"Clear away the sand from your face": some features of the ancient Egyptian bur-ial rites in the second half of the III millennium BC
The article is devoted to some features of the ancient Egyptian burial rites of III millennium B.C. identified during the work of the Russian Archaeological Mission of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Giza. The method of inhumation (on the left side, mainly heading north, facing east) and the sanding under the bodies of the deceased probably had a ritual character; it marked the existence of certain apotropaic ideas, probably related to the ritual purity of the burial place, and was intended to protect the body of the deceased from evil forces. These actions had archaic features and were reflected in the “Pyramid Texts”.