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Following the discovery of the Tomb of Senebkay at Abydos in 2014 (see ‘News’ in AE 82 and AE 89), a new mystery pharaoh has been found at the site, providing further evidence of a separate Abydos Dynasty (c.1700-1600 BC) concurrent with the Theban Sixteenth Dynasty and the Hyksos Fifteenth Dynasty. An Egyptian-American team from the University of Pennsylvania, working in the ancient Gebel Anubis necropolis, found the large tomb 7 metres below ground level. The large limestone burial chamber was covered with a 5-metre-high mud-brick vaulted roof, and is substantially larger than the tomb found in 2014. While there are some remnants of the painted decoration on the doorway to the burial chamber, the tomb was badly damaged by looters in antiquity and there are no remaining human remains. The unknown pharaoh is thought to have preceded Senebkay, but the yellow bands that once bore his name are sadly too damaged to read, although there are remnants of inscriptions that mention Isis and Nephthys.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / All images: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
