The mummy of Woseribre Senebkay, a pharaoh unknown until now, was discovered and recently restored by archaeologists from southern Egypt. There are pharaohs that mark history and others that end in oblivion. Woseribre Senebkay is one of those monarchs who, after centuries of ignorance, end up as part of the great fresco of historical figures. His fragmented mummy was found at the Abydos site in southern Egypt. And thanks to the hard work of archaeologists at the University of Pennsylvania, the king's skeleton was finally restored.
Preliminary observations indicate that the pharaoh measured about 1.75 m. Even if Senebkay's tomb is not distinguished by its size, everything suggests that it sheltered the burial of a pharaoh. The sovereign is the first tangible proof of the existence of the Abydos dynasty, a lineage suspected of having existed without having been discovered. "It's exciting to find at the same time the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh, the necropolis of a forgotten dynasty," said Josef Wegner, director of research, in a statement. Stolen and reused furniture Archaeologists discovered the remains of Senebkay's skeleton last summer during excavations. The well-damaged body was enclosed in a huge red quartzite sarcophagus of about 60 tons. But more research was needed to discover that the coffin really belonged to Sobekhotep I. The burial of the pharaoh, hidden in a pyramid of Abydos, would have received a century later, the visit of other monarchs. And visitors would not have bothered to plunder the tomb for their own purposes. Thus, Senebkay recovered some furniture to decorate his own tomb, taking care to cover the name of the original owner by his own. The tomb of Senebkay was dated to 1650 BC. It consists of four rooms including a funeral. The limestone white walls are painted with colorful images of deities. The researchers identified the figures of Nut, goddess of heaven, Nephtys, goddess of the dead, Serket, goddess who protects the venom from snakes, scorpions and other dangerous animals, and finally Isis, protective and saving goddess. An inscription as confirmation A cartouche found on the walls of the tomb testifies to the identity of the owner. On this one is written: "King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Woseribre, son of Ra, Senebkay". The discovery thus confirms the existence of the Abydos dynasty of Senebkay, whose name appears in particular on the Turin papyrus dating from 1200 BC. BC, about 400 years after the reign of the monarch. The document also mentions the names of a dozen kings belonging to the dynasty, unfortunately, most of them are illegible. Archaeologists suspect that there are at least 16 tombs of pharaohs of this time buried on the site of Abydos (photo credit: Jennifer Wegner, Penn Museum)
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