Tombs

Although coffins and sarcophagi did a pretty good job of protecting the mummy, the greatest safeguard against bodily damage was the tomb itself. The most elaborate tombs are the pharaohs' pyramids, but other tombs were underground or carved out of the sides of cliffs.

The first tombs were plain-looking flat-roofed buildings called mastabas. They were positioned near each other like houses in a neighborhood. This arrangement was a "city of the dead," or necropolis. Then, someone got the idea to stack a smaller mastaba on top of a larger one, and then an even smaller one on top of that. This was called a step pyramid and it eventually inspired the construction of the bent pyramid and the traditional perfectly geometrical pyramids like those belonging to Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. Even the Nubians to the south liked pyramids, in fact there were more pyramids in Nubia than in Egypt! Nubian pyramids were smaller and more pointed than Egyptian pyramids.

Left to right: mastaba, step pyramid, bent pyramid, perfectly geometrical pyramid, Nubian pyramid

Even though a big pyramid was a pretty impressive grave marker, they also attracted tomb robbers by being so obvious. They were almost like giant billboards that said "Hey tomb robbers, there is an important rich person buried here and they have lots of gold with them inside." Then the tomb robbers would break in shortly after burial and steal all the goods left for the mummy.

Later on, the Egyptians decided to stop making pyramids and instead carved their pharaohs' tombs in the sides of the cliffs in an area of southern (Upper) Egypt called The Valley of the Kings. It was very difficult to get to these secret places so it was hoped that the mummies would be safe from tomb robbers.

What went into the tomb?

A person's favorite possessions would be placed with them in the tomb to let the mummy be prepared for the afterlife. King Tut must have really enjoyed his afterlife-- he was set up with hunting weapons, senet game boards, make-up, food, statues, sandals, clothes, models of boats, and lots more!

Some items needed for the afterlife. Top row: sandals, bronze mirror, alabaster head rest. Bottom row: faience oil jar, senet game board, glass kohl (eye make-up) container with applicator.

Ancient Egyptians were agricultural people, and they believed that they would continue farming in the afterlife. But the wealthy, who paid others to do their work for them, didn't plan on spending their afterlives toiling in a field! So these people had small statues called shabtis placed in their tombs, and they believed that the shabtis would serve as their workers in the afterlife. In the early New Kingdom, one shabti seemed to be enough to guarantee an easy afterlife. But by 1000 BC, Egyptians were being buried with 401 shabtis: one for each day of the year, plus 36 "boss" shabtis to keep the rest of them working!     shabti made of faience clay