Restitution after Reuse: How 21st Dynasty Egyptian Rulers Healed the Harms Done to Royal Coffins and Mummified Kings
About this episode
Kara and Amber explore the ritual reuse of royal coffins in ancient Egypt, focusing on the practices of 20th–21st Dynasty priests and their significance.
Kara and Amber return to the royal caches for Part II of their deep dive into the coffins reused for the re-Osirification (!!) of Thutmose III and Ramses II. Building on her new open-access article in Arts , Kara lays out how 20th–21st Dynasty priests “withdrew” value from royal burials during crisis and then ritually “paid it back,” stripping sheet gold but restoring a solar substitute (thin gilding or even just yellow washes of paint), covering coffin interiors with Osirian black resins, adding protective iconography and red paint as apotropaic force fields, and re-adding elements of kingship and human agency. Along the way, Kara and Amber map the politics of reuse within the royal caches of KV35 (the tomb of Amenhotep II in the Valley of the Kings) and TT320 (a reused 18th Dynasty queens tomb at Deir el Bahari used to rebury “preferred” kings and queens and the final resting place of many of the Amen Priesthood). They discuss whether or not the coffin reused for Thutmose III was originally made for him, and consider the material record through feminist and new-materialist lenses, looking at how ritual tries to reconcile scarcity, power, and piety. It’s a practical guide to…
People in this episode
Host: Kara Cooney
Guest: Amber
Topics covered
- royal coffins
- mummification
- ritual practices
- Egyptian history
- reusability
- Osirification
- kingship
Keywords
- reusification
- royal burials
- Egyptian priests
- ritual repair
- mummified kings
- Osirian black resins
- iconography
- kingship
- scarcity
- piety
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Arts, Amen Priesthood
Places: KV35, TT320, Deir el Bahari, Valley of the Kings
More episodes of Afterlives of Ancient Egypt with Kara Cooney
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