The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Friday the discovery of a royal tomb dating back over 3,600 years in the Anubis Mountain necropolis, located in the Abydos area of Sohag Governorate, southern Egypt. The find was made by an Egyptian-American archaeological mission and is believed to belong to a king who reigned during the Second Intermediate Period, preceding King Seneb Kay.
Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized the importance of the discovery. "The discovery of the royal tomb in Abydos provides new scientific evidence on the development of royal tombs in the Anubis Mountain necropolis, which date back to the Abydos Dynasty, a series of kings who ruled Upper Egypt between 1700-1600 BCE," he said, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. "This discovery also adds new information about the kings of this dynasty and a deeper understanding of the complex political history of the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt," he added.
The newly uncovered tomb is believed to be much larger than other known tombs previously attributed to the Abydos Dynasty. Although the name of the tomb's owner remains unknown, initial evidence points to its historical significance. Inside the tomb, archaeologists found remains of inscriptions depicting the goddesses Isis and Nephthys on either side of the entrance leading to the burial chamber. Yellow cartouches, which once bore the king's name in hieroglyphs, were also discovered. The style of the decorations and texts resembles those previously found in the tomb of King Seneb Kay, considered the oldest decorated royal tomb in ancient Egypt.
The tomb consists of a limestone burial chamber covered with vaults made of mud bricks, which originally reached a height of about five meters. Joseph Wegner, the head of the Egyptian-American mission working in Abydos, noted that the tomb is located at a depth of about seven meters below the surface, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. The mission plans to continue research and study to accurately determine the tomb's date and uncover more about its enigmatic owner.
In a parallel discovery, another Egyptian archaeological mission uncovered a pottery workshop from the Roman era in the village of Banawit, also in Sohag Governorate. The workshop was one of the largest factories supplying the Ninth Nome with pottery and glass, indicating the region's economic significance during the Roman era. Dr. Khaled explained,
Preliminary studies at the Banawit site indicate that it was used during the Byzantine era and later repurposed as a necropolis between the 7th and 14th centuries CE. Archaeologists found a collection of burials and mud-brick constructed tombs, including mass burials of men, women, and children—the majority being children. Among the notable findings was "the mummy of a child placed in a sleeping position, wearing a cap made of colored fabric," according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. The site also revealed remains of ancient plants, including roots of wheat, barley seeds, and doum palm, providing insight into the agricultural life of that period.
Dr. Hussein Abdel Bassir, an expert in Egyptian antiquities, suggested that "the discovery may contribute to a deeper understanding of the historical sequence of the kings of the Abydos Dynasty, who ruled in Upper Egypt during a period of turmoil between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the New Kingdom," according to Youm7. He described the discovered royal tomb as "a remarkable development in the concept of funerary architecture during the Second Intermediate Period." Bassir also noted that "the discovery of inscriptions representing the goddesses Isis and Nephthys is evidence of the continuation of religious rituals associated with protecting the king in the afterlife, which is consistent with the funerary texts in the Middle and New Kingdoms," as reported by Asharq Al-Awsat.
The Anubis Mountain necropolis is one of the most important royal burial sites in the Abydos area. Several kings of the Abydos Dynasty and earlier Thirteenth Dynasty rulers built their tombs deep in the desert near the mountain. The mountain itself takes the shape of a pyramid, which is why King Senusret III chose it to build his tomb beneath the natural pyramidal peak, in a first-of-its-kind precedent in Egyptian civilization.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
