The Theban Necropolis, located across the Nile from Luxor, is home to more than 400 ancient Egyptian tombs. In a new study published in Frontiers of Environmental Archaeology, Spanish researchers analyzed the third chamber of tomb TT 209 to reveal how burial practices and funerary spaces changed over centuries.
Built during Egypt’s 25th Dynasty (754–656 BC), tomb TT 209 remained in use until the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305–30 BC), when it was eventually abandoned. By examining the arrangement of human remains, animal mummies, and burial objects, researchers reconstructed how successive generations adapted the chamber for new burials.
“We discovered a disturbed deposit containing a total of 16 mummified humans, a mummified dog, and at least four human remains,” said lead author Dr. Jared Carballo Perez of the University of La Laguna. “Detailed analysis does not indicate a chaotic accumulation or the disappearance of earlier rituals. Instead, the burials followed a spatial logic in which each new deposit adapted to the remains already present—a form of funerary memory created through repeated reuse.”
Dr. Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo, professor of Egyptology at the University of La Laguna and a lead author of the study, added: “We know very little about how people who entered these tombs acted, what motivated them during different historical periods, or how they conceptually reorganized an existing burial space.”
How did Egyptian tombs change over time?
To understand how bodies were positioned and how the burial chamber evolved, researchers excavated the space, photographed the mummies, and prepared detailed sketches and descriptions. They recorded the location and orientation of each body, as well as its relationship to the chamber’s architectural features.
The team identified nine burial events within the chamber, including both individual and multiple burials. Researchers also documented objects associated with the deceased.
Earlier burials were generally spaced apart, with the deceased placed inside coffins.
“The earliest individuals buried in this chamber appear to have held high social status,” Molinero Polo said. “They were placed in coffins with valuable objects, including materials stored in Phoenician amphorae, funerary nets, and amulets, many of which were discovered together.”
Over time, burial customs changed. Toward the end of the 25th Dynasty and during the Persian period (approximately 680–404 BC), new bodies were placed in the remaining available spaces. This gradually made the chamber more crowded.
Researchers also identified changes in body positioning. In the earliest burials, the arms were typically extended, while some later individuals were buried with their arms folded inward.
Another significant development occurred during the Persian period, when multiple burials became more common. Instead of relying mainly on individual burials, people began placing bodies vertically. In fact, bodies were stacked on top of one another in approximately two-thirds of the chamber’s burial areas.
Mummified dog found with human burials
One of the chamber’s most remarkable burial arrangements was found in its southeastern section. Dating to the Ptolemaic period, the deposit contained four human mummies and a mummified dog stacked vertically on top of one another.
“The bodies were carefully mummified but were not placed in coffins,” Molinero Polo explained. “They may also have been associated with upright urns, suggesting the presence of rituals that were not documented during the earliest phases of the tomb’s use.”
The mummified dog may offer additional insight into the beliefs and relationships of the people buried in the chamber.
“One of the most striking details is the presence of a mummified dog placed directly on top of the male and female mummies,” Carballo Perez said. “This may indicate a close relationship between humans and animals, which is a particularly relatable idea.”
“It could also reflect changes in ritual practice, including the possibility that animals were viewed as psychopomps—symbolic guides assisting the deceased on the journey to the afterlife,” Molinero Polo added.
Ancient burial chamber was carefully reused
Other changes in the positioning of the bodies further suggest that Egyptian burial traditions evolved rather than simply disappeared. In some later deposits, individuals were buried with their arms crossed over the chest in what Egyptologists describe as the Osirian position.
Together, these findings indicate that the increasingly crowded tomb was not simply disorganized. Instead, its funerary traditions continued to develop as the chamber was repeatedly reused. Each new burial altered the organization and meaning of the available space while taking earlier burials into account.
However, archaeologists cannot reconstruct every stage of the tomb’s history. In some deposits, it is impossible to establish the precise order in which bodies were placed or determine the intentions behind their positioning.
The chamber remained in use for centuries and was affected by several destructive events. Repeated flooding, burning, and episodes of intrusion shifted debris and further complicated the archaeological record.
Despite these challenges, the discovery could change how archaeologists interpret other crowded ancient burial spaces.
“What we have presented suggests that deposits previously considered ‘disordered’ may need to be reinterpreted,” Carballo Perez concluded. “This approach helps us better understand the social behavior and cultural decisions associated with ancient funerary practices.”
Source: www.sciencedaily.com