Tarkhan is the modern name for an Ancient Egyptian cemetery, located about 50 km south of Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 on the West bank of the Nile.

The cemetery was excavated in two seasons by Flinders Petrie. Tombs of almost all periods were found, but most importantly many belonging to the time of Egyptian state formation, around 3000 BC. Petrie found more than 2,000 tombs, most of them simple holes in the ground belonging to common people. However, there were also several mastaba

Mastaba

A mastaba, or "pr-djt" , is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides that marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's ancient period...

s of the First Dynasty

First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Dynasty II under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt...

, decorated with a palace facade.

The most important finds include a tomb with many seal impressions belonging to king Narmer

Narmer

Narmer was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period . He is thought to be the successor to the Protodynastic pharaohs Scorpion and/or Ka, and he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, and therefore the first pharaoh of unified Egypt.The...

 and one of the oldest dresses ever found in Egypt. The cemeteries of the later periods are called Kafr Ammar, although lying side by side with the earlier tombs. From a Roman period tomb come a Fayum portrait.

Tomb 1060

Tomb 1060 is the biggest of the palace facade mastaba

Mastaba

A mastaba, or "pr-djt" , is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides that marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's ancient period...

s at Tarkhan. The mastaba was divided into several rooms, most likely used for storing burial goods, although little survived. In the middle there is the underground burial chamber with four small side chambers not connected by doorways, but there were doors incised on the walls acting as symbolic chambers. The niches of the palace facade were painted red; only one niche was unpainted and here the niche had a wooden floor. This might indicate a cult place for the deceased. Around the mastaba there was a wall.

Literature

• Wolfram Grajetzki: "The architecture and the signification of the Tarkhan mastabas" In: Archeo-Nil 18 (2008), p. 103-112
• W. Grajetzki, Tarkhan, In: J. Picton, I. Pridden (editors): Unseen Images, Archive Photographs in the Petrie Museum, Volume I: Gurob, Sedment and Tarkhan, London 2008, p. 185-237 ISBN | 978-1-906137-04-5
• W M. Flinders Petrie, G.A. Wainwright, B.A., A.H. Gardiner, D. Litt.: Tarkhan I and Memphis V, London 1913
• W.M. Flinders Petrie: Tarkhan II, London 1914
• W.M. Flinders Petrie: Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar and Shurafa, London 1915