AN EGYPTIAN OCCULUS: EXAMINING THE MIDDLE 
KINGDOM THROUGH THE WEDJAT EYE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
by 
JERED T. BENEDICK 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A THESIS 
 
 
 
 
Presented to the Department of Anthropology 
and the Robert D. Clark Honors College  
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of  
Bachelor of Arts 
 
June 2014 
  
An Abstract of the Thesis of 
Jered Benedick for the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
in the Department of Anthropology to be taken June 2014 
Title: An Egyptian Occulus: Examining the Middle Kingdom through the Wedjat Eye 
Approved: ~ ~o:PP: 
One of the fundamental purposes of archaeology is identifying and 
understanding periods of socio-cultural change in past societies, especially those that 
lack a historical record. The Egyptian Middle (2050-1650BCE) Kingdom is, for the 
most part, one of these periods. The Middle Kingdom emerged from 1 00 years of 
political fallout after the collapse of a highly centralized Old Kingdom (2649-
2150BCE) in a flourish of culture, social leveling, and stable political control. With the 
first examples of Egyptian historical documentation appearing late in the period, 
archaeology is left to decipher these developments from the material evidence -
primarily from mortuary assemblages. 
This thesis will examine the lives of Middle Kingdom Egyptians, mostly from a 
non-royal context, in an effort to broaden the understanding of Egyptian personal 
identity and social structure. Building from basic mortuary theory, it will focus on data 
collected from three separate excavations within the Abydos North cemetery, all dated 
to the Middle Kingdom and its peripheries: Janet Richards' 1988 excavation near the 
cemetery center, John Garstang's 1901 excavation in the northern segment (designated 
Cemetery E), and T. Eric Peet's series of excavations in the greater North Cemetery area 
ii 
 
 
iii 
 
(both the designated Cemetery S and general North Cemetery, from 1911-12). Though 
the widespread use of scaraboid amulets during the Middle Kingdom has been 
established as one symbol intrinsic of the so-called "democratization" of Egyptian social 
and cultural belief, this thesis proposes that a different symbol, the wedjat eye, presents 
itself as an equally strong symbol of these cultural and social processes. It will prove 
that this amulet, from its system of production to its mortuary manifestation, serves as 
the perfect oculus through which Egyptologists can view the intricate, transitional social 
patterns of Middle Kingdom Egypt.  
  
 
 
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Acknowledgements 
I would like to thank Professor(s) Dueppen, Gallagher, and Fracchia for helping 
me to fully examine the specific topic and consider the various perspectives and 
contexts related to this subject matter.  I am incredibly grateful to have professors as 
exceptional as these three to guide me through this long, strenuous, and  rewarding 
process. In addition to this, I want to thank my family and friends for their endless 
encouragement. They have never ceased  in their love and support and I cannot thank 
them enough. Lastly, I want to dedicate this thesis to my late grandmother, Gracie 
Cook. She instilled in me a strong love for history and learning from a very young age, 
and in many ways was my first teacher. To her and everyone else, I have nothing but 
the utmost gratitude.    
  
 
 
v 
 
 
Table of Contents 
Introduction 1 
Mapping the Middle Kingdom: A Background of Current Literature 3 
Cultural Setting of the Middle Kingdom 4 
Abydos – the Heart of Egyptian Identity 6 
The Wedjat Eye, Osiris, and Egyptian Religious Thought 7 
From Past Culture to Present Analysis - A Road Map 11 
Methodology - Mortuary Theory and Analysis 12 
Egyptian Mortuary Theory 14 
Examining Abydos through Mortuary Theory 15 
Data Collection: The Cemeteries of Abydos 17 
Garstang Cemetery E (1901) 18 
Peet Cemetery S and the North Cemetery (1911-1912) 21 
Richards' 1988 Excavations 26 
A Matter of Choice - Analyzing Abydos 28 
Demographics 28 
Distribution of Tomb Styles 29 
Measuring Material Wealth 31 
Piecing it all Together 35 
Case Study: Wedjats at Abydos North 40 
Abydos Amulet Statistics 40 
Wedjat Tombs at Abydos 42 
Manufacturing Methods - The Birth of an Amulet 44 
The Living Symbol 48 
Final Synthesis and Conclusions 51 
Prospects for Future Research 53 
Appendix I - Abydos Cemetery Data 54 
Bibliography 69 
 
 
 
 
 
vi 
 
 
List of Figures  
Figure 1: Map of Egypt with Key Sites 3 
Figure 2: Abydos Archaeological Map 17 
Figure 3: Garstang Cemetery E 19 
Figure 4: Mapped portion of Cemetery S 21 
Figure 5: Amulets from Abydos North 24 
Figure 6: Map of Richards' 1988 excavations at Abydos 26 
Figure 7: Sketch of E760/N855 shafts and chapels 37 
Figure 8: Wedjat Variance 48 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
vii 
 
 
 
 
List of Tables  
Table 1: Richards' Wealth Indices 33 
Table 2: Wedjat Data 42 
 
 
 
  
 
Introduction 
The rich and colorful history of ancient Egypt is one recognized the world over. 
Its beautifully decorated temples, lavish burials, and awesome stone monoliths serve as 
enduring testaments to one of humanity’s earliest and longest-lasting states. 
Consequently, a society which manages to survive for the better part of three millennia 
does not do so without encountering its periods of cultural re-definition and 
transformation (Wegner 2010: 119). Egyptologists - archaeologists who specialize in 
the study of ancient Egypt - have come to see the Egyptian record as one of continually 
changing cultural, social, and political forces that defined and reshaped the civilization 
(Wegner 2010).In examining the changes that took place throughout the Egyptian 
timeline, from the civilization's predynastic roots in local hegemonies to its farthest-
reaching empire under the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, we can reflect on the 
progress that the region and, ultimately, the entire human race has achieved.     
Archaeology has always been a study of change over time, but what is taken 
away from such study is much more existential. How did we get to where we are today? 
When did we start behaving and believing like our modern selves? These are questions 
that drive archaeological study, if not all historical research, in the grander sense. 
Ancient Egypt itself is naturally fascinating, but not just because of its visual splendor. 
Rather, how the case of ancient Egypt lends itself to these grand questions is what draws 
us to it; in particular, Egypt's vibrant material culture illustrates well the development of 
human identity and individuality.  
In order to show this, I have chosen to examine Egyptian amulets during an 
important transitional phase in the state's history, known as the Middle Kingdom (c. 
 2 
 
2050-1650 BCE). Utilizing archaeological mortuary theory, I will examine how one 
amulet type in particular, the wedjat eye, can serve as an oculus through which we can 
view and understand (1) the changing Middle Kingdom perception of individuality and 
identity in a non-royal context, (2) what these amulets, as material objects, tell us about 
Egyptian socio-cultural relationships in general during the Middle Kingdom, and (3) 
how such an analysis fits into the greater picture of human socio-cultural development.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
Mapping the Middle Kingdom: A Background of Current Literature 
 
Figure 1: Map of Egypt with Key Sites. K. Clahassey, after Grajetzki 2003 
Mediterranean Sea 
+ N 
I 
LOWER 
EGYPT 
LahuniHaraga • 
Gurob• 
UPPER EGYPT 
MIDDLE 
EGYPT 
Gebelein • 
LOWER NUBIA + Bephantine • 
Aswan 
 4 
 
 
Cultural Setting of the Middle Kingdom 
By the end of the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-2150 BCE) - Egypt's first, true period 
of centralized rule - the authority of the king had all but disappeared, with power instead 
being divided among numerous individual local leaders. What followed was a period of  
fragmented political control under regional governors called nomarchs, later known as 
the 1st Intermediate Period. After roughly a century two factions managed to consolidate 
power: the coalition of rulers from the northern delta of Lower Egypt and the Upper 
Egyptian family of power situated in the southern city of Thebes (Wegner 2010). 
Defeating the Upper Egyptians at the city of Herakleopolis in 2050 BCE, Mentuhotep II 
re-united Egypt as the first king of 11th Dynasty, ushering in the start of the Middle 
Kingdom. The act of unification was not only political - the bringing together of Upper 
and Lower Egypt once more harkened back to the kingdom's creation through the 
conquests of Egypt's first king, Narmer, with deep symbolic resonance. Indeed many of 
the Middle Kingdom rulers saw binding the new with the old as a tool for both 
legitimization and, eventually, cultural transformation. 
The Middle Kingdom is often referred to as an Egyptian “cultural renaissance, 
mediated in self-awareness” where Egyptians sought to redefine themselves after the 
chaotic 1st Intermediate Period (Wegner 2010:119-20). The rest of Mentuhotep’s 11th 
Dynasty focused on solidifying the renewed unity of the Egyptians, and it wasn’t really 
until the first king of the 12th Dynasty, Amenemhat I rose to power that the kingdom 
showed signs of a cultural re-definition. Amenemhat I first moved the capital back to 
the Old Kingdom center of Memphis before founding a new capital entirely, calling it 
Itj-tawy (lit. Amenemhat Itj-tawy: Amenemhat [is] the seizer of the Two Lands) or 
 5 
 
simply The Residence (Bourriau 1991). His successor, Senusret I, extended trade into 
the far reaches of Nubia, Lybia, and Lebanon while funding a multitude of construction 
projects at home. Senusret I also moved away from the Old Kingdom prioritization of 
the sun god Ra by both building up several major cult sites to circumvent priestly power 
and by shifting focus to Osiris, the god of death and regeneration and the king of the 
Egyptian afterlife (Shaw 2000). This began with Senusret's expansion and remodel of 
the deity's temple at Abydos, but the growing popularity of both Osiris and his cult 
center would continue throughout the 12th Dynasty - Senusret II's pyramid at the royal 
cemetery of Lahun makes extensive reference to Osiris, and his successor Senusret III 
actually chose to be buried in his Abydos complex rather than his own pyramid (Shaw 
2000). Osiris was also used as a legitimization mechanism, especially for 12th Dynasty 
kings (Shaw 2000). Before becoming king of the afterlife, Osiris had ruled the living as 
king of all Egypt as Ra, the preeminent deity of the Old Kingdom rulers,  had before 
him. Kings of the 12th and 13th Dynasties were the living Osiris, transformed into the 
dead god once they passed from this world to the next.  
From the 12th Dynasty until the kingdom’s end in 1650 BCE the archaeological 
record begins to show increasing diversity in many forms of personal representation, 
especially regarding burial practices. From coffins to amulets to iconography, Egyptians 
began taking on personalized belief systems represented by various symbols of spiritual 
value. The rise of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom ties in directly with what 
Egyptologists often call the "democratization of the afterlife:"  a wider range of access 
to the divine for those outside the elite levels of Egyptian society (Richards 2005:8). 
One of the best examples of this comes from Abydos itself, where excavations of non-
 6 
 
royal burials revealed several stele - commemoration stones - detailing the rites of 
Osiris worship once reserved for only the highest class. Spiritual texts that once were 
reserved for the tombs of kings transformed into coffin adornment for royals and non-
royals alike. Soon Egyptians of all kinds began to emulate the burial practices of these 
highly ranked individuals, and the "royal style" of burials, rites, and art began to 
circulate throughout the kingdom (Shaw 2000). 
 
