The
18th Dynasty tomb of the goldsmith of the god Amun-Re has been uncovered in the
Draa Abul-Naga necropolis on Luxor’s west bank, reports Nevine El-Aref.
Despite
the heat wave that hit Luxor on Saturday last week, hundreds of Egyptian, Arab
and foreign journalists, the crews of TV channels and photographers, as well as
foreign ambassadors to Egypt, flocked to the Draa Abul-Naga necropolis on the
west bank of the Nile to explore the newly discovered tomb of the goldsmith of
the ancient Egyptian god Amun-Re.
Although
the tomb belongs to a goldsmith, its funerary collection does not contain any
gold. Instead, it houses a collection of stone and wood ushabti figurines of
different types and sizes, mummies, painted and anthropoid wooden sarcophagi,
and jewellery made of precious and semi-precious stones.
“It
is a very important discovery that sheds light on the necropolis’ history and
promotes tourism to Egypt,” Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told
Al-Ahram Weekly. He added that although the tomb was not in a very good
condition because it had been reused in a later period, its contents could
yield clues to other discoveries.
“It
contains a collection of 50 limestone funerary cones, 40 of which are evidence
of the presence of four other official tombs,” El-Enany asserted.
He
added that the discovery of the goldsmith’s tomb had come to light in April
when the same Egyptian excavation mission had uncovered the tomb of Userhat, a
New Kingdom city councillor. While removing the debris from the tomb,
excavators had stumbled upon a hole at the end of one of the tomb’s chambers
which had led them to another tomb.
“More
excavations within the hole revealed a double statue of the goldsmith and his
wife depicting his name and titles,” El-Enany said, adding that the find was
significant because of the high number of artefacts found intact in the tomb.
In
the courtyard of the tomb, he said, a Middle Kingdom burial shaft had been
found with a family burial of a woman and her two children. “The work has not
finished,” El-Enany said, adding that the excavation would continue in order to
reveal more of the tomb’s secrets as another hole had been found within the
burial shaft that could lead to another discovery.
“I
believe that due to the evidence we have found we could uncover one, two, or
maybe other tombs in this area if we are lucky,” El-Enany said.
Luxor
Governor Mohamed Badr attended the ceremony as well as MPs, the Greek and
Cypriot ambassadors to Egypt, the Chinese cultural attaché and the Swiss head
of mission.
Mustafa
Waziri, head of the excavation mission and director of Luxor antiquities, said
that the tomb had got its number (Kampp 390) as German Egyptologist Frederica
Kampp had registered the tomb’s entrance but had never excavated or entered it.
The
tomb, he continued, belongs to a goldsmith named Amenemhat and could be dated
to the second half of the 18th Dynasty. It includes an entrance located in the
courtyard of another Middle Kingdom tomb numbered Kampp150. The entrance leads
to a square chamber where a niche with a dual statue depicting the tomb’s owner
and his wife is found.
The
statue shows the goldsmith sitting on a high-backed chair beside his wife who
wears a long dress and a wig. Between their legs stands a little figure of one
of their sons.
The
tomb has two burial shafts, a main one for the tomb’s owner and the second one
located to the left of the tomb’s main chamber. The main shaft is seven metres
deep and houses a collection of mummies, sarcophagi and funerary masks carved
in wood along with a collection of ushabti figurines. The second shaft bears a
collection of 21st and 22nd Dynasty sarcophagi which deteriorated during the
Late Period.... READ MORE.
- More about tombs of Dra Abu El-Naga CLICK HERE
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