Deir el-Medina,(SENNEDJEM)

Deir el-Medina, Tomb TT1, SENNEDJEM

, son of Khabekhnet and Tahennu

Sennedjem lived during the 19th Dynasty, under the reign of Pharaoh Sethy I and the first years of Ramesses II. He was probably buried in the chamber of his tomb TT1 around year 11 of the reign of Ramesses.
After three thousand years of peaceful rest, his burial was - alas for him and his family - discovered on February 2, 1886.
DISCOVERY OF TOMB TT1

The tomb was discovered in January 31, 1886 by Egyptian workers at Qurna. On February 1st, Maspéro (accompanied by Bouriant and a Catalan diplomat, Edouardo Toda) set foot on the terrain.

At that time Deir el-Medina presented a miserable aspect
The complete clearance of the tomb and its appendices was completed after the two campaigns of 1917-1924 and 1928-1930.

THE LOCATION OF THE TOMB
The tomb of Sennedjem is nowadays easy to find : it is immediately above the rest stop for tourists
Immediately overlooking it is tomb TT2, that of Khabekhnet and Khonsu (two sons of Sennedjem). To the right and slightly above, can be found the courtyard of the group of tombs TT218 (Amennakht), TT219 (Nebenmaat) and TT220 (Khaemter). Below is another triplet : TT359 (Inerkhau), TT360 (Qaha) and TT361 (Huy).

The houses of Sennedjem and his family were close to their home of eternity, at the south-westerly corner of the village of Deir el-Medina. This part corresponds to an enlarging of the surrounding wall by Thutmosis I.

SENNEDJEM AND HIS FAMILY

Sennedjem carried the simple title of , "sDm-aS m st mAat", or "servant in the place of truth". The place of truth designates the Theban royal necropolis. All workers of Deir el-Medina taking care of the royal tombs carry this title.
According to Marta Saura i Sanjaume, who has just devoted her thesis to him, Sennedjem (of whom the name means something like "gentle brother") was not a cabinetmaker, as Bruyère thought, but mason. He therefore practised a very widespread profession in the community of Deir el-Medina.
Which immediately raises a question : how is it possible that a simple mason had enough influence and means to have a tomb and splendid objects? The (present) hypothesis is that Sennedjem and his family could have been connected with the cult of Hathor, which would have given them a pre-eminence to the rest of the members of the community. This connection is indeed mentioned in the tomb of his son Khabekhnet. But it should also be recognised that the question remains open, ... and that it has very little chance of being resolved any day soon.

The tomb of Sennedjem can be considered as a collective, because at least three generations of the same family were united in the same chamber.
There were actually no less than twenty bodies discovered. Nine among them possessed very beautiful anthropoid, simple or double coffins, finely painted and varnished. They belonged to Sennedjem, his wife Iyneferti, his son Khonsu and his wife Tamaket; also of his other children : Parahotep, Taashsen, Ramose, Isis and finally, that of a small girl named Hathor. Eleven others did not have coffins. It is likely that these were the family's members not having had enough fortune to provide for themselves something other than shrouds and strips of fabric and to whom the head of the family offered to share his burial.
To this list, it is necessary to add two foetuses contained in uninscribed yellow wooden boxes.