Greco-Roman Era Tomb Found in Upper Egypt
Greco-Roman Era Tomb Found in Upper Egypt
A rock-cut tomb by a person named Tjt, dated back to the late pharaonic period and the Graeco-Roman period, was found by the Egyptian-Italian Archeological Mission working for the Aga-Khan Mausoleum region on Aswan West Bank.
Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that within the tomb the mission had found parts of a painted wooden coffin, as well as fragments of another adorned with a complete text that included the name of the owner and the invocation of the gods of the First Cataract Khnum, Satet and Anuket, as well as Hapy, the Nile-God.
Ayman Ashmawy, head of the ancient Egyptian department of the Antiquity Ministry, said that the tomb consists of a stairway partly flanked by sculpted blocks leading to the funerary chambers.
The entrance was closed by a stone wall found in the original place that had been erected above the stairway.
Patrizia Piacentini, head of the mission, said that many amphorae and offering vases had also been found, as well as a funerary structure containing four mummies and food vessels.
Two mummies were also found, likely from the mother and her child, still covered with painted cartonnage.
A round-topped coffin was excavated from the rock floor. In the main room were around 30 mummies, including young children who were deposited in a long lateral niche.
“Leaning against the north wall of the room was an amazing intact stretcher made of palm wood and linen strips, used by the people who deposited the mummies in the tomb,” Piacentini said.
At the entrance of the room were vessels containing bitumen for mummification, white cartonnage ready to be painted and a lamp.
On the right and left sides of the door, many beautiful coloured and gilded cartonnages, fragments of funerary masks painted with gold and a well preserved statuette of the Ba-bird, representing the soul of the deceased, still presenting all the details of the decoration have been found.
The mission has mapped around 300 tombs dating from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, located in the area surrounding the Mausoleum of the Aga Khan, on the west bank of the Nile in Aswan.