The tombs published in this volume of the Abusir series have been
excavated during several seasons at Abusir South. The eight tombs are
located in the easternmost sector of Abusir South, on the slopes (tombs
AS 20 and AS 33) and at the bottom (tombs AS 34-35, 50-53) of a large
but low hill, to the north of the so-called Wadi Abusiri. They do not
form a single cemetery; rather, they represent different groups of
sacral structures that illustrate very well the diachronic development
of the Abusir South necropolis during the Old Kingdom (for earlier
monographs covering previous excavations see Abusir V and XIII ) and the
Late Period-Ptolemaic era. Most if not all of the structures document in
a new way important archaeological and historical themes, such as the
origin and development of the false door tradition; early administration
(tomb AS 20); unique building development of early Old Kingdom tombs (AS
20 and 33); the late Old Kingdom sociology of family cemeteries (tombs
AS 34-35 and 50-53) and the appearance of new Late Period animal
cemeteries (tombs AS 33, 34-35 and 50-53). Miroslav Bárta is professor
of Egyptology and director of the Czech mission to Abusir. Filip Coppens
and Hana Vymazalová are researchers in the Czech Institute of
Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. All the
authors are members of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, excavating for
many years in Egypt.
