Old Kingdom Mummy: The “Sleeper” of Abydos

This remarkably preserved Old Kingdom mummy offers a rare insight into early Egyptian burial practice, revealing a period when the body was arranged not in rigid formality, but in carefully composed repose. Through its posture, materials, and craftsmanship, it preserves a fleeting moment of ancient ritual, belief, and human care.

He was laid down as if drifting into sleep; his limbs gently folded, his head supported, his body wrapped with care. In this quiet arrangement, the Ancient Egyptians expressed one of their deepest convictions; that death was not an end, but a passage into rest, renewal, and rebirth.

The fingers and toes were wrapped individually, as were the arms and legs; a meticulous practice reflecting the Old Kingdom concern for preserving the body in its entirety. By the late Old Kingdom, members of the provincial elite were no longer buried in the great court necropolises of Giza and Saqqara, but instead interred in local cemeteries close to the regions they governed.

Although now badly deteriorated, this mummy was once carefully wrapped in multiple layers of fine linen bandages, impregnated with tree resin to stiffen the fabric and allow it to be moulded closely to the form of the body beneath. The deceased lies on his side in a pose evocative of sleep, his neck supported by a headrest, the hands drawn forward, and the knees slightly flexed, a posture suggesting repose rather than rigidity.

The body was originally arranged in this side-lying position prior to the onset of rigor mortis, reflecting early funerary concepts in which death was closely associated with sleep. It was only after the Old Kingdom that mummies came to be consistently laid flat on the back.

The mummy was placed within a large rectangular wooden coffin, of which only the base now remains. This coffin may once have been housed within a larger limestone sarcophagus. Constructed from massive cedar planks dowelled together, the coffin was left undecorated and uninscribed. The identity of the deceased remains unknown, and the mastaba at Abydos from which the burial originated was never formally recorded.

In antiquity or through post-burial disturbance, the head, hands, and feet became detached. These elements were later carefully reattached by modern conservators, stabilising the body while respecting its original posture and composition. Though the mummy’s relaxed, almost lounging posture may appear unusual to modern eyes, it is not the product of display. Instead, it reflects both an early Egyptian understanding of death as sleep and the careful work of modern conservation, which has preserved (rather than altered) the intentions of the original burial.