Tomb of ‘Gatekeeper of God Amun’ unearthed in Luxor

An ancient tomb belonging to Amenhotep, guard of the temple of Egyptian deity Amun, has been discovered in the southern city of Luxor, the Egypt’s antiquities ministry said on Tuesday.

The tomb was accidentally discovered during cleaning and restoration work carried out  by the archaeology mission of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) in a nearby  tomb in the archaeological site of Sheikh Abd el Qurna on the west bank of Luxor  [Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities]

The ministry said the tomb probably dates to the New Kingdom’s 18th Dynasty (1543–1292 BC).

Photographs distributed by the ministry show a tomb with bright green and brown paintings with hieroglyphics.

“The tomb contains many stunning scenes with bright colours painted on plaster,” Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Eldamaty said in a statement.

“Figures of the solar god Amun inside the tomb were intentionally erased and demolished  by the followers of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten (1353B.C–1336B.C), who was the first  recorded monotheist on earth,” said Sultan Eid, Director of Upper Egypt  Antiquities Department [Credit: Luxor magazine]

“Many of scenes represent the tomb owner and his wife in front of an offering table and a view of a goddess nursing a royal child as well as scenes of the daily life,” he added.

The tomb was discovered by a team of American archaeologists alongside an Egyptian inspectors’ team in the city of Luxor, 700 kilometres (435 miles) south of Cairo.

However, the temple guard’s final resting place had been vandalised for unknown reasons.

The T-shaped tomb “was deliberately damaged in ancient times,” said Sultan Eid, the ministry’s general director for the Upper Egypt region.

“The name and titles of the tomb owner, some hieroglyphic texts and scenes in addition to the names of the god Amun were deliberately erased,” Eid added.

Eldamaty said in a separate statement that a royal rest house belonging to King Thutmosis II, also from the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom period, had been discovered in the Suez Canal province of Ismailia.

Source: Reuters [March 03, 2015]