Presented by
Wm. Max Miller,
M. A.
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Project Updates
Quickly Access Specific Mummies With Our Or XVII'th XVIII'th
Gallery II
See what's new at the T. R. M. P.
Mummy Locator
View mummies in the
following Galleries:
Dynasty
Dynasty
Including the mummy identified as Queen Hatshepsut.
Gallery III
Including the mummy identified as Queen Tiye.
Gallery
IV
Featuring the controversial KV 55
mummy. Now with a revised reconstruction of ancient events in this perplexing
tomb.
Gallery V
Featuring the mummies of Tutankhamen and his children.
Still in preparation.
XIX'th
Dynasty
Gallery I
Now including the
mummy identified as
Ramesses I.
XX'th
Dynasty
XXI'st
Dynasty
21'st Dynasty Coffins from DB320
Examine the coffins
of 21'st Dynasty Theban Rulers.
Unidentified Mummies
Gallery I
Including the mummy identified as Tutankhamen's mother.
About the Dockets
Inhapi's Tomb
Using this website for research papers
Acknowledgements
Links to Egyptology websites
Biographical Data about William Max Miller
Special Exhibits
The Treasures of Yuya and Tuyu
View
the funerary equipment of Queen Tiye's parents.
Tomb
Raiders of KV 46
How thorough were the robbers who plundered the tomb of
Yuya and Tuyu? How many times was the tomb robbed, and what were the thieves
after? This study of post interment activity in KV 46 provides some answers.
Special KV 55 Section
========
Follow the trail of the missing treasures from mysterious KV 55.
KV
55's Lost Objects: Where Are They Today?
The KV 55 Coffin Basin
and Gold Foil Sheets
KV 55
Gold Foil at the Metropolitan
Mystery of the Missing Mummy Bands
KV
35 Revisited
See rare photographic plates of a great
discovery from Daressy's Fouilles de la Vallee des Rois.
Unknown Man E
Was he really
buried alive?
The
Tomb of Maihirpre
Learn about Victor Loret's
important discovery of this nearly intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
Special Section:
Tomb Robbers!
Who were the real tomb raiders?
What beliefs motivated their actions? A new perspective on the ancient practice
of tomb robbing.
Special Section:
Spend a Night
with the Royal Mummies
Read Pierre Loti's eerie account of
his nocturnal visit to the Egyptian Museum's Hall of Mummies.
Special Section:
An
Audience With Amenophis II Journey
once more with Pierre Loti as he explores the shadowy chambers of KV 35 in the
early 1900's.
Most of the images on this website have been
scanned from books, all of which are given explicit credit and, wherever
possible, a link to a dealer where they may be purchased. Some images derive
from other websites. These websites are also acknowledged in writing and by
being given a link, either to the page or file where the images appear, or to
the main page of the source website. Images forwarded to me by individuals who
do not supply the original image source are credited to the sender. All written
material deriving from other sources is explicitly credited to its author.
Feel free to use material from the Theban Royal Mummy Project website.
No prior written permission is required. Just please follow the same guidelines
which I employ when using the works of other researchers, and give the Theban
Royal Mummy Project proper credit on your own papers, articles, or
web pages.
--Thank You
This website is constantly developing and contributions
of data from other researchers are welcomed.
Contact The Theban Royal Mummy Project at:
anubis4_2000@yahoo.com
Background Image: Wall scene from the tomb of Ramesses II (KV 7.) From Karl
Richard Lepsius, Denkmäler (Berlin: 1849-1859.)
The Coffins of Isiemkheb-D
The outer coffin of Isiemkheb-D was discovered intact, but the inner coffin and coffin board had been damaged by thieves, who had removed the gilded face masks and hands. This pattern of damage, in which an intact outer coffin conceals evidence that the inner ones had been disturbed, was repeated in the case of the double coffin sets of Maatkare-Mutemhet, Masaharta, and Neskhons and has led investigators to surmise that the pilfering of all these sets of funerary equipment was done by those who played, at some level, an officially sanctioned role in their interments. Salima Ikram and Aidan Dodson theorize that members of Pinudjem II's burial party were the culprits who violated Isiemkheb-D's coffins. However, Edward Loring's interpretation of a linen docket found on the mummy of Nestanebtishru suggests that Isiemkheb-D was still alive at the time of Pinudjem II's funeral. If sound, Loring's dating would exonerate those who helped bury Pinudjem II from the crime of despoiling Isiemkheb-D's funerary equipment. However, the same burial party members may be guilty of pilfering gilded elements from Neskhon's coffins which would have been in place in DB320 when Pinudjem II was laid to rest.
Whoever they may have been, the individuals who ripped the gilded portions from Isiemkheb-D's inner coffins and coffin boards felt the need to hide their dirty work, indicating that they knew they would not be the last people to see the burials. Although the priests in charge of the funerary ceremonies have often been blamed for this kind of pilfering, the most likely culprits would have been the workers who were responsible for the labor of moving and positioning the heavy coffins into place inside the tomb and preparing things for the arrival of the priests who would conduct the funerary rituals. These priests would be the ones from whom the damage would need to be hidden.
Isiemkheb-D’s coffins display stylistic features that differ from those of the other 21’st Dynasty coffins found in DB320. Unlike the ornately decorated wigs on the coffins of Nodjmet, Maatkare-Mutemhet, Tayuheret and Neskhons, Isiemkheb-D’s wigs have been simplified and consist only of gold banding on a plain background. The gold headband on the outer coffin had originally been decorated with painted elements which have largely worn away. The plain areas of this wig also appear to show traces of previous decorations which have been very carefully removed in some fashion and skillfully covered over with black material. The funerary collars are longer than those depicted on earlier coffins and extend below the hands; the central panel of the outer coffin is dominated by five registers displaying representations of a winged female deity (probably the goddess Nut) which descend all the way down to the footboard; and the footboard of the inner coffin is decorated with predominantly Osirian themes. These differences reflect later innovations in the evolution of 21’st Dynasty coffin decoration. (Source Bibliography: DRN, 213 no. 18; GCSS, 50, n. 280; 127, Fig. 34; 161, n. 843; MiAE, 330; TRC, 74.) (Source Abbreviation Key)
Lid of Isiemkheb-D's outer coffin. From the Quest for Immortality
website of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Click image to enlarge.
(Left) Lid and basin of Isiemkheb-D's outer coffin. (Right)
Front and reverse of Isiemkheb-D's
coffin board. From Georges Daressy's Cercueils des cachettes royales (Cairo, 1909.)
Click images to enlarge.
Isiemkheb-D's inner coffin lid and basin. From Georges Daressy's
Cercueils des cachettes royales (Cairo, 1909.)
Click images to enlarge.
The Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CESRAS) maintains an extensive collection of online images available for public use on Flickr and has posted large size scans of many of the photographic plates from George Daressy's historically important 1909 work, Cercueils des cachettes royales, which are featured on this page. The above images of the coffins of Isiemkheb-D provide a valuable photographic record of these beautiful objects, currently on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. More close up images of this coffin's decorations and inscriptions may be seen by going to the CESRAS Isiemkheb photostream.