Spanish version: sl.ugr.es/yacimiento_tutmosis
The Spanish team led by Dr. Myriam Seco Álvarez, with the participation of members of the University of Granada, has just made an extraordinary discovery at the site of the ‘Temple of a Million Years’ belonging to Tuthmosis III, in Luxor.
A non-desecrated tomb has been found outside the temple’s south perimeter wall. Protected by a shallow well, there was a niche that housed a sarcophagus inside, with a «cartonnage» that completely enveloped the mummy. The sarcophagus presented serious damage in its central part, so it couldn’t be recovered in its entirety. However, the «cartonnage» is in good state of preservation, presenting beautiful images full of color.
The name and title of the mummy have been identified in a first assessment. He was an official, whose name was Amon Renef and who bore the title of «Servant of the Real House». Preliminary studies put this magnificent funerary piece at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period, around the XI or X centuries BC.
Among others, some religious and symbolic elements worth to mention are: solar symbols, like the solar disk or the cobra; the protective goddesses Isis and Nephthys with their wings unfolded; the four children of Horus, whose purpose was to guard the viscera of the deceased; and protective hawks with spread wings.
This finding is part of the ninth campaign of a project sponsored by the Botín Foundation, Banco Santander, the Cemex company, the University of Granada and the Cajasol Foundation. Said campaign has brought significant innovations to the study of ancient Egypt.
The site has proved to have an extraordinary archaeological richness, which spans for more than 1,500 years and which supplies materials and information about the XI, XII, XVIII and XIX dynasties, as well as the beginnings of the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period.
