A crime scene with no crime.
In 1925, archaeologists working at Giza uncovered a remarkable monument. The tomb chamber of Queen Hetep-Heres (c.2630-2580 BCE) contained a wealth of beautiful, high-quality items. But the monument itself was strange, the excavation was a serious challenge, and the results were baffling in many ways. In this episode, we explore the discovery, revelation, the life, and the legacy of Queen Hetep-Heres…
Digital booklet and extended version available at www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.
The Tomb of Queen Hetep-Heres:
- Digital Giza http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/sites/1509/full/.
- G. A. Reisner and W. S. Smith, A History of the Giza Necropolis Volume II: The Tomb of Hetep-Heres the Mother of Cheops (1955). Available online.
- M. Lehner, The Pyramid Tomb of Hetep-Heres and the Satellite Pyramid of Khufu (1985). Available online.
The treasures of Hetep-Heres:
- Ancient objects at Digital Giza http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/ancientpeople/75/full/#objects.
- Furniture of Hetep-Heres in the Cairo Museum at Wikimedia.
- Exact replicas at Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
- Modern reconstruction and replica of a throne at Harvard University.
The bracelets of Hetep-Heres – Aegean silver? SCIMEX, ‘Queen Hetepheres’ bracelets reveal new information on trade networks in Old Kingdom Egypt, c 2600 BC’, Scimex, Available online. See also K. Sowada et al., ‘Analyses of Queen Hetepheres’ bracelets from her celebrated tomb in Giza reveals new information on silver, metallurgy and trade in Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2600 BC’, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 49 (2023), 1—9. Available online.
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The tomb of Hetepheres I, as seen at opening (Reisner and Smith).
Replicas of Hetepheres furniture (Boston MFA).
Hetepheres bed, replica (Boston MFA).
Hetepheres sedan carrying-chair (Boston MFA).
Hetepheres from an item in her tomb, line drawing by Reisner (Reisner and Smith).
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Bibliography
- M. Baud, Famille royale et pouvoir sous l’Ancien Empire égyptien (1999).
- Boston Museum of Fine Arts, ‘The Tomb of Queen Hetep-heres’.
- V. G. Callender, In Hathor’s Image I. The Wives and Mothers of Egyptian Kings from Dynasties I-VI (2011).
- V. G. Callender, ‘Queen Hetepheres I’, Bulletin of the Australian Centre of Egyptology 1 (1990), 25—30.
- P. Der Manuelian, ‘The Lost Throne of Queen Hetepheres from Giza: An Archaeological Experiment in Visualization and Fabrication’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 53 (2017), 1–46.
- D. Dunham, ‘A Statuette of Two Egyptian Queens’, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 34 (1936), 3–5.
- Z. A. Hawass, ‘The Mystery of Hetepheres’, in Z. A. Hawass (ed.), The Treasures of the Pyramids (2003), 152—155.
- G. P. Killen, Ancient Egyptian Furniture Volume I: 4000–1300 B.C. (Oxford, 2013).
- M. Lehner and Z. A. Hawass, Giza and the Pyramids (2017).
- H.-H. Münch, ‘Categorizing Archaeological Finds: The Funerary Material of Queen Hetepheres I at Giza’, Antiquity 74 (2000), 898—908.
- Reisner, ‘The Household Furniture of Queen Hetep-Heres I’, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 27 (1929), 83–90.
- G. A. Reisner, ‘Hetep-Heres, Mother of Cheops’, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 25 (1927), 1–36.
- G. A. Reisner and W. S. Smith, A History of the Giza Necropolis Volume II: The Tomb of Hetep-Heres the Mother of Cheops (1955).
- SCIMEX, ‘Queen Hetepheres’ bracelets reveal new information on trade networks in Old Kingdom Egypt, c 2600 BC’, Scimex, https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/analysis-of-queen-hetepheres-bracelets-reveals-new-information-on-trade-networks-in-old-kingdom-egypt-c-2600-bc.
- W. S. Smith, ‘The Tomb of Hetep-Heres I’, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 51 (1953), 23–30.
- K. Sowada et al., ‘Analyses of Queen Hetepheres’ bracelets from her celebrated tomb in Giza reveals new information on silver, metallurgy and trade in Old Kingdom Egypt, c. 2600 BC’, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 49 (2023), 1—9 https://hal.science/hal-04108566/document#:~:text=Imaging%20of%20a%20cross%2Dsection,during%20the%20Early%20Bronze%20Age.
- ‘Digital Giza | G 7000 X’, http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/sites/1509/full/.
I loved that episode, I think the work of the archeologists in that case was phenomenal, when you just look at the pile of scraps they found. Also this is so incredibly old, very impressive to get a glimps not at monumental statues and gold, but every day objects.
Regarding the theory why there was no mummy: The idea of there being no body to mummify due to the events leading to her death: It’s certainly an intersting theory, but there were those canopic jars, if I recall correctly. So either it was some other reason for the mummy missing or the cause of death was even more guesome.