Kaemsekhem (born 2570 BC) was an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian nobleman and probably the son of Crown Prince

Kawab Kawab ( 2600 BC - 2570 BC) was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was the eldest son of King Khufu and Queen Meritites I. Kawab served as vizier and was buried in the double mastaba G 7110–7120 in the east field which is part ...

and

Hetepheres II Hetepheres II ( 2590 BC - 2500 BC) was a queen of ancient Egypt during the 4th Dynasty. Biography Birth and family Queen Hetepheres II may have been one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, which la ...

. He later served as the director of the royal palace. He was buried in mastaba G 7660 in the

Giza East Field The East Field is located to the east of the Great Pyramid of Giza and contains cemetery G 7000. This cemetery was a burial place for some of the family members of Khufu. The cemetery also includes mastabas from tenants and priests of the pyrami ...

, which is part of the

Giza Necropolis The Giza pyramid complex (also called the Giza necropolis) in Egypt is home to the Great Pyramid, the pyramid of Khafre, and the pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx. All were built during ...

Family

Kaemsekhem was probably a son of Prince

and Queen

. He was born during the reign of King

Khufu Khufu or Cheops (died 2566 BC) was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his ...

, who may be his grandfather. Kaemsekhem's wife was Ka'aper, and they had two sons named Rawer and Minkhaf. The titles of Kaemsekhem were: ''King’s

rand The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

on'', ''Director of the Palace'', etc.

Tomb

Kaemsekhem was buried at

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...

in mastaba G 7660. In the tomb, his father and mother are mentioned. The chapel was decorated but the scenes are damaged. In the chapel, an offering scene would have shown Kaesekhem seated before a table with offerings. On the west wall, fragmentary scenes showing the slaughter of animals remain. In another scene on the west wall, Kaemsekhem and his wife Ka'aper are depicted. Kaemsekhem was standing with a staff, dressed in a short outfit with a panther-skin over it. His wife is standing beside her husband with her arm over his shoulder. In front of Kaemsekhem a small boy named Minkhaf is shown holding his father's staff with his right hand. To the left of this scene five registers of small figures, including images representing the funerary estates, are shown. The registers also show servants bringing birds and other items. Scribes are shown in the scenes as well.George A. Reisner and William Stevenson Smith, ''A History of the Giza Necropolis II, Appendix B: Cemetery 7000'' by George Reisner, Harvard University Press, 1955, pp. 107
Appendix B: Cemetery 7000 by George Reisner
On the north wall a large boating scene dominates the top of the wall. Below this scene women are shown carrying bags, boxes and other items. Further scenes show the slaughter of a bull. The scenes on the south wall are largely destroyed, but scenes flanking the doorway depicted Khaemsekhem and his wife Ka'aper. One scene on the facade shows Khaemsekhem standing with a staff, while a son must have held on to this staff. The son's figure has been obliterated but his name is recorded as Rawer. Shaft G 7660A belonged to Ka'aper, the wife. There was no canopic pit, and no trace of the original funerary equipment was found in this shaft. Shaft G 7660B belonged to Kaemsekhem and consisted of two chambers. The second chamber was the burial chamber and still contained the granite sarcophagus of Kaemsekhem. It was inscribed with his name and titles and is now in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Later constructions

Later in the Old kingdom, several smaller mastabas were built near G 7660. To the north a small mastaba (G 7652) was built up against Kaemsekhem's tomb. To the north-east G 7652 was added, while to the east G 7662 and G 7663 were constructed. These additional mastabas were constructed during the 5th Dynasty or 6th Dynasty.The Giza Archives
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011131428/http://www.gizapyramids.org/ , date=2008-10-11 Online database maintained by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts During the Ptolemaic Period, superstructures were added and several burial shafts constructed.

References

Princes of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt 3rd-millennium BC births 3rd-millennium BC deaths Egyptian Museum Mastabas