn season of 2017. In the architecture of the mastaba, two building phases were detected. Its cultic places were accessible from the north. A corridor chapel, where two levels of mud floor, a possible mud brick altar and a northern niche in the western wall were uncovered, leads to Room 2, giving access to abundantly decorated Room 1 with polychrome reliefs in at least three registers. The wall decoration of the funerary chapel was largely
destroyed; only one block remained in situ and several fragments of the false door were found in the debris. In the core of the mastaba, only one shaft was uncovered. It was 11.75 m deep with a burial chamber at its bottom. An entrance into the burial apartment was in the western
wall of the shaft. Neither the bottom of the shaft, nor the burial chamber were finished, though. This fact is fairly surprising taking into consideration the tomb’s intricate architecture. The tomb is preliminarily dated to the late Fifth Dynasty (Nyuserre – Djedkare).
Interestingly enough, six late burials in wooden coffins (67–69/AS98/2017, 99–101/AS98/2017) from the end of the First Millennium BC were excavated by the western part of the entrance into the mastaba, and to the east of its eastern outer wall. The coffins were decorated very
simply. However, the timber was very fragile and that is why the coffins had decayed, with the exception of two examples (67/AS98/2017 and 68/AS98/2017). In front of the eastern outer wall, three faience amulets were found (96/AS98/2017, 103/AS98/2017, 105/AS98/2017). These
might be related to the late burials.
Abusir and Saqqara in the year 2015, 2017
The current state of Egyptological research faces a problem to process the huge volume of data. R... more The current state of Egyptological research faces a problem to process the huge volume of data. Researchers have dealt with the datasets consisting of thousands entities. Such a volume cannot be evaluated efficiently and rigorously using a traditional manual manner of paper and pencil. Although methods of complex networks (CNA) have been used for the quantification of a number of historical aspects, nobody has yet applied CNA to the Old Kingdom context.
This paper proposes a new approach based on the method of complex network analysis which provides new possibilities for the better understanding of the Old Kingdom social and administrative developments. The treatise demonstrates the first promising results of this technique on an assessment of nepotism in the second half of the Old Kingdom exemplified in the numerous illustrative graphical visualizations.
Prague Egyptological Studies, 2017
The excavations at Abusir South have already uncovered many tombs that added valuable information... more The excavations at Abusir South have already uncovered many tombs that added valuable information to the general knowledge of the development of the Old Kingdom society, its burial and funeral habits, and last but not least social relations and their impact on the lives of ancient Egyptian officials. One of the last discoveries is represented by the tomb of “the elder of the judicial hall” Kaisebi (AS 76) and the adjoining tomb of Ptahwer (AS 76b), which are located to the south of the anonymous mastaba AS 54 lying on the most prominent spot of the whole Abusir South area. Kaisebi and Ptahwer built their tombs between this huge mastaba AS 54 and recently discovered 18.5 m long ship, both dated to the end of the Third Dynasty.
Tomb AS 76 was constructed in two phases in the course of the late Fifth and Sixth Dynasty. The first one consisted of a rather small rectangular mastaba with a chapel, a northern niche, a serdab, and two shafts. Later on, the original structure was enlarged by an annexe (AS 76b) attached to the eastern wall of AS 76, which included another offering place and two burial shafts. The cruciform chapel of Kaisebi’s mastaba with colourful wall paintings contains a well-preserved false door in situ.
Prague Egytological Studies, 2017
The paper deals with Ptahshepses who built his vast and impressive mastaba in the vicinity of kin... more The paper deals with Ptahshepses who built his vast and impressive mastaba in the vicinity of king Nyuserre’s pyramid. The subject has been studied through the prism of Old Kingdom society and in comparison with his contemporaries. Recently discovered fragments of Ptahshepses’ granite false door in the archive of the Czech institute of
Egyptology are also included.
Faience beads in the form of jewels, which decorated the bodies of the deceased, represent a regu... more Faience beads in the form of jewels, which decorated the bodies of the deceased, represent a regular constituent of the burial equipment of officials, priests and their families in the Old Kingdom period. While most tombs were robbed already in ancient times, beaded jewels were often disregarded by the robbers. Despite the fact that the context had been disturbed and the threading material usually decomposed, the beads still allow us to get an idea of the appearance of the original jewels. The odds improve further if an intact burial is discovered. Such situation has occurred twice in the case of the rock-cut tomb of the dignitary Nefer. During the archaeological seasons in the years 2012–2014, two of the four shafts uncovered were found intact (AS 68d, Shafts 3 and 4).
