The tomb of the founder of the 13th dynasty of the Second Intermediate Period was discovered in Abydos at the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag
by Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 8 Jan 2014
During excavations at Abydos in Sohag the American mission from University of Pennsylvania uncovered the tomb of Sobekhotep I, the founder of the 13th dynasty of the Second Intermediate Period.
The minister of antiquities said on Tuesday that the tomb was discovered accidently after the mission stumbled upon a large, quartzite sarcophagus weighing 60 tons and the discovery of fragments of a painted relief depicting the king seated on the throne with his name written below. Pieces of the king’s canopic jars were also unearthed.
Ali El-Asfar, head of the ancient Egyptian antiquities section at the ministry said that the newly discovered tomb has a pyramid shape and it similar to the pyramids belong to a 13th dynasty king Ameny-Qemau found in Dahshur.
He said that the tomb is built with stones brought from Taura and the burial chamber, El-Asfar is built with red quartzite brought from the red hill near Cairo.
“It is a very important discovery,” said Aymen El-Damarany, the archeologist accompanying the mission, adding that this is the first complete monument found to Sobekhotep. Nothing has been discovered of him except his name found among the king’s list engraved on the wall at Abydos and the Turin manuscript on display in Italy. They mentioned that Sobekhotep ruled Egypt for four years and six months, which is considered as the longest tenure during such period.
The tomb is also important because its walls are decorated with paintings that will provide more information about the king.
Excavation will continue in order to know more about king and the daily life of his era.
Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/91062/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Royal-tomb-from-Second-Intermediate-Period-discove.aspx
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