Hostname: page-component-788cddb947-rnj55 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-11T17:11:16.331Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Life, death and beyond in Akhenaten's Egypt: excavating the South Tombs Cemetery at Amarna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Barry Kemp
Affiliation:
1Amarna Project, 1 Midan el-Tahrir, Floor 5, Apartment 17, Cairo, Egypt; McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK (Email: bjk2@cam.ac.uk; aks52@cam.ac.uk)
Anna Stevens*
Affiliation:
1Amarna Project, 1 Midan el-Tahrir, Floor 5, Apartment 17, Cairo, Egypt; McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK (Email: bjk2@cam.ac.uk; aks52@cam.ac.uk)
Gretchen R. Dabbs
Affiliation:
2Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, 1000 Faner Drive, Mail Code 4502, Carbondale, IL 62901-4502, USA (Email: gdabbs@siu.edu)
Melissa Zabecki
Affiliation:
3Parkin Archeological State Park, 60 Highway 184 North, Parkin, AR 72373, USA (Email: mzabeck@uark.edu)
Jerome C. Rose
Affiliation:
4Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Old Main 330, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA (Email: jcrose@uark.edu)

Abstract

The authors report a summary of the results of six seasons of excavation at one of the cemeteries of Tell el-Amarna, the celebrated city of the ‘monotheistic’ revolutionary, Akhenaten. The osteology shows a workforce enduring stress and injuries to bone and muscle. The burial rites indicate low investment and personal interpretations as to spiritual meaning. In this exploration of a slice of a whole Egyptian urban society, the contrast between the working lives of the elite and its workforce becomes striking.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambridge, L. & Shepperson, M.. 2006. South Tombs Cemetery, 2006, in B. Kemp, Tell el-Amarna, 2005-06. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 92: 2737.Google Scholar
Aufderheide, A.C. & Rodriguez-Martin, C.. 1998. The Cambridge encyclopedia of human paleopathology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Baines, J. & Lacovara, P.. 2002. Burial and the dead in ancient Egyptian society: respect, formalism, neglect. Journal of Social Archaeology 2: 536.Google Scholar
Castillos, J.J. 2007. The beginning of class stratification in early Egypt. Göttinger Miszellen 215: 924.Google Scholar
Crocker, P. 1985. Status symbols in the architecture of El-'Amarna. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 71: 5265.Google Scholar
Dabbs, G.R. & Zabecki, M.. Forthcoming. Subadult age estimation at Tell-el Amarna: a systematic, site-specific approach. Journal of Comparative Human Biology.Google Scholar
Davies, N. de G. 1903-1908. The rock tombs of el-Amarna, Parts 1-6. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Dolling, W. 2008. South Tombs Cemetery, in B. Kemp, Tell el-Amarna, 2007-8. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 94: 1331.Google Scholar
Hawass, Z., Gad, Y.Z., Ismail, S., Khairat, R., Fathalla, D., Hasan, N., Ahmed, A., Elleithy, H., Ball, M., Gaballah, F., Wasef, S., Fateen, M., Amer, H., Gostner, P., Selim, A., Zink, A. & Pusch, C.M.. 2010. Ancestry and pathology in King Tutankhamun's family. Journal of the American Medical Association 303: 638–47.Google Scholar
Hawkey, D.E. & Merbs, C.F.. 1995 Activity-induced musculoskeletal stress markers (MSM) and subsistence strategy changes among ancient Hudson Bay Eskimos. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 5(4): 324–38.Google Scholar
Kemp, B. 1977. The city of el-Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt. World Archaeology 9/2: 123–39.Google Scholar
Kemp, B. 1989. Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kemp, B. 2010. Tell el-Amarna, 2010. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 96: 128.Google Scholar
Kemp, B. & Stevens, A.. 2008. Appendix: artefacts, in Kemp B., Tell el-Amarna, 2007-8. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 94: 3141.Google Scholar
