3,500 year old tomb discovered in Draa Abul Naga necropolis on Luxor's west bank

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 the
18th 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 Amenhoteb 
[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.

“We used to escort foreign archeologists as observers, but that’s now in the past. We are the leaders now,” said Mustafa Waziri, Luxor’s chief archaeologist.

Source: The Associated Press [September 09, 2017]

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European archaeological mission on Bulla Regia site to explore Christian heritage

The Christian heritage at the archaeological site of Bulla Regia, in the 5th century AD, the diseases of the time, the methods of burial of the dead and the architecture of houses and churches are under study by a group of European researchers, arrived Friday, on the site in the governorate of Jendouba, northwest of Tunisia.

View of Bulla Regia archaeological site [Credit: Pascal Radigue/WikiCommons]

The group of researchers made up of archaeologists, anthropologists and architects from the United Kingdom will carry out the genetic analysis of a sampling of skeletons discovered in the graves in order to identify widespread diseases and life expectancy at the time.

Funeral ceremonies, diet, domestic architecture and all the forms that made up the daily life of the people of the time will be at the heart of the study of these researchers.

The archaeologist and American academic and lecturer at the institute of archaeology in London Corisande Fenwick, also president of the group, announced that the purpose of this research is "to raise the veil on certain aspects of the life of the former inhabitants of Bulla Regia."

In a statement to TAP correspondent agency in Jendouba, the archaeologist spoke of a Tunisian-British research project which seeks "to know the nature of the political, social and cultural life of the first Christian populations to Bulla Regia."

Mohieddine Chawali, archaeologist and director of the Bulla Regia site, declared that the results of this research which regard "the rich heritage of the region, will be exploited by Tunisian and foreign students in history, archaeology and anthropology."

Bulla Regia is a town located north of Jendouba, in the Medjerda valley, about 8 km from Mount R'bia and in the middle of the grain plains which had always aroused the greed of the ancient successive civilisations.

Bulla Regia, which means the beautiful city, was one of the most famous cities in the Carthaginian, Roman and Byzantine period, whose monuments bear witness to this. Created in the 4th century BC, the city was invaded by the Romans in the year 203 BC to become in the year 156 BC capital of the Numidians during the reign of Massinissa, main ally of Rome.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse [September 08, 2017]

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