Phoebe A. Hearst Expedition to Deir El-Ballas: The Non-Elite Cemeteries of the 17th - 19th Dynasties

This lavishly-illustrated book presents the unpublished excavations of the Hearst Expedition (1900-1901) at Deir el-Ballas, and thus makes a major contribution to the study of the material culture of the early New Kingdom. The site played a major role in the birth of the New Kingdom as a royal campaign headquarters during the wars to expel the Hyksos. For several generations afterwards, a non-elite population lived in the shadow of the abandoned palace in this provincial town. Drawing on meticulous archival research to reconstruct the tomb assemblages, this book reveals the community's funerary practices and considers the cultural memory the residents held of their town's illustrious past.