Joint US-Egypt archaeology team unearths 4,000-year-old tomb in Luxor

CAIRO — Archeologists from Egypt and the United States unearthed an ancient tomb with 11 sealed burials near the famed city of Luxor, Egyptian authorities said in a statement Friday.

Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said that the tomb, which dates back to the Middle Kingdom (1938 BCE-1630 BCE), was found in the South Asasif necropolis, next to the Temple of Hatshepsut on the Nile’s West Bank in Luxor.

The joint Egyptian-American mission excavating the necropolis found coffins for men, women and children, suggesting that it was a family tomb used for generations during the 12th Dynasty and the beginning of the 13th Dynasty, said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt.

He said ancient floods destroyed most of the burials’ wooden coffins and linen wrappings.

However, some items such as jewelry in women’s burials were found intact, including a finely crafted necklace with 30 amethyst beads and two cylindrical agate beads framing a hippo-head amulet, according to the statement.

Katherine Blakeney, chief American archeologist with the South Asasif Conservation Project, said they found two copper mirrors, one with a lotus-shaped handle, and the second with a unique design of Hathor, goddess of the sky, women, fertility and love in ancient Egypt.

Among the finds from a new discovery of 11 sealed Middle Kingdom burials in Luxor: a fertility figurine. (South Asasif Conservation Project)

According to a statement from the South Asasif Conservation Project, directed by Dr. Elena Pischikova, this find is the first Middle Kingdom tomb found in the area.

The project’s statement referenced several finds, including a green-blue glazed faience fertility figurine with truncated legs, decorated with jewelry markings on the legs and torso, and a square-shaped offering tray with relief representations of a bull’s head, a loaf of bread and other offerings.

In the 11 discovered burials, team member Dr. Afaf Wahba identified the skeletons of five women, two men and three children. Six of the individuals — primary females — were interred with burial assemblages.

Among the finds from a new discovery of 11 sealed Middle Kingdom burials in Luxor: an offering tray. (South Asasif Conservation Project)

The discovery came as Egypt has doubled efforts to attract more tourists, a significant source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped North African country, which depends heavily on tourism to Egypt’s rich archeological sites.

The tourism sector is crucial to the country, and at its peak in 2010 employed around 12 percent of the Egyptian workforce before the political unrest and violence that struck the country in 2011, during the Arab Spring. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 further decimated the industry, and the country has struggled to get back to pre-COVID tourism levels.

The government hopes that increased spending into archaeology and research will bring more excitement and coverage to Egypt’s vast wealth of historical sites, and bring the tourists back with it.

Illustrative: Depictions of the ancient Egyptian sky goddess Nut (top) and the deities (L to R) Khonsu, Hathor, Osiris, Thoth, and Ptah amongst the hieroglyphics-adorned walls and ceiling in KV9, the Tomb of Pharaohs Ramses V (1149-1145 BC) and Ramses VI (1145–1137 BC), at the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of the Nile river off of Egypt’s southern city of Luxor, January 18, 2022. (Amir Makar/AFP)

Last month, the Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega project near the famed Giza Pyramids, opened 12 halls exhibiting Pharaonic artifacts for visitors as a trial ahead of the yet-unannounced official opening.