Burial customs of the late Second Intermediate Period and the Eighteenth Dynasty

In the late Second Intermediate Period objects of daily use became the main burial goods. The coffins, canopic boxes and in some burials shabtis are usually the only objects especially produced for tombs. This may reflect the restricted resources available to the small kingdom of the Seventeenth Dynasty kings: it seems that the southern elite could not afford the luxury of special funerary workshops. In the far richer days of the New Kingdom (about 1550-1069 BC) more objects, such as funerary papyri and canopic jars, were produced as tomb goods. The tradition of placing objects of daily use in tombs continued. From no other periods were so many different objects (furniture, jewellery) placed in tombs. The New Kingdom is a period of advances in securing good results from mummification.

Funerary objects placed in elite tombs

shabtis: in elite tombs of the early Eighteenth Dynasty a single shabti per tomb is common. In the late Eighteenth Dynasty each tomb may contain more shabtis
the Book of the Dead is included in many (but not in all) elite burials.
the four canopic jars, often placed in a box, are common. The heads of the jars are still human.
an anthropomorphic coffin: in the early Eighteenth Dynasty rishi coffins are still in use; they are replaced later by the so-called white and then by the black coffins.

The following objects belong to the category of objects of daily use. They were found in tombs of a wide social spectrum. There are no undisturbed high elite burials of the New Kingdom represented in the Petrie Museum, but the following objects illustrate the range found in tombs of the 18th Dynasty.

garments and sandals	cosmetic objects		gaming boards	pottery
furniture		weapons	jewellery