1100 Year-Old-Tomb Belonging to Female Singer Unearthed

Archaeologists have uncovered the 1,100-year-old tomb of a female singer in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, officials have revealed.

According to a statement by the Egyptian department of Antiquities, the tomb – identified as that of a woman named Nehmes Bastet – a temple singer who lived during Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty period (945-712 B.C) – was an accidental breakthrough by a team from Switzerland’s Basel University.

“We were not looking for new tombs. It was close to another tomb that was discovered 100 years ago,” Pauline-Grothe, one of the Archaeologist’s responsible for the discovery, said.

Mansour Boraiq, the top government official for the antiquities ministry in the city of Luxor, points out that the find is important because “it shows that the Valley of the Kings was also used for the burial of ordinary individuals and priests of the 22nd Dynasty.”

Boraiq added that the tomb was remarkably well preserved and added that when the coffin is opened (later this week), archaeologists will most likely find a mummy and a mask molded to her face; made from layers of linen and plaster.

According to the Daily Mail, The Valley of the Kings in Luxor was home for nearly 500 years, from the 16th to 11th century BC, to tombs constructed for the Pharaohs.

In addition to Nehmes Bastet’s tomb, the 64th coffin to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings, archaeologists there have unearthed a multitude of other ancient artifacts, perhaps none more famous than the 1922 discovery of the gold funeral mask of Tutankhamun – the king who ruled more than 3,000 years ago.

Source & Image: IB Times