Gallery III
Including the mummy identified as Queen Tiye.

 Gallery IV
Featuring the controversial KV 55 mummy. Now with a revised reconstruction of ancient events in this perplexing tomb.

Gallery V
Featuring the mummies of Tutankhamen and his children. Still in preparation.

XIX'th
Dynasty

Gallery I 
Now including the
mummy identified as
Ramesses I.

XX'th
Dynasty

Gallery I

XXI'st
Dynasty

Gallery I

Gallery II

21'st Dynasty Coffins from DB320
  Examine the coffins
of 21'st Dynasty Theban Rulers.

  Unidentified  Mummies

Gallery I
Including the mummy identified as Tutankhamen's mother.

About the Dockets

Inhapi's Tomb

Using this website for research papers

Acknowledgements

Links to Egyptology websites

Biographical Data about William Max Miller
 

Close-up and full views of Pinudjem I's inner coffin lid.
(Photo credit: CESRAS.)

    When closely examined, the outer coffin that had been decorated and inscribed for Pinudjem I was found to have been usurped from the funerary equipment of Tuthmosis I. The inner coffin of this set (shown above) is also usually seen as an appropriation from the same 18’th Dynasty ruler’s burial equipment. Edward Loring, however, points out that opinions regarding the dating and previous ownership of the inner coffin are not unanimous, and references Daressy, Robins, and Eaton-Krauss in support of the possibility that the inner coffin was originally made for Pinudjem I. (TRC, 211, n. 66.) Regardless of the provenance of the inner coffin, extensive modifications had to be made to the 18'th Dynasty outer coffin in order to make it suitable for the burial of a 21'st Dynasty ruler.
     The foot section from the outer coffin had been almost completely broken off and approximately 1/3 of the inner coffin's foot section was missing. These missing elements indicate that both coffins had been subjected to plundering, either anciently or more recently. Erhart Graefe, who conducted excavations in DB320 between 1998 and 2006, discovered a piece from the damaged foot end of Pinudjem I's inner coffin in Corridor F of DB320, suggesting that the coffin had been plundered by the Abd el-Rassul's in modern times. (TRC, 53f., cat. no. 007.) Additional damage is evident on the surface areas of both coffins which have been extensively marred with an adze, indicating that both had been lavishly covered with thick gold foil. The removal of this gilding had been done in a somewhat careful fashion and avoided damaging sacred images and certain inscriptions, showing that the adze-work had been executed during a processing procedure conducted under the supervision of necropolis officials. This processing most likely would have been done sometime during the transfer of Pinudjem I from a previous place (or places) of interment (one of which was probably the tomb of Inhapi) and his relocation to DB320.
      Speculations about why Pinudjem I had chosen at least one of the coffins of Tuthmosis I for his own burial usually revolve around this 21’st Dynasty ruler’s apparent fascination with his Tuthmosid ancestors. He had chosen the name Menkheperre (the throne name adopted by Tuthmosis III) for one of his sons, and named one of his daughters Maatkare, a name that had been used by Hatshepsut. Aidan Dodson points out that these particular names were fairly uncommon in the 21’st Dynasty (AoE, 45), and wonders if Pinudjem I may have been motivated to use them for two of his children because of antiquarian interests. Perhaps, like the rulers of the 20’th Dynasty who invariably chose to use the name Ramesses as part of their official titles, Pinudjem I wished to associate himself and his family with the glories of the Tuthmosids and also wanted to be permanently laid to rest in a coffin infused with the aura of this illustrious line of rulers. If this had been his intention, it was accidentally thwarted by confused necropolis workers who badly botched his interment. The mummy of Pinudjem I had probably been removed from his coffins for safety reasons while these heavy objects were precariously lowered down the deep entrance shaft of DB320 and put in place within the tomb. When they were finally reassembled, an anonymous mummy (traditionally--but dubiously--identified as Tuthmosis I) was accidentally placed in them, and the mummy of Pinudjem I somehow ended up in the large late-17’th or early-18’th Dynasty coffin of Ahotep, where it remained until its discovery in the 19'th century. (Source Bibliography: AoE, 45; CCR, 50ff.; pl. XXVIII; DRN, 213, n. 27, 255; MiAE, 329; TRC, 211, n. 66, 53f., cat. no. 007.) Source Abbreviation Key

Face of Pinudjem I's outer coffin. (Photo credit:
Institute of Classical Architecture & Art,
Southern California.)

Full outer coffin of Pinudjem I (Photo credit: CESRAS.)

Outer & inner coffin lids inscribed for Pinudjem I. Outer coffin (and
perhaps inner coffin also) had been usurped from Tuthmosis I. (Photo
credit: Georges Daressy's Cercueils des cachettes royales
[Cairo, 1909,] pl. XXVIII.)

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The Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CESRAS) maintains an extensive collection of online images available for public use on Flickr and has posted large size scans of many of the photographic plates from George Daressy's historically important 1909 work, Cercueils des cachettes royales, which are featured on this page. The above images of the coffins of Pinudjem I provide a valuable photographic record of these beautiful objects, currently on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. More close up images of these coffin's decorations and inscriptions may be seen by going to the CESRAS Pinudjem I photostream.

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