Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdom. Wolfram Grajetzki

the box containing the royal insignia. Often these royal insignia are also depicted on coffins of about the same time or slightly earlier. These depictions always include crowns. Is it possible that actual crowns were placed in these small shrines? So far no such crowns have been found. The depictions do not make it clear from what material they were made, but it has been proposed that they were made of fur or some other lightweight organic material.⁴² According to this hypothesis, the crowns depicted in Egyptian art are highly stylized and might originally have looked quite different. This, however, is only a guess. Without further parallels these two boxes remain highly enigmatic. Another option is that they served as receptacles for material left over from the embalming process. There are indeed several cases where the embalming material received its own “burial.” This is always attested outside the tomb chamber, however, and not as close to the coffin as Senebtisi’s boxes.⁴³

17. Clay disk found under the head of Senebtisi’s mummy. From Mace, Winlock 1916, pl. XXVIIIh.

18. Inscriptions on the canopic box of Senebtisi. From Mace, Winlock 1916, p. 37, figs. 19–22.

19. The canopic jars of Senebtisi. From Mace, Winlock 1916, pl. XXXIIIa.

      On the east side of the coffin was a niche for the canopic box. The box was made of cedar, but like the coffins it was already badly decayed when found. The excavators were still able to copy most of the inscriptions, however. The box was inscribed on the east and west sides with short formulae that normally appear on canopic jars, while the texts on the north and south sides are without parallel on canopic boxes (Fig. 18). Within the box were four uninscribed canopic jars. The jars were made of stone, differing in color and size. In contrast, the heads atop the jars were made of wood and were painted.⁴⁴ These jars once contained the entrails of the mummy (Fig. 19).

      Finally, the pottery from the tomb should be mentioned. Two hundred and six vessels were found (Fig. 20). Many of these were small model vessels perhaps specially made for the tomb. There were, however, also nine large dishes. Two of them still contained the bones of animals, evidently part of the eternal food supply or funeral meal for Senebtisi. Another dish was filled with many small saucers, and finally one filled with 125 small clay balls, perhaps imitating incense pellets. These dishes were perhaps normally used for serving food, especially meat.⁴⁵ They belong to the most common pottery vessels found in late Middle Kingdom tombs.⁴⁶ Other vessels found included a type of hemispherical cup that was most likely used for drinking water or other liquids and is very typical of the Middle Kingdom;⁴⁷ small plates that were perhaps for serving dried fruits;⁴⁸ and taller beaker-like vessels once perhaps containing liquid or fat.⁴⁹ All these vessels were most likely important for ensuring the eternal food supply.

20. The pottery from the tomb of Senebtisi. From Mace, Winlock 1916, p. 110, fig. 82.

      Other vessels found were used in rituals. These include four small jars,⁵⁰ perhaps of a type called nemset. They were important for purification and are mentioned several times in Pyramid Texts:⁵¹ “You are cleaned with your four nemset and four aabet jars.”⁵² They also appear in the friezes of objects on the inside of Middle Kingdom coffins (Fig. 21).⁵³ Furthermore, eight examples of each of two different types of larger vessel were also found.⁵⁴ Susan Allen noted that the number four was important.⁵⁵ These eight vessels were either two sets of identical ritual vessels or four sets of vessels for rituals where the same form was used for two different functions. One option is that these are senu vases, placed under an idol of Osiris during the Khoiak festival.⁵⁶

      We shall see that the burial of Senebtisi has many points in common with burials of royal women in the late Middle Kingdom. The pottery is different, however, and has more in common with the pottery found in private burials, while burials of royal women most often contained socalled “queen’s ware,” a pottery style typical of burials of royal women of the late Middle Kingdom copying Old Kingdom fine tableware. This comes as no surprise, since Senebtisi did not have royal status and was most likely not part of the royal family.⁵⁷

21. Two cultic vessels from the tomb of Senebtisi. From Mace, Winlock 1916, pl. XXIV.

      Who Was Senebtisi?

      Senebtisi bears the title “lady of the house.” On some items of her burial equipment she is also attributed with the second name Sathapy, “Daughter of Hapy.”⁵⁸ Beside this, nothing is known for sure about her. Senebtisi is one of the most common names in the late Middle Kingdom, so any identification with another woman of the same name known from other monuments must be highly speculative. Also, to the best of my knowledge, there are no attestations on other monuments for a woman with the double name Senebtisi Sathapy. Senebtisi therefore remains enigmatic. It can only be said for certain that she was a lady of high social status, as indicated by the high standard of her burial equipment.

      The exact date of Senebtisi’s tomb is disputed. Kim Ryholt identified Senebtisi with the namesake grandmother of the Thirteenth Dynasty king Neferhotep I, arguing that the burial is similar to one of the king’s daughter Nubhetepti-khered and is close in style to royal court type burials.⁵⁹ However, court type burials are also well attested for nonroyal women. Furthermore, Senebtisi was not buried with “queen’s ware,” whereas most other king’s daughters had queen’s ware in the burial chamber. This seems to be another indicator that she was not royal, although this argument is weakened by the fact that the king’s daughter Neferuptah was also not equipped with this type of pottery. Neferuptah was buried at the end of the Twelfth or the beginning of the Thirteenth Dynasty.

      More recent research supports the view that Senebtisi most likely lived in the late Twelfth Dynasty. Her coffin is inscribed with complete hieroglyphs, while coffins at the royal residence in the very late Twelfth Dynasty and Thirteenth Dynasty bear incomplete hieroglyphs.⁶⁰ The pottery found in Senebtisi’s burial is also more typical of the late Twelfth Dynasty,⁶¹ although it is problematic to provide such a close date for a tomb via the analysis of pottery.

      THE KING’S DAUGHTER SATHATHORIUNET

      The first two kings of the Twelfth Dynasty were buried at Lisht, perhaps the cemetery of Itjtawy, the capital of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties. Amenemhat II, the third ruler of the dynasty, went north to Dahshur to build his pyramid, while the next king, Senusret II, instead went farther south, near to a place now called Lahun. Lahun is close to the Fayum, a river oasis connected to the Nile via a watercourse. The Fayum was originally a marshland not particularly suitable for agriculture. In the Middle Kingdom, however, the kings started to cultivate this region and built temples and other monuments there. Two royal pyramids were constructed close to the Fayum, one for Senusret II and another for Amenemhat III at Hawara, not far from Lahun.

      Senusret II reigned for only about eight years. Perhaps he was already quite old when he ascended the throne. For that reason he might have chosen a small hill for his pyramid, so that less building material was needed to construct a pyramid of about the same scale as those of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The pyramid measured 106 m at the base and originally rose to a height of about 48 m