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.
Over a few hours under gray skies, dozens of combat planes and helicopters roar on and off the flight deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, in a demonstration of US military power in some of the world’s most hotly contested waters. MH-60 Seahawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet jets bearing pilot call signs such as “Fozzie Bear,” “Pig Sweat” and “Bongoo” emit deafening screams as they land in the drizzle on the Nimitz, which is leading a carrier strike group that entered the South China Sea two weeks ago. US Rear Admiral Christopher Sweeney, who is commanding the group, said the tour
RISING RISK: With no communication between nations flying jets closely over the South China Sea, one mistake by a pilot could quickly escalate a situation, an expert said The China Coast Guard (CCG) maintained near-daily patrols at key features across the disputed South China Sea last year, ramping up its presence as tensions over the waterway with Southeast Asian neighbors remain high, new tracking data shows. Patrols in the waters surrounding the Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, an area known for its oil and gas reserves and the site of repeated standoffs between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels, more than doubled to 310 days last year, the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said. The number of days Chinese ships patrolled near Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha
A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized. The court in the northern province of Chiang Rai found that Mongkhon Thirakot contravened the lese majeste law in 14 of 27 posts for which he was arrested in August last year. The law covers the king, queen and heirs, and any regent. The lese majeste law carries a prison term of three to 15 years per incident for
‘DISTURBING’: Nearly half of 16 to 21-year-olds assumed that girls either ‘expect’ or ‘enjoy’ sex which involves physical aggression, such as airway restriction One in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine years old, according to “disturbing” new research by the children’s commissioner for England. The report found that one-quarter of pupils in their final year of primary school had already been exposed. It also showed much of the material being consumed by children and young people featured violence. Four out of five (79 percent) of those surveyed had seen pornography involving violence by the age of 18, while one in three young people have actively sought out depictions of sexual violence such as physical aggression, coercion and degradation. The report, by
RSS