Qaou el-Kebir : l’expression du pouvoir d’une famille de notables provinciaux et le culte des ancêtres au Moyen Empire

The dating of the monumental tombs at Qaw el-Kebir has long constituted an anomaly in the reconstruction of the historical framework of the provinces in the Middle Kingdom. These large funerary complexes have often been attributed to the reigns of Senusret III and Amenemhat III, which would have provided evidence of a particularly important demonstration of provincial power precisely at a time when such monuments stopped being built elsewhere in Egypt. This paper offers some reflections on the sculptural material uncovered at the site and argues that the presence of late Middle Kingdom statues has misled scholars regarding the dating of these tombs. Actually, the construction of these buildings does not date to the end of Dynasty 12, but to its first half (1950-1850 BC), a time when nomarchs’ displays of power was at its peak. The successors of the owners of these tombs then continued to enrich the former nomarchs’ funerary complexes by placing their own statues there, for several generations. This practice of reusing (or rather continuing to use) funerary monuments, linked to a cult of ancestors and deified dignitaries, far from being atypical, is well attested in the Middle Kingdom.