The discovery took place on December 16, almost at the end of a two-month archaeological mission, confirmed Frédéric Colin, director of the Institute of Egyptology at the University of Strasbourg, in eastern France.
French researchers discovered a reburied sarcophagus from the Middle Kingdom era in Luxor, Egypt, as part of investigations carried out after the discovery in 2018 and 2019 of five sarcophagi in the same place, a member of the team reported on Sunday.
The discovery took place on December 16, almost at the end of a two-month archaeological mission, confirmed to AFP Frédéric Colin, director of the Institute of Egyptology at the University of Strasbourg, in eastern France.
The Egyptologist, who participated in the mission, considers the discovery “remarkable” in every way. “It clarifies an important anthropological question: how ancient Egyptians behaved with the mummified bodies and tombs of their ancestors when they discovered ancient sarcophagi and had to move them because of major public reforms,” Colin explained.
The sarcophagus discovered had been reburied, as were the five sarcophagi discovered in Luxor in 2018 and 2019.
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This most recent archaeological mission was organized to “better understand the nature and importance of the discoveries of 2018 and 2019“Colin indicated.
The teams were trying to find out “whether these five sarcophagi constituted an isolated tomb, or were part of a larger and more systematic set of rehumations”, he added. He added that several layers of earth measuring more than eight meters, stratified and accumulated over more than 3,000 years, were studied for six months and “three archaeological excavations” were carried out.
“And the beginning of the answer (to our questions) appears on the last day of the third excavation campaign,” when the sarcophagus was discovered, he noted.
The researchers have only “skimmed the layer (of earth) in which the sarcophagus was located. “Excavation will continue when the next campaign begins in October 2025.”Colin noted.
The sarcophagus, from the Middle Kingdom era (late 21st century and 18th century BC), was “preserved in a custom-built wooden chest.”
Its content will be studied in 2025 “in collaboration with archaeoanthropologists (archaeologists specialized in the excavation of human bodies), modeling all stages of the investigation in 3D, as the team has been doing since 2018.”
Source: Ambito
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