Serie: Uppsala Studies in Egyptology

During excavations conducted by the University of Basel mission in the Valley of the Kings, more than 700 fragments of jar labels and stamps on handles and sealings were discovered to the east of the tomb of Seti I (KV 17). The location of the discovery and the explicit mention of Seti I on several hundred fragments led to the conclusion that these marly clay jars had mainly been used to store wine in the funerary furnishings of this king.Not only is this the largest collection from a New Kingdom royal tomb, but it also provides a valuable clue to the chronology of this period, dating from the eighth year of Seti I’s reign. It also sheds light on the economic policy in the Delta at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty. The combination of philological, palaeographic and ceramological observations also makes it possible for the first time to reconstruct the organisation of a pharaonic vineyard and the evolution of wine-making and administrative practices. Finally, the funerary context reveals the highly symbolic nature of the choice of wine accompanying the sovereign into the afterlife.