At Gurob, groups of valuable, burnt objects were discovered buried in holes beneath the floors of houses. Petrie interpreted these remains as evidence of foreign influence in the form of sacrificial pyres, burnt at the house-owner’s death.653 It is equally possible that the items, which included pottery, faience and glass vessels, cosmetic items, and jewellery, may have been offerings. The fact that in one case they had been ‘covered over with a layer of potsherds carefully placed’ before the pit was backfilled may suggest that some element of ritual was involved.
Early excavators at Amarna rarely investigated sub-floor or sub-wall contexts where buried deposits might be expected.654 The burial of items and dead infants655 beneath the floor of houses656 may be related to rituals involving the dead or the gods, but without further evidence it is not possible to be certain. Concealment of objects, and in some cases names, must have been a significant act at Deir el-Medina (and elsewhere). For instance, the ink inscription on the ancestor bust of Khanser was written on the underside of the base even though there was plenty of space on the front and back for text.657 The concealment of names is also apparent in a chapel of Amenhotep I at the artisans’ settlement, where a limestone pillar base inscribed with the names of ten men would have been covered by the pillar itself.658 This is atypical of architectural features: high temple inscriptions, for example, may not have been discernible from the ground, but they were not hidden by another object.
The proximity of the living and the dead is illustrated in houses where cellars had been formed from existing tombs.659 On excavation some of these cellars were discovered still to contain mummies along with their coffins.660 The fact that these bodies were not removed and reburied elsewhere, but remained in actively used storerooms, provides some insight into how the Egyptians viewed the dead. Burial beneath or in the vicinity of the house was uncommon. Tombs built inside houses or their courtyards forming small family cemeteries exist at Tell el-Daba, and in Mesopotamia.661 Isolated cases include the man and woman interred in the courtyard of house T.35.6 at Amarna.662 The woman’s body was buried with a red pot and dish, while the man was placed in a subterranean brick-lined storage chamber, which had been broken through at one end to accommodate the corpse.
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