Hierakonpolis

New Discoveries at Kom el Ahmar from the time of the Pharaohs

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An international team from the British Museum working near Edfu has discovered a nearly intact tomb from the predynastic period at the site of Kom el Ahmar, ancient Hierakonpolis, which may belong to one of the site’s early rulers. Hierakonpolis is best known as the find spot of the famous palette of Narmer, belonging to the first king to rule over all of Egypt, but this tomb dates to more than 500 years before this time (about 3700BC).

The tomb contained an ivory statuette, 32 cm tall, of a bearded man, which is unique among scientifically excavated finds. It may depict this early ruler or a protective god. There were also 10 ivory combs and numerous tools and weapons. The tomb owner’s body had been badly disturbed, but the remains indicate he was 17-20 years of age when he died. The tomb had been disturbed and the wooden building above it was burnt, probably in predynastic times, as an act of aggression. It was later restored in the early First Dynasty. The discovery of this nearly intact tomb provides us with much new information about funerary ritual and practices in the time before the first pharaohs and the later respect they paid to their deceased ancestors.

For more information on Tomb 72 click here.