TT 209. Objectives of the proyecto dos cero nueve and the Name of the Tomb Owner

Polo, Miguel Ángel Molinero; Ángel, Miguel

doi:10.25145/j.tde.2016.07.07

Cited by 1 publication

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“…The tomb was built on the northern slope of the Wadi Hatasun, which runs from the Valley of the Colours to the Ramesseum, south of the Sheikh Abd el-Gurna hill. It was constructed during the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, the period of Kushite rule over Egypt, for a man of Nubian origin whose name can be read as Nisemro (Molinero Polo, 2017). The underground chambers of TT 209 were built following two axes.…”

Section: The Materials and Its Provenancementioning

confidence: 99%

Fingerprints as Indicators of Craftworkers’ Age and Sex in a Sample of Clay Ushabtis from TT 209, Luxor, Egypt

Gutiérrez‐Redomero

López

Polo

2023

Preprint

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This article analyses fingerprints identified on a set of backed clay Egyptian funerary figurines, known as ushabtis. The strata in which they were found dates from the late Persian to the early Ptolemaic dynasties (ca. fifth to third centuries BCE), but the objects might have been made some two centuries earlier, during the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, and then reused for a later burial. The authors propose that fingerprints preserved on ancient objects can be used to understand the roles that age and sex played in the organization of production systems in ancient societies. The Mean Ridge Breadth (MRB) and Mean Ridge Density (MRD) of each discrete fingerprint was measured. The craftworkers´ ages and heights were calculated from the MRB using specific regression equations, and their probable sex was determined by correlating the MRD with that of the reference population (contemporary Sudan). An age/sex identification matrix was then created to combine the results of MRB and MRD determinations for each piece. The results show, with high probability, that around 90% of the ushabtis were made by female adolescents between the ages of 11 and 16, and the remainder by children and some adult women. Between four and eight craftworkers manufactured the ushabtis, and due to their age and the relatively low level of skill required, it is proposed that they are likely to have been in the learning phase of their trade.

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Section: The Materials and Its Provenancementioning

confidence: 99%