Khentkaus III
Khentkaus III, often called Khentakawess III by news media was an ancient Egyptian queen consort who lived during the Fifth Dynasty.
Khentkaus was very likely a daughter of king Kakai and queen Khentkaus II, while her husband was equally likely king Neferefre, and her son the future king Ikau.
Discovery of the tomb
On January 4, 2015, the discovery of her tomb by Czech archaeologists was announced by Egyptian authorities. According to Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Eldamaty, there had been no knowledge of the existence of Khentkaus III before this discovery. Two earlier Egyptian queens with the same name have been identified previously, however.The tomb of Khentkaus III – marked as AC 30 – was excavated in Abusir, where there are several pyramids dedicated to kings of the Fifth Dynasty, including Neferefre. The tomb was found near Neferefre's funerary complex by a Czech archaeological team led by Miroslav Bárta of Charles University in Prague, with Egyptian collaboration.
The name and rank of Khentkaus was inscribed on the inner walls of the tomb, probably by the builders. Her burial place is a mastaba with an underground burial chamber that is reached via a shaft. The reliefs in the tomb identified her both as "the wife of the king" and "the mother of the king", implying her son ascended the throne. Statuettes and twenty-four travertine utensils, along with four copper utensils, also have been found in the tomb. The tomb is dated to the middle of the Fifth Dynasty.
The archaeologists who uncovered the tomb believed it to be that of Neferefre's wife, because it was close to his complex, in a small cemetery southeast of the complex. Eldamaty stated: "This discovery will help us shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids."
Tomb
Prior to excavation, tomb AC 30 appeared to be an elongated, north–south oriented mound – later confirmed to be a mastaba – long by wide with a maximal elevation of. Indications of severe damage from stone thieving were immediately identifiable from the debris, which is typical of other tombs in the Abusir necropolis. The floor of the tomb's courtyard was covered in a layer of mud and admixture of gravel. In contrast with AC 29, AC 30 does not appear to have a lower level of mud floor. Once excavated, the mastaba was determined to be long by, with masonry preserved up to a height of. It had an offering chapel, and a vertical shaft through which the substructure was accessed.The superstructure's outer faces were built from locally quarried yellow and grey limestone joined using a mud and lime mortar. Its inner core was of mediocre quality, predominantly consisting of limestone debris, mudbrick and substantial quantities of pottery. This was encased with massive, but poor quality, rough white limestone blocks indicating that construction was abandoned after the owner's death. The superstructure is entered on the eastern façade through a wide entryway giving access to a by L-shaped offering chapel. The entrance sidewalls were built from fine quality white limestone, and the chapel originally contained two false doors on its western wall, but stone thieves have severely damaged the chapel's masonry. The method of construction indicates the chapel was built in the latter half of the Fifth Dynasty. Overall, the tomb is smaller among the social elite and royal family tombs in Abusir.
The vertical shaft, for entering the substructure, was found behind the northern false door inside the chapel. Its maximum preserved depth is, and its side walls are in a reasonable state of preservation – only the upper part of the south wall has been destroyed. Inside, a small bḏꜣ-mould, parts of a calf, shards of pottery, charcoal, wooden fragments, and rope segments were discovered. The southern wall of the shaft contains a narrow passage long, wide and high that gives access to the burial chamber. A sloping ramp fashioned from limestone fragments, evidently used to transport the mummy into the tomb, led into the burial chamber, which measured long, wide and tall. It once had a nearly flat ceiling, but this has been destroyed. A single, massive limestone block remains in situ in the chamber's westernmost area. Its size indicates that the tomb belonged to a royal family member. The chamber originally contained a white limestone sarcophagus in its western area, but it too has been destroyed. Remains of the burial discovered include 23 travertine model vessels, 2 white limestone lids presumably from canopic jars, 4 copper models of tools, animal bones, fragments of wooden items, bandages and cloth from the embalming process. The quality of craftsmanship on these items is high. Two types of pottery were discovered inside the tomb: those used in the core masonry of the structure to reduce construction time and expense, and those used in the practices of the mortuary cult. Skeletal fragments of the owner were recovered during excavation. Anthropological analysis of the fragments identified the tomb owner as a 20 year old woman.
The tomb owner was identified through baugraffiti found in the side walls of the chapel and shaft, the substructure pavement, and in the passage connecting the burial chamber with the shaft. The baugraffiti include construction dates and the owner's name and titles. Her full name and titles have been identified as king's wife and king's mother Khentkaus. The abbreviated variant of her name Khent was found in the space above her burial chamber, below the ceiling level. It is improbably that these blocks originated from the Pyramid of Khentkaus II, as the titles on the blocks in this tomb are uniform, unlike those of Khentkaus II's, and no such blocks appear in the other nearby tombs of AC 25 and AC 29. The tombs position near Neferefre's unfinished pyramid, proposes a spousal relationship. Significantly, her title "mother of the king" indicates that her progeny succeeded to the Egyptian throne. This king is not identified in the epigraphy of her tomb, but is probably either Menkauhor or the ephemeral Shepseskare.