The tomb of the priests of Amun and its find
Mødedato: Torsdag d. 13/10 2016, kl. 19
v. Dr. Rogério Sousa, Univ. of Porto; Professor Researcher, Centre of Classical and Humanistic Studies (Univ. of Coimbra)
The tomb of the priests of Amun is the largest undisturbed site ever found in Egypt.
Uncovered in 1891 by Eugéne Grebaut and Georges Daressy, the 153burial assemblages found in the tomb were sent to the premises of the Giza Palace.
In 1892, a large portion of the collection was offered to 17 nations on the occasion of the coronation of the Khedive of Egypt Abbas II Hilmy. Dispersed by several museums and hidden in storerooms, this collection remained largely unpublished slowly falling into oblivion. It would take almost a century to acknowledge the real importance of this find.
On the occasion of the 125th Anniversary of the find, we will briefly present the history of the find and the results achieved by the Gate of the Priests Project. A particular emphasis will be given on the studies on coffin decoration.
The examination of the coffins found in the tomb reveals an unexpectedly vivid picture on the organization of the Theban workshops during the late 21st Dynasty, suggesting that funerary material culture became a fundamental aspect of the social control of the theocratic state of Amun.