Ceramic model of a house

Dynasty 11-12 (about 2055-1773 BC)

4.9.07.10

From Deir Rifeh cemetery

Model of red stone house

Length: 45cm

This model of a house is known as a 'soul house' and was probably based on the idealised home of a farmer. Soul-houses were often placed over poorer burials without tomb chapels. It may have been the focus of a simple mortuary cult and act as a grave marker.

The living quarters are at one end of a yard enclosed by a mud-brick wall. Stairs lead top the roof, where there were once some rooms that have not survived. Everyday domestic work was done in the open air. Troughs, querns (hand-turned grain mills) and pounders can be seen in the courtyard.


Gift of the British School of Archaeology


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