Abstract
Egyptian Dynasties, noble families and privileged people used the Theban Mountain for funerary purposes. The study site is located on the west bank of the River Nile in Upper Egypt, near Luxor. The use of this necropolis was long-lasting. Four tombs were studied, representing the late Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period and the 18th and 19th Dynasties of the New Kingdom. The tombs were reused as dwellings till the end of the past century, reflected in the alteration of the original structures. The paper describes the complex excavation history of the Theban necropolis. It provides an overview of the geological conditions of the region with a special focus on Tarawan Chalk, which is the host formation of the tombs, and briefly describes the overlaying Esna Shale and Thebes Limestone formations. The most important rock properties and their field appearance are also considered. Besides geological conditions, the current study includes the archaeological and architectural description of the four studied tombs, TT 184, TT 185, TT 412 and TT 413 (TT=Theban Tomb). It explains these tombs’ complex geometries and architectural elements with ground plans and cross-sections. The current conditions of the interiors and exteriors of the tombs, as well as the preservation of wall paintings, are richly illustrated. An overview of possible preservation measures and protection of these tombs is also given, aiming to provide data for further archaeological works and restoration projects.
1 INTRODUCTION
The small Hill of el-Khokha lies at the base of the Theban Mountain, on the west bank of the River Nile, near Luxor. With its more than 130 known private tombs, this burial site is part of the Theban necropolis (Fig. 1). Funerary activities started here as early as in the Old Kingdom, making el-Khokha home of the oldest known decorated rock-cut tombs of ancient Thebes (Fábián 2011b). Hungarian archaeological missions have thoroughly studied the southern slope of the hill for more than 40 years. Since then, more than a dozen rock-cut tombs have been excavated, and multidisciplinary fieldwork is still being conducted in a few of them to understand the history of the hillock and preserve the tombs’ remaining structures and decoration. Since the uncovering of the tombs, numerous attempts have been made to reconstruct the fragmented walls and preserve the surviving artworks; however, very little effort has been made to understand the deterioration processes and their origins.
Distant view of the southern hillslope of el-Khokha, 20231
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
As it has been recognized for a long time that the long-term preservation of the ancient monuments in the Theban necropolis is primarily dependent on geological factors, several geological investigations and mapping projects have taken place during the past decades in Western Thebes regarding its geology and geomorphology. These projects, however, have been mainly focused on the most noted locations in the Theban necropolis, and only rarely covered lesser-known areas such as el-Khokha in detail.
The aim of this paper is to provide a preliminary investigation for comprehensive research that covers a small section on the southern slope of el-Khokha. Tombs here were hewn into the rock in at least six horizontal rows above one another, in a rather high density at the middle and upper sections (Fábián-Zomborácz 2020). The research focuses on the most remarkable four rock-cut tombs in the middle necropolis streets: TT 184 (Nefermenu, Dyn. 19), TT 185 (Seni, First Intermediate Period), TT 412 (Qen-Amun, Dyn. 18), and TT 413 (Unis-ankh, late Old Kingdom). The importance of these private tombs mainly lies in their preserved wall paintings and sculpted artworks. Until the present, the surviving structures have gone through considerable erosion in addition to the occurring damages resulting from their reuse as modern habitations. Thus, the majority of the tombs’ decorations have either perished or heavily deteriorated. With the aim of providing a framework for our own research, we first overview former geological and archaeological studies concerning the Theban necropolis, then we introduce the southern slope of el-Khokha with emphasis on the studied tombs and discuss the potential hazards to their preservation.
2 THE THEBAN NECROPOLIS
2.1 Western Thebes from the Pharaonic Period to recent times
During the Early Dynastic Period (1st-2nd Dyn., 31st-27th c. BCE) and the Old Kingdom (3rd-6th Dyn., 27th-23rd c. BCE), Thebes was the main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome, Waset (i.e. Sceptre), and it later became the state capital of Egypt in the Middle Kingdom (11th/14th Dyn., 21st-17th c. BCE). While the city on the East Bank of the Nile served as the centre of the dynastic power and became the residence of the Egyptian rulers, the desertic landscape of the Theban Mountain on the West Bank was home to religious rituals as well as private and royal burials over thousands of years. In Western Thebes, the earliest known brick temple was built on the Thot Hill in the Archaic Period (Aubry et al. 2009), and the mudbrick mastabas of el-Tarif, the earliest of their kind, can be dated back to the early 4th Dynasty (Saleh 1977). The first remarkable constructions are known from the Middle Kingdom (Aubry et al. 2009), however, the most prominent mortuary monuments are those of the golden age of Thebes, the New Kingdom, when Western Thebes became the most extensive necropolis of rock-cut tombs (Aubry et al. 2011). The Theban Mountain served as a burial site for much of the Pharaonic period, and funerary activities did not stop here until the end of the Greco-Roman times.
Starting from the Islamic invasion in 639 CE, the Egyptian civilization was forgotten for a span of one thousand years, until it was rediscovered in the 18th century by European travellers. Sparked off by Napoleon’s campaign (1799-1802), interest in the legacy of ancient Egypt continued to grow, leading to a period of trading and collecting of antique objects. In the first half of the 19th century, systematic survey of the known royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings began, and with the financial support of European powers, organized excavation was launched. Luxor, along with the neighbouring West Bank, became a tourist destination, although attention was mainly focused on the royal tombs and temples at the time. Although the importance of Egypt’s antique heritage was recognized, no effort was made to protect Thebes’ antique monuments from the impact of tourism and vandalism until the establishment of a service of the Antiquities in Cairo in 1857 (Aubry et al. 2009). Great aspirations concerning the preservation of the historical site, however, were brought by the second half of the 20th century. In 1978, the Theban Mapping Project was established (https://thebanmappingproject.com/), and, in the same year, UNESCO designated the Theban necropolis part of the World Heritage along with the temples of Karnak and Luxor on the East Bank of the Nile (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/87).
Although the Pharaonic tombs in Western Thebes were not reused as burial sites again after the Greco-Roman times, utilization of the rock-cut spaces never really stopped. Well ahead of the Islamic invasion, the necropolis served as a refuge for Coptic monastic communities, and later, Arab tribes took possession of the tombs’ spaces and utilized them as modern habitations, certainly from the 16th century onwards (Zsom 2021). Over time, the new inhabitants built additional mudbrick structures, e.g. houses, pens and even mosques, until eventually a significant part of the cemetery transformed into a Muslim village known as Qurna today (Fig. 2). In 1998, with the aim of preserving the archaeological and anthropological values of the ancient cemetery, Egyptian authorities presented a plan of relocating the indigenous community of the old village to a new location, outside the boundaries of the site. By the end of the 2000s, the vast majority of Qurna’s mudbrick buildings were demolished, and its population was relocated to a new village (Dávid 2020; https://whc.unesco.org/en/soc/2256).
