Ramesside-era tomb uncovered at Saqqara

The joint Dutch-Italian archaeological mission, working at Saqqara under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has discovered a tomb of a person called Banhasi from the Ramesside period (19th and 20th dynasties 1292-1075 BC).

SCA Secretary General Mostafa Waziry said that the mission also uncovered four shrines dating back to the same period.

“This will shed more light on the development of the Saqqara cemetery during the Ramesside period and uncover new persons who are not mentioned in historical sources,” Waziry said.

This discovery adds weight to previous theories that the space between the tombs, such as the 18th Dynasty Maya Tomb, found in 1986, was reused in later ages for tombs and shrines during the Ramesside period.

“Its inscriptions tell of funerary practices during that period,” Waziry added.

Saqqara Antiquities Area Director Mohamed Youssef said the tomb is in the shape of a temple.

“The tomb has a gate entrance, an inner courtyard containing stone pillar bases, a well leading to the underground burial chambers, and three shrines next to each other,” Youssef said.

Christian Greco, who is director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin and head of the mission for the Italian side, said that they found inside the tomb paintings depicting the owner of the tomb Banhasi and his wife Paya, who bore the title ‘Songstress of Amun’.

“One beautiful scene shows Banhasi worshipping the goddess Hathor. Below it is another scene depicting Banhasi and his wife in front of an offering table with a bald man in front of them wearing a leopard skin draped over his shoulders,” Greco said.

Lara Weiss, Curator of the Egyptian and Nubian Collection of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, said the mission had also unearthed the remains of four small shrines, two of which contain a number of inscriptions. One of the texts mentions someone called Yoyo.

“Despite its small size, it contains a number of scenes and inscriptions that are distinguished by their accuracy and quality of detail, and they are in a good state of preservation. Yoyo’s funeral procession is shown in one of the scenes,” she said.

“There is also a depiction of the cow of the goddess Hathor and a boat of the god Suker, god of the cemetery,” Weiss said.

The second shrine for someone hitherto unknown shows the owner and his family, while the other two shrines have no inscriptions at all.