Rare Pharaonic funerary furnishings found at Heliopolis

Archaeologists have uncovered a nearly complete set of funerary jewelry and ritual objects in an ancient necropolis of Heliopolis in modern-day Cairo.

The Egyptian archaeological mission made the find at the Panhesy cemetery site in the Ain Shams district of northeastern Cairo. In antiquity, it was a necropolis for Heliopolis, one of Egypt’s oldest city, occupied since the predynastic period and a major religious center dedicated to the worship of the solar deities Ra and Atum. The necropolis was in use during the Late Period (664-332 B.C.) to bury prominent members of the city elite.

The team unearthed a mudbrick burial structure that contained human remains and a cache of grooming and ritual objects that were buried with the deceased, including a copper mirror, five pairs of gold earrings, three kohl eyeliner vessels and two blue faience jars, one of which held six scarabs. Two of the scarabs are set in gold frames.

Two of the kohl vessels are made of alabaster and are intact with their lids in place. Traces of the kohl are still visible inside. The third pot is made of black obsidian, a rare material for this purpose.

Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Central Department for Ancient Egyptian Antiquities, said the cache included amulets in various symbolic shapes, including a duck and a crown of the god Atum.

Four semi-precious stones were recovered, two of them likely agate, one red-pink and mounted in a yellow metal setting thought to be gold, and another greenish stone.

This season’s excavation has also uncovered additional funerary structures made of mudbrick and limestone, and two fragmented coffins, one ceramic and one gypsum. One of the coffins contained gilded remains of a man archaeologists believe to have been a military figure.

* This article was originally published here