Qurna in 2006, before the demolition of the village’s mudbrick buildings.View from the southern slope of el-Khokha (source: TT 184 research documentation archive)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
2.2 Location and geography
The Theban necropolis is situated on the West Bank of the River Nile, opposite the modern-day city of Luxor, in Upper Egypt (Fig. 3). It developed over a small (approx. 3 km2) area (Aubry et al. 2011) stretching roughly 4 km in a SW-NE direction from Medinet Habu (temple of Ramesses III) to the cemeteries of El-Tarif (Bardají et al. 2017). The monument complex consists of several mortuary temples and other sanctuaries (e.g. the temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari, or Ramesseum, the temple of Ramesses II), over 700 already excavated rock-cut tombs (Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Tombs of the Nobles), and remains of a village known as the Village of the Workers in Deir el-Medina. The main areas of the necropolis consist of the Valley of the Kings, the rock amphitheatre of Deir el-Bahari, the Hills of Dra’ Abu el-Naga, El-Assasif, el-Khokha, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna and Qurnet Mura’i, the Valley of the Queens, Deir el-Medina, and the edge of the Nile alluvial plane where mortuary temples line up (Fig. 4).
Location of the Theban necropolis on the map of Egypt (source: www.nationsonline.org)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Aerial view of the Theban necropolis (source: TT 184 research documentation archive)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The geological setting of the area, combined with its geographical situation, played a crucial role in the selection of this location for the construction of rock-cut tombs and other mortuary monuments (Aubry et al., 2011). The Theban landscape at the edge of the Western Desert (generally referred to as the Theban Mountain) (Aubry et al. 2009) is dominated by the towering pyramidal summit of El Qurn and the rugged sub-vertical cliffs at the easternmost edge of the Theban Plateau (i.e. the Libyan Plateau), along with a line of low hills (referred to as the Theban hills by Dupuis et al. 2011) lying at the base of the Theban Mountain. In between the hills and cliffs, secluded valleys (e.g. the Valley of the Colours) are spanning. This geographically diverse landscape reflects the geology of the area (Aubry et al. 2011).
2.3 Geological setting: lithologies and structures
The bedrock of the Theban Mountain is composed of a ca. 550m thick upper Palaeocene-lower Eocene succession that consists of three main sedimentary units. These units are, from base to top, the Tarawan Chalk Formation, the Esna Shale Formation, and the Thebes Limestone Formation (Aubry et al. 2011). The latter is overlain by the middle-Eocene Miniya Limestone, e.g., on the top of the Theban cliffs (Aubry et al. 2009).
The ca. 20 m thick Tarawan Chalk Formation forms the substratum of the Theban Mountain (Aubry et al. 2009 and 2011). Its outcrops occur at a few locations, most extensively at the eastern edge of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna and el-Khokha (Aubry et al. 2016). The homogenous lithology “is composed of pale yellow grey to medium grey, massive, thick-bedded chalky and argillaceous limestone” and “yields a high diversity of well-preserved planktonic and benthonic foraminifera” according to Farouk (2016), and it was described by Aubry et al. (2016) as follows: “Although denoted ‘chalk, the formation actually consists of a soft, white, fine-grained limestone with isolated flint layers.” The carbonate content of the Tarawan Chalk decreases as it passes gradually into the overlaying Esna Shales (Aubry et al. 2016).
The ca. 100m thick Esna Shale Formation, which can be further divided into four members, mainly consists of a grey shale. Its lowermost and uppermost members, being in a transitional contact with the calcareous lithologies (i.e., the Tarawan Chalk and the Thebes Limestone), are lighter in colour and richer in carbonate than those two in between them. The four members are, from base to top, the Hanadi, the Dababiya Quarry, the Mahmiya and the Abu Had Member (Aubry et al. 2009).
The youngest, more than 420m thick Thebes Limestone Formation is the most noticeable in the Theban Mountain. It outcrops behind Deir el-Bahari forming sub-vertical cliffs along the eastern edge of the Theban Plateau (Aubry et al. 2009). Aubry et al. (2016) described Thebes Limestone as a “massive formation of limestone with intercalated marl and shale, exhibiting characters indicative of upward depositional shallowing, from pure carbonate at the base to oyster coquinas at the top”. Dupuis et al. (2011) informally divided the formation into five lithologic units (numbered as 1-5, from base to top) which correspond to the “fivefold natural breaks in the vertical extent of the cliffs” that can be observed along the eastern edge of the Theban Plateau (Fig. 5). In this paper, we use this numbering of Dupuis et al. (2011) when mentioning the units of the Thebes Limestone.
The sub-vertical cliffs on the eastern edge of the Theban Plateau (Thebes Limestone Formation) behind the rock amphitheatre of Deir el-Bahari. The white dashed lines mark the fivefold division in the cliffs (units 1-5, from base to top, as divided by Dupuis et al. 2011)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
When describing the structural setting of the Theban Mountain, Aubry et al. (2009) differentiated four units of coherent geological and geomorphological characteristics: 1) a regional tabular structure that consists of low dipping to sub-horizontal beds of Esna, Thebes and Miniya Formations making up the major part of the Theban Mountain, 2) a complex structural area in the south-east that consists of tilted blocks dipping 25-35° to the north-west, 3) the northern basin, an area of relatively low hills towards the north-east, and 4) the Nile alluvial plane to the south-east. Regarding the study area in question, no. 2 of the above-mentioned structural elements needs to be discussed more in detail. In order to do so, we summarize the descriptions of previous authors, primarily those by Aubry et al. (2011) and Dupuis et al. (2011).
The complex structural area discussed here is formed by a group of low hills that line up at the foot of the prominent sub-vertical Theban cliffs between the rock amphitheatre of Deir el-Bahari and the Valley of the Queens. These low hills are limestone blocks that became detached from the Theban Plateau (Thebes Limestone Formation) along a decollement plane due to gravitational collapse. In the case of the Theban hills, the sliding occurred along spoon-shaped detachment surfaces, i.e., listric faults, causing a backward rotation of the detached blocks (Dupuis et al. 2011). These gravitational collapse structures have been referred to in various ways previously (e.g., rotated blocks, slipped masses), in this paper we use the term of “tilted block” by Aubry et al. (2011) and Dupuis et al. (2011). Detachment of the limestone blocks from the bedrock occurred during pluvial climatic episodes (presumably during the Pleistocene)2 due to structural failures within the underlying clayey Esna Shales Formation (Aubry et al. 2016). The Theban tilted blocks, from west to east, are as follows: the hills of the Valley of the Queens, Deir el-Rami, Deir el-Medina, Qurnet Murai, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, and el-Khokha.
3 THE HILL OF EL-KHOKHA
3.1 Location and burials
El-Khokha is a 115m high3 hillock lying between the Theban cliffs and the edge of the alluvial plane of the Nile. It is situated south-west from Dra’ Abu el-Naga’ and south-east from the Amphitheatre of Deir el-Bahari, and its northern flank is adjacent to the cemetery of el-Assasif. This small, kidney-shaped hill forms a group with its bigger western neighbour, the hill of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna (Dupuis et al. 2011) (Fig. 6).
