In this volume Christina Di Cerbo and Richard Jasnow publish 92 Demotic
graffiti, along with several ostraca and mummy bandages, from Theban
Tombs 11, 12, Tomb-399-, and environs recorded and studied under the
aegis of the Spanish Mission at Dra Abu el-Naga directed by Jose Galan.
These texts from the mid-second century BCE were inscribed on the tomb
walls by workers of the Ibis and Falcon cult, who used the New Kingdom
tombs as burial places for mummified birds dedicated to the gods Thoth
and Horus. This varied corpus of texts includes not only votive formulae
and lists of names, but, most unusually, labels for chambers and halls
to guide the men depositing the mummies through the labyrinthine
catacombs. The cult workers also recorded important burials and
memorialized events of special significance, as when a massive
conflagration broke out that consumed several mummies and damaged the
tomb walls. The Missions conservators recovered many hitherto virtually
invisible graffiti. Numerous inscriptions posed daunting epigraphic
challenges; the text editors employed computer applications, especially
DStretch, in order to enhance the digital images forming the basis for
decipherment. In an introductory chapter Galan discusses the work of the
Spanish Mission at Dra Abu Naga and recounts the complicated history of
this important area of the Theban Necropolis down to the Roman period.
The graffiti illustrate how New Kingdom tombs were reused for the sacred
animal cult in the Ptolemaic period. Francisco Bosch-Puche and Salima
Ikram contribute a detailed chapter analyzing the archaeological context
of the graffiti and the material evidence for the animal cult in the
site. The volume, a holistic study of this area at the twilight of
Pharaonic history, represents a true collaboration between
archaeologists and philologists.
