Kerma culture (around 2000 to 1550 BCE) hundreds of people were placed next to deceased kings.37 The same practice appears again in the Ballana culture in Lower Nubia (around 400 to 600 CE), where again servants were buried with their masters. In China during the Shang Dynasty (about 1550 to 1050 BCE) people were also buried next to kings and high officials, including royal women.38 Later Chinese sources refer to this practice as “following in death.”39 The same is found at Ur in Mesopotamia, where in the burials of high-ranking persons other people were also buried, and were most likely killed for that purpose.40
In most of these societies the custom of killing people for the burial of a high-ranking person or king disappeared quite early on. In China and Egypt the idea lived on, but instead of real people, model figures were placed in the tomb. In China, terracotta, wooden, or straw figures were placed in many tombs.41 The terracotta army of about seven thousand life-size soldiers for the emperor Qin Shihuangdi (259–210 BCE) is the most famous example. On a smaller scale these figures were common in many periods of Chinese history as burial goods. They often depict soldiers, but sometimes also officials or musicians. They represent the court of a high official or a king. In this respect they have a focus different from that of the Egyptian figures. Scenes of production are rather rare, but soldiers and officials appear. They might confirm the social status of a higher official by their wanting to be buried with his court. In Old Kingdom Egypt there were stone statues of single individuals shown working.42 At the end of the Old Kingdom they were replaced by wooden figures, which are often shown in groups. These figures are still attested for the Middle Kingdom but disappear in the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty.43
At the end of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom shabti figures appear.44 Originally these seem to represent the deceased, but in the Thirteenth Dynasty a spell was placed on them which reveals that they were helpers in the underworld and acted as stand-ins for the deceased when work had to be done.45 Shabti figures are recorded in only a few tombs of the late Middle Kingdom and do not appear in any of the tombs discussed in this book.
Leftovers from Rituals
For Egyptian and other cultures, it is very likely that rituals were performed at tombs and for the deceased. Objects used in these rituals could be deposited with the burial. It is often hard to decide which objects placed in tombs belong to this category. Objects for certain rituals might have been placed in a tomb not because they were used in actual rituals but rather because the ritual should be performed with a view to all eternity. In this case the object could be something specially made for the tomb. There are indeed objects, however, where the indications are that they were really used in burials. In some tomb shafts of the Old Kingdom copper dishes were found, perhaps used in a ritual and then just thrown into the shaft after it was performed.46 For Second Intermediate Period burials at Thebes it has been observed that the pottery shows signs of use in rituals.47 In the court type burials of late Middle Kingdom princesses many staves and weapons were found (discussed in Chapter 1). Several of these were broken when discovered, as if they had been used in rituals and then placed in the tombs.
Objects from and for rituals have been found in many burials around the world but evidently vary with different burial customs. In the Bronze Age Aegean and on Cyprus burial equipment included specific vessel types—alabastra and stirrup jars. These might have been used in rituals and were for anointing the body and perhaps even garments.48
Guardians
Guardians were figures or burial goods protecting the tomb as a whole against living people, especially tomb robbers. Guardian figures are well attested for Chinese tombs, in some of which figures of monsters protecting the tomb have been found.49 Another famous example from China is the army of terracotta soldiers found next to the tomb of China’s “first” emperor.50 Perhaps surprisingly, guardians in Egyptian burials are hard to identify with certainty. In the tomb of Tutankhamun two life-size statues depicting the king were found. They are often labeled “guardian statues,”51 but their real function remains unknown. The same is true of figures of Anubis, the jackal god, the most famous of which was again found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. These Anubis figures are sometimes also labeled “guardians.”52 There is no hard evidence, however, that they are guardians. In Egyptian texts Anubis is often connected with burials, but not as a guardian.53 The safety of Egyptian tombs was not secured by any “magical” objects or figures. Safety was mainly a question of the tomb architecture and sometimes of certain spells placed in the tomb.54 Perhaps the four magical bricks with their spells belong to this category, though the related texts in the Book of the Dead (chapter 151) indicate that they were used in rituals at the mummification or burial.55 The four magical bricks were found mainly in New Kingdom tombs and are inscribed with a short protective spell.
Protection
A wide range of objects was placed in Egyptian burials for protecting the deceased against evil spirits. Many of the objects for protection can be classified as amulets. Two types can be distinguished: amulets already used in daily life, and amulets especially made for the tomb.56 To the first category belong fish pendants, lion claws, and perhaps even shell girdles, to name only amulets discussed in this book (Chapter 3). Amulets mainly made for the tomb are especially common in the Ramesside Period and later.
Personal Objects
Even in societies where it was not common to place grave goods in burials, it could happen that very personal items were still placed in them, such as pieces of jewelry always worn by the person in life. By personal objects I mean not only objects belonging personally to somebody but also those items with which the owner has a special tie, such as an heirloom or a gift from a beloved family member or friend. In cultures and periods when it was the custom to place objects from daily life in tombs, these objects are almost impossible to identify, as they are too similar to the other burial goods. The dividing line between personal objects and objects confirming social status or gender identity is very narrow. This is best seen in cases where personal jewelry is placed in the tombs discussed. Are these just social markers, or were at least some of them also selected because they might have been a favorite piece of jewelry of the deceased? Personal items are easier to identify in cultures and periods when most of the objects placed in the burial are of a funerary character and suddenly a more personal item appears. In ancient Egypt that might include certain objects in the Third Intermediate Period tombs at Tanis. In the Third Intermediate Period almost all objects placed in the tomb were made for the burial, such as the coffins, shabtis, and canopic jars. In the royal tombs at Tanis, however, and in the tombs of the highest officials buried there too, some objects from daily life were found, such as weapons and golden vessels.57 Are these to be seen as personal objects?
The idea of having a personal, beloved item is well expressed in one of the tales in the Westcar Papyrus. Several girls are rowing a boat for the king. One of them loses her fish pendant, and so she stops rowing. The king is confused and asks her why she is not rowing. She tells him that she has lost her pendant. The king offers to replace it with another one, but she refuses. She wants her own pendant and not just a replacement, saying: “I love my object more than its copy.”58
Preserving Social Identity
Preserving social identity seems to be one of the most important aspects of equipping the deceased and is found in many cultures around the world. Social and gender identity was an important part of the self-identity of a person and also important for the person’s place in society. Social identity could comprise several aspects, notably the place of a person in the social hierarchy, the gender of a person, and his or her profession.
It has been shown that Egyptian burial equipment rarely contains objects related to the profession of the deceased. Most objects
