In the house of millions of years

[Adsos Letter]

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly
Nevine El-Aref

It seems that the recent archaeological season has been very successful. Wherever archaeologists have dug, they have come up with amazing and important discoveries.

On Luxor's west bank, major discoveries have been uncovered in the noblemen's necropolis at Sheikh Abdel-Gourna and at Kom Al-Hittan, where the temple of the 18th-Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III is located.

After almost 130 years of exploring the sands of the archaeological hill of Sheikh Abdel-Gourna, the tomb of Amenhotep, a deputy of the overseer of seal-bearers during the reign of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III -- known among Egyptologists as "the lost tomb" -- has been found by a Belgian archaeological mission.

Amenhotep's tomb was previously discovered during the early 1880s by Egyptologist Karl Pieh, who also drew a sketch plan of its interior design. But unfortunately over the span of time it was re- buried in sand and its exact location was subsequently forgotten. In the early 2000s traces of the tomb were revealed during work on the tomb of Sennefer, the overseer of seal-bearers. Excavators found a remarkable sandstone statue dedicated to Amenhotep, and further excavations at the site revealed more about the lost tomb that early this year led to the mission's finding the main entrance to the tomb chapel.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/937/heritage.htm

several nice photos at the site