According to the German Institute of Archeology or DAI, "Dra' Abu el-Naga is one of the longest occupied necropolis of Ancient Egypt: it was used as a burial place almost continuously between the Middle Kingdom and the early Christian (Coptic) periods, i.e. a period of ca. 2500 years. The oldest graves documented so far date to the end of the 11th dynasty (ca. 2000 B.C.). During the Seventeenth Dynasty and early 18th dynasty, kings and their families were interred here. The social spectrum of the private necropolis ranges from simple burials with few grave goods to the burials of higher-ranking individuals e.g. the High Priests of Amun of Karnak and other high officials. In the early Middle Kingdom, at the end of the Second Intermediate Period and at the beginning of the New Kingdom Dra' Abu el-Naga was the site of the residence cemetery, as Thebes/Waset had at this time become the imperial capital and seat of government. Dra' Abu el-Naga's significance as a holy burial ground, which increased with the presence of the royal tomb complexes, resulted primarily from its position directly opposite the Temple of Karnak: The Temple of Karnak is known to have been the main cult centre of Amun from the Middle Kingdom and then became one of Ancient Egypt's most important temples during the New Kingdom."[1]
During the Coptic eras, a monastery, Deir el-Bakhît, identified as the historical Theban Monastery of Saint Paulos,[2] was built on the hilltop above the pharaonic cemetery.[1]
Excavation
Deir el-Bakhit
The DAI in cooperation with Ludwig Maximilian University had been conducting work on the Deir el-Bakhit monastery from 2001 until at least 2004, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Günter Burkard and PD Dr. Daniel Polz.[3]
Pharaonic-Era Tombs
According to the DAI, "Individual scenes from decorated graves, which are situated in the necropolis and date to the New Kingdom, were documented and published in 1845 during the course of the expedition led by Carl Richard Lepsius. The first significant and to some extent documented excavations were undertaken by Joseph Passalacqua between 1822 and 1825 and concentrated on a number of shaft graves. Particular interest in Dra' Abu el-Naga came as a result of the discovery of three royal coffins of the Second Intermediate Period, one of which belonged to Nubkheperre Intef, which had been found by grave robbers in 1827 and then bought by the British Museum, London in 1835."[1] (The other two coffins were for pharaoh Kamose and his wife Ahhotep II.)[4]
"In the years 1860 to 1862 Auguste Mariette initiated the apparently successful search of the tomb of this king. Mariette however did not document the location of the tomb and only an extremely cursive short description exists today. At the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century a number of ventures were undertaken in Dra' Abu el-Naga, during the course of which individual graves and grave clusters were excavated and their decoration documented (e.g. Northampton/Spiegelberg/Newberry, 1898/99; H. Gauthier, 1906; Carter/Carnarvon, 1908; W.M.F. Petrie, 1909)."[1]
Clarence Fisher of the University of Pennsylvania Museum led an excavation effort from 1921–1923.[5] This included work "in the tombs of New Kingdom officials and the mortuary complex of the 18th Dynasty king Amenhotep I and his wife Nefertari (1525–1504 B.C.)"[5] Lanny Bell continued work at this site in 1967 concentrating on "the epigraphic recording and conservation of the decorated rock-cut tombs of Dynasty 19 (1292–1190 B.C.)."[5] The work at the site provided significant artifacts for the Museum including statuary, pottery funerary furnishings and painted reliefs.[5]
From 1991 to 2000, the DAI in cooperation with the University of California Los Angeles undertook an excavation of the area "as, up until [then], little was known about the architecture and composition of graves and funerary practices of the Second Intermediate Period and early New Kingdom (13th 18th dynasty, ca. 1790–1425 B.C.)."[1] They in particular wanted to focus on the royal tomb complexes of the 17th dynasty, because prior to their work, "the general knowledge of these tombs was based on individual objects, which were part of their funerary equipment, but which lacked any definite provenience (e.g. two gilded wooden coffins and a limestone pyramidion). Such objects were stolen from their tombs during the 19th century and then gradually found their way into the art trade and finally into various European collections. The burial complexes themselves and their exact location remained undocumented. Consequently one main objective was the localisation of these tombs, the recording of their architecture and the reconstruction of the original context of the objects, which formed part of their burial equipment."[1]
