Tura, Dynastic burials and quarries
The site of Tura (ancient T-r3w; in Greek, Troe/ Troia) is located on the east bank of the Nile (29°56′N, 31°17′E) 14km south-southeast of central Cairo. It consists today of three main residential clusters (from north to south): Tura el-Haggara, Tura el-Hait and Tura el-Ismant, on a westward bend of the river caused by the paleofan of the Wadi Digla to the north.
Like Ma’sara and Helwan to the south, Tura was associated throughout antiquity with the important limestone and calcite quarries of Gebel Tura, where rock strata exposed by fluvial downcutting through sedimentary formations, which sloped down from east to west and are thus higher on the eastern (Arabian) side, were exploited. Processing of high-grade limestone began during the 3rd Dynasty or earlier and still continues today, and modern activity is responsible for the destruction of much of the evidence for the Dynastic period. The quarries certainly serviced the pyramid building activities of the Egyptian kings from the 4th Dynasty, which is when references to the "fine stone" of "R-3w" and "Ainu" appear for the first time.
In addition to the importance of the region as a source of building stone, the marginal zone from Helwan to Tura, and even as far north as el-Fustat (Old Cairo), served as burial fields. In contrast to the west bank cemeteries, almost none of the larger tombs on the east side are rock-cut. Rather, they consist of chambers excavated in the flat low desert gravels and revetted by walls of mudbrick or upright limestone slabs. The vast majority of burials date to the Late or Graeco-Roman periods and probably belong to laborers or craftsmen employed in the quarries. A few tombs of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period are known, but these occur in uncertain contexts: an unused 12th Dynasty tomb is recorded at the most northerly of Saad’s "Helwan" (Ezbet el-Walda) cemeteries, and at least two pottery "slipper" coffins were found between Ma’sara and Tura. No Old Kingdom tombs have been found with the exception of tomb H6 287 (3rd Dynasty) at Helwan, the assumption being that most tombs of this period were located on the west bank, and there is little evidence for Predynastic occupation between the wadi-based cultures of Ma’adi and el-Omari. The Early Dynastic period (1st-2nd Dynasties), however, is well represented, although many tombs of this date await full publication.
The centers of Early Dynastic funerary activity were at the important site of Helwan and at the Tura-Ma’adi sites described by Hermann Junker and Guy Brunton. It is less well known that the area between these two groups also contained extensive burial fields, principally in and around the perimeter of the modern Tura cement factory (Tura el-Ismant). From the short published accounts of the excavation (from the 1950s to the 1970s) of these tombs, it appears that they were similar on the whole to the smaller Helwan tombs in having rectangular burial chambers cut through the marginal desert gravels, which were retained by sand/marl-mudbrick or limestone slab walls. The stone-lined tombs recorded by Holroyd and Perring in the 1830s are neither precisely located nor internally dated, but probably belong to this group: one such tomb contained a later or intrusive multiple burial, the corpses being laid side by side, heads to the north, not mummified but treated with bitumen. Burials of all periods in this 3km stretch of desert were said to have been made in a "bank of sand," probably a former terrace of river gravels undisturbed by the seasonal watercourses to the north and south (the Wadis Digla and Hof, respectively), but exploited in much the same way as the lower slopes of the Hof and Digla paleofans.
Little use seems to have been made of the cemeteries in the New Kingdom, however intensively the quarries were used at that time, and for the Late and Graeco-Roman periods only individual sarcophagi and coffins, not built tombs, are recorded. Both quarries and cemeteries were in at least a partial state of neglect during late Roman and Coptic times (third-sixth centuries AD), since a monastery (Deir el-Quseir) was built over the uneven ground of one abandoned quarry. An alternative name of this monastery, Deir Arsaniyus, preserves the memory of St Arsenius, the fifth-century monk who lived and was supposedly buried at Tura (Trohen). Rufinus says that the area was noteworthy at this time for its large numbers of monks. Although many of them would have been accommodated in the large west bank and valley communities, such as Jeremias and Apollonius, a large number, perhaps like Arsenius, would have used the abandoned quarries as heremetical desert cells in the same way as the Dynastic tombs on the west bank were reoccupied.
The ancient quarries themselves extend for some 2.5km along the eastern cliffs above Tura and Ma’sara, and consisted of galleried mines in the rock face (similar in technique to most rock-cut tombs and to the subterranean catacombs of the sacred animal necropoleis at North Saqqara), which contrast with the open method of quarrying used in recent times. The administration of the industry was probably based at Saqqara or Memphis, since a group of papyri mentioning the pyramids of Kings Merenre and Pepi II, including a letter from the commander of workmen to the vizier(?), was found within the Zoser pyramid enclosure. Even though the suburb of "East Memphis" (ancient Inb-Inb-hJ i3btt; in Greek, Arabias tou Memphitou) continued into Roman times, the responsibility for the quarries rested with officials of the city on the west bank, as indeed it did until the Ottoman period.
