Egypt Daily News – The mysterious royal tomb discovered in Abydos (Egypt) has become a real puzzle for archaeologists and historians. Frédéric Payraudeau, an Egyptologist at the Orient and Mediterranean laboratory, explains why this find is extremely important for understanding Egyptian history.
A team of Egyptian and American archaeologists announced that they had found a second tomb of an ancient Egyptian king in the Abydos necropolis. At the foot of a desert cliff, about 480 kilometers south of Cairo, the scientists found a huge tomb that is 3,600 years old. Powerful winds had covered it with a thick layer of sand. In some places, it was necessary to dig more than 5 to 6 meters to reach the bottom of the structure.
The similarities between this tomb and another structure led archaeologists to conclude that this unknown pharaoh could be a predecessor of the so-called “lost” Abydos dynasty. Frédéric Payraudeau, Egyptologist at the Orient and Mediterranean laboratory and director of the French mission to excavate Tanis, provides further explanation.
Why has Abydos become a prime target for archaeologists?
Frédéric Payraudeau: Abydos is a very large archaeological site with many constructions. Temples dedicated to the god Osiris have been found there. Additionally, there are necropolises from various periods, especially from around 3000 BC, when the first Egyptian kings were buried. Throughout Egyptian history, Abydos remained an important city for funeral practices. But a discovery has led to the assumption that there was a dynasty from Abydos that may have ruled the entire city. In 2014, a whole series of tombs from the 13th dynasty were found, along with a sarcophagus, which was discovered far from its original location, a few hundred meters away. One of these tombs bore a name: that of Pharaoh Seneb-Kay, a figure very little known to historians. At one point, they even wondered if he really existed.
And recently, the Americans discovered a new pharaoh’s tomb, this one larger than the others. The numerous looting has greatly degraded it. The painted bands displaying the king’s name have nearly all been erased. Archaeologists then suggested that he might be a more important and older king than Seneb-Kay. Unfortunately, he remains unknown. One would hope to find funerary objects to identify him. But this area has been heavily looted. And the tombs, which are quite small (a few dozen meters), contained only a few objects. They were not on the scale of Tutankhamun or the treasures of Tanis. Why was the tomb degraded?
Looters! Looting has taken place throughout Egyptian history. The great pyramids of Giza were probably looted as soon as the Old Kingdom ended, 200 to 300 years after they were built. The same is true for the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Built between 1500 and 1070 BC, they were looted between 1070 and 1050 BC. Therefore, the tombs of Abydos were probably emptied very early on. By whom? It is not ruled out that they were looted by a new dynasty that took power at some point. The Romans, for their part, took materials such as limestone. It has been noted that the upper parts of the walls were not well preserved.
The American team mentioned two pharaoh names. Could one of them be linked to the recently discovered tomb?
It’s possible that this tomb belonged to one of the two mentioned names, Senaiib or Paentjen. They are part of the group of kings who are inscribed or depicted on various monuments in Abydos. It would be quite logical for one of these two men to be the king. But be careful, this is just a probability. The randomness of discoveries and their state of preservation makes it difficult to have reliable statistics.
How was it suggested that Abydos was the site of a new Egyptian dynasty?
The existence of this dynasty arose with a problem: the entire period known as the Second Intermediate Period saw many kings. If we place them one after the other, it would mean that each reigned for only six months, which is very strange. It has therefore been accepted that some dynasties ruled in parallel. In the north, there was the 15th dynasty. In the south, the 17th. And then there is this Abydos dynasty, which has no number and must have been a brief interlude in history. It probably lasted about fifty years. The problem is that we don’t know the exact names of the kings who ruled during this period. And no structure mentions the kings of Abydos in other major Egyptian cities, like Luxor. Abydos was thus a dynasty with little power.
It was probably a dynasty that ruled only over Abydos itself. It clearly had no influence over Luxor to the south, nor over the north. Analyses of the bones of Seneb-Kay showed that he was killed in battle. Could he have been killed by northern foreigners or by the southern Egyptian kings? One thing is certain: this Abydos dynasty is largely forgotten because it no longer appears on future royal lists.
It has been observed that the Egyptians adopted a certain logic in the construction of royal tombs in Abydos. Does this mean that archaeologists may make more discoveries?
There is a chance. We don’t know the boundaries of this necropolis. But it’s likely that it is not very vast. Besides, if many more tombs were found, it could challenge the idea that Abydos was really a dynasty. But that’s unlikely.
This recent discovery is very important for understanding Egypt’s history
Yes! Every new piece of information helps move the “needle” forward. Thanks to the excavation of this necropolis, we can clearly date the pottery associated with the construction of these tombs to the middle of the Second Intermediate Period. And historically, it allows us to learn more about the fragmentation of ancient Egypt and the order of the dynasties that ruled in various locations.
