Saturday, February 18, 2012

Discovery of 20 mummies and a wooden coffin in Aswan

Europa Press   

Roughly, a team from the university of Jaen working in Aswan at the site of Qubbet el-Hawa have found 20 mummies from different periods as well as a large amount of other archaeological material including a wooden sarcophagus.  This is the fourth season of the Jaen excavations focusing on a large tomb constructed by a provincial governor of the 12th Dynasty.  The newly discovered wooden coffin is a later, intrusive addition to the tomb. Excavations have been using new technologies including RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging), and 3D scanning of walls, to assist with greater accuracy in the reading of the tomb's hieroglyphs.  In the next few days the investigations will reach the oldest levels of the tomb, where there is clear evidence for more chambers / rooms are "perhaps intact." Two smaller tombs have also been discovered.

The article goes on to describe the project and its scope.

You can follow the ongoing work of the Qubbet el-Hawa project at their dig diary (in Spanish) at (www.qubbetelhawa.es), where there are some great images even if you don't speak the language.

From the Europa Press website
El equipo de investigadores de la Universidad de Jaén (UJA) que desde hace un mes trabaja en la necrópolis de Qubbet el-Hawa en Asuán (Egipto) ha cosechado sus primeros resultados, con el hallazgo de veinte momias de diferentes periodos, así como una gran cantidad de material arqueológico, entre el que se encuentra un sarcófago de madera.

Se trata de la cuarta campaña de excavación que realiza este equipo, dirigido por el profesor de Historia Antigua de la UJA Alejandro Jiménez Serrano, que está centrando sus esfuerzos en una gran tumba construida por un gobernador provincial de la XII Dinastía (1830 a.C.), tal y como ha informado este lunes la institución jiennense.


No comments: