One consists of a series of flowers each with four leaves. Each flower is connected via gold wires on which smaller flowers are attached.146 The flowers were made of gold with inlays of carnelian, lapis lazuli, and turquoise (Fig. 46). The second crown is heavier and consists of a series of eight identical elements. In the middle are a rosette and two flowering rushes. Further rosettes connect these elements. On top of the rosette is again some kind of flowering rush, and there is a royal vulture. All pieces are made of gold and inlaid with carnelian, lapis lazuli, and turquoise. On the front is a vulture made of gold leaf with inlaid eyes of obsidian. Attached to the back is a tree (Fig. 47).147 Both crowns are dominated by the colors gold, red, and blue.
46. First crown of Khenmet (diameter c. 18 cm). From de Morgan 1903, pl. IX.
47. Second crown of Khenmet (diameter c. 20.5 cm). Cairo CG 52860. From Vernier 1925, pl. XXII.
48. The “foreign” jewelry of Khenmet (medallion in the center c. 2.85 cm). From de Morgan 1903, pl. XII.
The most remarkable items in Khenmet’s jewelry box were gold pieces of unknown function but perhaps belonging to a necklace (Fig. 48). These pieces appear un-Egyptian in character and were most likely produced somewhere in the Aegean, perhaps specifically on Crete.148 With these pieces appears for the very first time in Egypt the gold-working technique of granulation, whereby small gold balls are attached to another gold surface. This technology was very common in antiquity but was forgotten in medieval times and only rediscovered in the twentieth century. It was developed in Mesopotamia and reached Egypt in the late Middle Kingdom. The technology was only rarely employed in the Middle Kingdom, being more common in the New Kingdom.149 The centerpiece of the group in Khenmet’s tomb is a round golden pendant with glass inlays depicting a cow.150 Perhaps attached to it were golden open-work rosettes fully covered with granulation.151 There are two smaller rosettes and two bigger ones. Two stars are not open-work. The same is true of a golden butterfly.152 All these pieces are covered with granulation. Other pieces in this set include several golden shells and several pieces resembling stylized flies. Finally, there are more than twenty small birds153 and golden chains already broken and repaired in ancient times.154 The birds in particular have close parallels with Minoan treasure found on the Greek island of Aigina, confirming the impression that this jewelry was not made in Egypt.155
Perhaps also of foreign workmanship are several ribbed beads that do not appear with any frequency in other Middle Kingdom burials but are found in the Near East and the Aegean, notably at Byblos and in the Aigina Treasure.156 Other pieces of jewelry from Khenmet’s burials include several motto clasps, similar to those found in the burial of Sathathoriunet (Fig. 49).157
49. Jewelry of Khenmet with choker at bottom. Cairo JE 31113–16 (cat. 107). Photo: Juergen Liepe.
The other objects in the tomb include a set of canopic jars and a large series of pottery, most of it especially made for the burial. There was also a simple wooden box with the seven sacred oils. The box had a short inscription in hieratic (the cursive script of the hieroglyphs): “oil.”158 The vessels are inscribed on the lid and on the vessel proper with the names of the oils, similar to the ones on the vessels in the burial of Ita, described above. They still contain the remains of the oils, now mostly reduced to powder.159 Many pottery vessels were also found. Among this group was a large beer or water jar typical of the late Middle Kingdom, which provides a rough date for the burial under Amenemhat III.160 The other pottery vessels found and recorded include two large plates, model vessels, bowls, and bottles. The pottery likely belongs again to the late Middle Kingdom queen’s ware also known from other burials of royal women.161 Bones of cattle and birds were evidently the remains of a funerary repast or the symbolic eternal food supply.
The most remarkable find, however, is a wooden figure of a swan.162 This is not a common burial object in the late Middle Kingdom or any other period of Egyptian history. Indeed, so far there are only two other published examples, both found in the nearby tombs of Itaweret and Sathathormeryt. Swans are not common animals in Egypt, and it seems that ancient Egyptians did not clearly distinguish between them and geese. Furthermore, a depiction of a swan or goose appears on a coffin excavated at Riqqeh dating to about the same time as the burial of Khenmet.163 In the tomb of Senet, mother of the vizier Intefiqer, two geese fly in front of the Abydos boat transporting Intefiqer and Senet.164 From the New Kingdom there is further evidence for such creatures. In New Kingdom royal tombs wooden figures of geese or swans have been found, as for example in the tomb of Tutankhamun.165 In the Book of the Dead a picture of a goose sometimes appears apparently relating to a spell,95 and in one instance this has the title “Spell to become a goose.”166 Another figure that often appears in the Book of the Dead is the “Great Cackler,” also sometimes depicted in Book of the Dead papyri. In the Pyramid Texts the deceased king flies as a goose to the sky.167 He flew there because it was believed that the king moved to the sky in order to become one of the imperishable or circumpolar stars in the northern night sky. These are the stars visible throughout the year and the entire night, while most of the other stars are visible only at certain seasons due to the movement of the earth on its axis around the sun. Evidently, this is again a religious belief taken from the royal sphere, not often attested in private contexts. Not surprisingly, on the coffin lid of Khenmet is a spell expressing the wish that she might become an imperishable star.168
Who Was Khenmet?
Not much is known about Khenmet. On her middle coffin she is called “king’s daughter.” On her canopic box she is “king’s daughter” and “the one united with the white crown.”169 Nonetheless, no name is written on this box. This is strange, because it is rare for no proper name to appear on such an important object. It is possible that the title “the one united with the white crown” (Khenmet-nefer-hedjet) was indeed a proper name, as also suggested for some other women.170 If so, Khenmet was perhaps just the short version of Khenmetneferhedjet. The name Khenmet appears within her tomb only on the coffin. Finally, a king’s daughter with the name Khenmet is known from a cylinder seal and from a statue found in Ugarit.171 All these objects might belong to the same woman.
Because of the crown with the vulture it has been assumed that Khenmet was a queen.172 She does not bear the title “king’s wife,” and it might be on the safer side simply to say that she was a king’s daughter, perhaps a favorite daughter of her father and therefore equipped with this amazing array of jewelry. However, the vulture is not yet attested for king’s daughters with the exception of coffins and mummy masks.173 The vulture might therefore indicate that Khenmet indeed became queen late in her life, after most of her funerary equipment had been made.
THE SECOND GALLERY AT DAHSHUR
The second gallery excavated at Dahshur,174 west of the pyramid of Amenemhat II, belongs to the king’s daughter Itaweret and a woman called Sathathormeryt. The description of these burials in the excavation report of de Morgan is very short, and it is therefore quite hard to get a clear picture of these tombs, although their layout seems to be more or less identical to those of Ita and Khenmet. The tomb of Sathathormeryt
