Tomb of Queen Heterpheres

Queen Hetepheres I lived during the 4th dynasty (Old Kingdom) of Ancient Egypt. She is thought by some to have been the daughter of Huni and Djefatnebti, the principal wife of Sneferu and the mother of Khufu.

Hetephere's tomb remained safe and undiscovered until 1925 AD. The tomb itself consisted of a deep shaft (30 meters) which then led into a single chamber this chamber at the time of its discovery was still sealed with limestone blocks. Inside this chamber were the grave goods of queen Hetepheres

The tomb as it appeared when opened after, now labeled G 7000x on the maps of the Giza Plateau, took ten years to excavate:





Dunham taking a look

An inscription on a chair recovered from her tomb describes her as "Mother of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Follower of Horus, Guide of the Ruler, Favourite one, She whose every word is done for her, the daughter of the god's body, Hetepheres"

Work on clearing the tomb moved very slowly - most of the wood in the burial furniture had decayed almost completely, it was only through the patient work of Reiner and his team that later reconstructions were possible. Reisner delayed opening the sarcophagus and canopic chest until the rest of the tomb was cleared and properly recorded. And then on March 3 1927, before a group of distinguished gentlemen, the order was given to raise the sarcophagus lid - within a few moments disapointment struck - the sarcophagus was empty! At this point Reisner rose and announced that

'I regret Queen Hetepheres is not receiving...'

Some of the objects in her tomb
















Where was the mummy?

It is theorized that the original tomb had been robbed and the mummy taken for the jews and gold included in such burials, mummies were often burned to free up this wealth. The materials were re-interred in the more secure shaft tomb in the necropolis of Giza

Reisner (Goerge Reisner head archaeologist of the expedition) conjectured that Hetepheres had been originally buried near her husband's pyramid in Dahshur, but the tomb was broken into shortly after her burial. He thought the robbers had opened the sarcophagus, stolen the mummy with all its gold trappings, but had fled before taking the rest of the treasures. Reisner proposed that the officials responsible for the tomb, in order to avoid his wrath, told Khufu that the mummy was still safely inside the sarcophagus. He then ordered the sarcophagus and all the funerary equipment reburied at Giza, near his own pyramid

Other theories are:

Dr. Mark Lehner has suggested that tomb G7000X was Hetepheres' original tomb and that her second tomb was the pyramid G1-a. He conjectured that the mummy of the queen was removed from G7000X when the pyramid was completed and that some of the grave goods were left behind when the queen was reburied. A third possibility, outlined by I.E.S. Edwards in his review of Lehner's theory, is that G7000X was meant to be Hetepheres' final resting place and that the mummy was robbed from that structure shortly after her burial. It may be possible that a superstructure in the form of a pyramid was planned for shaft G7000X

Map to where the shaft tomb was excavated and the satellite pyramid associated with her



Detailed information on the excavation

Details on the excavation of Queen Heterpheres tomb

Another link to Queen Heterpheres and the source for many of the images above

Wikipedia summary about Queen Hetepheres

Great thread Hanslune, Its to bad when they opened her sarcophagus the body was missing..The objects they found in her in her tomb are just beautiful ! S&F peace,sugarcookie1

Originally posted by sugarcookie1
Great thread Hanslune, Its to bad when they opened her sarcophagus the body was missing..The objects they found in her in her tomb are just beautiful ! S&F peace,sugarcookie1

Here 'stuff' was a bit overshadowed by the Tut discovery but her things are 1,500 years older I do believe.

I tried to 'quote' the picture but I am having difficulty and keep getting the wrong one...could you tell me, if you know, what the long narrow box is for, or contained, if anything? And what the decoration is? Please.

reply to post by Biliverdin


Link to George Reisner book on the tomb and his work at the Giza necropolis

The general sources just show it as an inscripted box; there is probably more info at the link above. Unfortunately I have never read that specific book. You could also ask at the Hall of Ma'at they have people quite knowledgeable in the details of Egyptology

reply to post by Hanslune


I don't suppose you know which chapter to reference? Not sure that my curiousity is piqued enough to read a whole book to find out that no further information than you have already given is in there...but I appreciate the link anyway and will consider it an option should my curiousity better me. However, I take it then that such an item has not been found at other burials, and was possibly a personal, rather than a ceremonial item?

(Looking through the 'List of Plates'...I am very intrigued as to what a 'Reserve head' is...so might read it afterall
)

reply to post by Biliverdin


Like you I don't have the urge to read the entire book ! Try the index and contents, good luck!

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by Biliverdin

 

Like you I don't have the urge to read the entire book ! Try the index and contents, good luck!

Haha...yeah done that...not helpful. I don't like online books, I need a hard-copy, so I may have to just forget that I was ever curious. Many thanks all the same...

reply to post by Biliverdin


Now see what you have done! You've tweaked my interest ,I'll post elsewhere to see if anyone knows what the purpose of the box was....watch this space!

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by Biliverdin

 

Now see what you have done! You've tweaked my interest ,I'll post elsewhere to see if anyone knows what the purpose of the box was....watch this space!

Hehe...I shall...Thank you!

Originally posted by Biliverdin

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by Biliverdin

 

Now see what you have done! You've tweaked my interest ,I'll post elsewhere to see if anyone knows what the purpose of the box was....watch this space!

Hehe...I shall...Thank you!

The answer is.....



The image above shows the box with the canopy frame and furniture. Archeological fragments suggest the canopy was hung with linen drapery stored in the “curtain box,” foreground. Linen draperies protected royal sleepers from insects and provided privacy.

