Old Kingdom rituals above and below ground - comparison of the mortuary temple and tomb inventory of vessels
Abstract
The Old Kingdom royal and non-royal tombs have many common traits in their cultic space used for the mortuary cult of the deceased. Their architectural setting has been compared many times, their fundamental difference was in size and elaboration of the space.
We would like to focus on the less tangible and less numerous pieces of evidence, on the vessels used in the royal and non-royal cult. The inventory of vessels and other items from burial equipment presents both places as a location of similar rituals, which were designed to keep the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife.
Most of the objects were intended for the funerary repast, prt-xrw ritual, others were rather cosmetic equipment, or magical utensil. The mortuary temples were a vivid place with people involved in regular everyday activities, whereas the shafts of the tombs were closed to everybody except for the deceased.
In this case, the main place for the offerings was in the chapel or by the offering niche, and it was up to the relatives to come and provide the deceased with necessities. The presence of ritual vessels in the burial chamber - and not outside - points to the fact that most of the rituals were probably only magically performed inside.
Their nature and objects involved can be reconstructed from various resources, including the mortuary temples. None of the mortuary temples or tomb chapels have been preserved undisturbed, however, the remains of the material equipment of them was preserved and deserves further study.
On the contrary, some of the burial chambers were found as intended to be left for eternity by the Old Kingdom Egyptians. We can explore them not only on the basis of archaeological material, but also on textual evidence.
The aim of the paper is to define the rituals and compare both locations in respect of their significance. This research will be done by comparing mortuary temple and tomb assemblages excavated in the Old Kingdom necropoleis.