I was somewhat dubious that the location had been correctly identified in earlier rumours, because the Valley of the Kings was reserved for royalty and their immediate family and dependents - but in this article Mansour Boraiq confirms that the site is indeed in the Valley of the Kings, and the burial was of a non-royal woman.
The singer's name, Nehmes Bastet, means she was believed to be protected by the feline deity Bastet.
The tomb was found by accident, according to Elena Pauline-Grothe, field director for excavation at the Valley of the Kings with Switzerland's University of Basel.
"We were not looking for new tombs. It was close to another tomb that was discovered 100 years ago," Pauline-Grothe said.
Pauline-Grothe said the tomb was not originally built for the female singer, but was reused for her 400 years after the original one, based on artifacts found inside. Archaeologists do not know whom the tomb was originally intended for.
The coffin of the singer belonged to the daughter of a high priest during the 22nd Dynasty.
Archaeologists concluded from artifacts that she sang in Karnak Temple, one of the most famous and largest open-air sites from the Pharaonic era, according to evidence at the site.
See the above page for more.
1 comment:
Tremendous news, if somewhat unexpected result in terms of period.
Post a Comment