Egypt on Saturday announced the discovery in the southern city of Luxor of a pharaonic tomb belonging to a royal goldsmith who lived more than 3,500 years ago during the reign of the 18th dynasty.
The remains of three mummies and a wooden coffin were found inside the 3,500-year-old tomb discovered at the cemetery of Dra’ Abu el-Naga in Luxor [Credit: Egyptian Antiquities Ministry]
The tomb, located on the west bank of the river Nile in a cemetery for noblemen and top officials, is a relatively modest discovery, but one that authorities has announced with a great deal of fanfare in a bid to boost the country’s slowly recovering tourism industry.
The principal occupant of the tomb was a goldsmith named Amenemhat from the18th Dynasty (1550BC to 1292BC) [Credit: Egyptian Antiquities Ministry]
“We want tomorrow’s newspapers to speak about Egypt and make people want to come to Egypt,” Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anani told reporters.
Numerous skeletal remains were also found in the goldsmith’s tomb [Credit: Egyptian Antiquities Ministry]
El-Anani said the tomb was not in good condition, but it contains a statue of the goldsmith and his wife as well as a funerary mask.
An Egyptian archaeologist cleans the wooden sarcophagus [Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images]
He said a shaft inside the tomb contained pottery as well as mummies and coffins belonging to ancient Egyptian people who lived during the 21st and 22nd dynasties.
A statue of Amenemhat, the goldsmith, and his wife AmenH๏τeb[Credit: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]
The minister identified the goldsmith as Amunhat. The tomb was discovered by Egyptian archaeologists, something that a senior official at the Antiquities Ministry hailed as evidence of their growing professionalism and expertise.
Source: pahilopahilonews
