In combination, these sites seem to contain the burials of more than 10,000 people. Typically, the graves are pits cut into the desert sand, containing a single individual wrapped in textile and matting, although there is variation among the interments. Sometimes people were buried together in a grave, or were placed in a wooden coffin (occasionally painted) or had accompanying burial objects (such as jewellery or cosmetic items). At the North Desert Cemetery, some individuals were interred in larger shaft-and-chamber tombs.
These sites were investigated through archaeological survey and excavation from 2005–22 and the study of the human remains, artefacts and environmental materials from them is ongoing. There are few surface remains visible at the cemeteries, and in order to protect them they are not open to visitors.
Anna Stevens and Gretchen Dabbs
Further reading
Dabbs, G.R., J.C. Rose and M. Zabecki. 2015. The bioarchaeology of Akhetaten: Unexpected results from a capital city. In S. Ikram, J. Kaiser and R. Walker, eds, Egyptian Bioarchaeology: Humans, Animals, and the Environment. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 43–52.
Kemp, B., A. Stevens, G.R. Dabbs, M. Zabecki and J.C. Rose. 2013. Life, death and beyond in Akhenaten’s Egypt: Excavating the South Tombs Cemetery at Amarna. Antiquity 87, 64–78.
Rose, J.C. and M. Zabecki. 2009. The commoners of Tell el-Amarna. In S. Ikram and A. Dodson, eds, Beyond the Horizon: Studies in Egyptian Art, Archaeology and History in Honour of Barry J. Kemp, vol. 2, Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities, 408–22.
Stevens, A., G.R. Dabbs and J. Rose. 2016. Akhenaten’s people: Excavating the lost cemeteries of Amarna. Current World Archaeology 78, 14–21.
Stevens, A. 2018. Death and the city: The cemeteries of Amarna in their urban context. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 20, 103–26.