This study is an investigation of funerary assemblages of the Third Intermediate Period (1070-664 BC.) with a
view to dating the objects of which these assemblages are composed more accurately than hitherto. This is done by
providing a corpus of all published Third Intermediate Period tomb groups, and extracting from them a number of
object typologies for individual grave goods with a view to assessing their value as a means of dating the tomb
groups in which they are found. These typologies are then combined to chart a series of chronological
developments throughout the period here under review.
The first three chapters are devoted to discussions of the tomb groups arranged in geographical order; Chapter One
dealing with the tombs found in the Delta, which includes the royal tombs at Tanis, where, surprisingly, for the
first time, all the objects are listed with their museum numbers. Chapter Two deals with the tombs found in the
Nile Valley, listed from north to south, whilst a separate chapter, Chapter Three, is devoted entirely to Thebes.
Chapter Four discusses various types of grave goods, providing a synthesis of typological and chronological
developments of bead nets, canopic jars, canopic chests, canopic coffins, Osiris and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures,
pottery, wooden stelae, ushabtis, shabti jars and shabti boxes. Additionally various other groups of objects -
amulets, artificial eyes, baskets, corn mummies, faience vessels, fans, fishing nets, food offerings, inscribed bricks,
ivory objects, jewellery, leather objects, linen articles, metal objects, pets, scarabs, shells, shoes and sandals, statue
fragments, stone vessels, temple fragments, wigs and hairpins, whips, wooden objects and wreaths, are all
described.
In a concluding chapter, demographic, social and regional differences are discussed which enables the author to
postulate six successive chronological phases for the elite burials at Thebes. An appendix on tomb architecture of
the time, a comprehensive literature list and an all-inclusive index of museum numbers is also provided.