With prices increasing exponentially, and workers going unpaid, there was a necessary shift away from lavish burial practices. This is perhaps a reflection of the social and economic upheaval which was occurring around the end of the Bronze Age both in Egypt and around the Mediterranean. When comparing tomb documentation of the Nineteenth Dynasty with that of the Twentieth Dynasty, Kathlyn Cooney notes that there are less tomb commissions. These sections outline the examination of Amenpnūfer, a quarryman who, following a ‘beating with the stick’, details his involvement with the robbery of tombs to the west of Thebes, and goes on to be punished harshly, alongside his fellow robbers. Taking place on the 14th of the Third Inundation month within the 16th year of the reign of Ramesses IX, this examination is an indication of the changing attitudes towards burial practices occurring in the late New Kingdom. Eric Peet, provides a detailed example of how tomb robberies were carried out and investigated. Also known as the Harris papyrus, this object was donated to the British Museum, alongside numerous papyri from the collection of Mr Anthony Harris, by Selina Harris, his daughter. Measuring 116cm in length and 41cm in width, with an additional loose 10cm, the papyrus contains multiple separate texts, with the most relevant to this discussion being those found on verso p.1 and recto p.1. The Tomb Robbery Papyri contain a wealth of information on the treatment of tomb robberies during the Twentieth Dynasty, and the papyrus BM EA10054, (fig. Therefore, when you consider the Tomb Robbery Papyri, a significant collection of documents concerning the tomb robberies of the Twentieth Dynasty recorded in the reign of Rameses IX, it is clear that a double standard existed. Harsh reactions to individual robberies are likely related to whether the incident was a citizen’s planned raid on a royal resting place, or a robbery of a family member’s tomb. Tomb robbery was not only an activity for the poor and desperate in Egypt. Indeed, in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Dynasties (from the twelfth to the tenth centuries BCE), it was often the families of the buried who stole from their tombs, and – in some cases – items were robbed before the mummy was interred, when bodies were still in the embalming workshops. The more elaborate tombs which are found complete or near-complete today are usually those which have been hidden well and kept a secret by their makers, but the majority of high-profile tombs are discovered in a modern context with much missing or vandalised. ![]() ![]() Tomb robbery in Ancient Egypt went through many phases, largely dependent on the economic position of the state at a given point in time.
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