Pharaonic tomb discovered
2006-02-13 13:10
Luxor- Egypt unveiled on Friday the first Pharaonic tomb discovered in the famed Valley of the Kings since that of the boy king Tutankhamun in 1922.
"This is the first tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings since that of Tutankhamun 84 years ago," said secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawas at the recently excavated site.
Five mummies were found inside the roughly 2m by 150cm tomb, held inside painted wooden sarcophagae and surrounded by 20 clay pots.
Hawas said the tomb had to be cleaned before any attempt was made to open the sarcophagae and identify the mummies, who, he said "were probably royalty".
If the mummies are not royal, they are certainly those of "very rich people close to the king", he said.
The find dates from the 18th dynasty of around 1500 BC to 1300 BC and was made by US archeologists barely 5m from the tomb of the now world-famous boy king, discovered by Britain's Howard Carter in 1992.
A team from Memphis University first announced the discovery on Tuesday.
The Valley of the Kings was used as a burial site for royalty and nobles to the west of present day Luxor, about 700km south of Cairo.