Umm El Qa'ab

Cemetery U , from the tomb U-502 at Umm El Qa'ab, Abydos (Cairo Museum, JE 99583) Cemetery U is located at the northern edge of Umm el-Qa'ab and inscriptions found in the tombs has been interpreted by Günter Dreyer as evidence of it being the burial site of 17 Egyptian proto-kings of the Naqada III period. Although the tomb had been subject to plundering, about 2000 ceramic vessels were recovered with nearly one third having been imported from Palestine. These ceramic vessels contained traces of tree-resin-infused wine, providing the first evidence of wine in Ancient Egypt. also possible pre dynastic ruler Bull is attested in one of the ivory tablets. • B1/B2: Iry-Hor • B7/B9: Ka ==First Dynasty tombs==

Cemetery B Cemetery B is located south of Cemetery U and contains the tombs of Egypt's First Dynasty king along with the last two kings of the Second Dynasty. Furthermore, inscriptional evidence found at isolated tombs also suggests the Dynasty 0 rulers, Qa'a, Iry-Hor, and Narmer, were buried at this site. • B10/B15/B19: Aha • O: Djer • Z: Djet • Y: Merneith • T: Den • X: Anedjib • U: Semerkhet • Q: Qa'a File:Ummal-qaab.png|Tombs of the Egyptian 1st dynasty File:Pottery shred, from stump base of a jug. 1st Dynasty. From the Royal Tomb of Semerkhet at Umm el-Qa'ab, Abydos, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|Pottery sherd, from stump base of a jug. 1st Dynasty. From the Royal Tomb of Semerkhet at Umm el-Qa'ab, Abydos, Egypt. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London Human sacrifice and 1st Dynasty tombs Human sacrifice was practiced as part of the funerary rituals associated with the First Dynasty. The tomb of Djer is associated with the burials of 338 individuals thought to have been sacrificed. For unknown reasons, this practice ended with the conclusion of the dynasty, with shabtis taking the place of actual people to aid the pharaohs with the work expected of them in the afterlife. Tomb stelas Many First and Second Dynasty pharaohs had tomb steles erected outside their tomb with their Serekh and their Horus name listed on it, which helps confirms the identity of the tomb owners. The following images shows the surviving tomb steles of pharaohs buried at Umm El Qa'ab. File:Djer stela retouched.jpg|Djer File:P1060241 Louvre Stèle du roi-Serpent rwk.JPG|Djet File:Merneith stele.jpg|Merneith File:Motif gravé sur une vasque trouvée la tombe du roi Den.jpg|Den File:Semerkhet stele.jpg|Semerkhet File:CroppedStelaOfQaa (cropped).JPG|Qaa ==Second Dynasty tombs==

At the beginning of the Second Dynasty (2,775 BCE), Egyptian kings were buried at Saqqara rather than Umm el-Qa'ab. However, this changed with the tombs of the dynasty's last two kings being located at Umm el-Qa'ab in Cemetery B. A seal found in this tomb contains the first full sentence written in hieroglyphs. • V: Khasekhemwy. This tomb was on a massive scale, with several interconnecting mud-brick chambers, and the actual burial chamber being constructed of dressed limestone blocks. Its measurements were: 68.97 m long and 10.04-17.06 wide. When excavated by Petrie in 1901 it contained a scepter made from sard and banded with gold, limestone vases with golden covers, and a ewer and basin of bronze. Tomb stelas Note that Peribsen's stela is the only serekh to be topped with Seth instead of Horus (albeit the stele later had Seth erased), whereas Khasekhemwy's stela has both Horus and Seth on top of his serekh as a symbol of his reunification of Egypt. File:TombStelaOfPeribsen-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg|Peribsen File:Khasekhemwy, name inscribed on door jamb (cropped).jpg|Khasekhemwy ==Activity during the Second and Third Dynasty==

There is evidence that the tombs at Umm el-Qa'ab were looted and burned in the late Second Dynasty during the time period between Nynetjer and Khasekhemwy, when the country was split and ruled by two successors due to the overly complex state administration of the whole of Egypt. On the east side of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, eleven shafts 32 m deep were constructed and annexed to horizontal tunnels for royal family members. These were incorporated into the pre-existing substructure as it expanded eastward. In the storerooms along here over 40,000 stone vessels were found, many of which predate Djoser. Shafts I–V were used for the burials of royal family members, but shafts VI–XI were used as symbolic tombs for the grave goods of royal ancestors from dynasties I–II. More than 40,000 vessels, bowls and vases made of various kinds of stone were found in these galleries. Royal names such as of kings Den, Semerkhet, Nynetjer and Sekhemib were incised on the pots, showing they came from both the tombs in Umm el-Qa'ab and in Saqqara. It is now thought that Djoser once restored the original tombs of the ancestors after Egypt's reunification, and then sealed the grave goods in the galleries in an attempt to save them from further destruction. Not a lot of info is provided on Abydos during the rest of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. ==Activity during the Tenth and Eleventh Dynasty==

In the Teaching for King Merykara, the author, First Intermediate Period king of Egypt, Wahkare Khety address his son, the future king Merikare, advising him on how to be a good king, and how to avoid evil. In the text, the destruction of sacred territory at Abydos and Thinis is recorded; the king expresses remorse, as if accepting responsibility for the unthinkable that must have recurred throughout history – sacrilege in the name of the ruling king, subject to divine retribution during a judgment of the dead. This confirms that the tombs at Umm el-Qa'ab were looted again at the middle of the First Intermediate Period. In the 14th year of the reign of Mentuhotep II, the conquest of the Thinite region by the Herakleopolitan kings occurred. However, the armies of Merikare apparently looted and desecrated the sacred tombs at Umm el-Qa'ab in the process, confirming the third time the tombs were looted. As a result, the 14th year of Mentuhotep's reign is indeed named Year of the crime of Thinis in later Egyptian records. == Osiris Cult and Annual Festival ==

Following the restorations of the tombs by the early Middle Kingdom pharaohs, Cult activity likely began at Umm el-Qa'ab during the 12th Dynasty reign of Senwosret I during the Middle Kingdom (1,919 BCE) and continued through until the Graeco-Roman Period, ending with the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BCE). The annual festival along with various cultic activities continued at Umm el-Qa'ab for around 1,500 years after being formally established. Chapter 169 of the Book of the Dead, a text found among New Kingdom and later period burials, directly references the annual festival. Aside from king Djer's tomb, tombs of other First Dynasty rulers such as Den and Qa'a were likely centers of cult practice. 18th Dynasty votive offerings were found near these early royal tombs in pits located 8 meters away from the burials. ==Bibliography==