The Magnificent Mummy-Cartonnage of Amunrenef

36 ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2019 The excavation, restoration and enhancement project of the Temple of Millions of Years of the Pharaoh Thutmose III began in 2008. The temple has been greatly reduced from its original state by stone plundering following its abandonment and has suffered erosion from the harsh climatic conditions of its desert location. During the 2016 field season [as reported in AE99 News], a tomb was found just outside the southern enclosure wall of the temple (opposite, top). This tomb was formed by a small shaft dug in bedrock, measuring 1.28m x 1.43m, and 1.60m deep, with a small niche oriented to the west (2.46m x 0.84 m and 0.87m high) which was sealed by mortar-less mud bricks (see opposite, bottom). Inside the niche were the remains of a colourful anthropoid wooden coffin, oriented with the head towards the west, which had significantly deteriorated over time due to damage by xylophagous [wood-eating] insects. But within these fragments we discovered a beautiful polychrome mummy-cartonnage in a good state of preservation, with the remains of a garland of flowers resting on it. It took eight days to move the fragile find out of the niche, requiring the team to first build a box around it inside the niche and to inject materials into the cartonnage to support it from the inside. We have since spent two years conserving and analysing the coffin remains and cartonnage. Coffin Remains The coffin (shown above right and page 38, top) was in a very fragmented state, making a comprehensive assessment THE MAGNIFICENT MUMMY-CARTONNAGE OF AMUNRENEF Myriam Seco Álvarez and Javier Martínez Babón describe their discovery from the Temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III in Luxor ABOVE: The mummy-cartonnage of Amunrenef, discovered with the remains of a colourful wooden coffin, in a tomb at the Temple of Millions of Years of Thutmose III. AE115AlvarezCartonnage_Harp.qxd 22/09/2019 11:43 Page 36 37 problematic, however the head and foot sections were reasonably intact. The head (overleaf, top right) features a wig with green and yellow stripes with a band of white petals. The beardless face is red, with green eye-liner and eyebrows. The foot section retains the end of a vertical inscription consisting of a single line of polychrome ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2019 ABOVE: An aerial view of tomb XXIV within the restored Thutmose III temple complex. BELOW LEFT: The shaft of tomb XXIV. BELOW RIGHT: Plan and section of tomb XXIV. Diagram: Antonio Guío Gómez AE115AlvarezCartonnage_Harp.qxd 22/09/2019 11:43 Page 37 38 ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2019 hieroglyphs on a white background, flanked by red stripes, detailing the name and title of the deceased (above left). Mummy-cartonnage The mummy-cartonnage (Inv. No. 15779 – see below and opposite page) presents a series of religious features related to solar and Osirian myths, intended for the regeneration and protection of the deceased in the afterlife. On the top of the head is a black beetle – a symbol associated with the great solar divinity Khepri – shown against a white background. Bands of dark green and red separate the beetle from a garland of white petals (flanked by red and yellow lines) which tops a long, dark bluishgreen tripartite wig with yellow ends. The red-coloured face has femininelooking features and a serene countenance. The upper part of the chest (opposite, left) is decorated with a wide necklace divided into several stripes containing geometrical shapes, petals and pearls in the shape of teardrops, coloured in yellow, green, white and red. Below this (opposite top right) is a pectoral in the form of a winged deity with outstretched wings made up of green feathers with ABOVE The head and foot of the coffin of Amunrenef; the rest of the coffin was badly damaged. BELOW A view of the cartonnage from the head, showing the black Khepri beetle at the top of the head, surrounded by a green and red band and painted garland of petals. AE115AlvarezCartonnage_Harp.qxd 22/09/2019 11:43 Page 38 ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2019 red tips and yellow highlights, which point upwards at their ends following the shape of the mummy case. The head of this deity is green and shaped like a ram, crowned with a yellow sun disk; in each claw is a shen sign. This god probably represents the sun at the moment of its ascent to heaven (at dawn), as shown in the final scene of the Book of Caverns, which can be seen, for example, in the tombs of Merenptah and Tauseret (below). However, this figure has been the subject of other interpretations, such as a twilight form of Amun-Ra or the soul of Osiris. A line of text written in black on a yellow background runs just under the lower edge of the deity’s wings [best seen in the side views of the mummycartonnage – see page 40] which reads: “Behedeti, the good god” on the coffin’s left side, and “Behedeti” on the right. These 39 ABOVE and LEFT The brightly coloured and wellpreserved cartonnage of Amunrenef, decorated with a series of religious features related to solar and Osirian myths, intended for the regeneration and protection of the deceased in the afterlife. The detail above shows the ram-headed winged deity also seen in the Tomb of Tausret (shown below) . BELOW The ram-headed winged deity in the Tomb of Tausret, (later commandeered by Setnakht). This solar deity is commonly seen on mummy-cartonnage of the Twenty-second Dynasty. Photo: Francesco Gasparetti CC BY 2.0 via wikicommons AE115AlvarezCartonnage_Harp.qxd 22/09/2019 11:43 Page 39 40 ANCIENT EGYPT August/September 2019 ABOVE: Three different views of the mummy-cartonnage of Amunrenef, showing the ram-headed winged deity across the chest, with a solar hawk deity beneath it; the ’Fetish of Abydos’, an emblem of Osiris, runs down the centre, flanked by protective goddesses (Isis on the mummy’s right; Nepthys on the left), hawk gods and, at the feet, the canine deity Wepwawet. The four Sons of Horus are seen on either side below the ram-headed god. OPPOSITE PAGE: The mummy-cartonnage in situ in the niche of tomb XXIV, following conservation work to support the artefact prior to moving it out of the tomb. AE115AlvarezCartonnage_Harp.qxd 22/09/2019 11:43 Page 40