Causeway leading to ancient tomb found in Egypt

Excavation in Aswan’s Qubbet Al-Hawa necropolis, South Egypt, revealed a causeway leading to the tomb of the first Middle Kingdom provincial governor of Elephantine Island.

The causeway (by Ahram Online)
The causeway (by Ahram Online)

Archaeologists of the Birmingham University and the Egypt Exploration Society uncovered a causeway leading to the tomb of Sarenput I. The deceased was a provincial governor, called a nomarch, of the Island Elephantine during the period of the Middle Kingdom. The causeway is said to be the longest ever found on the western bank of the Nile in Aswan, stretching for 133 metres. It connected the tomb with the bank of Nile. The structure’s walls were decorated with reliefs, such as the one found on the northern wall, which depicts a group of men pulling a bull and presenting it as an offering to Sarenput I after his death. Sarenput I ruled Elephantine during the reign of King Senusert I of the 12th dynasty. He held several other titles such as the overseer of the priests of Satet and the overseer of foreign lands. He was the king’s personal trading agent for goods from Nubia.

The relief wall of the causeway (by Ahram Online)
The relief wall of the causeway (by Ahram Online)

The experts also discovered a collection of clay containers from a pit within the causeway. They are believed to be canopic jars used for storing organs taken out of the body during the process of mummification. The tomb is composed of three rooms connected by hallways. First two chambers hold colonnades, while the innermost chamber has a niche that once housed a statue of the owner. The outer reliefs depict Sarenput with some of his relatives and his dogs, while the surviving inner paintings depict a scene of the owner with the Egyptian god Khnum, deity of the source of the Nile River.

(after Ahram Online)

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