It is clear that the effort to attain an immortality which is
merely a ghostly continuation of life on earth must reflect the
general development of Egyptian culture,--especially the
advance in arts and crafts. One of the most striking examples of
this fact is the introduction of metal working mentioned above
and the consequent placing of both flint and copper in the grave,
--the division of grave furniture into practical objects and
ceremonial objects, which is the foundation for the use of
symbolic objects in later times.
The advance in arts and crafts not only suggests new ideas of the
necessities of the spirit, but it provides the necessary
technical skill for the more effective satisfaction of all the
needs of the dead. This takes, first of all, the form of
supplying a place for the burial, which furnishes greater
security to the body and a better communication between the
living and the dead.
From the First Dynasty, say from 3300 B.C. down, as soon as the
Egyptian had mastered the use of mud-brick and wood, we gain the
certainty of an idea which could only be guessed at in the
primitive period. A place is provided above the grave at which
the living could meet the spirit of the dead with _periodical_
offerings of food and other necessities. In the life after death,
spirit food and drink, once used, ceased to be, just as in life
on earth, and had to be renewed from day to day, lest the spirit
of the dead suffer from hunger and thirst. One of the great
developments of the first six dynasties looked to the provision
of these daily necessities.
The invention of writing was immediately utilized. About the
beginning of the First Dynasty writing was invented for
administrative and other practical purposes. Gravestones, bearing
in relief the name of the dead, were set up in the offering
places of the kings and court people. These were probably
reminders for use in some simple formula recited in presenting
the periodical offerings. As the Egyptians became more familiar
with the use of writing, the offering formula was written out in
full, enlarged and modified.
Sculptures, both relief and statuary, in every stage of their
development, were used as magical accessories to the offering
rites.
So, also, the whole history of Egyptian architecture was
reflected in the tomb; for every advance brought about some
change in the form or structure. In fact, the whole development
of the form of the Egyptian tomb depended on the development of
technical skill. The same funerary functions are served
throughout. As all the great artisans were at the command of the
king, all the great technical discoveries and inventions were
first made in his service. But every permanent gain in knowledge
was a benefit to the race and utilized by the common people. So,
for example, the skill acquired in stone-cutting, during the
construction of the great pyramids, was utilized a little later
in producing rock-cut tombs from one end of Egypt to the other.
The functions of the grave remained the same. Yet with the
changes in form resulting from the growth of skill, modifications
in the funerary customs crept in.
The mud-brick tombs of the early part of the First Dynasty, like
the pre-dynastic graves, had only one chamber, limited in size by
the length of logs obtainable to form the roof. The growing
desire for ostentation found a way to enlarge the tombs by
building them with a number of chambers. The burial was placed in
the central chamber and the burial furniture in the additional
chambers. In this way the separation of the furniture and the
actual burial was brought about.