Intact tomb found in Egypt’s Valley of Kings
From MSNBC - “Through a partially opened underground door, Egyptian authorities gave a peek into the first tomb uncovered in the Valley of the Kings since King Tut’s in 1922. U.S. archaeologists said they discovered the tomb by accident while working on a nearby site.”
Still unknown is whose mummies are in the five wooden sarcophagi with painted funeral masks, surrounded by alabaster jars inside the undecorated single-chamber tomb.
The tomb, believed to be about 3 000 years old, dating to the 18th Dynasty, does not appear to be that of a pharaoh, said Edwin Brock, co-director of the University of Memphis that discovered the site.
“I don’t think it’s a royal tomb, maybe members of the court,” he told The Associated Press. “Contemporaries of Tutankhamen are possible - or of Amenhotep III or even Horemheb.”
Egypt’s antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, said, “Maybe they are mummies of kings or queens or nobles, we don’t know. But it’s definitely someone connected to the royal family.”
“It could be the gardener,” Schaden joked to Hawass at the site. “But it’s somebody who had the favour of the king because not everybody could come and make their tomb in the Valley of the Kings.”
So far, archaeologists have not entered the tomb, having only opened part of its 1,5-metre-high entrance door last week. But they have peered inside the single chamber to see the sarcophagi, believed to contain mummies, surrounded by around 20 pharaonic jars.
On Friday, Egyptian antiquities authorities allowed journalists a first look into the tomb, located near the tomb of Tutankhamen - the last new burial site discovered in the valley, on Nov. 4, 1922, by British archaeologist Howard Carter.
At the bottom of a 10-metre-deep pit, a narrow shaft leads down another 5 metres to the door, made of blocks of stone. A hole about a 30 centimetres wide has been cleared from the door.
Inside the chamber - about 4 by 5 metres - alabaster pots, some broken, are lined up next to the sarcophagi. One of the coffins has toppled and faces the door, showing its white, painted face. Another is partially open, showing a brown cloth covering the mummy inside.
“It was a wonderful thing. It was just so amazing to find an intact tomb here after all the work that’s been done before. This was totally unexpected,” Brock said.
The discovery has broken the long-held belief that there’s nothing left to dig up in the Valley of the Kings, the desert region near the southern city of Luxor used as a burial ground for pharoahs, queens and nobles in the 1500 BC to 1000 BC New Kingdom.
The 18th Dynasty lasted from around 1500 to 1300 BC and included the famed King Tut.
