Clay Sealings from the Pyramid Complex of King Raneferef Kept in the Náprstek Museum: General Features of the Corpus and its Potential to the Study of the Administration of the Royal Funerary Cult

Abstract

Abstract In the 1980s, the excavations of the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology headed by Miroslav Verner excavated large parts of the pyramid complex of King Raneferef (Neferefre)2 and uncovered evidence of the mortuary cult of the king, including ca. one thousand of clay sealings (or sealing fragments). Out of them, a corpus of over three hundred sealings was acquired by National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures. In most aspects, they make a representative sample of the whole corpus. This paper presents in summary properties of the corpus relevant to the interpretation of the temple administration as it is reflected in the sealing activity.3 After a brief introduction to the site and the organization of the excavated corpus, the attention will be focused particularly on the general patterns of the distribution of sealings with regard to space, type, and attested epigraphical features (titles, names of gods and institutions, other iconographical features), as these are the means to uncover potential correlations between the activity of holders of particular offices (or representatives of particular institutions), particular parts of the temple and particular types of sealings (i.e. particular kinds of sealed containers).