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Details

  • Tomb Owner
    Hetepheres I (G 7000 X)
  • Attested
    Ankhnesmeryre
    Huni
    Kawab (G 7110-7120)
    Khufu
    Meresankh III (G 7530-7540)
    Snefru
  • Excavator
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942
  • PorterMoss Date
    Khufu
  • Site Type
    Shafts only (no superstructure)

Finds 450

Excavation Diary Pages 542

Maps & Plans 46

Drawings 249

Published Documents 23

Unpublished Documents 204

Full Bibliography

  • Baud, Michel. "La tombe de la reine-mère xa-mrr-Nbtj Ire." Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale 95 (1995), p. 13.

    Callender, Gae. "Queen Hetepheres I." Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 1 (1990), pp. 25-29.

    Callender, Vivienne G. and Peter Jánosi. "The Tomb of Queen Khamerernebty II at Giza." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 53 (1997), p. 13, note 49.

    Dunham, Dows. The Egyptian Department and its Excavations. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1958, pp. 50-63, figs. 33-35.

    Dunham, Dows. Recollections of an Egyptologist. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1972, pp. 31-34.

    Eaton-Krauss, Marianne. "Embalming caches." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 94 (2008), pp. 288, 292-293.

    Edwards, I.E.S. "Review of 'The Pyramid Tomb of Hetep-heres and the Satellite Pyramid of Khufu'." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 75 (1989), pp. 261-262.

    Flentye, Laurel. "The Mastabas of Ankh-haf (G 7510) and Akhethetep and Meretites (G 7650) in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza: A Reassessment." In Zahi Hawass and Janet Richards, eds. The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O'Connor, Vol. I. Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte, Cahier no. 36. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2007, p. 293, fig. 1.

    Flentye, Laurel. "The Mastaba of Meresankh III (G 7530/7540) in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza: An Archaeological and Art Historical Analysis." Bulletin of the Egyptian Museum 3 (2006), pp. 73, 77, fig. 1.

    Hawass, Zahi. "Khufu's National Project: The Great Pyramid of Giza in the Year 2528 B.C." In Peter Janosi, ed. Structure and Significance: Thoughts on Ancient Egyptian Architecture, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2005, p. 313, fig. 5.

    Hawass, Zahi. "Excavating the Old Kingdom. The Egyptian Archaeologists." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 158.

    Hawass, Zahi. The Secrets of the Sphinx. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1998, p. 20.

    Hawass, Zahi. "A Burial with an Unusual Plaster Mask in the Western Cemetery of Khufu's Pyramid." In Renée Friedman and Barbara Adams, eds. The Followers of Horus. Studies dedicated to Michael Allen Hoffman 1944-1990. Egyptian Studies Association Publication No. 2. Oxbow Monograph 20. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1992, p. 328.

    Jánosi, Peter. "Gab es Kronprinzen in der 4. Dynastie?" Göttinger Miszellen 158 (1997), p. 23, note 50.

    Jánosi, Peter. "The Queens of the Old Kingdom and their Tombs." Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 3 (1992), pp. 52, 55.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. "The Lost Throne of Queen Hetepheres from Giza: An Archaeological Experiment in Visualization and Fabrication." Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 53 (2017), pp. 1-46.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. "An Approach to Archaeological Information Management: The Giza Archives Project." In Filip Coppens, ed. Abusir and Saqqara in the year 2001. Proceedings of the Symposium (Prague, September 25th-27th, 2001). Archiv Orientální 70, No. 3 (August 2002). Prague: Oriental Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, p. 326, fig. 1.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. "Excavating the Old Kingdom. The Giza Necropolis and Other Mastaba Fields." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 148, 152, note 30.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. "A Race against Time in the Shadow of the Pyramids. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Giza Necropolis, 1902-1990." KMT 1, No. 4 (1990-91), pp. 15-16, 18-19.

    Münch, Hans-Hubertus, "Categorizing Archaeological Finds: the Funerary Material of Queen Hetepheres I at Giza." Antiquity 74, No 286 (2000), pp. 898-908.

    No author. The Tomb of Queen Hetep-heres. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, no date.

    "Notes and News." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 13 (1927), p. 82.

    Porter, Bertha, and Rosalind L.B. Moss. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings 3: Memphis (Abû Rawâsh to Dahshûr). Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1931. 2nd edition. 3: Memphis, Part 1 (Abû Rawâsh to Abûsîr), revised and augmented by Jaromír Málek. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1974, pp. 179-182.

    Reisner, George A. "A New Discovery in Egypt." Harvard Alumni Bulletin (March 19, 1925), pp. 736-738.

    Reisner, George A. "Hetep-Heres, Mother of Cheops." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 25, supplement (May 1927), pp. 1-36.

    Reisner, George A. "The Empty Sarcophagus of the Mother of Cheops." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 26, No. 157 (October 1928), pp. 76-88, unnumbered figs.

    Reisner, George A. "The Bed Canopy of the Mother of Cheops." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 30, no. 180 (August 1932), pp. 55-60.

    Reisner, George A., and William Stevenson Smith. The Tomb of Hetep-Heres the Mother of Cheops: a Study of Egyptian Civilization in the Old Kingdom. A History of the Giza Necropolis 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955, passim.

