The Many Lives of Theban Tomb 16

The ancient Egyptian tomb known as Theban Tomb 16 dates to the reign of Ramesses II in the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom (around 1250 BCE). Originally, it served as the burial place of a priest named Panehsy and his wife, Tarenu, a chantress.

Long after their lifetimes, the tomb remained an important resting place and was reused for more than a thousand years by members of the Theban elite. By the late 19th or early 20th century, the tomb had been looted, and it suffered further plundering in the 1970s.

Since 2008, however, a team from the University of Memphis has been working to document and conserve both the tomb and its many secondary burials. In this program, Egyptologist Suzanne Onstine will present the latest research on the tomb’s beautifully painted plaster scenes, exploring what they reveal about life in ancient Egypt as well as funerary culture during the first millennium BCE.

Free event parking is available with registration. Register by October 20 to receive parking registration instructions.

Advance registration is recommended. Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East in association with the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture.

About the Speaker: Suzanne Onstine is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Memphis. She received her BA in Anthropology at the University of Arizona and her MA and PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.

She has conducted archaeological research in Egypt for thirty years and currently directs the University of Memphis mission to Theban Tomb 16 (TT16), the tomb of Panehsy in Dra Abu el-Naga, Luxor. She has published many works on women and religion in addition to various aspects of her research in TT16.