The three sets of beaded jewels which were found in Nefer’s tomb belonged to a man, woman and a child, providing an opportunity for a remarkable comparative material study. The potential of these finds consists not only in their state of preservation, but also in the variability of their owners that will enable us to compare the burial practices used for individual members of a high-ranking family who lived in the second part of the Old Kingdom period.
Hitherto sparse evidence on Khentytjenenet has been markedly enlarged owing to new excavations of... more Hitherto sparse evidence on Khentytjenenet has been markedly enlarged owing to new excavations of the Czech archaeological mission at Abusir. A recently discovered cluster of individuals holding priestly titles and/or epithets referring to Khentytjenenet has given us an impetus to scrutinise this deity.
Records of Khentytjenenet are closely connected with a specific geographical part of the Memphite necropolis – Abusir and North Saqqara. The appearance of this deity was obviously associated with social, religious and administrative changes during the reign of Nyuserra. The title hem-netjer-priest of Khentytjenet appeared for the first time in the titulary of the high priest Ptahshepses, buried at North Saqqara (C1), and simultaneously within personal names of individuals who held offices under Nyuserra and were buried at Abusir or North Saqqara. Whereas personal names compounded with the element Khentytjenenet were characteristic for the mid-Fifth Dynasty, the title hem-netjer-priest and epithet imakhu kher linked with Khentytjenet occurred in the Sixth Dynasty. His name was also the component of several names of royal domains and estates in the late Fifth and early Sixth Dynasty.
Prague Egyptological Studies , 2017
Abusir South – a preliminary report on the excavation in the year 2015. The tomb of Kaisebi and i... more Abusir South – a preliminary report on the excavation in the year 2015. The tomb of Kaisebi and its surroundings (AS 76–78)
In the year 2015, the expedition of the Czech Institute of Egyptology focused particularly on the area south of mastaba AS 54. Already in 2014, three new mastabas were unearthed in the vicinity of AS 54, and therefore both seasons of the year 2015 were devoted to their excavation. Two mastabas – AS 77 and AS 78 – were built of mudbrick and contained two rows of shafts. Mastaba AS 78 was also extended to the south by an elongated annexe with four more shafts. Both tombs were probably built around the middle of the Fifth Dynasty. The pottery found in some of the shafts points to a long-time process of burial activity in both structures. It took place at least until the middle of the Sixth Dynasty. The cultic pottery provides evidence of mortuary activity until the end of the Old Kingdom.
The westernmost mastaba, AS 76, differed from the other two structures in that was constructed from limestone. The core of the mastaba contained one shaft behind the northern undecorated false door, a decorated chapel with a beautiful false door, and a serdab behind it. It was built for a judge whose name was Kaisebi. The original mastaba (AS 76) was later enlarged by a new structure to the east (AS 76b), which consisted of two shafts, and a corridor running along them and leading to another chapel with undecorated false door. The evidence points to two owners of the two parts. The original mastaba was built for Kaisebi, the additional structure to the east for his son (?) Ptahwer whose name was found in several graffiti on the walls of the extension. According to a preliminary analysis the shaft and burial chamber of Kaisebi still awaits excavation in the largely disturbed area between shaft 1 and his decorated chapel.
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Papers by Veronika Dulíková
Abusir skeletal sample. This task was preceded by the creation of the AnuBase, an extensive and detailed database of anthropological data, and by the acquisition of a suitable depository space where the human skeletal remains are stored. The present study focuses mainly on the paleodemographic profile of the individuals buried in Abusir cemeteries and the metric analysis of the skeletons dating to the Old Kingdom. The results revealed a lower number of buried females compared to males and very few subadults. Very pronounced sexual dimorphism was noted between the male and female skeletons in both skulls and the infra‑cranial skeleton. Male crania are longer but lower than female crania, while females were characterized by higher faces. Although male long bones were longer and more robust than female ones, they do not differ in the proportionality of the upper and lower extremities. High sexual dimorphism in body height is consistent with the presumption
of the higher status of individuals buried in Abusir.
