The Middle Kingdom Ramesseum Papyri Tomb and its Archaeological Context

In 1895–96, William Matthew Flinders Petrie and James Edward Quibell discovered a shaft-tomb below the ‘Ramesseum’, the funerary temple of Ramses II at Thebes, Egypt. This is most famous for having the largest group of Middle Kingdom papyri – also known as the Ramesseum Papyri – found in a single spot together with a number of distinctive objects, such as carved ivory tusks and miniature figurines in various materials dated around XVIII century BC. Gianluca Miniaci attempts to thoroughly reconstruct the archaeological context of the tomb: the exact find spot (forgotten afterwards its discovery), its architecture, the identity of its owner(s) and recipient(s) of the assemblage of artifacts. A detailed analysis of the single artifacts – provided for the first with full color photographic records and drawings – and their network of relations gives new life to the Ramesseum assemblage after more than a century from its discovery.

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title
• Content
• List of Figures and Tables
• Acknowledgement
• Foreword by Campbell Price
• List of abbreviations
• The History of the Discovery
  • The published report
• The Archaeological Context
• The Circulation of the Artefacts
• The Location of the Tomb and its Architecture
• The Dating of the Tomb (Sehetepibre’s)
• The Find-spot of the Group of Objects
• The Assemblage of Artefacts
  • Description of the single artefacts
• The Dating of the Assemblage
• The ‘Contextuality’ of the Assemblage
  • Uniqueness/regularity of the assemblage
  • Breakage
  • Traces of wear
  • Craftsmanship
• The Number and Gender of the Recipient(s) of the Assemblage
  • Single individual assemblage
  • Multiple individual assemblage
  • Gender assumption
• The Identity of the Recipient(s) of the Assemblage
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Plate section