The Sarcophagus – Royal Tomb
This artifact can be found inside a royal tomb and acted as a monumental coffin where a prince mummy or his wife’s mummy was placed. The sarcophagus has engraved pattern of areas to decorate the surface, whose designs imitate those found on palace walls. This alludes to the work of the sarcophagus as being the final resting place of the deceased. The niche front wall can be said to have its basis on the palace since this is where a body of a deceased royal was believed to live eternally. The ancient Egypt had a common belief that the physical body was still useful to the deceased in after life. Hence, it was very necessary for the body to be kept in a safe or secure place. The kinds of niches on the artifact are similar to others at Khasekhemwy found at Abydos in terms of funeral enclosure (Brooklyn, n.d).
The concept of in façade is likely to have been derived from a similar idea used in palace architecture. The reinforcement of the floor on which it rest indicates that it is very heavy and it should be a stone carving done at the time. It is probably that it belonged to AKhet-hotep, a person in the lineage of the 4th Dynasty. Akhet-Hotep, probably Pharaoh Khafre’s kin was an important figure who was buried close to Khufu, a great pyramid (Brooklyn, n.d). This individual can be seen wearing a short kilt, which may indicate a young person full of activities. The sarcophagus does not have a mommy inside, which means that it could possibly belonged to a prince who body was never placed inside.
The sarcophagus lid and the rest of its parts are made if red granite. Actually the box and its over are carved from the same granite material. It is likely that the granite was acquired in quarries in Egypt but it must have needed a lot of effort to move it. The lid has some holes on it, probably for the purpose of placing it properly or the holes could have been drilled to make the heavy lid easily maneuverable. May be poles could be placed into the holes or some ropes used to close the sarcophagus after the owner’s death. A closer look at its sides reveals some repeated lines which, as aforementioned, make the artifact appear more like the palace walls. The ate-fact also has façade paneling found around all the exterior surfaces of this box and lacks any inscription (Brooklyn, n.d).
It is upright; every end of it over runs full width and having two drilled holes. The cover itself is not decorated and this probably means that it was not finished. Three corners of the box appear to be chapped with some scattered chips all along its base. Generally, the sarcophagus appears to be an excellent condition (Brooklyn, n.d). While some other sarcophagus together with their structures appears to have greatly been destroyed, this one seems to have been held in place with minimal damages to its patterns and carvings. The important questions that person would actually want to be sure of is for whom the royal tomb was built and the appropriate time when it was built. Its carving is similar to other sarcophagus found in the same region even though patterns may differ.
Reference
Brooklyn, (n.d).Sarcophagus .Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art. Retrieved from: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3519