The results of both anthropological and paleodemographic analyses show a connection with the social status of the individuals in question. The low number of females buried in the cemeteries of Abusir and the almost missing subadults could indicate specific burial strategies in the area governed by strict rules. Future research should address these issues in detail.
This treatise uses representative cases from social, administrative and religious areas to illustrate the innovativeness of the period of Nyuserre’s reign and the climate in which the concatenation of many changes came to pass, in order to provide a framework for a better understanding of the changes, innovations and processes which occurred.
As a contribution to the effort to combine as many sources of evidence as possible and seeing Ancient Egyptian society as a dynamic and multifaceted process “punctured” with principal discontinuities signalling major and abrupt periods of profound change with a prominent historical significance, this study shall focus on the analysis of the role of the concept of Maat during the Old Kingdom, with a specific attention given to the Fifth Dynasty. It will be demonstrated that it was during this particular period when Maat made the most imposing impact on the society of the day.
During the autumn season of 2016, the tomb of an inspector of hairdressers of the Great House, Ankhires (AS 98), commenced excavation. The works were finished in the autumn season of 2017. In the architecture of the mastaba, two building phases were detected. Its cultic places were accessible from the north. A corridor chapel, where two levels of mud floor, a possible mud brick altar and a northern niche in the western wall were uncovered, leads to Room 2, giving access to abundantly decorated Room 1 with polychrome reliefs in at least three registers. The wall decoration of the funerary chapel was largely
destroyed; only one block remained in situ and several fragments of the false door were found in the debris. In the core of the mastaba, only one shaft was uncovered. It was 11.75 m deep with a burial chamber at its bottom. An entrance into the burial apartment was in the western
wall of the shaft. Neither the bottom of the shaft, nor the burial chamber were finished, though. This fact is fairly surprising taking into consideration the tomb’s intricate architecture. The tomb is preliminarily dated to the late Fifth Dynasty (Nyuserre – Djedkare).
Interestingly enough, six late burials in wooden coffins (67–69/AS98/2017, 99–101/AS98/2017) from the end of the First Millennium BC were excavated by the western part of the entrance into the mastaba, and to the east of its eastern outer wall. The coffins were decorated very
simply. However, the timber was very fragile and that is why the coffins had decayed, with the exception of two examples (67/AS98/2017 and 68/AS98/2017). In front of the eastern outer wall, three faience amulets were found (96/AS98/2017, 103/AS98/2017, 105/AS98/2017). These
might be related to the late burials.
This paper proposes a new approach based on the method of complex network analysis which provides new possibilities for the better understanding of the Old Kingdom social and administrative developments. The treatise demonstrates the first promising results of this technique on an assessment of nepotism in the second half of the Old Kingdom exemplified in the numerous illustrative graphical visualizations.
Tomb AS 76 was constructed in two phases in the course of the late Fifth and Sixth Dynasty. The first one consisted of a rather small rectangular mastaba with a chapel, a northern niche, a serdab, and two shafts. Later on, the original structure was enlarged by an annexe (AS 76b) attached to the eastern wall of AS 76, which included another offering place and two burial shafts. The cruciform chapel of Kaisebi’s mastaba with colourful wall paintings contains a well-preserved false door in situ.
Egyptology are also included.
The three sets of beaded jewels which were found in Nefer’s tomb belonged to a man, woman and a child, providing an opportunity for a remarkable comparative material study. The potential of these finds consists not only in their state of preservation, but also in the variability of their owners that will enable us to compare the burial practices used for individual members of a high-ranking family who lived in the second part of the Old Kingdom period.
Records of Khentytjenenet are closely connected with a specific geographical part of the Memphite necropolis – Abusir and North Saqqara. The appearance of this deity was obviously associated with social, religious and administrative changes during the reign of Nyuserra. The title hem-netjer-priest of Khentytjenet appeared for the first time in the titulary of the high priest Ptahshepses, buried at North Saqqara (C1), and simultaneously within personal names of individuals who held offices under Nyuserra and were buried at Abusir or North Saqqara. Whereas personal names compounded with the element Khentytjenenet were characteristic for the mid-Fifth Dynasty, the title hem-netjer-priest and epithet imakhu kher linked with Khentytjenet occurred in the Sixth Dynasty. His name was also the component of several names of royal domains and estates in the late Fifth and early Sixth Dynasty.
