Coffin of Prince Amenemhat

This coffin contains the plundered mummy of a royal infant who may have lived during the first part of Dynasty 18 and was reburied in this simple wooden child's coffin that appears to date to the Ramesside Period. This was likely used by priests of late Dynasty 20 or 21 when they restored the mummy. The name of the original owner was removed from the inscription on the lid, and Amenemhat's name and title (he is called here "King of Upper and Lower Egypt", but was more likely a son of the king) were roughly painted in its place. On the chest of the child's rewrapped mummy, the priests tied a painted wooden pectoral (19.3.210) depicting the deified Amenhotep I. Garlands of persea leaves (25.3.146a) and long-stemmed lotus buds (25.3.146b) were laid within the coffin, and a rough pottery bowl filled with dates and other fruits (19.3.211) provided eternal sustenance for Amenemhat.

The coffin was discovered by the Museum's Egyptian Expedition beneath a large rock high in the cliffs of the Theban massif, above the tomb of Meketre and not far from the Royal Cache (DB 320) in which many of the kings and queens of the New Kingdom had been reburied by priests of the Third Intermediate Period. Nearby was a shaft tomb (MMA 1021) containing a number of wooden boxes containing mummified food offerings (see 19.3.212-.289a, b) that may have been part of the prince's original burial.