More re Ehnasya Al-Medina cemetery
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)
The site of Ehnasya Al-Medina, which is perched on a hill, incorporates a number of cemeteries and temples spanning from the late First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom through to the Roman period. From this city came the rulers of the Ninth and Tenth dynasties, and here too was the cult centre of the ram-headed local god of fertility, Herishef, for whom the Middle Kingdom rulers built a temple in the centre of the city which was enlarged during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II of the New Kingdom. This temple was first excavated in 1891 by Naville and D'Hulst, who found only Ramesside remains, but in 1904 it was re-excavated by Petrie who found a superb gold statue of Herishef.
Excavations at Ehnasya Al-Medina were conducted during the 1960s and 1970s by several Spanish missions, but in 1984 a mission from the Archaeological National Museum of Madrid concentrated its work on the necropolis dated to the First- Intermediate-Period (2195-2066 BC), where a series of tombs with vaulted ceilings were uncovered. One revealed an example of one of the earliest-known versions of the Coffin Texts incorporating revised extracts from the earlier Pyramid Texts. These tombs were built of limestone and mud brick and lined up in 'streets of the dead'. Some of them were very jumbled but still contained inscribed false-doors, stelae, offering tables, and ceramic and clay vessels. The most important discovery in the necropolis was made in 2000 when the tomb of a high official named Wadjt-Hetep was found, its painted walls featuring the funerary feast.
See the above page for the full story, with photograph.
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