Aerial view of the hills of el-Khokha and Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, 2013 (source: TT 184 research documentation archive)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Being used as a burial site for over two millennia, el-Khokha is home to more than 130 known private rock-cut tombs4 creating an extensive subterranean network of chambers, shafts and long passages reaching down into the rock mass (Fig. 7). The oldest known tombs at el-Khokha dating to the late Old Kingdom (Saleh 1977, Fábián 2011a) (6th Dyn., ca. 24th-22nd c. BCE) are situated on the south-eastern side of the hill. The greater part of the constructions was executed during the New Kingdom5 (18th-20th Dyn., 16th—11th c. BCE), and the latest burials are those of the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods (Bács-Fábián-Schreiber 2009) (4th-1st c. BCE and 1st c. BCE-4th c. CE, respectively). Kampp described the geometry and architectural components of the Theban tombs (Kampp 1996).6
The extensive network of rock-cut tombs at the southern hillslope of el-Khokha (drawing by Z. I. Fábián after G. Schreiber and Zs. Vasáros, republished with permission from owner)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
3.2 Geomorphological framework
El-Khokha is one of the foothills, i.e., tilted blocks that lie in front of the cliffs of the Theban Plateau. According to the descriptions of Aubry et al. (2011) and Dupuis et al. (2011), the hillock is formed by Unit 1 of the lower Eocene Thebes Limestone Formation that became detached from the Theban Plateau (Fig. 8). The detaching block rotated backwards as it slid along a listric fault. In consequence, the beds of the tilted block strongly dip (>60°) to the north-west. The oblique strata of the Thebes Limestone are well stratified but highly fractured. The hill of el-Khokha and the adjacent hill of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna together are considered as one single tilted block that was divided into two geomorphologic groups by differential erosion. The two are separated by a roughly NNW-SSE trending weak and broad depression. The tilted block rests in anomalous contact on the tabular substratum of the hills of el-Assasif, i.e., the horizontally stratified Tarawan Chalk Formation, which is highly fractured at the tectonic contact. The two calcareous units are separated locally by thin slabs of the Hanadi Member of the Esna Shale Formation. Note that only the lowermost member (Hanadi) of the Esna Shale Formation is present in deformed packages.7 This shows the tectonic thinning of the softer lithologies which occurred when the Esna Shales were dragged with the slumping Thebes Limestone block that slid over them (Dupuis et al. 2011). The estimated maximum thickness of the Esna Shale unit is ca. 1.5-2 m at the southern side.
Geomorphology of the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna–el-Khokha tilted block. The limestone block became detached from the Theban Plateau due to gravitational collapse, and rotated backwards as it slid along a listric fault. The yellow rectangle marks the stratigraphic position of the studied tombs. (drawing by T. Zomborácz after Dupuis et al. 2011)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
At the northern flank of the hill, the slumped Thebes Limestone block is overlain by an indurated, detrital deposit that consists of 1) massive, heterolithic and heterometric breccias embedded in a calcareous to weak clayey matrix, 2) unsorted conglomerates, and 3) well-sorted arenites (Aubry et al. 2011, Dupuis et al. 2011). Dupuis et al. (2011) described this deposit as the Valley of the Colours Formation.
3.3 Stratigraphic position of the entrances of tombs
The litho-stratigraphic position of selected Theban tombs was determined by Aubry et al. (2011), thus, the host lithologies of nine Khokha-tombs are also known. According to the listing, six out of these nine tombs were carved into the Tarawan Chalk,8 one was constructed in the soft Esna Shales (Abu Had Member),9 and two in Unit 1 of Thebes Limestone, i.e., the heavily fractured tilted compartment.10 The stratigraphic position of the yet undocumented Khokha-tombs more or less can be defined with the help of the geological map published by Dupuis et al. (2011),11 the topographical map by the Survey of Egypt from 1921, and F. Kampp’s map of el-Khokha from 1996,12 supplemented with fieldwork conducted at the area.
In this paper we primarily focus on the southern slope, as discussion of the entire hillock would be irrelevant in respect of the study area.
At first glance, it can be said that the entrances of the tombs located higher than 100 m above sea level were carved into the Thebes Limestone, those located at an elevation of roughly 100 m were constructed in the Esna Shale, and the ones located at ca. 95 m or lower were cut into the Tarawan Chalk. (This estimation might be accurate in the case of the southern flank, but probably should not be applied to the entire hillock considering the geological and geomorphological complexity of the area.)
The listric contact between the displaced strata (Unit 1 of Thebes Limestone) and the substratum (Esna Shale and Tarawan Chalk) can be observed at a few locations, most importantly at the entrance of a Middle Kingdom saff tomb (Saff-1), as well as in its immediate vicinity, a few meters away to the east (Figs 9-10). Not much lower, east of the whitewashed modern mudbrick building, outcrop of the Tarawan Chalk Formation occurs as a terrace-like feature, and the contact between the Chalk and the overlying Esna Shale seems to be visible as well (Fig. 11). Thus, approximate location of the contacts can be drawn at this section of the hillslope (Fig. 12).
Listric contact (red – in print: grey – dashed line,) between the displaced strata (Unit 1 of Thebes Limestone) and the underlying Esna Shale at the entrance of the Middle Kingdom saff tomb (el-Khokha east, southern hillslope, 2023)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Listric contact (red – in print: grey – dashed line) between the displaced strata (Unit 1 of Thebes Limestone) and the underlying Esna Shale (el-Khokha east, southern hillslope, 2023)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Lithological contact (green – in print: grey – dashed line) between the Tarawan Chalk and the overlying Esna Shale east of the whitewashed modern mudbrick building (el-Khokha east, southern slope, 2023)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Lithostratigraphy at the southern slope of el-Khokha, and the stratigraphic position of the four studied tombs. Red – in print: grey – dashed lines mark the listric fault (between the Thebes Limestone and the Esna Shale) and the lithological contact between the Esna Shale and the Tarawan Chalk. On the right, the eastern part of the modern whitewashed mudbrick building (Bet Boghdady) is still standing
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Since the contact between the Tarawan Chalk and the Esna Shale is stretching slightly above the study area, it can be presumed that all four studied tombs were cut into the former lithological unit. Furthermore, the host rock of the studied tombs can be safely defined by visual inspection due to the radically different characteristics of the contacting lithologies. The presence of the Tarawan Chalk at the tombs’ entrances is evident, and no penetration of the contact with the Esna Shale can be observed on the tombs’ walls within the interior spaces. In this regard, being exclusively formed of the calcareous unit, the uppermost tomb’s (TT 185) highest elevation point13 is the most decisive.
