5th Dynasty tomb discovered at Giza

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5th Dynasty tomb discovered at Giza

Post by newcastle »

The Giza plateau must be riddled with tombs...many yet to be discovered. This latest announcement even reached BBC TV although it's unlikely to excite anyone but egyptologists.....unlike a possible discovery in Tut's tomb! I don't think many visitors to the pyramids bother much with the associated tombs...which is a pity.

An Egyptian archaeological mission led by Dr. Mostafa Waziry, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities has discovered an Old Kingdom tomb of a lady called “Hetpet” who was a high official in the royal palace during the end of the fifth Dynasty

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The tomb was found during excavation work carried out in Giza western cemetery, which houses tombs of the Old Kingdom’s top officials discovered by previous archaeological missions since 1842.

The newly discovered tomb of “Hetpet” has the architectural style and the decorative elements of the fifth Dynasty with an entrance leading to an “L” shape shrine with a purification basin.
On its western rare end there is a rectangular arcade lined with incense and offering holders.

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There is also a naos with a yet missing statue of the tomb’s owner.
The tomb has very distinguished wall paintings in a very good conservation condition depicting “Hetpet” standing in different hunting and fishing scenes or sitting before a large offering table receiving offerings from her children.
Scenes of reaping fruits, melting metals and the fabrication of leather and papyri boats as well as musical and dancing performances are also shown on walls.
Among the most distinguished paintings in the tomb are those depicting two monkeys in two different positions. Monkeys were domestic animals at the time.

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The first scene shows a monkey reaping fruits while the second displays a monkey dancing in front of an orchestra.
Similar scenes are found in other tombs. The first one is painted on the wall of a 12th Dynasty tomb of “Khnoum Hetep II” in Beni Hassan in Menia Governorate and the second is found in an Old Kingdom tomb of “Ka-Iber” in Saqqara but it displays a dancing monkey in front of a guitarist not an orchestra.

http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.com. ... f.html?m=1


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Re: 5th Dynasty tomb discovered at Giza

Post by FarleyFlavors »

newcastle wrote:I don't think many visitors to the pyramids bother much with the associated tombs...which is a pity.
It would help if they actually opened some up! A few years back there was a big announcement that seven or eight Giza plateau tombs had been opened to the public. I turned up with a detailed map and all but three were closed.
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Re: 5th Dynasty tomb discovered at Giza

Post by carrie »

Just been a report on BBC radio and it sounds like a very interesting tomb, don't suppose I will ever get to see it, work will be carried out for some time. Good news though.
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Re: 5th Dynasty tomb discovered at Giza

Post by Winged Isis »

Everything old is new again:

Petrie Museum Unofficial Page (Facebook)
1 hr ·
With much thanks to Aayko Eyma from EEF : Latest update on the new discoverd tomb in Giza : her name was Hetepet, a Hathor priestess, and her tomb was a rediscovery as it was already discovered in 1909. "Several fragments housed in the Neues Museum Berlin and
the Liebieghaus Museum in Frankfurt are inscribed with the
name Hetep or Hetepet. According to Porter and Moss the
Hetepet blocks were removed from the West Field at Giza by
the Menas Expedition to Egypt led by Kaufmann in 1909. The
exact location of the tomb was not recorded by the excavator
and apart from noting that the mastaba contained two false
doors, a common feature from the late 4th Dynasty to the
early 6th Dynasty in the Memphite cemeteries, no indication
of the original architectural design of the tomb is preserved.
(...)" A. Woods and J. Swinton, Chronological considerations: Fragments
from the tomb of Hetepet at Giza, Bulletin of the Australian
Centre for Egyptology 24 (2013), 127-158.
https://www.academia.edu/…/A._Woods_and ... n_Chronolo
In the videolink the discovery of 1909 is mentioned https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url
Carpe diem! :le:
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Re: 5th Dynasty tomb discovered at Giza

Post by newcastle »

I've seen reference to artifacts bearing Hetpet's name elsewhere.......items which came to light over a century ago.

Few of the tombs "discovered" in recent years - whether at Giza, Sakkara, Deir-el-Medina, Valley of the Nobles etc, - are really new and most were looted in ancient time before being cleared again in the great surge of exploration at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.

The main aim of excavators at that time was the acquisition of artifacts for private collections and museums....it was a time when the discoverer could expect to retain a proportion of his finds, with the permission of the Egyptian antiquities authority. Sadly, little attention was paid to the tombs themselves and the light which their decoration could throw on the history of the pharaonic period.

Indeed, beautifully decorated tombs were at risk of having their walls hacked about by collectors keen on taking away a sample of wall painting.

I'm always a little saddened when I visit the Nebamun room at the British museum and the exquisite wall paintings. The tomb is long lost....but perhaps will turn up and be "discovered" with the increasing activity on the West bank at Luxor.
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