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""A Funerary Repast In An Egyptian Tomb Of The Archaic Period"" Page 5

A FUNERARY REPAST IN AN EGYPTIAN TOMB OF THE ARCHAIC PERIOD

Mr. Rector, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The subject of my lecture this evening is the discovery of a noble's tomb of the Second Dynasty and the unique funerary meal found in it. When we consider, it is really extraordinary how preoccupied the archaeologist is with the language, religion. architecture, arts and crafts of a vanished people, to the exclusion of their much more vital habits, such as what food they had, and how they ate it. I think we are inclined to take it for granted that the food, drink and condiments of the ancient Egyptian were similar to our own, and indeed, with the possible exception of seasoning, they were. But it was only the discovery which I am about to describe to you, that established this fact with any degree of certainty . 
But first of all, let us examine the religious significance of the funerary repast. We have not time at our disposal to deal with every aspect of this very complicated subject. As with all races whose religious beliefs conceived some form of material survival of the body of the deceased, the vital necessity of food in the tomb was realised by the Egyptians. Unlike the Christian belief, the Egyptians believed that a man could "take itr with him", and consequently their burial installations were great storehouses of all the necessities of life, such as furniture, clothing, jewelry, weapons for defence and the chase, games of their relaxation, and indeed, in the early times, human sacrifice was practised at the funeral so that the dead might receive the slave service which they had had in life. But as in life, so in death, the most essential commodity was food, and we find in the tombs of the kings and nobles of the First and Second Dynasties the remains of vast quantities of meat, bread, fruit, wine and beer for the sustenance of the deceased in the after life. In some cases, granaries were built in the tomb which contained reserve supplies of grain. 
The tombs of the First Dynasty consisted of a substructure of burial chamber and adjacent rooms built below ground level, in which was placed the deceased in his coffin and his more valuable possessions. Above, on ground level, was built the superstructure, imitating in design the house or palace of the living (Plate 1A) The building was hollow, and was divided into numerous magazines most of which contained reserve supplies of food and drink, together with stone and pottery eating vessels, such as the so called dinner service which we found in Tomb

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A FUNERARY REPAST IN AN EGYPTIAN TOMB OF THE ARCHAIC PERIOD Mr. Rector, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, The subject of my lecture this evening is the discovery of a noble's tomb of the Second Dynasty and the unique funerary meal found in it. When we consider, it is really extraordinary how preoccupied the archaeologist is with the language, religion. architecture, arts and crafts of a vanished people, to the exclusion of their much more vital habits, such as what food they had, and how they ate it. I think we are inclined to take it for granted that the food, drink and condiments of the ancient Egyptian were similar to our own, and indeed, with the possible exception of seasoning, they were. But it was only the discovery which I am about to describe to you, that established this fact with any degree of certainty . But first of all, let us examine the religious significance of the funerary repast. We have not time at our disposal to deal with every aspect of this very complicated subject. As with all races whose religious beliefs conceived some form of material survival of the body of the deceased, the vital necessity of food in the tomb was realised by the Egyptians. Unlike the Christian belief, the Egyptians believed that a man could "take itr with him", and consequently their burial installations were great storehouses of all the necessities of life, such as furniture, clothing, jewelry, weapons for defence and the chase, games of their relaxation, and indeed, in the early times, human sacrifice was practised at the funeral so that the dead might receive the slave service which they had had in life. But as in life, so in death, the most essential commodity was food, and we find in the tombs of the kings and nobles of the First and Second Dynasties the remains of vast quantities of meat, bread, fruit, wine and beer for the sustenance of the deceased in the after life. In some cases, granaries were built in the tomb which contained reserve supplies of grain. The tombs of the First Dynasty consisted of a substructure of burial chamber and adjacent rooms built below ground level, in which was placed the deceased in his coffin and his more valuable possessions. Above, on ground level, was built the superstructure, imitating in design the house or palace of the living (Plate 1A) The building was hollow, and was divided into numerous magazines most of which contained reserve supplies of food and drink, together with stone and pottery eating vessels, such as the so called dinner service which we found in Tomb