Discovery of 60 mummies in Egyptian city of Luxor points to elaborate burial ground

A team of Spanish archaeologists have discovered tombs housing around 60 mummies in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor, according to Spanish press reports. The Spanish news agency Efe posted a video on YouTube, describing how the Spanish archaeological mission known as the Vizier Amenhotep Huy Project discovered the tombs late last year in the southern Egyptian city.

The mission was led by Francisco Martin-Valentin, director of the Madrid-based Institute of Ancient Egyptian Studies, and the institute’s co-director Teresa Bedman (neither had responded to a request for comment at the time of publication). The Institute of Ancient Egyptian Studies also posted a corresponding article on Twitter from Efe.

Martin-Valentin says that that the two tombs were built after the 18th dynasty (1550-1292 BC) and are linked to Amenhotep-Huy who served as vizier (high-ranking official) under pharaoh Amenhotep III. Two chambers connect the newly discovered tombs to the vizier’s tomb, a chapel comprising 30 columns. Martin-Valentin adds that the new findings are “evidence that the vizier’s tomb at some point became a necropolis,”. Bedman told Efe that so far all mummies buried in the area “were senior officials of the clergy of Amun of Thebes”.

Items from the vizier’s tomb, including a sarcophagus adorned with the god Amun, are currently on display in an exhibition at the Luxor Museum. Martin-Valentin says that the archaeological mission will resume at the end of September, when the vizier’s chapel will be restored with the reconstruction of six columns.