Tombs in transition: MIDAN.05 and windows in the Eighteenth Dynasty

Windows are a very rare element in Theban tombs, pres¬ent only in the Eighteenth Dynasty, mainly in its early part. The University of Pisa excavations at Dra Abu el-Naga recently added three new examples of tombs with this feature: MIDAN.05, whose investigation has been completed in 2014, and two new tombs, T1 and T2, opening onto its forecourt, not yet excavated. MIDAN.05, a T-shaped tomb with one single window, probably dates in its first phase to the true beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, when rishi-coffins were still in use. This paper suggests that the evolution of new models of funerary ar¬chitecture in the New Kingdom must be slightly backdated to the very beginning of the Eighteenth Dynas¬ty, before Hatshepsut. At the same time the importance of openings –both intercolumnia and windows– in saff-tombs as well in the early Eighteenth Dynasty Theban funerary architecture stresses the vitality of a tradition well rooted in the Middle Kingdom, possibly related to the solar cult.