The Theban Necropolis, located across the Nile from Luxor, contains more than 400 tombs. In a new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, researchers in Spain took a closer look at chamber three inside tomb TT 209 to understand how the burial space changed over time. The tomb was constructed during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (754-656 BCE) and remained in use until the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BCE), when it was eventually abandoned.
By examining the placement of human remains and burial objects, the researchers reconstructed how generations of people repeatedly adapted the chamber for new burials. "We found a total of 16 mummified human individuals, a mummified dog, and a disturbed deposit containing the remains of at least four individuals," said first author Dr. Jared Carballo-Pérez, a researcher at the University of La Laguna.
"The detailed study of the bodies indicates neither chaotic accumulation nor a loss of the original ritual over time. Rather, there was a spatial logic in which each new deposition was adapted to the presence of previous bodies -- a kind of funerary memory in the processes of reuse." Senior author Dr. Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo, a professor of Egyptology at the University of La Laguna, added: "We have few details regarding how the people who entered tombs behaved, what their motivations were in each historical period, and how they conceptually reconfigured the pre-existing space." To better understand how the bodies were placed and how the burial chamber evolved, the researchers excavated the space, photographed the mummies, and created detailed sketches and descriptions.
They recorded the position and orientation of each body, along with its relationship to the chamber's architectural features. The team identified nine funerary deposits within the chamber. These included both individual and multiple burials, along with objects associated with the dead.
The earliest burials were generally spaced apart from one another, and the bodies were placed inside coffins. "The earliest individuals buried here appear to have been of high social standing, as they were interred in coffins, with funerary nets and amulets, and with an assemblage containing costly items, such as the contents held in Phoenician amphorae, a large number of which were found alongside them," said Molinero Polo. As time passed, burial practices began to change.
Toward the end of the 25th dynasty and during the Persian period (around 680-404 BCE), new bodies were placed wherever unused room remained. The chamber consequently became much more densely occupied. Researchers also noticed changes in the way some bodies were positioned.
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