Morocco’s National Rock Heritage Park has successfully identified more than 400 new archaeological heritage sites across the country.

Credit: Morocco World News

Aiming to study, document, and protect the deep-rooted heritage of Morocco, the park is planning more scientific and archaeological research programs, according to a statement made by the Ministry of Culture.

The park has also contributed to the establishment of excavation programs in the areas of Tata, Tan Tan, Al-Haouz, Aousserd, and other Moroccan regions. Furthermore, it is working to protect rock engravings from plunder and destruction in southern regions, according to the statement.

The Ministry also chaired a series of scientific and communication meetings which aimed to protect rock art sites. These meetings, according to the Ministry, help promote cultural heritage and encourage local and regional authorities to adhere to the program regulations to preserve the sites.

The Ministry also organizes training sessions for local actors that teach preservation of rock heritage, and offer tools and various means to raise awareness for the need to protect the national archaeological sites.

The statement added that the ministry has set up a Provincial Center for the Preservation and Interpretation of Rock Carvings in Tata—a province located in southwestern Morocco.

Recently, the Ministry promoted a draft law which would significantly bolster the protection and preservation of Morocco’s vast cultural heritage.

The Ministry is promising a higher level of consistency in its role of overseeing preservation. Additionally, the strategy integrates newly recognized international concepts of cultural heritage, said the ministry in a statement released by Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).

Author: Safaa Kasraoui | Source: Morocco World News [March 12, 2018]

A team from the Egypt's Mummies Conservation Project has finished restoring a group of seven mummies in the El-Muzawaa necropolis in Dakhla oasis, completing the first phase of the project, Gharib Sonbol, head of Ancient Egyptian restoration projects at the Ministry of Antiquities, told Ahram Online.

Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

The restoration of Al-Muzawaa necropolis mummies came within the framework of the project, which launched three years ago by the ministry to preserve and maintain all mummies stored in Egyptian storehouses.

Aymen Ashmawi, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities sector at the ministry, explains that the project started with the conservation of mummies in the Mostafa Kamel gallery storehouses in Alexandria and at the Alexandria National Museum, as well as those in the Kom Ushim stores in Fayum.

Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

According to Sonbol, the second phase of the project will begin shortly and will involve the restoration of several more mummies.

He explained that during the recently completed work, the team noted that two mummies have "screaming" faces, a term used to describe mummies with open mouths. The hands of a third mummy were bound with rope.

Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

“This is not the typical form of mummification, but it indicates that those people were cursed by the god or the priests during their lifetime,” Sonbol said.

He continued that the project offers a great opportunity for restorers to learn more about the death and life of those mummified people.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [March 10, 2018]

The archaeological site of Sedeinga is located in Sudan, a hundred kilometers to the north of the third cataract of the Nile, on the river's western shore. Known especially for being home to the ruins of the Egyptian temple of Queen Tiye, the royal wife of Amenhotep III, the site also includes a large necropolis containing sepulchers dating from the kingdoms of Napata and Mereo (seventh century BCE-fourth century CE), a civilization [1] mixing local traditions and Egyptian influences.

Aerial photo of the dig in December 2017 [Credit: Vincent Francigny/Sedeinga Archaeological Mission]

Tombs, steles, and lintels have just been unearthed by an international team led by researchers from the CNRS and Sorbonne Université as part of the French Section of Sudan's Directorate of Antiquities, co-funded by the CNRS and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. [2] They represent one of the largest collections of Meroitic inscriptions, the oldest language of black Africa currently known.

The necropolis of Sedeinga stretches across more than twenty-five hectares and is home to the vestiges of at least eighty brick pyramids and over a hundred tombs, dating from the kingdoms of Napata and Meroe (seventh century BCE-fourth century CE). The research programs carried out since 2009 [3] have focused on the chronology of the construction of this necropolis, which is difficult as there is very little remaining historical information on this civilization.

