Mayet (ancient Egypt)

Mayet (also Miiut and Miit, meaning the cat) was an ancient Egyptian girl buried in the mortuary temple of King Mentuhotep II (reigned c. 2061 BC – 2010 BC) at Deir el-Bahari. Her burial was found intact. Her position within the royal family of Mentuhotep II is disputed.

The burial of Mayet was found in the 1920-1921 excavation season by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Expedition led by the Egyptologist Herbert Eustis Winlock. Her burial was discovered at the back of a columned structure, at the centre of the complex. At the back of the structure were discovered six burials with shrines. Five of these burials belonged to royal women (Ashait, Henhenet, Kawit, Kemsit and Sadeh) with the title king's wife. The burial of Mayet was the sixth one. However, Mayet does not bear any title on her preserved objects. Her status in relation to the king and to the other women remains obscure. It is generally assumed that she was a daughter of the king as she was about five years old when she died.

Mayet's tomb consisted of a single chamber at the bottom of a vertical shaft. The room contained a rectangular stone sarcophagus; at the time of discovery the chamber was filled with soil to the height of the sarcophagus' lid. The girl was placed in a set of two nested wooden coffins within the uninscribed sarcophagus made of limestone. The outer coffin is 6.5 ft long and made of wood (possibly sycamore) painted white with inscriptions in green and outlined in black. The inner coffin is less than 6 ft long and made of cypress or pine wood coloured yellow; at the time of discovery, the lid was secured with strips of linen. Both containers were originally made for a different person, as there are signs that the name was altered for Mayet. Additionally, the coffin set is much bigger than required, suggesting that it was not destined to her. Her death was unexpected and no arrangements had been made in provision of it.

The body of Mayet lay on her side within the innermost coffin. She was covered with shrouds and her body was wrapped in layers of linen and adorned with a mummy mask. Winlock unwrapped her mummy, finding that the length of the body was extended by padding. Five necklaces were found within the wrappings, some of them made of gold and silver. Three of the necklaces were single-stranded: two were of gold, one of hollow round beads, the other of small discs strung on leather; the third was made of carnelian. The other necklaces were composed of multiple strands of tiny stone and glass beads; both featured eye of Horus beads, of silver in one necklace and of green jasper in the other. The exact order of the beads was preserved through careful excavation work, and in some cases, even the original string or leather survived.