Archaeologists Hit a Funerary Mother Lode

Egypt unveiled several discoveries near the famed city of Luxor on Wednesday, including ancient rock-cut tombs and burial shafts dating back 3,600 years. They were unearthed at the causeway of Queen Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir al-Bahari on the Nile's West Bank, the Zahi Hawass Foundation for Antiquities & Heritage said in a statement. The organization said it had worked in tandem with the Supreme Council of Antiquities on the site since September 2022, per the AP.

Artifacts found at the tombs included bronze coins with the image of Alexander the Great dating to the time of Ptolemy I (367BC-283BC), children's toys made of clay, cartonage and funerary masks that covered mummies, winged scarabs, beads, and funerary amulets. Hawass himself told reporters that the discoveries could "reconstruct history" and offer an understanding of the type of programs that ancient Egyptians designed inside a temple.

The archaeologists also found the remains of Queen Hatshepsut's Valley Temple, rock-cut tombs dating back to the Middle Kingdom (1938BC-1630BC), burial shafts from the 17th dynasty, the tomb of Djehuti Mes, and part of the Assassif Ptolemaic Necropolis. The rock-cut tombs had been previously robbed during the Ptolemaic period and later. Still, the Egyptian teams uncovered some artifacts such as pottery tables that were used to offer bread, wine, and meat. Inside the burial shafts dating back to between 1580BC and 1550BC, anthropoid wooden coffins were found, including one that belonged to a young child.

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Archery bows were also found inside the burial chamber, indicating those who owned the tombs had military backgrounds. The tombs in the cemetery were built of mud bricks over the remains of Queen Hatshepsut's temple. A large part of the necropolis was unearthed earlier in the 20th century but wasn't properly documented. In November, Egyptian and American archaeologists excavated an ancient tomb with 11 sealed burials near Luxor. The tomb, which dates to the Middle Kingdom, was found in the South Asasif necropolis, next to the Temple of Hatshepsut. (More discoveries stories.)