Unstamped cone

Date: Mainly in the Middle Kingdom to the end of the 17th Dynasty but see 'Remarks' below.

Length: 10.3 digits (Torino: S. 11977), 11.7 digits (Torino: S. 11972), 13.5 digits (Torino: S. 11987), 16.6 digits (MET: 12.181.218), 16.8 digits (MET: 13.185.5), 17.1 digits (MET: 13.185.2), 17.2 digits (MET: 13.185.1), 17.2 digits (MET: 13.185.4), 17.4 digits (MET: 12.181.217), 18.1 digits (MET: 13.185.8), 18.4 digits (MET: 13.185.6), 18.5 digits (MET: 13.185.3), 19.5 digits (MET: 13.185.7), 21.3 digits (EMC: JE 54575. Register book owned by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo), 24.0 digits (ROM: 935.20.147. Mond and Myers 1937a: 59 and 63, Mond and Myers 1937b: Pl. XXII, and 'Image Gallery' section below).

Colours: --

Findspots:

• Many from Abu Simbel (Edwards 1891: 335).

• Many from Dra Abul Naga (Gauthier 1908 [BIFAO 8]: 123).

• Many from Naga ed-Deir (Reisner 1908: 66 and 71).

• Many from the courts of the Middle Kingdom tombs near TT 15 in Dra Abul Naga and in Deir el-Bahari area (Carnarvon and Carter 1912: 8-10, 22, 24, 26-27. See also cones preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.: 12.181.217, 12.181.218, 13.185.1, 13.185.2, 13.185.3, 13.185.4, 13.185.5, 13.185.6, 13.185.7, 13.185.8, 13.185.9).

• Some from TT 103 (Davies 1913a: 30).

• Many from Rizeiqât and Abydos (Daressy 1926 [ASAE 26]: 18-19).

• About 10 from Naga ed-Deir (von Bissing 1926: 171).

• Unknown examples (in situ) from the façade of the 11th dynasty tomb 110 at Deir el-Bahari (Winlock 1928 [BMMA (23(2))]: 4, 6. See also PM I-22: 651 and 'Original Locations' page).

• Many from the tomb 1214 at 'Armant' (Mond and Myers 1937a: 3, 22, 59, and 63; Mond and Myers 1937b: Pls. XI and XXII (note that they are incorrectly described as having been found in tomb 1213. Note also that the tomb is not actually in a part in the necropolis of Armant, but is located at the necropolis area of Rizeiqât (see Mond and Myers 1937b: Pls. I-II). The unclear demarcation of the two necropolises led, among other things, to A. Eggebrecht listing both Armant and Rizeiqât as sites of burial cones outside Thebes, although they are one and the same site (cf. Polz 2007: 265)). One of them is now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (ROM: 935.20.147. 'Image Gallery' section below). Mond and Myers suggested that those found at the entrance of tomb 1214 were in situ cones (Mond and Myers 1937a: 22, Mond and Myers 1937b: Pl. XI)).

• Two examples were bought at Mari Guirgis (Drower and Myers believe they came from Thebes. Drower and Myers 1940: 101 and 116).

• The remains of about 150 pieces from the court of TT 386 (Arnold 1971: 17, Taf. XXIX. Arnold estimated that about 800 pieces were originally made for this tomb).

• 14 (‘typical’ 11th dynasty cones) from the two tombs at ‘Abu Majit’ in Saff el-Dawaba area, Tarif (Arnold 1972 [MDAIK 28]: 17, 27, and Taf. XIII d).

• Unknown examples from the Saff el-Baqar in Tarif (Arnold 1974 [MDAIK 30]: 157; Polz 2007: 260-262).

• Unknown examples from the 18th Dyn. tombs in Tod (Málek 1982: 428).

• Two from Ramesseum (Loyrette, Nasr, and Bassiouni 1993-1994 [Memnonia 4-5]: 122-124).

• One from TT 37 (Leclant and Clerc 1998 [Orientalia 67]: 386).

• One from near TT 318 (Kondo and Ishibashi 2003: 135 and 178).

• About 70 from Gebelein (Bergamini 2004: 75; Polz 2007: 269). Three of them (inv. nos. S. 11972, S. 11977, and S. 11987), were found from the First Intermediate Period tomb of Iti and Neferu at the northern cemetery and are currently housed in the Museo Egizio di Torino. They may be the same cones that were found in situ (cf. Original Locations).

• One from the court of TT 188, three from the burial chamber of TT 374, and one from the tomb -49- at Asasif (Redford 2006: 122, 151, and 158).

• Unknown examples from the tomb in Dendera (Polz 2007: 269-272).

• Several from the court of the Middle Kingdom tomb K95.1 (Polz 2007: 262).

• Many from Asasif area (Budka 2010: 314).

• 157 (including abraded - and therefore illegible texted - examples) from Dra Abul Naga (Kruck 2012: 33).

• Several from Gebelein (Ejsmond, et al. 2017 [PAM (26 (1))]: 250). JE 54575 from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo was found at Gebelein (register book in the possession of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).

• Two Middle Kingdom examples (in situ, but as a secondary use) from TT 33 (Colin et al. 2021: 22-23).

• Many Middle Kingdom examples (in situ, but as a secondary use) from TT 33 (Colin et al. 2021. See also the 3D model of the in-situ cones here).

Remarks:

• A total of six cones (Museum no. 6-1200, Museum no. 6-1201, Museum no. 6-1202, Museum no. 6-1203, Museum no. 6-16615; Museum no. 6-16662) from Reisner's excavation at Naga ed-Deir are now housed in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. According museum's object cards, first four came from the Cemetery 1500.

• Budka pointed out the possibility that the one found at Grab I, which was found in association with the pots used in a ritual of "the breaking of the red pots", could be a symbol of offering bread (Budka 2010: 320).

• Researchers say that the uninscribed cones were made in the Middle Kingdom and tend to be longer than typical 18th dynasty cones. However, the lack of texts has led researchers to ignore the cones and not document them in detail. A recent breakthrough has been the work of Suzanne Michels. As I have already said, 'She insists that clay type CN1 defined in the Vienna system was used during the Middle Kingdom, CN2b in the early Eighteenth Dynasty, and CN2a in the later Eighteenth Dynasty. This chapter (*a chapter from Kruck 2012) presents the first example of estimating the date of cones based on the raw material. The results of this particular research are quite interesting. Michels found that the material of unstamped cones is not always CN1 but sometimes CN2a, implying that this cone type was not unique to the Middle Kingdom. Michels supports this idea, first pointed out by Polz,4 (* D. Polz, Der Beginn des Neuen Reiches, Berlin, 2007, 254 n. 989.) with scientific methods. She succeeds in presenting the possible reason for Middle Kingdom cones being unstamped, suggesting that the Middle Kingdom cones made of CN1 clay crack more easily than those made with CN2. Of equal significance was her detailed investigation of the relationship between colours of the cone body and the material, time and firing temperature. Since purely archaeological studies such as this have rarely been conducted, Michels’ study stands out in the overall research history of funerary cones' (Zenihiro 2017a: 136). For further details, see Michels 2012.

• According to Guthier, numerous unstamped cones were discovered at Dra Abul Naga. Among these, some had simply no inscriptions on the base, while others had bases that were not flat. In the latter type, a circular line runs around the edge, creating a shallow, circular depression at the center. Thus, when viewed from the front, these cones had an appearance resembling a double circle (◎. Gauthier 1908 [BIFAO 8]: 123).

Image Gallery