Image(s) credit: Petr Košárek, Czech Institute of Egyptology
NEWS: Tomb of ancient Egyptian royal scribe uncovered at Abusir necropolis, south of Cairo
An archaeology team from the Czech Republic has uncovered the tomb of a royal scribe named Djehutyemnakht in the Abusir necropolis. The tomb dates from around the 6th to 5th centuries BC during the period of ancient Egypt known to historians simply as the Late Period. The Czech archaeology team that made the find are from the Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague.
The tomb is beautifully ornate. The walls are adorned with ritual offerings and inscriptions. On the ceiling of the burial chamber, there are depictions of the sun's journey across the sky accompanied by hymns to the rising and setting sun. Inside the burial chamber is a large, decorated stone sarcophagus bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions and depictions of the gods both inside and out. The top of the sarcophagus’ lid is adorned with hieroglyphic text quoting chapter 178 of the Book of the Dead, which is composed of excerpts from the much older Pyramid Texts. The sides of the lid feature Chapter 42 of the Book of the Dead, dedicated to the deification of the body parts of the deceased. The shorter walls of the lid bear images of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, accompanied by texts that were thought to provide protection to the deceased. On the outer walls of the chest of the sarcophagus, there are excerpts from the Coffin Texts and Pyramid Texts, partially repeating the spells that already appear on the walls of the burial chamber. The bottom of the inner wall of the coffin depicts Imentet, the goddess of the West, and the inner sides contain the Canopic Spells recited by Imentet and the earth god Geb. Despite this grandeur, the tomb was mostly empty in comparison to how it would have been presented when Djehutyemnakht was first interred there. The site has clearly been the victim of grave-robbers over the last 2,600 years.
The Egyptian Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, said of the find:
“These shaft tombs represent a type of tomb specific to this era, and were created by the ancient Egyptian elites in imitation of the tomb of King Djoser, the founder of the famous Old Kingdom of the pyramid-building era of the 3rd millennium BC”
Ladislav Bareš, a Czech archaeologist who has coordinated Czech excavations of Late Period shaft tombs in Abusir for more than two decades, stated:
“This new find, together with our previous discoveries from this excavation site, as was the large-scale shaft tomb of general Wahibrameryneith, will shed more light on historical changes taking place in Egypt in the turbulent 6-5th centuries BC”
09/11/2023