Search: "Abydos"
Total Results: 85Revealing a Hidden Tomb
A Look at Excavations inside the Tomb of Senwosret III
By: Josef Wegner
Beneath the sands of South Abydos is an astonishing monument: a gigantic tomb, one of the largest in Egypt, and a striking testimonial to the ancient Egyptians’ belief in the divine afterlife of their pharaohs. This is the tomb of pharaoh Senwosret III who reigned ca. 1878–1841 BCE, 5th king of the powerful 12th Dynasty. […]
Fragments of a Difficult Era
Excavations of Tomb S9 at South Abydos
By: Dawn McCormack
The 13th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, roughly 1800–1630 BCE, was a politically turbulent period with more than 50 kings coming to the throne in succession. Most rulers were short-lived and constructed few monuments, leaving modern scholars in the dark as to the nature of kingship at this time. Even the identity and order of some […]
Ancient Reuse
The Discovery of a Royal Sarcophagus Chamber
By: Josef Wegner and Kevin M. Cahail
During June 2013, excavations were underway near the base of the Mountain-of-Anubis. The search was on for private cemeteries belonging to the Middle Kingdom community of Wah-sut. Excavations since 1994 have revealed a large and complex settlement site. But where are the tombs of the thousands of people who must have lived and died at […]
The Palatial Residence of Wah-Sut
Modeling the Mayor’s House at South Abydos
By: Josef Wegner
It was the summer of 1994. Our first season of excavation was underway on the temple of Senwosret III. Walking across the landscape of South Abydos, I had many questions. What else besides a pharaoh’s tomb and mortuary temple once existed at South Abydos? Not far to the south of the temple, my attention was […]
Taking It With You
The South Abydos Tomb Census
By: Kevin M. Cahail
As part of the ongoing excavations in the Middle Kingdom town of Wah-sut, a pressing question has arisen: where were its inhabitants buried? Although this might appear easy to answer, reality has proven otherwise. During 2012–2013, we began a program of survey and excavation—the South Abydos Tomb Census—to help answer this crucial question. Results so […]
Their Memory Lives On
Domestic Funerary Commemoration at Wah-sut
By: Kevin M. Cahail
To the ancient Egyptian mind, the worlds of the living and the dead were inextricably intertwined. The speech of one man to his wife recorded on a stela encapsulates both this belief, and the mechanism through which it was enacted: How are you? Is the West taking care of you [according to] your desire? Now […]
Discovering Pharaohs Sobekhotep & Senebkay
An Update from the 2013–2014 Field Season
By: Josef Wegner
Archaeology can change quickly in the face of new data produced through excavation. In this issue of Expedition we have presented some of the recent research of the Penn Museum’s excavations at South Abydos. Yet, already we have new results to add. The winter season (December 2013–January 2014) was extremely productive and has provided some […]
Hidden Treasures
Abydos in the Basement
By: Jennifer Houser Wegner
At the turn of the last century, long before the Penn Museum began its work at Abydos under David O’Connor and William Kelly Simpson in the late 1960s, the site of Abydos in southern Egypt was the focus of intense archaeological exploration. At that time, the Penn Museum was keen to build its Egyptian collection, […]
Saving History
The Conservation of Painted Coffin Fragments from Abydos
By: Molly Gleeson
Archaeologists from the Penn Museum are currently searching for tombs related to the Middle Kingdom community at South Abydos. In the Museum’s collection are artifacts of this same time period but from North Abydos. One of these is a fragmentary coin—beautifully decorated—that is a good example of an elite funerary object dating to the same […]
The Last Partage
Dividing Finds from the 1960s Excavations
By: David O'Connor
In 1967 a new team of excavators arrived at Abydos, a site of great extent located on the western side of the Nile Valley in southern Egypt. The co-directors of the team were myself, on behalf of the Penn Museum, and William Kelly Simpson of Yale University. We had been preceded by many other teams […]
