Tomb of Mystery Queen Found in Egypt
Monday, January 5th, 2015January 5, 2015
The tomb of a long-forgotten queen of ancient Egypt who lived more than 4,500 years ago has been uncovered in the Abusir necropolis, near Cairo. Inscriptions on the tomb identified her as Khentakawess, or Khentkaus, the wife of the Pharaoh Neferefre, who ruled only a short time, from perhaps 2419 to 2416 B.C. during the period known as the Old Kingdom. Thus, Khentakawess likely reigned as queen for only a few years. The Czech archaeologists who excavated the tomb found other inscriptions identifying Khentakawess as the “wife of the king” and “mother of the king.” Because there were two other ancient Egyptian queens named Khentakawess, archaeologists are referring to their queen as Khentakawess III.
Khentakawess’s tomb was discovered while the archaeologists were excavating Keferefre’s funeral complex. Unfortunately, the queen’s mummy and nearly all goods buried with her were looted long ago. However, the Czech archaeologists found a number of statuettes as well as utensils, tools, and vessels made of limestone and copper. They said the objects will improve their understanding of this period of ancient Egyptian history.
Neferefre was known only by his name until the 1970′s, when archaeologists began excavating a ruin that turned out to be his unfinished tomb. Statues of Neferefre found in the tomb show him as a young man with full, youthful-looking cheeks. Until the discovery of Khentakawess’s tomb, archaeologists did not know the name of Neferefre’s queen–or even if he had one.
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