In April and May 2023, another part of the field research on Saite-Persian shaft tombs from the middle of the 1^st millennium BC took place in Abusir. This part of the Abusir cemetery, which houses the final resting places of high-ranking officials and military commanders from the 26^th and 27^th Dynasties, serves as a pivotal subject for scholarly examination into ancient Egyptian society during this era. Here, the archaeological team of the Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Faculty of Arts (Charles University) discovered the tomb of a previously unknown dignitary from the time of the Persian invasion of Egypt. “It is a richly decorated shaft tomb of medium size, whose owner, a certain Djehutyemhat, held the office of a royal scribe,” says Ladislav Bareš, who has coordinated Czech excavations of Late Period shaft tombs in Abusir for more than two decades, and adds that “this new find, together with our previous discoveries from this excavation site, as was the large-scale shaft tomb of general Wahibrameryneith, will shed more light on historical changes taking place in Egypt in the turbulent times of the 6-5^th centuries BC.”

The upper part of the tomb, situated above ground, was destroyed already in antiquity. Its burial chamber (3.2 × 2.6 × 1.9 metres in length, width and height) is situated at the bottom of the main shaft measuring 6.6 × 6.6 metres. The burial shaft is located at a depth of 14 metres below ground. To the north of it, a small shaft (1.2 by 1 metre) gave access to the chamber through a narrow horizontal corridor about 3 metres long. Surprisingly enough, the small shaft was partly filled with several dozens of large relief blocks coming from the monumental tomb of General Menekhibnekau situated nearby.

The burial chamber is richly decorated with texts and scenes. The northern (entrance) wall is covered with a long sequence of apotropaic spells against snake bites from the Pyramid Texts. Interestingly, the snakes mentioned in them were on the one hand considered dangerous, but on the other hand, they acted as powerful protectors of the deceased and his mummy. “Whereas in the nearby tomb of Menekhibnekau, the entrance to the burial chamber was protected by gate guardians of Chapter 144 of the Book of the Dead, snakes from the Pyramid Texts take over this role in the tomb of Djehutyemhat,” explains the director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology and an expert on ancient Egyptian language and texts, Renata Landgráfová. The southern and western walls are adorned with ritual offerings and an extensive list of offerings. On the ceiling of the burial chamber, there are depictions of the sun’s journey across the sky in his morning and evening barques, accompanied by hymns to the rising and setting sun.

Inside the burial chamber, covered with relief decoration, is a large stone sarcophagus, which also bears hieroglyphic inscriptions and depictions of gods, both outside and inside. The top side of the sarcophagus lid is adorned with three columns of hieroglyphic text from the liturgy of Chapter 178 of the Book of the Dead, which is composed of excerpts from the much older Pyramid Texts. The longer sides of the lid feature Chapter 42 of the Book of the Dead, dedicated to the deification of the body parts of the deceased, including depictions of individual deities to whom the deceased is assimilated. The shorter walls of the lid bear images of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, accompanied by texts in which they provide protection to the deceased. On the outer walls of the chest of the sarcophagus, there are excerpts from the Coffin Texts and Pyramid Texts, partially repeating the spells that already appear on the walls of the burial chamber. At the bottom of the inner wall of the coffin, Imentet, the goddess of the West is depicted, and the inner sides contain the so-called canopic spells, recited by this goddess and the earth god Geb. “The goddess of the West, depicted inside the sarcophagus, represents a protector and guide, and also the symbolic mother of the deceased,” says Jiří Janák, the team’s expert on interpretation of ancient religious and magical texts. All of these mentioned religious-magical texts were intended to ensure the deceased’s smooth entry into the blessed and well-provided eternal life in the afterlife.

Unfortunately, the tomb of the scribe Djehutyemhat was discovered almost empty, having been robbed (like other tombs in this burial site) probably as early as the 5^th century AD. Anthropological analysis of the skeletal remains, undertaken by leading Egyptian experts, has shown that Djehutyemhat died at a relatively early age (he was approx. 25 years old), bore signs of occupational disease (wear on the spine from sedentary work) and suffered from severe osteoporosis. The latter fact could place him within the family of other inhabitants of this burial site, in whom this disease has also been confirmed (e.g. the famous Iufaa, the owner of a much greater tomb situated nearby, whose intact burial chamber was opened in 1996).

It is therefore possible that most of the owners of the shaft tombs buried in this part of the Abusir necropolis belonged to one extended family, strongly anchored in military elite of the late Saite Egypt. Djehutiemhat’s mother, however, probably came from quite different circles and a different part of the country. Her two names can be translated as “Nubian” and “Vixen”, the latter written in an unusual, probably Berber form. Detailed photographic documentation and analysis of the finds and texts will continue. The assemblage of pottery was rather limited (with exception of ca. 7 torches). It was concentrated in the small northern lateral shaft and contained mainly bowls, jars and lids, almost all covered with fine and thick red burnished slip. As for imports, a fragmentary preserved amphora, the so-called “torpedo jar” from the region of Syria-Palestine, was identified among the finds, as well as a decorated upper part of a Chian amphora. “Surprisingly, one large sherd of a Chian amphora with perfectly smoothed edge might have been re-used by ancient robbers as a shovel,” adds Květa Smoláriková, the Czech team’s expert on Egyptian pottery, as well as Greek imports.

“The recently discovered tomb of the high official Djehutyemhat in Abusir is the latest piece of knowledge in the mosaic of the history of ancient Egypt at the end of its glory in the Late Period, in the 6th century BC,” says Miroslav Bárta, director of Czech archaeological excavations in Abusir, about the latest discovery. He adds: “Shaft tombs represent a specific type of tombs of this era and an attempt of ancient Egyptian elites for a renaissance. They reflect the shape and symbolism of the tomb of the king Djoser, the founder of the famous Old Kingdom, the era of the pyramid builders of the 3rd millennium BC.”

Research on this tomb was funded by the KREAS project and a subsidy from the Czech Ministry of Education.