Among the objects found in the tomb , the canopy holder with its magnificent inlaid decorations . It was mainly made of wooden blanks that were totally ruined by the passage of time , but it was restored later and the decorations over it were kept in their original position . Among the scenes painted over the canopy are two mirror images separated with the figure of Nekhbet , the god-vulture . This box encloses the the headrest of the queen that was lined with a thick layer of gold and silver .

Information from above from Clem Ciamarra at the Hall of Ma'at

reply to post by Hanslune


What is this supposed to be (thing in the box)? It's looks like it was some sort of electrical cell or a transformer perhaps. edit: yeah it definitely looks more like a transformer. It seems to have a toroid-type iron core with two windings wrapped around each end. Fascinating.


edit: here's a pic to help you understand what I'm talking about:


And this actually looks like it might be a cubit ruler, not just a box. Look at the lines etched along the top.

Those are some sumptuous furnishings, the AE had style, no denying that! The Bedroom set is downright gorgeous.



I presume the feature at the "foot" of the bed is really a headrest, to preserve the head-dressing of the Queen while she slept (similar to the kind used in Japan by the Geisha)?



To the poster above: Those appear to be bracelets in a jewelry box, and not a "transformer".

reply to post by ChaoticOrder

The top photo looks like a bracelet box to me, complete with several pieces. Have you never seen modern ones for sale displayed on such a thing? Some larger jewelry hutches do have these as well, for the very purpose of safe keeping. Perhaps this type of storage for them is nothing new at all.

The box, I'm sure, is a linens box. I didn't catch the dimensions, but if it was a measuring device, it would have been awfully large & cumbersome to use, considering placement & apparent size in the replica photo.

reply to post by Nyiah

The top photo looks like a bracelet box to me, complete with several pieces.

That could be what it is actually, I didn't even think of that. The answer would be easy to work out if we could tell if the metal looking stuff is actually looping around or if it's just a series of disconnected bracelets.

The box, I'm sure, is a linens box. I didn't catch the dimensions, but if it was a measuring device, it would have been awfully large & cumbersome to use, considering placement & apparent size in the replica photo.

You're right, I didn't realize how large the box actually was. It's much too large to be used as a ruler.

reply to post by Hanslune


Another great thread thanks Hanslune. Wish there was more of this type of thread and less of other types - oh well, wishful thinking i know!

What are your own views on the disappearing mummy then? If she was Khufu's mother, and beloved by the people (as claimed, although it does tend to say similar things on royal tombs worldwide!) then i am thinking the pyramid idea is actually probably not too far off the mark?

Originally posted by Hanslune

Originally posted by Biliverdin

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by Biliverdin

 

Now see what you have done! You've tweaked my interest ,I'll post elsewhere to see if anyone knows what the purpose of the box was....watch this space!

Hehe...I shall...Thank you!

The answer is.....

The image above shows the box with the canopy frame and furniture. Archeological fragments suggest the canopy was hung with linen drapery stored in the “curtain box,” foreground. Linen draperies protected royal sleepers from insects and provided privacy.

Among the objects found in the tomb , the canopy holder with its magnificent inlaid decorations . It was mainly made of wooden blanks that were totally ruined by the passage of time , but it was restored later and the decorations over it were kept in their original position . Among the scenes painted over the canopy are two mirror images separated with the figure of Nekhbet , the god-vulture . This box encloses the the headrest of the queen that was lined with a thick layer of gold and silver .

Information from above from Clem Ciamarra at the Hall of Ma'at

Ah hah...well for starters having a sense of proportion certainly helps...I had no idea that it was so large, it looked dinky in the first image...and having glanced through the book that you linked earlier I wonder if that is the box that is discussed as carrying the Queen into the tomb before she was placed in the sarcophagus (spelling?), I'd dismissed that previously thinking that the box in question was ony about 30 cms long.

Thank you for your trouble, very much appreciated.

As much as these people believed in the after life and having their material possessions (and sometimes animals) come into the afterlife with them, would they really move her body and not her things as well? I think this would be horrible in the way of their thinking. She wouldn't be able to use these items in the afterlife.

Thank you for the beautiful pictures and interesting find that I did not know about. I might give that book a glance. I love this era of our history.

Originally posted by Biliverdin
[
Ah hah...well for starters having a sense of proportion certainly helps...I had no idea that it was so large, it looked dinky in the first image...and having glanced through the book that you linked earlier I wonder if that is the box that is discussed as carrying the Queen into the tomb before she was placed in the sarcophagus (spelling?), I'd dismissed that previously thinking that the box in question was ony about 30 cms long.

Thank you for your trouble, very much appreciated.

Yes I was surprize too at the actual size of the box, it appeared to me, in isolation, to be a small object.

Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Hanslune

 

Another great thread thanks Hanslune. Wish there was more of this type of thread and less of other types - oh well, wishful thinking i know!

What are your own views on the disappearing mummy then? If she was Khufu's mother, and beloved by the people (as claimed, although it does tend to say similar things on royal tombs worldwide!) then i am thinking the pyramid idea is actually probably not too far off the mark?

I'd side with that one (that she was later moved to the pyramid built for her) and for some reason they didn't think of moving the rest of the stuff to the satellite pyramid but why bury the stuff with no body? Mysterious

Considering human emotions; I'd would say Khufu probably wanted his Mom buried near him

[fringe mode on] she was one of the aliens that dissolves when she dies[/fringe mode off]

Oh and on the other box - yes its a bracelet box, the box and rollers are modern, the metal bracelets rather old