Treasure of El Lahun

The treasure of El Lahun is a significant cache of Middle Kingdom artefacts discovered in 'tomb 8', a subsidiary burial belonging to Sithathoriunet, presumed daughter of Senusret II, at his funerary complex in El Lahun. The treasure was held in decorated ebony chests and features a unique 'crown of Sithathoriunet' bearing an ajouré uraeus with an accompanying gold embellished wig; an exquisite cloisonné 'pectoral of Senusret II' with a minutely-detailed repoussé et ciselé reverse; a second near identical 'pectoral of Amenemhat III'; two distinct sets of jewellery; a set of toiletries, including a mirror with an intricate, inlaid handle; a set of calcite oil and obsidian cosmetic jars; and many other varia. The majority of these finds reside in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City, though a few items are in the Egyptian Museum (the EMC) in Cairo.

Sithathoriunet lived through the reigns of three pharaohs – Senusret II, Senusret III, and Amenemhat III – during the apogee of the Middle Kingdom, when she amassed a considerable collection of valuable items. Upon her death, she was buried with these in a shaft tomb south of Senusret II's pyramid. The tomb was plundered in antiquity, but the robbers failed to notice a small recess carved into the lower half of the antechamber's west wall that contained five chests bearing many of her riches. The breaching of her tomb left it open to the elements allowing successive floods to fill the recess with mud and bury her treasures. While the organic contents of her hoard decayed and the tarnishable materials corroded irreparably, the artefacts sat otherwise undisturbed for millennia.

In early February 1914, archaeologists working for the British School of Archaeology in Egypt (BSAE) under Flinders Petrie rediscovered and cleared the recess, carefully documenting every minute bead, scrap of material, and surviving artefact. Gaston Maspero, then Director-General of the Department of Antiquities, chose only a few items for the museum in Cairo, as it had already received similar hoards from the galleries of Sithathor and Mereret at Dahshur.