Tarkhan (Egypt)

Tarkhan (English Tarkhan ) is the modern name of a large burial ground in Egypt. The cemetery is located about 50 km south of Cairo near the villages of Kafr Ammar and Kafr Turki. In the excavation publications with Tarkhan the graves of the ancient Egyptian 1st Dynasty designated under Kafr Ammar, all later, although there are the burials of all eras on the same burial ground.

Discovery and dating

Tarkhan was 1911-1912 excavated by Flinders Petrie, who found more than 2000 graves. A very large part of them dated to the period around 3000 BC There are burials of the Old Kingdom, the first Meanwhile, the 3rd Intermediate Period, Late Period and Greco-Roman period. The Middle and New Kingdom were against it represented only with individual graves.

Details

In Tarkhan three large mastabas found a palace façade, which dated to the 1st Dynasty and numerous rather simple burials from the period just before the 1st Dynasty. It can be assumed that there was once a great city near that flourished especially at the beginning of Egyptian history, but lost its significance in the course of the 1st dynasty.

Most grave sites were simple pits in the ground. The dead were usually buried as a stool funeral. Offerings were some vessels, jewelry for women, weapons and tools for men. The preservation conditions for organic materials are locally relatively good and so were many, some quite simple wooden coffins, but also vessels of wood or furniture. In one of the great Mastabagrabanlagen a grave robber hiding place was discovered, which contained mainly linen. From here comes the perhaps oldest garment Egypt.

From the Old Kingdom has produced some undecorated mastabas. In the late period here a temple was built, which is undecorated and thus no God can be assigned. From Roman times comes a mummy portrait.

Individual grave sites

Grave 414

414 grave dated to the transition to the first dynasty. The grave chamber is approximately 1.67 × 3.55 × 1.8 m tall and was covered with mud bricks. It is the largest grave in Tarkhan from the beginning of the 1st dynasty, and is likely to have heard of an important person. From a superstructure, there were no leftovers. The grave chamber was found robbed. In the grave chamber, however, there were still a large labeled with a Ritzungsinschrift vessel and numerous seal impressions. Especially King Narmer appears on them, so that it can be assumed that the grave owner died under this ruler. A seal shows a palace façade with a bovine head crowned. In addition to this construction crocodiles are shown. Günter Dreyer saw in it the seal of a king crocodile. This interpretation is not recognized by all Egyptologists and it is thought that this is to the seal of the Sobektempels.

Mastaba 1060

This is the largest and oldest Mastaba in Tarkhan, which was perhaps built by King Wadji. The building is 34 × 15.6 m tall and displays the long sides about 10 niches, and this number is estimated as the Mastaba is not well received at the ends. Inside there are 14 spaces in which possibly grave goods have been accommodated. In the center is the underground grave chamber, on the narrow sides, two side chambers that were no door, but had symbolic doors in the grave chamber. The niches of the palace facade were once painted red, a niche was unpainted, here there was a wooden floor. Perhaps here was once a stele, in any case it is certainly a sacrificial cult place. Around the mastaba there was a wall. The name of the original owner is unknown.

Importance in Egyptology

Tarkhan is still the largest published cemetery from the time of unification.