In the year 2015, the expedition of the Czech Institute of Egyptology focused particularly on the area south of mastaba AS 54. Already in 2014, three new mastabas were unearthed in the vicinity of AS 54, and therefore both seasons of the year 2015 were devoted to their excavation. Two mastabas – AS 77 and AS 78 – were built of mudbrick and contained two rows of shafts. Mastaba AS 78 was also extended to the south by an elongated annexe with four more shafts. Both tombs were probably built around the middle of the Fifth Dynasty. The pottery found in some of the shafts points to a long-time process of burial activity in both structures. It took place at least until the middle of the Sixth Dynasty. The cultic pottery provides evidence of mortuary activity until the end of the Old Kingdom.
The westernmost mastaba, AS 76, differed from the other two structures in that was constructed from limestone. The core of the mastaba contained one shaft behind the northern undecorated false door, a decorated chapel with a beautiful false door, and a serdab behind it. It was built for a judge whose name was Kaisebi. The original mastaba (AS 76) was later enlarged by a new structure to the east (AS 76b), which consisted of two shafts, and a corridor running along them and leading to another chapel with undecorated false door. The evidence points to two owners of the two parts. The original mastaba was built for Kaisebi, the additional structure to the east for his son (?) Ptahwer whose name was found in several graffiti on the walls of the extension. According to a preliminary analysis the shaft and burial chamber of Kaisebi still awaits excavation in the largely disturbed area between shaft 1 and his decorated chapel.
Abusir skeletal sample. This task was preceded by the creation of the AnuBase, an extensive and detailed database of anthropological data, and by the acquisition of a suitable depository space where the human skeletal remains are stored. The present study focuses mainly on the paleodemographic profile of the individuals buried in Abusir cemeteries and the metric analysis of the skeletons dating to the Old Kingdom. The results revealed a lower number of buried females compared to males and very few subadults. Very pronounced sexual dimorphism was noted between the male and female skeletons in both skulls and the infra‑cranial skeleton. Male crania are longer but lower than female crania, while females were characterized by higher faces. Although male long bones were longer and more robust than female ones, they do not differ in the proportionality of the upper and lower extremities. High sexual dimorphism in body height is consistent with the presumption
of the higher status of individuals buried in Abusir.
The results of both anthropological and paleodemographic analyses show a connection with the social status of the individuals in question. The low number of females buried in the cemeteries of Abusir and the almost missing subadults could indicate specific burial strategies in the area governed by strict rules. Future research should address these issues in detail.
This treatise uses representative cases from social, administrative and religious areas to illustrate the innovativeness of the period of Nyuserre’s reign and the climate in which the concatenation of many changes came to pass, in order to provide a framework for a better understanding of the changes, innovations and processes which occurred.
As a contribution to the effort to combine as many sources of evidence as possible and seeing Ancient Egyptian society as a dynamic and multifaceted process “punctured” with principal discontinuities signalling major and abrupt periods of profound change with a prominent historical significance, this study shall focus on the analysis of the role of the concept of Maat during the Old Kingdom, with a specific attention given to the Fifth Dynasty. It will be demonstrated that it was during this particular period when Maat made the most imposing impact on the society of the day.
During the autumn season of 2016, the tomb of an inspector of hairdressers of the Great House, Ankhires (AS 98), commenced excavation. The works were finished in the autumn season of 2017. In the architecture of the mastaba, two building phases were detected. Its cultic places were accessible from the north. A corridor chapel, where two levels of mud floor, a possible mud brick altar and a northern niche in the western wall were uncovered, leads to Room 2, giving access to abundantly decorated Room 1 with polychrome reliefs in at least three registers. The wall decoration of the funerary chapel was largely
destroyed; only one block remained in situ and several fragments of the false door were found in the debris. In the core of the mastaba, only one shaft was uncovered. It was 11.75 m deep with a burial chamber at its bottom. An entrance into the burial apartment was in the western
wall of the shaft. Neither the bottom of the shaft, nor the burial chamber were finished, though. This fact is fairly surprising taking into consideration the tomb’s intricate architecture. The tomb is preliminarily dated to the late Fifth Dynasty (Nyuserre – Djedkare).
