Possible Cartouche of Ptolemy IV discovered in Necropolis near Cairo

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Three rock-hewn burial shafts filled with coffins and faience pots have been uncovered in Egypt's Abusir necropolis near Cairo.The discovery was made after authorities received reports of illegal excavations in the area.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the antiquities ministry formed an archaeological committee led by Sabri Farag, the director-general of the Saqqara Necropolis, to conduct urgent excavations at the site.

Waziri explains that excavation revealed three rock-hewn burial shafts containing funerary collections, including four wooden coffins in bad conservation condition bearing hieroglyphic texts.

Farag says that one of these texts bears the cartouche of King Ptolemy IV (244 – 204 BC), but the remaining text is not clear enough to decipher. More studies are set to be carried out to determine to which reign the coffins belong.

Farag said the coffins hold four mummified bodies, presumably of birds, along with three round-shaped linen wrappings housing the mummies' stomachs.

A collection of 38 symbolic pots carved in faience was also found. All the objects are being held in storage at the site for restoration.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCon...urial-shaft-uncovered-in-Egypts-Abusir-n.aspx
 
Three rock-hewn burial shafts filled with coffins and faience pots have been uncovered in Egypt's Abusir necropolis near Cairo.The discovery was made after authorities received reports of illegal excavations in the area.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the antiquities ministry formed an archaeological committee led by Sabri Farag, the director-general of the Saqqara Necropolis, to conduct urgent excavations at the site.

Waziri explains that excavation revealed three rock-hewn burial shafts containing funerary collections, including four wooden coffins in bad conservation condition bearing hieroglyphic texts.

Farag says that one of these texts bears the cartouche of King Ptolemy IV (244 – 204 BC), but the remaining text is not clear enough to decipher. More studies are set to be carried out to determine to which reign the coffins belong.

Farag said the coffins hold four mummified bodies, presumably of birds, along with three round-shaped linen wrappings housing the mummies' stomachs.

A collection of 38 symbolic pots carved in faience was also found. All the objects are being held in storage at the site for restoration.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCon...urial-shaft-uncovered-in-Egypts-Abusir-n.aspx

It's when I read things like this that I think I should have become an archaeologist!

What a pity that the coffins seem to be in bad condition. That doesn't bode well for the state of the remains.

If it is Ptolemy IV, colorful doesn't begin to describe him! :)

"Ptolemy IV's reign was inaugurated by the murder of his mother,[2] and he was always under the dominion of favourites, male and female, who indulged his vices and conducted the government as they pleased. Self-interest led his ministers to make serious preparations to meet the attacks of Antiochus III the Great on Coele-Syriaincluding Judea, and Ptolemy himself was present at the great Egyptian victory of Raphia (217 BC) which secured the northern borders of the kingdom for the remainder of his reign."

"The arming of Egyptians in this campaign had a disturbing effect upon the native population of Egypt, leading to the secession of Upper Egypt under pharaohs Harmachis (also known as Hugronaphor) and Ankmachis (also known as Chaonnophris), thus creating a kingdom that occupied much of the country and lasted nearly twenty years.Philopator was devoted to orgiastic forms of religion and literary dilettantism.[3] He built a temple to Homer and composed a tragedy, to which his favourite Agathocles added a commentary. He married his sister Arsinoë III (about 220 BC), but continued to be ruled by his mistress Agathoclea, sister of Agathocles. In late c. 210 BC, Agathoclea may have given birth to a son from her affair with Ptolemy IV, who may have died shortly after his birth. Strabo, however, mentions that Ptolemy V was the son of Agathoclea but he may have been confused considering that she was his mistress.
Ptolemy is said to have built a giant ship known as the tessarakonteres ("forty"), a huge galley and possibly the largest human-powered vessel ever built. This showpiece galley was described by Callixenus of Rhodes, writing in the 3rd century BC, and quoted by Athenaeusin the 2nd century AD.[4] Plutarch also mentions that Ptolemy Philopator owned this immense vessel in his Life of Demetrios.[5] The current theory is that Ptolemy's ship was an oversized catamaran galley, measuring 128 m (420 ft.).
Ptolemy IV is a major antagonist of the apocryphal 3 Maccabees, which describes purported events following the Battle of Raphia, in both Jerusalem and Alexandria."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_IV_Philopator
 
This newsweek article on this discovery, also has some interesting information on the process of mummification. With some links to other sites explaining it in further detail.

I also found the video they posted to be quite interesting.

http://www.newsweek.com/ancient-egy...-discovered-coffins-mummies-birds-guts-798132


Very cool. What a long, complicated, and no doubt expensive process.

I'd opt for that rather than letting the worms get me, but I think I'll take the cheap alternative: cremation. :)
 
Very cool. What a long, complicated, and no doubt expensive process.

I'd opt for that rather than letting the worms get me, but I think I'll take the cheap alternative: cremation. :)

Now that my genome is on record, I wouldn't mind cremation so much either lol
 

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