The mummy of Nestanebetisheru

The unwrapping of Nestanebetisheru’s mummy (CG 61096, coffins CG 61033) by Gaston Maspero on 30 June 1886 marked a significant moment in the study of elite Theban burials from the 21st Dynasty. G.E. Smith later praised her mummy as “one of the finest specimens of the embalmer’s art” for the period, noting particularly the skill with which her facial features were preserved, in contrast to earlier royal mummies where the face was frequently overpacked and distorted. Smith described her physique as stately and aristocratic, and remarked that the sawdust used as packing in her body still retained a strong aromatic scent decades after her burial.

A notable aspect of Nestanebetisheru’s mummification was the deliberate colouring of her skin with yellow ochre, a convention closely imitating the yellow complexion assigned to elite women in tomb paintings of the time. No valuables were found within the mummy wrappings at the time of unwrapping, although both Smith and Reeves recorded an impression left in the resins by a missing embalming plate, likely of gold, suggesting the possibility of theft during the original embalming process before the wrappings were completed.

Nestanebetisheru was discovered in her original double coffin set (CG 61033), comprising inner and outer coffins and a coffin board. The outer coffin was heavily coated with a black tar-like substance, applied in antiquity, which now obscures much of its decoration and inscriptions. While this black coating was most likely ritual in origin, its present battered state may in part reflect later damage, possibly sustained during the modern era or as a result of rough handling following the tomb’s opening.

Additional objects buried with Nestanebetisheru in DB320 included a linen docket on her mummy, copper vessels, shabti boxes (which showed signs of damage), an Osiris figure, a funerary papyrus, and canopic jars.

Source Bibliography: CCR, 196ff.; CP, 17; DRN, 191, 201, 207, 213, 218 n. 57; EM, 118f.; EMbm, 4; MiAE, 316; MR, 579f.; RM, 109ff.

Linen Docket Translation:
Year 13 of (identity of ruler uncertain) Siamun? Psusennes I? “Linen for Min, Horus and Isis which the first great one of the harem Isetemkheb made in Yr 13”.
Source Bibliography: DRN, 239; MR, 579; RNT, 259 [19] which Reeves notes is “in error.”

Reeves contends that Nestanebtishru’s burial was one of the last original burials in DB320, and dates it to a Year 13. The linen docket inscription cannot be positively attributed to any particular reign. Edward Loring, argues that the Isetemkheb referred to in the docket on Nestanebtishru’s wrappings could only be Isetemkheb D. Loring’s dating would also contradict the theory of Ikram and Dodson who propose that Isetemkheb D’s funerary equipment was disturbed by members of Pinudjem II’s burial party. According to Loring’s chronology, Isetemkheb D would still be alive at the time of Pinudjem II’s burial.
Source Bibliography: DRN, 191, 257; TRC, 73.

Abbreviations

The question of Nestanebetisheru’s original burial in the Royal Cache (DB 320/TT 320) has been subject to considerable scholarly discussion, reflecting both the complexity of the tomb’s reuse and the fragmentary nature of the available documentation. Reeves does not indicate explicitly where in DB 320 Nestanebetisheru was found, but due to her close familial relationship to Pinedjem II and Nesykhonsu, who are known to have been interred in end chamber F, it is generally assumed that she was buried alongside them in this location.

Reeves further posits that, because her mummy and coffins were found in an unplundered state, DB 320 likely represents her original place of burial. This argument rests on the premise that the Theban restorers of the 21st Dynasty would only have reburied mummies whose original tombs had been violated by robbers, a practice reflected elsewhere in the cache. The largely undisturbed context of Nestanebetisheru’s remains therefore suggests she was not relocated, but rather directly interred in the cache.

Source 2025-07: Edited from a now-defunct page of The Theban Royal Mummy Project via Wayback Machine
Source url: https://members.tripod.com/anubis4_2000/mummypages1/21B.htm