4 EXCAVATIONS AT THE SOUTHERN SLOPE OF EL-KHOKHA
Over the last 40 years, long-term research at the southern slope of the hillock has been conducted primarily by Hungarian research groups. Regarding our study area and its immediate vicinity, i.e., the middle section of the southern slope, the most relevant fieldworks preceded by the Hungarian presence are those of Ernest J. H. Mackay in the 1910s,14 and Mohamed Saleh Aly in the 1960s.15
The first Hungarian excavation at el-Khokha (in fact, in the entire Theban necropolis) was started by László Kákosy in 1983 in the first necropolis street of the hillslope. Kákosy worked at the New Kingdom mortuary monument of Djehutymes (TT 32) (Kákosy et al. 2004). New discoveries made during the fieldwork in the vicinity of TT 32 justified the extension of the research to other areas of the southern slope (TT 184, TT -59-, and TT -61- (Vasáros 2015) from 1995, 1996, and 1999, respectively), and even to the neighbouring Sheikh Abd el-Qurna (TT 65 from 1995). The research at the new concession areas was led by László Kákosy’s former students, Ernő Gaál, Tamás Bács, Zoltán Imre Fábián and Gábor Schreiber. In 2004, the excavation of the upper necropolis streets of el-Khokha (TT 204, TT 205, TT 206, -42-, -43-, -343-, -344-, and two Saff-tombs) was started by Z. I. Fábián, and in 2007, documentation and excavation also began at TT 400 (Schreiber el al. 2013a, 2013b), in the first necropolis street of the hill (Török 2009, Bács-Fábián-Schreiber 2009).16
As of today, research is being conducted in two neighbouring concession areas at the southern hillslope. These concessions are 1) the area of TT 32, TT -400-, TT 179/180 (Djehutymes, Minkhay and Nebamun) in the first necropolis street,17 and 2) the area of TT 184 (Nefermenu) in the third necropolis street integrated with the upper sections (4th, 5th, and 6th streets) of the hillslope.18 The four studied tombs are located within the latter concession area.
5 THE FOUR TOMBS OF THE STUDY AREA
5.1 Position and environment
The four tombs, from west to east, TT 413 (Unis-ankh), TT 412 (Qen-Amun), TT 184 (Nefermenu), TT 185 (Seni), are situated lining up next to each other at the middle section of el-Khokha’s southern slope, TT 413 being at the lowest, and TT 185 being at the highest elevation. TT 412 and TT 184 are located in between the above two. The difference in elevation between the lowermost (TT 413) and the uppermost (TT 185) tomb entrance is roughly 4 meters. Constructed on an NNW-SSE axis with their faęade facing SSE, all four tombs are parallel to each other (Fig. 13). Not only are they lined up in a parallel order, at some sections the adjacent features are also connected by the accidental breaking through or collapse of the rock during the cutting of the younger tombs (TT 412 and TT 184).
The groundplan of TT 413, 412, 184 and 185, and the position of the modern mudbrick building (Bet Boghdady) in relation to the tombs. The brown - in print: grey - dashed line marks the extent of the western part of Bet Boghdady before its demolition in 2009 (drawing by T Zomborácz based on the dataset of Gy. Csáki, K. Jánossy, Z. I. Fábián, L. Pokorni and Zs. Vasáros)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The stratigraphic position of the tombs has been discussed earlier in this paper. It has been clarified that the host rock in all four cases is the Tarawan Chalk substratum (Fig. 12). As in the case of the majority (probably all) of the other Theban tombs that were hewn into the Tarawan Chalk, cutting of the rock in the four studied tombs also adjusted to the ENE-WSW trending sub-vertical fractures (i.e., joints) that recurrently occur in the rock mass. Hence the NNW-SSE axial orientation of the monuments. In consequence, the surfaces of the northern and southern walls of the tombs (i.e., fracture surfaces along the joints) are always flat and even, whilst those of the eastern and western walls are more likely to be roughly cut and uneven, characterized by sharp edges on the fragmented rock surfaces.
Another major connecting link between three out of the four tombs (TT 412, TT 184, TT 185) is that all three of them, at least partially, used to serve as part of a large modern house complex known as Bet Boghdady. The mudbrick building and its barnyard stood in front of the faęade of the ancient tombs, covering the forecourt of TT 184 and TT 185 entirely, and that of TT 412 partially (Fig. 13). The western part of the house complex was demolished by Egyptian authorities in 2009, which made the clearance of the forecourt of TT 184 and TT 412 possible. The eastern part of the house built on the faęade of TT 185 is still standing, thus covering the tomb’s whole forecourt and the eastern side of its faęade. The first (and probably also the second) cult rooms of TT 184 and the adjacent TT 185 used to serve as an extension of the mudbrick building (e.g., as a sleeping room) (Saleh 1977), and could be entered through the original entrance of TT 185 (Fábián 2011c, 2016, and 2017).
5.2 Geometry, architectural components, and mural decoration
TT 184 (Nefermenu)
Name and title of the owner: Nefermenu, Governor (Mayor) of Thebes (Fábián 2009) / Mayor in the Southern City, Royal Scribe (Porter-Moss 1970, 290)
Dating: New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, second half of Ramesses Il’s reign (second half of 13th c. BCE) (Fábián 1997)
Type: Vb (Kampp 1996, 23-24)
Orientation: NNW-SSE Host rock: Tarawan Chalk
As described by Fábián (2002), the architectural features and decoration layout of TT 184 obviously follow the post-Amarna canon of mortuary monuments that can be observed in most of el-Khokha-tombs of the period.19 Accordingly, the tomb consists of a once partially covered forecourt, three interior cult rooms arranged according to the traditional T-shaped groundplan, and a sloping passage leading to the burial chamber (Fábián 2002 and 2008) (Fig. 13). This type of T-shaped Theban tombs was classified as ’Type Vb’by Kampp (1996).
The groundplan of the forecourt is still apparent (Fábián 2021), although almost the entire original structure has disappeared (Fig. 14). Only the base of the pair of pylons, traces of the flight of stairs leading to the courtyard, the courtyard’s boundaries, and six, yet unrevealed shafts or stairwells of probably different periods remained. Likewise, the significant part of the tomb’s original faęade and the entire western wall of the first room (transverse hall) ruined, most likely when the ceiling of the transverse hall collapsed. The entire collapsed structure has later been replaced with mudbricks and masonry (Fábián 1997). The tomb can now be entered from the neighbouring TT 412 through the rebuilt western wall of the transverse room (Fábián 1997). Today, very few carved architectural details can be detected on the western side of the faęade and the original entrance has completely disappeared.
Eastern view of the forecourt of TT 184. Only remains of the original structure can be detected. Note the whitewashed mudbrick building in the background which is standing in front of the faęade of TT 185 (in the far left corner) covering the whole forecourt of the tomb
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The T-shaped groundplan consists of three cult chambers, from south to north: a transverse hall, an axial corridor and a rectangular offering room. The entrance of the sloping passage, i.e., the narrow corridor leading to the burial chamber opens from the western wall of the offering room (Fábián 2008 and 2021). Shafts or pits of secondary burials are present in the transverse hall, in the sloping passage, and in the burial chamber (Fábián 1997 and 2021). The collapse and crumbling of the transverse hall’s rear (northern) wall, both on the western and the eastern side, was due to secondary pits or shafts that extend below the northern wall. The ceiling of the offering room also collapsed and was later roofed with masonry and woodwork. The collapse was probably due to the very thin rock layer that used to separate the offering room from the entrance stairs of a 18th-dynasty tomb, TT 241 (Ahmose), which is situated right above the shrine of TT 184 (Fig. 15). Likewise, the upper part of the transverse hall’s eastern wall also collapsed and pierced into the neighbouring TT 185 (Seni). Later, a gateway was constructed here by modern inhabitants. Today, it serves as the only entrance to TT 185.
