Looted Middle Kingdom Burials Unearthed in Egypt

CAIRO, EGYPT—According to an Egypt Today report, a team of researchers has investigated three burial chambers in a tomb in a Middle Kingdom (1842-1799 B.C.) cemetery in the southern Fayoum. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the archaeological mission, said the chambers were probably looted in antiquity and later reused. The site is then thought to have been damaged by an earthquake. The upper part of a sandstone statue of a human figure holding his hand on his chest was found in one of the chambers. The middle part of a basalt statue measuring about 12 inches tall, pottery, and the tops of three canopic jars were also recovered from the chambers. To read in-depth about a decorated Middle Kingdom burial chamber, go to “Emblems for the Afterlife.”