Sarcophagus buried twice by ancient Egyptians found in Luxor

The Egyptologist, who participated in the mission, considers the discovery to be “remarkable” in every way. «It clarifies an important anthropological question: cHow the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt 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 to AFP.

The sarcophagus discovered had been reburied, as were the five sarcophagi discovered in Luxor in 2018 and 2019.

This most recent archaeological mission was organized to “better understand the nature and importance of the 2018 and 2019 discoveries,” Colin said.

The teams were trying to find out “whether those five sarcophagi constituted an isolated tomb, or were part of a group of rehumations vaster and more systematic,” 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 carried out «three archaeological excavations«. »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 “touched 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 «cpreserved 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 research in 3D, as the team has been doing since 2018.”