Interestingly enough, six late burials in wooden coffins (67–69/AS98/2017, 99–101/AS98/2017) from the end of the First Millennium BC were excavated by the western part of the entrance into the mastaba, and to the east of its eastern outer wall. The coffins were decorated very
simply. However, the timber was very fragile and that is why the coffins had decayed, with the exception of two examples (67/AS98/2017 and 68/AS98/2017). In front of the eastern outer wall, three faience amulets were found (96/AS98/2017, 103/AS98/2017, 105/AS98/2017). These
might be related to the late burials.
This paper proposes a new approach based on the method of complex network analysis which provides new possibilities for the better understanding of the Old Kingdom social and administrative developments. The treatise demonstrates the first promising results of this technique on an assessment of nepotism in the second half of the Old Kingdom exemplified in the numerous illustrative graphical visualizations.
Tomb AS 76 was constructed in two phases in the course of the late Fifth and Sixth Dynasty. The first one consisted of a rather small rectangular mastaba with a chapel, a northern niche, a serdab, and two shafts. Later on, the original structure was enlarged by an annexe (AS 76b) attached to the eastern wall of AS 76, which included another offering place and two burial shafts. The cruciform chapel of Kaisebi’s mastaba with colourful wall paintings contains a well-preserved false door in situ.
Egyptology are also included.
The three sets of beaded jewels which were found in Nefer’s tomb belonged to a man, woman and a child, providing an opportunity for a remarkable comparative material study. The potential of these finds consists not only in their state of preservation, but also in the variability of their owners that will enable us to compare the burial practices used for individual members of a high-ranking family who lived in the second part of the Old Kingdom period.
Records of Khentytjenenet are closely connected with a specific geographical part of the Memphite necropolis – Abusir and North Saqqara. The appearance of this deity was obviously associated with social, religious and administrative changes during the reign of Nyuserra. The title hem-netjer-priest of Khentytjenet appeared for the first time in the titulary of the high priest Ptahshepses, buried at North Saqqara (C1), and simultaneously within personal names of individuals who held offices under Nyuserra and were buried at Abusir or North Saqqara. Whereas personal names compounded with the element Khentytjenenet were characteristic for the mid-Fifth Dynasty, the title hem-netjer-priest and epithet imakhu kher linked with Khentytjenet occurred in the Sixth Dynasty. His name was also the component of several names of royal domains and estates in the late Fifth and early Sixth Dynasty.
In the year 2015, the expedition of the Czech Institute of Egyptology focused particularly on the area south of mastaba AS 54. Already in 2014, three new mastabas were unearthed in the vicinity of AS 54, and therefore both seasons of the year 2015 were devoted to their excavation. Two mastabas – AS 77 and AS 78 – were built of mudbrick and contained two rows of shafts. Mastaba AS 78 was also extended to the south by an elongated annexe with four more shafts. Both tombs were probably built around the middle of the Fifth Dynasty. The pottery found in some of the shafts points to a long-time process of burial activity in both structures. It took place at least until the middle of the Sixth Dynasty. The cultic pottery provides evidence of mortuary activity until the end of the Old Kingdom.
The westernmost mastaba, AS 76, differed from the other two structures in that was constructed from limestone. The core of the mastaba contained one shaft behind the northern undecorated false door, a decorated chapel with a beautiful false door, and a serdab behind it. It was built for a judge whose name was Kaisebi. The original mastaba (AS 76) was later enlarged by a new structure to the east (AS 76b), which consisted of two shafts, and a corridor running along them and leading to another chapel with undecorated false door. The evidence points to two owners of the two parts. The original mastaba was built for Kaisebi, the additional structure to the east for his son (?) Ptahwer whose name was found in several graffiti on the walls of the extension. According to a preliminary analysis the shaft and burial chamber of Kaisebi still awaits excavation in the largely disturbed area between shaft 1 and his decorated chapel.
Starting in 2015, an English edition focusing on the Third Millennium B.C., is going to be published annually. The journal will focus on publishing relevant excavation reports and, at the same time, will aim to publish excellent, primary-research studies focusing on selected problems connected with archaeology and interdisciplinary aspects of the Third Millennium B.C. Egypt.
Starting in 2015, an English edition focusing on the Third Millennium B.C., is going to be published annually. The journal will focus on publishing relevant excavation reports and, at the same time, will aim to publish excellent, primary-research studies focusing on selected problems connected with archaeology and interdisciplinary aspects of the Third Millennium B.C. Egypt.