Kemp, B. & Stevens, A.. 2010a. Busy lives at Amarna. Excavations in the main city (Grid 12 and the House of Ranefer, N49.18). Volume 1: the excavations, architecture and environmental remains. London: Egypt Exploration Society & Amarna Trust.Google Scholar
Kemp, B. & Stevens, A.. 2010b. Busy lives at Amarna. Excavations in the main city (Grid 12 and the House of Ranefer, N49.18). Volume 2: the objects. London: Egypt Exploration Society & Amarna Trust.Google Scholar
Laboury, D. 2010. Akhenaton. Paris: Pygmalion.Google Scholar
Maresh, M.M. 1970. Measurements from roentgenograms, in McCammon, R.W. (ed.) Human growth and development: 157200. Springfield (IL): Thomas.Google Scholar
Martin, G.T. 1989. The Royal Tomb at El-'Amarna. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Mehrotra, C., Naimi, T.S., Serdula, M., Bolen, J. & Pearson, K.. 2004. Arthritis, body mass index, and professional advice to lose weight: implications for clinical medicine and public health. American Journal of Preventative Medicine 27: 1621.Google Scholar
Murnane, W.J. 1995. Texts from the Amarna period in Egypt. Atlanta (GA): Scholars Press.Google Scholar
O'Connor, D. 1985. The ‘cenotaphs’ of the Middle Kingdom at Abydos, in Posener-Kriéger, P. (ed.) Mélanges Gamal eddin Mokhtar, Volume 2: 161–77. Cairo: Institut français d'Archéologie orientale du Caire.Google Scholar
Ortner, D.J. & Eriksen, M.F.. 1997. Bone changes in the human skull probably resulting from scurvy in infancy and childhood. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7: 212–20.Google Scholar
Peet, T.E. 1914. The cemeteries of Abydos, Part 2: 1911-1912. London: Egypt Exploration Fund.Google Scholar
Pendlebury, J.D.S. 1951. City of Akhenaten, Part 3. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Pritchard, J.B. 1969. Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Al Qahtani, S.J., Hector, M.P. & Liversidge, H.M.. 2010. Brief communication: the London atlas of human tooth development and eruption. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142: 481–90.Google Scholar
Richards, J. 2005. Society and death in ancient Egypt: mortuary landscapes of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rose, P. 2005. Preliminary report on the pottery from the South Tombs bone survey, 2005, in B. Kemp, Tell el-Amarna, 2005. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 91: 2324.Google Scholar
Rose, J.C. & Zabecki, M.. 2009. The commoners of Tell el-Amarna, in Ikram, S. & Dodson, A. (ed.) Beyond the horizon: studies in Egyptian art, archaeology and history in honour of Barry J. Kemp, Volume 2: 408–22. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities Press.Google Scholar
Steckel, R.H. 1995. Stature and the standard of living. Journal of Economic Literature 33: 1903–40.Google Scholar
Stuart-Macadam, P. 1989. Porotic hyperosotosis: relationship between orbital and vault lesions. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 80: 187–93.Google Scholar
Tietze, C. 1985. Analyse der Wohnhäuser und soziale Struktur der Stadtbewohner. Zeitschrift für Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 112: 4884.Google Scholar
Tietze, C. 2010. Amarna: Lebensräume - Lebensbilder - Weltbilder. Weimar: Arcus.Google Scholar
Walker, P.L., Bathurst, R.R., Richman, R., Gjerdrum, T. & Andrushko, V.A.. 2009. The causes of porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia: a reappraisal of the iron-deficiency-anemia hypothesis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 139: 109–25.Google Scholar
Zabecki, M. 2009. Late Predynastic workloads: musculoskeletal stress markers at Hierakonpolis. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Arkansas.Google Scholar
Zakrzewski, S. 2003. Variation in ancient Egyptian stature and body proportions. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 121: 219–29.Google Scholar