Abydos – the Heart of Egyptian Identity 
Located on the northern border of the region of Upper Egypt, Abydos is one of 
the most important sites in all of Egyptian antiquity (O’Connor 2009), having been 
occupied by the first regional leaders of pre-dynastic times (3100-2686 BCE) all the 
way to the end of Egyptian rule under the Greeks and Romans (ca. 332 BCE). As a city, 
Abydos served as the center of worship for one of the civilization’s oldest and popular 
gods: Osiris. Osiris’ resurgence during the Middle Kingdom manifested as many 
Egyptians sought to re-connect with one of their oldest deities by having themselves 
interred forever in his sacred city of Abydos (O’Connor 2009:15), not to mention the 
many aspiring projects based there by numerous Middle Kingdom kings. This is likely 
one of the reasons for the appearance of the wedjat eye - a symbol already strongly 
linked with Osiris and afterlife resurrection during the Old Kingdom - among Egyptian 
burials of all classes. For the first time in the state's history the deep-rooted practice of 
personal adornment once co-opted by royals was becoming accessible to new groups of 
individuals.  
 7 
 
Abydos became a sort of primordial center of Egyptian identity, both as the 
burial place for both the kingdom's oldest regents and gods (Osiris' mythological 'tomb' 
was also located within the Abydos complex) and as one of the early townships under 
King Narmer , the leader that first unified Egypt at the end of the pre-dynastic period 
(~2686 BCE). These factors resulted in Abydos's frequent use throughout all of the 
Egyptian sequence, ultimately creating one of the most diverse cemeteries in the 
kingdom's history. As a place of burial, Abydos grew into perhaps the largest provincial 
cemetery known during the Middle Kingdom (Richards 2005:125). People of all classes 
sought to be buried alongside their oldest kings and god, even with the development of 
newer 11th and 12th Dynasty cemeteries such as Haraga and Lisht. These tombs display 
intriguing accounts of personal achievements – very different from the state-centered 
descriptions found in many Old Kingdom tombs (Richards 2005). Abydos became a 
symbol of the birth of the Egyptian state itself, and as such many aspired to harness the 
power of that connection upon their death.  
 
The Wedjat Eye, Osiris, and Egyptian Religious Thought 
The cultural flourish and religious "leveling" of the Middle Kingdom produced 
an increase in the use of several symbols, but two in particular stand out in their 
personal use by Egyptians. The first is the scarab: an incarnation of the sun god Ra, who 
was believed to take the form of a beetle and physically roll the sun across the sky. The 
burials of royals and non-royals alike contain various manifestations of the symbol, 
especially in the form of small title stones or seals to be buried with the dead. During 
the Middle Kingdom, these became a frequent tool for personal identification, with 
 8 
 
names and titles inscribed on the backs of small, carved icons for use in both life and 
death. (Peet 1914, Engelbach 1915, Richards 2005). Despite the extensive literature on 
this amulet, its singular treatment overshadows the rise of another, prominent Egyptian 
symbol: the wedjat eye. Beginning as an royally-restricted icon during the Old 
Kingdom, the eye appeared in almost every medium during the Middle Kingdom 
including coffins, stele, mortuary temple inscriptions, and items of personal adornment. 
In Egyptian iconography, the eye was almost always depicted as one much more 
stylized than the standard human organ of sight. Carol Andrews provides an excellent 
physical description of the general shape of the Wedjat in her book Amulets of Ancient 
Egypt:  
“At its most basic the wedjat is a human eye with brow above and 
markings below; the latter take the form of a drop shape at the front and 
an uncurling spiral at the back, said to imitate the markings on the head 
of the lanner falcon. Curiously enough, both right and left eye can be 
represented…” (Andrews 1994) 
 
This description of the typical Wedjat illustrates more than just its standard 
visual properties. For one, Andrews points out that the Wedjat represents both the left 
and right eye. This can further be evidenced by the presence of both eyes on a multitude 
of coffins from throughout the Middle Kingdom (Hoffmeier 1991). For the purpose of 
this thesis, the term Wedjat shall refer to any non-literary representation of eye 
symbology.  
 It is no surprise that in the symbol-heavy culture of the ancient Egyptians, 
where nearly everything represented some form of conceptualized thought, that the eye 
takes on a broad symbolic nature. The Wedjat eye is no exception – literally meaning 
“the sound one,” the eye represented several gods in the Egyptian pantheon but none 
 9 
 
more so than the falcon-headed god Horus. Horus was believed to be the “living king” 
opposite of his murdered-then-resurrected father Osiris, the “risen king.” Horus' place 
as the Egyptian patron deity, as well as his ties to the royal line - a king's "Horus Name" 
- extending back to the Early Dynastic Period  (Quirke 1992). Thus, the mortal king 
during the Middle Kingdom was likened to Horus in life and Osiris in death.  
Before delving into the mythology of the symbol itself, it is important to 
understand the Egyptian perception of death itself. Arnold van Gennep, in his work 
detailing the rites de passage, indicated that along with the common duality of life and 
death there are several stages of transition where an individual passes from one socially 
recognized state to another. These include events such as childbirth, initiation, and 
especially death, and are commonly referred to as stages of liminality (Parker Pearson 
1999: 22). Many cultures are known to practice rites that aid or allow an individual to 
engage in these transitions, and ancient Egyptians serve as a prime example. The 
Middle Kingdom in particular exhibited a series of these practices for both the journey 
into death and the journey into life.  
Excavations in 1994 - conducted in Abydos, no less - unearthed an Egyptian 
meskhenet, or more commonly, "birthing brick." This artifact was covered in magico-
religious imagery depicting various zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures engaging 
in the act of childbirth. Upon closer examination, however, the brick depicts a 
transformation: the mother shown giving birth is given the sky-blue hair and golden 
throne of divinity, and is flanked by the goddess of fertility, Hathor. Further textual 
invocations on the brick indicate that an Egyptian woman's birthing position replicates 
the birth of the creator sun god (Wegner 2010). Whether it is the transformation of birth 
 10 
 
depicted in the birthing brick, or the transition from death to after-life through 
ceremonies like the "opening of the mouth" or the use of powerful symbols like the 
wedjat a tradition dating to the Old Kingdom that allowed the deceased's soul to eat and 
drink its offerings, the ancient Egyptians put large amounts of time, effort, and wealth 
into assuring that these liminal states were traversed successfully. 
The full mythology behind the eye is extensive, but there is a connection 
between this myth and  the Middle Kingdom amulets. One major point of the myth is 
that Horus, after ascending to the throne of Egypt, presented his left eye – The wedjat – 
to Osiris in order to fully resurrect his father, the first mummy. Thus, the wedjat was 
also likened to resurrection in the afterlife, becoming a symbol of Osiris as well as 
Horus (Andrews 1994; Lurker 1980). The wedjat, in depiction, then becomes a 
connection between the deceased an Osiris, an ideology once reserved only for Old 
Kingdom kings. The wedjat becomes a symbol of aspiration and Osiris becomes 
available to any who employ the use of the wedjat in death - they are endeavoring to tap 
into the liminal power once reserved for the highest echelons Egyptian society. 
Furthermore, this provides ideal criteria in which I examine the wedjat: burial context. 
With such a heavy mortuary context, the ideal method for measuring the wedjat’s use – 
and the implications of that use – must rely on examining mortuary excavations of all 
levels in Egyptian class structure. (As such, its variation in use among the classes of the 
Middle Kingdom would point to the wedjat being a more indicative symbol than 
previously thought). 
 
 11 
 
 From Past Culture to Present Analysis - A Road Map 
With a thorough background of Egyptian Middle Kingdom political, ritual, and 
social setting explained, I now turn the analysis and research conducted. Ultimately I 
intend to show how wedjat amulets exemplify both the changing attitudes of Egyptian 
society during this period and the over-arching theme of human social development. To 
do so, I have developed an analysis of three established excavations at the North 
Cemetery of Abydos - a site chosen for its aforementioned diversity and socio-historical 
significance to ancient Egyptians. Amulets in particular are naturally symbolic and 
diverse in function, and therefore objects of intent. As such it is my belief that their 
frequency within this Middle Kingdom burial context will provide the most informative 
data for analysis.  
The first step in this process requires a methodological explanation - in this case, 
that involves a brief summary of mortuary analysis and how such a study is conducted. 
After raw data collection and statistical analysis of the Abydos North data (with Middle 
Kingdom tombs isolated) I will argue Abydos' position as a strong source of Middle 
Kingdom Egyptian socio-cultural activity before delving into the particular case study 
of those tombs containing amulets. This section hinges on what I will call the "life 
cycle" of an artifact, and as I will indicate the creation, use, and deposition of wedjat 
amulets from Abydos can all be inferred from my data and, furthermore, indicate key 
aspects of transitioning Egyptian society. The final synthesis of this thesis will be a 
reflection on the Abydos wedjats' place in the course of both Egyptian and human 
history, ultimately serving as a source of supplementary work for the much less-
documented Middle Kingdom, and as an inspiration for additional avenues of research. 
 12 
 
Methodology - Mortuary Theory and Analysis 
The special treatment of the dead is a near-universal trait of human society. As 
Earnest Becker puts it, "[T]he idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like 
nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - activity designed largely to avoid the 
fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for 
man" (Parker Pearson 1999). In many circumstances humans leave behind no literary 
record or material remains aside from themselves, and occasionally human remains are 
the only potential source of archaeological information. Even ethnographic analogy 
does not provide a direct line between the archaeologist and the subject culture. Thus, 
over the years, mortuary theory developed as an archaeological tool for examining the 
dead and placing them within a cultural context. In time, this also provided a method of 
analysis in which the dead would reflect upon the culture and lifestyles of the living. 
John O'Shea produced four defining principles for understanding mortuary 
analysis. The first principle infers that "all societies employ some regular procedure, or 
set of procedures, for the disposal of the dead" (1984:33). This reaffirms Becker's 
earlier statement that death, and the human concern with it is a near-universal. 
However, O'Shea's principle adds that this trait should appear archaeologically, and 
therefore can be used to determine a particular feature of the subject culture. His second 
principle couples nicely with this: "A mortuary population will exhibit demographic and 
physiological characteristics reflecting those of the living population" (1984). This also 
appears to be an archaeological given, but O'Shea also points out that this principle 
allows archaeologists to identify differentiation among members of a population, 
despite the fact that some features are not completely observable. This contains 
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quantitative measurements such as stature and age variation, but can also extend to 
qualitative measurements such as status if coupled with O'Shea's third principle. 
This principle states that "within a mortuary occurrence, each interment 
represents the systematic application of a series of prescriptive and postscriptive 
directives relevant to that individual" (1984). O'Shea also added two corollaries to this 
principle, arguing that "the nature of the society will pattern and circumscribe the 
practices for the disposal of the dead" and that "the specific treatment accorded an 
individual in death will be consistent with that individual's social position in life" 
(1984). The corollaries address both the specifics and generalities associated with a 
particular burial as according to the subject culture. Each burial, then, reflects the place 
of the individual within society, be it social status, profession, or otherwise, and at the 
same time reflects the local and/or regional patterns and beliefs regarding death and the 
deceased. In other words, burials are often products of intent, reflecting choices made 
by both the interred and those conducting the act of burial. Funerary practices, it should 
be noted, are also conducted by the living, not by the deceased themselves, and are 
often idealized representations of the individual during their lifetime (Pearson 1999:4). 
Essentially, this principle affects nearly every aspect of any given burial, allowing the 
body's positioning, grave goods, geographic location, and the like to serve as context for 
mapping and understanding the nature of its respective culture as well as the choices of 
the individual(s). 
Lastly, O'Shea states that "elements combined within a burial context will/have 
been contemporary in the living society at the time of interment" (1984). Also called 
Worsaae's Law, this argues that a particular burial is a closed context, as it is often a 
 14 
 
one-time event. Though this is not always true of cultures, it is common enough a 
practice to illicit a fundamental assumption for the purpose of archaeological analysis. 
Under this principle, we can expect that the particular traits of any given burial will 
reflect the ideals and actions of the living populace at the time of interment. In societies 
with a history of rich burial adornment, such as Egypt, this principle becomes even 
more crucial, allowing artifacts and bodily features (including position)  to provide 
some sort of cultural trait inherent  to the period. 
 