Starting in 2015, an English edition focusing on the Third Millennium B.C., is going to be published annually. The journal will focus on publishing relevant excavation reports and, at the same time, will aim to publish excellent, primary-research studies focusing on selected problems connected with archaeology and interdisciplinary aspects of the Third Millennium B.C. Egypt.
Maria Stona made a journey to Egypt in February 1913. By happy coincidence, she met Flinders Petrie at Tarkhan. In the same year when Maria Stona visited Egypt, she had purchased a small set of Egyptian finds from Flinders Petrie which she donated to the Museum of Applied Arts in Opava, whose then director Edmund Wilhelm Braun was her friend. This collection consisted of 13 objects, including an anthropoid mummy case. Size of the collection of the Egyptian finds in Opava was notably affected by both world wars, since the outbreak of the First World War stopped its previewed enlargement and the Second World War meant its destruction, loss or stealing.
Many of the issues were discussed during the Eighth European Conference of Egyptologists. Egypt 2017: Research Perspectives that was hosted by the New University of Lisbon and collaborator institutions in Portugal. The series of European meetings of Egyptologists was initiated in Warsaw in 1999. The Second and Third symposia were also held in Warsaw in 2001 and 2004, and the Fourth conference was organised in Budapest in 2006. The Fifth Conference was organised in Pułtusk in 2009, and the Sixth in Cracow, and the Seventh in Zagreb.
The book is edited in co-operation by M.H. Trindade Lopes, J. Popielska-Grzybowska, J. Iwaszczuk and R.G. Gurgel Pereira.
Besides currently popular focus on the ore provenance, the selection of the applied methods aimed also at the description of practical physical properties of the objects. The question of differences between full-size functional artefacts and models is addressed, as is the problem of 'imports' and their ethnic interpretation. The analyses brought many unexpected results to light, the most surprising being a bowl (ÄMUL 2162) made of arsenical copper high in nickel, which has parallels in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Anatolia, and was featured in an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science in 2018. The corpus presented here involves the largest analysed metalwork assemblage from the Nubian C-Group and the Egyptian New Kingdom, and it addresses the issue of the use of local Nubian ore sources versus the sources of copper from Cyprus and elsewhere.
In recent years, this research approach has evolved independently at several institutions exploring ancient Egypt. We were very pleased to host most of these scholars at a joint meeting and offer them an opportunity to present and communicate their individual approaches, methods, points of view and observations. The contributions in this volume, originally presented at a workshop in Prague in September 2018, cover selected periods of ancient Egypt (the Old Kingdom, the New Kingdom, the Greco-Roman Period). Cyber-Egyptology, a new area of research in Egyptology, appears to be a justified approach with its own methodology, philosophy and a vast potential to answer complex questions relating to this fascinating civilisation and its diachronic dynamics. Moreover, this method of cyber-research can be applied universally across most archaeological and historical specialisations.
The book can be purchased here: http://www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7BDED38ACF-A714-4454-8448-4C8C91A92F43%7D
of Egyptology were analysed during the eld works at Abusir (Egypt). Bones of
rodents (mice and rats, gerbils and jirds etc.), white-toothed shrews, bats, frogs,
small birds, and other vertebrates, and even fragments of invertebrates were recorded
during the analyses. Species composition of these assemblages originated in
the owl’s pellets give us not only information about the structure of the owl’s diet,
but also about the former environment. Moreover, in comparison with recent assemblages
we can study changes and trends in both of these aspects.
The gradual transformation of Egyptian society from a kingdom to a state took place during this crucial period, and a number of innovations came about in various spheres (religion, society, administration, tomb architecture, etc.), mirroring a change in the participation in power. This situation was reflected primarily in dignitaries’ tombs dated to the given period, which became indicators of the transformation of society. The research is focused on an analysis more than 100 tombs of high-ranking individuals and their family members, and particularly of their titulary, offering formulae, false doors (the central point of the funerary cult), etc.
