What it's like to discover an ancient Egyptian tomb, and the race against time to preserve it
Looking inside a newly discovered ancient tomb for the first time is both exciting and terrifying. I was fortunate to experience this recently as director of an international research team carrying out fieldwork in the Theban necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near the modern Egyptian city of Luxor.
Discovering an ancient Egyptian tomb for the first time is an exhilarating yet daunting experience. As the director of an international research team conducting fieldwork in the Theban necropolis, near the modern Egyptian city of Luxor, I recently had the opportunity to explore a new tomb dating back 3,000 years. Our primary mission is to preserve this burial ground from the effects of flash flooding, which poses a significant threat to the monuments in the Lower Sheikh 'Abd el-Qurna area.
The newly found tomb, typical of elite New Kingdom-era tombs (1550–1069 BC), features an outer courtyard, a chapel, and subterranean burial chambers. Inside the well-preserved courtyard, we found a mudbrick platform with a stela niche and a staircase leading to the tomb. Within the rock-cut chapel, vivid paintings adorned the walls, depicting the tomb owner adoring deities and interacting with his wife.
These paintings provide invaluable insights into ancient Egyptian daily life, society, and the tomb owner's status within the Ramesside hierarchy.
The tomb appears to belong to an official named Paser. However, the painted decoration is covered in dirt and will require conservation efforts to reveal further details about the identities and personal narratives of the individuals buried there. Our research team is particularly interested in understanding why officials like Paser chose to reuse, modify, or build tombs adjacent to the monuments of preceding 18th Dynasty elites.
We aim to explore how factors such as proximity to processional routes, family burials, and cultic sites influenced these decisions.
Flash flooding poses a grave threat to the tombs in this region due to climate change. As flash floods become more frequent and intense, they can cause immediate damage such as salt crystal growth, paint loss, and structural collapse. Consequently, a preventive conservation and risk management program is crucial to safeguard these monuments for future generations.
Simultaneously, our archaeological investigations allow us to study this area for the first time, uncovering a wealth of historical and cultural information about Lower Sheikh 'Abd el-Qurna's development over many centuries.
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