Egyptian Mortuary Theory 
Egyptian mortuary theory is hardly divergent from any other form of Egyptian 
archaeological analysis. As the majority of excavated sites in Egypt are located in or 
directly adjacent to the grand necropolises, most of the data and cultural information 
that has been examined by Egyptologists comes from mortuary contexts. "Living" sites 
like towns and work camps are quite rare Egypt; though a few uniquely preserved sites 
like Deir el-Medina and Akhetaten provide glimpses into the daily lives of ancient 
Egyptians, most urban sites have either been flooded by the rise of the Nile, broken 
down for materials by locals, or remain yet undiscovered (Bard 2008). The focus for 
understanding Egyptian society and culture therefore lies with the dead. 
O'Shea's principles help clarify the Egyptian view of life, death, and mortality. 
In a culture where the afterlife was just as determinable as its earthly counterpart,  the 
actions made upon a burial are done so with the expectation of a specific outcome.  The 
wedjat, as a symbol of rebirth and "wholeness," would be applied to a dead person in 
various ways to ensure their perfect regeneration in the next life. We know this because 
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of the physical representation - the wedjat in all its observable forms (amulets, carvings, 
etc.) - and because of the rare information provided by funerary texts and, though late in 
Egypt's ancient timeline, literature. In addition to its symbolic meaning, a wedjat amulet 
is also a material product (Appadurai 1986). It is crafted, put to use in life, and 
eventually finds its way into a person's burial event, giving it a more diverse meaning 
that extends outside its symbolic purpose. Each bit of this artifact's life cycle is reflected 
in the final product, and by O'Shea's principles reflects the contemporary attributes of 
society at the time. If we examine the craft material, stylization, or overall frequency of 
a particular set of artifacts we might get a better picture of the lifeways of ancient 
societies, especially those where other, clearer representations are limited. 
 
Examining Abydos through Mortuary Theory 
The subject of death was central to Egyptian belief and, by extension, how they 
went about their daily lives. As such, a mortuary analysis of Middle Kingdom Egypt 
serves as an appropriate method of examining the relationship between the wedjat, 
Middle Kingdom individuals, and the Egyptian state itself. As many of the large, 
Middle Kingdom cemeteries were excavated in the early 20th century, the data 
presented focuses almost entirely on the burials (and therefore lives) of the highest-
ranking members of Egyptian  society. As the attention of Egyptology has shifted to 
understanding  the lives of non-royal Egyptians, a modern approach to the mortuary 
analysis of these early excavations will shed greater light on the cultural and societal 
systems of the lesser-examined Middle Kingdom. Furthermore, this process will 
highlight the impact of any particular object within a mortuary context and exemplify 
 16 
 
how such artifacts can detail many features of its respective culture at any given time. I 
have chosen to compose a mortuary analysis of my own, examining the features of all 
interments but looking specifically at the distribution of wedjat amulets and their 
correlation to the other features as a case study. I have chosen three previously-
excavated sections of the Abydos North Cemetery as the site context for examining the 
wedjat: the westmost portion excavated by John Garstang in 1901, the central (and 
largest) excavation conducted by T. Eric. Peet between 1911 and 1912, and Richards' 
1988 excavation just northwest of Peet's.  
 
 17 
 
Data Collection: The Cemeteries of Abydos 
 
Figure 2: Abydos Archaeological Map. The North Cemetery is denoted by the circle 
 
The data I collected comes from three separate excavations in the Abydos North 
Cemetery. (See Appendix I). Peet's Cemetery S is the largest collection of burials and 
contains the widest variability in wealth (wealth measurement will be explained in 
greater detail later). Garstang's Cemetery E is the housed the wealthiest individuals, 
while Richards' 1988 excavation unearthed the lowest-wealth burials. For each 
cemetery I coded each burial separately, and if there are multiple individuals interred 
within each burial, I made certain to separate the contents and individuals. Because I 
condensed each interment into one single burial, my data set appears smaller than the 
ones from which the data was taken.  For each burial, I recorded the tomb style (surface 
burial, shaft tomb, mastaba, etc),  whether or not there were individuals interred, and 
whether or not the tomb was recorded as disturbed prior to excavation. In the case that 
there were individuals, I recorded the age, sex, and position if they were given. For the 
artifacts, I listed the full description given in each of the excavation reports and, if 
 18 
 
available, the dates or dynasty that the original excavators prescribed them. If any 
amulets were present, especially wedjats, I made note of each individual tomb and 
described the form and position of the specific symbol, comprising a separate list (see 
Table 2 on page 42) for later analysis. What follows is a description of each of the 
cemeteries used for data collection, concluding with a statistical analysis of the entire 
set of data. 
 
Garstang Cemetery E (1901) 
The southmost section of the North Cemetery was excavated by J. Garstang in 
1899 (and again between 1906 and 1909) on behalf of the British School of 
Archaeology. The cemetery lies between the southern edge of the royal wadi and the 
large structure of Khasekhemwy. Overall, Garstang's reports list more than 350 graves 
excavated, though not all are listed in his reports or included in the site maps. Garstang's 
publications also lack a description of the age and sex of many of the individuals, and 
he makes little mention of any surface architecture related to individual tombs 
(Garstang 1901). Garstang also describes the burials as "pit-tombs"  - this likely refers 
to the common Middle Kingdom style of shaft tombs listed in other sources (Richards 
2005, Garstang 1901). 
 19 
 
 
Figure 3: Garstang Cemetery E. Redrawn from J. Garstang, El Arabeh, 1901:pl. II. 
 
 
 
After examining Garstang's work, I located 23 burials within Cemetery E that 
were dated to the Middle Kingdom, which he determined on the basis of grave goods. 
Of this set, ten graves belonged to the XIIth dynasty, while eight were of the XIIIth 
dynasty and the remainder listed as "Middle Kingdom" graves only. Though it is 
possible that these belonged to the earlier XIth dynasty, I find this unlikely as Garstang 
makes no mention of this dynasty anywhere in his records of Cemetery E. All of the 
burials are described as pit-tombs, and there is no mention of any surface graves in the 
cemetery. Perhaps Cemetery E was devoid of surface burials, but it is also possible that 
 20 
 
Garstang saw little interest in excavating or recording these seemingly less wealthy 
burials. 
 Of all the burials, E. 3, E. 45, and E. 108 appear to be the wealthiest. The first 
two were found undisturbed, and E. 3 and E. 108 were associated with the XIIIth 
dynasty while E. 45 was given no particular dynastic connection. These graves in 
particular contained objects made from high-quality materials such as alabaster, felspar, 
and gold. Two of the chambers in E. 3 also contained highly-decorated artifacts: a 
glazed staff head with a painted lotus pattern, and a plaster mask. Burials E. 11, E. 181, 
E. 238, and E. 295 each contained at least one limestone stele, but Garstang described 
little or nothing else contained within. Still, these were likely individuals of wealth or 
importance that wanted to distinguish themselves from the other members of the 
cemetery. For this same reason it is probably safe to assume that these tombs had been 
heavily looted by the time Garstang excavated them. 
As for the remaining burials, faience, kohl, and serpentine are the most common 
materials, and they appear more frequently in XIIth dynasty contexts than XIIIth. Beads 
and vessels are the most common form of mortuary artifacts, and there are four specific 
burials containing some sort of amulet(s) (E. 108, E. 30, E. 303, E. 3).  Some of these 
consisted animalistic or inanimate designs, as well as scarabs. There were no wedjats 
listed from Garstang's excavation.   
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 
Peet Cemetery S and the North Cemetery (1911-1912) 
 
Figure 4: Mapped portion of Cemetery S. Redrawn from T. Eric Peet, Cemeteries of 
Abydos II, 1914.; arrow points North. Open rectangles indicate Peet's excavated 
burials, but he left no notes on which tomb style they were. Darkened portions indicate 
mastabas 
 
During the seasons between 1911 and 1914 T. Eric Peet and the British School 
of Archaeology conducted a number of excavations in the North Cemetery, focusing his 
efforts on Cemeteries S and D. Cemetery S is located roughly in the middle of the space 
between the Khasakemwy enclosure and modern occupation, and appears to have been 
 22 
 
constructed over the remnants of some Ist dynasty construction (Peet 1914:18). Peet's 
excavations at Cemetery S are one of the largest and best documented of the early 20th 
century. The surface architecture is well-preserved, and unlike Garstang, Peet listed the 
related architecture and tombs together in his excavation reports. Still, his mapping 
lacked both any plotted surface burials and the complete southern portion of the 
cemetery, citing their sporadic excavation as the reason (Peet 1914). 
In Cemetery S there are sixty-seven listings - I say listings instead of burials 
here because several of them were described as being unfinished, completely empty, or 
collapsed, but Peet preferred to include them in the greater data set. Though practically 
devoid of artifactual evidence, these incomplete entries still add to the social diversity 
of the cemetery and Abydos North in general, as the size and style of burial (and 
therefore wealth and prestige) are still observable. In particular a few of these 
unfinished or empty shafts belong to what Peet called miniature mastabas (Peet 
1914:40). Though not as grand as the royal mastabas of Egypt's early dynastic history, 
these rectangular structures, typically made from mud-brick, serve the same purpose as 
a visible sign of the occupant's ability to provide for his(or her)self in the afterlife, 
particularly in comparison to smaller or nonexistent forms of surface architecture. Of 
the sixty-seven entries, there are sixteen of these mastabas, each with related burial 
shafts. In my data set, Peet also lists 10 surface burials, while the remaining tombs are 
all stand-alone burial shafts or similar.  
Despite the grand surface architecture, many of the mastaba shafts contained the 
poorest burial contents, often only a wooden coffin and perhaps some faience. Peet 
suggests that this is due to the fact that the occupants likely spent the majority of their 
 23 
 
funding on the elaborate tomb style, with little left over for actual grave goods. 
However, it is also possible that the mastabas, being easily accessed, were highly prone 
to tomb robbery on multiple occasions (Richards 2005 sec Peet 1914:46). On the other 
end of the spectrum, three of the surface burials contained some of the richest burial 
goods (including s44 and s51), featuring alabaster vessels, semiprecious stones, and a 
myriad of amulets. A few mastaba shafts (36a, N39) also included high-value materials 
like alabaster, amethyst and gold. These too contained several amulets including 
scarabs, wedjat eyes, and one shaped like the crown of Lower Egypt, 
In addition to the tombs listed in Peet's chapter on Cemetery S, I located eight 
other tombs that he categorized as belonging to the "North Cemetery." These were 
either listed in separate sections of his excavation report or given no entry at all but 
displayed among the plates in the appendix of The Cemeteries of Abydos pt. II. The first 
four  tombs are all isolated shaft burials, with all but one being dated to the Middle 
Kingdom. Though none of the entries described bodies of any sort, the artifacts listed 
among Peet's report make the graves some of the richest of his excavations. The 
artifacts include a golden pendant, amethyst, carnelian, alabaster vessels, and myriad 
amulets that include both wedjats and a winged scarab. Burial Z2(a) also contained a 
well-decorated wooden coffin connecting its owner with an undetermined Amenemhat.  
The second set of burials were only listed among the plates of the appendix, 
categorized in the same plates that Peet claimed belonged to Cemetery S or the Middle 
Kingdom. I could not find any other notes on these tombs in Peet's chapters, and I have 
come to assume that this is because the images are of semiprecious materials at best - a 
fact that may have caused Peet to consider a full description of the tombs to be 
 24 
 
unnecessary. That being said, these amulets appear to be some of the highest quality 
personal artifacts in terms of craftsmanship.  
 
 
 
 
Figure 5: Amulets from Abydos North. (Top) Four amulets from burial S201. (Bottom) 
Series of amulets from burial Z2(a),( sc. 3/16). T. Eric Peet. The Cemeteries of Abydos 
pt II. 1914 
 
Two of these "undocumented" burials (S201 and S253) are placed alongside 
other assemblages from Cemetery S, and since they are listed in the plates with an "S" 
before their number (like other tombs from that cemetery) it is likely that they share 
 25 
 
similar qualities to the main bulk of tombs Peet had documented. Though it is also 
likely that these two burials are also shaft tombs, there is also the possibility that they 
are among the potential surface graves that Peet chose not to list for reasons discussed 
earlier. 
The other two tombs, Z3 and T71, are even less telling. Peet listed both among 
the plates depicting tombs belonging to the North Cemetery. In his section on tombs of 
the North Cemetery, Peet describes denoting several Middle Kingdom tombs with the 
letter "Z," but he only describes Z2. Z3 is likely one of these other tombs, but perhaps it 
did not contain enough for Peet to give it its own entry. The other burial, T71, only 
shows a series of amulets that appear similar to others of the Middle Kingdom, 
specifically concerning the wedjats. There are several other Middle Kingdom burials 
that Peet designated "T," and this likely falls into that same category. The primary 
reason these burials were included in my data set was because they provide excellent 
depictions of Middle Kingdom amulets. despite the much more detailed listings from 
Cemetery S, Peet provides almost no plates depicting the amulets found within these 
tombs. Therefore I am left with these few plates to compare the amulet variation at 
Middle Kingdom Abydos.  
 
