More discoveries are revealed week after week in Egypt reaching the Spanish Archaeological Mission discovery of an intact burial chamber in Qubbet el-Hawa, West Aswan.
According to team leader Alejandro Jimenez-Serrano, the burial belongs to Sarenput II, the brother of one of the most important governors of the 12th Dynasty (middle Kingdom).
“The discovery is important because not only for the richness of the burial but it sheds light on those individuals who were shadowed by others in power. In fact, there is no much information about them,” said Mahmoud Afifi, head of the ancient Egyptian antiquities department of the antiquities ministry
Director of Aswan Antiquities Nasr Salama said that the present finding is unique because it has been located with all the funerary goods, which consist of pottery, two cedar coffins (outer and inner) and a set of wooden models, which represents funerary boats and scenes of the daily life.
Another discovery has been disclosed through the efforts of Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano, director of the Spanish mission of the University of Jaen. A mummy covered with a polychrome cartonnage, a beautiful mask and collars in good condition of preservation, was discovered, yet remains under study.
The inscriptions of the coffins bear the name of the defunct, Shemai, followed respectively by his mother and father, Satethotep and Khema. The latter was governor of Elephantine under the reign of Amenemhat II.
Serrano explained that Sarenput II, the eldest brother of Shemai, was one of the most powerful governors of Egypt under the reigns of Senwosret II and Senwosret III. Apart from his duties as governor of Elephantine, he was general of the Egyptian troops and was responsible for the cult of different gods.
Overall the find has revealed much about the ruling family of Elephantine as well as what life might have been like for the upper classes in the region more than 3,800 years ago.
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