Nefertkau III was an ancient Egyptian princess. She lived during the 4th Dynasty. She was possibly a daughter of

Meresankh II Meresankh II ("She Loves Life") was a Queen of Egypt who lived during 4th Dynasty. Family Meresankh II's parents are assumed to be King Khufu and Queen Meritites I given that they are mentioned in Meresankh's mastaba. She is never explicitly ca ...

and

Horbaef Horbaef (also known as Baefhor and Horbaf) was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. His title was "King’s son". Horbaef was a son of Pharaoh Khufu and an unknown woman. He married his half-sister Meresankh II,Her mother was very like ...

. If so, she was a granddaughter of King

Khufu Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having co ...

. Baud has proposed that Nefertkau was a daughter of Khufu instead.Flentye, Laurel. “The development of the Eastern and GIS Cemeteries at Giza during the Fourth Dynasty. The relationship between architecture and tomb decoration.” In ''The Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology''. Proceedings of the Conference held in Prague, May 31–June 4, 2004, pp. 133–143. Edited by Miroslav Bárta. Prague: Czech Institute of Egyptology, 2006
The Old Kingdom art and archaeology
/ref> Nefertkau has the titles ''King's daughter of his body'' and ''Priestess of

Neith Neith ( grc-koi, Νηΐθ, a borrowing of the Demotic (Egyptian), Demotic form egy, nt, likely originally to have been nrt "she is the terrifying one"; Coptic language, Coptic: ⲛⲏⲓⲧ; also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an early ancien ...

'' in a scene in the chapel of her tomb. She was married to an official named

Iynefer Iynefer can refer to: *Iynefer I Iynefer (''i(i)-nfr'', “the beautiful/good one has come”) was a Fourth Dynasty ancient Egyptian prince, a son of Pharaoh Sneferu. He was thus a brother of Nefertkau I and Khufu and his title was “King’s ...

. Nefertkau and Iynefer had a daughter also called Nefertkau and two or three sons.George A. Reisner and William Stevenson Smith, ''A History of the Giza Necropolis II'', Appendix B: Cemetery 7000 by George Reisner, Harvard University Press, 1955, pp. 107-10
Appendix B: Cemetery 7000 by George Reisner
/ref> Strudwick has suggested that Iynefer may be a son of

. Depending on the interpretation of the family relationships Nefertkau may have married either her uncle or her brother.

Tomb

Nefertkau and Iynefer were buried in G 7820 which is part of a double

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

. The tomb is located in the east field which is part of the

Giza Necropolis The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Men ...

.Porter, Bertha and Moss, Rosalind, ''Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings'' Volume III: Memphis, Part I Abu Rawash to Abusir. 2nd edition; revised and augmented by Jaromir Malek, 1974. Retrieved from gizapyramids.org.

Chapel

Scenes show Nefertkau and her husband. In one scene a small girl is shown between her parents. She is called "their daughter Nefertkau". In the same scene a small boy appears before his father, but no name is recorded. In another scene two small boys and a slightly larger man are depicted with Iynefer. The two small boys are sons, the larger figure may be a depiction of their eldest son.

Burial shafts

Two burial shafts were constructed. The husband is thought to have been buried in the shaft labeled G 7820A, while Nefertkau was likely buried in shaft G 7820B. In G 7820A no traces of a coffin were found, and there was no canopic pit or recess. In G 7820B no traces of a coffin were found either, but there was a canopic pit in the southeast corner of the burial chamber.

References

{{Commons category, Nefertkau Princesses of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt 3rd-millennium BC births 3rd-millennium BC deaths