 26 
 
Richards' 1988 Excavations 
 
 
Figure 6: Map of Richards' 1988 excavations at Abydos. Janet Richards. Society and 
Death in Ancient Egypt. 2005 
 
In the 1988 season Janet Richards traveled to Abydos to excavate a small 
section of the North Cemetery in order to examine the mortuary behaviors of the Middle 
Kingdom in an effort to examine the changing definitions of Egyptian society and status 
during the period. The excavations were located in between the Khasekhemwy, Djer, 
and Djet complexes and Peet's Cemetery S. In her description of the excavation in 
Society and Death in Ancient Egypt, Richards states that test surveys revealed no 
pottery that could belong to the Old Kingdom or 1st Intermediate Period beyond a 
 27 
 
reasonable doubt. Unfortunately, the material belonging to the Middle Kingdom was 
also relatively sparse, but enough was collected to produce enough information to suit 
Richards' study (Richards 2005:156-58) 
Overall, sixty individuals were excavated but only a small group were dated to 
the Middle Kingdom - I listed these individuals under nine separate coordinates. 
Luckily, Richards' excavations provided much more detailed records than those done in 
the earlier 20th century. The 9-10 actual excavations within the alotted plot are given 
more direct coordinates on a modern grid system. Each individual is described in great 
detail, and sex, position, age, condition, and pathologies present are included in 
Richards' report.  This cemetery also serves as evidence for the Egyptian trend of plot 
recycling, as many of the Middle Kingdom burials are disrupted by graves from later 
periods (2005:159-60). 
The burials here are almost evenly divided between shaft tombs and surface 
burials. Despite this difference, there is very little variation in the burial wealth of each 
individual. Almost all burials contain wooden coffins, save for Surface Burial 1 at 
E.840/N.780 which has a more anthropoid coffin. The wealthier burials contain a 
handful of faience amulets, including small cats and wedjats . There are a few other 
mentions of semiprecious materials, including beads of carnelian (Burial 9 at 
E.830/N.780) and two amulets of an undisclosed metal (Burial 8 at E.840/N.780). Also, 
shaft 2 at E.725/N.940, a tomb Richards connected to a nearby small mortuary chapel, 
contained a limestone stela bearing a cartouche of Senworset I and appeared to belong 
to one named "Dedu."  
 
 28 
 
A Matter of Choice - Analyzing Abydos 
Ultimately, the data from these three excavations has created a sufficient image 
of the Abydos North Cemetery's use during the Middle Kingdom. I have chosen to 
examine each burial's style, date, occupancy, and grave goods, as well as the sex and 
age of any individuals buried. These will provide the demographic, social, and cultural 
framework that I can then use to examine the distribution and relevance of wedjat 
amulets during this period in Egyptian history.  
 
 Demographics 
Of the total data set (Peet, Garstang, Richards) there are 121 recorded tombs 
containing 135 bodies. In following the same pattern as the individual sets I chose to 
divide the interred into four sets – children, males, females, and other – and then each of 
those into subsets. There are fifteen total children (four infants, eleven juveniles), thirty 
total males (four young, twenty-five adult, and one elder), and thirty-one total females 
(two young, twenty-eight adult, and one elder). There are an additional seventeen 
bodies whose age and sex were not recorded, and along with the sixteen empty tombs 
and the thirty-six unlisted all together fill in the remaining fifty-nine tombs.  
The distribution of age among the three segments of Abydos North is not 
surprising. Disregarding the unidentified and unlisted categories, the data shows the 
unsurprising majority of burials belonging to individuals between their late twenties to 
early forties. Only two burials aged fifty or older are recorded. There is also a larger 
percentage of child burials at the site, the majority of which are not newborns or infants 
but young children buried with or nearby female graves. These child burials also 
 29 
 
coincide with some of the more well-preserved burials, a point that I will engage with 
further when discussing grave goods. 
As for gender distribution, the data shows a relatively even split with thirty 
graves belonging to females and thirty-one belonging to males. The child category must 
be excluded here along with the unlisted/unidentified because they too were not given 
any gender descriptors in the original data. Most burial rites given to women were 
reserved for the highest of elites prior to this period - typically those related to the royal 
family - yet at Abydos there is a decent enough spread in female tomb variety to take 
note of the widening availability of these practices.  
 
Distribution of Tomb Styles 
There are 121 recorded tombs in total, whether they were used as the final 
resting place of the deceased or not. Of those 121 tombs there are seven recorded 
variations. Like before, I have decided to ascribe surface burials (with and without 
surface architecture) to the lower part of the spectrum, shaft burials not in conjunction 
with mastabas to the middle, and then those tombs within or in close proximity to 
mastabas as the upper-spectrum burials.  
Within these criteria there are twenty-eight tombs that make up the lower end – 
one with possible surface architecture and twenty-five without. The majority of these 
come from the Richards 1988 excavation, helping to solidify it as a more lower-class 
sector of the cemetery. A small handful also belong to Peet Cemetery S as well, 
intermixed with the many variations of shaft tombs. There are also two “barrel vault” 
 30 
 
tombs which I would classify as higher quality low-end tombs as they require more 
resources and planning than a standard filled pit.  
The middle spectrum tombs make up the vast majority of the sample – nearly 
50% of all tombs in Abydos North being some variation of shaft burial. There are two 
unbricked shafts making up the lower end of this set as they are more like deep surface 
burials constructed to imitate the more common plaster vaults of the cemetery. The 
standard, bricked or plastered single-vault shaft burials make up the bulk of the data 
with forty-nine tombs counted in total. In addition to these, there are multi-chamber 
shafts with four to six burial chambers (four tombs in total); these likely belong to 
family groups, especially since many contain females and children buried in 
conjunction. Shafts with mortuary chapels are the highest ranking in the mid-range 
tombs, most likely belonging to individuals or families wealthy enough to conduct a 
persona mortuary cult for the deceased. Many of the chapels are found in conjuncture 
with offering vessels of varying sizes and shapes showing astute attention to the needs 
of the dead, and it is worth noting that most are located in the Richards 1988 cemetery. 
There are a few, however, that come from Garstang Cemetery E found with 
instructional stele that correspond to individuals of quite notable rank. 
Lastly are those tombs connected to or located under mastaba complexes. These 
are probably individuals or family groups with notable power, enough to afford the 
construction of grand monumental architecture while not necessarily being of noble or 
royal lineage. There are two well-constructed shafts located near mastabas that may or 
may not be related to the burials within. The data on these remains is too inconclusive. 
Those shafts within mastaba complexes make up the second largest grouping at Abydos 
 31 
 
North with twenty-seven burials in total, almost all of which are located in Peet 
Cemetery D.  
Thus the data shows that the majority of the interred have constructed for 
themselves tombs falling into the middle spectrum (60 total), the next most being of the 
upper spectrum (31 total) and the least amount belonging to the lower spectrum (28 
total). The tomb diversity at Abydos North can be called substantial, most notably 
because of the near even division between upper and lower spectrum burials. While 
cemeteries prior or contemporary have widely separate sectors for upper-level (likely 
royal or of the priesthood) and lower level (non-royals), Abydos North not only shows 
the intermixing of these individuals but the dominance of a seemingly “middle-level” of 
social power. This social and political "middle" represents a newly-forming group of 
Egyptians who are not among the nobility, yet hold more prestige and wealth than labor 
or craft-based classes - a sort of "lower elite" class that would rank just below the 
highest social classes (royals, nobility, and priesthood) but still remained above the 
more "common" classes. 
 
Measuring Material Wealth 
One of the most commonly used tools for measuring social and cultural 
variation, especially in mortuary circumstances, is the observation of patterns in 
material wealth. In complex societies, and especially in the case of ancient Egypt, this 
extends to the control and distribution of raw materials only obtainable on the fringes of 
the kingdom or through long-distance trade (Richards 2005). In Richards' 2005 
examination of Middle Kingdom Abydos and the potential of a "middle class" being 
 32 
 
represented there she developed two "wealth indices" based on Barry Kemp's argument 
that individual wealth in Egypt was based on (1) the quantity of precious and 
semiprecious materials alone and (2) the lack of a constraining state-based monopoly, 
without which such individual wealth would not be probable (Kemp 1989). Richards' 
wealth indices are two different lists of grave goods that measure their inherent wealth. 
Each material, based on the grave goods found at Haraga and Riqqa, is given a value 
and charted against others of lesser or greater value. These then reflect on the general 
wealth of the respective burial and owner(s).  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 Effort 
Expenditure 
   "Egyptian"  
 (Wealth Index 1)    (Wealth Index 
2) 
 
       
Material  Value  Material  Value 
Lapis  19.0  Silver  14.0 
Bronze  18.0  Electrum  13.0 
Obsidian  17.0  Gold  13.0 
Turquoise  17.0  Lapis  12.0 
Copper  16.0  Turquoise  11.0 
Garnet  15.0  Ivory  10.0 
Amethyst  15.0  Bronze  9.0 
Grn Felspar  14.0  Copper  8.0 
Quartz  14.0  Grn Felspar  7.0 
Quartzite  13.0  Carnelian  7.0 
Electrum  13.0  Faience  7.0 
Silver  13.0  Papyrus, Insc.  6.0 
Gold  13.0  Garnet  5.0 
Anhydrite  13.0  Obsidian  5.0 
Stone  13.0  Amethyst  5.0 
Hematite  12.0  Anhydrite  5.0 
Serpentine  12.0  Hematite  5.0 
Faience  11.0  Quartz  5.0 
Flint  10.0  Quartzite  5.0 
Carnelian  10.0  Flint  5.0 
Alabaster  9.0  Steatite  5.0 
Ivory  8.0  Alabaster  5.0 
Papyrus, Insc.  8.0  Serpentine  5.0 
Steatite  7.0  Stone  4.0 
Papyrus, Insc.  6.0  Fiber  3.0 
Wood  5.0  Papyrus, Insc.  3.0 
Pottery  4.0  Shell  3.0 
Fabric  3.0  Fabric  3.0 
Fiber  3.0  Wood  2.0 
Bone  2.0  Bone  2.0 
Shell  1.0  Clay  1.0 
Clay  1.0  Pottery  1.0 
Mud  1.0  Mud  1.0 
Straw  1.0  Straw  1.0 
 
Table 1: Richards' Wealth Indices (Richards 1988:111) 
 
 34 
 
The first index represents a measurement of how difficult or costly the material 
is to obtain, while the second indicates a local or Egyptian view of each material, based 
mostly on textual evidence (Richards 2005:110). As nearly every material from my data 
sets is listed in these indices I found them an appropriate template to measure the wealth 
of the Abydos cemeteries with. Just like Richards, I chose to score each burial by the 
sum of its artifacts, and counted each material only once to produce a simple variable of 
measurement. Unfortunately, only 70 of the burials were given descriptions including 
the physical composition of all artifacts found.  
Within this smaller data set I found a nearly identical distribution pattern 
between each index - that is, that the variation in high-, middle-, and low-effort 
materials parallels that of high-, middle-, and low-value materials. Though there was no 
distinct cutoff between these categories provided, I designated the burials with total 
wealth ratings of 20 or less to be low, 21-40 to be middle-wealth, and those that rated 
41 or higher to be very wealthy. Those burials with the highest ranking materials in both 
effort and culturally valued  circumstances are far outnumbered by those with middle or 
low-ranking materials. This is reflected in both the Peet and Richards excavations, but 
the Garstang excavation data yielded a nearly even distribution of wealth in both 
contexts. The burials from Richards' excavation also contained no high-value or high-
effort materials, potentially placing it as the least wealthy of the three excavated 
cemeteries.  The most common materials included glazed clay/faience, alabaster, 
pottery, and carnelian; the poorest graves contained only mud or ceramic artifacts, while 
the richest were typically graves designed for more than one occupant with multiple 
artifacts of high value including silver, gold, and in some cases, electrum. These graves 
 35 
 
also frequently contained the more commonly observed materials. The majority of the 
wealth seems to be located within the Peet cemetery, as the burials here ranked as the 
highest in both effort and cultural value; that being said, the Peet data also contained 
several of the lowest-ranking burials (alongside a few from the Richards excavation).  
 