Sections of the three cult rooms of TT 184 and the tomb’s upper neighbour, TT 241.On the right, note the difference in height between the current brick vault and the original ceiling (dashed line) in the transverse hall (drawing by Zs. Vasáros, republished with permission from owner)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The walls of the chambers were decorated with engraved and painted scenes and a few half statues, although only part of the decoration of the tomb was finished (Fábián 2002), and only some of those survived, mainly in the first two rooms. In the transverse hall (first room), two half statues depicting the tomb owner used to frame the door to the axial corridor both from left and right. Only the one on the left survived (Fig. 16). The eastern statue, the one on the right, almost completely perished due to the crumbling of the northern sidewall. The first room’s two most well-preserved murals are those on the northern wall’s western side and in the southwestern corner of the room (Figs 17-18). Both are remaining details of the strip-like registering of painted and engraved scenes with dimensions of ca. 1.0 x 1.1 m (H x W) and ca. 1.4 x 1.4 m (H x W), respectively. The rest of the remaining murals are highly fragmented typically with only traces of painted layers.
Half statue of the tomb owner (Nefermenu) carved into the northern wall of the transverse hall of TT 184
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Detail of the engraved and painted scene in the southwestern corner of the transverse hall of TT 184
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Detail of the engraved and painted scene on a northern wall’s western side in the transverse hall of TT 184. The mural was painted on a thin layer of plaster
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Since the sidewalls of Nefermenu’s tomb are fairly even rock surfaces, most of the paintings did not require plastering. However, at some sections layers of plaster were applied, mainly in the eastern corners of the first room, e.g., on its eastern sidewall. The components of the mortar have not been identified, yet it is very likely that a local clay-containing calcitic deposit called ‘hib’ (Arabic: hiba) was used as a binder, as in other Theban tombs during the New Kingdom period (Rickerby-Wong 2016).
In the axial corridor (second room), the decoration survived on all four sidewalls. In the offering chamber (third room) a sculpture depicting the goddess Hathor was carved into the rock at the rear wall (Fábián 2021). The carving is strongly fragmented. Both the sloping passage and the burial chamber are undecorated.
The floor level at the tomb’s entrance is at 91.0 m, and its highest elevation point is at 95.5 m at the top of the transverse hall’s secondary brick vault, which is much higher than the original collapsed rock ceiling that used to stand at 93.5 m (Fig. 15). The tomb’s lowest point is at the floor level of the burial chamber (83.0 m).
TT 185 (Seni)
Name and title of the owner: Seni, Hereditary prince, Divine chancellor (Porter-Moss 1970, 291)
Dating: First Intermediate Period (ca. 22nd c. BCE) (Fábián 2011a-b, Porter-Moss 1970, 291) Type: not specified
Orientation: NNW-SSE
Host rock: Tarawan Chalk
As the tomb used to form part of a large modern house complex, the tomb’s groundplan, geometry and mural decorations were not known until recent times.20 As of today, the eastern part of the modern mudbrick house is still standing in front of the tomb’s faęade (Figs 13-14), therefore nothing is known about the forecourt, and the faęade has been only partly surveyed (Fábián 2011b and 2018).
The faęade once formed a portico with two pillars and three intercolumnia. The outward planes of the pillars are decorated with bas-reliefs depicting the tomb’s owner (Fábián 2011b). The carvings are now fragmented due to rock deterioration, and no remains of original paint layers can be detected on their surfaces. The bas-relief on the western pillar, however, got deliberately damaged in 2007, as it was whitewashed together with the walls of the modern mudbrick building, probably by the owner of the house (Fig. 19).21
The bas-relief on the western pillar of TT 185’s portico (photo by Z. I. Fábián 2011, republished with permission from owner). See the depiction carved on the pillar of TT 413 (Fig. 27) for comparison
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
At present, the original entrance is walled up with rocks and cement mortar. The interior of the tomb consists of two cult rooms, a niche-like chamber opening form the rear wall of the inner (northern) room, and a burial chamber. This latter, being on a lower level than the two cult rooms, can be approached by a flight of stairs in front of the rear wall of the inner room (Fábián 2011b) (Figs 13, 20). In the first (southern) room (5.1 x 3.7 m; max. height: 2.9 m), obvious signs of modern use can be observed, whilst no ancient decoration survived whatsoever. Most parts of the room’s sidewalls are plastered with mud and its ceiling is covered by soot, both originate from the room’s modern reuse. On its western wall, a gateway connects the tomb with the transverse hall of the neighbouring TT 184 (Nefermenu) (Fig. 21). The gateway most likely formed by accident when the rock collapsed during or after the construction of TT 184. Today it serves as the only actual entrance to Seni’s tomb. Two further gateways of similar origin are present on the eastern wall of the second (northern) room (4.3 x 4.6 m; max. height: 2.6 m), although these were subsequently closed with a masonry wall. At the south-western corner of this inner room, a shallow shaft of a secondary burial was cut into the floor.
Sections of TT 185 (drawing by K. Jánossy and Z. I. Fábián, republished with permission from owners)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Western view of the first cult room of TT 185. The mud plaster on the sidewalls and the soot on the ceiling originate from the tomb’s utilization as a modern habitation. The entrance on the left leads to the neighbouring TT 184
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The only preserved mural painting in TT 185 can be found on the rear (northern) wall of the second room (Fig. 22), however, the painted mud plaster fragments found in the debris during the uncovering of the tomb indicate that the whole structure was once decorated (Fábián 2011b). The surviving mural decoration (H x W: ca. 1.5 x 4.5 m) was painted onto the even rock surface of the northern wall (i.e. an E-W trending sub-vertical fracture in the rock mass), thus, no plastering was needed beneath the paint layers. The painting is one of the oldest known artworks in the Theban necropolis.22
Detail of the painted scene on the northern wall of the second cult room of TT 185
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The lowest elevation point of the tomb is at the floor level of the sarcophagus’ pit (87.3 m) carved into the floor of the burial chamber (88.2 m), whilst the highest is at the ceiling of the first room (ca. 95.5 m). The floor level at the entrance is at 92.3 m. The floor noticeably slopes towards north in the second room, at its rear wall the elevation is 91.55 m (Fig. 20).
TT 412 (Qen-Amun)
Name and title of the owner: Qen-Amun, Royal scribe, Scribe and overseer of the offerings of Amun-Re (Saleh 1983)
Dating: New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Hatshepsut/Thutmose III (Kampp 1996, 613) (first half of 15th c. BCE)
Type: Vila (special shape) (Kampp 1996, 30)
Orientation: NNW-SSE
Host rock: Tarawan Chalk
The tomb of Qen-Amun is the western neighbour of TT 184 (Nefermenu). At their forecourts, the two monuments are separated by a wall cut into the rock (Fig. 13).
