Preoccupation with death
The historical period that we call the Old Kingdom (2686-2160 BC) was immensely long, lasting as it did for over 500 years. When it began, the unified Egyptian state was only about 300 years old and when it came to an end, the state still had nearly 2,000 years left ahead of it. Remoteness in time is one of the main difficulties we encounter when we look for sources of information about the Old Kingdom. Many simply have not survived.
We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people...
We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people, as almost all the monuments were made for the rich and influential. Houses in which ordinary Egyptians lived have not been preserved, and when most people died they were buried in simple graves with few funerary goods.
The Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza ©Most of our traditional sources of information about the Old Kingdom are those concerned with death and the rituals surrounding death: these include pyramids, tombs and graves, but also statues, reliefs and paintings. Even papyri come mainly from pyramid temples. But this does not mean that death was the Egyptians' only preoccupation.
There are other reasons why so much of our evidence is based on funeral rites. Egyptian towns and villages were situated in the Nile valley, where old houses were pulled down and new ones built on the same spot, because space was valuable - so little remains of the older buildings. Pyramids and tombs, by contrast, were built on desert margins, where the space was not needed for other buildings, so were left to tell their tale centuries after they were built. Also, while domestic housing was made of sun-dried bricks, pyramids and tombs were built of stone - so their chances of survival were infinitely better.
Annual records
There was no history writing during the Old Kingdom but there were annals, brief records of important events. These are only incompletely preserved. We also have lists of kings, although they date from later periods, mostly from the New Kingdom, which started about a thousand years after the Old Kingdom ended. The most important among the annals is the so-called Royal Canon of Turin, copied in about 1250 BC. In the third century BC, Manetho, a priest from the town of Sebennytos (Samannud) in the Nile delta, wrote a history of Egypt based on ancient records. Unfortunately, his work has survived only in brief excerpts.
The king-list in the temple of Sethos I at Abydos, showing Old Kingdom names ©There was no history writing during the Old Kingdom but there were annals, brief records of important events.
The Egyptians counted the years of each king's reign, but began again when a new king came to the throne. There are no astronomical dates known from the Old Kingdom, which could have provided us with fixed chronological points. The only way of establishing exactly when each king ruled is by adding up the lengths of the reigns known from the lists of kings (but these are not complete) or from the dates that survive on contemporary monuments (although we cannot be sure that the last year of the reign is recorded).
Modern scientific techniques, especially radiocarbon dating (based on the changes in the radioactive isotope C14), are helpful, but the margin of error is still too large. Other methods, e.g. that based on astronomical observations reflected in the building of pyramids, have the potential to be useful, but more work is needed before they can be used with confidence.
Tomb texts
The Pyramid Texts on the wall of the burial chamber of the Pyramid of Teti, Saqqara ©Practically everything that we know about Egyptian kings derives from their monuments. The Pyramid Texts, which were spells concerning the king's afterlife, began to be inscribed inside Egyptian pyramids from the reign of King Unas, about 2350 BC. The temples for the king's posthumous cult were decorated with reliefs and contained many statues, all of which give us information about the role of the king in Egyptian society. Scenes that show real events are rare. We must not forget that the purpose of these reliefs was to show an ideal state of affairs, which the king wished to last forever, not the contemporary reality.The Pyramid Texts... were spells concerning the king's afterlife...
Documents written on papyri were found in some pyramid temples, especially at Abusir. They concern such matters as lists of priests on duty, records of offerings brought to the temple, accounts, inventories of temple equipment and passes authorizing access to the temple. Several settlements of priests, and of craftsmen and artists, involved in the running of pyramid temples, have been located, in particular at Giza.
Scenes that show real events are rare.
Representations carved on the walls of tombs include scenes of everyday life on the owner's estates and so show how even ordinary people lived and worked. We must be rather careful when interpreting these scenes and must not take them entirely at face value. They were included in order to play a role in the tomb owner's afterlife, not as an accurate record.