Piecing it all Together 
The analysis of Abydos North has yielded both expected and intriguing results. 
First and foremost, Abydos North has proven to be a good example of Middle Kingdom 
Egypt as a whole. Opposed to cemeteries like Haraga and Riqqa, which appear to be 
constrained to mostly local and highest-ranked members of society (Englebach 1915, 
1923), Abydos North served as the final resting place for Egyptians of a diversifying 
upper class, with a few cases of more low-wealth burials. In a purely demographic 
context, Abydos North contains a wide range of ages as well as a very close ratio of 
males to females (1:1.26, with 23.07% of the bodies being male and 29.05% being 
female), as well as a sizable portion of children (1:2.541, 20.05%). The variation in 
wealth also factors into the equation, confirming Abydos' movement away from a royal-
restricted cemetery by at least the XIIth Dynasty (to which the vast majority - 70.94% - 
of graves date). This is the first example of changing social dynamics within the Middle 
Kingdom. Abydos - especially the North Cemetery - was once reserved for only the 
upper elite like Khasekhemwy or Peribsen, as evidenced by their large mortuary 
compounds and mastabas at the cemetery center. Furthermore, the apparent desire to be 
buried at the Middle Kingdom's most sanctified site, where Egypt's first kings and great 
god Osiris (supposedly) were buried, supports the notion of an increasingly 
 36 
 
"democratized" afterlife in which non-royals could access a new kind of magical, 
liminal power. 
The interesting factor in this mortuary diversification is not necessarily what is 
represented, but how each Egyptian has been represented in terms of mortuary customs. 
The diversity of wealth at Abydos North - both in tomb style and in material goods - is 
apparent. Abydos contains a wide range of burials styles, from simple pit graves to 
small surface architecture like mastabas and funerary chapels, the apex of monumental 
architecture for non-royals of the time. The material wealth of the burials is also quite 
varied: nearly every item on Richards' wealth index (which are based off findings at 
Haraga and Riqqa) is found in at least one burial context, and many are identified in 
more than one instance. Wealthy graves may contain a few small but high-ranking items 
(Peet G6) or a wide range of artifacts from across the list (Peet Z2a, Garstang E3). Low 
wealth burials contain more than just low-grade materials such as mud and pottery, and 
a large portion (~34%) rank as middle-wealth burials in terms of burial goods. Lastly, 
this cemetery appears to have been sought after by both local Upper Egyptians and 
Lower Egyptians alike; the burial of a high-ranking Lower Egyptian in Peet's mastaba 
shaft 36a is evidenced by his golden pendant of the Lower Egyptian crown.   
However these materially wealthy graves don't all align with seemingly wealthy 
burial styles. For example, the two most materially wealthy graves from Richards' 1988 
excavation (E830/N780 - 9 and E840/N780 - 12) are juveniles buried in crude surface 
graves, while E760/N855 (shafts 1-9), a set of plastered-wall shaft tombs with adjoining 
funerary chapels, contained little more than crude ceramic sherds and a few faience 
 37 
 
beads. It should still be noted, however, that this could also be caused by the higher rate 
of looting in larger mortuary complexes as well. 
 
Figure 7: Sketch of E760/N855 shafts and chapels (Richards 1988:186) 
 
Though ancient looting cannot be completely ruled out as the cause, when 
compared to other, looted shaft tombs of the nearby Peet cemetery there is an obvious 
difference in material wealth. Additionally, though the Peet shafts contain higher-grade 
materials, they do not have the connected chapels. This variation in mortuary 
representation is reflected throughout the various divisions of Abydos North. Two of 
the Peet cemetery's richest (material) burials are simple shaft graves, in particular s44, 
which contained a female surrounded by amulets, beads, and other artifacts of amethyst, 
 38 
 
hematite, and silver to name a few. Meanwhile, a number of shafts belonging to the 
cemetery's small mastabas contained little to no material wealth. The Garstang cemetery 
lists only shaft tombs, but there is varying wealth within these as well. Some contain 
high-ranking material wealth, while others, though devoid of typical artifacts, were 
found with large stele indicating the proper upkeep of the owner's small funerary cult.  
There are also exceptions to the case. One of the larger mastaba shafts in 
Cemetery S (N38a) contained several artifacts of gold but little else, yet there were 
obvious signs that the tomb was plundered. An adjoining burial (N39) contained a 
wealth of artifacts made from a wide range of valuable materials, indicating that this set 
of individuals likely were able to afford all of the necessary pleasures for the afterlife. 
Garstang's Cemetery E and its apparent uniformity in tomb style (and small variation in 
wealth, with high, middle, and low wealth burials making up an equal third of all 
deposits) is likely evidence for that section's restriction to at least moderately wealthy 
individuals. The cemetery's proximity to the ancient mastabas of early dynastic rulers 
also suggests that restricted access was likely. Abydos North was once restricted to 
royal-use only (Richards 2005), especially considering the concentration of Early 
Dynastic royal tombs to the southwest. As Garstang's cemetery is the closest segment of 
the North Cemetery to this early necropolis, it is likely that burial there was still more 
highly restricted than the other two. 
Abydos North's wide-ranging access has made it an excellent example of 
Egyptian mortuary patterns during the Middle Kingdom. Unlike Haraga and Riqqa, 
Abydos provides both royal and non-royal patterns alike, and exemplifies the widening 
diversity and presence of choice that first emerged during this period. But how do the 
 39 
 
burials at Abydos North reflect the transitional period that was the Middle Kingdom? 
To truly understand how individual burials define a transforming, dynamic society, we 
have to look at the agent of personal choice within each burial context - in this case, 
amulets.  
 40 
 
Case Study: Wedjats at Abydos North 
 
Abydos’ North Cemetery is by far the largest of the cemeteries located at the 
site. What makes it particularly ideal for analysis is the fact that the North Cemetery 
includes burials spanning the Middle Kingdom, including some from later periods as 
well (Richards 2005:131). It is also one of the most excavated areas of the site, with 
field work dating back to the late 19th Century. This provides me with an incredibly 
large set of data to initially work with. Other Middle Kingdom cemeteries, such as 
Lisht, Haraga, and Riqqa, would prove too inconclusive as their use was restricted to 
the upper classes (Richards 2005:156). 
 
Abydos Amulet Statistics 
Overall, twenty-seven burials at Abydos North still contained at least one amulet 
at the time of excavation. For the purpose of my analysis, I chose to keep the 
classification simple: along with wedjats and scarabs, there are also the categories 
encompassing any animal symbols, as well as those amulets reflecting inanimate objects 
not of the other three categories. Among these divisions there is a relatively even 
dispersal of amulet types. Wedjats and scarabs each were found in ten contexts, while 
animal and inanimate amulets were both excavated from eleven different burials. 
Sixteen burials contained only one amulet, in most cases one that falls into the 
inanimate category. Of those that contained multiple amulets, very few (4) contained 
amulets of three different categories.  
 41 
 
In relation to the rest, wedjat burials make up a surprising percentage of the data.  
Prior to this period, wedjat symbology was one restricted to upper elite and royal use 
only, and is seen in very few cases starting in the twilight years of the Old Kingdom. By 
roughly 1991 BCE this appears to have changed: not only had the wedjat and its 
manifestations spread into non-royal contexts, it quickly became one of the most potent 
and frequently chosen tools for the journey through the afterlife. This also highlights the 
presence of choice that was illustrated in the general survey of Abydos burial patterns in 
that Egyptians from this period appear to have begun taking advantage of a society with 
less royal co-option of resources, both physical and magical, and extending to tomb 
style, personal possessions, or even the burial location itself.  
Once again, this less-constrained choice would not have been remotely possible 
in the Old Kingdom and 1st Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom's loosening of 
the central grip on both economic and cultural practices provided non-royal Egyptians 
like those buried at Abydos with a wider access to material wealth and, therefore, ways 
in which it might be represented. In much of the earlier literature, the scarab was seen as 
the symbol for this diversification in that it too was a symbol once reserved for royals 
that found its way into popular circulation among more mainstream Egyptian society. 
While this is true, I find the scarab's typical treatment as the only symbol of this 
"democratization" to be unsatisfactory. As described earlier in this thesis, the wedjat 
was an incredibly potent symbol to all Egyptains, and its use in burial contexts was 
hardly superficial. The expanded use of such power among Egyptian non-royals speaks 
volumes to the changing social atmosphere of the Middle Kingdom. The state no longer 
controlled every aspect of Egyptian life - including religious practices and rites - in a 
 42 
 
trend that would continue to re-divide "church" and "state" until ritual centers became 
nearly autonomous in the New Kingdom. Though the wedjat's relation to other amulet 
popularity, at least at Abydos, is only a portion of the story that the artifacts tell us.  
 
Wedjat Tombs at Abydos 
 
 
Table 2: Wedjat Data. Table listing burials with wedjats present. Includes any demographic and wealth 
indicators of each burial, along with specifics regarding the amulets themselves 
 
 
The above table was compiled from the data taken from the overall Abydos 
survey, and in fact tells us a great deal about the use of wedjats in the North Cemetery 
burial contexts - and therefore about Middle Kingdom. Those with at least one wedjat in 
their burial appear to be of least moderate wealth according to their material value sums 
(based on Richards' Index 2, considering that there is much smaller variance among 
effort value wealth). Thought there are only 10 burials total that include wedjat amulets 
it does not mean that wedjat use was minimal compared to other amulet styles - in fact, 
there is a near-equal distribution of the most common amulet styles (11 scarab, 10 
Richards 1988 Cemetery Wedjat
Burial Dynasty Tomb Occupant Wealth(2) Material Position
Size  (cm)
Number
E830/N780 - 9 XII-XII Surface Burial Child 18-20 mo. 17 Faience Above r. scapula ~2.5 1
E840/N780 - 12 XII Surface Burial Child 11-14 mo. 27 Faience Anklet ~1.8-1.9 4
Peet Cemetery S
36a XII Mastaba Shaft 24 Faience n/a 1
622-3 XII Shafts S. of Mastaba 15 Faience Isolated ~1.35 1
Z2a XII-XII Shaft Burial
32 Faience
~2.13         
~3.2      
~4.26-4.8
1 small         
1 medium    
3 large
S253 XII Shaft Burial 11 Faience Isolated
~1.35-1.8  
~2.7
2 small        
1 medium
Z3 XII-XIV 30 Faience
~0.85-
1.37
4
T71 XII-XIII 19
anklet and one 
isolate
~0.875 7
S201 XII Shaft Burial 28 Faience amulet ~1.8-2.1 1
S29 XII Shaft Burial 11 Faience ~1.2-2.4 1 or 2
 43 
 
animal, 8 inanimate - see Appendix) among the Abydos burials, some of which are 
found in the same instance. Though a few of these tombs appear to have low material 
wealth, namely S253 and S29, these two tombs were not given a comprehensive entry 
in Peet's report, and given the quality of the artifacts and tombs it is likely there were 
more - however, I can only provide a sum based on the images provided by Peet. Still, 
the use of wedjat amulets does not appear tied to burial style, as they are found in 
almost every tomb style present at Abydos North. Unfortunately, there is little data to 
make a demographic comparison, although it is curious that out of all the individuals 
excavated during Richards' 1988 season, the only burials that contained these amulets 
were those of young children. It is also worth noting that these children were both 
buried with faience cat amulets; symbolic of  protection and family (Pinch 2002), 
among many other things, these amulets when coupled with the wedjat may have 
expressed an awareness that the dead children would have needed much stronger 
protection and guardianship in the life hereafter. The fact that this belief extends to such 
young individuals also stresses the range at which Middle Kingdom burial rites 
extended to. Children, despite their very short time among the living, were still in need 
of at least a fraction of the aid their older relatives might receive when passing from one 
form to the next. These rites, though much more accessible than in periods prior, were 
certainly not guaranteed. For one's child to receive the magical tools once reserved for 
kings alone, such an object would only come into this context if either the family was 
rather wealthy or the object was made readily available. The evidence compiled from 
Abydos certainly speaks to the latter.  
 44 
 
