Return to the tomb: the first season of the Mastaba of Akhmerutnisut Documentation Project (G 2184, Giza, Egypt)

Abstract

The first season of the Mastaba of Akhmerutnisut Documentation Project (MAD‑P) took place between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. This project, which aims to document the tomb of Akhmerutnisut, is the first luso‑brazilian collaboration in Egypt. Akhmerutnisut was a Fifth Dynasty official of the Old Kingdom, whose tomb was built in the Western Cemetery of Giza (G 2184). Initially excavated in the early twentieth century, the mastaba has never been fully published and is currently deteriorating rapidly. The present article starts by contextualizing the funerary monument and its owner, later providing an overview of MAD‑P’s first season, focusing in particular on the methodologies employed in the study of G 2184. Future plans are also discussed, as is the urgent need for further preservation, conservation, and publication of the many understudied tombs from the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties in Giza.