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News
A round up of news highlights from Issue 126
5000 Year Old Delta Burials
An Egyptian mission working at the site of Kom el-Khelgan (in Dakahlia,
north of Cairo) has discovered a further 110 burials from three different
periods of Egyptian history. The team discovered 68 Predynastic oval-shaped
burials dating from c. 6000 to 3200 BC and linked to the Buto civilisation,
together with 5 burials dating to the Naqada III period (c. 3200-3000 BC). A
further 37 burials were found dating to the Second Intermediate Period, c.
1650-1550 BC, when the Hyksos ruled Lower Egypt.
Sohag Rock-cut Tombs
An Egyptian team working at the al-Hamidiyah necropolis near Sohag has
discovered 250 tombs cut into several different levels on a rock face. The
cemetery is the burial site for the governors of Akhmim. Many of the burial
shafts show signs of repeated use across the period.
Egypt’s Copper Trade
The collapse of Late Bronze Age civilisations between c. 1200 and 1150 BC
led to a period of instability in ancient Egypt, but new research suggests that
international trade links were not as badly affected as previously thought.
Israeli scientists carried out lead isotope analysis on four bronze Egyptian
shabtis from Tanis, dating to the reign of Psusennes I (c. 1039-991 BC), which
were found to contain copper from the Arabah region, showing that Egypt was
still importing large amounts of copper from the southern Levant during the
Twenty-first Dynasty.
Psamtek I Stela
A large sandstone stela dating to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty has been
discovered on agricultural land in the Ismailia region. The stela, which is in a
good state of preservation, contains text detailing the military campaigns of
the pharaoh Wahibra Psamtek I c. 664-610 BC.
Pregnant Mummy
A Polish team from the Warsaw Mummy Project has discovered the world’s
first known case of a pregnant mummy. Examining what they thought was a male
priest, the team discovered the remains of a young woman aged around 20 to 30
years old, who was carrying a seven month old foetus when she died. Rather than
removing the baby, the embalmers mummified her body with the foetus still inside
her.
For more on these and other news and discoveries check out the news section of
issue 126
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