This paper uses representative cases from social, administrative and religious areas to illustrate the innovativeness of the period of Nyuserre’s reign and the climate in which the concatenation of many changes came to pass, in order to provide a framework for better understanding of the changes, innovations and processes which took place.
decline of state institutions as well as the agency and historical impact of exceptional kings and individuals. In this contribution, the Fifth Dynasty tomb complex of Ty dated to the reign of Nyuserre (early 24th century BC) is discussed. Ty was the first of wealthy Old Kingdom officials who initiated the construction of monumental richly decorated tomb complexes for themselves and their families. Ty serves as a specific example of a microcosm illustrating the significance of general trends on which the
Ancient Egyptian society of the day operated. At the same time, it features several characteristics which have theoretical impact and relevance for comparative study of civilisations and their dynamics.
Keywords: Complex societies – Ancient Egypt – Old Kingdom – punctuated
equilibrium – social status race – Abusir and Saqqara – Fifth Dynasty – tomb of Ty –nepotism – Nyuserre
2018 The Afterlife Existence Captured in Stone.The Sixth Dynasty False Door Stela of Inti in the Social and Religious Context In The Art of Describing. The World of Tomb Decoration as Visual Culture of the Old Kingdom. Studies in Honour of Yvonne Harpur, edited by P. Jánosi and H. Vymazalová, pp. 53-84. Charles University, Prague.
The scene with two representations of the tomb owner at the table of offerings depicted on the central panel of the false doors of the Old Kingdom Egypt was not a random composition. Quite on the contrary, it was a very thoughtful abbreviation of an elaborate concept related to the transition of a man from this world to the afterlife. It can be first observed in the mid Fifth Dynasty, a period of several profound changes, which had a deep impact on the further development of the Egyptian society, religion and state towards the end of the Old Kingdom.
In fact, a much later tradition of the Book of the Dead expresses a very similar concept. The vignettes of Chapter 105, referring to the coming of the deceased to ka and joining it in the afterlife, also include the two individuals’ principal stages discussed so far. The opening stage of this chapter of the Book of the Dead contains a vignette in which the deceased is rendered as a person with a gesture of devotion or veneration. The concluding stage, on the other hand, shows him as the one who has attained the blessed afterlife existence. The Book of the Dead thus con.rms the two different concepts ascribed to the two different representations of the deceased at the table of offerings facing each other and the exceptional existence of the two false doors of Ty in his Saqqara tomb. This concerns not only the different selection of gestures for each of them used to express the different status of the deceased, but also the spatiality, the orientation of both figures facing each other, which refers to two different temporal actions. These frame the whole process of the transformation of the deceased into a resurrected being.
Miroslav Verner or Miroslav Bárta (ongoing) used different approaches to the identification and cataloguing of the individual features. This article aims to provide all interested parties with necessary concordance to
the current method of numbering and registration of archaeological features and a notion of their positions within the site. Majority of principal structures and pyramid complexes have been published or are currently
being prepared for publication in the monograph series Abusir. Many minor features whose processing is largely still under way are being gradually published in the Czech or English version of the journal Pražské
egyptologické studie / Prague Egyptological Studies, especially in the form of preliminary archaeological reports containing the main characteristics of the archaeological entities under study and their interpretation.
Some archaeological reports can be found in other journals and monographs published in the Czech Republic and abroad. An overview of the site’s history and research results can be found in various publications
from recent years, mostly catalogues.
The archaeological concession of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Abusir covers an area of approximately 2 km2 divided into three main zones – Central Abusir (AC), Abusir West (AW)
and Abusir South (AS). Central Abusir contains the pyramid complexes of Fifth Dynasty rulers, the tombs of royal family members as well as tombs and burials from later periods. Abusir West is characterized by large
shaft tombs from the Saite-Persian period. Abusir South served above all as a cemetery for officials, their families and members of their households in the Early Dynastic Period, the Old Kingdom and, in a limited extent, also in the subsequent periods when many so-called secondary
burials were located there, usually concentrated close to larger Old Kingdom tombs. The image of the site’s archaeological history is made complete by partial research carried out in the area of the Lake of Abusir
situated in the south-eastern part of the concession adjoining the village of Abusir where Georg Steindorff and Uvo Hölscher worked, and of the temple of King Ramesse II on the eastern edge of the concession, spatially categorized within Abusir South.
Keywords: Abusir South; limestone stela; Fifth Dynasty; statue niche; engaged statues; offering scene; colour reconstruction; offering formulae; wab-priest of the king; scribe of the treasury; social status; analogies