Sometimes, especially in the later part of the Old Kingdom, the tombs contained biographical texts. Many are just self-praising but others are real records of the tomb owner's achievements. This is how one of them, an official called Weni, described a mission assigned to him by King Merenre of the Sixth Dynasty:
'His Majesty sent me to Hatnub in order to bring a great altar of travertine of Hatnub. I brought this altar down for him in 17 days. After it had been quarried at Hatnub, I had it transported downstream in the barge that I had made for it, a barge of acacia wood of 60 cubits in length and 30 cubits in width. It was built in 17 days and in the third month of summer, when there was no water on sandbanks, it was safely moored at the pyramid of King Merenre.'
(The travertine, or alabaster, Hatnub quarries are in Middle Egypt, some 186 miles [300km], south of Saqqara, where King Merenre's pyramid was built. The barge was over 98ft [31.5m] long and over 49ft [15.75m] wide).
Temple administration
Few Egyptian towns of the Old Kingdom have been located. Elephantine (an island opposite Aswan, in the region of the first Nile cataract) and Ayin Asil (in the Dakhla Oasis, in the Western Desert) are the notable exceptions.
The texts... are concerned with the temples' administration, especially endowments and exemptions from taxes and forced labour.
We know little about the temples of local gods. But important texts have been found at the sites of some of these temples, especially at Koptos (modern Qift) and Abydos, both in Upper Egypt. The texts are copies of documents that were originally written on papyrus, and are concerned with the temples' administration, especially endowments and exemptions from taxes and forced labour. One such decree, issued by Pepy II for the temple of the god Min at Koptos, includes the following clause concerning the temple personnel:
'My Majesty does not allow them to be employed in royal cattle pens or on the pastures of cattle or the pastures of donkeys and sheep of the department of herdsmen, or on any duty or forced labour demanded by the royal administration throughout the length of eternity.'
Expeditions abroad
Texts concerning expeditions sent outside the Nile valley have been found in Sinai (Wadi Maghara and Wadi Kharit), in the Eastern Desert (Wadi Hammamat), and in Nubia. The aim of these enterprises was to bring back stone for building and for the making of statues, also semi-precious stones (turquoise) and possibly copper. An inscription on a rock at Wadi Maghara, in Sinai, records one such expedition sent there by Pepy II:
'The year of the second occasion of the census of all the great and small cattle of Lower and Upper Egypt... The royal mission which was sent with the god's treasurer Hepy to the terraces of turquoise. There served with him: pilots and quarry-masters Bekenptah and Udjai...' [Here follows a long list of names.]
Scientific techniques
Some knowledge of Old Kingdom technology and working procedures derives from pictures, but most information must be deduced from the monuments and objects that survive from that time. Certain activities were never shown, for example pyramid building, and written documents concerning such works have not survived.
Certain activities were never shown, for example pyramid building...
Modern scientific methods are now beginning to provide a wealth of information on aspects of the Old Kingdom society - aspects that we have not known much about, until now. The study of pottery has become very useful, especially in the search for chronological clues and trade contacts. The study of botanical (plant) and faunal (animal) remains can show us how people in the Old Kingdom lived - which plants they cultivated, which animals they bred, and what they ate.
Examination of human remains informs us of the Egyptians' state of health. Research concerning different types of stone and metal can also be very revealing: when we establish from where these materials came, and in what quantities, we can make deductions about trade contacts, expeditions sent to procure these materials, the state of technology, and so on.
The study of pottery has become very useful, especially in the search for chronological clues and trade contacts.
There is no one way of searching for sources of information concerning the Old Kingdom. They are all interconnected, and each has a contribution to make. Egyptologists must be prepared to examine any kind of evidence available, whether it is 'traditional' (archaeological and art historical - based on monuments; or philological - based on inscriptions), or 'non-traditional' (mostly new scientific techniques). They must be scavengers of information, leaving no source of information neglected, and must be constantly searching for new approaches.