Apart from the fragmented rock-cut faęade and the remains of the western and eastern sidewalls (Fig. 23), only a few architectural components of later constructions can be detected in the forecourt.23 These are either mud plastering on the stone walls (e.g., in the eastern corner of the faęade) or smaller mudbrick features (Fábián 2016). At the base of the eastern sidewall, a 3-meter deep shaft tomb was cut into the floor.24 The burial space of this tomb can also be approached from TT 413 (Unis-ankh)’s first room through its side chambers.25
The forecourt of TT 412 and the remains of its façade (on the left) photographed from the southwestern corner of the forecourt. Note the forecourt of TT 184 and Bet Boghdady in the background
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Both sides of the entrance are shaped as false doors. The entrance leads to the roughly square-based interior space which, at first, appears to be one single cult room with four sixteen-sided columns standing in the middle. However, upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that this square-based space, in fact, consists of two transverse halls, as suggested by Kampp (1996, 613). On the contrary, Saleh (1983) described the room (even though he identified it as the courtyard of the tomb) as one space divided into three colonnades by the two lines of columns. As the entire ceiling of the structure had collapsed, the architectural layout can only be defined with the help of the remains of an architrave and the remaining springs of the ceiling that are still visible on the sidewalls. The architrave shows either the hypothetical division of the two transverse halls (according to Kampp), or that of the middle and the rear colonnade (according to Saleh). The springs imply that the ceiling of the front hall (or colonnade) was vaulted, and that of the rear hall (or colonnade) was laid out flat (Kampp 1996, 613).
The four sixteen-sided columns are strongly fragmented, only their lower parts and bases remained. The two northern ones are only ‘half-columns’ in their current state. It seems that the fragmentation is due to the roughly E-W trending sub-vertical joint that is crossing the columns. As recorded by Saleh (1983), the missing halves were built up of mudbricks in the Late Period.
Originally decorated sidewalls in a larger contiguous area only remained in the south-western corner of the first room. This ensemble consists of the painted scene on the southern wall (west of the entrance) (Fig. 24), and the painted scene along with the carved false door on the western wall. The dimensions of the decorated areas are ca. 1.5 x 2.8 m (H x W) and ca. 1.3 x 3.2 m (H x W), respectively.26 The northern part of the western wall is missing, and the eastern part of the southern wall (east of the entrance) is partially walled up with mudbricks. Traces of the painted freeze remained in the northern upper corner of the eastern wall. Almost the entire eastern sidewall was rebuilt with stone by Saleh in 1966 (Saleh 1983). On this wall, an iron grille door was installed. Today, it serves as the entrance to TT 184. At least three burial shafts were found by Saleh in 1966 (Saleh 1983). The one in the north-eastern corner belongs to the tomb owner, the other ones are most likely from secondary burials (Saleh 1983, Kampp 1996). As the room’s entire floor is covered by sand, the shafts are currently not visible. At the northern side, the whole carved surface of the tomb’s sidewall perished due to collapse, and only the fractured surfaces of the rock mass remained (Fig. 25). An entrance cut into this northern rock wall leads to the narrow, unfinished and undecorated longitudinal hall, which ends in a short transverse space.
Painted scene on the southern wall of the first room of TT 412
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The carved surface of the northern sidewall in the first room of TT 412 completely perished due to rock collapse.
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
TT 413 (Unis-ankh)
Name and title of the owner: Unis-ankh, Great overlord, Governor of the South, Overseer of Upper Egypt, Controller of the two granaries (Saleh 1970 and 1977)
Dating: late Old Kingdom, 3rd M. BCE, probably 6th Dynasty (ca. 24th-22nd c. BCE) (Fábián 2011a, Fábián-Zomborácz 2020)
Type: not specified
Orientation: NNW-SSE
Host rock: Tarawan Chalk
The architectural features of Unis-ankh’s mortuary monument may be familiar from the Old Kingdom mastaba tombs of Saqqara, as well as from another tomb in our study area, TT 185 (Seni), which is one of Unis-ankh’s closest contemporaries at el-Khokha.27 Similarly to Seni’s tomb, TT 413 consists of (presumably) a forecourt which is currently under debris, two interior cult rooms that are identical in size, a significantly smaller (offering?)28 chapel opening from the rear wall of the inner room, side chambers opening from the front room, and several burial chambers cut into the floor (Fig. 13).
Revealing of the forecourt has not been possible due to the small 18th Dynasty decorated mudbrick chapel that had been built on the top of the several meter thick debris29 (Fig. 26). Despite only a small section of the faęade being visible, it is apparent that it was once supported by two pillars, and three intercolumnia served as an entrance to the interior spaces. This architectural design is identical to that in Seni’s tomb (Fábián-Zomborácz 2020). Accordingly, the outward plane of the western pillar is decorated with a bas-relief depicting the tomb’s owner (Fig. 27). Although the eastern pillar’s front side is entirely covered by debris and the small mudbrick chapel standing atop, it can be assumed that this pillar is decorated with a similar depiction. Remains of paint layers have not been detected on the visible western bas-relief’s surface.
The southern cult room of TT 413 photographed from the west. Note the 18th Dynasty mudbrick chapel built on the top of the debris covering the forecourt of the Old Kingdom tomb of Unis-ankh (upper right corner)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The bas-relief on the western pillar of TT 413’s portico. See the depiction carved on the pillar of TT 185 (Fig. 19) for comparison
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The ceiling of both cult rooms had completely collapsed and disappeared, therefore the inner height of the interior spaces and the design of their ceiling can only be estimated with the help of the remaining structure: in the first (southern) room, the upper parts of the sidewalls strongly curve towards the middle indicating that the ceiling was originally vaulted, and the inner height was around 3 meters (Figs 28-29).30 Both cult rooms are more or less rectangular based: the southern hall (width x depth: 5.36 x 4.67 m) is rather transverse, and the northern hall (width x depth: 4.08 x 5.25 m)31 is rather axial. The two spaces are connected by an entrance cut in the central axis. The decorated wall around the gateway had partially collapsed, and has been recently rebuilt with stone and masonry (Fábián-Zomborácz 2020).
