Egyptian officials announced that archaeologists from Egypt and the United States have uncovered a historic burial site featuring 11 sealed interments near the famous city of Luxor, as stated by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in an official announcement on Friday.
The ministry revealed that the burial site, dating to the Middle Kingdom period (1938 BC-1630 BC), was discovered in the South Asasif necropolis, adjacent to the Temple of Hatshepsut on Luxor’s West Bank of the Nile.
According to Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, the joint Egyptian-American mission excavating the necropolis has discovered coffins belonging to men, women, and children. This indicates that the site was a family tomb used across generations during the 12th Dynasty and the early part of the 13th Dynasty.
He noted that historical flooding had damaged most of the wooden caskets and linen wrappings of the burials.
Archaeological excavations revealed several well-preserved items in women’s burial sites, including an exquisite necklace featuring 30 amethyst beads and two cylindrical agate beads surrounding a hippopotamus-head amulet, as stated in the report.
According to Catherine Blakeney, the mission’s lead American archaeologist, they uncovered two copper mirrors. One mirror possessed a lotus-shaped handle, whilst the other displayed a distinctive representation of Hathor, the ancient Egyptian deity associated with the sky, women, fertility and love.
This finding came with Egypt’s intensified initiatives to boost tourism, a vital source of foreign exchange for the financially challenged North African nation. The tourism sector, which relies substantially on Egypt’s ancient Pharaonic heritage, experienced a prolonged decline following the political instability and unrest that emerged after the 2011 uprising.
Earlier last month, the Grand Egyptian Museum, a substantial development situated near the renowned Giza Pyramids, inaugurated 12 exhibition halls displaying Pharaonic artefacts to visitors in a preliminary opening phase, whilst awaiting its official launch date announcement.