    Rowe, Alan. "Studies in the Archaeology of the Near East II: Some Facts Concerning the Gread Pyramids of el-Gîza and Their Royal Constructors." Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 44, No. 1 (September 1961), p. 116.

    Smith, William Stevenson. "The Tomb of Hetep-heres I" Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 51, No. 284 (June 1953), pp. 23-30, figs. 1, 3.

    Smith, William Stevenson. Ancient Egypt as Represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1960 (6th ed.), pp. 68-69, figs. 40, 41.

    Smith, William Stevenson. "The Old Kingdom in Egypt," The Cambridge Ancient History, rev. ed. of vols. I & II, Cambridge University Press, 1962, pp. 16, 26, 41.

3D Models 1

Videos 2

People 8

Ancient People

  • Ankhnesmeryre

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Queen of Dynasty 6 buried at Abydos.
  • Hetepheres I (G 7000 X)

    • Type Tomb Owner
    • Remarks Wife of King Snefru, founder of Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty, and mother of King Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. Her burial was hidden in a secret chamber (labeled G 7000 X) nearly 90 feet underground, and contained beautiful pieces of gilded and inlaid wooden furniture, silver jewelry, and a large alabaster sarcophagus that was found to be mysteriously empty.
  • Huni

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Last king of Dynasty 3. Possibly father of Hetepheres I.
  • Kawab (G 7110-7120)

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Owner of G 7120, along with Hetepheres [II] (original owner of G 7110). Son of Khufu and Meretites [I]. Appears in chapel relief in tomb of his daughter Meresankh III (owner of G 7530-7540), main room (east wall), identified as [jrj-pat sA nswt smsw n Xt=f Xrj-Hb Hrj-tp xrp jAwt nTrt aA dwAw] hereditary prince, king's eldest son of his body, chief lector-priest, director of divine offices, assistant of (the god) Duau; in situ in G 7530-7540). Also mentioned in tomb of his steward Khemetnu (owner of G 5210).
  • Khufu

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Second king of Dynasty 4, son of Snefru. Builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Cheops. Horus name: [mDdw] Medjedu. Full birth-name: Khnum-Khufu.
  • Meresankh III (G 7530-7540)

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Owner of G 7530-7540.Granddaughter of King Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, and wife of either Khafre or Menkaure. Her unique underground chapel (labeled G 7530-7540) preserves beautifully carved and painted scenes of the queen and her royal family, as well as servants, artisans, and funerary priests. The scenes also depict the sort of rich burial goods that would have been placed in Meresankh’s tomb: statues and fine furniture; boxes containing food, clothing, and jewelry; even a representation of the black granite sarcophagus that was actually found in situ in her burial chamber. Chapel entrance architrave, jambs, reveals and drum inscribed for Meresankh, idenitifed as [mAAt Hr stX wrt Hts nbwj xt Hr wrt Hst DHwtj smrt Hr mrt=f sAt nswt n Xt=f Hmt nswt mrt] seer of Horus and Seth, great one of the hetes-scepter of the Two Lords, khet-priestess of Horus, great of praises of Thoth, companion of Horus, his beloved, king's daughter of his body, beloved king's wife; in situ in G 7530-7540. Appears in chapel relief of main room: seated holding lotus (south wall); standing with her mother (east wall), idenitifed as [wrt Hts] great one of the hetes-scepter; on pillars (north wall), idenitifed as [tjst Hr] intimate(?) of Horus; seated at offering table, standing north of false door and on central pillar, and with her mother and son (west wall), idenitifed as [Hm-nTr DHwtj wrt Hts nbtj Hm-nTr bApf Hm-nTr HwtHr nbt jwnt smAwt mrjj nbtj] priestess of Thoth, great one of the hetes-scepter of the Two Ladies, priestess of Bapef, priestess of Hathor Mistress-of-Dendera, consort of him who is beloved of the Two Ladies; in situ in G 7530-7540. Also appears on all walls of offering (west) room; in situ in G 7530-7540. Architrave on north wall of north room inscribed for Meresankh; uninscribed statues may also represent Meresankh (along with other female family members); in situ in G 7530-7540. Black granite sarcophagus (Cairo JE 54935) inscribed for Meresankh, idenitifed as [xrp sSmtjw SnDt] director of butchers of the 'Acacia House'; in situ in burial chamber of G 7530-7540. Incomplete limestone statue of Meresankh (MFA 30.1457) and pair statue of Meresankh and Hetepheres II (MFA 30.1456); found displaced in debris of main room. Mother ([mwt=f] his mother) of Nebemakhet (owner of G 8172 = Lepsius 86). Appears in relief of inner chapel (above doorway in eastern wall), identified as [mAAt Hr stX wrt Hts wrt Hst Hmt nswt] seer of Horus and Seth, great one of the hetes-scepter, great of praises, king's wife; in situ in G 8172. Also mentioned in the tomb of her steward Khemetnu (owner of G 5210).
  • Snefru

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks First king of Dynasty 4. Father of Khufu.

Modern People

  • George Andrew Reisner

    • Type Excavator
    • Nationality & Dates American, 1867–1942
    • Remarks Egyptologist, archaeologist; Referred to as "the doctor" and "mudir" (Arabic for "director") in the excavation records. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.