First Intermediate Period tombs at Beni Hassan: problems and priorities (including BH no. 420 and the unpublished box coffin fragment BH3Liv)

Through a new approach to address the history and social stratigraphy of the so-called lower necropolis of Beni Hassan, focus is laid on tombs of the First Intermediate Period that had almost escaped attention since their excavation at the beginning of the 20th Century. By presenting tomb BH no. 420 and its funerary equipment as a show case, this article aims at demonstrating new ways of identifying tombs that closely belong to each other at sites that were poorly excavated or looted. In an attempt to also address sources wrongly considered as inconspicuous, an hitherto unpublished coffin fragment from BH no. 420 showing traces of an offering liturgy is published here for the first time.