The
exhibition celebrates 120 years of excavations at the Minya governorate site. Written By/ Nevine
El-Aref.
A
temporary exhibition highlighting 120 years of archaeological excavations in
Deir el-Barsha in Minya will open Thursday evening at the Egyptian Museum in
Tahrir Square. Under
the title Life in Death: The Middle Kingdom at Deir el-Bersha, the exhibition
will be officially inaugurated by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany,
Belgiun Ambassador to Egypt Sibille de Cartier and German Ambassador Julius
Georg Loew.
The
exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Netherlands-Flemish Institute
in Cairo, KU Leuven University in Belgium and Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz in Germany. The
event will be attended by the head of the Belgium-Germany Archaeological
Mission, a number of ambassadors to Egypt from foreign counties, Egyptian
members of parliament and top officials at the antiquities ministry.
Elham
Salah, Head of the Museums Sector at the ministry, told Ahram Online that the
exhibition will be on display for 30 days and will showcase 70 artifacts from
the discoveries at Deir Al-Bersha, which were previously spread throught the
museum’s various galleries or concealed in its basement.
“The
artefacts will for the first time be displayed together,” she pointed out,
revealing that the objects include the distinguished funerary collection from
the tomb of Sepi III.
Among
Sepi III's artefacts are the rectangular box coffins, inscribed with religious
funerary texts, known as coffin texts, which helped the deceased to travel
through the afterlife. Also
among the displaed items are wooden models found in the tomb, which often
depicting activities from daily life such as making food and drink.
The
aim of such models was so that the deceased could enjoy these activities in
eternity. Trays
found in the tombs of Sepi I, Sepi III and Nehri I will also be on display.
These trays, Salah said, are unique as they are made of painted cartonnage,
consisting of a layer of gypsum.
The
individual offerings on these trays are also made of cartonnage, painted in
intricate detail, allowing for the easy identification of objects.
Sabah
Abdel-Razek, General-Director of the Egyptian Museum, said that the site at
Deir Al-Bersha is located 280 km south of Cairo and is best known as the burial
place of the Middle Kingdom governors of el-Ashmunein (c. 2055-1650 BCE).
The
governors built elaborately decorated tombs high on the North Hill of the
Eastern Desert cliffs, while important officials were buried in tomb shafts in
the vicinity of their lords.
The
earliest excavations at Deir el-Bersha began in 1897 when the French
Egyptologist Georges Daressy began exploring the site on behalf of the Egyptian
Antiquities Service. His most spectacular find was the intact burial chamber of
Sepi III.
The
first Egyptian Egyptologist, Ahmed Kamal, continued to work at Deir el-Bersha
from 1900-1902. He excavated several of the elite shaft tombs on the North
Hill, including those of Amenemhat and Nehri I.
During
their expeditions, she explains, Daressy and Kamal discovered an impressive
collection of exemplary Middle Kingdom funerary equipment, such as wooden tomb
models and decorated coffins. The
majority of these objects are kept in the Egyptian Museum and many will be on
display in this exhibit.
In
1915, American Egyptologist George Andrew Reisner excavated for two months at
Deir el-Bersha. His most important discovery was the nearly intact tomb of
governor Djehutinakht IV or V. Since
2002 KU Leuven University has resumed excavations at this site, reinvestigating
several of the areas where these prior excavations took place.
KU
Leuven University has also collaborated with the Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz since 2009 on excavations of five large tomb shafts in front of the tomb
of governor Djehutihotep, most of the contents of which are now in the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo.
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