Czech Archaeologists Discover The Keeper of the Secret’s Tomb

The Czech mission directed by Dr. Miroslav Barta discovered a huge tomb of limestone and mud brick dated to the middle of the 5th Dynasty to the era of King Nyuserre (Nyuserre Ini).

Dr. Mostafa Waziry told Luxor Times that the tomb belongs to a person called “Ka Ir Is” who held several titles during the 5th Dynasty including “The overseer of All Royal Works” “Imi-ra kat-nebet net-nesw” 

Mr. Adel Okasha said “During the excavation work the mission found inside the main shaft; a pink granite statue which was broken into two parts. The statue represents the tomb owner sitting on a small stall and wearing wig. The name and titles of the tomb owner in inscribed in the stall. 

The other titles of the tomb owner include “Beloved by his lord, Keeper of the Secret of the house of Morning, Friend/courtier of the King”

Dr. Barta said that the mission with continue the work to reveal and document the rest of the tomb. 

#Egypt #Egyptology #Archaeology #Discovery #Pyramids #OldKingdom  

4500 years old tomb of unknown Ancient Egyptian Queen discovered

The Minister of Antiquities announced today a new discovery of an Old Kingdom tomb in Abusir for a Queen who wasn't known before called "Khentkaus III" during the excavations of the Czech Institute of Egyptology directed by Dr. Miroslav Barta.

The mission unearthed 23 limestone pots as well as 4 copper tools as a part of the funerary furniture for the tomb owner.

The side rooms of the discovered tomb have inscriptions mention titles of the tomb owner includes "Wife of the King" and "Mother of the King"

Dr. Miroslav Barta said "This discovery reveals an unknown part of the 5th Dynasty history which opens the door for more future studies on the family tree of this previously unknown Queen."

Dr. Barta added "The unearthed tomb is a part of a small cemetery to the south east of the pyramid complex of King Neferefre (Raneferef) which led the team to think that Queen Khentkaus could be the wife of Neferefre hence she was buried close to his funerary complex."

Dr. Jaromir Krejci,a team member of the Czech Institute of Egyptology mission working on the site said "The title of the Mother of the King discovered in the tomb is of an historical importance."

"If we can assume that the Queen was buried during the time of King Nyuserre (2445 B.C-2421 B.C) based on a seal bears his name was found on the tomb so we could say that Khentkaus III is the mother of King Menkauhore who was the successor of Nyuserre. This could also reveals more information on this King especially that we have a very few information on him."

Kamal Wahid, Giza Antiquities director, said “The tomb is very similar to the rest of the burial in the cemetery which was unearthed by the Czech mission in the 90s. The upper part is a mastaba and a small offerings chapel and the burial chamber in the lower part which is reached through a shaft.”

#Egypt #Giza #Abusir #Discovery #History #AncientEgypt #EgyptianQueen #KhentkausIII #Tomb

The Czech mission discovers an Old Kingdom mummy in Abu Sir

The Czech mission working in Abu Sir directed by Dr. Mirislav Barta discovered a Skelton of a high official called "Nefer" at the time of King "Neferirkare" of the 5th Dynasty. The tomb was discovered last year in November and this season the excavation continued.

The mummy was found when the stone sarcophagus was opened to find the Skelton and a stone headrest under the head.

Ali Asfar, head of the ancient Egyptian department said "The tomb of Nefer is an unfinished stone tomb in a funerary complex of four corridors. The eastern corridor belong to Nefer and a family member; it includes 5 shafts and a false door with inscriptions of Nefer titles.

Nefer was the Priest of the funerary complex of King Neferirkare, he held many titles include "Overseer of scribes of the royal documents, overseer of the golden house and Secret keeper.

 Nefer's wife called Nefert Hathor and she held a title of "Hathor Priestess"

Alaa Shehata, director of Sakkara antiquities said " A group of Symbolic pots were found as well as 31 small faience jewellery pieces golden beside fingers and toes stalls which were all transferred to the warehouse No. 1 in Sakkara.

As for Dr. Miroslav Barta, the head of the Czech mission working on the site, he said "The work on not finished yet and we hope to discover more inscriptions and antiquities of this important historical era of the Old Kingdom."

5th Dynasty Princess’ tomb discovered in Abu Sir

 

Dr. Mohamed Ibahim, Minister State of Antiquities, announced the discovery of a court yard of a tomb dated to the Old Kingdom “second half of the fifth Dynasty” ca. 2500 B.C, of Princess “ Shert Nebty”. The court yard has 4 limestone pillars with hieroglyphics inscriptions on the southern side of the name and titles of the Princess including “The Daughter of the King, The dignified in front of the great God and Shert Nebty”. Also the remains of a false door were found bearing parts of the Princess titles.

The Minister described the discovery made by the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague under the supervision of Dr. Miroslav Barta, as a new chapter of the history of the burials in Abu Sir and Sakkara as the court yard was discovered in the southern part of the cemetery in which there are tombs for non royals and about 2 kilo meters north of the 5^th Dynasty cemeteries in the centre of Abu Sir necropolis. 

