Unveiling of a Second Intermediate Period Royal Tomb in Abydos
An Egyptian-American archaeological mission from the University of Pennsylvania discovered a royal tomb from the Second Intermediate Period in the Mount Anubis necropolis in Abydos. An Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities also discovered a complete Roman-era pottery workshop in the village of Banawit. Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized the importance of these two discoveries, as the discovery of the royal tomb in Abydos provides new scientific evidence on the development of royal tombs in the Mount Anubis necropolis, which dates back to the Abydos Dynasty, a series of kings who ruled Upper Egypt between 1700 and 1600 BC. The discovery of the Banawit pottery workshop indicates that this workshop was one of the largest factories supplying the Ninth District with pottery and glass. It contained a large number of kilns, extensive storage areas for vessels, and a collection of 32 ostraca in Demotic and Greek scripts detailing commercial transactions at the time and the method of paying taxes. For his part, Professor Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, stated that studies conducted on the royal tomb in Abydos indicate that it belonged to one of the kings prior to King Senebkay, whose tomb was discovered in Abydos by the mission in 2014. He noted that it is much larger than other previously known tombs attributed to the "Abydos Dynasty." He noted that the name of the tomb's owner has not yet been determined. Dr. Joseph Wagner, head of the Egyptian-American mission working in Abydos, stated that the royal tomb was found at a depth of approximately 7 meters below ground level. It consists of a limestone burial chamber covered with mudbrick vaults originally reaching a height of approximately 5 meters. Remains of inscriptions are found on either side of the entrance leading to the burial chamber for the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, along with yellow inscription bands that once bore the king's name in hieroglyphs. The style of the decorations and texts is similar to those previously discovered in the tomb of King Senebkay. Professor Mohamed Abdel Badie said that preliminary studies and evidence conducted at the pottery workshop site in the village of Banawit indicate that the site was used during the Byzantine era and was reused as a cemetery in the seventh century AD, possibly extending into the fourteenth century AD. A number of burials were found at the site, including mud-brick tombs containing skeletons and mummies, likely representing family graves for men and women, most of whom were children. Perhaps the most notable of these burials is the mummy of a sleeping child wearing a colored fabric cap, and the skull of a woman in her thirties. In addition, some wheat roots and remains of ancient plant seeds, including doum palms and barley, were also discovered.
