The body of a the deceased was placed in the most inaccessible part of the tomb – in the burial chamber at the bottom of a deep shaft hewn in the bedrock. In the Old Kingdom the embalming techniques were still developing. The body would have been wrapped in numerous layers of linen, and sometimes covered with a thin layer of plaster to give it a lifelike appearance.
Phot. Jarosław Dąbrowski/PCMA
Those who could afford it were buried in a wooden coffin or stone sarcophagus. The body was usually laid on its left side, facing east – the direction of rising sun, with legs slightly flexed.
Depending on his or her social status, the deceased received items such as symbols of his office, tools, and jewellery. Alas, funerary goods were frequently the prey of tomb robbers and stolen shortly after the funeral. Tomb looting was a virtual plague of ancient Egyptian cemeteries; there are even court records preserved, documenting trials of tomb robbers caught over three millennia ago.
Many of the tombs discovered by the Mission, have been robbed in ancient times. However, it happened that the robbers overlooked some items, e.g.: