Abstract: A Complete Cosmos: The Tomb of an Egyptian Governor
and Its Secrets Lecturer: Lawrence Berman In April 1915 the
Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
discovered the tomb of Governor Djehutynakht and his wife, also
called Djehutynakht, at Deir el-Bersha in Middle Egypt, about
175 miles south of Cairo. The contents of this early Twelfth
Dynasty tomb were awarded to the Museum in their entirety by the
Egyptian Government and were recently the focus of a special
exhibition, “Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC,” at the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston. They include well known masterpieces of
Egyptian art like the outer coffin of Governor
Djehutynakht—widely regarded as the finest Middle Kingdom coffin
in existence—and the group of offering bearers known as the
Bersha Procession, as well as the largest collection of wooden
models ever found in one tomb—57 boats and 33 models of daily
life, newly conserved and restored especially for this
exhibition. The coffins from tomb 10A—two for Governor