Acknowledgments
This book is the culmination of years of work, and it would not have been possible without the help and support (both academic and emotional) of my professors, friends, and family. The Egyptians expressed thanks using the phrase 
dwê£ nâ¸sn nṯr âto praise god for them.â Those seem like the ideal words to express my gratitude to everyone who helped me along the way.
First and foremost, I am grateful for my dissertation committee, Brian Muhs, Jan Johnson, and Petra Goedegebuure. I cannot thank them enough for all of their encouragement and guidance over the course of this project, as well as for being excellent instructors during my years of coursework before this project began.
I also must extend thanks to Jim Allen. My journey into Egyptology began in his Middle Egyptian class at Brown University. The unending support and the resources that he provided to me were an invaluable help to this project. I would also like to thank Nadine Moeller for always being available and enthusiastically helpful whenever I had a question about anything archaeological.
My graduate school experience would not have been the same without my good friends and colleagues Oren Siegel and Joey Cross. This study really began in the Old Egyptian and Old Egyptian texts classes that the three of us took together, and my work has greatly benefited from our countless discussions of Egyptian texts, Old Kingdom archaeology, and Afro-Asiatic linguistics. Moreover, I have greatly benefited from their friendship.
And finally, I must of course express my gratitude to my fiancée Rafaela, my parents T.R. and Melody, my sister Molly, my brother Russell, and my sister-in-law Emily. They have been a constant source of love and support throughout my life.