LUXOR: Egypt’s authorities revealed artefacts and a linen-wrapped mummified body, possibly that of a top official from two tombs that were discovered two decades ago in the Nile city of Luxor but had not been fully unexplored.
The Ministry of Antiquities said the tombs located in the Draa Abul Naga necropolis on Luxor’s west bank had been noted by German archaeologist Frederica Kampp in the 1990s and had never been unexcavated or entered. The necropolis is located near the famed Valley of the Kings, where many pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, were buried.
It said that both tombs, which were given numbers by Kampp, were likely to date back to dynasties of the New Kingdom, which lasted several centuries until about 3,000 years ago.
Since Kampp’s discovery, “both tombs were left untouched” an Egyptian archaeological mission started work.
Along with the mummy, archaeologists found painted wooden funeral masks and several hundred carved statues, likely dating around the end of Egypt’s 17th Dynasty or the start of the 18th Dynasty, the ministry said.
The owner is unidentified, though the ministry said they have two possible identities.
The tomb might belong to “a person named Djehuty Mes whose name was engraved on one of the walls”, the ministry said.
Or it could belong to “the scribe Maati as his name and the name of his wife Mehi was inscribed on 50 funerary cones found in the tomb’s rectangular chamber”.
The other tomb was not excavated and only “uncovered” in April, the ministry said, adding that the tomb’s owner is not yet known.
“The tomb has a court lined with stone and mud-brick walls. It has a six-metre deep burial shaft at its southern side that lead to four side chambers,” the ministry said.
“Studies reveal that the tomb was reused in antiquity,” it said.
The tomb contained several artefacts and a depiction of “a person, probably the deceased’s brother, presenting offerings and flowers to the deceased and his wife”.
Egypt’s relics are a draw for foreign visitors and authorities hope new finds can help attract more as a way to help revive tourism hit by unrest that followed the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
In September, Egyptian archaeologists announced the discovery of a tomb of a prominent goldsmith who lived more than 3,000 years ago, unearthing statues, mummies, and jewellery in the latest major find near Luxor.
