Fraser Tombs
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The necropolis known as the Fraser Tombs is located about 10 km northeast of Al Minya, and about 2 km south of Tihna el-Gebel, in Middle Egypt.
The rock-cut tombs date back to the fourth and fifth dynasties of the Old Kingdom.
These tombs were firstly discovered in fall of 1853 by the German Egyptologist Heinrich Brugsch and firstly described by the British civil engineer George Willoughby Fraser whose name was given to these tombs.
These tombs belong to a 3 km long necropolis of the ancient town of Mer-nefer(et) (also Per-Imen-mAt-chent(j), TA-dehenet, or Akoris). The tomb owners were stewards of the royal estate. In the fifth dynasty, they were Hathor priests, too.
Four of the 15 (numbered) tombs contain statues and carved hieroglyphics from the Old Kingdom. The most important tomb is the second tomb of Ni-ankh-kay (Neka-Ankh) which has the shape of a Mastaba tomb. The decoration of the small and long offering room consists of statues of his family and texts with his last will.
They are rarely visited by tourists, but they are opened for the public.
[edit] References
- Baines & Malek Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt, 2000
- Brugsch, Heinrich : Reiseberichte aus Ägypten, Leipzig : Brockhaus, 1855, p. 88.
- Fraser, George Willoughby : The early tombs at Tehneh, in: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Vol. 3 (1902), pp. 67 – 76, 122 – 130, 5 plates.
- Edel, Elmar : Hieroglyphische Inschriften des Alten Reiches, Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1981, (Abhandlungen der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), ISBN 3-531-05081-8, pp. 38 – 56, 60 − 62, figures 13 – 23.
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