The mission also discovered a corridor extend from the East Southern corner of the court yard towards East. The southern wall of the court yard has 4 tomb entrances carved and so far two tombs were discovered belong to 2 high officials, one of them bears the title “ The Justice representative in the  big house” and the other “The Palace servants supervisor” and both tombs can be dated to the time of King “Djedkare Isesi”.

  Dr. Miroslav Barta, The head of the Czech mission said that the other two tombs are being excavated during the current season. One of them for an official called “ Nefer” who bears the title of “ The supervisor of the Scribers” and a false door plus 3 limestone statues of him as an inscriber were found as well as a fourth statue of him and his wife Hathor Nefer.

Between the tombs entrances, 4 huge limestone sarcophagi were found with traces of colours and contain a statue of a man, statue of a man with his son and 2 statues of men with a woman. All carved skillfully. 

5th Dynasty reliefs are back in Egypt

The SCA received back 2 stone reliefs which were stolen from HotepKa tomb (dated to the 5^th Dynasty) in Sakkara in the 1980s when robbers stole 4 stone reliefs depicting hieroglyphics and wild life scenes.

Dr. Mostafa Amin (Secretary General of SCA) said that the reliefs were retrieved through the co-operation between the SCA and the Antiquities police in Sakkara. One of the reliefs is 100cm x 60cm depicting 4 geese and hieroglyphic letters and the other relief is a rectangular shaped stone with three vertical lines of hieroglyphics carved and bearing the Cartouche of Kings “Sahure (2487 - 2477 BC)” and “Neferirkare (2477 - 2467 BC)  ” of 5^th Dynasty.

Dr. Mostafa added that the tomb is documented and registered and the stolen objects of this tomb can’t be possessed by any museum or individual.

Atef Abu El Dahab (Head of the Ancient Egyptian Department at SCA) announced that the objects from that tomb are being kept in the warehouse in Sakkara and it is secured as well as the tomb within the general plan of the area security.

Second artefact to be returned to Egypt since the Revolution

A limestone stele of the Old Kingdom period (c. 2649-2134 BC), depicting a hunting scene from the daily life of its owner, is to be returned to Egypt by the Museum of Basel, Switzerland. The stele is 51 cm high and dates to the 5th Dynasty (c. 2465-2323 BC).

Photo courtesy: MSA (Ministry state of Antiquities)

The Museum is returning the artifact to Egypt later this week as part of the repatriation campaign of Dr Zahi Hawass, Minister of State for Antiquities (MSA), who, in 2002, when he was still the Secretary General of what was then the Supreme Council of Antiquities, threatened to cut scientific and research ties with any museums, universities or other institutions that held stolen antiquities from the country.
The Museum of Basel has volunteered to return this piece and has already sent back the eye of a colossal quartzite statue of Amenhotep III (c. 1390-1352 BC) found in 1970 at his funerary temple in Kom el-Hettan on the west bank of Luxor. The eye was smuggled out of the country, then loaned to the Museum by a private collector where it was recognized by an Egyptologist and returned to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, in October 2008.
Dr Hawass will shortly be contacting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange for a representative of the MSA to travel to Switzerland and collect the stele next week. The return of this object is also significant because it is the second artefact to be repatriated to Egypt from abroad since the Revolution.The first was limestone relief panel which was returned from Mexico (more details and pictures here)
Dr Hawass stated that the MSA is still continuing to pursue its campaign to repatriate stolen artifacts with determination and perseverance. In response to foreign criticism that the situation in Egypt is not safe enough for objects to be returned, Hawass pointed out that of the many museums in the country, the Egyptian Museum was the only one to suffer during the Revolution. The Museum was protected by a human chain of young people demonstrating in Tahrir Square and the one million tourists who were also in Egypt at the time all left the country safely too.
Hawass argued that if what happened in Cairo – that the police abandoned the streets for 4 hours on January 28, 2011 – had happened in any other city in the world, then there would be chaos, thefts and destruction on an even greater scale. Therefore he is still insisting that artifacts stolen from Egypt should be returned and added that many other pieces are due back soon from the USA.

A New Tomb has been found in Giza (5th Dynasty)

The SCA mission headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass found a tomb which is the first of its kind, dated back to 5^th Dynasty (2513 – 2374 B.C) south to the workers tombs in Giza.

Zahi said that the tomb belongs to high priest called Rwd-ka who holds many titles and served under Khafra’s reign (2576-2551 B.C)

Inside the tomb, there are colourful scenes represent Rwd-Ka with his wife and the offering table between them. Also there are scenes from daily life activities like milking cows and a unique scene of a calf being born. That’s beside fishing and dancing scenes as well.

Dr. Zahi Hawass believes that it can be the beginning to find other tombs that belongs to non-workers and it can be an extension to the west cemetery after it was packed with tombs.