The Ataqeloula stele, discovered in November 2017 at the Sedeinga necropolis. It dates from the second century CE and commemorates a woman from Sedeinga high society, as well as prestigious members of her family [Credit: Vincent Francigny/Sedeinga Archaeological Mission]

The researchers have shown that most of the pyramids and tombs are buildings dating from the era of the Napata kingdom that were later adjusted by the Meroitics. These adjustments were thus made five centuries after the initial building on the site, which the Meroitics supplemented with new chapels built out of brick and sandstone blocks on the western side of the pyramids, and which were intended for the worship of the deceased. This practice was particular to the Napatans and Meroitics, who veritably revered the monuments of the past, unlike their Egyptian neighbors.

The funerary chapel surround, depicting the goddess Maat dating from the second century CE [Credit: Vincent Francigny/Sedeinga Archaeological Mission]

Pieces of decorated sandstone, such as steles as well as lintels and door surrounds, have been discovered at the surface, providing magnificent examples of Meroitic funerary art. For example, pigments -- mainly blue in color -- have been preserved on a stele found lying on its side. This is rare for objects of this kind, which typically are subjected to the vagaries of time. Another exceptional find: a chapel lintel representing Maat, the Egyptian goddess of order, equity, and peace. This is the first extant representation of this goddess depicting her with African characteristics.

Stele in the name of Lady Maliwarase [Credit: Claude Rilly/Sedeinga Archaeological Mission]

During the last excavation campaign in late 2017, the researchers discovered a stele in the name of a Lady Maliwarase. The stele sets out her kinship with the notables of Nubia (in the north of the kingdom of Meroe): she was the sister of two grand priests of Amon, and one of her sons held the position of governor of Faras, a large city bordering the second cataract of the Nile.

The archaeologists have also unearthed a lintel inscribed with four lines of text describing the owner of the sepulcher, another great lady, Adatalabe. She hailed from an illustrious lineage that included a royal prince, a member of the reigning family of Meroe. These two steles written for high-ranking women are not isolated examples in Sedeinga. In Meroitic society, it was indeed women who embodied the prestige of a family and passed on its heritage.

Funerary chapel lintel. The four lines of text describe the owner, Lady Adatalabe [Credit: Vincent Francigny/Sedeinga Archaeological Mission]

All these discoveries advance our knowledge of Meroitic civilization, which was born of the cultural intermixing of Egypt and black Africa that still characterizes Sudan today. These funerary objects represent the largest collection of texts in Meroitic, the oldest language of black Africa, written in characters borrowed from ancient Egyptian.

Notes

[1] The kingdoms of Napata and Meroe formed one and the same civilization, known as the "Kush kingdom" by their ancient Egyptian neighbors.

[2] The director of the mission, Claude Rilly, is a CNRS researcher at the Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire laboratory (CNRS/Inalco). He is co-leading this mission with Vincent Francigny, director of the SFDAS (MEAE). This research has been funded by the excavation commission of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the Orient et Méditerranée -- Textes-Archéologie-Histoire laboratory (CNRS/Sorbonne Université/Université Panthéon-Sorbonne/EPHE/Collège de France). The campaign carried out between November, 14 and December 19, 2017, the last to date, was awarded the Fondation Jean et Marie-Thérèse Leclant prize.

[3] Excavation work on the site began in 1963 and recommenced in 2009. It will continue until 2020 and is divided into three four-year plans, the last of which began in November 2017.

Source: CNRS [March 05, 2018]

Dating to between 3351 to 3017 BC, tattoos of animals and motifs have been discovered on two naturally mummified bodies from Egypt. Using infrared technology, figural tattoos of a wild bull and a sheep were identified on the upper arm of a male mummy, while linear and S-shaped motifs have been identified on the upper arm and shoulder of a female mummy; these are the oldest tattoos ever found on a female individual.

Under regular light, the details are less prominent. When first found in 1900, the tattoo was mistaken for a smudge [Credit: Trustees of the British Museum]

“The use of the latest scientific methods, including CT scanning, radiocarbon dating and infrared imaging, has transformed our understanding of the Gebelein mummies. Only now are we gaining new insights into the lives of these remarkably preserved individuals. Incredibly, at over 5,000 years of age, they push back the evidence for tattooing in Africa by a millennium,” Daniel Antoine, Curator of Physical Anthropology, said.

