Performance of Funerary Ritual in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt: Use of jewelry in Funerary Contexts

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23115
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0103:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: YAMAZAKI Seria 早稲田大学, 文学学術院, 助手 (50844164)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 古代エジプト / 中王国時代 / 副葬品 / 装身具 / 棺装飾 / 葬送儀礼 / 器物奉献儀礼

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed to reconstruct the categorization of Ancient Egyptian jewelry through analysis of the object friezes and compare with archaeological findings to shed light on actual practices in the Middle Kingdom. Upon analyzing object friezes, it became clear that certain kinds of jewelry were regarded as particularly important. In reality, jewelry similar to the items in the object friezes were not frequently buried with the deceased though many other pieces of jewelry that almost never appeared in object friezes were used. Their placement in the tombs revealed that the ideal jewelry shown in the object friezes were placed close to the deceased and other kinds of jewelry pieces were sometimes placed even outside coffins. Furthermore, analysis of the assemblage, placement, and depiction of jewelry in the tombs suggested that offering jewelry to the deceased was planned to be repeated. The repetition of the object offering ritual was strategically incorporated into the funeral.

Free Research Field

エジプト学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで古代エジプトの装身具は、その精巧な作りや高い芸術性で知られている一方、当時どのような意図のもと副葬されたのかなど、利用に関する具体的な背景は不明確な点が多かった。このような中で本研究は、葬送儀礼に際する装身具利用の理想と実態、装身具を用いた儀礼空間の構造など、装身具が持つ身を飾るという以上の側面を明らかにした。本研究は先駆的な古代エジプトの装身具研究として位置付けられるとともに、見た目の美しさだけではなく、古代エジプトの装身具が当時の社会や文化を一層具体的に復元し得る重要な文化資源であることを改めて強調できたという点でも意義がある。