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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Living Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters New discoveries in Sohag
By Nevine El-ArefThree finds were made in the Sohag Governorate -- a settlement area, temple ruins and numerous tombs.
"These discoveries are very important," said Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).
He explained that they were made in three separate sites and would cast light on the area's complex history.
The rock-hewn tombs found in the Western Mountain appear to have been reused in ancient times; the original structure and decorations date to the Old Kingdom but two large papyrus columns found in one of them date to the New Kingdom. This suggests that they were later usurped. The texts on them are currently being transcribed.
The second find was made in the Al-Diabatte area, east of Akhmim. There, a collection of coloured and decorated tombs dating to the New Kingdom were unearthed. Yehya El-Massri, head of the archaeological department in Sohag, said that sarcophagi, wooden statues and funerary reliefs were amongst items found.
The ruins of a temple located in an ancient residential city and a collection of tombs which date back to the rule of Haremhab were found in the Al-Khezendareya area on the Nile's east bank, near Tahta village. "Haremhab was an army general who became pharaoh at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty," said Mohamed El-Saghir, head of the SCA's Pharaonic Department. El-Saghir showed particular enthusiasm for a broken limestone block that dates to Ptolemaic times. "It is engraved with a text written in three scripts -- hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek -- and is reminiscent of the famous Rosetta Stone," he said. It is now being deciphered and restored.
