Unknown Pharaoh's Tomb Unearthed

But ancient Egyptian grave robbers got there first
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2014 11:36 PM CST
Updated Jan 16, 2014 3:31 AM CST
Unknown Pharaoh's Tomb Unearthed
This image released by the Supreme Council of Antiquities shows colored inscriptions on a newly discovered tomb in Egypt.   (AP Photo/Supreme Council of Antiquities)

Amid fresh upheaval in Egypt, archaeologists are still making finds that shed light on the country's past. In the latest discovery, an American and Egyptian team has unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh who ruled during troubled times 3,600 years ago, reports the AP. King Seneb Kay—whose name was determined from hieroglyphics on the tomb wall—ruled when the country was divided among several rulers, and Egypt's head of antiquities says the find will provide new insight into a complex and little-known era.

But while the find will provide knowledge, grave robbers appear to have made off with everything else of value thousands of years ago, the International Business Times reports. No funerary furniture was found in the badly damaged tomb, and even the body of the king, who had been mummified and laid to rest in a wooden sarcophagus, had been pulled apart. An archaeologist involved with the dig says the terrible state of the tomb reflects the state of Egypt at the time, when central authority had collapsed. (Click for another recent archaeological find—related to Aztec human sacrifice.)

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