These naturally mummified individuals are from Egypt’s Predynastic period, the era preceding the country’s unification by the first pharaoh at around 3100 BC. All visible skin on these mummified individuals was examined for signs of body modification as part of a new programme of conservation and research.

This infrared image shows the male mummy known as Gebelein Man. On his arm, you can see his tattoos [Credit: Trustees of the British Museum]

Under infrared light, the details of the tattoo on his 5,000-year-old skin become visible [Credit: Trustees of the British Museum]

The male mummy, known as ‘Gebelein Man A’ has been on display in the British Museum almost continuously since his discovery around 100 years ago. Previous CT scans showed that Gebelein Man A was a young man (18–21 years of age) when he died from a stab wound to the back.

Dark smudges on his arm, appearing as faint markings under natural light, had  remained unexamined. Infrared photography recently revealed that these smudges were in fact tattoos of two slightly overlapping horned animals. The horned animals have been tentatively identified as a wild bull (long tail, elaborate horns) and a Barbary sheep (curving horns, humped shoulder). Both animals are well known in Predynastic Egyptian art. The designs are not superficial and have been applied to the dermis layer of the skin, the pigment was carbon-based, possibly some kind of soot.

The female Gebelein woman was also examined under infrared light [Credit: Trustees of the British Museum]

The female mummy, known as ‘Gebelein Woman’, has several tattoos; a series of four small ‘S’ shaped motifs can be seen running vertically over her right shoulder. Below them on the right arm is a linear motif which is similar to objects held by figures participating in ceremonial activities on painted ceramics of the same period.

It may represent a crooked stave, a symbol of power and status, or a throw-stick or baton/clappers used in ritual dance. The ‘S’ motif also appears on Predynastic pottery decoration, always in multiples.

Her shoulder bone bears four "S"-shaped lines. The pattern has been found on other pieces of art from this time period [Credit: Trustees of the British Museum]

On her abdomen, the Gebelein woman has a tattoo of a stave, or staff. One theory archaeologists have about their meaning is that the "S" shapes point to or emphasize the stave [Credit: Trustees of the British Museum]

The application of tattoos to the human body enjoyed a long and diverse history in many ancient cultures. At present the oldest surviving examples are the mainly geometric tattoos on the Alpine mummy known as Ötzi (4th millennium BC) whose skin was preserved by the ice of the Tyrolean Alps. Based on the radiocarbon dates, the Gebelein tattoos are approximately contemporary with Ötzi (3370–3100 BC), and can therefore be considered among the earliest surviving tattoos in the world.

These finds demonstrate conclusively that tattooing was practised during Egypt’s Predynastic period (c. 4000–3100 BC) by both men and women. As the oldest known tattooed figural motifs, they add to our understanding of the range of potential uses of tattoos at the dawn of ancient Egyptian civilisation and expand our view of the practice of tattooing in prehistoric times.

The full findings have been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Source: British Museum [March 02, 2018]

Egypt says archaeologists have discovered parts of a statue of one of its most famous pharaohs in the southern city of Aswan.

The head of a statue of one of the most famous pharaohs, Ramses II, that was discovered along with other parts of a statue in the Temple of Kom Ombo, in Aswan, 940 kilometres south of Cairo [Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities via AP]

The Antiquities Ministry said Tuesday the head and chest of the statue of Ramses II were found in the Temple of Kom Ombo during a project to protect the site from groundwater.

Egypt hopes the find, along with other recent discoveries, will help revive its tourism sector, which has been battered by years of unrest since the 2011 uprising.

Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great, ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC. He is credited with expanding Egypt's reach as far as modern Syria to the east and Sudan to the south.

Source: The Associated Press [February 28, 2018]

In the middle of the desert, six kilometres south of Tuna Al-Gabal archaeological site, Egyptian and international media gathered to witness the announcement of a new discovery.

