123 artefacts to be repatriated to Egypt from USA

The antiquities were confiscated by customs in New York and after proven ownership, the American authorities decided to give it back to Egypt.

The 123 objects contains wooden sarcophagus for a lady dated to 26th Dynasty, 4 wooden statues if birds representing "Ba" the soul in ancient Egypt, collection of statues dates to Third Intermediate Period (TIP), number of funerary boats of Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom Stela and a collection of Roman coins. 

#Egypt #Archaeology #TIP

Psamtik I is found, 26th Dynasty discovery in Delta

The ministry of Antiquities excavation team working in Tell Tabila in Dakahliya discovered 3 human skeletons dated back to Late Period underneath the sarcophagus they found last week.

So we will start with last week's discovery as we couldn't get photos of it then.

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim announced the discovery of a mud brick mastaba dated back to Late period. The Mastaba was discovered by the Egyptian team while excavating in Tell Tebila in Dakahliya governorate in Delta.

The mastaba measures 7 x 10 meters divided into burial shafts.

The minister said " The team found a limestone sarcophagus in the Mastaba dated back to the 2nd century B.C. for a woman called Werty daughter of Rtrs. The sarcophagus is 1.77 meters length, 37 cm width by the feet and 70 cm width by the chest. The mummy was found in the sarcophagus in a good shape of preservation."

180 Ushabiti were found lined up horizontally in a space of 40 cm x 40 cm. All of those Ushabtis were taken to the restoration lab for needed conservation.  

Ali Asfar, Head of the Ancient Egyptian antiquities department said "The discovered sarcophagus had a human shaped lid with inscriptions in hieroglyphics shows the titles of the owner."

He also added that further excavations will take place which could help in finding more information on the sarcophagi owner.

Today, the Minister added more to the discovery as 14 amulets were found by the first Skelton represents  Amun, Horus and Nephtys. 29amulets were found with the second Skelton while 12 amulets including Udjat eye, djed pillar and scarab beetles were found by the third Skelton.

The Egyptian team also found in the mastaba, two limestone tombs shaped like sarcophagus and covered with slabs of limestone.

In the first tomb, a  mummy was found covered with a gold plated cartonnage and inscriptions in hieroglyphics including a cartouche of King "Wah Ib Re" -Psamtik  I of 26th Dynasty.

The mummy is in a bad state as a result of the high humidity.

A wooden chest was also found contains 300 faïence Ushabtis and amulets including Alba bird (white wagtail bird) amulet.

In the second tomb, also a wooden chest was found contains 286 Ushabtis and the remains of internal wrapped body parts.

The area is a Late Period cemetery including Dynasty 22 till Dynasty 26 sites. The Egyptian mission of the ministry of Antiquities still working on the site.

26th dynasty statue back in the Egyptian Museum

Ministry of Antiquities will receive tomorrow the upper part of the green faience statue of a nobleman from the 26th Dynasty.

The upper part of the statue was stolen from the Egyptian museum in Tahrir in January 2011 but was never reported stolen then as the lower part was still at the museum.

It wasn't till a Belgian citizen asked a French archaeologist to value the statue after check authenticity. 

The French archaeologist whom had studied the statue in 1989 so he contacted MSA and the ministry took the legal procedures in cooperation with Ministry of Foreign Affairs to return the statue.

According to Ali Ahmed, Director of retrieved antiquities department, the 29cm length ushabti figure was found in Memphis in 1858. 

The statue owner held noble titles including the north deals bearer.

Treasure gate unearthed in Karnak

Egyptian and French archaeologists have unearthed a 2,700-year-old stone gate belonging to Nubian King Shabaka while digging near Luxor's Karnak temple, the ministry of antiquities announced on Sunday.

(Ptah Temple Excavations)

The gate, which was found to be "in good condition," once led to the room holding the king's treasures.
Mansur Boraik said "It is the first time an item of the 25th dynasty has been found in such good condition, and wasn't ruined by the 26th dynasty,"

  (Conservation and reconstruction work at Ptah Temple)

The large stone door features colourful engravings that depict King Shabaka offering the goddess of truth, Maat, to the god Amun Raa, the chief deity.

"The Egyptian-French mission succeeded in making important discoveries from the 18th to the 25th dynasties," minister of state for antiquities Zahi Hawass said in a statement.

                                     (Treasury of Shabaka)
The mission also unearthed a stone wall surrounding the temple of Ptah, the chief god of the city of Memphis. His temple had been built on the site of an earlier Middle Kingdom temple, and restored by Shabaka. The mud brick wall is 2 meters height and 1 meter depth

The Franco-Egyptian Centre has been working to open the temple to visitors next winter and plans to put Shabaka's gate on display.

                                (Newly found gate of Shabaka)
"The discovery shows that the temple of Karnak still has many secrets to be uncovered and it will do for years to come," Mansour Boraik was quoted as saying in the ministry statement.
Shabaka established the capital at Thebes and was believed to have invested great effort in restoring religious architecture.

The Discovery of the Burial Shaft of the tomb of the priest, Karakhamun at Assasif

SCA Press Release:

An Egyptian-American expedition has found the burial chamber of a priest named, Karakhamun (TT223). The tomb dates to Dynasty 25 (c. 755BC) and was uncovered during conservation and restoration work on the west bank of Luxor. 

Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, announced this discovery today and added that the restoration work of this tomb is part of a much larger project known as the South Asasif Conservation Project (SACP). The el-Asasif area is a very important site, which contains nobles’ tombs from the New Kingdom, as well as the 25-26th Dynasties.
Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that the team found the burial chamber of Karakhamun at the bottom of an 8m deep burial shaft. The chamber is in very good condition and contains beautifully painted scenes. The entrance to the chamber is decorated with an image of Karakhamun and the ceiling is decorated with several astrological scenes, including a depiction of the sky goddess, Nut.

The leader of the expedition, Dr. Elena Pischikova, said that the tomb of priest Karakhamun was discovered in the 19th century in an unstable condition. It continued to deteriorate, and only parts of it were accessible to visitors in the early 1970s. Later it collapsed and was buried under the sand. Dr. Pischikova’s team rediscovered the tomb in 2006 and has been carrying out conservation work since then. She believes that the tomb of Karakhamun could be one of the most beautiful tombs from Dynasty 25 because of the preservation of the color and the unique quality of the scenes.