Shabti Box and Shabtis of Djedmutesankh
Third Intermediate Period
Two of the wooden boxes found in the Chamber of Tomb MMA 60 contained small faience "shabti" figures inscribed for the Lady Djedmutesankh. These figures would have worked on behalf of their owner if she were called on to carry out manual labor in the afterlife. 306 shabtis were found by the excavators, but Djedmutesankh originally might have had over 400: one "worker" shabti for each day of the year and additional "overseer" figures to supervise the others.
This box (Box III in the excavation records) was found fallen on its side, with a number of shabtis spilled out onto the ground next to it. The other (25.3.17, Box III in the excavation records) was right-side up and half full of shabtis, with the cords that had once held the box closed still present but the seals gone.
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