Credit: Reuters

Five showcases displaying the artefacts uncovered from burial sites in the cemetery were guarded by inspectors. Minister of Antiquities Kaled El-Enany, who was on site, announced the discovery of a 26th Dynasty cemetery that consists of a large number of burial shafts.

Credit: Reuters

The discovery was made out by an Egyptian mission led by Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), who started excavations at end of 2017.

Credit: Reuters

“Excavation work is scheduled to last for five years in an attempt to uncover all the burials of the cemetery,” El-Enany told Ahram Online. He explained that the discovery is still fresh, and many more are to come as excavation continues.

Credit: Reuters

Waziri said that in the last three months the mission has discovered a group of tombs and burials that belong to priests of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, the main deity of the 15th nome and its capital Al-Ashmounein.


One the discovered tombs belongs to a high-priest of god Thoth, “Hersa-Essei”. The tomb houses 13 burials in which was found a large number of ushabti figurines carved in faience. A collection of 1,000 figurines are in a very good state of conservation while other statuettes were found broken in pieces.


“Restorers are now busy collecting all of the parts for restoration,” Waziri pointed out. He continued that four canopic jars made of alabaster with lids bearing the faces of the four sons of the god Horus were also unearthed.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

They are in a very good state of conservation and still contain the mummified inner organs of the deceased. The jars are decorated with hieroglyphic texts showing the name and titles of its respective owner.

Credit: Reuters

The mummy of high-priest “Djehuty-Irdy-Es” was also found. The mummy is decorated with a bronze collar depicting the god Nut stretching her wings to protect the deceased according to ancient Egyptian belief. It is also decorated with a collection of blue and red precious beads as well as bronze gilded sheets, two eyes carved in bronze and ornamented with ivory and crystal beads.

Credit: Reuters

Four amulets of semi-precious stones were also found on the mummy. It is decorated with hieroglyphic texts, one of which is engraved with a phrase saying: "Happy New Year.”

Credit: Reuters

The mission has also unearthed 40 limestone sarcophagi of different shapes and sizes, some of them with anthropoid lids decorated with the names and different titles of their owners.

Credit: Reuters

Another family tomb was uncovered in the cemetery, Waziri said. It houses a collection of gigantic sarcophagi of different shapes and sizes, ushabti figurines bearing the names of their owners who were priests of the gods during their time. Other funerary collections showing the skills and art tastes of the ancient Egyptians were also found.

Credit: Reuters

Al-Gurifa site was subject to an attempt at illegal excavation in 2002, a matter that led the SCA at the time to start comprehensive excavation work on site in 2002 and 2004 under the supervision of archaeologist Atta Makram.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

In 2004, the site was declared an archaeological site under the guard of the SCA. In 2017, excavation work resumed to uncover the part of the cemetery of the New Kingdom and Late Period.

Credit: Reuters

The cemeteries of the Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom were on the east bank of the Nile in Al-Sheikh Saad and Eeir Al-Barsha area.

Credit: Reuters

The Ptolemaic period of the cemetery was on the west bank of the Nile at Tuna Al-Gabal.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [February 24, 2018]

A Byzantine church dating from the late Roman era (5th – 7th century) was found in the Castilia archaeological site between Tozeur and Degach cities (Tozeur governorate) as part of the latest archaeological excavations conducted by the National Heritage Institute (French: INP) since February 2 till February 24.

Credit: INP

According to the initial reports, this discovery presented by a search team led by INP representative Mourad Chtioui in Tozeur governorate and Expert in Urban Archaeology Bassem Ben Saad, the architecture of the church is mainly made of a main entrance, two secondary entrances, two extensions and a circular monument. The church covers an area of 140m2 with an average height of 3.5, 3.7 meters.

Credit: TAP

In addition to the church’s columns, ceramic and pottery objects and oil lamps have also been found near the church, Chtioui told TAP. The discovery of this monument further affirms the historic value of the Djerid region and the presence of the Christian religion in Tunisia’s different regions, especially in the south, he pointed out.

