Wednesday, February 22, 2006

KV63 NEWS - Three more mummies found

"As has been widely reported in the local dailies, five mummies were discovered a few days ago in a catacomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of the Nile. But now the number has risen to eight, as three more have since been found in the same cache. The discovery of the catacomb, very near to Tutankhamun's tomb, was announced almost a fortnight ago. At first, it was found to contain five mummies with coloured funerary masks enclosed in sarcophagi. A number of large sealed storage jars were also discovered. The head of the Upper Egyptian Antiquities Department, Atef Abul Dahab told this newspaper that his staff have started work on investigating the first intact cache to have been located since 1922. 'There are various indications that the catacomb dates back to the 18th Dynasty [1570-1320 BC], but still we are trying to find something that helps us establish the exact date,' said Abul Dahab, adding that they will eventually remove the 21 jars found in the cache and then the mummies, some of which are in poor condition."
This is the full story on the Egyptian Gazette website.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there - I found your site a week or so ago - I really appreciate the updates and links you are providing on KV63.

The whole thing is so fascinating. Just to find "new" probable Amarna era material is good, but the fact that this is a cache tomb, and now eight mummies, makes me hope that a lot of missing pieces may be found.

Best wishes, Paul

Andie said...

Hi Paul

I'm glad that you're enjoying KV63. It has become such fun to follow all the speculation, but of course the team working there will provide all the answers in due course!

Everyone I know is hoping that the cache dates to the Amarna period. It will be fascinating to find out more when the team are able to reveal it.

All the best
Andie