ASWAN, EGYPT—A New Kingdom necropolis of rock-cut tombs has been discovered at the quarry site of Gebel el-Silsila. “So far we have documented over 40 tombs, including a small shrine on the banks of the Nile. Many tombs are in bad condition. They have suffered from heavy erosion and extreme decay due to the rising water and its high salt content,” Maria Nilsson of Lund University and director of the Gebel el-Silsila Survey Project told Discovery News. The undecorated tombs had crypts cut out of the rock floors. Slots cut in the doorways suggest that there had been heavy, vertically-closing doors. The artifacts, including fragments of painted mud plaster, mummy wrappings, beads, amulets, a reversible seal ring, and pottery, indicate that it wasn’t the quarry workers who were buried at Gebel el-Silsila. “However, the higher officials, viziers and such that were active at Silsila were buried in Thebes, so it is likely that the people entombed in the rock-cut graves belong to the level just below the officials,” Nilsson said. To read more about Gebel el-Silsila, go to "'T' Marks the Spot."
