Archery-related texts for an unidentified tomb of a royal tutor

A large limestone ostracon, labelled as Ostracon LHTT 5499 (oLHTT 5499), was found in 2018 by the archaeological team of the SNSF-project “Life Histories of Theban Tombs” (LHTT) of the University of Basel in the forecourt of tomb K 555 in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. The texts on the ostracon constitute a further example of a relatively small corpus of texts on archery and the physical training of royal children. The handwriting analysis of the cursive or linear hieroglyphic texts suggests that the entire surface was inscribed by the same individual, who likely copied the content as a model for a tomb inscription. The find’s major significance lies in the fact that it provides an insight into the Egyptian perception on the importance of the education of royal children. Due to phraseological similarities with an inscription in the tomb of Min (TT 109), it also allows the verification and the improvement of the reading of a previously known textual source on the subject. The find, being a textual ostracon with a hitherto unknown text, presupposes the existence of a so-far unidentified early or mid-Eighteenth Dynasty tomb of a royal tutor at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna.