Sennefer (Deir el-Medina)

Sennefer was an Ancient Egyptian official with the title "servant in the Place of Truth" at the end of the 18th Dynasty. He is mainly known due to his unlooted burial found in 1928 by excavations under Bernard Bruyère at Deir el-Medina. The burial chamber of Sennefer was found within the tomb of the servant at the place of truth Hormes (tomb no. 1159a). The small chamber contained the inscribed coffins of Sennefer and his wife Nefertiti. Both were found wrapped in linen. Sennefer was also adorned with a mummy mask. He had a heart scarab and was adorned with a pectoral. On his coffin was placed a painted piece of cloth, showing Sennefer before an offering table. Furthermore, the burial contained different types of furniture, including a bed, a box, a head rest and several pottery as well as stone vessels. The burial of a child in an undecorated box was found, too. Two shabti figures are datable by style to the end of the 18th Dynasty.

Life
Little is known about Sennefer. He was titled "servant in the Place of Truth" which indicates that he worked on the cutting and decorating of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. He lived during the late 18th Dynasty; his burial is usually assigned to the reign of Tutankhamun based on the style of his coffins and funerary goods. Analysis of his skeletonised mummy indicates he was about 162-168 cm tall and died between 35 and 45 years of age. He had healed fractures to his wrist and a rib, a dent across the top of his head from an old injury, and many of his vertebrae have signs of osteoarthritis. His right arm is 1 cm longer than his left.

Sennefer was buried with a woman named Nefertiti (also transcribed Neferiyt) who is thought to be his wife. Examination of her body estimated she died between the ages of 18 and 20. The infant interred with them is assumed to be their child; the baby died at approximately 9 months old.

Architecture
The tomb of Sennefer is located in Deir el-Medina's western cemetery, inside the tomb of Harmose (DM1159). The entrance to Sennefer's burial chamber, numbered 1159A, is cut into the floor against the western wall of Harmose's burial chamber. It consists of a descending staircase 1.70 m deep that leads to an arched doorway 1.25 m tall which opens to the west onto a roughly-cut rock chamber 1.9 m high. The single room is almost square, with the walls measuring between 2.35 m and 3 m long.

Discovery and clearance
Sennefer's intact tomb was discovered on 1 February 1928 by workmen supervised by George Nagel in excavations conducted by the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) and led by the French Egyptologist Bernard Bruyère. They were clearing the second (southernmost) of two shafts sunk into the floor of Harmose's burial chamber; the first (northern) shaft was found to be unfinished, consisting only of a shaft measuring 1.25 m deep, and a partially cut doorway. As the door at the base of the southern shaft was uncovered, it was found entirely blocked with stacked bricks. The reis (foreman) Hassan Khalifa and his deputy Taher Hassane partly dismantled the blocking and reported to Nagel that they had found an undisturbed burial chamber. The opening was enlarged and Nagel quickly recorded the contents before resealing the blocking and refilling the shaft to await an official opening; the tomb was guarded by the reis and 5 of his men.

The tomb was officially opened on the morning of 7 February 1928 in the presence of Egyptologists including Pierre Lacau, director of the Antiquities Service and members of the IFAO teams. Nagel confirmed that the tomb had not been disturbed since its initial discovery; those present then entered and viewed the burial chamber. The small room was dominated by two mummiform coffins placed against the end wall, with furniture placed at their feet and the coffin of a child at their heads. The rest of the space was filled with funeral bouquets and jars of food offerings. The contents were photographed, planned, and recorded in a single day before being transported to TT217 for storage; that afternoon the contents were inventoried and the mummy of Sennefer was unwrapped.

Contents
DM1159A was one of only three intact tombs discovered in Deir el-Medina. Ten funerary bouquets of foliage were piled near the entrance of the chamber; others were placed at the rear of the chamber. At the rear of the room, taking up nearly the entire width of the tomb, were the black painted anthropoid coffins of Sennefer and Nefertiti placed side by side. Sennefer's coffin was placed on a bier and covered with a shroud; on the chest was a square cloth with a painted scene of him sitting before an offering table and inscribed with his name and title. The coffin of the infant was placed in the space at the heads of the coffins. To the south, at the feet of the coffins, was a box with a pitched lid that supported a folding stool; both were once covered with a fabric shroud. Food offerings consisted of three plates of fruits, nuts and seeds, and two pottery vessels. A limestone ostraca with an offering table sketched in red ink was placed near the doorway.

The contents and human remains from the tomb are now divided between Egypt and several museums in Europe. The skeletal remains of the occupants are held in Hrdlička’s Museum of Man in Prague, Czech Republic.