Documentary evidence also comes from the Tura and Ma’sara quarries themselves, where a series of stelae and rock inscriptions attest to the opening of new galleries from the 12th Dynasty (reign of Amenemhat III) to late in the Ptolemaic period. There may well have been earlier records which were removed or obliterated as the quarries expanded; several of the stelae are uninscribed and therefore undatable. The earliest local use of limestone in tomb architecture dates to the 1st Dynasty (at North Saqqara and Helwan), but these are only rough-cut slabs used for tomb chamber linings and door jambs/portcullises, which would hardly require deep mining methods.
The later tradition (e.g. Strabo xvii 1.34) that the quarries were once manned by "Trojans" (hence, by false etymology, the name) is comparable to the association of Roman Babylon (Old Cairo) with an original Persian garrison, and appears to have no historical basis. The legend, however, may preserve some folk memory of the use of foreign (Carian or Lycian?) mercenaries or prisoners-of-war as quarrymen.
In medieval times there were several important monasteries and convents situated on this part of the east bank, notably Deir el-Adhra, Deir Barsum el-’Aryan and Deir Shahran, as well as the hospice and monastery of Gregorius at Helwan. Today the area is part of the almost unbroken conurbation that stretches from Cairo to Helwan, containing not only the vital quarries but also other related light and heavy industries and large power stations, with only occasional pockets of local agriculture.
Tura, Predynastic cemeteries
Tura is the name of a village 14km south-southeast of Cairo on the east bank of the Nile (29°56′ N, 31°17′ E). Although known primarily for its limestone and calcite quarries, it was also the site of some important early cemeteries.
In 1910 the Austrian archaeologist Hermann Junker excavated a late prehistoric cemetery north of the village of Tura. At the same time some graves of the Predynastic Ma’adi culture, named after the site of Ma’adi located 2km west of Tura, were found near the Tura railway station.
Cemeteries S, N and O
The late Predynastic cemetery where Junker worked was revealed by well digging in 1903. He excavated about 600 graves in three areas, which he named S, N and O. Areas S and N are middle and late Predynastic in date (Nagada II-III) while the graves in Area O may date to the 3rd Dynasty.
Most of the graves that Junker excavated were simple pits, but some were covered with wooden beams. More rare were graves lined with mudbricks with one chamber. A few graves had several chambers for the grave goods. These larger graves were covered with wooden beams on top of which were stones covered with Nile mud.
Most of the bodies were covered or wrapped with reed mats. Some of the bodies were placed in oval coffins made of Nile clay, burned or unburned. Remains of wooden coffins were also found. Children were buried in baskets.
About 80 percent of the bodies were in contracted positions lying on the left side, half of these with the head to the south facing west, and half with the head to the north facing east. Grave goods were placed in the corners of the grave, or in the available space. A small jar was often placed near the head (mostly behind it) and was perhaps symbolic for mortuary ritual.
Grave goods consisted mainly of pottery typical of late Predynastic burials: large and smaller jars with round bases, cylindrical jars (some painted with a net pattern), and small jars and bowls. Some of these pots were inscribed with the names of early kings.
Stone vessels of the same shapes as the pottery, made of limestone, schist and granite, were found in some graves. Other craft goods included round or rectangular schist palettes. Jewelry consisted of ivory or stone bracelets, and necklaces in beads of carnelian, faience, lapis lazuli, amethyst and ivory.
Cemetery near the railway station
This cemetery was found by workmen building a road, and no excavation of the graves was conducted. The workmen at least collected the pots from these graves, which were subsequently identified as belonging to the Ma’adi culture, the fourth millennium BC Predynastic culture found in northern Egypt.
The cemetery is very close to the three cemetery areas excavated by Junker, and they may all have been used by the same village. Possibly in the beginning of the Dynastic period, later inhabitants of this village moved a short distance south to Ezbet el-Walda, where the largest known cemetery of the Early
Figure 125 Predynastic and Early Dynastic cemeteries in the Ma’adi-Tura region
Settlement(s)
No settlements were found belonging to any of the Tura cemeteries and they have probably been destroyed. Over the past 5,000 years the Nile has changed its course, and now the distance between the Tura limestone cliffs and the Nile is only 2-3km. In Dynastic times the Nile was father to the west, and any evidence of an early settlement(s) has probably been washed away by the river.
The settlement(s) at Tura no doubt played an important role in the development that culminated: in the formation of the Early Dynastic state in Egypt. They were located at one of the most important centers of the Early Dynastic period, exemplified by the tombs of high government officials across the river at North Saqqara.
