was again found a wooden coffin, decorated only on the outside with gold foil and wedjat eyes. It was inscribed on the inside with texts identical to those on the coffins of the other women buried here. Inside this wooden coffin there must have been an anthropoid coffin. The mummy itself was adorned with anklets and armlets and with a broad collar with simple rounded terminals.176 Next to the mummy were not only the expected royal insignia, such as a flail, a mace, and a bow, but also a hoe and other wooden objects described as gilded, but alas not depicted in the excavation report.
50. Wooden swan from the tomb of Itaweret. From de Morgan 1903, fig. 123.
In the small chamber next to the sarcophagus chamber was found an interesting array of objects known from only a few burials of this period. These include a life-size wooden swan (Fig. 50),177 round and rectangular tables, wooden gilded sandals, a board on which was found a mirror, a diadem made of beads, and four blades partly decorated with gold. Other objects discovered include an inscribed canopic box and a box with eight vessels for the seven sacred oils.178 The eighth vessel served as a placeholder in the box, as was common with other boxes of this type.
51. Map of Hawara. Drawn by the author.
THE TOMB OF NEFERUPTAH
In 1936 the Egyptian Egyptologist Labib Habachi made soundings in the region of Hawara (Fig. 51) and discovered mud-brick structures. Habachi was at that time inspector of antiquities in the Fayum, but he was transferred shortly afterward to another inspectorate and was therefore not able to continue his work there. It was not until 1956 that the site was excavated by Nagib Farag, who was inspector for the Fayum at that time.179 Farag found the undisturbed tomb of the king’s daughter Neferuptah, a princess already known from other sources, and the remains of her burial equipment within the pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara.
The tomb of Neferuptah180 was found in a region with a high ground-water level. As a result, all of the organic material had already perished by the time her tomb was opened. Even the body of the princess was gone; not even her bones survived.
The tomb of Neferuptah consisted of one big chamber separated by a huge block into two parts. In the larger room was the sarcophagus, decorated at the bottom with a palace facade and bearing a short inscription mentioning the titles and the name of Neferuptah (Fig. 52). This type of sarcophagus is known from several other royal tombs of the late Middle Kingdom.181 Only a few of them have inscriptions, in particular several examples belonging to royal women buried next to the pyramid of King Senusret III at Dahshur. All the known sarcophagi of kings were uninscribed. The palace facade at the bottom of the sarcophagus is most likely a copy of the niche/palace facade of the Djoser complex at Saqqara, showing the same number of gateways on the front.
52. The burial chamber of Neferuptah with the main objects found (reconstruction). Redrawn by the author after Farag, Iskander 1971, fig. 6.
The sarcophagus of Neferuptah is the largest of its type. It measures 3.06 m long, 1.54 m wide, and 2.31 m high (including the lid). It is made of red granite.182 The short inscription on the sarcophagus reads: “An offering given by the king to Osiris, lord of life, for the ka of the member of the elite, the great one of the hetes-scepter, the great one of honor, the beloved king’s daughter of his body, Neferuptah, true of voice.”
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