Gold jewelry found in tomb of Djehuty on the west bank of Luxor

Spanish archaeologists digging on the west bank of Luxor, Egypt, have discovered jewelry in a tomb of a state treasurer who lived some 3,500 years ago under the reign of Queen Hatshepsut.

The team found five gold earrings and two gold rings that probably belonged to Djehuty -- the so-called overseer of treasury, who supervised works under Hatshepsut -- or his family in a newly discovered burial chamber in his tomb, the Egyptian Culture Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.

The chamber, the second in the tomb, is the fourth dating to this period that has been found with painted walls, the statement said. Two of its walls are decorated with texts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the ceiling bears a mural of the goddess Nut.

This undated photo released Tuesday March 10, 2009, by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, shows walls of a tomb thought to belong to a senior official under Egypt's most powerful queen, on the west bank of the Nile river in Luxor, Egypt. The Supreme Council of Antiquities says five golden earrings and two rings were found in the tomb of Gahouti, the head of the treasury under Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt some 3,500 years ago.

Una misión de arqueólogos españoles ha descubierto cinco pendientes y dos anillos de oro de la dinastía XVIII del Imperio Nuevo (1539-1075 a.C) en la ciudad monumental de Luxor, en el sur de Egipto, anunció hoy un comunicado oficial.

El Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades (CSA) explica en la nota que las piezas se encontraron en la cámara mortuoria de Gehuti, responsable de la Hacienda durante la época de la Reina Hatchepsut (1482-1502 a.C), en la zona de Derá Abu al Naga, en la orilla occidental del Nilo en Luxor, a 600 kilómetros al sur de El Cairo.

Según los primeros estudios de los arqueólogos españoles, es posible que estas joyas pertenezcan al propio Gehuti o a un miembro de su familia, ya que era un funcionario importante que se vestía con joyas como los reyes, agregó el texto.

Estos estudios han probado también que la tumba de Gehuti fue saqueada en distintas épocas faraónicas.

Además, los contenidos de la tumba como el ataúd y la momia fueron quemados en un incendio en el periodo entre 725 y 1081 antes de Cristo.

El secretario general del CSA, Zahi Hawas, explicó que es probable que los pendientes y los anillos hallados fueran extraviados por los ladrones durante el robo de la tumba, por lo que pudieron ser encontrados ahora, mientras que otras joyas han desaparecido.

A Spanish mission working at Dra Abu El-Naga on the West Bank at Luxor has discovered a second, painted burial chamber in the tomb of Djehuty (TT11). Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced the discovery, adding that the Spanish team, led by Dr. José Galán of the National Research Center, Madrid, has been working at the site since 2002.

At the end of their 2008 season, the mission came across a 3 meter-deep shaft inside the burial chamber of Djehuty, an overseer of the treasury and overseer of works during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut (ca. 1479-1458 BC). At the beginning of 2009, they discovered a second burial chamber at the bottom of this shaft. The chamber is decorated on two of its walls, mostly with texts from the Book of the Dead. An image of the goddess Nut adorns the ceiling (photo).

The discovery is remarkable, as only four other decorated burial chambers dating to this period are known. Although the names of Djehuty, his father, and his mother were intentionally erased in the upper part of the monument, they are intact in the newly discovered lower burial chamber. At the entrance to the lower chamber, the Spanish team found five gold earrings and two gold rings, which date to the early- to mid-18th Dynasty and probably belonged to Djehuty or to a member of his family.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, commented that only a few other objects from the tomb are known, as most of Djehuty’s funerary equipment was destroyed by fire in antiquity. Galán added that the discovery of this decorated chamber adds to our understanding of the religious and funerary beliefs of the mid-15th century BC, and of the elite of Queen Hatshepsut’s court.