Saturday, July 16, 2011

New discoveries at Dra Abu el-Naga

Luxor Times

More than 80 Ushabtis figures of 15 cm dated at least 3000 years ago have accompanied Djehuty,the ancient Egyptian priest, on his trip to the afterlife and was found by a research team led by Spanish Egyptologist Dr. José Manuel Galán.

The discovery was announced on 12th July in Madrid at a press conference which was attended by the Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia, and Rafael Rodrigo, CSIC President- Spanish National Research Council, held by the director of Djehuty Project to celebrate the 10th season completion.

The researchers believe the Ushabtis found belong to the priest. The importance of this discovery because the tomb have been looted by grave robbers, yet they have been discovered completely intact.

In Dra Abu el-Naga, Spanish archaeologists have also made two more discoveries (a pet cemetery and a new burial chamber). In the tomb of Hery, a senior Egyptian official who lived in 1500 BC, researchers have discovered a burial pit "completely inesperado - unexpected" in the words of Dr.Galan, and that the tomb had another cavity of these characteristics and is not unusual for having two burial rooms in tombs.

La Sombrilla

With video in Spanish.

Entre los ultimos hallazgos destacan 80 figurillas de unos 3.000 años de antigüedad.- La revuelta popular interrumpió el trabajo de campo, este año.

"Un viernes de finales de enero, justo cuando estábamos celebrando el X aniversario, con una tarta, sangría y jamón serrano, estallaron las primeras revueltas en El Cairo". El egiptólogo José Manuel Galán pasa seis semanas al año en Luxor, una ciudad situada a orillas del Nilo, en el centro de Egipto. Allí dirige las excavaciones de Djehuty, un proyecto del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) que iba a durar cinco años pero que, a golpe de hallazgo arqueológico, ha subido el listón de sus objetivos. "Empezamos con la intención de estudiar dos tumbas pero hemos ido excavando, descubriendo... y ahora podemos pasarnos trabajando allí 100 años".

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