The changes observed in mortuary customs during the Third Intermediate Period and what they reflect in the broader cultural context at the time are fascinating. Taylor (2010) discusses how the beginning of this phase is marked by a reduction in burial customs. I thought the minimalization in royal burials from the Third Intermediate Period compared to earlier periods was particularly interesting. During the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, there was a significantly high allocation of resources poured into the funerary customs for the pharaoh. Royal tombs uncovered from the Third Intermediate Period however, do not demonstrate the same unique distinction. There are few discovered royal tombs from the Third Intermediate Period, but the royal necropolis at Tanis with burials of pharaohs from the 21st and 22nd Dynasties demonstrates the changes in mortuary practices, and more broadly the contemporary sociopolitical context. The kings were not interred in singularly distinct tombs and were not associated with the impressive and imposing mortuary monuments that were so characteristic in the previous kingdoms. While the kings of the 21st and 22nd Dynasties underwent the mummification process and had richly furnished tombs, the splendor of grave goods was comparatively diminished and some pieces were recycled. Taylor notes that not only does this represent a limited amount of available resources, but also a reduced authority in the ideology of royal burials. Additionally, the division between king and subject did not seem to be as stark. For example, the royal tombs at Tanis deviate from the New Kingdom in not depicting the religious sun journey illustrations and lacking many of the previously common textual pieces. Instead, these tombs illustrate the weighing of the heart process from the Book of the Dead which was used by non-elites before, but never seen in a pharaoh’s funerary context. Taylor suggests that this shift to a relatively less opulent mortuary behavior for royalty was associated with the greater number and influence of Libyans in Egyptian society who did not share comparable mortuary traditions.

While the earlier rulers in the Third Intermediate Period were of Libyan descent, the final 25th Dynasty was marked by Kushite rule in Egypt and a concomitant shift in mortuary practices (Bard, 2015; Taylor, 2010). This change in rulership was associated with a renewal of traditional Egyptian mortuary customs (Taylor, 2010). Although buried in Upper Nubia, the Kushite kings were interred in pyramid monuments with chapels associated with Egyptian religion and tradition (Bard, 2015). Multiple aspects of these tombs demonstrate the adoption of Egyptian cultural by Nubians while they were previously under Egyptian rule; however, this adoption by the Kushite kings was selective, as these aspects were combined to varying degrees with features of traditional Nubian culture (Bard, 2015). These patterns of mortuary archaeology during the Third Intermediate Period are interesting in how they reflect kingship and the weight given to traditional Egyptian ideological beliefs regarding royalty.