The Earthly Realm Offering-trays as Material Traces of the Encounter between the Living and the Dead in Egypt, ca. 2200-1650 BCOffering-trays as Material Traces of the Encounter between the Living and the Dead in Egypt, ca. 2200-1650 BC

Resum

Offering-trays are pottery artefacts dated to the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom. This research aims to analyse their function through their general physical features, the models represented on them and their archaeological context. For an artefact to be defined as an offering-tray, it has to comply with three elements. The first one is the material with which they are made, which is always clay. The second is the shape, which is rectangular or rounded in all cases. The third element is the presence of devices intended to receive or conduct liquids. Offering-trays need to have the three of them to be categorised as such. These elements will be analysed in the first part of this study. An extra feature is the representation of clay models on the offering-trays. Unlike the first three elements, their presence is not always attested, and so trays may be grouped into two types, the ones that only have the first three categories, and the ones that, apart from them, also present pottery models on their surface. These models will be studied in the second part of the dissertation. Clay trays with architectural elements attached have been considered in academia as a different type of artefact, and they have been grouped under the term ‘soul-house.’ This research considers them also as ‘offering-trays,’ in which the architectural element is regarded as one of the models represented on them. Once the physical attributes of offering-trays are analysed, the third section of the research studies the archaeological context, in order to determine their use and their chronology. They are mainly found in cemeteries, but they have also being yielded in settlements and temples. The sites of Qubbet el-Hawa, Asyut and Rifeh are analysed as they all yielded trays in situ that could help to date them and to understand their function as part of the funerary cult. The fourth case study is an analysis of the Middle Kingdom areas of the Nubian fortresses, where trays have been found in cemeteries but also in domestic and temple contexts. The late-12th Dynasty cemetery of Buhen, where trays are not attested, will also be analysed to determine if there is any material that could have replaced their use. This research expands on the available knowledge on offering-trays through an investigation into primary and secondary sources to analyse their physical attributes and archaeological context.