Archeological work has been done in the area by the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid since January 2002.[4] "The mission started focusing in and around the rock-cut tomb-chapels of Djehuty and Hery (TT 11 and 12), two high officials who served under Hatshepsut and Queen Mother Ahhotep respectively, ca. 1520–1460 BCE....in 2008 the Spanish mission discovered an 11th/early 12th Dynasty burial three feet (one meter) below the floor of the open courtyard of the tomb-chapel of Djehuty (TT 11), including a wooden coffin painted in red with a polychrome inscription along its four sides and the lid. The mummy of its owner, called Iqer, was resting on his left side, with three staves and two bows placed along his body."[4] 20 funerary shafts, four mudbrick offering chapels, four more rock-cut tombs from the 11th/early 12th dynasty, and a 9x7 (3 meters x 2.2.meters) funerary garden have been unearthed since 2011.[4] This garden, lined with silt and lime mortar, "combined plants associated with food offerings, together with other plants that probably had an aesthetic and/or symbolic use, to be presented to the deceased as a wish for life/rebirth."[4]
In 2023, an Egyptian mission discovered in Dra' Abu el-Naga' a burial chamber with the granite sarcophagus of vizier Ankhu from the early 13th Dynasty.[6]
Tombs and structures
Theban Necropolis
There are at least 415 cataloged tombs in the Theban Necropolis, of which Dra' Abu el-Naga' is a part. Of these, the following are in Dra' Abu el-Naga' specifically.
TT231 Nebamun, scribe, counter of grain of Amun in the granary of divine offerings (18th Dynasty)
TT232 Tharwas, scribe of the divine seal of the Amun treasury (Ramesside Period)
TT233 Saroy and Amenhotep, Royal Scribe of the offering table of the Lord of the Two Lands, Royal Scribe of the king's repast, Keeper of the royal documents in the presence (of the king), Leader of the Festival, Cattle Counter in the Estate of Amun, Royal Messenger to the hill country, Overseer of the hunters of Amun (Ramesside Period)
It is possible that the complexes K93.11 and K93.12 could be attributed to king Amenhotep I and his mother Ahmose-Nefertari.[3]
The remains of the pyramid of king Nubkheperre Intef (one of the last kings of the 17th Dynasty) were discovered and excavated in 2001. Evidence shows that it had originally been penetrated by tomb robbers in 1827. [3]
^ abcdef"Dra' Abu el-Naga/Western Thebes". Dra' Abu el-Naga/Western Thebes: An archaeological investigation of a residence necropolis in Upper Egypt (Luxor). Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Archived from the original on 2008-01-27. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
^Roccati, Alessandro (2000). "Una stela di Firenze recentemente ricomposta". In Russo, Simona (ed.). Atti del V Convegno Nazionale di Egittologia e Papirologia. Firenze, 10-12 dicembre 1999 (in Italian). Florence: Istituto Papirologico "G. Vitelli". pp. 213–215.
^Rainer, Leslie. Reviewed Work: The Nebamun Wall Paintings: Conservation, Scientific Analysis and Display at the British Museum by Andrew Middleton, Ken Uprichard, Studies in Conservation, vol. 55, no. 2, [Taylor & Francis, Ltd., Maney Publishing, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works], 2010, pp. 146–48 "...the location of the tomb and any records about its excavation have been lost, apparently because of the secrecy with which early excavations in Egypt were conducted as excavators and collectors vied for their treasures.... Analytical results... indicate the location of the tomb-chapel of Nebamun in the vicinity of Dra Abu el-Naga."
Bibliography
Marilina Betrò, Del Vesco Paolo, Gianluca Miniaci: Seven seasons at Dra Abu El-Naga. The tomb of Huy (TT 14): preliminary results, Progetti 3, Pisa 2009