Sections of TT 413 (drawing by B. Szentirmai, republished with permission from owner)
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Painted scene on the even rock surface on the northern wall of the southern cult room of TT 413
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Upon entering the rooms, it becomes evident that the architects took the recurring joints into account when quarrying the tomb. Both of the remaining rear (northern) sidewalls are actually even fracture surfaces along the vertical joints that are stretching in an E-W direction in the rock mass. The eastern and western walls, however, are roughly cut, which resulted in forming sharp edges on the fragmented rock surface (Fig. 29). As indicated by the remaining mural decoration, these roughly cut sidewalls were plastered in order to provide an even surface for the wall paintings. In Unis-ankh’s tomb, mud-straw plaster was used for this purpose, as seen in the second (northern) cult room’s eastern and western sidewalls underneath the remaining mural paintings.32
Arguably the most valuable elements of the tomb are the painted decorations that survived on generally only a few square meter areas. The largest remaining painted scene is that on the first hall’s northern wall, framing the entrance that leads to the northern cult room (Fig. 29). It was painted directly on the even rock surface without any plastering, its dimensions are ca. 1.5 x 5 m (H x W). It is the only mural decoration that survived in the first hall, however, a significant part of the scene is missing due to the collapse of the wall around the entrance. The reconstruction of the painting is currently in progress (Fábián-Zomborácz 2020). In the second room, three mural paintings survived: one on the northern (Fig. 30), one on the eastern, and one on the western wall (Fig. 31). The first one was painted directly on the rock surface, and the latter two were painted on mud-straw plaster. The previously mentioned smaller chamber opens from the northern wall of this hall, and it is also decorated with a painted scene.33
Painted scene on the even rock surface on the northern sidewall of the northern cult room of TT 413
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
Fragmented painted scene on mud-straw plaster on the western sidewall of the northern cult room of TT 413
Citation: Építés – Építészettudomány 52, 3-4; 10.1556/096.2024.00122
The floor level in the two cult rooms is at 88 m above sea level, however, the lowest elevation point of the tomb is at ca. 84.70 m in the first room’s eastern side chamber. The highest elevation point of the tomb is at 91 m at the hypothetical ceiling of the cult rooms (Fig. 28).
The tomb of Unis-ankh is one of the oldest known decorated rock-cut tombs in Thebes.34
6 POTENTIAL HAZARDS TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE STUDIED TOMBS
In order to define the potential hazards to the preservation of the tombs, human activities and natural hazards have to be distinguished. When discussing the tomb protection priorities in the Valley of the Kings, Rutherford and Ryan (1995) summarized both human and natural agents of tomb damage as well as their consequences, the bulk of which certainly applies to any of the Theban tombs.
One part of the sources of human damage listed by Rutherford and Ryan (1995) concerns past human activities, e.g., ancient tomb robberies, or reuse of the interior spaces as human habitations (Fig. 21). Although these are past actions, the marks left behind are still visible in the tombs, and their destructive effect is still of serious concern today. In this regard, first of all damage from smoke, fire, abrasion or vandalism, and damage caused by waste water have to be mentioned. Another part of the sources of human damage concerns recent human activities including all issues related to tourism and archaeological work, e.g., moisture imbalance, tailings dumps, accidental abrasion, and the development of tourism infrastructure. In the case of the Khokha-tombs, the impact of tourism does not actually have to be taken into consideration as a damaging factor up until the actual opening of the tombs for the public. As another hazard related to human activities, pollution engendered by modern agricultural practices was pointed out by Aubry et al. (2009).
In the literature, generally water in the form of flash floods is identified as the main natural agent of deterioration (Rutherford-Ryan 1995, Aubry et al. 2016). The past decades’ most devastating flooding event which affected the Theban cemeteries happened in the fall of 1994 causing severe flood damage in the rock-cut tombs (Rutherford-Ryan 1995). These flash floods, however, do not seem to be exclusively the problem of recent times. The accurate sealing of the tombs in order to prevent water from entering the interior spaces implies that flooding events also occurred repetitively in ancient times (Aubry et al. 2009).
Flowing water, besides filling the chambers with debris, causes the weathering of soft lithologies in many ways: first of all, by moisture expansion as well as by penetration into the rock through faults and joints (Aubry et al. 2016). The swelling of clay minerals causes volume expansion and eventually shrinkage during desiccation, leading to the erosion of clay-containing lithologies after repeated cycles. In this matter, the clayey Esna Shale is regarded as the most sensitive lithology in Western Thebes. Although Esna Shale is not present in our study area, mud plasters made mainly of clayey components are likewise affected by degradation caused by moisture expansion. The severely damaged murals painted on mud plaster in the northern room of TT 413 are clearly the evidence of the destructive effects of flash floods (Fig. 31).
Furthermore, fractures serve as potential conduits for running water, which penetrates into the rock mass through the faults and joints, and thus causes formation of ravines and eventually the collapse of the rock. As indicated by Aubry et al. (2016), the risk of water penetration increases with the increasing dip of the strata, therefore the tilted blocks are particularly vulnerable to flash floods. However, due to the stratigraphic position of the studied tombs, our primary concern is obviously the sub-vertical joint set that characterizes the Tarawan Chalk in the area (Fig. 25), and not the dipping strata of the tilted limestone block at el-Khokha. Needless to say, that the increase of moisture leads to the change of the air quality in the chambers by raising the normally constant low humidity.
The other main natural agent of deterioration is temperature fluctuation, therefore it primarily affects the outdoor structures (e.g., the forecourts of the tombs) being directly exposed to the sun. The dramatic change of the temperature from day to night causes stresses in the rock (as minerals contract and expand), and eventually leads to the thermal fatigue of the structure. The damaging effects of temperature change is clearly visible in the forecourts of TT 184 and TT 412 (Figs 14, 23).
7 DISCUSSION
The hill of el-Khokha is one of the foothills, i.e. tilted blocks that lie in front of the cliffs of the Theban Plateau forming a complex structural area along the Theban Mountain on the West Bank of the River Nile, opposite the modern-day city of Luxor in Upper Egypt. El-Khokha and its adjacent bigger neighbour, the hill of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna together are considered as one single tilted block that became detached from the Theban Plateau and was subsequently divided into two geomorphologic groups by differential erosion (Dupuis et al. 2011). Analysing all three lithologies at el-Khokha was possible since there are outcrops. We were able to locate the lithological contacts at the southern flank. We have clarified the lithostratigraphic position of the four studied tombs and confirmed that the host rock in all four cases is the Tarawan Chalk Formation.
It is generally assumed that religious symbols played a crucial role in the development of architectural plans for the Theban mortuary monuments. However, when quarrying a rock-cut tomb, the ancient architects also had to consider the area’s geography and geology as equally important factors (Bardají et al. 2017) besides the preconceived religious patterns. At el-Khokha’s southern flank, the axial orientation of the tombs adapted to the south-facing hillslope, consequently, every rock-cut feature was constructed on a north-south axis. Furthermore, when quarrying tombs in the Tarawan Chalk Formation, architects understandably chose to adjust their architectural plan to the roughly east-west trending sub-vertical joint set that characterizes the Tarawan Chalk in the area. During the late Old Kingdom, the very first rock-cut monuments at el-Khokha were cut into the fractured but otherwise massive, thick-bedded chalk. Although later on, mostly during the 18th and 19th Dynasties, tombs were also quarried both in the soft shales and in the heavily fractured, tilted limestone unit (Aubry et al. 2009), the majority of the Khokha-tombs is located at the lower sections of the hill, suggesting that in most cases architects tried to avoid the incompetent lithologies and mainly chose Tarawan Chalk as the host rock of their constructions.
