Umm El Qaʻāb (sometimes

romanised Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

Umm El Gaʻab, ar, أم القعاب) is a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

of the Early Dynastic Period kings at

Abydos, Egypt Abydos ( ar, أبيدوس, Abīdūs or ; Sahidic cop, Ⲉⲃⲱⲧ ') is one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, and also of the eighth nome in Upper Egypt. It is located about west of the Nile at latitude 26° 10' N, near the modern E ...

. Its modern name means "Mother of Pots" as the whole area is littered with the broken pot shards of offerings made in earlier times. The cultic ancient name of the area was ''(w-)pkr'' or ''(rꜣ-)pkr'' "District of the pkr

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

(an unidentified species) or "Opening of the pkr

(

Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...

: ''upoke''), belonging to ''tꜣ-dsr'' "the secluded/cleared land" (

) or ''crk-hh'' "Binding of Eternity" (Coptic: ''Alkhah''). The area was a site of veneration and worship in ancient Egypt, and by the time of the Middle Kingdom, at least one of the royal tombs was excavated and rebuilt for the priests of

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

.Shaw, Ian. ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.'' p. 67. Oxford University Press. 2000. The tombs of this area were first excavated by

Émile Amélineau Émile Amélineau (1850 – 12 January 1915 at Châteaudun) was a French Coptologist, archaeologist and Egyptologist. His scholarly reputation was established as an editor of previously unpublished Coptic texts. But his reputation was destroy ...

in the 1890s and more systematically by

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...

between 1899 and 1901. Since then the area has been excavated repeatedly by the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

since the 1970s, which has allowed for a thorough reconstruction of the original layout and appearance of these tombs.

Pre-dynastic tombs

* U-j: Unknown ruler, but possibly

Scorpion I Scorpion I was a ruler of Upper Egypt during Naqada III. His name may refer to the scorpion goddess Serket, though evidence suggests Serket's rise in popularity to be in the Old Kingdom, bringing doubt to whether Scorpion actually took his name ...

found in tomb, also possible pre dynastic ruler

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

is attested in one of the ivory tablets. * B1/B2:

Iry-Hor Iry-Hor (or Ro) was a predynastic pharaoh of Upper Egypt during the 32nd century BC. Excavations at Abydos in the 1980s and 1990s and the discovery in 2012 of an inscription of Iry-Hor in the Sinai confirmed his existence. Iry-Hor is the earlie ...

* B7/B9: Ka

First Dynasty tombs

Known as ''Cemetery B'', this area contains the Early Dynastic tombs of the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

s of the

First Dynasty of Egypt The First Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty I) covers the first series of Egyptian kings to rule over a unified Egypt. It immediately follows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, possibly by Narmer, and marks the beginning of the Early Dyn ...

and the last two kings of the

Second Dynasty The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt (or Dynasty II, c. 2890 – c. 2686 BC) is the latter of the two dynasties of the Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last ruler, K ...

. * B17/B18:

Narmer Narmer ( egy, Wiktionary:nꜥr-mr, nꜥr-mr, meaning "painful catfish," "stinging catfish," "harsh catfish," or "fierce catfish;" ) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period (Egypt), Early Dynastic Period. He was the successor ...

* B10/B15/B19: Aha * O:

Djer Djer (or Zer or Sekhty) is considered the third pharaoh of the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the mid- thirty-first century BC and reigned for c. 40 years. A mummified forearm of Djer or his wife was disco ...

* Z:

Djet Djet, also known as Wadj, Zet, and Uadji (in Greek possibly the pharaoh known as Uenephes or possibly Atothis), was the fourth pharaoh of the First Dynasty. Djet's Horus name means "Horus Cobra" or "Serpent of Horus". Family Djet's queen was ...

* Y: Merneith * T:

Den Den may refer to: * Den (room), a small room in a house * Maternity den, a lair where an animal gives birth Media and entertainment * ''Den'' (album), 2012, by Kreidler * Den (''Battle Angel Alita''), a character in the ''Battle Angel Alita' ...

* X: Anedjib * U:

Semerkhet Semerkhet is the Horus name of an Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, early Egyptian pharaoh, king who ruled during the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty. This ruler became known through a tragic legend handed down by the historian Manetho, who r ...

* Q:

Qa'a Qa'a (also Qáa or Ka'a) (literal meaning: "his arm is raised") was the last king of the First Dynasty of Egypt. He reigned for 33 years at the end of the 30th century BC. Identity Manetho calls Qa'a Biénechês and gives him a reign of 26 y ...

Second Dynasty tombs

The last two kings of the

returned to be buried near to their ancestors—they also revived the practice of building mud-brick funerary enclosures nearby. * P:

Peribsen Seth-Peribsen (also known as Ash-Peribsen, Peribsen and Perabsen) is the serekh, serekh name of an Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, early Egyptian monarch (pharaoh), who ruled during the Second dynasty of Egypt, Second Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2890 & ...

. A seal found in this tomb contains the first full sentence written in

hieroglyphs A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonis ...

. * V:

Khasekhemwy Khasekhemwy (ca. 2690 BC; ', also rendered ''Kha-sekhemui'') was the last Pharaoh of the Second Dynasty of Egypt. Little is known about him, other than that he led several significant military campaigns and built the mudbrick fort known as Shune ...

. This tomb was on a massive scale, with several interconnecting mud-brick chambers, and the actual burial chamber being constructed of dressed limestone blocks. When excavated by Petrie in 1901 it contained a scepter made from

sard is a Japanese tuning company and racing team from Toyota, Aichi, mainly competing in the Super GT series and specialising in Toyota tuning parts. History The company was formed in 1972 as Sigma Automotive Co., Ltd by Shin Kato to develop and ...

and banded with gold, limestone vases with golden covers, and a

ewer In American English, a pitcher is a container with a spout used for storing and pouring liquids. In English-speaking countries outside North America, a jug is any container with a handle and a mouth and spout for liquid – American "pitchers" wil ...

and basin of bronze. Khasekhemwy's Tomb

Human sacrifice and 1st Dynasty tombs

Human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

was practiced as part of the funerary rituals associated with the First Dynasty.Shaw, Ian. ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.'' p. 68. Oxford University Press. 2000. . The tomb of Djer is associated with the burials of 338 individuals thought to have been sacrificed. The people and animals sacrificed, such as asses, were expected to assist the pharaoh in the

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...

. It appears that Djer's

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official r ...

s were strangled and their tombs all closed at the same time.Payne, Keith "Exclusive Interview: Dr David O'Connor on the Abydos Expedition" ''Heritage Key'' 29 September 200

/ref> For unknown reasons, this practice ended with the conclusion of the dynasty, with

shabtis The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "' ...

taking the place of actual people to aid the pharaohs with the work expected of them in the afterlife.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Abydos, Egypt sites Tombs of ancient Egypt Cemeteries in Egypt