As Peet recorded little demographic data from his excavations, and there were 
no tombs from Garstang's cemetery that contained wedjats, we must turn to the artifacts 
themselves. As the data shows, all of the wedjats from Abydos North are of blue glaze 
faience, but they appear in varying quantities and sizes. Many were listed without any 
positional context, with most cases left isolated from the body in ways that might reveal 
a correlation between the artifact and its particular usefulness. The smallest amulets are 
usually found in large groupings around the wrist or ankle, while the slightly larger 
wedjat from S201 shows a cord notch at its top, revealing it's likely use as a necklace 
amulet. While the wedjat's powers as a tool of healing or regeneration may have been 
linked to potential diseases, disfigurements, or causes of death among these individuals, 
the little demographic information provided (in this case only by Richards) shows no 
noticeable correlation.  
So what do these artifacts tell us about the state of the Middle Kingdom, 
especially during the XIIth and early XIIIth Dynasties? The use of these items in death 
and the afterlife is already well described, but when we look at the life cycle of the 
wedjat it reveals much more. Though the end result is always the center of study in 
mortuary contexts, the creation and living use of each artifact provides volumes more 
information regarding the lifeways of its respective culture - much of which can be 
observed from the item at the end of its use. 
 
Manufacturing Methods - The Birth of an Amulet 
The life cycle of an artifact, like any living organism, starts with its creation. 
Though we obviously cannot directly observe the creation of such artifacts like Middle 
 45 
 
Kingdom wedjats, we may discern its origins simply through an examination of the raw 
materials from which it is made. The wedjats from the Abydos data are entirely faience-
based products. Faience is a composite of ground silica and an alkaline (typically 
copper) based glaze found in the Egyptian sequence as early as the 4th millennium BCE 
(Tite et al. 1983:17). While considered a ceramic, faience is not made from clay; 
instead, several laboratory examinations - including one conducted by Patricia S. 
Griffin at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2002 - have revealed through microscopic 
examination that faience is 90% silica or more, with the remaining percentage dispersed 
between alkali and lime for the glaze and coloring (Griffin 2002). While the silica was 
added in the form of ground sand, quartzite, or flint, previous research has indicated that 
the alkali was composed of naturally abundant Egyptian natron that allowed the melting 
of silica at lower temperatures (Griffin 2002:114.2.5). Lastly, the vast majority of 
faience products received their distinct blue to sea-green coloration through the addition 
of copper flakes (Nicholson & Shaw 2000). 
In terms of manufacturing, faience is what's known as a thixotropic material - 
meaning that it requires a large amount of force to mold and shape. Faience, like clay, is 
also fired to produce the final product. Though the earliest forms were crafted by hand, 
by the Middle Kingdom most craftsmen employed the use of molds or cores. Two 
detached beads in Griffin's Cleveland Museum collection were examined through xero-
radiography and found to have been molded around bundles of straw. A similar style 
was used to create a New Kingdom faience "double khol tube," using reeds instead of 
straw (Griffin 2002:114.2.8). 
 46 
 
These elements already tell us a great deal about the relationship between 
Middle Kingdom individuals and the state. While flint, quartzite, and natron (sand 
having been ruled out by both studies) were all readily abundant resources in Egyptian 
antiquity, copper was not. Once again turning to Richards' wealth indices, copper has 
one of the highest effort expenditure ratings of any material, likely due to the fact that 
naturally occurring copper had to be mined from the fringes of the state like Sinai or 
Lower Nubia (Bard 2008). Thus it is likely to assume that the procurement, movement, 
and distribution of copper is a royal- or upper elite-controlled industry. Yet only  two of 
the burials within this data set might be considered "wealthy," namely Z2a and Z3. 
Therefore we may assume that these amulets could not be privately crafted, since the 
lower-wealth individuals would certainly not have direct access to copper or perhaps 
even ground quartzite.  
This leaves us to assume that the production of faience amulets is likely 
controlled by the highest of elites - either the state government or the priesthood - at 
some level. Further evidence pointing to priesthood control comes from Memphis, the 
city that once served as the capital for the kings of the Old Kingdom. When Petrie 
conducted his excavations there in 1913 he took to examining the area surrounding the 
great temple to Ptah, a patron to craftsmen and creator deity whose influence rivaled 
that of Osiris. During this excavation he discovered a room close by belonging to the 
XIXth Dynasty, therefore placing it long after the Middle Kingdom. However, inside 
this room his team discovered several sacred objects including two Osiris figurines and 
two wedjat amulets. Unfortunately, the composition of these objects was not listed 
(Engelbach 1923). Despite this, the Memphis excavation is one of the few instances 
 47 
 
where wedjats have been found outside a burial context, additionally in relation to the 
Egyptian priesthood.  
So where does this place the Abydos wedjats? We know that their distribution 
and consummption are no longer completely controlled by the state due to their 
appearance in middle- and low-wealth burials, but neither are they privately 
manufactured do to the value of the necessary crafting materials. In fact, this leaves 
them in middle of the spectrum between the all-encompassing state control of the Old 
Kingdom and the dispersal of that power during the New Kingdom. On a materialistic 
level, the presence of these wedjats at Abydos shows the widening availability of what 
were once purely state-controlled resources - and therefore a widening dispersal of 
power - during the Middle Kingdom. The production of these amulets was not 
completely separated from the state, however, as individuals would likely have had 
access only through the crown (or more likely the priesthood). However, wedjats were 
likely not produced through a centralized system - though pinpointing the actual 
production centers (likely related to temples or priestly holdings) would require 
additional research. Other amulets from the upper elite cemetery of Lisht and the central 
Middle Kingdom cemetery at Haragah consist of varying materials (metals and 
semiprecious stones) and quality (Englebach 1915, 1923), and there is even variance 
among the faience amulets at Abydos.   
 
 
 
 
 48 
 
.  
  
Figure 8: Wedjat Variance. Top Left: Wedjat from S253 (Peet 1912). Top Right: 
Wedjat from S29 (Peet 1912). Bottom Left: Portion of an elite bracelet from the royal 
cemetery at Lisht (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum). Bottom: Two of a very 
small series of wedjat beads from Haraga, a more modern MK cemetery) 
 
A material examination of wedjat amulets only tells half the story. Amulets 
themselves - especially ones as potent as the wedjat - have dual properties as both 
physical artifacts and magical symbols. While the physical value is highlighted in an 
artifact's "birth," the symbolic component can be best understood through an 
investigation of the item's living utility. 
 
The Living Symbol 
An amulet's utility in life is difficult to fully understand since it cannot be 
directly observed in the archaeological record. We must then look to the amulet's 
symbolic nature to determine how Egyptians would have viewed it during their day-to-
 49 
 
day lives. The wedjat symbol, as discussed earlier in this thesis, serves many purposes 
in life and death. While some from the Abydos set, namely those found in isolation 
from other objects, were likely obtained only for burial afterlife purposes, those wedjats 
with string holes likely served a purpose in life as they did in death.  
The symbol was also one of royal, if not divine, power. As mentioned before, 
the wedjat was used to legitimize the king's relationship with Osiris and Horus. What 
we see at Abydos is a select group of individuals tapping into that divine relationship 
once restricted to kings and upper elites. The presence of wedjat amulets in the graves 
of lower-wealth individuals alludes to the fact that, during the Middle Kingdom, even 
the royal hold on acceptable religious belief and practice was becoming much more 
dispersed. This is not to say that the individuals within the wedjat burials believed 
themselves equal to the king as a living incarnation of Horus, but rather that they were 
also able to receive the same blessings, protections, and general magical potency that 
was given to the higher echelons of Egyptian society. 
Wedjat use during the Middle Kingdom is also likely related to the rise of Osiris' 
popularity across the kingdom. One of the best ways to indicate one's own power is to 
replicate those who already clearly exhibit it; it is only natural to believe that the Osiris 
and Abydos-based projects of Senusret I and III would inspire common Egyptians to 
want to show their dedication and relationship with the god as well. Ownership of a 
wedjat, as a symbol of Osiris himself, could easily fulfill this purpose, allowing the 
individual a physical token of identification.   
Wedjat amulets in many ways relate directly to the Middle Kingdom birthing 
bricks. Designed for and available to Egyptians outside of the high elite circle of 
 50 
 
control, both items carried with them an extreme magical potency. Not only did they 
both ensure successful transitions during liminal phases, they allowed their owners the 
prospect of identifying with the gods themselves in a completely new way. Middle 
Kingdom coffins, too, show this relationship: imbuing their owner with the aid or direct 
power and form of the divine, coffins would ensure the safe passage of their owners 
through the incredibly tumultuous transition from life to afterlife. Whereas in the Old 
Kingdom the king and related priesthood were the only conduits between these deities, 
the Middle Kingdom shows a people who have begun to take on a more personal 
relationship and, ultimately, provide themselves with a new form of personal identity. 
Compare this, then, to the use of scarabs during the Middle Kingdom. As stated earlier, 
the symbol was often used outside of royal circles for the display of title. While this did 
allow the owner to keep that title (and rank) in the afterlife, the scarab itself did not aid 
in that crucial liminal transition, unlike coffins, birthing bricks, and the wedjat.  
 
