Spanish archaeologists excavating an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Theban Necropolis opposite Luxor have discovered an unexpected order to how the 16 mummified human remains were placed within it over several centuries.
The team studying chamber three of tomb TT 209 also found the completely unexpected remains of a mummified dog placed carefully among the ancient burials, suggesting a deep connection between humans and animals or a previously unidentified ritualistic practice.
Researchers Document Ancient Egyptian Tomb in Detail
The Theban Necropolis contains over 400 tombs. Previous studies have determined that the burial space was used and reused from its construction during Egypt’s Twenty-fifth Dynasty (754-656 BCE) until its abandonment during the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BCE).
However, archaeologists are still searching for new clues to the people who built them and those buried inside. Dr Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo, a professor of Egyptology at the University of La Laguna and the senior author of the study detailing the team’s discoveries, said researchers have “few details” about how people who entered the tombs behaved. Dr. Polo also noted a lack of knowledge about these people’s motivation “in each historical period” the site was in use, and how they “conceptually reconfigured the pre-existing space” as time passed.
The research team ultimately determined that the best way to explain the methodology for placing the human remains and individual dog remains found in the ancient Egyptian tomb was to excavate the chamber and photograph the mummies. They also decided to create sketches and descriptions of the mummy’s position, orientation, and any possible relationship with the overall structure.
Archaeologists Unearth 16 Mummified Bodies and Related Funerary Items
As the team began cataloging their findings, they realized the chamber contained nine funerary deposits, which they described as “individual and multiple burials.” The site also contained several “associated funerary objects.”
“We found a total of 16 mummified human individuals, a mummified dog, and a disturbed deposit containing the remains of at least four individuals,” explained Dr. Jared Carballo-Pérez, a researcher at the University of La Laguna and the study’s first author.
After further examination, a pattern began to emerge. For example, the earliest burials were relatively separated. These earliest bodies were also placed in coffins, with funerary nets and amulets. These burials also contained what Dr. Molinero Polo termed “an assemblage containing costly items, such as the contents held in Phoenician amphorae,” placed with or near them. The research said these discoveries suggest that these individuals were likely “of high social standing.”
When the researchers examined the second layer, they noted that bodies were less carefully placed and instead “inserted into any space available.” Critically, this shift occurred towards the end of the 25th dynasty and into the Persian period (around 680-404 BCE).
Examples of the new interment method include limb positioning. In one case, an arm was found folded in, and in others, two arms were folded.
This positioning differed from earlier burials, where the arms were stretched out. The team also cataloged a change in body position in the ancient Egyptian tomb, with later mummies deposited vertically. The team said the resulting “superposition of bodies” was found in two-thirds of the burial chamber.
Still, Dr. Molinero Polo explained, although the vertically positioned bodies were not placed in coffins, the remains were “carefully mummified.” The researcher said the later internments “can be associated with upright jars that point to a specific ritual not found in the earlier phases of the tomb’s use.”
Mummified Dog Buried with Humans Suggests Intimate Relationship
Perhaps the most unexpected find inside the ancient Egyptian tomb was the remains of a mummified dog. Even more unexpected, the animal’s remains were buried with human remains “one on top of another.”
“One detail I find quite beautiful is the presence of a mummified dog placed directly on top of the mummies of a man and a woman,” said Carballo-Pérez.
The researcher said this preferred, intimate placement could suggest a close relationship between the animal and its humans, “an idea that I think is quite easy to empathize with.” Carballo-Pérez said the unexpected placement could also reflect a change in funerary or ritualistic practices, “with an animal taking on the role of a psychopomp, a symbolic helper in the journey to the afterlife.”
Although an initial examination gave the team the impression the site’s internment became less organized over the centuries, they said that impression was likely false. For example, the team notes that bodies buried in the Osirian position, meaning both arms folded, suggest that the ancient Egyptian tomb “did not become disordered or without structure, or that cultural rites were lost.”
“The detailed study of the bodies indicates neither chaotic accumulation nor a loss of the original ritual over time,” Dr. Carballo-Pérez explained. “Rather, there was a spatial logic in which each new deposition was adapted to the presence of previous bodies – a kind of funerary memory in the processes of reuse.”
The team conceded that it was sometimes difficult to identify the sequence of some of the funerary deposits, including what they described as the “disturbed” remains of four individuals. They also suggest that the chamber was likely flooded several times over the centuries, experienced periodic fires, and human re-entry, which “transported debris within the tomb.”
Still, Carballo-Pérez concluded that their findings suggest deposits previously considered ‘disordered’ can now be reinterpreted.
“This helps us develop a better understanding of the social behaviors behind funerary practices,” the researcher explained.
The study “From individualized mummies to collective accumulations: an archaeothanatological analysis of funerary reuse in Theban Tomb 209 (Twenty-Fifth Dynasty–Ptolemaic Egypt)” was published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org