We discussed both human and natural agents that substantially contribute to the deterioration of the Theban rock-cut tombs and result in major preservation problems. The greater part of these agents causes damage either by moisture expansion or thermal fatigue, in which geological factors obviously play a decisive role. As highlighted by Dupuis et al. (2011), “The Theban Mountain is a remarkable example of the effect that climate coupled with geology has on shaping the evolution of a landscape"
8 CONCLUSIONS
The four tombs (TT 184, TT 185, TT 412 and TT 413) at el-Khokha in the Theban necropolis (Egypt) were cut into the Tarawan Chalk Formation, which is a fine, predominantly micritic limestone. The limestone is overlain by a shale formation (Esna Shale), which was not used as the host rock of the tombs due to its friable nature. The preservation of the tombs reflects the complex history. Some of the studied tombs were used as housing until the end of the 20th century, which modified the geometry and the interiors. Many of the decorations and wall paintings were strongly altered or missing. Their preservation is partly endangered due to past human interactions such as fire, leaking wastewater or reuse and reshaping of tombs. There are also stability problems (collapse) and environmental concerns such as temperature and humidity changes and related salt attacks.
In order to understand the subsurface weathering processes and to point out the potential deterioration of the surviving decorations and structures, a comprehensive condition assessment needs to be conducted in the study area. The research plan includes the description of the geological conditions, petrology and sedimentology of local carbonates, the mapping of the fracture patterns and decay forms, as well as the monitoring of micro-climatic conditions. The environmental data collection started in 2023, aiming to record temperature and relative humidity changes during daily and annual cycles inside and outside the tombs. The planned onsite tests include moisture content measurements along vertical profiles, the detection of surface strength by non-destructive methods, and the mapping of stratification, micro-cracking and discontinuities. The collected data will be utilized to classify the rock mass.
Carrying out the condition survey of the surviving artefacts in order to suggest feasible methods of conservation is only possible after the engineering geological investigation is completed and we fully understand the geological conditions in the study area. The thorough study of the architectural elements, their documentation, and the description of rock properties and condition assessment, provide valuable information for further archaeological excavations and planned restoration projects.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial support of the doctoral fellowship DKÖP-23 to Tamás Zomborácz (grant no. 2020-2.1.1-ED-2023-00239) is acknowledged. The fieldwork conducted at the area would have been impossible without the support of the National Scientific Research Fund of Hungary (OTKA) and the research scholarship granted by Tempus Public Foundation. We are grateful to the field director of the area of TT 184, Zoltán Imre Fábián for providing us with the research documentation archive and for his thoughtful review of the manuscript. We thank Sayed El Qurany, Bori Németh, Dóra Zsom and Gábor Somodi for their advice and assistance whilst working at el-Khokha.
Figures are own creations unless otherwise indicated in the caption.
As hypothesized by Dupuis et al. 2011.
Survey of Egypt 1921. Map of El-Khôkha and Assâsîf, c-9.
The catalogued tombs of the Theban necropolis are designated TT (for Theban Tomb). The numbering system was first published in Arthur Weigall’s 1908 Report on the Tombs of Shêkh Abd’ el Gûrneh and el Assasîf. The list was subsequently extended several times. In 1970, 63 Khokha-tombs were listed by B. Porter and R. L. Moss in their Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. This was further extended in 1996 by F. Kampp (Die thebanische Nekropole zum Wandel des Grabgedankens von der XVIII. bis zur XX. Dynastie), who used a different consignment for the newly numbered features, and listed a total of 133 rock-cut tombs in the Khokha area.
According to the listing in Porter–Moss 1970.
The scope of F. Kampp’s specification includes 18th–20th Dynasty rock-cut tombs.
This contradicts Aubry et al. 2011 who determined that one tomb at el-Khokha (TT 200) was quarried into the uppermost member (Abu Had) of the Esna Shale Formation.
TT 39 (Puiemre), TT 48 (Amenemhat Surer), TT 183 (Nebsumenu), TT 257 (Mahu Neferhotep), TT 186 (Ihy), and (perhaps) TT 413 (Unis-ankh). Although the number of the latter was not specified by the authors, their description “earliest Theban rock tomb chapel in limestone” fits TT 413, which is the lowermost tomb in our own study area.
TT 200 (Dedi).
TT 201 (Re) and TT 177 (Amenemopet).
Later modified by Aubry et al. 2016.
See Plan IV (El-Khôkhah) in Kampp 1996.
95.5 m at the ceiling of the first cult room.
Being in the service of Robert Mond in the framework of his protection and restoration program (Newberry 1938, 209 and Fábián 1997, 82–83), E. Mackay reported on the work carried out at TT 184 in Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte (Mackay 1914, 93).
M. Saleh worked in three out of the four studied tombs (with the exception of TT 185) in the 1960s (Fábián 1997, 2011a–b, Fábián–Zomborácz 2020). For his fieldwork at TT 413 see Saleh 1970 and 1977, and for TT 412 see Saleh 1983.
For further reading concerning the Hungarian excavations see Bács–Fábián–Schreiber–Török (eds) 2009, excavation reports, and relevant publications of the Hungarian researchers mentioned here.
Field director: László Kákosy (1983–2003), Gábor Schreiber (2003–2020), Zsolt Vasáros (2021–present).
Field director: Zoltán Imre Fábián (1995–present).
By reason of the resemblance in their architectural and decoration layout, a group of 19th Dynasty or Ramesside mortuary monuments is referred to as the ‘Khokha-tombs’. The closest parallels of TT 184 are TT 23, TT 32, TT 183, TT 264 and TT 370 (Fábián 2002 and 2021).
The clearing of the inner spaces started after the 2009 demolition of Bet Boghdady (see Fábián 2011c).
The incident was reported by Z. I. Fábián in his 2008 Excavation Report.
For further reading concerning the depiction and the inscription see Fábián 2015a and Fábián 2018.
Kampp (1996, 613) suggests that the later constructions, restorations and modifications observed inside the tomb date to the Ramesside Period. The same features were dated to the Late Period by Saleh (1983).
The shaft was dated to the Third Intermediate Period or later by Fábián 2016.
The clearance of the forecourt started in 2009 by Z. I. Fábián after the demolition of Bet Boghdady (see Fábián 2011c, 2016, 2017).
For the detailed description of the painted scenes see Saleh 1983.
Saleh 1977 suggested that TT 413 might be an imitation of a rock-cut mastaba. The tomb’s resemblance with the Saqqara-tombs and TT 185 was highlighted by Fábián–Zomborácz 2020.
According to Saleh 1977.
Concerning the mudbrick chapel see Fábián 2015b.
Both Saleh (1977) and Fábián (2011a) pointed out that, unlike in TT 413, the ceiling of the other Old Kingdom tombs in Thebes is always flat.
Measurements according to the geodetic survey of L. Pokorni from 2020 (TT 184 research documentation archive).
Although the components of the mortar have not been identified, it is clear that earth plaster strengthened with fibrous organic material was used.
For the detailed description of the painted scenes see Saleh 1977 and Fábián–Zomborácz 2020.
The precise dating and the chronological relation of the known Old Kingdom tombs at el-Khokha are uncertain (Fábián 2011b)
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Web links
https://thebanmappingproject.com/ (Accessed 3 May 2024).
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/87 (Accessed 3 May 2024).
https://whc.unesco.org/en/soc/2256 (Accessed 3 May 2024).
https://www.nationsonline.org (Accessed 3 May 2024).
