Rifeh is the name in Egyptology for a series of cemeteries in Middle Egypt on the West Bank. Essential finds include all periods. Some rock-cut tombs of the Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC) are significant. The cemeteries belonged to the ancient town of Shashotep, the main centre in Upper Egyptian province 11. Rifeh was an ancient Egyptian necropolis located in Egypt’s nearby modern village of Deir Rifeh (also known as Rifa). The name often refers to a series of ancient Egyptian cemeteries nearby. These are the burial grounds of the ancient Shashotep—the cemeteries date from the end of the First Intermediate Period to the Roman Period. The burials of the Middle Kingdom are significant.
Location of Rifeh Necropolis
The necropolis of Rifeh lies in the nearby mountains opposite Deir Rifeh village in the Asyut governorate.
History
Shashotep was the capital of the 11th Upper Egyptian province during this Period. Several decorated rock-cut tombs were carved into the rocky hills. They belong to the local governors of the Period. Nakht-Khnum and Nefer-Khnum are the two whose names survived. In front of these tombs were burials of lower officials working for these regional governors. One is the Tomb of Two Brothers, which was undisturbed and still contained an array of essential artefacts.
Further away and closer to the Nile were the burials of the more common people. Typical for many of these burials dating to the Middle Kingdom model clay houses, once placed on top of the burial. They are called “soul houses” in Egyptology. Other tombs belonged to the Second Intermediate Period and the New Kingdom when Shashotep was no longer the province’s capital.
The cemeteries were excavated in 1906 by Flinders Petrie. The results were published in 1907.