Four
intact child burials, a cemetery and a headless statue of Greek goddess Artemis
have been discovered by different missions. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.
There
have been a series of antiquities discoveries in Aswan in the last few weeks,
officials have said. The Swedish-Egyptian mission working in the Gebal
El-Silsila area has uncovered four intact burials of children, while the
Austrian mission at Kom Ombo’s archaeological hill discovered a large segment
of a First Intermediate Period cemetery, and the Egyptian-Swiss mission working
in the old town of Aswan has unearthed a small incomplete statue that probably
depicts Greek goddess Artemis.
Mostafa
Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram
Online that the four child burials date to the 18th dynasty (549/1550 BC to
1292 BC.). They consist of a rock-hewn grave for a child between two and three
years old; the mummy still retains its linen wrapping and is surrounded with
organic material from the remains of the wooden coffin.
The
second burial, he went on, belongs to another child aged between six and nine
years old, who was buried inside a wooden coffin, while the third burial is of
a child between five and eight. Both of these graves contain funerary
furniture, including amulets and a set of pottery. The fourth burial is also of
a child between the age of five and eight.
“The
new burial discoveries are shedding more light on the burial customs used in
the Thutmosid period as well as the social, economic and religious life of
people during that period,” Maria Nilsson, head of the Swedish mission said,
adding that the mission has succeed during its previous excavation works to
uncover many burials but the newly discovered ones have a special significance.
More
excavations and studies on the site will reveal more about the death rituals
conducted in this site during the period, she said. The Egyptian-Austrian
archaeological mission in Kom Ombo led by Irene Foster uncovered a part of a
cemetery from the First Intermediate Period, with a number of mud-brick tombs. Numerous
pottery vessels and grave goods were unearthed.
Foster
explains that the preliminary study revealed that it is mostly built on top of
an earlier cemetery. Below the cemetery, Foster told Ahram Online, the mission
has uncovered remains of an Old Kingdom town with a ceiling impression of King
Sahure from the 5th Dynasty (2494 to 2345 BC). In the ancient town of Aswan,
the Egyptian-Swiss mission, headed by Egyptologist Wolfgang Muller, unearthed a
statue of a woman that was missing its head, feet and right hand.
Abdel
Moneim Saeed, general director of Aswan and Nubia Antiquities, said that the
statue is carved from limestone and measures 14cm by 9cm in width and the
thickness of its bust is 3cm and the lower part is 7cm.
A
preliminary study on the statue reveals that the dress she wears is similar to
that of Artemis, Greek goddess of hunting, procreation, virginity and
fertility, combined with the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Bastet.
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