A previously unknown, yet potentially very important, ancient Egyptian kingdom has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Nile Valley.
Excavations at Abydos, 70 miles north-west of Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings, have revealed the existence of an entire royal cemetery. The cemetery is believed to be the final resting place of up to 16 mysterious pharaohs — an entire dynasty whose existence was up till now virtually unknown to the Egyptological world.
Bizarrely more than a century ago, in 1901-1902, a British team, led by the famous Egyptologist, Flinders Petrie, entered four of the tombs — but had no idea as to who they belonged to or even of their high-status.
Almost a century later, in 1997, a Danish Egyptologist, Dr Kim Ryholt, deduced from a highly damaged ancient Egyptian papyrus, that a lost dynasty should theoretically have existed at Abydos between 1650 BC and 1600 BC.
But there was no proof until the last few weeks when a team of American Egyptologists discovered a previously unknown tomb buried under three metres of sand.
They deciphered a painted inscription which revealed the name and titles of an unknown pharaoh. The previously unknown ancient Egyptian ruler’s name was Senebkay.
The tomb’s contents had been badly damaged by tomb robbers more than 2,000 years ago, but the American Egyptologists, from the University of Pennsylvania , succeeded in piecing together the lost pharaoh’s physical remains.
The pharaoh was 1.75 metres tall and died aged around 50 of unknown causes.
The American excavators had been able to deduce that Senebkay was either the first or the second pharaoh in the lost dynasty.
Now, using geophysical equipment to ‘x-ray’ the ground, the team is hoping to discover more royal tombs from the lost dynasty.
Courtesy of Independent.co.uk
