Five Years Exploration At Thebes

Howard Carter, H_CARTER

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317727279
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This work was published in 1912 as a record of the pioneering and most significant excavation undertaken at Thebes by Howard Carter and his team under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon. It remains the most sensational work of its kind ever carried out in the field of Egyptology. Not only did it excite the international scholarly community, it ignited permanently the imagination of the world.

CHAPTER I

THE MORTUARY CHAPEL AND SEPULCHRE OF TETA-KY

BY HOWARD CARTER

 

THOUGH partly excavated in the rock at the side of a foot-hill the Mortuary Chapel of Teta-ky and his family is mainly a crude mud-brick construction, with its actual sepulchres subterranean : these latter are approached from a vertical shaft in the centre of the fore-court (Pl I. 1 and 2).

The peculiar irregularity of the courtyard and buildings, which will be seen from the plan (Pl. II), seems due, in the first place, to the shape of the site, and, secondly, to the fact that this particular plart of the necropolis must have been much overcrowded. Though it is built of mud-brick, the structure itself suffered comparatively little damage until recent years. The low walls of its fore-court, entered from the east, the small painted shrine in the south wall, the vaulted chambers on either side of the alley that leads to the principal and decorated chapel under the rock at the north end, are all more or less intact. In fact, the greater part of its destruction can be put down to the Arabs of modern times. Hence, except from slight mutilations, the structure is still practically intact.

Architecturally the plan and construction is of a well-known type. Its chapels are early examples of the brick-vaulted chambers often found in and so typical of the Dêr el Medïnet Necropolis of Thebes. Only two of its chambers are painted : the small shrine or niche built in the wall of the fore-court ; and the main chapel under the rock called upon the plan ‘painted vaulted chamber’. The latter alone has inscriptions.

The painted niche has depicted on its right wall seated figures (unnamed) receiving offerings (Pl. III. 1) ; and on the left wall a conventionally drawn vineyard, in which there is shown a figure gathering grapes (Pl. III. 2). Its barrel-vaulted ceiling, now destroyed, was decorated with multicoloured bands which are so frequently seen on the roofs of Theban rock-cut tombs. But of this ceiling hardly enough remains to allow a true and accurate description.

The main chapel, or painted vaulted chamber, has upon its walls the usual funereal, husbandry, and offering scenes, and among the people portrayed are relatives of Teta-ky (see further description by Legrain, p. 14). Its segmental barrel-vaulted ceiling is painted, like the Beni Hasan tombs, with a wooden keybeam running longitudinally down the centre, painted yellow with darker and almost red graining (Pl. IV. 1) ; and on either side of the beam, above a Kheker frieze, the space is divided by black lines into red, yellow, and white squares (Pl. IV. 1 and 2). The red and white squares contain quatrefoils. In fact, to quote Professor Newberry’s description¹ of the ceiling decoration of the tomb of Amenemhat would be to describe the roof ornamentation here, it differing only by the absence of imitation mat-work in the centre. Below the Kheker frieze is a band of hieroglyphic inscription giving the names of the deceased, and of his mother.

An interesting and new feature is the series of four small niches along the west wall of the open courtyard (Pl. I. 1 and Pl. II). In these niches were found numerous shawabti figures in model coffins of mud and wood (see further description by Newberry, p. 20). This I believe to be the only instance where such figures have actually been found in situ, a fact of some importance, for so little is known about the provenance of these early figures.

Another important discovery was eight similar, but more fully developed figures in wooden sarcophagi (see further description by Newberry, p. 19) placed in pairs on each of the four sides of the mouth of the shaft leading to the subterranean sepulchral chambers (Pl. II). These were buried about a foot below the surface, and were dedicated to persons buried in the vaults below. The reason for their being so placed is unknown ; they were possibly guardian figures, like the magical ones placed in the walls of later tombs at the four cardinal points.²

From the north and east walls of the main painted chamber are two passages which could not be excavated further than the plan shows, owing to their being under modern native houses. But judging from the kind of rubbish that choked them they appear to have been opened and ransacked. This was probably done by tunnelling from the interior of the native houses above.

Notes

¹ Newberry, Betti Hasan, I, pp. 20, 29, 37.

² Carter and Newberry, Tomb of Thoutmosis IV, pp. 9, 10.

CHAPTER II

THE PAINTINGS AND INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PAINTED VAULTED CHAMBER OF TETA-KY

BY GEORGE LEGRAIN.

THE following description of the paintings of the tomb of Teta-ky is taken from notes I made in 1909 when I visited Lord Carnarvon’s excavations. The notes I made at that time were not then intended for publication. This fact will explain their briefness. The tomb of Teta-ky having unfortunately been mostly destroyed by natives since that date, the copy of the texts and pictures that I took on the occasion of my visit in 1909, together with Mr. Howard Carter’s photographs, are the only remaining records of this tomb.

The funerary chamber is rectangular. The shorter walls lie east and west, whilst the longer sides face north and south. The roof is vaulted, barrel in form, and fairly regular. The ceiling is painted with a many-coloured chequer pattern; this decoration can be well seen in Plate IV. 1 and 2.

The decorations of the north and south walls consist of a long row of Kheker-ornaments. Beneath this row there is a line of detailed hieroglyphs, and beneath these again are scenes which run from left to right. These pictures were painted on stucco mixed without straw. This stucco has fallen away in several places, which has naturally caused the disappearance of many portions of the scenes represented in the tomb. Added to these accidents the tomb was re-used in ancient times, and part of the scenes were covered with an opaque lime-wash. Besides all these mutilations, breaches, and holes have very much spoilt this curious monument.

The general scheme of decoration can be described as follows:—

Northern Wall. Scenes of the private life of Teta-ky.

Eastern Wall. Queen Nefert-ari presenting offerings to the funerary Hathor Cow, ‘Lady of Dendera’.

Southern Wall. Funerary procession. Funeral and arrival of Teta-ky in the Kingdom of Osiris.

Western Wall. Teta-ky in adoration before Osiris Khent-amenti. Beneath, funerary banquet and stela of Teta-ky.

This order is adopted in the followin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• Illustrations
• Introduction
• Chapter I The Mortuary Chapel and Sepulchre of Teta-Ky
• II The Paintings and Inscriptions of the Vaulted Chamber of Teta-Ky
• III The Funerary Statuettes from Tomb of Teta-Ky
• IV Excavations in the Valley of Dêr el Bahari
• V Work Done in the Birâbi. The Seventeenth Dynasty Tomb No. 9
• VI The Carnarvon Tablets I and II
• VII The ‘Valley’-Temple Of Queen Hatshepsût
• VIII Ptolemaic Vaulted Graves
• IX Demotic Papyri and Ostraca
• X Colonnade and Foundation Deposit of Rameses IV
• XI Other Antiquities Discovered
• XII The Late Middle Kingdom and Intermediate Period Necropolis
• XIII Hieratic Texts from Tomb No. 37
• XIV The Vegetable Remains
• Index
• Illustrations: Plates I-LXXIX