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Material : Cedar Wood and Acacia Painted , & Gold Leaf
Found in : West Thebes , Cachette of Deir Al-bahari (1881)
Period : Third Intermediate Period
Reign of : Pinudjem I
Dynasty: XXI
Belonged_to: Maatkara
Excavation : The Egyptian Antlquities Service
Dating back to the Twenty-first Dynasty , this sarcophagus of Maatkara was found hidden in the cachette of Deir al Bahari in West Thebes (present-day Luxor) in 1881 . The end of the Twentieth Dynasty signaled the abandonment of the royal necropolises in the Valley of the Kings and the inevitable raids on its tombs . Theban priests removed the mummies from their tombs and hid them collectively elsewhere . The mummies were discovered in two hiding places _ the cachette at Deir al-Bahari (DB 320) and the tomb of Amenhotep II in the Valley of the Kings (KV 35) which were respectively discovered by the Egyptian Antiquities Service (1881) and by Victor Loret (1898) . Entitled "God's Adorer (consort) of Amun" , Maatkara was the daughter of the supreme priest of Amun-Ra , Pinudjem I .
Made from cedar wood and painted acacia and decorated with gold leaves , Maatkara's anthropoid (human-shaped) sarcophagus shows the woman on its lid with her hands crossed on her chest and totally wrapped with the fists visible . All corners of the body are decorated with fine depictions and polychrome scenes of various enthroned deities seated before a number of goddesses . This echoes the artistic trend prevailing at this age which adapted the Horror Vacui stylistic element , which is the fear of empty spaces or the 'cenophobia' in visual art . A depiction of an overturned falcon appears with its wings spear at the lower portion . Hanging down from the woman's smooth neck is a broad elaborate shoulder-to-shoulder necklace and a pectoral in the shape of a scarab flanked by two seated gods . The woman wears a huge , blue , triple wig with yellow rims that fall down the shoulder . Framing the wig is a depiction of a vulture spreading her wings outlined with gold and ending with two cobras wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt . She also has a graceful frieze of cobras over her forehead . Most admired are the woman's beautiful facial features with her wide face that is sketched with gold leaf and almondshaped eyes .
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