KEMETIC SCIENCE

KEMETIC SCIENCE
Positive Progress Through The Benevolent Use Of Knowledge
Showing posts with label Kemetic Discovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kemetic Discovery. Show all posts

Friday, April 23, 2010

'Door To Afterlife' Unearthed At Karnak


'Door To Afterlife' Unearthed At Karnak




Analysis by Rossella Lorenzi | Mon Mar 29, 2010




An Egyptian excavation team has unearthed a 3,500-year-old door to the afterlife from the tomb of a high-ranking Egyptian official near Karnak temple in Luxor, Egypt's Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced on Monday.






Engraved with religious texts, the six-foot-tall red granite door belonged to the tomb of User, the chief minister of Queen Hatshepsut, the long-ruling 15th century B.C. queen from the New Kingdom.

The door, known as a false door, was meant to be a threshold that allowed the deceased and his wife to interact with the world of the living.

This "interaction" was not eternal for User. More than 1,000 years after his death, during the Roman period, the massive false door was removed from the tomb and used in the wall of a Roman structure.

The uncle of the well-known Rekhmire, who was King Tuthmosis III's chief minister, User was a powerful man. He took office in the fifth year of Queen Hatshepsut's reign, about 1474 B.C.

User held the position of vizier for 20 years, also earning the titles of prince and mayor of the city. Viziers in ancient Egypt were powerful officials who oversaw the running of the kingdom's intricate bureaucracy.

A chapel of User was also found at Gebel el-Silsila, a mountain quarry site at Aswan, showing the importance of the post of vizier in ancient Egypt, especially during the 18th Dynasty.


Picture: courtesy of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.




http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/door-to-afterlife-unearthed-at-karnak.html
===============================

Tomb Of Ken-Amun, Royal Scribe, Unearthed In Egypt







Tomb Of Ken-Amun, Royal Scribe, Unearthed In Egypt

===========================

Analysis by Rossella Lorenzi Apr 14, 2010
The elaborate burial tomb of an ancient royal scribe has been unearthed near Ismailia, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Cairo.

Dating to the 19th Dynasty B.C (1315-1201 BC), the burial is the first ever Ramesside-period tomb uncovered in Lower Egypt, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said on Wednesday.

Built of mud bricks, the tomb consists of a rectangular room with a domed ceiling made of stone, and a deep square-shaped shaft. Inside the tomb, Egyptian archaeologists found a large limestone sarcophagus covered with inscriptions.

“It belonged to Ken Amun. He was the overseer of the royal records during the 19th Dynasty,” Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maqsud, the supervisor of the Department of Antiquities of Lower Egypt, said in a statement.

Indeed, the tomb’s walls were inscribed with the titles of the deceased and the names of his wife, Isis. The inscriptions revealed she was a singer of the god Atum.









Beautifully decorated, the tomb features scenes from the Book of the Dead, culminating with the famous vignettes from Chapter 125, which depict the critical judgment ceremony.

Called "Weighing of the Heart," this symbolic judgment involved weighing and comparing the deceased’s heart to a feather of Maat, goddess of Justice, Truth and Order.

If the heart is lighter than the feather, the deceased is judged worthy the company of the gods. If it fails, the heart is devoured by the crocodile-headed monster Ammit and the deceased is condemned to an existence between worlds.

Other important scenes in the tomb include a depiction of the goddess Hathor in the shape of a cow, as she emerges from the Delta marshes, as well as a scene of the four sons of Horus -- Imsety, Duamutef, Hapi and Qebehsenuef.

These were believed to protect the stomach, liver, intestines and lungs of mummified bodies.








“The scenes and titles in the tomb show that Ken-Amun, who in charge of keeping the royal records, was an important man,” Maqsud said.

According to Dr. Hawass, the finding will help provide information about the history of the Delta and the relationship between this area and the eastern border of Egypt.

While conservation and restoration work will begin at the tomb, excavations will continue at the site. Indeed, 35 other Roman-period tombs have been uncovered nearby.

Picture: Ken Amun's tomb in Tell el-Maskhuta; scenes from the Book of the Dead, Chapter 125; a group of women mourning Ken-Amun. Courtesy Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities


=====================

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/tomb-of-ken-amun-royal-court-official-unearthed-in-egypt.html


====================