Abstract
A FURTHER discovery reported from San-el Hagar, the ancient Tanis, in the Nile Delta, promises results of even greater interest than those anticipated from the examination of the remarkable gold and silver sarcophagus discovered on this site by Prof. E. Montet, of the University of Strasbourg, in March of last year (see NATURE, 143, 512 and 552). When Prof. Montet returned to Egypt about a month ago to reopen his season's work on the tombs of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties on this site, he proposed to examine the sarcophagus which had been left unopened. The cartouche of Pharaoh Psussenes, identified with Sheshonk, had led to the attribution of the sarcophagus to that monarch; but in the course of the work of further examination, another tomb, it is reported (The Times, February 20) has been brought to light, which is thought to be the royal tomb, while the gold and silver sarcophagus is now said to be that of a royal priest. The newly discovered tomb contains a huge granite sarcophagus and a profusion of funerary ornaments. These consist for the most part of gold vessels, and include a gold cup in the form of a lotus, which is said to be of great beauty. This is the first royal tomb of the period (c. 1100–1000 B.C.) to be discovered; and it is of enhanced importance as belonging to a phase of Egyptian dynastic history of which archæologically too little is known.
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Discovery of a Royal Tomb in Egypt. Nature 145, 300 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145300c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145300c0