There is much less evidence for the kings of the 2nd Dynasty than those of the ist Dynasty until the last two reigns (Peribsen and Khasekhemwy). Given what is known about the early Old Kingdom in the 3rd Dynasty, the 2nd Dynasty must have been a time when the economic and political foundations were put in place for the strongly centralized state, which developed with truly vast resources. Such a major transition, however, cannot be demonstrated from the archaeological evidence for the 2nd Dynasty.
In 1991-2 the tomb of the last king of the ist Dynasty, Qa'a, was re-excavated at Abydos by the German Archaeological Institute, and seal impressions of Hetepsekhemwy, the first king of the 2nd Dynasty, were found in it. The German archaeologists have interpreted this find as evidence that Hetepsekhemwy completed the tomb of his predecessor and that there was no break in the dynastic succession. Where the early kings of the 2nd Dynasty were buried is uncertain, however, as there is no evidence of their tombs at Abydos. The only 2nd-Dynasty monuments at Abydos are two tombs and two Funerary enclosures that belonged to Peribsen and Khasekhemwy. There is also a large niched enclosure known as the ‘Fort’ at Hiera-konpolis, by the entrance to the Great Wadi, which has been dated to the reign of Khasekhemwy by an inscribed stone jamb. The existence of this sole structure at Hierakonpolis cannot be explained, and it is unclear whether it was a second royal funerary enclosure for BChasekhemwy.
At Saqqara two enormous series of underground galleries, each over 100 m. long, have been found south of Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex. Associated with these galleries are seal impressions of the first three kings of the and Dynasty (Hetepsekhemwy, Raneb, and Nynetjer), whose names are also listed on the shoulder of a granite statue of a and-Dynasty priest called Hetepdief (found at nearby Mitrahina and now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo). The superstructures of these Saqqara tombs are entirely gone, but it is possible that two of the kings of this dynasty were buried there. Two sets of underground galleries have also been found beneath the north court of the Step Pyramid complex, and may have been created for royal burials of the 2nd Dynasty. When Djoser’s monument was constructed in the 3rd Dynasty, the superstructures of the two earlier tombs would have had to be removed. Such a reconstruction of events is not impossible, given that huge quantities of stone vessels from the ist and 2nd Dynasties, presumably usurped from earlier mortuary complexes and/ or cult centres, were found beneath Djoser’s complex.
The tomb of Peribsen (perhaps also known as Horus-Sekhemib) in the royal cemetery at Abydos is fairly small (16.i x 12.8 m.). The central burial chamber is made of mud brick, unlike the ist-Dynasty royal burial chambers, which were lined with wood. When the name Peribsen is written in a serekh, it is surmounted not by the usual Horus falcon (as the Sekhemib name is) but by the Seth animal, a hound - or jackal-like creature with a wide, straight tail. This dramatic change in the format of the royal name has been interpreted as representing some kind of rebellion, which was squashed or reconciled by the last king of the dynasty, Khasekhemwy, whose name appears in serekhs surmounted by both the Horus falcon and the Seth animal. Such a conflict may be symbolized in Egyptian mythology, as in the case of the literary tale The Contendings of Horus and Seth. Whether mythologies, which are known from much later texts, and symbols in the serekhs of two kings of the late 2nd Dynasty represent actual historical reality is uncertain. An epithet of Khasekhemwy’s from seal impressions, ‘the Two Lords are at peace in him’, however, lends support to the theory
That he resolved some internal conflict, if‘Two Lords’ can be taken to refer to Homs and Seth (and their followers).
The last tomb constmcted in the royal cemetery at Abydos is that of Khasekhemwy, who was known as ‘Khasekhem’ earlier in his reign. It is much larger than Peribsen’s, and its design is different, comprising one long gallery, 68 m. long and 39.4 m. at its widest point, divided into fifty-eight rooms with a central burial chamber made of quarried limestone. The constmcted burial chamber, measuring about 8.6 x 3 m. and preserved to a height of 1.8 m., is the earliest known large-scale constmction in stone. Although most of the contents were removed by Amelineau, they were well recorded, and Petrie discusses them in his 1901 publication. The funerary equipment includes huge quantities of copper tools and vessels, stone vessels (some with gold covers), flint tools, and pottery vessels filled with grain and fruit. Petrie also describes small glazed artefacts, carnelian beads, model tools, basketwork, and a great quantity of sealings. Given the large number of storerooms in this tomb, it could certainly have held more grave goods than all the ist-Dynasty tombs in this cemetery.
High officials of the state continued to be buried at North Saqqara in the 2nd Dynasty. Near the pyramid of the 5th Dynasty mler Unas, Quibell excavated five large subterranean gallery tombs, carved into the limestone bedrock, and he suggested that they represented a kind of house for the afterlife, with men’s and women’s quarters, a ‘master bedroom’ for the burial, and even bathrooms with latrines. The largest of the five. Tomb 2302, consisted of twenty-seven rooms beneath a mud-brick superstructure, covering an area of 58.0 x 32.6 m. The superstructures of these 2nd-Dynasty tombs were no longer elaborately niched on all four sides as in the ist Dynasty, but were designed with only two niches on the east side, perhaps indicating places where offerings could be left by priests or family members after the burial (a design feature that would later be found in private tombs throughout the Old Kingdom).
The plans of the 2nd-Dynasty elite tombs clearly evolved from the ist Dynasty high officials’ tombs at North Saqqara. Because the Saqqara plateau was made up of good quality limestone, these and-Dynasty tombs were designed with rooms for funerary goods that were excavated deep in the bedrock, where the storage rooms may have been better protected from grave robbing than when they had been located in the superstructure. The later and-Dynasty tombs at Saqqara, which probably belonged to middle-level officials, are similar in design to standard Old Kingdom mastabo-tombs, consisting of a vertical shaft Excavated in the bedrock leading to a walled-off burial chamber. Above the shaft and chamber was a small mud-brick superstructure with two niches on the eastern side.
At Helwan, on the east bank of the Nile, excavations have revealed over 10,000 graves dating from Naqada III to the ist and 2nd Dynasties, and probably the early Old Kingdom. These tombs were somewhat modest in size and belonged to middle-level officials. A distinctive feature of a number of the and-Dynasty tombs at Helwan was the presence of a stele set in the tomb’s ceiling, which was carved with a seated representation of the tomb owner, as well as his name, titles, and the so-called offering formula.
Short wooden coffins for contracted burials, which had been found only in elite tombs in the ist Dynasty, became much more common in znd-Dynasty graves such as those at Helwan. At Saqqara, Emery and Quibell found znd-Dynasty corpses wrapped in linen bandages soaked in resin, early evidence of some attempt to preserve the actual body before mummification techniques had been worked out. Such measures were necessitated by burial in a coffin, as opposed to Predynastic burials, in which the body was naturally dehydrated by the warm sand in a pit in the desert. The increased use of wood and resin in middle-status burials of the 2nd Dynasty probably also points to greatly increased contact and trade with the Lebanese region at this time.
World History