 51 
 
Final Synthesis and Conclusions 
The inherent purpose of a symbol is the instilment of personal meaning and 
utility within an otherwise non-relevant object. However, as the wedjat amulets at 
Abydos have shown, that meaning goes much, much deeper than the symbol's base 
definition. Even this small data set of wedjat amulets at the Abydos North Cemetery 
reveal a great deal about Middle Kingdom Egypt. Amulet deposition is an intentional 
act, and as such we have to take nearly every facet of information they give us as the 
product of intent.  
On both broad and specific scales, the distribution of wedjat amulets within 
Abydos North symbolizes the growing decentralization of the Egyptian state during the 
Middle Kingdom. The simple availability of this potent symbol outside of royal circles 
signifies the lessening regulation and complete co-option of power within a single class 
Even though the artifacts' regulation - specifically the copper required for the final 
element of the production process - through noble or priestly channels is likely, the 
availability of this resource and power to these lesser-elite Egyptians was previously 
unheard of. 
This also parallel's the wedjat's place as a symbol of transition. Though state 
control of the material was certainly lessened, the relatively low variance in amulet 
styles at Abydos points to a series of production centers and craftsmen rather than a 
private industry. Not only would these groups require the aid of upper elite figures for 
access to materials like copper and quartzite, but the relatively low diversity of artistic 
styles among the Abydos amulets makes some level of regulated production likely. On 
the other hand, the variation in material, style, and overall size of the amulets, especially 
 52 
 
compared to the wedjats of other Middle Kingdom cemeteries, shows a growing trend 
towards a more localized production, culminating in the extreme variation seen among 
New Kingdom amulets. This follows the general trend of the Egyptian timeline as well: 
the Old Kingdom served as the hallmark for centralized power, while the New Kingdom 
was a very bureaucratic state with lists of titles and sub-titles under both the crown and 
the priesthood. While scarab amulets and their "self-made" title engravings show one 
aspect of this transition, the wedjat's material and symbolic wealth serves as another line 
of evidence.  
Additionally, the Abydos wedjats serve as agents of personal choice and 
identity, a subject of both Egyptian and general human importance. Middle Kingdom 
Egyptians, primarily during the XIIth Dynasty, saw fit to identify themselves with both 
their king and Osiris through the wedjat. The diversity of the burials at Abydos North, 
when viewed with the context of amulet selection, reveals a society that was 
experiencing a new range of personal choices by which they might identify themselves. 
Wedjat amulets are only one possible option of identity - others might include tomb 
style, or general material wealth - and yet this makes them no less important that the 
other interred objects. Scarabs are one of the most frequently discussed symbols 
indicative of Middle Kingdom identity due to their clear, textual evidence of titular 
diversification. Yet the Middle Kingdom, especially during the XIIth Dynasty, was only 
on the cusp of utilizing text and literature as a widespread tool for the transfer of ideas 
and identity. As a symbol of kingmaking, regeneration, and Abydos itself (through 
Osiris), the wedjat was just as intertwined with Egyptian identity as a whole, along with 
the developing notion of personally determined identity.  
 53 
 
When the specific terms and conditions are removed, all archaeological 
investigations ask the same questions about humanity as a whole. Today, symbols play 
a massive role in personal identity, shaping the nature we view ourselves as well as each 
other. The wedjats of Abydos show just how long we have identified ourselves through 
symbols that are not necessarily reflective of our physical form. They signify the human 
desire to become something larger than oneself, and the hope to continue on after we 
have left our earthly bodies behind. There is an overwhelming tendency to see cultures 
as old as the ancient Egyptians as far-off entities, almost existing in a different time and 
space. If nothing else, the wedjat symbolism of the Middle Kingdom shows that, though 
the names and shapes may have changed, the human search for identity remains much 
the same.  
 
Prospects for Future Research 
In the future, I would aspire to create a much larger database for Abydos North 
for both supplemental and personal research purposes. With a more complete list of 
burials, occupants, and the like, I would hopefully be able to provide a deeper 
examination of personal identity through both the wedjat and other amulets or personal 
objects, potentially even creating a comparative study with more upper elite and royal 
burial settings like those at Lisht and Haraga. 
 
  
 54 
 
A
ppendix I - A
bydos C
em
etery D
ata 
~ohn Garst ang- Cemetery E (between Cemetery D and Khasckhemwy Enclosure), 1901 
(In order of original text listing) 
Tomb Tomb St:tle Dvnastv Disturbed OccuJ!ant Contents Wcdjat Wcd j. Wealth 1 Wealth 2 Form 
i) cowry-like electrum beads, ii) two 
ribbed bracelets of gold, iii) shell 
no body, pectoral of gold, iv) small fmhes with 
E. 108 Pit tomb XIll artifacts bodies of green felspar set in gold, v) 48 37 yes indicate upper electrum charm case, studded with no 
class rows of small pins bound by an 
entwined thread, containing papyrus, 
vi) multiple scarabs 
unmummified 
pittombw/ body, head 
animal pendants, various jewlery, 
E.30 surface XII partly fallen 
alabaster vessels, scarabs no 20 1L 
architecture weshvard, 
upper class 
four burials; 
(1 )? (2)child 
(3).1dult 
statuettes, pendants, gold disc, female E. 45 pit tomb no (4)male child, serpentine vessels, alabaster vase, no 45 31 
aU facing copper mirror 
north with 
head to west 
Male, mid- globular beads, shenu pendant, fme coffm E. 105 pit lomb early Xll yes 
upper class alabaster vessels, figurine (ushabti?), maybe inlays 9 5 inlaid eves meant for colfm 
cylindrical ivory box w/ three incised 
E.30 pit lomb XIll yes panels enclosing an ape, uraeus, and no 8 10 
Bes figurine 
late Xll or compound cylinder bead, bound like a 
E. 282 XIll yes lotus column, alabaster cup, blue no 20 12 !glazed beads 
E.251 surface(?) XIll highly rough pottery figure resembling bear no 26 10 
and cub, marble and alabaster vessels 
 55 
 
 
 
E. 303 XII yes glazed seated Horus figure, beads, no 38 17 Ramet scarab serpintine vase 
E. 238 yes Male, mid- offering table (inscribed), no 
upper class 
E. 11 XII yes male, general limestone stele no 
of war 
E. 181 !yes male, several limestone stele no 
E. 295 Mastaba XIII male, 2 limestone steles yes 
nobleladmin. no 
limestone sarcophagus with painted, parr on 
(late?) male, noble incised heiroglyphs, "weeping" eyes east side E. 252 pit tomb? 
XIII 
yes (Regulator of on east side, rounded lid with raised yes of 
the Sa order) head and foot, head marked with sarcophag 
ankh· early ushabti us 
E. 236 pit tomb XII yes limestone door carving, alabaster no 
vessels 
E.345 "monument" XII(?) yes limestone octagonal column no 
E.107 MK yes possibly hathor figure, beads (related to no female headress ), headdress stand 
E. 281 pit tomb XII yes possibly two-handled vessel of blue marble no 13 4 foreign 
blue marble dish with monkey 
E. 237 XII yes handles, alabaster vessels, se~:pentine no 45 21 
palette, blue glaze beads 
E. 189 XII lyes se~:pentine statuette on pedestal no 12 5 
broken wooden coffin with black, 
single, 
white, red and blue paint, depicting large eye 
E. 281 pit tomb XIII yes 
mourners and polebearers, offerings, yes on east 
side of 
and single large eye on eastern side 
coffin 
 56 
 
 
 
(!)alabaster jar, mirrors, kohl palette, 
green glazed beads, (2) beads, 
wrapped mirror, kohl vessels, glazed 
two of (1) adult, staff head with lotus pattern, small 
E. 3 pit tomb XIII-XVI three (2)infanl, dog/lion (glazed), scarab, (3) ball ? 43 33 
undisturbed 
(3)child, beads and kohl vessel, ( 4)two weights · 
(4)young male near head, two spatulae (one bone, 
other slate), gold disc with grains of 
kohl, wood coffin with stuccoed 
inside , plaster mask 
pit tomb LateMK hvo 
colored limestone stele, small wedjats E. 172 under (XIII- disturbed male limestone statuette yes on top of 
mastaba XIV) 
stele 
T. Eric Peet -Cemeteries of Abydos Pt. II (1911-1912) 
I I 
Cemetery_S -note: oil found with wooden coffin, laying on left, 
unless stated otherwise 
Tomb TombSMe ~ Disturbed 0CCUI!ant Contents Wedjat 
Wedj . 
Form 
Wealth 1 Wealth 2 
21 Shaft XII y female 
mud wig, alabaster vase, few dark 
no 21 13 blue_ glaze beads 
22 " XII y empty 
23 " XII y unfinished 
two vases (where head should be), 
spherical carnelian beads, (with child) 
Shaft with 4 adult f. with 
were beads of carnelian, blue glaze, 
25 chambers at XII infant, female, silver disc. Red polished ware vases, no 38 29 y 
second fern. w/ blue glaze beads at 
end male 
neck. Body w/ blue glaze beads at 
wrist and hippo-head amulet in 
carnelian at neck. 
26 " XII y adult male no finds 
27 " XII y female 
two strings of discoid beads of blue 
no 11 7 glaze at neck, thre strings at wrist 
 57 
 
 
 
Mastaba 
LowerS: two small spherical 
shaft 
(Ruined amethyst beads. Upper N: pendant of amulet, 
36a 
mastaba)- XII y n/a white stone and one of carnelian; also yes blue glaze 39 23 
4ch. Two at 
amulets of blue glaze incl. scarab, 
each end 
sacred eye, crown of Lower Egypt 
36b " XII y unfinished 
UpperS: lowerS: few lg spherical blue glaze 
36c " - 4ch. XII mixed 
Male, others beads and one long cylindrical. Two 
no 11 7 
empty and N. chs fallen into one; two blue glaze 
plundered beads 
Shafts 
N38a belonging to XII n/a sm. Pierced disc of gold and 2 beads no 14 14 
Mastaba N 
N38b 
shaft-
empty 
LowerS: long cylindrical beads of 
glazed steatite, small ring of beads of 
UpperS: gold, broken carnelian scarab, two 
female, upper barrel beads of carnelian, small blue 
N: male, lower glaze amulets, pieces of an ivory pin 
N39 shaft- 4 ch. XII y S: untouched with knot representation; Lower N no 63 46 
female, lower badly plundered, w/ small discoid 
N: 3 burials beads, two gold flies, drop pendants, 
(unidentified) one large green glaze spherical bead, 
minute scarab of green stone, green 
glaze hawk amulet. 
S ch: n/a, N green glaze scarab, small rounded 
62 shaft XII mixed ch.: young discoid beads of carnelian and blue no 21 14 
male glaze 
Shafts unidentified 
M121 belonging to XII n body (likely mud wig no 1 1 
Mastaba M female) 
 58 
 
 
 
M122 " XII n female small discoid beads of blue glaze no 11 7 
M123 " XII collapsed 
UpperS: 
ch ild's body, 
Shafts lowerS: two UpperS: discoid beads, small 
/131 belonging to XII y unidentified spherical beads (blue glaze and no 22 17 
Mastaba I bodies, Upper carnelian), white shell bead 
N: empty, 
Lower N: male 
/132 " unfinished 
159 
shaft w/ S 
n/a 
ch. 
y male body n/a no 
171a shaft abandoned 
171b shaft n/a unfinished 
Shafts 
K173a belonging to XII y male none no 
Mastaba K 
K173b " XII female 
small blue glaze discoid beads around 
no 11 7 y 
neck 
Upper burial: 
shaft 
headless 
Lower: few discoid beads at neck 175 XII y 
male, Lower no 1 1 
burial: female 
Shafts 
H 190-2 belonging to XII y n/a completely plundered no 
Mastaba H 
193 shaft XII y n/a empty 
 59 
 
 
 
unidentified 
plundered from Shaft 285; on right 
194 shaft XII y 
body 
ankle three strings of small glaze no 21 14 
beads, and leg amulet of carnelian 
198 shaft unfinished 
199 
Shallow XII male re-used shaft over older burial 
shaft 
y no 
258 shaft XII y male n/a no 
shaft w/o blue discoid beads round neck, wrist 
260 
bricking XII 
y female w/ one green glaze cylindrical bead. no 15 8 
Vase over pelvis 
262 shaft XII y plundered no 
Shaft 
0268 belonging to XII y completely plundered no 
Mastaba o 
0272 " XII y empty 
Shafts 273, 274, 277: 
unfinished. 
E 273-7 belonging to XII y 275-6: 
Mastaba E plundered 
Shafts two 
C281 belonging to XII y unidentified n/a no 
Mastaba c bodies 
 60 
 
 
 
C282-3 " XII y completely plundered no 
Shafts 
possibly 
G284-S bleonging to XII y n/a completely plundered no 
ruined 
Mastaba G 
Shafts Note: proposed that Mastaba 
F321-2 belonging to XII unfinished completed before tenant's death, 
Mastaba F who was buried elsewhere 
Shaft 
AA 323 belonging to XII unfinished 
MastabaAA 
Upper N and S plundered, MiddleS 
LowerS: 3 plundered but w/bowl of unusual thin 
Large shaft women (2 buff ware. LowerS: carnelian 
340 to the S of mixed contracted necklace, blue glaze necklace, small 25 15 plot, with 6 XII position) and vase. Middle N plundered but w/ blue no 
ch. child, Lower N glaze beads. LowerS: two carnelian 
(int.): female amulets- one a heart, other an 
animal's head 
carnelian bead in mouth, vase, mud 
498 shaft XII y female wig, and stucco mask. Other vases in no 15 9 
top of shaft 
Shaft 
unidentified 
AASOO belonging to XII y body 
string of small glaze beads on I ankle no 11 7 
MastabaAA 
Shaft 
BB SOl belonging to XII unfinished 
Mastaba BB 
BB 502-3 " XII y n/a completely plundered 
 61 
 