Tutankhamen, tomb of
Tutankhamen was probably the younger son of the "heretic" pharaoh Akhenaten, and was his ultimate successor. For the first few years of his reign he lived at Tell el-Amarna under his birth-name of Tutankhaten, and almost certainly began a huge tomb there, now numbered 29. When abandoned, this had been cut 45m into the mountain, without yet reaching the intended location of its first chamber.
When he returned to the ancestral capital of Thebes under the name Tutankhamen, by now in his early teens and the figurehead for the restoration of the ancient religion, a new tomb was begun for him in the Valley of the Kings in western Thebes. It should probably be identified with WV 23, which was later used for the burial of his successor, Ay.
This tomb was unfinished at Tutankhamen’s death while the latter was still in his late teens, perhaps as the result of a head injury. Accordingly, he was interred in a modified private tomb in the eastern branch of the Valley of the Kings (KV 62): the putative original tomb was located in the western section of the valley. A number of highly placed private individuals had been buried in that area during the 18th Dynasty, particularly since Amenhotep III had moved the site of his tomb (WV 22) to the remoter western branch. It seems very likely that KV 62 had been intended for General Ay, Tutankhamen’s probable great-uncle, and possible maternal grandfather, who had shared effective control of the country during Tutankhamen’s minority with another army commander. Horemheb.
The tomb, as designed for Ay, seems to have comprised a passageway leading to a main chamber, off of which opened one or two storerooms. When adapted for the young king’s burial, the right-hand wall of the principal chamber was cut away to provide access to a large room, running at right angles to the original apartment, its floor lying around 1m below that of what was now to be the antechamber. The new space was employed as the royal burial chamber, with the king’s sarcophagus installed there.
The quartzite sarcophagus followed the late 18th Dynasty practice of being rectangular, with a cavetto cornice and torus molding. This contrasts with the cartouche-form employed by kings from the time of Hatshepsut to Tuthmose IV, and again from Ramesses I onward, but corresponds to the form of private wooden examples. The four corners of Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus are embraced by the four winged tutelary goddesses, Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Selket. The whole coffer shows extensive signs of reworking, which probably accompanied the change of the king’s second cartouche from "Tutankhaten" to "Tutankhamen." Possibly, however, the sarcophagus might have been taken from the king’s elder brother and Akhenaten’s coregent, Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten, pieces of whose unused funerary equipment were adapted for use in Tutankhamen’s tomb.
The sarcophagus was closed by a granite lid, apparently broken while being lowered into place. The occasion for this accident was probably the discovery that the toes of the outermost coffin were higher than the rim of the sarcophagus, and needed adzing down. This coffin, which depicts the king wearing the -^”-headdress, is part of a set of three, and is made of wood covered with carved gesso and then gilded. The middle coffin is again of wood, elaborately inlaid as well as gilded, and bearing a cloth (nms) headdress. It had been made for the burial of Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten in traditional style, but had not been to the revolutionary taste of Akhenaten, who was responsible for his coregent’s burial following his premature death. Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten had been interred in an adapted coffin, leaving his original one in storage along with other pieces, to be employed for his brother’s burial a decade later.
Tutankhamen’s innermost coffin, which contained the king’s mummy, is made of solid gold and, like the outer examples, is covered with a feathered (rishi) pattern that represents the king as a human-headed bird. Wearing the nms-headdress, it also has inlaid representations of the vulture goddesses, Nekhbet and Edjo, added at a late stage in the coffin’s manufacture.
The mummy was found adorned with a gold portrait mask, gold hands and inlaid golden bands, containing religious formulae. Some additional trappings had been made from odd pieces of unused scrap originally belonging to Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten. Tutankhamen’s mummy wrappings contained huge quantities of jewelry, but the cloth was in a very poor state, having carbonized through the chemical reaction of the unguents with which the royal body had been drenched at the funeral. The unguents had also badly damaged the flesh of the mummy itself, which was stuck to the bottom of the gold coffin. This led to the necessity of dismembering the body in order to extract it for examination by Douglas Derry.
The sarcophagus was surrounded by a series of four gilded wooden shrines, each covered with representations from the various funerary compositions of the Egyptians. At least one had originally been made for a predecessor of Tutankhamen, either Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten, or Akhenaten while still the nominally orthodox Amenhotep IV. A linen pall was also incorporated into the nest, supported on a frame and embellished with gilded rosettes. Such shines were usual in Egyptian royal tombs from at least the reign of Amenhotep II to that of Ramesses IV; the height of the outer shrine accounts for the low floor of the area containing the sarcophagus, a feature also found in royal sepulchers from Amenhotep II onward.
