Ancient-origins sheds light on the discovery of 85 2,000-year-old tombs in Sohag

CAIRO – 9 May 2022: The ancient-origins website shed light on the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities' discovery of a huge number of ancient tombs in Sohag Governorate.

In a statement, the ministry clarified that an archaeological mission affiliated to the Supreme Council of Antiquities succeeded in uncovering a large number of rock tombs, during the implementation of the archaeological documentation and recording project for the rock tombs located in the Hamidiya cemetery in the eastern mountain in Sohag.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mustafa Waziri said that the discovered tombs are of various types, are dug in several levels in the mountain, and include tombs with a well, several burial wells, or with a ramp that ends in a burial room.

Gabal-el-Haridi-area-in-Sohag - Min. of Tourism & Antiquities

Those tombs date back to periods ranging from the end of the Old Kingdom to the end of the Ptolemaic period, according to Waziri.

Among these tombs is a cemetery dating back to the end of the Old Kingdom, consisting of an entrance that leads to a transverse hall, and a burial well in the southeastern part. It is a ramp leading to a small burial room, and the well was reused in later eras.

Waziri explained that the cemetery is characterized by the presence of an imaginary door with the remains of hieroglyphic inscriptions and illustrations of the cemetery's owner slaughtering sacrifices, and other people making offerings for the deceased.

For his part, Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Central Administration of Upper Egypt Antiquities, said that the excavations in that cemetery also resulted in the discovery of many pottery vessels, some of which were used in daily life, and others were funerary. They are small pots in spherical form, with remnants of yellowish paint on the outside.

Among the vessels discovered were also many alabaster utensils, pottery utensils, the remains of a round-shaped metal mirror, many shards of pottery, and pieces of limestone with inscriptions that may represent the funerary paintings of the tombs' owners, spanning back to the Sixth Dynasty.