Ten Years At Qubbet El-Hawa
Ancient Egypt|October - November 2019
Director Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano from the University of Jaén describes the work of the international team exploring this prestigious provincial cemetery.
Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano
Ten Years At Qubbet El-Hawa

Qubbet el-Hawa, on the West Bank opposite Aswan,is a landmark in the landscape of the First Cataract region. It is the highest elevation of the area. Perhaps, due to this, the highest officials of Elephantine, from the mid-Sixth Dynasty onwards, decided to use this hill as a cemetery. Another important reason was that Qubbet el-Hawa was situated on the West Bank, relatively close to Elephantine, the main urban centre of the First Upper Egyptian nome.

This hill, then, became the necropolis of the highest officials of Elephantine and their wives, buried according to a well-established pattern based on administrative position or social rank: nome governors’ complexes mainly situated in the northeast of the slope, while their officials constructed their tombs in the southeast, preferably in a lower position than their masters.

Today Qubbet el-Hawa is one of the best known necropoleis of ancient Egypt, mainly due to the discovery (at the end of the nineteenth century) of long biographies carved on the tomb façades of some of the highest officials who controlled the southernmost province of Egypt at the end of the Sixth Dynasty. Particularly interesting is the decree inscribed by Harkhuf on the façade of his funerary complex, in which he tells us he was commanded by the young Pepy II to bring to the royal residence a deneg, a term which has been translated as ‘pygmy’.

This story is from the October - November 2019 edition of Ancient Egypt.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the October - November 2019 edition of Ancient Egypt.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM ANCIENT EGYPTView All
INSIDE THE STEP PYRAMID OF DJOSER
Ancient Egypt

INSIDE THE STEP PYRAMID OF DJOSER

Sean McLachlan explores the recently reopened interior of this iconic Third Dynasty Saqqara monument.

time-read
2 mins  |
July/ August 2021
PER MESUT: for younger readers
Ancient Egypt

PER MESUT: for younger readers

She Who Loves Silence

time-read
4 mins  |
July/ August 2021
Highlights of the Manchester Museum 29: An Offering by Queen Tiye for her Husband
Ancient Egypt

Highlights of the Manchester Museum 29: An Offering by Queen Tiye for her Husband

Campbell Price describes an offering table with a touching significance.

time-read
2 mins  |
July/ August 2021
Highlights Of The Manchester Museum 28: Busts Of Jesse And Marianne Haworth
Ancient Egypt

Highlights Of The Manchester Museum 28: Busts Of Jesse And Marianne Haworth

Campbell Price describes the significance of two statue busts on display in the Museum.

time-read
2 mins  |
May / June 2021
TAKABUTI, the Belfast Mummy
Ancient Egypt

TAKABUTI, the Belfast Mummy

Rosalie David and Eileen Murphy explain how scientific examination of the ‘Belfast Mummy’ is revealing much new information about her life and times.

time-read
9 mins  |
May / June 2021
Lost Golden City
Ancient Egypt

Lost Golden City

An Egyptian Mission searching for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun has discovered a settlement – “The Dazzling of Aten” – described as the largest city ever found in Egypt (see above). Finds bearing the cartouches of Amenhotep III (see opposite, top) date the settlement to his reign, c. 1390-1352 BC – making it about 3400 years old.

time-read
2 mins  |
May / June 2021
Jerusalem's Survival, Sennacharib's Departure and the Kushite Role in 701 BCE: An Examination of Henry Aubin's Rescue of Jerusalem
Ancient Egypt

Jerusalem's Survival, Sennacharib's Departure and the Kushite Role in 701 BCE: An Examination of Henry Aubin's Rescue of Jerusalem

BOOK REVIEWS

time-read
2 mins  |
May / June 2021
Golden Mummies of Egypt: Interpreting Identities from the Graeco-Roman Period by Campbell Price
Ancient Egypt

Golden Mummies of Egypt: Interpreting Identities from the Graeco-Roman Period by Campbell Price

BOOK REVIEWS

time-read
2 mins  |
May / June 2021
Old And New Kingdom Discoveries At Saqqara
Ancient Egypt

Old And New Kingdom Discoveries At Saqqara

An Egyptian team working on a Sixth Dynasty pyramid complex near the Teti pyramid at Saqqara has made a series of important discoveries.

time-read
1 min  |
March / April 2021
Map Of Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Map Of Egypt

What’s in a name? It is easy for us to forget that the names we associate with the pyramids – such as the Meidum Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid or the Black Pyramid – would have been meaningless to their builders.

time-read
3 mins  |
March / April 2021