20:40 01 April 2016
A 3,400-year-old necropolis, which contains the remains of wealthy individuals, has been discovered in an Egyptian quarry near the city of Aswan at Gebel el Sisila.
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities confirmed that they found amulets, beads and pieces of mummy wrappings that suggest the people buried there had status. However, they failed to find any inscriptions to identify the occupants.
Meanwhile, experts found an intricate ring displaying a cartouche of Pharoah Thuthmosis III.
“So far we have documented over 40 tombs, including a small shrine on the banks of the Nile,” said Maria Nilsson, an archaeologist at Lund University and director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project.
“Due to the lack of exterior or interior decoration, the identity of the buried persons remains unknown at this time.”
“However, the higher officials, viziers and such that were active at Silsila were buried in Thebes, so it is likely that the people entombed in the rock-cut graves belong to the level just below the officials. We are still studying this,” Nilsson said.