The decorated tombs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom offer detailed knowledge of a society that in all probability was the first nation state in history. Yet scholars continue to find it difficult to access the full potential of this great body of data because so few of the tombs can be dated with sufficient precision to provide a relative chronology for the evidence they offer. The system of dating these monuments presented here builds on the work of previous scholars. In this volume the author explains how the dating method was devised. This required establishing ‘life-spans’ for 104 criteria, features drawn from tomb iconography. The system is then applied to Memphite and provincial monuments spanning the Fourth to the Sixth Dynasties. The findings are that the more criteria a monument contains, the closer the system can narrow its date, certainly to a particular reign and within a generation in some cases. The final chapter analyses and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the system.
Author(s): Joyce Swinton
Series: Archaeopress Egyptology
Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 198
City: Summertown
Cover
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
Acknowledhments
Contents page
Preface
Introduction
1.1 The need to date private tombs
1.2 The proposed dating system
1.3 Defining the end of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period
1.3 Defining the end of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period
Stages in the development of the dating system
1.6 The dating of
provincial tombs
Prosopography for
Tomb Groups A and B
2.1 Data from Giza
2.2 Data from Saqqara
2.3 Data from tombs of Upper Egypt
2.4 The use of personal relationships
2.5 Dating for the prosopography
2.6 Prosopography (Groups A and B)
2.7 Groups A and B officials
Establishing Dating Criteria
3.1 Dress of the male tomb owner
3.2 Adornment of the tomb owner
3.3 The ‘animal skin’ garment
3.4 Tomb owner at the offering table
3.5 Bread and reeds on offering table
3.6 Lists and offerings associated with table
3.7 Priestly figures performing rites
3.8 The offering table
3.9 The female figure
3.10 The banquet scene
3.11 Stools and chairs
3.12 Marsh scenes
3.13 Figures and desriptions of Criteria 1-104
3.14 Tables to establish dating criteria
Testing the Criteria
4.1 Giza tombs
4.2 Saqqara tombs
4.3 Provincial tombs
4.4 Testing the Criteria
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
5.1 The validity of the criteria
5.2 Reliability of the system
5.3 Question of archaizing tombs
5.4 Need for more criteria
5.5 A time lag between cemeteries?
Bibliography
Back cover
