22. Pyramid of Senusret II at Lahun. Drawn by the author.
In 1914, the pyramid and its complex were excavated by William M. Flinders Petrie and Guy Brunton. South of the pyramid they discovered four shaft tombs; one of them was the hidden entrance to the king’s pyramid, the others most likely belonged to female members of the king’s family. All the tombs were found heavily robbed, and the name of the owner could be ascertained for only one tomb, with the modern number 8 (Fig. 23). This was the king’s daughter Sathathoriunet (“daughter of Hathor, of Denderah”).62 Her tomb was the smallest and had been robbed like the others, except for a niche that was found full of jewelry. The tomb consisted of a 6.6 m deep shaft. At the north end it opened into a small antechamber, about 1.5 m below the level of the shaft. A niche on the west side was found undisturbed, evidently overlooked by ancient robbers of the tomb. Next to the antechamber was the burial chamber, completely occupied by the big granite sarcophagus of the princess. At the southern end of the sarcophagus chamber, on the east side, was a further niche. Here was placed the canopic chest containing four inscribed canopic jars.63 The texts on the jars provide the title of Sathathoriunet: “king’s daughter.” At the back on the east side is a further chamber, which was found looted but still contained some pottery shards, beads, and an alabaster and obsidian eye, perhaps from an anthropoid coffin. The most important object was a jar for purification water, typical of royal burials of the late Middle Kingdom. It bears a purification spell and also mentions Sathathoriunet (see Fig. 37 on p. 45).64
23. Plan of burial chamber of Sathathoriunet with niche with jewelry boxes. Drawn by the author.
As already mentioned, the small niche in the first chamber was found undisturbed. Water had flooded the chamber, however, and so most of the organic material had perished by the time of the excavation. Petrie and Brunton soon realized the importance of this find. They recorded the find spots of all the objects in great detail and were able to reconstruct the contents of the chamber and even the jewelry and boxes found there. Most of the jewelry was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and today forms one of the highlights of the collection.
Herbert Winlock, who worked for the Egyptian Department of the Metropolitan Museum, had a further look at the tomb and the treasures after they came to New York. He published a detailed study of this find. In the following description of the treasure I follow his reconstructions.
Winlock counted fives boxes in this small niche. From two boxes several inlays survived, and so he was able to reconstruct them with some certainty. The box labeled 1 by Winlock was originally about 44.5 cm long, 31 cm wide, and perhaps 37 cm high. It was decorated on the outside with ivory slabs showing stylized doors and djed pillars, six of the latter on the long sides and four on the short ends. The lid was curved and decorated with four Hathor heads with horns and a sun disk between them made of thin gold sheet. Between the heads were three slabs of ivory with the throne name, birth name, and Horus name of King Amenemhat III. The box was evidently crafted under the king and was perhaps a gift to the princess. It is among the most elegant examples of Middle Kingdom furniture (Fig. 24). Exact parallels have yet to be found, though some finds at Dahshur indicate the existence of similar boxes.
24. Jewelry box of Sathathoriunet (reconstruction). From Winlock 1934, pl. IB.
A second box was simpler but also decorated with ivory on the outside.65 The long sides were decorated with most likely five stylized doors and the short ends with three. Inside the remains of this box were found alabaster jars for sacred oils. Boxes for such jars are more often of a different shape and much simpler, however, which suggested to Winlock that this box was originally made as a container for jewelry. A third box was perhaps decorated with gold foil and contained jars. This reconstruction again comes from Winlock, while Mace assigned the gold foil to the second box. Of a possible fourth box nothing survived, but it was reconstructed by Winlock, who believed that it once contained the crown of Sathathoriunet, not found in any surviving remains of a box or container. Made entirely of wood, the box had perished by the time the niche was excavated. The presence of a fifth box, although completely disintegrated when found, was identified from a pile of brown dust. Close to these faint traces were found copper nails without heads and others with golden heads. Some silver foil was also found in the same area. All this might indeed come from one box, which would have been the largest one in the niche. It was about 36.5 cm wide, 25.4 cm high, and at least 55 cm long. Within the remains of the box nothing was found, so one can only guess at its original contents, which must have been some organic material that decayed and left no traces. Brunton suggested that this box was for a wig.
The unique piece among the princess’s items of jewelry was her crown (Fig. 25).66 It is a golden circlet decorated with a uraeus at the front and with fifteen rosettes all around. It has an diameter of 19 cm. The band of the circlet is 2.7 cm wide and about 0.4 cm thick. The uraeus is of gold with inlays of lapis lazuli (a semiprecious stone imported from Afghanistan), carnelian, and glazed material that had disintegrated to white powder when found. Attached to the circlet were golden “plumes.” Under the crown were found 1,251 small golden tubes. These were originally most likely part of the king’s daughter’s wig or hair cover. Similar crowns are known from depictions in the tomb of the local governor Ukh-hotep IV at Meir.67 In one scene, several musicians are represented in front of the tomb owner. They are each wearing a similar crown, but slightly simpler, with just one plume shown at the back of a circlet and going up. They are shown at a religious festival, most likely in honor of Hathor, who was the main deity of Qis68 (Meir was the cemetery of Qis). The interpretation of the plume is disputed. Staehlin regards it as the symbol of Ukh, who was an important deity and symbol at Meir, which is written with a symbol similar to the plume of the crown.69 The Ukh symbol was also closely related to Hathor.70
25. The crown of Sathathoriunet. From Brunton 1920, pl. V.
Another fine piece of jewelry found in the tomb is the pectoral with the throne name of Senusret II as the central element (Fig. 26).71 Inlaid with carnelian, lapis lazuli, and turquoise, it is a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian gold work. The piece is a work of inlays set in a golden frame in cloisonné work, a technique whereby a gold foil outline shape is fixed to a metal base, forming cells that are filled with glaze or semiprecious stones.72 In ancient Egypt, the technique reached its peak in the Middle Kingdom with these pectorals. The center is formed of the hieroglyphics for the throne name of Senusret II: Khakheperre. On either side is a Horus falcon with a sun disk on its head. Each falcon has one leg resting upon a shen ring, while the other leg is raised to the sign meaning “million years” in the middle of the composition under the cartouche. This sign consists of a man sitting on the ground and holding in each raised hand a palm rib, the sign for “year.” Furthermore, from the right arm of the sitting figure hangs a tadpole, which is the hieroglyphic sign for one hundred thousand. On each of the heads of the falcons is a sun disk with a uraeus cobra. From the body of the cobra hangs an ankh sign, the symbol for “life.” Altogether, the pectoral can be read as: “The sun god is granting millions and hundreds