Credit: TAP

INP Researcher Larbi Sghaier Larbi said for his part that these excavations had also revealed the presence of other walls near the church extending to the nearest oasis of the archaeological site.

These walls may be the remains of dwellings or buildings which functions and roles will be unveiled by the ongoing excavations, he indicated.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse [February 20, 2018]

The Egyptian Excavation Field School at Kom Al- Rasras archaeological site in Aswan has uncovered the remains of a Roman sandstone temple dating back to the 2nd century of the Roman era.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

The temple bears the cartouches of a number of Roman emperors such as Domitian (81-96 CE), Hadrian (117-138 CE) and Antonius Pius (138-161 CE).

Head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities at the Ministry of Antiquities Dr. Aymen Ashmawi explained that the excavation work has also discovered the temple's sanctuary, which consists of three chambers leading to a cross-sectional hall connected to another hall with a sand stone worked access ramp, inside it was found the remains of stone engraving with stars representing the sky. This could be part of the temple's ceiling.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

Dr. Ashmawi added that the temple might be connected to Gebel Al-Silsila area and was most probably part of the residential area of the quarry workers because the name of the site Khenu was engraved on one of the discovered blocks.

Further excavations may lead to the discovery of the residential area of Al-Silsila quarries.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

Dr. Bassem Gehad, Assistant to the Minister of Antiquities for Human Resources and training said that this is the first Egyptian excavation field school to be created. Such schools come within the framework of the Ministry of Antiquities to establish a number of Egyptian field schools in order to develop the skills of junior archaeologists in several archaeological domains among them the excavation, documentation restoration and site management, through the implementation of a number of lectures and field work.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

He pointed out that the Ministry has established four similar training centers in Alexandria, Upper Egypt, Giza and South-Sinai and is scheduled to establish six more schools to cover all Egypt.

The Al-Rasras field school started its training work in January 2018 where 16 archaeologists from Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan have been trained.

Source: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities [February 14, 2018]

Although the Grand Egyptian Museum overlooking Giza Plateau will celebrate a soft opening in December, it is the Egyptian Museum which will remain one of Egypt’s archaeological icons.

The screaming mummy [Credit: Ministry of Antiquities]

To highlight some of its distinguished treasured collections, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir overlooking Giza Plateau is to exhibit at its foyer and on a weekly basis, three of its artefacts that were located in a hidden display area, repatriated from abroad and stored in the basement.

This week the mummy of Unknown Man E and a gilded cartonnage mask with a shroud are the selected objects going on special display.

Elham Salah, head of the Museums Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, said the gilded cartonnage mask with a shroud was repatriated from the United States in 2017. The shroud looks like a net with beads used since the 21st Dynasty as a mummy cover.

Meanwhile, Unknown Man E is wrapped in sheepskin with trimmed toe nails dyed with henna and an open mouth which makes the mummy look as though he had been poisoned. The mummy possibly belongs to Prince Pentewere, a son of the 20th Dynasty King Ramses III, who had been involved in a conspiracy against his father.

“The gruesome mummy of Unknown Man E, also known as the ‘Screaming Mummy’, has long puzzled scholars,” renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that this particular mummy is surrounded in mystery. Although he was re-buried in the royal mummy cache of Deir Al-Bahari, he was not wrapped in the usual fine linen bandages like the rest of the mummies. Instead, he was wrapped in sheepskin, which was considered impure by the ancient Egyptians. His hands and feet were tied with leather thongs. He was not even mummified, but was merely left to dry in natron and then had some resin poured into his open mouth.

“Such unusual mummification has perplexed Egyptologists and no one has succeeded in knowing the story behind such a mummy until the launch of the Egyptian Mummy Project several years ago under my direction to create a complete database of forensic information related to the mummy collection at the Egyptian Museum,” Hawass said.

