Egyptologists the world over are brimming with excitement after the announcement of a recently discovered tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh from the little known Abydos dynasty.
A team of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania discovered the tomb of the pharaoh Woseribre Senebkay earlier this week. Dr. Josef Wegner, who also currently serves as the Egyptian Section Associate Curator of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, headed the team that discovered the site in the southern portion of Abydos. The tomb, which has a total of four chambers, is estimated to be around 3,600 years old and the main sarcophagus chamber was decorated with limestone slabs depicting the likenesses of several goddesses. The walls of the tomb included images of Nepthys, Selket, Nieth and Isis.
"It's exciting to find not just the tomb of one previously unknown pharaoh, but the necropolis of an entire forgotten dynasty," says Wegner. "Continued work in the royal tombs of the Abydos Dynasty promises to shed new light on the political history and society of an important but poorly understood era of Ancient Egypt."
The remains of Senebkay were found inside a wooden coffin enclosed by a stone tomb. The tomb was also damaged due an ancient looting incident and the mummified casing of the remains was also in pretty bad shape.
The discovery reinforces several theories about the existence of the Abydos dynasty, the rulers of an independent state during the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt's history. The existence of the Abydos dynasty was first proposed in 1997 but little evidence to back the theory up was available until now. According to the inscriptions in the tomb, Senebkay was known as the "king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Woseribre, the son of Re, Senebkay."
The discovery of the tomb follows a string of other new discoveries in Egypt. Earlier this month, a team from the Waseda University unearthed the 3,200-year-old burial site of a royal brewer. Moreover, researchers have also recently uncovered that Tutankhamen, one of the most famous pharaohs who ever lived, was buried with his penis standing up at a 90-degree angle. The discovery of Woseribre Senebkay's tomb now promises to shed light on a mysterious era in Egypt's history.
