Original locations

Fig. 1 Suspected cones depicted in TT 49. Borchardt etc. 1934 [ZÄS 70]: 28 Abb. 2.

Fig. 2 Suspected cones depicted in TT 55. Davies 1938 [JEA 24]: Fig. 3.
Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Fig. 3 Suspected cones depicted in TT 78. A part from Bouriant 1894 Pl. 2.

Based on previous research, it can be assumed that cones were placed on the outer wall of the tombs, above the entrance. The reasons for this assumption are as follows:

1. In the wall paintings of the tombs, such as TT 41 (Assmann 1991: Taf. 40.), TT 49, TT 55, TT 78, TT 159, TT 178, TT 181, A.21, cones are depicted as being placed on the outer wall, above the entrance (Figs. 1–7). 2. Some researchers have reported that they actually found cones placed there.

Despite the fact that the actual finding of cones on the outer wall is considerably rare, the following three excerpts from articles prove this claim. The first report is by Rhind as follows:

The second report can be found in Henry Salt's manuscript, which is preserved in the British Museum and was published by Reeves and Ryan:

Reeves and Ryan suggest that the potential owner of the tomb to which Salt has referred to is TT A.9. However, till date, no concrete or convincing evidence has been provided. Nevertheless, Reeves and Ryan insist that the cone which Salt refers to is Davies & Macadam # 54, which was purchased by the British Museum in 1823 and is still in their possession.

Finally, explicit and hard evidence was afforded by Herbert Winlock. He discovered a tomb with cones above its entrance at Deir el-Bahri. The black-and-white photographs of what he found are the only pictures that show cones in situ (Fig. 8).

Based on the above evidence, Borchardt, Königsberger, and Ricke reconstructed the outward appearances of the following three tombs: TT 157, TT 288/289, and TT 181 (Figs. 9–11).

However, these evidences, i.e. cones depicted in wall paintings and cones found in actual discoveries, have certain limitations.

First, it cannot be confirmed as to whether the dots in the wall paintings actually represent funerary cones. Moreover, such paintings in which 'assumed' funerary cones are depicted are considerably rare; in fact, the author could find only eight examples, as mentioned above. The Theban necropolis has over 1,000 tombs, and each tomb has many paintings depicting different scenes in each room. My research reveals that at least 103 tombs had cones; thus, if the assumed funerary cones are in fact real ones, they should have been depicted in many paintings vis-à-vis the few that have been found. As mentioned by Al-Thibi in his PhD thesis, these scenes primarily date back to the late 18th dynasty and the Ramesside period (Al-Thibi 2005: 13.), and are not from the middle of the 18th dynasty which witnessed the production and use of the funerary cones more than any other period. Further, to the best of my knowledge, there currently exist only two documents of papyri (BM: 10471/7 and Louvre: N3068) in which cones have been depicted in two rows above the entrance wall.

Another reason why the evidences provided cannot be regarded as concrete is that the tombs studied by Winlock and Arnold date back to the Middle Kingdom and not the New Kingdom which yielded most of the known cones.

In addition, if it were true that the cones were imbedded in the outer wall, then it would be safe to assume that they were placed using mortar or other such materials. However, none of the cones found till date display any vestiges of such materials. There is another fact that cannot be ignored: tomb halls which once held cones have yet to be found.

A discovery made by Annelies and Artur Brack may help shed some light on this issue. During their expedition conducted in 1973–1974, they unearthed cones located in the courts of the tombs (Fig. 12). The cones were placed neatly side by side and were arranged from top to bottom, which allows us to assume that these cones are in situ. Although only one such example exists till date, it can be deduced that in many instances, cones were placed on the floor of the courts, and not on the tomb façades.

However, regardless of their original placement, one thing is certain: a number of cones were placed in noticeable locations.

Fig. 4 Suspected cones depicted in TT 159. Davies 1938 [JEA 24]: Fig. 14.
Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Fig. 5 Suspected cones depicted in TT 178. Borchardt etc. 1934 [ZÄS 70]: 28 Abb. 3.

Fig. 6 Suspected cones depicted in TT 181. Davies 1938 [JEA 24]: Fig. 2.
Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Fig. 7 Suspected cones depicted in A.21. A part of Fig. 124 in Institute of Egyptology, Waseda University 2007.
© Institute of Egyptology, Waseda University.

Fig. 9 Reconstruction of TT 157. Borchardt etc. 1934 [ZÄS 70]: 29 Abb. 5.

Fig. 10 Reconstruction of TT 288/289. Borchardt etc. 1934 [ZÄS 70]: 29 Abb. 6.

Fig. 11 Reconstruction of TT 181. Borchardt etc. 1934 [ZÄS 70]: 29 Abb. 7.