The DNA, he explains, extracted from the bones of the mummies of the Unknown Man E and Ramses III to identify the familial relationship, if any, confirmed that Unknown Man E is indeed the son of Ramses III. Hanging marks around the mummy’s neck match the account of the Harem Conspiracy Papyrus, which mentions that Pentawere was sentenced to be hanged. Considering the mummy’s disgraced status, and the way he was buried, he can be identified as the conspirator, Prince Pentawere, who plotted the murder of his father Ramses III. The Harem Conspiracy Papyrus is currently on display at the Museo Egizio in Turin.

Hawass told the Weekly of a conspiracy plotted against the life of Ramses III by his second wife, Tiye, and her son, Prince Pentawere. The conspirators included several army commanders, soldiers, servants from the palace, women from the harem of Ramses III and magicians. According to the papyrus, the conspirators were captured, and the text deals with their trial proceedings. However, the text does not indicate whether Ramses III was murdered. It only mentions that the “royal barque was overturned”, and referred to the king as the “great god”. This ambiguity caused quite a number of scholarly arguments and controversies, until the launch of the Egyptian Mummy Project.

As part of the project, on examining the mummy of Ramses III, Hawass pointed out new evidence about his life and death. He died at the age of 60 and suffered from atherosclerosis. But he did not die of old age. Further examination of the neck region revealed that someone surprised the king from behind, and stabbed him in the neck with a sharp, pointed weapon, like a dagger. The width of the severe cut in the soft is 35mm, and it extends deep to reach the lower end of the fifth to seventh vertebrae. The wound severed all the structures of the neck including the esophagus, trachea and the large blood vessels.

CT-scans also showed that the mummy retained its entire original amulets. A Wedjat eye amulet, representing the eye of Horus, was inserted in the rim of the throat wound. The Wedjat eye is a symbol of protection and healing. It represents the eye of Horus that was wounded in one of the battles between Horus and Seth and magically restored by the god Thoth. By placing this amulet inside the wound, the embalmers hoped for the healing of the king’s wound in the afterlife. The scans also showed four amulets representing the four sons of Horus inserted in the chest among the bandages to protect the mummy.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [February 12, 2018]

The archaeological excavation of an ancient Egyptian city at Tell Edfu in southern Egypt, led by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, has discovered well-preserved settlement remains dating to an important turning point in ancient Egyptian history, when the pharaohs began to renew interest in the provincial regions in the far south of their kingdom.

The excavation site at Tell Edfu (with the temple of Horus and the modern town of Edfu in the background)  [Credit: G. Marouard]

The dig revealed two large buildings that mark the earliest occupation uncovered so far in this part of the town, dating to about 2400-2350 BCE in the late Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Ancient Egyptians made beer and bread and smelted copper in the complex, which was likely built to accommodate important officials sent from the royal capital in Memphis to oversee expeditions to mine precious metals and stones from the surrounding deserts.

“It’s a wonderful find because we have so little information about this era of settlement in the southern provinces,” said Nadine Moeller, associate professor of Egyptian archaeology, who leads the excavation together with Oriental Institute research associate Gregory Marouard. “We don’t know any such similar complex for the Old Kingdom.”

UChicago graduate student Emilie Sarrazin and researcher Katarina Arias (Charles University, Prague)  sampling the content of a large Old Kingdom storage jar [Credit: G. Marouard]

The Oriental Institute team has been excavating Tell Edfu, an ancient city located in the Nile Valley about 400 miles south of Cairo, for more than 16 years. In that time, they’ve worked backward through time to finally reveal the earliest parts of the settlement at the site.

Last December, they unearthed two large mudbrick buildings that appear to be centers for official administration. They are surrounded by vast open courtyards and workshops, where the excavation uncovered storage containers and other artifacts that suggest manufacturing activities such as bread and beer-making, as well as copper slag, pieces of crucibles, small weights and other evidence of metallurgy.

