The mummy of a previously unknown Pharaoh was discovered in a tomb in southern Egypt, Live Science reported Jan. 18.
A team of archeologists from the University of Pennsylvania found the mummy of Woseribre Senebkay at an excavation site in Abydos. Not only was Senebkay's existence unknown, the discovery is the first tangible evidence that confirms the existence of the Abydos Dynasty. The dynasty was rumored to have existed for almost two decades, but was never proven until now.
"It's exciting to find not just the tomb of one previously unknown pharaoh, but the necropolis of an entire forgotten dynasty," UPenn archeologist Josef Wegner said in a statement obtained by Live Science.
The mummy, dating back to 1650 B.C., was found torn into pieces, the result of tomb robbers who desecrated the tomb. Archeologists were able to reassemble Senebkay's body. The pharaoh was in his 40s when he died and stood at 5 feet 10 inches tall, Live Science reported.
The only previous evidence of the Abydos Dynasty was scattered words found in papyrus documents. One is the Turin King List, written 400 years after Senebkay's reign in 1200 B.C. The list refers to two kings with the name "Woser...re."
The pharaoh's tomb was first seen in mid 2013. The tomb, labeled as belonging to the "king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Woseribre, the son of Re, Senebkay," contained a 60-ton red quartzite sarcophagus, Live Science reported. Senebkay was found inside the coffin, along with a canopic chest filled with jars containing the king's organs.
The chest, however, did not originally belong to Senebkay. Another pharaoh also buried at Abydos, Sobekhotep I, first used the cedar-made chest over a hundred years before Senebkay.
The chest was most likely stolen when Senebkay had the tomb raided, Live Science reported. The pharaoh apparently reused the canopic chest because of financial woes his kingdom faced.
"Continued work in the royal tombs of the Abydos Dynasty promises to shed new light on the political history and society of an important but poorly understood era of Ancient Egypt," Wegner said, Live Science reported.
More photos from the excavation here.
