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Three rock-cut tombs from the Old Kingdom, reused during the Middle Kingdom, have been found by the Egyptian team working at the Qubbet el Hawa necropolis opposite Aswan. Two of the tombs have similar features and contained wooden coffins with skeletal remains, offering tables, pottery vessels, and beaded jewellery. The third tomb differs in design: it also contained skeletal remains and a large collection of well-preserved pottery.
In a separate study, published in Antiquity 99 (406), analysis of an image carved into the rocks just north of Aswan suggests that it was created during the transition from the Proto-dynastic to Early Dynastic periods. The well-preserved petroglyph portrays an elite figure on a raised seat in a processional boat, which is being dragged along by five figures and steered by a sixth. Comparison of the panel with other pre-pharaonic depictions of boats revealed stylistic and iconographic similarities. The high quality of the work suggests it was commissioned by someone with political authority at the dawn of the First Dynasty.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / All images: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
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