 
 
Shaft, 
possibly to 
509 
Mastaba A 
orB but 
XII male inN, S y plundered n/a no 
impossible 
to certify 
II 
unidentified 
n/a 510 XII y body no 
511-2 II XII y n/a plundered no 
513 II XII empty inlaid eye of obsidian and alabaster no 48 18 y 
set in copper 
514-17 II XII n all unfinished n/a no 
II 
abandoned 
n/a 51'9 XII n 
and unsafe 
Shafts 520: plundered, 21: 
DD 520-2 belonging to XII mixed n/a no 
Mastaba DD 
empty, 22: 
unfinished 
oritinally 
570 
closed with 
a barrel 
XII y n/a alabaster vase no 9 5 
vault 
571 
Similar to 
570 
XII y n/a a few cylindrical glaze beads no 11 7 
rough flint, shell, blue glaze eye 
Shafts to S amulet, large blue glaze spherical 
622-3 of ruined XII n/a 
bead, two pear-shaped pendants of blue glaze 
21 12 y 
very fine light blue glaze. Also smaller yes amulet 
mastaba 
spherical bead and two cylindrical 
beads 
 62 
 
 
 
XII or 
UpperS: painted vase, blue glaze lion, 
possible pendant and spherical peads, 
reburial carnelian barrel bead, cowrie, two carved 
shaft w/ 4 from 2nd n/a 
spirally coiled earrings of lead, Maybe into 624 
ch. 
y 
scaraboid with the upper surface in scaraboid 26 18 lntermedi 
ate or 
the form of a sacred eye, other vases, (?) 
XVIII Upper N: blue glaze tubular and 
carnelian barrel beads 
red polished bowl of pottery. S ch.: 
vase, rough f lint, lid of an alabaster 
kohl vase, shell, fragment of a fine 
627 Shaft XII n/a n/a 
black pottery vase w ith rivet holes, ? 48 32 
two bracelets of thin silver wire, two 
blue glaze amulets, and blue glaze 
beads, short and long cylindrical, 
spherical, and barrel-shaped 
necklace of blue glaze spherical beads 
with silver disc as center, four 
surface girl, knees cylindrical beads, two wrist strins of 
s12 burial 
~x11 n bent on side beads of blue glaze and carnelian, no 43 26 
small alabaster kohl pot near chin 
and small string of blue glaze beads 
on I. ear 
s20 
surface 
burial 
~x11 n female two strings of beads round neck no 1 1 
 63 
 
 
 
tall alabaster at the chin, blue marble 
kohl pot in left hand. Long necklace of 
dull blue glaze beads, long drop-
shaped bead of carnelian, and 
numerous blue glaze amulets. Small 
surface 
string of haemat ite beads at r. 
s44 
burial 
-XII n female forearm and 3 scarabs of blueglaze, no 83-86 42-45 
amethyst and black stone at r. hand 
together with short string of 
miscellaneous beads, possible veil-
holder or pendant of fine silver wire 
on matrix of black material in front of 
face 
coffin, small globular vase of potter 
female with 
before breast, and before face small 
surface hair in 
alabaster kohl pot. l. forearm a mass 
s51 burial 
-XII n 
numerous fine of decayed hair, possibly a wig. Each no 29 15 
plaits 
ear - ring of small discoid beads of 
dark blue glaze, and string of same 
hung over neck. 
coffin, necklace of bright ultramarine 
surface blue glaze beads, one barrel bead of 
nell burial 
XI-XII n unidentified 
wood(?) and long drop-shaped no 25 14 
pendant of alabaster 
nc20a 
surface 
burial 
XI-XII n child wooden coffin no 5 2 
nc24 surface 
Possibly adult, wooden coffin, few small blue glaze 
16 9 burial OK n contracted beads no 
surface 
burial 
adult female 
beneath 
nc95 grave of late ? n on back wooden coffin no 5 2 
dynastic 
diagonally 
period 
 64 
 
 
 
surface XII or 
unidentified, wooden coffin, (137): necklace of 
f1c136, 13 burial above slightly n 
female small blue glaze beads no 16 9 grave 137 later 
surface 
nc 230 
burial above 
XII child wooden coffin 5 2 n no 
1st Dynasty 
tomb 231 
The North Cemeterv- Mixed cemetery, with scattered MK buri 
carnelian beads, gold pendant 
unbricked 
representing the crown of Lower 
G6 
shaft 
MK y unidentified Egypt over the neb sign, two strings no 35 30 
of very fine discoid beads of blue 
!glaze and shell 
unidentified 
spherical beads of amethyst, 
M2 small shaft MK y body carnelian, and dark blue glaze, various no 36 19 
amulets (2 sphinxes, six hawks) 
K2 small shaft MK unidentified 
six amulets: two sphinxes, one hawk, 
no y 
one a lion, and two apes 
gold foil, two pottery dishes, white 
spotted red ware dish, inlaid eye, 
alabaster kohl pot, blue glaze beads, 
drop-shaped pendant of glazed rock 
crystal, fragments of the wooden 
Z2a shaft XII-XII I n/a coffin of the w'rtw of the ruler's 56 28 y 
table, Amenemhat. (Additional image yes 
on Pl. XXXVIII shows winged scarab 
amulet, five sacred eye amulets 
(three large, two small), and small 
other amulets. Connection uncertain 
but likely) 
 65 
 
 
 
Misc. Tombs: - Tombs only catalogued by plates in back; dating 
XII- Peet 
Likely shaft 
confi rms Two cords of discoid beads (material 
5253 nearly all unk. n/a unk), three sacred eye amulets, most yes from Cem. S Cem. S likely blue glaze, shell, curved jewelry 
are XII 
unk, f rom N. 
Likely XII multitude of amulets, incl: fish tails, 3 
Z3 Cem or even unk. n/a sacred eyes, frogs (?), avian-like yes 
XIV amulets 
Anywhere 
from late 
earrings, two scarab seals, two MKto 
unk, f rom N. XVIII-
miniature f igurines (?),seven small 
T71 Cem amulet unk. n/a sacred eye amulets, one sacred eye yes 
style 
amulet (separate), seven (conical?) 
similar to beads/amulets(?) 
late MK 
XII - Peet 
Likely shaft 
confi rms four amulets: one sacred eye, one 
s 201 
from Cem. S nearly all unk. n/a scarab, one djed pillar, and one sword yes Cem. S shaped 
are XII 
Abydos North Cemetery Project 1988- Janet Richards 
Tomb Tomb S!Yie D)lnast)l Disturbed 0CCU(!ant Contents Wedjat Wedj. Wealth 1 Wealth 2 Form 
E. 720/N. two groups XII 
880-90 
of 3 shaft (reused in badly none offering vessels, brown bowls no 4 1 
burials 31P) 
E. 720/N. 
surface 890 (7) XII yes female adult cone-shaped offering vessel no 1 1 
 66 
 
 
 
wood coffin fragments, string of blue 
Shafts 1, 2, 
Female, 17 
glazed beads, two fa ience amulets, 
E. 725/N. and offering vessels, red ware bowls 7 Early XI I yes (1), Male, 50+ 33 14 
940 associated (2) (shaft 2), limestone stela bearing · 
Chapel 2 cartouche of Senworset I bleonging to 
"Dedu" (Chapel 2) 
Shaft 2 (of9, 
Female 30-40, 
wooden coffin, mass of small blue 
E. 760/N. with several Late XI- glazed faience beads, plaster yes with possible no 20 10 
855 postdating Early XI I f ragments, offering vessels, Ptolemaic 
chapels) juvenile Roman jar sherds 
Late XI - yes 
Shaft 4 (unfinished none none no 
Early XI I ) 
Shaft 6 
Late XI-
unf inished burnished red bowl 
Early XI I none no 4 1 
Shaft 8 
Late XI-
heavily 
adult male, 20 
Early XI I 30 none no 
E. 830/N. Surface 
Burial1 
Early XI I yes 
660 
male, 17-18 
1 blue faience bead, 4 lithic 
f ragments, small water jar sherd no 15 8 
Burial 2 XII yes fema le adult 
water jar sherds, wooden coffin in 
no 9 3 
sand 
Burial 3 XII yes Female, 50+ 
polychrome painted coffin, large 
9 3 
water jar no 
E. 830/N. Surface possibly 
plain wooden coffin, 6 f lakes, 2 
Burial1 
yes Female 30-35 retouched f lakes, 3 scrapers, water no 9 3 
780 XII jar sherd 
Possibly faience wedjat amulet above right 
MK 
undisturbe child, 18-20 scapula, two faience cat figures near wedjat 
Burial 9 (Found d months chest, small shell large shell disk yes amulet of 22 17 
near XIX bead, carnelian barrel bead, three faience 
burials) pieces of lithic debitage 
 67 
 
 
 
Shaft 1, poorly preserved wooden coffin, 8 
E. 830/N. 
finely yes, blue fa ience ball beads, 1 chert 
constructed, Early XII intrusive Male, 18-19 
sidescraper, 1 chert awl, 1 chert f lake, 
no 20 17 
790 NK burial near 
complete and broken offering vessel 
mastaba 
Row of 3 
E. 840/N. 
shafts with Male(?), 50+ 
remains of3 XII in upper N. ceramic sherds no 4 1 
780 
mud-brick chamber 
chapels 
anthropoid coffin, 9 chert flakes, 1 
end-scraper, 1 sidescraper, 1 awl, 5 
Surface XII(MK 
slightly Female, 30-35 
large water jar sherds w/cord 
9 3 Burial! sure) impression, 4 brown bowl sherds, 5 no 
brown cup sherds, 3 brown cup rims, 
several other minor sherds 
Burial4 
Possibly Juvenile, 3 flakes, 1 sidescraper, bag jar sherds, 
4 1 MK 
yes years bowl rim sherd 
no 
Burial 6 (and 
lateX I coffin in sand, fragments of ceramic bone group (possibly) heavily female, 2o-30 anthropomorphic figurine, water jar no 9 3 
6A) sherds, brown bowl sherd 
Burial 7 
probably 
yes Adult lithic debitage, water jar rim sherd no 4 1 XII 
Burial 8 with probably Juvenile, 3-4 two metal amulets, blue faience 
possible XII - no bead, cowrie shell (all top of right no 2S 1S 
chapel ·ewlery 
years 
shoulder) 
plastered wooden anthropoid coffin 
in sand, buff unpainted plaster, 
Burial9 
possibly 
no Male, 22-25 
charcoal chunk, fabric (near skull), 
no 12 6 XII water jar body sherds with rim and 
base, fine brown cup, 2 possible ED 
sherds 
Female, 30-35 
decayed wood and charcoal, water jar Burial10 XII light with black no 9 3 
curly hair sherds, offering vessel 
 
 
68 
 
mostly poor plaster mask, wood fragments, 
Burialll XII undisturbe Male, 35-39 cloth shreds, 50 12th dynasty water no 12 6 
d 
·ar sherds, with 1 rim and base, MK 
ar rim 
wooden rectangular coffin, beaded 
bracelets of small blue faience, 
carnelian, cowrie shell beads, and mult itude 
Possibly metal elements. Five faience wedjat of faience 
child, 11-14 amulets around wrist, four small amulets 
Burial 12 XII- intact 
wedjat amulets in vicinity of right yes near both 31 27 jewelry months 
ankle, decayed wood, cloth wrist and 
fragments, lithic f lakes, lithic ankle 
sidescraper, 12th dynasty water jar 
sherds 
E. 860/N. Surface inc. juvenile, lithic debitage, complete 12th 
XII yes dynasty poststand, bag jar, MK water no 4 1 
600 Burial 4 10-12 
·ar sherd 
 
 
69 
 
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