Egyptian authorities on Saturday announced the discovery of an ancient tomb in Luxor dating back about 3,500 years that archeologists believe holds the remains of a royal of ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom era.
The tomb was unearthed by Egyptian and British researchers on the west bank of the River Nile, where the famous Valley of the Queens and Valley of the Kings lie, Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mostafa Waziri said.
“The first elements discovered so far inside the tomb seem to indicate that it dates back to the 18th dynasty” of pharaohs Akhenaton and Tutankhamun, Waziri said in a statement.
Photo: AFP / HO / EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES
The 18th dynasty ended in 1292 BC and is considered one of the most prosperous times in ancient Egypt.
University of Cambridge professor Piers Litherland, head of the British research mission, said the tomb could be of a royal wife or princess of Thutmosid lineage.
Egyptian archeologist Mohsen Kamel said the tomb’s interior was “in poor condition.”
Parts of it including inscriptions were “destroyed in ancient floods which filled the burial chambers with sand and limestone sediment,” the antiquities agency’s statement cited Kamel as saying.
Egypt has unveiled several major archeological discoveries in the past few years, most notably in the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo.
Critics say the flurry of excavations has prioritized finds shown to grab media attention over hard academic research.
The discoveries have been a key component of Egypt’s attempts to revive its tourism industry, the crowning jewel of which is the long-delayed inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum near Cairo.
The country of 104 million inhabitants is in a severe economic crisis.
Egypt’s tourism industry accounts for 10 percent of GDP and about 2 million jobs, official figures show.
It has been hammered by political unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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