Third Intermediate Period (1069 BC – 664 BC)

The Third Intermediate Period, while representing a cultural continuum with the New Kingdom (Dunand & Lichtenberg, 2006), saw the political rise and fall of the Delta’s power at Tanis and its rival religious center Thebes, Libyan dynasties, Nubian control, and Assyrian invasion (Taylor, 2000; Dodson, 2001). The patterns of life within Egypt, the culture of its people and their linguistic tradition, were largely unchanged throughout the Third Intermediate Period (O’Connor, 2006). Egypt, again consisting of smaller interconnected states, was overseen by single or co-ruling pharaohs, culminating in the division of the country between kings in Tanis and High Priests of Amun in Thebes (Kuhrt, 1997b). Closely tied to the Theban rulers, Libyan groups became increasingly integrated in Egyptian politics and themselves formed three dynasties (22nd-24th) (Kuhrt, 1997b; Starr, 1991). Following the same pattern as their native Egyptian predecessors, the Libyan kings fell to internal division and were usurped by a series of kings of Napatan Nubia (Kuhrt, 1997b).

At the end of the New Kingdom the Valley of the Kings fell into disuse, the necropolis was dismantled, and its wealth of burial goods was reclaimed for the state when the royal mummies were gathered for secure group reburial (Taylor, 2000). The diminution of central control and the resulting need for competitive resources likely played as large a role in the collection and caching of Theban royal mummies as did any sense of concern for the fate of the royal remains. Indeed, burial wealth was often diminished in the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, as attested by the impressions left in mummy wrappings by amulets and jewellery removed before the mummy ever left the embalmer’s workshop (Taylor, 2000; 2001). Mummification techniques, however, continued to advance, and

embalmers placed even greater emphasis on preservation of a lifelike

appearance through the elaborate replacement of soft tissues with permanent materials (Aufderheide, 2003), likely spurred on by criticisms against the state of the reinterred royals.

The dead continued to be excerebrated and eviscerated, with the viscera returned to the body cavity (Iskander, 1980), following the trend started by Ramesses V (Fleming et al., 1980; Taylor, 2001). It is likely that this trend was initiated in response to increased New Kingdom tomb robbery (Fleming et al., 1980), and found greater popularity following the relocation of royal mummies and the reduction of funerary goods. The viscera were returned to the body cavity with other packing materials, such as sawdust, linen, and mud, to restore bulk to the body, and packing materials were introduced under the skin to restore the lifelike contours of the body (David, 1984; Taylor, 2001). A series of incisions,

outlined in the Ptolemaic Rhind papyri (Raven & Taconis, 2005), were made to place the packing material subcutaneously in the arms, legs, back, neck, and face, although in some cases the packing was overabundant and the tightened, desiccated skin has split (David, 1984; Salter-Pedersen, 2004; Dunand & Lichtenberg, 2006). Other attempts to produce a more life-like appearance included replacement of the eyes with painted white stones; use of wigs, hair- styling products (McCreesh et al., 2011), and false eyebrows; and painting of the body (red for males, yellow for females) (Aufderheide, 2003; Dunand &

Lichtenberg, 2006). The arms, in this and the proceeding Late Period, were typically wrapped in the extended position (Gray, 1972).

Elaboration of the cartonnage mask, first seen in the late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period, took place in the 22nd Dynasty with its expansion to a complete container for the body, and its use increased in popularity probably due to the scarcity of wood for coffins (Taylor, 2001; Dunand & Lichtenberg, 2006). The linen, or papyrus, and plaster material was formed to enclose the body, laced along the back, and decorated in the manner of a coffin (Budge, 1893).

Beginning in the 25th _{Dynasty, the body was also coated in a substance}

that has been described, perhaps wrongly, as Levantine bitumen or pitch, owing to its shiny, black appearance (Dunand & Lichtenberg, 2006). The actual

composition of this material may vary (cf. Lucas, 1931; Iskander & Zaki, 1943; Aufderheide, 2003), and in some cases may have originally been a transparent tree resin that has oxidised over time. As in previous periods, the mummies of

the Delta rulers, while not neglected, were extremely poorly preserved in their wet burial environment (Dunand & Lichtenberg, 2006).

The 25th _{Dynasty Kushite kings, highly Egyptianised by centuries of}

contact, conquest, and colonisation by Egypt, stressed the strong centralised rule demanded by ma’at, in a model strongly influenced by Old and Middle Kingdom Egyptian ideals (O’Connor, 2006). The Kushite kings built monuments in the Egyptian tradition, reopened trade, controlled the Theban theocracy, and sponsored cultural revivals, including the copying of a decaying scroll extolling the Memphite theology (Starr, 1991; Kuhrt, 1997b). The Kushite rulers also adopted the Egyptian traditions of mummification, anthropoid coffins, canopic jars, and ushabtis, and there was significant revival of older mummification features in an archaistic trend likely aimed at legitimising Kushite rule (Taylor, 2000; 2001).

Archaisms, perpetuated as much for their perceived righteousness as for their power as propogranda, supported the Kushite kings in their desire to fill the role of the traditional pharaoh (O’Connor, 2006). The military might of the

pharaoh was once again stressed and the gains of conquest, once again collected from the eastern delta and Palestine, were devoted to the temple of Amun and the people of Egypt (Kuhrt, 1997b). Despite their foreign origin, these kings appear just as Egyptian as the early dynasts in many ways, and when they were finally expelled by the Assyrian-backed Saite dynasty their monuments were dismantled with no more malice than that shown to any native king (Fleming et al., 1980; Tait, 2003).