The walls of the burial chamber are the only ones of the tomb to be decorated, with scenes painted on a yellow background. One wall shows. uniquely, the king’s mummy receiving the last rites from Tutankhamen’s successor, King Ay. The appearance of this motif may relate to the known difficulties concerning the succession that occurred after Tutankhamen’s death, and seem to have delayed his burial until eight months after his demise. The other elements of the decoration include the king before various deities, vignettes from the Book of Imyduat, and the king’s catafalque, drawn by his officials. Like the scene with Ay, this latter depiction seems to be unique for a royal sepulcher, although of a type common in private tomb chapels.
A doorway opposite the foot of the sarcophagus leads into a small room, dubbed the "Treasury." A large shrine-shaped chest, upon which rested a canine image of the god Anubis, originally lay at the threshold of the chamber. The most important item in the room was Tutankhamen’s square canopic shrine, of wood, guarded on each side by an image of a tutelary goddess, each apparently adapted from the gilded wooden figure of an Amarna period queen. Within the shrine was the calcite canopic chest, with a goddess carved at each corner and adorned with texts containing formulae associated with the protection of the embalmed internal organs.
The interior of the chest is sculpted in such a manner as to suggest four compartments each holding a canopic jar, but in fact they are all carved as one within the body of the chest. Each "jar" was stopped with a calcite head of the king, and contained a miniature coffin of inlaid solid gold. Each of these is of identical design to the full-size middle coffin, and, like it, all had been made for Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten, traces of whose names can be seen in their interior texts. These coffinettes each held a linen-wrapped bundle of embalmed viscera, and had been heavily anointed with unguents.
The Treasury also held a large number of resin-varnished shrines containing wooden figures of the king and deities, overlaid with gold leaf; some of these were also leftovers from earlier reigns, including possibly the early years of Amenhotep IV. Similar figures have been recovered from other royal tombs, but they were less rich, being merely covered with black varnish. Other containers in the room held a large number of shawabti figures, while also present were a model granary, two chariots, model boats and various other items, including three miniature nests of coffins.
The largest set of coffins, comprising what may have been intended as shawabti coffins of Tutankhamen, contained a gold figure of a king and a lock of the hair of Queen Tiye, Tutankhamen’s grandmother. This has been matched with the hair of a mummy found in the tomb of Amenhotep II, which was thus proclaimed that of the queen. Unfortunately, the archaeological context of this mummy contradicts this identification, and the scientific analysis has been suggested as being possibly flawed. The other two nests of coffins, of designs appropriate to private persons of the later 18th Dynasty, contained the mummies of two premature infants; both were female, and one had suffered from spina bifida. They almost certainly are the remains of offspring of Tutankhamen and his (half?-)sister and wife, Queen Ankhesenamen.
The burial chamber was separated from the antechamber by a false wall and sealed doorway, which was guarded by a pair of wooden, gilded and varnished statues; these are of a type familiar from royal tombs of the Ramesside period. One wall of the antechamber was taken up by three gilded wooden couches, each with a different pair of animal heads, under and on top of which were piled all kinds of food containers and furniture including a richly gilded and inlaid throne. Half of the other side of the room was taken up by four dismantled chariots.
Figure 126 Plan of the tomb of Tutankhamen
A door under one of the couches gave access to the so-called "Annex," a storeroom crowded with all kinds of funerary equipment, badly disturbed by tomb robbers and those who had cleared up after them. The tomb had been entered by robbers on two occasions, not long after the funeral and perhaps in the reign of Horemheb, when the tomb of Tuthmose IV was certainly plundered. A considerable amount of damage had been done, but the innermost shrines and sarcophagus remained intact, suggesting that the thieves were perhaps caught in the act.
After the last robbery and subsequent resealing of the sepulcher, the tomb, which lies in the very bottom of the valley, was progressively covered by debris, in part from the construction of neighboring tombs, until the huts of the artisans working on the tomb begun by Ramesses V (and continued by Ramesses VI (KV 9)), were erected directly above its entrance. Because of this, the tomb was passed by and missed in the orgy of tomb robbing which accompanied the troubles of the late 20th Dynasty.
Through its deep burial and its position near the entrance to the much visited tomb of Ramesses VI, the tomb escaped discovery by the early diggers in the Valley of the Kings, although a number came fairly close. Its entrance was only revealed during the systematic clearance of hitherto uninvestigated parts of the valley by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. The first step of the access stairway was uncovered on November 4, 1922, and work on the tomb and its contents continued until the spring of 1932 when the last artifacts were removed to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The royal mummy, the outer coffin and the sarcophagus remain in the tomb.
The importance of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen is the fact that, alone of all New Kingdom royal tombs, it was essentially intact, thus providing key detailed evidence on the kind of equipment that accompanied a king of that era to the grave. It also allows the reconstruction of some of the fragmentary items recovered from the badly robbed tombs of the period, and provides useful comparison with the burials found in the intact 21st Dynasty tomb of King Psusennes I at Tanis, and the only partly robbed tomb of the 13th Dynasty King Hor at Dahshur.