Ongoing excavation of the Oriental Institute team on the large administrative area of the late 5th Dynasty  (ca. 2350 BCE) [Credit: G. Marouard]

Inside the complex, in rooms and pits dug into the courtyard floors, they uncovered more than 200 broken clay sealings. These once served as official sealing stamps on boxes, bags and ceramic storage containers, as well as sealed papyrus letters. Many of these clay sealings carry hieroglyph names and titles of high officials, including an official who was the leader of the sementiu, a group of royal prospectors who carried out mining missions for King Djedkare-Isesi.

These expeditions would have supplied metals for the king, the elites of his court and construction projects in the capital at Memphis. Red Sea shells and rare Nubian imported ceramics further confirm the link to royal expeditions into the Eastern Desert, the researchers said.

Ceramicist Aaron De Souza (Macquarie University, Sydney) studying Nubian imported pottery found at the site  [Credit: G. Marouard]

“It’s just about this time that the Egyptian royalty, until then focused on the northern area directly around the capital Memphis, began to expand its reach after a period of contraction during the fourth and much of the fifth dynasties,” Moeller said. “This is a first sign that the ancient city of Edfu was evolving into an important departure point for large expeditions leaving for the Eastern desert regions, and possibly the Red Sea shore, located about 125 miles to the east.”

A number of oddities puzzled the archaeologists. The largest building has outer façades with a very distinct slope. “It’s very well-constructed and so the slope is certainly intentional, which highlights the architectural peculiarity of this monument,” Marouard said. “We don’t know of any other structure within an urban context in Egypt that looks like this.”

Example of a clay sealing bearing two of the names of King Djekare-Isesi (ca. 2400-2350 BCE)  [Credit: N. Moeller]

Additionally, even after the complex was abandoned, the massive, eight-foot-thick walls were never stripped and recycled for new buildings, as was the general practice. Even the entrance is perfectly preserved with the wooden door still in place—in a country where wood is rare and expensive.

Given that the buildings were set so close to the temple—about 20 yards—it’s possible they had religious or cult ties, the researchers said.


“It’s such a unique site. We’ve had a hard time finding architectural parallels, because no other settlement in Upper Egypt has such extensive remains from this time period,” Moeller said. “We’ve learned so much at Tell Edfu, and there’s still more to come.”

More than a dozen UChicago students have worked on the Tell Edfu excavation since it began, Moeller said. Current UChicago students include Emilie Sarrazin, Oren Siegel and Sasha Rohret.

Author: Louise Lerner | Source: University of Chicago [February 07, 2018]

An Egyptian archaeological mission led by Dr. Mostafa Wazir, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities has discovered an Old Kingdom tomb of a lady called “Hetpet” who was a top official in the royal palace during the end of the fifth Dynasty.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

The tomb was found during excavation work carried out in Giza western cemetery, which houses tombs of the Old Kingdom’s top officials discovered by previous archaeological missions since 1842.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

The newly discovered tomb of “Hetpet” has the architectural style and the decorative elements of the fifth Dynasty with an entrance leading to an “L” shape shrine with a purification basin.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

On its western rare end there is a rectangular arcade lined with incense and offering holders. There is also a naos with a yet missing statue of the tomb’s owner.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

The tomb has very distinguished wall paintings in a very good conservation condition depicting “Hetpet” standing in different hunting and fishing scenes or sitting before a large offering table receiving offerings from her children.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

Scenes of reaping fruits, melting metals and the fabrication of leather and papyri boats as well as musical and dancing performances are also shown on walls.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

Among the most distinguished paintings in the tomb are those depicting two monkeys in two different positions. Monkeys were domestic animals at the time.

Credit: Ministry of Antiquities

The first scene shows a monkey reaping fruits while the second displays a monkey dancing in front of an orchestra.


Similar scenes are found in other tombs. The first one is painted on the wall of a 12th Dynasty tomb of “Khnoum Hetep II” in Beni Hassan in Menia Governorate and the second is found in an Old Kingdom tomb of “Ka-Iber” in Saqqara but it displays a dancing monkey in front of a guitarist not an orchestra.

Source: Ministry of Antiquities [February 04, 2018]