Eénmalig in Leuven op 25/11/2016 (lezing in het Engels)
José Miguel Serrano Delgado: Uncommon funerary rituals in the tomb of Djehuty and its connection with Old and Middle Kingdom antecedents
The tomb of Djehuty, an important courtier and minister of Queen Hatshepsut (18th Dynasty) is located in Dra Abu el-Naga (West Bank, Thebes). It provides a unique repertoire of texts and images relating to the funerary beliefs and rituals. In the corridor we find the oldest long literary copy of the rite of the Opening of the Mouth, and in the inner chapel, the most sacred place of the cult of Djehuty, there is a sequence of scenes focused on the sacrifices (bovine and human) and the effective presentation of the offerings to the deceased that are almost without parallel. Its study seems to point to an archaic origin (Old and Middle Kingdom) and possibly from Middle Egypt, the place where Djehuty came from.
Jose M. Serrano carried out his graduate studies at the University of Sevilla, where he obtained the Ph. D. and currently holds the position of Full Professor of Ancient History and Egyptology (further studies at the universities of Paris-Sorbonne and University College, London). He has held the position of director of the Department of Ancient History in the University of Sevilla and from 2002 onwards is codirector (with dr. Jose M. Galán) of the Spanish Egyptian Mission in the Theban Necropolis (Proyecto Djehuty — http://www.excavacionegipto.com/). He has centred his research mainly on religious and literary texts (autobiographies and narratives). Today he is dedicated to the study of funerary rituals in the tomb of Djehuty (TT 11, Theban Necropolis) and its religious and historical background.
Marleen De Meyer: Beefing up tomb security - Legs of cattle and their role in funerary rituals at Dayr al-Barsha
Over the course of almost 15 years of excavating at different parts of the site of Dayr al-Barsha (Middle Egypt), numerous tombs have come to light in which deposits of cattle bones form an essential part of the funerary equipment. Interestingly, it is not the prime meat cuts of bovines that are found, but rather the lower parts of the legs, or entire legs. The location of these bones, either at the bottom of the shaft or on the border between the shaft and the burial chamber, is undoubtedly significant. Moreover, such deposits occur in tombs ranging in date from the Old to the Middle Kingdom, which demonstrates that they are the result of a funerary ritual that is persistent through a long period of time. The evidence for these cattle bones is first put together, after which it will be evaluated in the light of the recently discovered unique reliefs in the tomb of Djehuty at Dra Abu el-Naga. These reliefs seem to portray exactly the kind of ritual of which the cattle legs that are archaeologically attested in the tombs at Dayr al-Barsha, form the remains.