- Fraser Tombs
The
necropolis known as the Fraser Tombs is located about 10 km northeast of Al Minya, and about 2 km south ofTihna el-Gebel , inMiddle Egypt .The rock-cut tombs date back to the fourth and fifth dynasties of the Old Kingdom.
These tombs were first discovered in fall of 1853 by the German Egyptologist
Heinrich Brugsch and first described by the British civil engineerGeorge Willoughby Fraser , whose name was given to these tombs.The 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.The Fraser Tombs are rarely visited by tourists, but they are open to the public.
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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